Shadow Empire

Chapter 695: One-stop service for laying bait [666+26]
On January 9th, Lance boarded a luxury train carriage bound for Xinjin City.

At the same time, a sailor from a cargo ship sailing on the Eastern Ocean came to the first mate's cabin.

This is a cargo ship named "Hope". It belongs to the Federal Hongsheng Transport Company and is mainly responsible for the transportation of goods on international trade routes.

Hongsheng Transport Company is a long-established shipping company in the federation. It owns a considerable number of cargo ships and has the strongest business capabilities.

It is said that the background of this company is not simple, and they have certain connections with the Federal Navy. However, there is no real evidence for such things, and anyone can make up stories.

The sailors on the Hope are all experienced sailors. Some of them have been sailing in the Eastern Ocean for a lifetime, while others have been sailing for several years. It can be said that they are very experienced.

But today, a sailor found something wrong. He took the initiative to come to the first mate's lounge and knocked on the cabin door.

"Come in."

The voice of the first mate came from inside. The first mate was lying on the bed smoking, holding a writing board in his hand with a page of letter paper on the writing board. He seemed to be writing a letter.

The first mate looked up as the sailor came in, then took another puff of his cigarette, flicked the ash, and put it back in his mouth. "Wait a moment, it will be ready soon."

The sailor stood by and waited for about a minute. After finishing the last stroke, the first mate folded the letter and put it in the envelope.

According to their route, they will arrive at an international port in the southwest of Tanfit continent, which belongs to Slad, in about five days.

The ship is full of cargo. Their job this time is to deliver these goods to Slad, then stay there for a while. After the supply is completed, they will load the cargo again and go to another area. They will circle most of the planet, eventually crossing three oceans and returning to the starting point from the east coast.

Just this trip can bring at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue to the company.

Everyone knows that shipping can make money, and the more tense the times are, the more money can be made, but this business is not something that everyone can do.

First of all, you have to have money to buy a boat.

Secondly, you need people, experienced captain and crew, otherwise you will never know where your ship ends up.

Then you need to have some connection with the navy, which can provide a certain degree of escort to avoid harassment from certain specific pirate groups.

You also need to be familiar with the pirate groups on the sea, otherwise they will target you and rob you every time you go out to sea, which will be very troublesome!
then……

In short, this is a very difficult thing to do. The profit of sea transportation is indeed not small, but there are also many risks and various expenses.

This is a business that only people with ability and connections can do.

The first mate's letter will be mailed after docking and will reach his family about two months earlier than him.

At this time, he put the letter into a special waterproof box at hand.

"What can I do for you?", he asked the sailor.

The sailor didn't know what to say. He hesitated for a while before saying, "It seems that there is something wrong with the goods we delivered this time."

The first mate took a final puff of his cigarette and put the butt into the ashtray. He did not get nervous about the sailor's remarks; he did not think it was a problem.

“The containers were filled with rocks.”

"They're all stones?" The first mate's voice rose noticeably. "How can they be all stones?"

“Do you know how expensive it is to ship these containers?”

"Who the hell is crazy enough to transport worthless rocks from the Federation to Slade?"

He shook his head. He didn't believe the sailor's words, but the sailor seemed a little nervous. "I swear, I'm not lying."

"The wind was very strong last night. When I checked the containers today, I found that one of them was tilted and the container was broken."

A rupture in the container body is also troublesome. If the owner of the container cargo has insurance, the insurance company will harass them.

The insurance company needs to investigate many details of the container, of course this depends on what is inside it.

If the price is cheap, the situation will be relatively easier to solve.

If the price is high, in order to avoid compensation as much as possible, they will harass the sailors, and there was a scandal before.

A container accidentally fell into the water. The insurance company did not want to pay compensation, so the sailor said it was an accident caused by human factors during transportation. In the end, the claims manager disappeared, and so did the sailor.

If the items in the container are damaged and insured, the insurance company will try to reduce its losses by causing trouble for them.

When the first mate had a headache, the sailor continued, "When I climbed up to check the container, I looked inside and saw that it was full of those big rocks."

The first mate frowned after hearing this. These containers are basically sealed, and there will be a lot of trouble if they are opened.

But if the box was broken and he could see what was inside, he still planned to take a look.

Soon he and the sailor came to the container he mentioned, and he could clearly see that the container was deformed. After he climbed up, he fixed the safety rope, lowered himself along the side wall to the edge of the breach, and shone a flashlight inside.

Although it was dark, I could still see clearly that they were large rocks.

The dirt on the fracture also shows the special nature of these things.

The first mate didn't take it too seriously at this point. He returned to the deck and said, "Maybe it's some rock that contains special minerals?"

"You've been on the ship for many years, and you have to get used to the strange things they transport."

The sailor pursed his lips and said, "Most of these containers are from the same company, and when the wind is strong, there are rolling sounds in many containers."

The first mate's expression finally changed. He said "Follow me" and soon came to the captain's room.

He reported what the sailors had discovered to the captain. The captain opened the safe out of curiosity and found the list of items being transported in a document.

"Goods from Kangfude Group - special medicine - one hundred and fifty boxes - number twenty-five..."

The captain has worked at Hongsheng for his entire life and has only one year left before retirement.

This is also the last year of his sailing career. After finishing this year, he will be able to retire around October and enjoy his retirement life, rather than waiting until the end of the year.

Having worked in Hongsheng all his life, he has long been accustomed to the company's working style. The ground inspectors will ensure that no mistakes are made, and his only responsibility is to successfully take the ship to where it should go.

In fact, he also checked the list when uploading it, but he just checked it casually to see which companies' products they were, and he just glanced at them.

It was impossible for him to open the containers to see if they contained these things, and this list was only prepared in case of emergency.

At this moment, facing so many medical containers, he thought of the news from the last day before the New Year.

The federal government decided to provide a batch of medical resources to the Slades to help their soldiers on the front line who urgently need these life-saving supplies.

He was already beginning to feel extremely uneasy, and his hands were shaking slightly. He immediately put down the documents in his hands, closed the door of the safe, and tried his best to make his voice sound normal, "Let's go check out the container."

Not long after, there were already quite a few people around the damaged container. The first mate came, and now the captain too, along with quite a few people who came to watch.

It was so boring on the boat, apart from scrubbing the decks I just had to use my hands to face the sea.

Those sea fishes are not as picky as their girlfriends and will eat everything.

So that there would be something fun to watch, they all came running over, even the cook came.

Some people think that the sailor who tied the rope is in trouble, but others think that is not the case.

The captain was placed at the breach. He took a look inside and saw that it was indeed filled with stone.

He had his basket moved to the horizontal end and checked it, and found that it was indeed the special anti-inflammatory medicine of Kangfude Group.

His face had become extremely ugly. After he came down from above, he directly asked the first mate to dismantle the first layer of containers.

The first mate was a little hesitant. "If we open it privately, will it cause some trouble after we are arrested?"

The captain shook his head. "Tear it apart. I'll be responsible for whatever happens."

After hearing what the captain said, the first mate didn't say anything else. He just took the pliers and cut the seal, and then the sailors opened the door of the container.

Everyone stretched their necks to look inside, but soon they were shocked because it was full of stones!
The captain's eyes were red. "Keep dismantling, dismantle this row!"

At this time, the sailors on the ship also realized that something was wrong, and they immediately did as they were told, but all the containers were filled with stones.

Unlike the sailors who were thinking "someone in the company has swapped the cargo", the captain was considering whether they would attract the Dentra navy.

Generally speaking no.

The Dantra people already had a history of intercepting federal merchant ships, so this time they did not take the previous route, but when he thought about the stones inside, tens of millions of supplies turned into worthless stones, he felt cold all over.

He could not even stand steadily now, so he could only support the first mate and let the first mate take him back.

Seeing the captain in such a state, the first mate looked confused, "What's wrong with you?"

"Such a large-scale substitution definitely has nothing to do with us, and it can't be traced back to us. Are you overly worried because you are about to retire?"

The captain glanced at him and shook his head. "I just hope my guess is wrong, otherwise we..."

He originally wanted to say "We are all in trouble", but if Dantra's navy really attacked them, it would not be "bad luck" but "death"!
"I hope God can bless us to arrive at our destination safely!", he muttered, and then looked at the reply, "Aren't you curious about what I'm worried about?"

"I'm worried that we have become that key bait!"

(End of this chapter)