novelIdentical Crew Cu
| ← Ch.121 | Ch.123 → |
A journey of approximately 5, 000 nautical miles, whether it was to Tonga Trench or returning to Zhongyun, was neither a big nor small trip to the electric eel. After swimming day and night for five days, the electric eel arrived at the sea near Japan.
Chen Fan retrieved his thoughts from the eel and then gave Zhang Xueyang a call, informing him that his ship had reached Japan and the delivery would be done according to the old rules.
That evening, the electric eel brought along the three machine tools and continued with its journey. Previously, the eel needed around three days for a return trip to Japan. But now, even with a forty-ton pike, the eel only took two days to reach Zhongyun City. Since he now had an enclosed shipyard specially for loading and unloading goods, Chen Fan did not have to throw the machine tools on some beach anymore.
At 4PM, Chen Fan drove to the seaside, opened the main gate of the shipyard and got the "submarine" out before putting the three machine tools in. After making a phone call asking Zhang Xueyang to send people to move the machine tools away, the electric eel moved the whale skin wrapped poison sacs of ghost hair jellyfish, and then dropped them into the sea.
In nature, the poison sac of the ghost hair jellyfish had to float to the water's surface and let sunlight shine on it for a some time before the poison inside would slowly neutralize and turn into the fragrant ghost moon incense, which would eventually attract large amounts of fish to fight over it.
Squatting on the stairs, Chen Fan looked at the nine poison sacs floating on the water. The sizes of the nine poison sacs now were significantly smaller than when they had just been obtained, but they were still far from turning into crystals.
As the shipyard was enclosed and the dome was laid with colorful steel tiles, the sunlight was unable to shine in. After thinking for a while, Chen Fan opened the main gate of the shipyard again and controlled the eel to swim in with the pike. The eel poked away four pieces of the colorful steel tiles at the top of the shipyard, allowing sunlight to shine onto the poison sacs.
However, the shipyard was unlike the sea. Sunlight could only shine in for two hours during noontime, and this undoubtedly would increase the neutralizing time of the poison sacs. After pondering for a moment, Chen Fan shut the gate of the shipyard before driving to the hardware store and bought two sun lamps used for construction sites. Having the light sources were not enough, Chen Fan bought another two high-power fans, like those black fans commonly seen at gaming centers, to imitate sea breeze.
After putting the two sun lamps on the back seat, Chen Fan removed the screws of the two fans and supporting bars and stuffed them into the trunk before getting into the driver's seat.
Back at the shipyard, Chen Fan set up the sun lamps on the stairs and plugged them in before placing the two assembled fans side by side on the stairs. He switched them to the maximum power and pointed them at the nine poison sacs. After observing for a while to make sure that everything was fine, Chen Fan locked the gate of the shipyard before getting into the car and drove toward the city.
On his way, Chen Fan took out his mobile phone to check the time before calling Yiteng Yun and Yu Lin, instructing them to bring their men to Haitian Restaurant. Of course, Chen Fan wasn't going there to create trouble. Last afternoon, his two 5, 000 ton carriers had already returned to Zhongyun, and the men on both ships had worked hard for almost a month. Therefore, Chen Fan was planning to treat all the crewmen to a meal at the restaurant as a form of reward.
Haitian Restaurant was a relatively reputable restaurant situated in the middle section of Shuangxian Road, and it was famous for its squirrel-shaped Mandarin fish. Needless to say, the dish was not made of squirrel and Mandarin fish, but just named after its shape.
Chen Fan who drove a BMW was definitely much faster than the rest. Ten minutes later, Chen Fan walked into the main hall of the restaurant and asked at the reception counter if there was any large private dining room available.
"Hello Sir, there's a private room on the fifth floor which has not been reserved. May I know how many of you there are?" The receptionist at the counter stood up and smiled sweetly. Nowadays, it was okay if a restaurant did not have any good dishes, but it wouldn't do if it didn't have a pretty receptionist, otherwise it would look like it was a lower level than the others.
"Thirty-nine including me!"
It fits your requirement!" The receptionist held her ear mic and gave some instructions before handing a business card with gold hot stamping."Sir, you can call to make a reservation in advance next time!"
"Alright!" Chen Fan took over the business card and was led by the waitress to the private room on the fifth floor. The elevator stopped for a while on the second floor, and two strong youngsters walked in. One of them belched as he pressed the fourth floor button, whereas the other one stared straight at Chen Fan's direction.
Hmm, this fella's taste doesn't look too good! Chen Fan smacked his lips. The waitress beside him was just passable, but this guy couldn't shift his eyes away. After reaching the fifth floor, Chen Fan was led by the waitress to the private room on the left.
"You Dong? When did your taste become so unique? You're interested in that kind?" In the elevator, the youngster who pressed the fourth floor button mocked his companion just then.
"Interested my foot!" The youngster called You Dong shouted."I was looking at the man beside her..."
...
The over 100-square meter private room was considerably luxurious, with an imitation wool carpet laid on the floor and a huge whale skull specimen hanging above the fireplace. The walls, the dining tables, and the crockery were all sunset red.
"Excuse me Sir, would you like to order ala-carte dishes or take the set meal?" The waitress took out a menu, pen and paper from the cabinet at the side before walking to Chen Fan and bowed at him.
"Let's go with this set meal!" Chen Fan took a look and then chose three moderately-priced set meals.
"Certainly, Sir. I'll get the kitchen to prepare. Just inform us when all your guests are here!" The waitress smiled as she bowed, and then gently closed the room door.
After waiting for the waitress to leave, Chen Fab leaned on the chair and shifted his thoughts to the electric eel. There were nine pieces of treasure in the shipyard, so he had to take a look now and then through the electric eel.
It was completely dark at the seaside. Other than the light coming out from the top of the shipyard, there was nothing else suspicious. Looks like I gotta get a blanket to cover the top and wait for it to be sunny during the day before opening it! Chen Fan mumbled inside after observing for a while.
After retrieving his thoughts and waiting for around twenty minutes, the door of the private room was opened from the outside. In a single file, a large group of men in their mid-twenties with bulging muscles and stiff expressions came in. They all had identical crew cuts and gave off an air of valiance.
"Hello, boss!" The large group of people shouted in a loud and uniform voice when they saw Chen Fan sitting on the chair, like little soldiers seeing their officer.
"All of you are here... quickly find yourselves a seat!" Chen Fan stood up from the chair and gestured to everyone not to block the entrance. These thirty-four tough-looking men were the employees on Chen Fan's two cargo carriers, which included two captains and twenty-one crewmen. They were previously compulsory servicemen on warships for two years before being demobilized.
Generally, serving on warships was quite beneficial to getting a job back home after demobilization. Bosses of ocean-going cargo ships were especially fond of hiring demobilized navy personnel. Not only did they have good qualities, but they could also pick up the various jobs on the ships fast.
"Hello, boss!" After the group went in, Zhang Lele came in with a young lady in her early twenties and imitated the tone of the crewmen cheekily in front of Chen Fan.
"Hello, hello." Chen Fan laughed."Zhang Lele, you and Zhao Shujie are the only girls. You two go order your own drinks."
"Oh, and also inform the waitress outside. Tell them to quickly serve the dishes!"
"Yu Lin, Yiteng Yun, you two shall be in charge of one table each. Tell the crewmen to drink all they want!" Chen Fan patted the two on their shoulders.
| ← Ch. 121 | Ch. 123 → |