From the Ship of Fools to Earl of Wugang

Chapter 97 [Four Signatures] The Great Chase

Hours later, the phone at the Hebei Police Station finally rang.

Diligent river police discovered fresh coal ash, fuel barrels, and drag marks from a steamboat entering and exiting a shipyard on the south bank that had been closed for several years. Nearby patrol personnel also heard short bursts of boiler exhaust.

Douglas put down the receiver and immediately spread the map out on the table.

He arranged for plainclothes officers to split into three groups and approach the dock from the coal yard, the old railway, and the riverside path, while requesting the river police to block the waterway from upstream and downstream.

The group then boarded a hastily rented speedboat. In addition to them, the driver, and the mechanic, four armed police officers squeezed onto the boat.

Douglas stood beside the packed cockpit, receiving reports from various land-based teams via the ship's radio.

The river mist covered the water surface, and the outline of the closed dock was not visible until more than a hundred meters away.

The rusted crane arm extends obliquely into the river channel, and a line of turbid river water flows continuously from below the sluice gate.

As the first group of plainclothes officers approached the wall, a shard of glass on the roof, pulled by a thin thread, turned and reflected a faint light.

Immediately afterwards, three consecutive knocks came from inside the drain pipe, the sound traveling along the hollow iron pipe deep into the dock.

"Stop, they're on guard," Edmund warned.

Before Douglas could get the land personnel to evacuate, the low hiss of the boilers pressurizing could be heard from inside the water gate.

Garn had clearly anticipated that someone would come after them. Before the police could fully surround them, the rusty water gate was suddenly pulled open to both sides.

The first Aurora plunged into the river fog, crashing through floating planks and spewing a thick cloud of black smoke from its chimney.

Seconds later, the second ship followed closely behind, turning in the opposite direction.

The third ship was the last to sail out, and the three brass nameplates reflected the exact same faint light in the fog.

The three boats were almost identical in shape, stern lights, and deck layout, with two or three wooden crates covered with tarpaulins weighing down their sterns. They immediately dispersed after leaving the dock and headed towards three interconnected tributaries.

Douglas's face darkened as he watched the distance widen rapidly.

At this time, not all the river police upstream and downstream had arrived. He only had this speedboat and two patrol boats that had just arrived. Any wrong division of forces could allow the real Garn to break through the blockade.

"The one on the north side will be handed over to the No. 1 boat, and we will confirm the other two." He quickly made the arrangements.

A response came through the radio, and the patrol boat on the left immediately turned.

The rented speedboat remained between the other two boats, its engine pushed to near its limit by the mechanics, and the boat was violently rocked by the continuous waves.

The remaining two ships had similar drafts, identical sternlight positions, and even used the same type of tarpaulin for the wooden crates on their decks.

Edmund gripped the overhead railing; the deliberately left markings were meaningless. He turned his attention to the ship's tilt as it rounded the bend.

As the boat cut through the bend on the left, both the hull and stern shifted outwards almost simultaneously, with minimal change in the waterline. Beneath those wooden crates were mostly evenly laid ballast stones.

The boat on the right was turning sharply. Its stern first sank half a foot, and the wake clearly rose. The stern then briefly rose before being pushed back down to the surface.

"The right side." Edmund pointed to the target. "The real weight is concentrated at the rear. The weight of the other ship has been deliberately spread out."

Douglas did not give the order immediately; instead, he turned to look at the passageway to the side.

Rebecca, who had been standing on the side of the ship, rushed in quickly and shouted, "That one on the starboard. Its cylinders are making a problem; it's the real Aurora!"

""

"Chase the right-hand ship," Douglas immediately ordered. "Notify the second boat to intercept the other one."

The real Aurora has used this delay to create distance. The river ahead is gradually widening, and once it passes through the downstream locks, it will be able to enter the main channel where cargo ships are concentrated.

By then, it will be much more difficult to spot a small boat from the fog and the fleet of ships.

Edmund looked down at the river map fixed to the side of the cockpit. The main channel meandered southeast along the river bend, with a narrow cargo waterway running alongside it through an old coal yard.

The path became clearer as the ship moved forward. The receding tide was flowing downstream along the cargo channel, and a continuous deepwater line remained between several bridge piers.

The road is narrow and has many turns, but it reconnects to the main river channel upstream of the lock.

"Go this way, the water level is high enough for speedboats to pass." Edmund pressed the old waterway on the map. "Cut in behind the coal barn, go around to the left of the third pier, and we can intercept the Aurora before it reaches the lock."

The driver glanced at the obsolete markings on the map and hesitated noticeably.

Douglas asked, "Are you sure?"

"Damn it, if we keep going down the main river, we definitely won't be able to catch up. We have no other choice!"

"Turn the rudder and enter the cargo waterway."

The speedboat skimmed almost against the stone-paved riverbank as it entered the narrow entrance. Abandoned warehouses rushed past on both sides, low iron bridges loomed overhead, and chimneys nearly grazed the crossbeams.

The mechanic had to continuously adjust the steam intake, and the pointer on the boiler pressure gauge swung back and forth near the red line.

The fake boat behind them quickly realized they were taking a shortcut, so it turned around and rushed toward the waterway entrance, trying to block the speedboat under the bridge.

Before it could complete its turn, the river police had already caught up. The patrol boat rammed the dummy boat from the side, and two river police officers threw out grappling hooks, forcibly entangled the two boats together.

The gunshots and shouts were quickly left behind in the fog. As the speedboat passed under the last iron bridge, the real Aurora appeared just in time to the right of the river bend.

Garn also saw the pursuers. He stood beside the wooden crate at the stern of the ship, his injured right arm tightly wrapped with a cloth strip.

After a brief eye contact, he opened the lid of the central box, took out a large sea-green gemstone, and pressed it into the center of a four-folded lead sheet.

The sound of the water around the Aurora suddenly slowed down. The ripples that had been cut by the stern gathered again, and a layer of sea-green light rose on the surface of the river.

Three faces belonging to different men emerged from the water one after another, their foreheads, noses, and lips overlapping, with only three pairs of eyes slowly turning in different directions.

The ghoul crawled onto the deck from below the stern. Its three sets of ribs contracted simultaneously, and three human faces on the river surface opened their mouths.

The next moment, the water between the two boats suddenly surged.

A large wave crashed into the speedboat from the side, causing the entire vessel to tilt to the left. A metallic clang came from the boiler room, and the steam pressure dropped rapidly.

Rebecca rushed into the cabin, holding onto the railing, to help the mechanic hold down the constantly bouncing speed control lever, and then opened the auxiliary water inlet valve.

"Keep the speed! Don't let the bow turn, or the next wave will capsize it!"

'

Conrad had arrived at the ship and drew his sword, standing in front of the pilot and mechanic.

The skull in the middle of the Corpse Spirit opened its jaw, and three gasps merged into a sharp stream of air, as several fine needles shot through the river mist.

Conrad swung his sword repeatedly, deflecting the two poison needles closest to the cockpit. The third grazed his shoulder and embedded itself in the life jacket, quickly leaving a blackened stain on the white canvas.

She tossed her coat onto the deck and fastened a roll of boarding rope around her waist. She stepped onto the railing, waiting for the two boats to get closer.

The distance was shortened from fifty meters to forty meters, and then to within thirty meters.

Edmund stared at the empty deck at the stern of the Aurora, blackened by coal smoke.

Both ships were bobbing up and down at high speed, and the landing point would only remain clear for a very short time.

He seized the moment when the Aurora passed the crest of a wave and its stern briefly lifted, using two seconds to determine the position between the railing and the wooden crate.

My field of vision then contracted inwards at the edge, and the deck beneath my feet briefly lost its weight.

【Starry Sky】

The icy river mist abruptly vanished from his side. The next instant, Edmund's feet were already on the stern of the Aurora.