Operation Red Book

The cold and damp wooden planks, the bone-chillingly hard iron bars, the dim and dazzling lights, the thick and exciting waves...

This is the bottom of the cabin, where sunlight cannot penetrate and light cannot penetrate.

Mr. Zhu lay weakly on the ground, misty between his eyes and hot breath coming out from his slightly open lips.

How many days have I been locked up here? What's going on outside? Why haven't they come to rescue me yet? Have they all been killed...

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The familiar sound of iron chains came from the darkness in the distance, followed by the loud sound of an iron door being opened.

The white light coming through the crack in the door almost blinded Mr. Zhu's eyes. He turned his head impatiently and struggled to prop up his upper body.

"Hey, hey, hey! It's time for dinner! Hey, you're still alive..."

The rude Guangzhou accent was hoarse as if he had consumed more than ten kilograms of sea salt.

"Hey! Can you please die soon? I lost all the bets I made with my brothers!"

"Why don't you just bet on me surviving next time?"

Mr. Zhu had his back to the iron gate, his eyes tightly furrowed due to the stimulation of the strong light.

"Then I will lose even more miserably. How can you possibly survive?"

"I won't die so easily if I can't see Zhao Minghua..."

"You want to get into trouble again, right? You're still pestering our boss in this damn place! I'm telling you one last time! Impossible!"

"Ha ha……"

Mr. Zhu sneered twice, stretched his arms, and took great effort to turn half of his body.

"Why don't you try to make a bet, who will die first, me or Zhao Minghua..."

"Shut up!"

"Crash..."

"Boom..."

"what!"

"Oh!"

"Uh……"

"Don't even think about eating today!"

Mr. Zhu fell to the ground again, motionless like a dead fish.

His face touched the dirty, wet floor, and what lingered at his nose was not only the dampness of the wooden boards soaked by sea water, but also a fishy smell like rust.

"Oh, yes! I bet you'll be dead by sunset today..."

"Because by then, my brothers and I will chop your head off piece by piece with our own hands!"

After a while, the white light disappeared and darkness fell again; the iron chain slipped, and the sound of river water hitting the wooden boards covered all the noise.

Mr. Zhu lay on the floor for a long time, breathing in and out evenly and slowly, trying to clear his mind.

After the pain in his body eased a lot, Mr. Zhu slowly got up from the ground and groped towards the corner of the wall.

He searched very carefully, as if it were a silver needle dropped into the straw.

With a soft "click" sound, Mr. Zhu's smile finally bloomed in the darkness.

Mr. Zhu waved away the tattered blanket blocking the wooden wall and pounced on it like a wolf or a tiger.

While feeling the texture of the wall, he used a sharpened spoon to scoop out the wood chips eroded by the water.

The wooden board was wet and there was no sound when it was dug.

Mr. Zhu had been doing this secretly for a long time. On the second day after being imprisoned, he began to seek a way to escape.

It's not like he hadn't tried to force his way in before, but his body was too weak, and if he did, he would be beaten and unable to walk for three days.

He had thought about escaping smartly, but perhaps the tools he needed were too few, so he could only sigh at the iron chain as thick as his calf.

This is the only way. Although the wooden walls and iron plates here are thick, they are in disrepair. After sailing in the water for so many years, the resistance of the water flow has already made the ship fragile.

Listening to the sound of the river water lapping against the boat board, Mr. Zhu smiled, took out the iron spoon he had hidden secretly, and began to think about his next plan...

Today is the last day, Mr. Zhu knows it very well. He ignores the salt water flowing down his forehead and dripping into his eyes. He clenched the sharp spoon in both hands and stabbed hard into the wall that was almost worn through.

This went on for twenty minutes. Mr. Zhu finally couldn't hold on any longer due to his fatigue and sat down against the wall.

He threw the hot iron spoon away. He no longer needed it. The round hole in front of him had already taken shape. He only needed one last step...

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Mr. Zhu gritted his teeth and kicked hard at the rusty iron sheet.

One click...two clicks...three clicks...

The iron sheet was dented, but Mr. Zhu stopped.

He held his breath and listened carefully to the sounds around him.

The wind was whistling and the water was crashing. In addition to the sound of the water on the river surface, there were also some faint conversation sounds coming from behind the iron gate.

The darkness was filled with mystery, the silence was filled with coldness. In such an agonizing moment, Mr. Zhu endured for a long time with red eyes.

“Bang, bang, bang! Bang—”

The last loud blast symbolizes the victory horn.

The iron sheet was successfully kicked open, and the sunlight that had not been seen for a long time came in through the hole, once again creating a circle of deep wrinkles in Mr. Zhu's eyes.

"Crash..."

Countless river water flowed in, as if a group of loaches had found the only water hole in the mud.

The huge impact knocked Mr. Zhu back hard, and his back hit a cylinder. The great pain finally made him open his eyes that had been closed for a long time.

Using up his last bit of strength, Mr. Zhu took a deep breath and dived into the water.

He passed through the cave smoothly, but was caught off guard by the oncoming gravel.

The river water was turbid, and Mr. Zhu could not see the tiny sand and stones rushing in from the fog.

He rushed forward desperately, against the current, moving forward with hope.

Until a huge rock bigger than his head suddenly broke through the water and smashed heavily on his head...

"Well--"

Blood oozed from his head, and the little remaining air was compressed to the bottom.

The river water became dim and bright, and Mr. Zhu's eyelids could no longer withstand the impact of the river water, and he became drowsy.

"It's over..."

"I'm really going to die here..."

"Zhao Minghua...you kid...I won't let you go even if I become a ghost..."

At the very end, at the moment before he lost consciousness, something seemed to catch him from the bottom of the water, with warm residual heat.

The last image that came into view was a creature with blue-purple scales...

"It's a fish monster! It has to be! It has thin webbed feet on its hands, just like the braised duck feet I eat!"

Mr. Zhu suddenly became excited. He clenched his back teeth and his blue eyes were filled with red bloodshot.

"If there really is this thing in the Thames, I think we'll be in real trouble." Victor said with a serious look in his eyes.

"What happened next?" Ivy asked.

"Then I found out that I wasn't dead..."

Mr. Zhu sighed heavily, his eyes filled with endless fatigue and helplessness.

"When I woke up again, I was already on the beach by the river..."

"Looking up, I see the clouds on fire. Behind me is the Big Ben on the Palace of Westminster. In front of me is you and Joshua sitting on a high platform across the river..."

"what?"

Ivy and Joshua exclaimed in unison, they looked at each other and then turned their heads back in confusion.

"My lower body was still soaked in water, and I was seriously injured all over. I didn't have the strength to move my body. I could only watch hope pass by and disappear before my eyes..."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhu..."

"Don't apologize, I won't forgive you..."

"I had no choice but to lie there and wait for my strength to return."

"No one passing by was willing to pay attention to me, so I could only move step by step towards the familiar street..."

"Five hours... It took me five hours to get to Baker Street. By that time, the moon had already been in the sky for a long time..."

Mr. Zhu rubbed his sore eyes with both hands. Perhaps he was also shocked by his own perseverance.

"Luckily, your bedroom window is easy to close, and fortunately, you and Joshua are still awake and laughing..."

"What are you doing in a girl's room so late at night?"

Holmes suddenly grabbed Joshua's ear in a rage.

"Let go, let go!"

Ivy blushed and started pulling it hurriedly.

"We were just discussing the things we encountered recently! You are spreading rumors! Don't wrongly accuse us..."

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Mr. Zhu frowned and coughed lightly a few times.

He squinted his eyes, seeming very dissatisfied with this sudden farce.

The parties involved felt so uncomfortable with his glare that they had no choice but to give up and stood back where they were.

"We agreed that you wouldn't set foot in the Chinese dock, right?"

Mr. Zhu looked into Ivy's eyes, his expression filled with severity and uneasiness.

Ivy shook her head with a determined look: "I won't go to such a dangerous place..."

"you swear!"

"If I go, I will be infertile..."