Kige gave a look, signaling two of his men to check the entire ship.

They hadn't bothered inspecting the vessel since boarding, trusting Anna. But after hearing Jia Wenjun's words, Kige felt it was necessary.

This interlude gave the people on the ship a brief respite. Jia Wenjun's claim about Brother Qian arriving was based on overhearing Kige's phone call upstairs. She had minored in Vietnamese during college, allowing her to understand the gist of Kige's conversation, so she decided to turn the situation to her advantage.

Soon, the black-clad men who had searched the ship returned and reported, "Kige, there's a dead body inside."

Kige lit a cigarette, took a puff, and frowned at his subordinate's panicked expression. "Never seen a dead body before?"

"It's not that..." The subordinate had simply been startled. When he entered Room Seven, he saw someone lying on the bed and assumed it was a survivor. He reached out to grab them, only to discover it was a corpse. Bad luck, indeed.

"You afraid he's gonna come back to life?" Kige asked coldly, seeing that his subordinate hadn't recovered. "We're burning everything later, leaving no ashes behind. What are you afraid of?"

Kige's words sealed the fate of everyone on the ship. In his eyes, these people's lives weren't even worth a dog's. If he were to spare anyone, it would undoubtedly be the dog.

The men found food, medicine, and a palm-sized, orange, old-fashioned alcohol lamp-shaped device hidden by Anna.

The others on the ship didn't know what it was, but Kige, who had spent years at sea, immediately recognized it as an emergency radio beacon, capable of contacting a ground station via low-orbit search and rescue satellite system. With it, no matter where the ship was in the ocean, maritime rescuers could find it based on the specific location it transmitted.

Moreover, the device could be triggered manually, or, in an emergency, it would automatically pop to the surface and send a distress signal if it sank into the water.

Clearly, Anna had hidden this thing to call for help.

Holding the small orange beacon, Kige looked at Anna. "You planned your escape route?"

Anna shook her head in terror. "No, Kige, listen to me, it's not what you think. I wasn't planning to call the police. I just kept it on the ship as a precaution."

When the others on the ship heard that Anna had not only food and medicine but also a beacon to contact the police, they were furious. They had been desperately trying to save themselves, while Anna had a means of calling for help and had watched them fight like trapped beasts, even killing each other for a little food. The woman was terrifying.

Anna hadn't expected Kige to search the ship. Now that they had found the device, Kige, suspicious as he was, would definitely suspect her of having ulterior motives.

She panicked inside, but tried to remain calm. She had feared that Kige and his men might not come, and had planned to dispose of the goods and then call the police, not wanting to get into trouble herself.

But in her haste, she directly denied that she had intended to call the police. The more she denied it, the more Kige suspected her of having hidden intentions. After all, if the police found out about this, Anna's call would clear her name, but the others in the chain would be in deep trouble.

Kige pointed his gun at Anna. "You know my rules."

Anna was nearly driven mad with fear. "Kige, listen to me! I... I did think about calling the police, but that was only if you couldn't come. I would have called them after I disposed of the goods on the ship. How could I implicate you?"

Kige sneered. "First you said you didn't think about calling the police, now you say you did. Are you trying to fool even yourself?"

He slowly raised the gun, pointing it directly at Anna's forehead. The people around them cried out in fear. Jia Wenjun was also afraid, but she didn't scream. This was all Anna's fault; she deserved to die.

Anna's lips trembled as she crawled over on her knees. "Kige, Kige, listen to me!"

"Kige, Brother Qian is here." One of Kige's men heard the sound of a rubber boat on the sea. He went to the ship's side to check and saw another rubber boat carrying several black-clad men climbing the ropes.

Kige looked at Anna on the deck, put away his gun, and turned to greet his boss.

Anna collapsed on the deck, her back soaked with cold sweat.

Jia Wenjun hadn't expected Anna to have a chance to turn things around. She didn't know what kind of temper this newly arrived Brother Qian had, but finding another opportunity like the one just now to kill Anna would probably not be so easy.

Jia Wenjun gritted her teeth. Even if it wasn't easy, she would find it, because if she didn't kill Anna, Anna would kill her.

At that moment, a tall figure in black silk and sunglasses, supported by Kige, quietly came aboard. Compared to the surrounding men with their fierce faces, this boss seemed more like an ordinary person.

Kige reported to him in detail: "Brother Qian, the goods are still here, the loss isn't great."

"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and move them. Be quick about it." Brother Qian's voice wasn't loud, but every word was full of energy.

Kige obeyed and, with a gesture, the henchmen went to the secret room below the deck.

Brother Qian took off his sunglasses, saw Anna kneeling on the ground, and turned to look at Kige. "What's going on?"

Kige explained about Anna having a police beacon on board.

Anna crawled over and grabbed Brother Qian's pants leg. "Brother Qian, you know me. I would never do anything to harm you. If I report to the police, may I die a horrible death!"

Brother Qian had been to the Maritime Safety Administration to get information. He was certain that Anna hadn't told them anything about the goods on the ship, but he wasn't sure if she would say anything later.

He pulled his foot out of Anna's grasp, which was covered in snot and tears. "Alright, A-Ki is just worried."

Seeing Brother Qian speak, Anna finally felt a little relieved. She almost burst into tears and slowly stood up. "Brother Qian, these people on the ship know too much. We can't let them live. Why don't we just kill them all?"

As she spoke, she looked at Jia Wenjun with a sinister gaze.

Jia Wenjun knew that she wouldn't let them go, but she hadn't expected her to be so impatient.

Brother Qian glanced at the men, women, and children on the ship and said impatiently, "Don't waste bullets on them."

Anna was stunned. "You want to leave them alive?"

"Did I say leave them alive?"

Anna finally relaxed. They were going to move the goods first and then deal with the people later.

Kige and the henchmen carried the carpets quickly back and forth between the secret room and the deck, throwing the rolled-up carpets from the side of the ship onto the rubber boats.

Jia Wenjun looked at the carpets they were carrying away. They were clearly the ones stored in the hidden compartment. Why hadn't she found anything when she went down to cut them open? Could it be that Anna had hidden them in a special way?

At this point, the rising water level had reduced the height difference, making their work more efficient. Soon, the wet henchmen cleared the last roll of carpet from the secret room.