Chapter 699: Sacrificed

The first mate watched as the captain's expression gradually became solemn. From the captain's words, he understood what the captain was saying.

Life on the ship was very boring. When these people were bored, they would chat.

The lower the social class, the more people liked to discuss high-level things—domestic politics, foreign politics. Why?

Why did those people in high society spend their days talking about eating, drinking, and playing, instead of discussing the political current events that many people liked to discuss?

Because they were in contact with these things from morning till night; so-called national policies and world trends held no secrets for them.

Conversely, because the underclass lacked channels to access this information and were trapped in a class far removed from these matters, they became curious about these things, which was why they discussed them.

It was like... the crew wouldn't discuss how to scrub the deck to make it shine; they would only discuss where the Dantela mechanics had reached, how many people they had killed, and where they might go next.

In these intense discussions, they inevitably discussed how the Federation would intervene in this battle.

Now, it seemed it had already arrived.

And it was crashing straight into them!

The first mate pursed his lips. He leaned against the wall in the cabin and sat down next to the captain, took out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one for himself. "Sometimes knowing too much is really quite annoying."

The captain, whose expression had been quite tense, showed some astonishment, and then a trace of a smile. "It seems this news is still within your tolerance range; at least you still have the mood to joke."

The first mate smiled bitterly and patted his forehead. "What else can I do?"

"Cry?"

He paused. "What should we do? Is it too late to turn back now?"

The captain shook his head. "I hope I am a conspiracy theorist, a serious conspiracy theorist, so that the probability of us getting hurt would be smaller."

"But the wisdom I've gained from living for decades tells me that once bait is put on a hook and cast out, it is either eaten or it sinks to the bottom."

"The person fishing will not take the bait off and put it back in the bait box."

"As long as we turn back, we are dead for sure."

The first mate's face was full of despair. "Are we just going to do nothing?"

"How about we abandon ship!" His eyes lit up, as if he had thought of a good idea.

The captain countered, "How will you solve the problem of our direction on the high seas, how will you solve the problem of our food, and how will you solve the problem of fresh water and calling for help?"

"We won't even be able to hold out until we dock before we die of dehydration. This isn't realistic."

"The only hope now is that the Dantela warships won't open fire the moment they see us!"

Soon, some of the crew on the Hope were asked to take out their bed sheets and stitch them together into a larger white cloth curtain with rope.

This cargo ship could fly flags, right above the main control room. Although the sailor responsible for the daily maintenance of the flags didn't quite understand why they suddenly needed to be ready to raise a white flag at any time, he still followed orders.

This also made the atmosphere on the ship become somewhat low and oppressive.

Some people had a good relationship with the first mate, and relying on that, they went to secretly ask him what exactly had happened.

Others found the captain, wanting to know what was going on.

At first, they didn't say, but in such an oppressive environment, some things couldn't be hidden.

Soon, sailors opened more containers and saw more rocks inside. A terrifying rumor began to spread on the ship.

It only took three or four hours before the area outside the captain's cabin was crowded with sailors.

They urgently wanted to know what had happened and if it was what they had imagined!

Seeing that he couldn't hide it anymore, the captain could only state his guess. After the sailors in front of him were silent to the extreme for a while, they completely exploded.

They cursed the shamelessness of those capitalists, cursed the baseness of the politicians, and prayed for God's forgiveness and gaze.

Some people even lost control of their emotions and tried to hurt others. In the end, after the captain pulled the trigger of the weapon in his hand, they quieted down.

The captain walked out of the captain's cabin and stood in everyone's sight. "The only thing we can do now is to raise the white flag the moment they appear."

"If we are lucky, we might be captured, and then we will be able to survive."

"If we are unlucky..."

He shook his head. "Everyone, go back and write your wills, then hand them to me. My cabinet is sealed."

"I will write one too. I will record everything and write it in. One day, they will see the light of day again."

"When that time comes, we will let people know how despicable, shameless, and evil the Federal government is!"

The captain's voice was full of tragedy and helplessness. The sailors silently returned to their rooms.

At noon today, no one asked them to scrub the deck, no one asked them to inspect the ropes. Everyone sat in their rooms, holding pens, not knowing what to write.

The whole afternoon was quiet, and people realized that actually doing nothing at noon wouldn't affect the voyage at all.

Seeing that evening was about to arrive, the captain breathed a slight sigh of relief. It was unlikely they would be attacked at night.

"Maybe the situation isn't as bad as I imagined; it's just a corruption problem within the group company." He glanced at the containers outside again. He actually knew this was impossible.

Swapping one box of cargo was possible, two boxes were also possible, three or five boxes were all possible.

But swapping all of them was absolutely impossible!

Neither the first mate nor the second mate had any mood to talk. People kept sending wills over, and the captain collected them all into his sealed, waterproof cabinet.

One day, at some moment, it would be pried open, making everything that happened today one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Federal government!

He firmly believed this.

Seeing the sun about to disappear on the horizon, some smiles appeared on the sailors' faces. The captain walked out of the captain's cabin. He leaned on the railing by the doorway, looking at the "children" on the deck, and some smiles also appeared on his face.

"I prepared some wine," he said loudly. The sailors on the deck were all attracted by his words. They turned their heads to look at the captain, their faces carrying some surprise.

"I originally intended to take this wine out and share it with you bastards on the day I retired."

"But I think it's more meaningful to drink it now!"

"Long live the captain!" Some sailors took off their hats and waved them, shouting similar things. The captain couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He liked everything here. If he weren't about to retire, he would still be willing to be on this ship with these young men.

Soon, the first and second mates brought a few sailors and carried a few barrels of wine out of the warehouse. The lids were all opened, and the sailors took their own cups and scooped some up.

They looked at the captain, and someone shouted, "Say something!"

"Just like those masters at the banquets!"

Other sailors also started to boo. The captain also had a wine cup in his hand. He held it up and thought for a moment. Just as he opened his mouth, a sound like thunder suddenly came to his ears.

A rumble of thunder interrupted his train of thought for his speech. He looked up with some confusion.

Although there were clouds in the sky, he couldn't see any dark clouds at all. How could there be thunder?

And even if there were rain clouds and it thundered, where was the lightning?

There was no lightning?

Just as he was wondering how it could thunder on a clear day, a whistling sound suddenly appeared in his ears.

Something was tearing through the air, emitting a shrill cry, carrying a huge pressure from far to near.

The pressure weighed on everyone's heart, making it hard for people to breathe.

Seven or eight seconds later, huge waves suddenly rose in the sea on one side of the cargo ship. Immediately after, perhaps with an interval of only about a second, more splashes rose.

Everyone was stunned by this scene!

The captain shouted loudly, "Raise the white flag, raise the white flag!"

Four sailors were stunned for a moment, then ran toward the tower like crazy. The captain told everyone to protect themselves as much as possible and not to be exposed outside.

A violent thunderous sound came to his ears again, followed by the whistling sound. The captain raised his head and looked in the direction the whistling sound came from. In the sky, some small black dots were flying over at a speed he couldn't understand.

Some landed around the cargo ship, and some landed directly on the deck.

With a loud bang, everyone felt a clear shaking. A sailor who was raising the white flag didn't hold on steadily and fell from the tower.

Accompanied by his "Ah~~~" and "Plop!", everyone fell silent.

The person was already dead, but the shelling continued. Even though this cargo ship was big enough, at this moment, it was like a leaf in a turbulent current, in danger of capsizing at any time.

The cargo ship was hit, and seawater was pouring into the hull through the breach. The captain directed the sailors to save themselves while telling the radio operator to send a plain-text request for surrender as soon as possible.

They surrendered, unconditional surrender!

At the same time, further away, three warships were sailing quietly.

One of the radio monitors looked at an officer behind him. "I monitored a plain-text radio message sent by the Hope. They are requesting surrender."

The officer frowned. The sinking of the Hope was the result of discussions by the entire Federal upper class. Only if it were completely sunk could it trigger the fury of the Federal government!

Tens of millions in cargo sinking into the East Ocean and the deaths of hundreds of federal sailors were enough to shake the entire society.

When that time came, the Federal government declaring war on the Dantela Republic would be reasonable and would also conform to "public opinion."

!

They specifically leaked the Hope's route and the supplies on the ship to the Dantela Republic through some known spies, with the purpose of having them precisely lock onto this cargo ship.

If they were unlucky or too stupid to find the Hope, then the three warships following behind the Hope would directly destroy the Hope and then frame the Dantela Republic.

The Hope must sink, and the crew on the ship must die. Whether it was at the hands of the Dantela Navy or the Federal Navy, it didn't matter, but they must die!

Now they didn't want to die, which was not allowed.

The officer told the radio operator to continue monitoring the radio, then quickly left the room to report this to the captain.

The captain of this operation was a brigadier general. He immediately issued an order: "Shell the sea area where the Dantela Navy is located."

"I don't require you to hit them, but you must increase some pressure on them."

The officer executed it meticulously, and soon the three warships began to fire.

Sometimes naval battles all happened beyond visual range.

Because this planet was round, after a certain distance, you couldn't see, but the shells could hit.

The rumbling naval guns began to show their power. Honestly, their artillery had a large deviation from the Dantela warships, but their goal was achieved.

The Dantela Navy, which was still thinking about whether this was a conspiracy, now couldn't care about considering who these shells came from.

Their goal was to sink this important supply ship and then leave.

The Dantela naval commander directly issued the order to continue shelling. After two more rounds of shelling, the lookout had observed the cargo ship beginning to sink.

Upon receiving the news, the Dantela naval warships immediately began to return. They weren't sure how many warships were guarding this cargo ship, nor did they know where these warships were, but in short, their mission was completed.

More than an hour later, the sky had basically turned dark. The Federal Navy warships arrived at the "wreckage" sea area, and the huge searchlights almost illuminated the entire sea surface.

This was where the cargo ship sank, but because some containers were well-sealed and had enough air inside, they would float on the sea surface.

At this moment, the first mate, who was shivering, saw a searchlight shining over. He couldn't help but fix his body and shout loudly, "Save me, I'm here!"

"Hey, do you see me?"

"I'm waving, I'm here!"

Accompanied by his shouting, a beam of searchlight shone directly at him.

The intense light made him unable to open his eyes. Although he couldn't see clearly whose ship it was at all, at this very moment, his heart was full of joy—he was saved!

He waved his arms even harder, but what greeted him was the *tong-tong-tong* sound of machine gun fire.

Bullets as thick as a child's arm shot toward his location, instantly tearing apart the container that was supporting his half-floating body, and also tearing his body apart.

His upper body fell while spinning in the air. He looked at his lower body sinking in the water, his brain buzzing.

A naked massacre. Some surviving sailors were shot to death because they exposed their positions.

There were also some sailors hiding behind or under the floating containers, using visual blind spots to try to survive.

Actually, they couldn't live on the water for too long. Those containers might sink slowly in two or three days, and they had no way to leave.

But if they could live a few more days, who could give up?

The machine gun fire outside stopped. These survivors thought they had survived and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

But immediately after, those warships began to strafe all floating objects, ensuring that not a single thing could float on the water surface!

Ten minutes later, the three warships sailed away, leaving only endless despair.

At 7:30 in the morning, Lans woke up from his sleep. He sat for a while holding his forehead, then took a shower, changed into a set of clothes, and came to the dining carriage.

The chefs were cooking food in a separate glass room. Because of the glass insulation, the smell of cooking oil wouldn't drift in.

"It will be ready in five minutes, please wait a moment." The carriage attendant placed the morning newspaper by Lans's hand. "Would you like some milk, coffee, or black tea?"

Lans thought for a moment. "Milk, but don't add sugar."

He then picked up the newspaper at his side and began to read.

The train passed through a city at six o'clock and had people prepare the day's newspaper in advance and put it in the station.

When the train arrived to load water and coal, the newspapers were brought on board.

All the itineraries were arranged.

Federal people always said that federal trains were either a little late or two little late, but for the "special train" of the rich, the margin of error was within five minutes!

For the 1,000-kilometer distance from Jincheng to New Jincheng, he needed to pay 12,000 to the railway company.

But it had to be said, it was worth it.

His car was also in the carriage behind, along with the people he brought.

There was no "Today's Jincheng" here; "Today's Jincheng" was a local newspaper of Jincheng, and it only had some influence within Likalai State.

Once they left Likalai State, basically no one had heard of it, let alone subscribed to it.

What he held was the "Federal Post," a heavyweight newspaper.

When he shook open the newspaper and saw the headline on the front page, he frowned.

"Dantela Republic Navy Attacks Federal Cargo Ship, Causing Thousands to Go Missing or Die, Losses in the Tens of Millions!!"

They used bold, black font, and the exclamation mark was even bright red, as conspicuous as fresh blood!

The report roughly covered the cause, the process, and what they knew now.

The person who wrote this report was an editor-in-chief; his writing style was very sharp and highly inflammatory.

A large paragraph of description made even Lans feel the urge that "if the Dantela people cannot give a reasonable acceptance and compensation, they must be made to pay the price."

After finishing this report, he flipped through other newspapers; the front-page headlines were all this. From various aspects, they revealed one message to the public.

War, this time it really had come!

Everyone knew that it was impossible for the Dantela Republic to apologize, let alone pay compensation, so the Federal government would definitely declare war on the Dantela Republic.

Things that should have made people feel dull, under the inflammatory descriptions of these reports, made people feel a kind of power and passion!

The entire Federation's nearly 100 million people were being dragged onto this war chariot by a small group of people.

Perhaps people hadn't realized yet that this wasn't an easy thing, nor was it romantic.

Either they would crash through everyone on the road ahead.

Or they would be knocked over by someone else's carriage.

There was no third possibility!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 700 =====