Chapter 159 The Coast Guard
"That"s a few units of fully automatic precise laser welding devices!" Wu Ruoyu turned her body to the side and said. "Did you know Xia Qingqing, from Zhang Xueyang"s birthday party that last time?"
"Yes! I booked two s.h.i.+ps with him!" Chen Fan said without thinking. "Isn"t the family running a s.h.i.+pyard? These few devices were bought by her?"
"Yea, there are 2 sets of devices, all made by the Nance Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in the USA."
"How big are the devices?" he asked.
"A set is about two meters height, five meters long, and weighs about ten tons." Wu Ruoyu pondered aloud, "Actually, there were some domestic devices in their s.h.i.+pyard, which were enough for them, but they received some big order a while ago, and the owner had a high demand for their precision parts. So, they decided to import these few units of high precision laser welding devices."
"Twenty tons… Then, what will you use for the loading location?" Chen Fan considered that this could be loaded on a small submarine.
"The location is in California!" Wu Ruoyu said shyly. "They are offering three million to cover your transportation fees for two sets of the devices. Do you want to accept the job?"
California was located on the west coast of the US, which was only five thousand and five hundred nautical miles away, a.s.suming that the Electric Eel departed from Zhongyun and crossed the North Pacific Ocean.
Five thousand and five hundred nautical miles…
If the Electric Eel charged with full speed, it would reach its destination in a little more than a day. Although three million is slightly too little for payment, I will try to help just this once for Wu Ruoyu"s sake...
"No problem! I will give her a call to later to discuss the details!" Chen Fan laughed, which caused him to immediately grimace in pain, as it had pulled at his wound.
"Didn"t the doctor tell you not to fiddle around? Otherwise, your wound could open up again." Wu Ruoyu was chattering to Chen Fan, just like a kindergarten"s caretaker scolded her young pupils.
"What do you want to eat this afternoon? Since you are injured, you"d better not cook." Wu Ruoyu asked, more relaxed now after sharing her worries to Chen Fan.
"Usually, Yun Meng cooked for me, so I never needed to do it!" Chen Fan smiled at her complacently.
"What? How old is she? What"s more, it is the most arduous moment of her third year of studies, so how can you bear to make her cook for you?" Wu Ruoyu knocked his head hard.
"I buy the dishes, she boils the rice. How could it be holding up her studies, if it"s just for just a few minutes?" Chen Fan shrugged innocently.
Two o"clock in the afternoon, central part of the seabed reef in the middle of Zhongyun sea area.
Suddenly, a huge explosion came from an extremely deep hole. Then, a monster with black scales came out from inside, only to disappear amid the turbid ocean current!
Meanwhile, Chen Fan discussed the process of loading with Xia Qingqing. They were currently somewhere in the Encinitas Sea.
While the fully automatic precise laser welding devices can be made by several countries in the whole world, the difference between the products lies in the precision and quality of their welding. Although these types of devices were not strictly monitored by the US, they would not sell such a high precision device to China.
After taking the submarine model from the dock, the Electric Eel was bringing it to the North Pacific Ocean. Nowadays, the Electric Eel had grown to eighty five meters long, with a huge body that weighed a hundred tons.
It was towing a small submarine, which Chen Fan felt was not interesting enough. So, he went to the s.h.i.+pyard and asked Jiang Shui to make a bigger iron sh.e.l.l.
Chen Fan searched and found some pictures of an American Seawolf-cla.s.s submarine from the Internet, and also discovered various parameters for building one. Then, he asked Jiang Shui to make a one-to-one model, using 50 percent t.i.tanium alloy steel.
The model"s exact specifications were: a Seawolf-cla.s.s submarine, one hundred meters long, thirteen meters wide and eleven meters tall. It would be very handy for loading or hiding any traces of the Electric Eel.
Although it was quite a big project, it was still ten times easier to make, compared to the luxury submarine that they had tackled last time. Even the lights did not need to be installed on this new project!
Six days! Jiang Shui promised that it can done in six days!
At eight in the morning, the next day, they finally reached the California coastline. It had been a long sleepless night for the Electric Eel.
America is the country with the most stringent sea defense in the world. There are countless sonar surveillance devices under the sea, so it was the nightmare for the submarines of every country to navigate their waters.
As such, no large military submarine was willing to cross this restricted area, since their underwater soundprint might be recorded by someone. But, of course, an Electric Eel does not have sound print, so even if its noise was detected by Sonar, people would simply think that it was a pa.s.sing whale.
Chen Fan was preparing to go to sleep, when the doorbell rang. He knew that it was Wu Ruoyu, coming to change his dressing for him. Chen Fan did not tell Yun Meng about his injuries, since he didn"t want her to worry about him. It was enough that Wu Ruoyu was here to help him.
He opened the door slowly, then rubbed his eyes and went to lie down on the sofa in the living room. Chen Fan"s body was recovering well, especially with the added benefit from the medicinal powder. His wound was healing after only two days! If he continued to avoid strenuous exercise, he would have no further problems.
When she was removing the gauze, Wu Ruoyu realized that there was some soft tissue that stuck onto the gauze. If they had been in the hospital, the doctors would readily remove. But, as she was not ruthless, she gently dipped a cotton swab in iodine solution and wiped at it slowly and steadily.
Wu Ruoyu spent a long time doing this, but only managed to separate it a little. It was at an uncomfortable angle for her, the way that Chen Fan kept reclining his body. So, Wu Ruoyu patted Chen Fan"s arm and asked him to lie on her legs instead.
Chen Fan would not reject this request, naturally! After he adjusted his position, Chen Fan"s pa.s.sed his hand along Wu Ruoyu"s back and cuddled her soft waist.
Instantly, Wu Ruoyu"s face flushed red with a bit of anger. She tried to pull away, but Chen Fan did not want to let go. After trying a few times, Wu Ruoyu had to give up.
"Chen Fan, you are holding too tight. I can"t breathe." After finis.h.i.+ng the dressing, Wu Ruoyu protested, while using her scallion-like finger to draw circles at Chen Fan"s back.
"Hum!" Chen Fan whispered leisurely, as he loosened his arm only a bit. He had an irresistible urge to hug Wu Ruoyu into his chest mercilessly at the moment!
The pair just sat quietly, remaining in this strange position. One was intoxicated, smelling the other one"s body, while the other one was drawing circles behind the other"s back...
"Boss! Boss! The new car is coming! The new car is coming!"
w.a.n.g Bing was excited, patting the white steel door and shouting loudly.
"Stop shouting! Coming, coming!" Chen Fan unwillingly got up, extracting himself from Wu Ruoyu"s proximity.
"Pfftt!" Wu Ruoyu was laughing nonstop, when she saws Chen Fan"s frowning face.
But, her smile froze immediately, turning to disbelief, then incredulity. This was because Chen Fan had smooched her on her lips when she was not paying attention!
Wu Ruoyu"s beautiful face was blus.h.i.+ng. Then, she looked at Chen Fan and exclaimed, "You are a little rouge!"
w.a.n.g Bing was excited, as if he had won 50 million in the lottery or married the jade emperor"s daughter. He was bursting out a frenzied yell, when Chen Fan showed up. "Boss, I picked up the car!" w.a.n.g Bing exclaimed proudly.
"What are you shouting at? You are disturbing my mood!" Chen Fan gave a slap to his arm. His tone was complaining, but his expression was the same as w.a.n.g Bing"s, one filled with excitement.
This car was a Maybach 62s Zeppelin. It was more than suitable for flaunting, as it looked like a Mercedes-benz or BMW, but was a little bit bigger. But, compared to the exaggerated curves of a sports car, it was honestly a lot more like an iron sh.e.l.l!
But, if one were to sit inside it, they would find it as luxurious as the first cla.s.s cabin in a Boeing 747! It had an automatic bulletproof gla.s.s, which completely separated the front and rear rows. Under the gla.s.s, two LCD screens were installed.
Under the hand pillow center of the backseat, there was even a mini freezer and a multimedia audio and video system. The large and comfortable backseat could also be adjusted to a beach lounge mode. Moreover, it could be very comfortable to sit in, even if Yao Ming was also sitting inside.
Of course, if you think this this was a cla.s.sic car that merely pursued comfort, then you would be making a big mistake, as the power output of its 6.0 cc 12 cylinder turbo engine might even be greater than a Ferrari f430! The car was ordered by Chen Fan several days ago and was paid for in US dollars. It was said to be a limited edition, as there were just a few issued to China on a first come first served basis.
Chen Fan was exhilarated, as he got into the car and kept playing with all kinds of switches. It was like seeing a young child with a new beloved toy.
"Boss, how is it? Is it interesting?" w.a.n.g Bing was staring at the car, a smile spreading on his face. "If go out to pick up some girl, I guarantee that there would a lot of celebrities begging to come inside."
"Interesting!" Chen Fan interrupted w.a.n.g Bing roughly. "You can get lost now, as I would like to drive it and have all the fun!"
"Please don"t, boss. I will be driving you around!" w.a.n.g Bing felt wronged all of a sudden, like an abandoned sorrowful woman.
"No, no, no!" Chen Fan waved his middle finger back at him, then sent him away.
After driving away w.a.n.g Bing, Chen Fan went to Wu Ruoyu and said, "Beautiful lady, may I invite you to go for a ride with me?"
"You little rogue! I knew that you weren"t a good fellow from the moment I saw you!" Wu Ruoyu was blus.h.i.+ng and reached out her hand to knock on Chen Fan"s head. "I still have work, so you can enjoy your ride alone!"
"Hehe!" after Wu Ruoyu left, Chen Fan rubbed his chin and smiled. Just now, since Wu Ruoyu was not angry, it meant that their relations.h.i.+p had improved by a huge leap!
If I keep this up in the future, just maybe...
"Hehe!" Chen Fan was already thinking of all the possibilities!
Midnite, Encinitas, California, USA
They were on a white sand beach by the sea, and the whole beach was empty and quiet. However, floating in the sea, not far from the beach, were two big boxes.
"F**k you! These darn conscienceless businessmen chose to make the deal in the middle of nowhere!"
On the brownish gray patrol boat, Bowditch yelled to an underling beside him, "Carl, what do you say about their idea? They throw things away and leave, so are they idiots? Or, do they just think that our coast guards are eating sh*t?"
"Cap, is this a scam? It"s not impossible to sail and hang two pieces of equipment, but they can"t get out from the US territorial waters at all. That is, unless they are planning to transport these devices from the western US to the east."
Carl was 24 years old and had joined the coast guard not long ago. The fact that he was a newbie was written all over his face. "So, I think that the chinese businessman was cheated. The other side must have run away after they took the deposit."
"Regardless of whether they were cheated or not, we are now just feeding the mosquitos out here!" Bowditch was angry and swung his hand out, yelling, "You! Go and grab us some food."
Bowditch, who was the captain of the sixth detachment of the third team of the coast guard and a Major, had uncovered a total of 43 smuggling cases so far in his service, so undertaking something like this should be a snap for him.
However, they received new intel yesterday, which said that there was a Chinese businessman in Encinitas, who had bought two laser welding devices from a US manufacturing company.
Originally, there would not be any fuss about this, as laser welding machines are not laser cannons. Hence, as long as you have the money, no one would try to control you, even if you bought ten sets of them.
But, what was strange was that this Chinese businessman was opening a hypermarket, causing everyone to wonder why he had chosen to buy this kind of laser welding machine. Therefore, the local Business Investigation Division began monitoring his phone.
Then, a cross-border smuggling case had gradually surfaced. The s.h.i.+pyard from China had entrusted them to order these two welding machines. They had wanted to s.h.i.+p the order back to China via smuggling operation.
Bowditch smiled curiously, as he thought of this.
Was this group of people out of their minds? They thought that they could avoid the powerful US Coast Guard, just by choosing to make their move at night?
As long as smuggling s.h.i.+ps entered the observational range of the night vision device, their 15-meter-long patrol boat would use four high-powered s.h.i.+pborne searchlights to illuminate them. Then, Bowditch would capture the criminals easily.
Bowditch looked at the watch on his wrist. It was pointed to the 12 o"clock position. It was the official dealing time of the criminals.
However, ten minutes pa.s.sed away, and nothing happened. On a green LCD monitor, the two big boxes were still sitting there safely. At the edge of the night vision range, there was still no movement other than a dull, green s.h.i.+mmer.
He took out the cigarette, but just before he lit it, he realized something immediately and put it back in his jacket. In order to not be discovered by criminals, Bowditch had ordered that all the lights on the s.h.i.+p be turned off.
The engines were also turned off, leaving only a few air conditioners, which were rotating slightly. Of course, the night vision screen would not make this mistake! Its placement location and light blocking cover could ensure that its light could never be observed from the outside!
"Cap, bread is coming!" Carl placed a few donuts in front of Bowditch. "Cap, there"s still no movement?"
"Not even a bird sh*t!" Bowditch stuffed a donut into his mouth and spoke vaguely, "Maybe you are right. These stupid birds were cheated by someone."
Both of them kept watch for about half an hour more, yet the screen stayed the same. Except for the rolling waves, nothing was moving.
"Carl, help me for a while. I want to take a nap!" Bowditch said, while yawning.
"Wait, Cap, there seems to be some movement!" Carl suddenly spoke with a low-pitched voice, as he pointed to the green screen.
At the edge of the night vision monitor, there was a fuzzy figure slowing coming into view. Due to the distance, the night vision device could not clearly decipher what it was, but the only things that could run on the sea were undoubtedly s.h.i.+ps!
"F**k you! Finally, these monkeys are coming!" Bowditch excitedly grabbed Carl"s arm, the residual crumbs in his mouth squirting onto the screen.
"Cap, let"s turn on the searchlights to catch them!" Carl was trembling excitedly, while he pointed at the shadow on the screen.
"What are you rus.h.i.+ng me for? Wait for them to get closer. Otherwise, what would we do if they ran away?" Bowditch gave a slap to Carl"s head. "Hurry up and inform everybody to stand by and wait for my orders."
This shadow was moving fast, slowly entering the effective observational distance of the night vision device. But, puzzled Bowditch was that this extremely high-tech night vision device had a working distance of 700 meters...And, since the other s.h.i.+p was about 20 meters long and more than 500 tons, it stands to reason that, within this distance, it would be impossible to hear the sound of the engine!
In fact, he had not heard any sound from it. Bowditch even suspected that his ears were clogged, but dismissed this hypothesis when he heard the wondering whispers of his men.
"Did they turn off the engine to reduce their noise, thus depending on inertia to cruise?"
Bowditch heard this whisper from a crew member and thought that it was 99% possible. The inertia of the s.h.i.+p was the largest among transportations. A huge s.h.i.+p could even travel a few kilometers by inertia alone.
The image in the night vision device was only green, so Bowditch could not judge the model of the s.h.i.+p by his intuition alone. When the s.h.i.+p slowly stopped beside the two big boxes, Bowditch rubbed his palm and slapped the control board.
Swissh...swissh...
Four high-powered searchlights illuminated the entire sea. The Coast Guard, who had stayed in the dark for hours, could not see anything in front of them now.
Toot toot...
"We are the US Coast Guard! Please stop the boat for inspection immediately!" Bowditch grabbed the microphone and shouted out the same exact words that he had repeated 43 times before.
However, when the Coast Guard on the s.h.i.+ps adapted their eyes to the strong light, their pupils enlarged ten times and their mouths exhaled cool air suddenly, "Arh… arh…"
"Oh my goodness! This means big trouble!" Bowditch"s forehead was now flowing with cold sweat...