Chapter 14 The Secret Chamber

Outside, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, rain streaming down the deck overhead.

Bai Ma Shan aimed the light at the large bags at his feet. They were waterproof plastic sealed bags. He pressed one, feeling a soft, furry texture inside.

It was already strange enough to have a hidden compartment in the bow of the boat, but even stranger to find it filled with so many of these things.

These were desperate times. Bai Ma Shan and Jia Wenjun both wanted to see what was inside, hoping they might be useful while waiting for rescue.

The two of them tore open the outer bag with force. In the lamplight, Jia Wenjun saw that they were rolls of woolen carpets.

She pried open the core of a rolled-up carpet with her hands. There was nothing inside; it was rolled very evenly and tightly.

Bai Ma Shan looked puzzled. The yacht belonged to Anna, so the carpets must have been put there by her.

Bai Ma Shan remembered Anna mentioning over drinks that she owned a carpet trading company. These were probably products from her company.

But why would she put so many heavy wool carpets on the yacht and take them out to sea? Besides increasing fuel consumption, what purpose could they serve?

The phone's light moved back and forth across the carpets. Jia Wenjun carefully examined the patterns. Her fingers touched something like a fine layer of dust on them.

The phone shone directly on the edge of one of the carpets, which was exposed outside its packaging. The woven fibers were frayed, obviously snagged by a piece of wood falling from the deck. Among these loose fibers, a smooth black plastic tube reflected the light.

Neither of them was familiar with carpet weaving, and they didn't think anything was particularly strange, except that Anna bringing such heavy things on board seemed odd.

Unable to figure it out, Bai Ma Shan simply stood up. "I'll ask Anna about it tomorrow. You stay here. I'll go get someone to help me drag Lü Maowang away."

Jia Wenjun nodded, watching Bai Ma Shan stack the carpets on the ground and climb up, exiting through the crack in the deck.

The space was once again left with only Jia Wenjun and Lü Maowang.

She didn't know if Lü Maowang was awake. Even if he was, his hands and feet were tied, so he couldn't pose a threat to her.

Remembering how he had treated her earlier, Jia Wenjun felt a surge of anger and kicked him twice.

Lü Maowang groaned on the ground, finally slowly opening his eyes, though his head was still spinning.

Jia Wenjun retreated several steps, staring intently at Lü Maowang on the ground, keeping a safe distance.

Just then, a "thump" sounded in the confined space, as if something had fallen over.

The sound came from behind the wooden wall Jia Wenjun was leaning against.

Dahuang, the dog, suddenly barked wildly. Jia Wenjun didn't know where the back of this hidden compartment led. She held up the phone's light and shone it on the wooden wall, discovering that it was a hidden door that could be opened.

Jia Wenjun's heart pounded. Not knowing who was on the other side, she grabbed the wooden plank Bai Ma Shan had used to knock out Lü Maowang and pushed the door open with force.

It was a secret passage, one that Anna hadn't shown them before. She could only hold the phone's light and walk forward with Dahuang.

After walking for a while, a light suddenly appeared ahead.

Jia Wenjun saw the scene clearly. The space was wider than the secret passage, with a table and several chairs.

A white candle was burning on the table, and next to the candle, Anna, with disheveled hair, was using a piece of paper rolled into a tube to snort a small pile of white powder from the table into her nostrils.

On the other side of the table lay a furry blanket, one of the carpets Jia Wenjun had seen in the hidden compartment, though much smaller in size.

The black plastic tube from inside the blanket had been pulled out, and the white powder on the table had been poured out of it.

Jia Wenjun stared in shock at everything before her.

Anna, who always talked about accumulating good deeds and chanted scriptures every day, was secretly doing drugs?

Anna didn't care about Jia Wenjun at all. Her eyes were only fixed on the small pile of white powder on the table.

Like a starving beast, she desperately snorted the powder on the table into her nostrils, not missing a single grain.

With the last sniff, Anna's hands began to tremble uncontrollably, but a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

"You... the carpets you loaded into the hidden compartment on the boat are full of drugs," Jia Wenjun said, her mouth trembling slightly. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Satisfied, Anna hunched over the table. Then, she suddenly turned her head, looking at her with a foolish smile, her expression strange, her laughter bleak and terrifying, completely devoid of the well-maintained, pampered appearance of a wealthy woman.

Jia Wenjun felt a chill run down her spine.

Anna looked at her sinisterly. "Want to try some?"

Jia Wenjun took two steps back. "No."

"Heh, you refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Then you can just die." After saying that, Anna suddenly pulled a fruit knife from under the blanket and stabbed it towards Jia Wenjun.

Jia Wenjun screamed, using the wooden plank in her hand to block the knife, but it was useless. Anna was in a near-manic state, her strength astonishing. Jia Wenjun had seen documentaries before, knowing that these drug users were no different from ordinary people when they were sober, but once they had taken drugs, anything could make them fly into a rage, even become violent.

The opponent had a knife, while she had a wooden stick. Knowing she couldn't win, Jia Wenjun turned and ran towards the hidden compartment. Bai Ma Shan had gone to get people; he would be back soon. Only by running that way could she have a chance of survival.

Anna chased after her relentlessly. Jia Wenjun ran back to the hidden compartment, trying to pull the door shut, but she, who hadn't eaten anything, was no match for the energized Anna.

The door was pulled open in an instant. Jia Wenjun tried to run, but tripped over the carpet at her feet.

Just as she was about to get up, cold metal was pressed against her neck.

The loud noise had awakened Lü Maowang. Seeing Jia Wenjun being grabbed by Anna, he was confused. Thinking Anna was there to rescue him, he hurriedly shouted, "Sister Anna, I'm here! Come and save me!"

With a knife to her throat, Jia Wenjun didn't dare to move at all.

Anna didn't expect Lü Maowang to be there. She sniffed forcefully, her voice icy cold. "No one is getting out of here alive."

The sharp blade had already cut Jia Wenjun's delicate neck, drawing blood.

"Anna, calm down. I didn't see anything," Jia Wenjun didn't want to die here. The faint pain in her neck made her stiff, and she didn't dare to move rashly, fearing she would provoke Anna.

"You think you can leave alive after seeing my little secret?" Anna increased the pressure.

Jia Wenjun panicked. "I promise, I won't say anything."

"Heh, only the dead can keep secrets."