Evil Awe-Inspiring

The motorboat has been driving for a long time, and stops halfway. The black man who"s sailing the boat take off the canvas, under it are cans of petrol!

A cold sweat is all over me when I see this! Just now, Fat fellow and I even leaned on canvas to smoke. I feel chilly! But fat fellow looks indifferent.

Refuel again in the middle and a few hours later. Black man measures the position with an instrument, then looks at the fat fellow and says something in a strange language.

Suddenly I feel a jolt and look at him carefully.

"Don"t stare at him, he"s Vietnamese." Fat fellow says lightly, "He has a bad temper. Don"t look at him all the time."

After a quiet wait, our boat stops and floating on the sea. That Vietnamese is a little bit impatient. Sometimes he talks to the fat fellow, who has a relaxed expression.

Finally, there is a faint motor sound in the distance, and then a few flashes of searchlights. Fat fellow immediately stands up, pulles out a large flashlight from under the canvas and lights it on several times, which in a strange rhythm flickering.

You come and go to me for a while. Fat man nods and looks back at me. "Kid, here"s your ship."

A big boat slowly stops not far away. Our motorboat starts to pull in. I see that there is no flag flying on that ship. The hull is a bit worn out. It seems that a refitted large fishing ship. There are also abandoned fishing nets and other devices beside the mast.

After dock, someone put down the rope from the ship. Fat man smiles at me and says, "Let"s go up."

I pick up the bag he gave me, think about it, and turn to look at the Vietnamese, say in a sincere tone, "Thank you."

Honestly. I do it purely by habit. Because others help me, I"m used to saying thank you. The Vietnamese looks at me and suddenly a smile comes out of his cold face. Then he takes something from the under of his seat and hands it to me.

It"s a bottle of mineral water, a miscellaneous brand, and it"s open, only half.

Fat fellow looks at the bottle, and then looks at the Vietnamese with an odd eye. Suddenly he laughs, "Kid, he likes you. You can take it. Maybe it will be useful on the way."

I"m puzzled. But I still take it, although it is a bottle of water that has been opened, perhaps even has bee drunk. I carefully put it in my bag.

Fat fellow accompanies me aboard the boat. There are five or six crew members on the ship, each with a cold complexion. I see somebody with a gun on their waists. Several diving devices are hung in the cabin. Fat fellow laughes and hugs a man, then points me and says, "This is my brother!"

This man is short, thin and speaks Mandarin, but not standard, and very stiff: "Your brother... Not like you! You, big! He, small!" He smiles and makes a comparison with his hand, probably describing the difference between me and fat fellow.

Fat fellow smiles, then takes out a cell phone from his arms and dials a number in front of that person. After the phone is connected, he hands the phone to that guy. That man immediately takes the phone and listening. He looks serious at first, but after listening for a while, he smiles with satisfaction and pats fat fellow. "Very good, the money is all wired. You"re very credible. Me either!"

He lifts his chin to me and says, "Go in and sleep in my room!"

Fat fellow tells me another phone number: "After you go ash.o.r.e, find a place to call this number, someone will pick you up."

After that, he pats me and says goodbye to me. Before he leaves, he grabs me, staring at me with a smile: "Kid, do you know why I saved you?"

"I don"t know." I shake my head.

"Because there are so few people like you. Death one is less one." He laughs sadly: "So I don"t want you to die."

Watching him jump back from the ship to the motorboat, I suddenly feel a little touched and reluctant. I go to the side of the ship and shout to him, "Brother Ocean, I Chen Yang will come back one day!"

Fat fellow just waves to me and then laughing and shouting to me, "Ask yourself before you do anything in the future, is it worth it?"

The motorboat leaves quickly and goes away quickly.

I look at the leaving boat and say to myself: "It"s not worth it! But I don"t regret it!" I seemed to be relieved of myself, "At least I don"t owe him now."

This is a smuggling ship. The man who trades with fat fellow is also a Vietnamese. He seems to have done a lot of business with fat fellow. His name is even more strange, calls "Old Snake".

When the fat fellow sent me aboard, I wonder why the Vietnamese on the motorboat didn"t go aboard. Later, I learned that although they are all Vietnamese, they come from different backgrounds and have historical grievances. But I won"t ask for details.

Just one day after I come here, I just know there are thirty people under the cabin.

This ship used to be a fishing boat... In fact, it still is now. Publicly it belongs to a Vietnamese fishing company, and the fishing gear on board is real.

Usually this boat is used for fishing, and when needed, it will empty the cabin below for stowaway pa.s.sengers!

I didn"t go to the cabin below deck to take a look. Old snakes themselves don"t go either. The crews on board live in the cabin above. I live in the Old Snake"s room. He say this is the captain"s room. In fact, it is only about the size of the toilet at home. There"s a small bed in the room. The sheet smells like fishy odor. There"s a tattered nautical chart on the table.

Every day I eat fish, like the crews, and a little vegetable.

The stowaways live under the cabin. I can"t see them at all. I don"t know what they look like. They never even go to the deck, because the door to the cabin below is always locked! Every day a crew will send a small amount of water and food down to them.

I can almost be sure with a glance that little water and food is not enough to eat at all!

But Old Snake doesn"t care at all. In his words, "It"s enough for them to not die for hunger."

It"s the same smuggling, and I enjoy almost the best treatment. I have the same food as the crews, and I can breathe on the deck every day. I even have cigarettes to smoke. Fat fellow left some in my bag.

I shared a few packs of cigarettes with Old Snake and the other crews at random and their faces softened immediately. As a result, most of the crews are very kind to me, and I can walk around the deck at will. I can turn around anywhere except one of the cabins they locked up.

In the night, I even play cards with the crews. The stakes are cigarettes. In less than four days, I have run out of cigarettes.

Frankly speaking, I even feel that everything is fine in these four days, until...

On the fifth day, the weather is fine, but it is a little hot. Standing on the deck, you can see the sea on all sides. No wheel can see a trace of land from any angle. This view makes people feel very, very small! Today, there is no wind. The sun is directly on the nail wrench. It"s too hot! I feel hot sitting in the cabin so that can"t help but go outside. Most of the crews are bare-chested and lazy with their armor spanners. Old Snake is smoking in the c.o.c.kpit. His forehead is full of sweat and cursing with words I don"t understand.

The ship is full of fishy smell, although I"ve been used to it these days, but it"s so hot that I can"t stand it. It"s only when the deck is ventilated that I feel a little better.

Suddenly, a crew member goes to the c.o.c.kpit and says something to Old Snake. After listening, Old Snake speaks something carmly. Then I stand on the bow deck and see two crew members coming down to the cabin and carry a man in less than a minute.

The man hasn"t any movement. When he"s lifted up to the dock, arms droop as if he has lost consciousness.

Less than seven or eight steps away from me, the two crew members have a cold face, take that man to the side and throw him into the sea!

I"m shocked!

The two crew members seem to have no response and have become accustomed to it. They clap their hands. They talk and laugh to each other, go inside and turn out a bag, open and check it.

My heart has been sinking, I can not help but walk quickly to the c.o.c.kpit, where Old Snake stays, I hesitate for a moment, face with some stern, asking him: "just now..."

Old Snake is looking at the crew turning over the bag. He just looks at me casually and says, "That man is dead."

I take a deep breath: "A stowaway?"

"Well!" Old Snake shrugs his shoulders indifferently and stretches out his hands. "The dead is normal."

At this time, two crew members who are checking suddenly cheering and take out a pile of banknotes and half a pack of cigarettes from the bag. Old Snake goes to them without any expression and grabs the money. Then he takes half and throws back to the two crew members. The rest He just put into his arms, and he takes away the half pack of cigarettes. Then he comes to me and takes one out of the half pack of cigarettes and hands it to me. "Want one?"

Suddenly, I feel a little nausea and vomiting.

Seeing that I don"t mean to answer, Old Snake gives a cold smile: "What are you afraid of? Anyway, he"s dead, no need anymore, isn"t he?"

Cigarettes are all shared to the crew by Old Snake. Then he lights one for himself. I don"t speak, look at them quietly. My mind is thinking about the man who has been thrown off the ship. n.o.body knows his ident.i.ty, his age and his name.

A living person just disappeared from the world!

"What are you thinking?" Old Snake comes to me and says, "Man dead is natural. They die a lot every time." He grins and points under the cabin: "It"s hot above, it"s hotter below! There"s no wind there, water also not enough. That man was unlucky, so he died."

When he"s laughing, he shows his yellow teeth.

The sun shines on me, but I feel a little cold.