Chapter 784: Escorted By Police Cars
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After the two policemen looked at each other, the policeman who had a small mustache pondered, "There"s such a thing? You guys are saying that there"s a person in this cargo container?"
"Yes," Lu Guan replied firmly, "and not just one!"
The other policeman, who had a burly physique, shook his head. "No, not possible. Who would put people in a cargo container? Trying to suffocate them?"
"If you guys open up the cargo container and have a look, you guys will understand what we"re saying," Li Du said.
The two policemen glanced at each other again. Following which, the policeman who had a small mustache said, "Whose cargo container is this? Open it."
The stevedores shook their head simultaneously. "Don"t know, we don"t have the key."
Having found two iron pins in the truck, Brother Wolf went over to the cargo container and began fiddling with its lock. Before long, the doors of the cargo container were opened.
After the doors of the cargo container were opened, a few large cardboard boxes could be seen inside the cargo container. When Brother Wolf took down one of the boxes and opened it, a few pieces of electronic waste appeared inside the box.
While the stevedores were waiting to watch Li Du and his group make a fool of themselves, one of them scorned, "It"s just some pieces of electronic waste that needed to be disposed of. These idiots!"
Li Du ordered, "Clear the boxes!"
Brother Wolf and G.o.dzilla speedily cleared the cardboard boxes that were inside the cargo container. Just as the two policemen were getting impatient with them, a large wooden box appeared in the middle of a bunch of cardboard boxes.
When the large wooden box was opened, a child suddenly emerged from within, kneeled on the ground, and started gasping for air!
One, two, three—four children?
The first child that came out from the wooden box, who knelt on the ground and gasped for air, wore a T-s.h.i.+rt that had a picture of Superman on it and was restrained by two tubes around his body.
With a facemask on their faces and an oxygen tank with them, the rest of the children were asleep inside the wooden box.
Everyone was stunned after seeing this sight, especially the two policemen, who looked completely baffled with their mouths and eyes wide open.
Seizing the opportunity, Li Du shouted, "See, illegal immigration, it"s definitely illegal immigration!"
The policeman who had a small mustache gave Li Du a troubled look before shaking his head and muttering, "No, no, no, sir—no, no, no. This isn"t illegal immigration. I"m afraid this matter is even more serious than that. That"s Howard!"
The burly policeman took out a walkie-talkie and began shouting in a fast manner, "Station, station, station, we are at Devonport, we are at Devonport. We have found small Superman, Howard. Require full support, full support!"
After talking to each other in a frantic manner, the two policemen rushed toward the children.
The policeman with a small mustache picked up the child wearing a Superman T-s.h.i.+rt and asked, "Hey, hey, Howard, look at me. Are you Howard? Show me your back."
Hearing his words, Li Du suddenly figured out why the small boy looked familiar. He"d seen him before, it was just that he"d seen him on television.
Due to encountering a storm very soon after arriving in Melbourne and having nothing to do at the inn, Li Du could only watch television. There had been quite a number of television channels reporting an incident regarding a small, missing boy.
As a long time had pa.s.sed since he"d seen the boy on television and he hadn"t thought much of the incident, he hadn"t recollected the incident when he"d first seen the small boy.
The small boy, who looked dazed, was only gasping for air and did not say anything. All of a sudden, he opened his mouth, "Ah-ah-ah! Let me breathe. Bring me water!"
Even though chaos ensued within the group of stevedores, who were waiting to watch Li Du and his group make a fool out of themselves, they did not run away just because the children had been found. On the contrary, they came over in force.
"What"s going on? Why are there children in the cargo container?"
"Oh my, small Superman Howard, he"s small Superman Howard. We almost made a huge mistake!"
"What about him? What"s going on?"
"You don"t know small Superman Howard? He"s the child that went missing!"
Two police cars speedily drove over. Soon after, a helicopter appeared in the sky above them. The police were using a helicopter!
After jumping down from the helicopter, a few heavily-armed policemen, who were wearing bulletproof vests and carrying either shotguns or pistols, immediately cordoned off the port.
Subsequently, more police cars drove over. Other than five police cars arriving at the scene one after another, a van, which had the words "SBS" printed on it, had also arrived at the scene. After the van came to a halt, reporters and cameramen got off and hurriedly rushed over.
Hans looked at Lu Guan and asked, "What exactly is going on?"
Lu Guan replied, "Not illegal immigration. Boss, it"s child trafficking. These four children are all missing children. The child that woke up is Howard. He went missing not long ago. Everyone in Australia is searching for him and various large television stations are reporting on him."
"You know all that?" Hans asked, shocked. "You know all that from the news that you saw when you came to the island the last few times to trade?"
Lu Guan replied, "Of course not. I heard all that from those fellas. They"re currently talking about it."
Later on, an ambulance arrived at the scene and all four children were carried onto it.
After the police had surrounded Li Du and the stevedores, a stern-looking middle-aged blond Caucasian man took out his identification card and said, "I am Hobart police station"s commissioner, Quentin Lincoln. Please kindly follow us and cooperate with our investigation."
Li Du said, "We are willing to. However, hope you can understand that we, who are black gold abalone harvesters, need to sell off these abalones first. Otherwise, they will die and lose their value."
After checking the black gold abalones in the cooler boxes, Quentin said reasonably, "No problem, but I"m not giving you guys a lot of time."
"We have already contacted the buyer. All we have to do is deliver the abalones."
"Alright."
Li Du and his group boarded a police car. With three police cars escorting them, they were driven to the transaction site to sell the black gold abalones.
The buyer who Lu Guan had found for the black gold abalones was a Frenchman. When the buyer saw Li Du and his group alight from the police car with cooler boxes in their hands, he became excited.
"No money, no goods," Lu Guan said in a manner that was unlike his usual self.
The Frenchman hurriedly told a policeman, "Officer, I am a merchant purchasing black gold abalones. This must be a misunderstanding. I have never done any illegal dealings before."
The leader of the policemen said, "I know. Fast, carry out your transaction."
The Frenchman exclaimed, "No, I have not partic.i.p.ated in illegal dealings. What are you guys here for? Enforcing fis.h.i.+ng laws?"
Li Du, who did not know whether to cry or laugh, had no choice but to explain to the Frenchman the reason for the policemen following them.
With that, the Frenchman finally calmed down. After he checked the condition of the black gold abalones, both parties very quickly agreed on a price and the transaction was completed.
While the Frenchman was putting away the black gold abalones, he said, "Mates, you guys are too amazing. This is the first time I"ve seen a person selling black gold abalones with a group of policemen—first time in my life seeing this."
After the transaction was completed, the police cars drove toward the southeast to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania.
Located on the estuary of the Derwent River in the southeast region of Tasmania, Hobart was an ancient city with a landma.s.s of approximately 60-square-miles.
As the city was built in 1803, it was second only to Sydney in Australia"s history.
As far back as 1642, the Dutch explorer, Tasman, went on an expedition to the South Pacific and first discovered the small island before touring the south-eastern coast of the island. Even though there was a navigator who had been to the small island before, he hadn"t had the intention of occupying it.
It was not until 1802 that the captain of the Royal Navy, Bowen, landed on the southeast corner of the small island. In the following year, he announced that the small island was to be a British colony and began establis.h.i.+ng political control over it.