Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 376 Escape
Lu Wei was full of questions, but he didn't have time to ask. He immediately pointed to the control panel: "Luohan, stop the ship!"

"Received!" Luo Han strode over, tried pulling the rudder handle, and then turned the rudder wheel.

However, the cruise ship's speed and direction remained unchanged, continuing to move forward in the same direction.

“No, it won’t work!” Luohan said. “The operating system must be corrupted.”

Lu Wei frowned deeply: "Can it be repaired?"

"It's hard to say," Luo Han shook his head. "I'm not a ship repairman. Just troubleshooting the problem would take quite a while."

After saying that, he looked at Ouyang.

Ou Yang sighed helplessly, "Why are you looking at me? I don't know how to fix this thing either!"

The control console was not working, but the ship kept following the predetermined route. The only reason was that the control system was shut down and switched to remote or program control.

Ouyang can't even distinguish between various electronic components, let alone control modules. How could he possibly repair this thing?
If Zhu Yiming were here, he might still be able to give it a try.

"We'll talk about this later." Lu Wei waved his hand to stop them, then grabbed a young man at random: "What's your name?"

The young man's tension was visibly palpable: "Bai, Bai Yu!"

"Don't be nervous," Lu Wei reassured her. "Age?"

Bai Yu forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, his emotions showing no sign of easing: "22."

Lu Wei simply asked in one breath, "Where are you from?"

"Dancheng".

"how did it get here?"

"He was kidnapped by a few black men."

"What do you do?"

"student."

"What about nationality?"

"Eastern University."

“An international student!” Lu Wei nodded, then looked at another person, “And you?”

"Xu Zhou, 20 years old, from Mocheng. Everything was normal when he was asleep, but he was already on the ship when he woke up."

“Fu Yao, 24 years old, from San Francisco, I’m the one who got scammed.” As she said this, Fu Yao turned and glanced at Song Rui.

Lu Wei asked a few questions, and the results were the same as what Song Rui had said: most of the people had been coerced or kidnapped, and only four people had been deceived.

In other words, the former boarded the ship while unconscious, while the latter boarded the ship while fully conscious.

At least partially sober.

Several people, including Fu Yao, immediately became the focus of attention, but they couldn't explain their experiences clearly.

Ouyang concluded that they may have inhaled excessive doses of spores, hallucinogens, or other types of hallucinogenic drugs, and were actually confused despite believing they were conscious.

Everyone is a compatriot, or at least an overseas Chinese.

Lu Wei mentally divided the fifteen people in the cockpit into two groups.

One group of six people came from the safe zone; the other group of nine people came from the epidemic area.

He didn't ask any nonsense like whether he had been in contact with infected people. Even if you were in a safe zone before, you can't avoid inhaling spores after boarding the ship.

Who is on board?

"Who dispatched the ship?"

"And what is the purpose?"

"What's the situation on the ship? Does anyone know?"

Lu Wei then posed several more questions, but everyone looked at each other, unable to answer them at all, only knowing that there were many infected people on the ship.

However, they were not in the cockpit from the beginning, but were scattered in different cabins. Some were strong and muscular and fought their way through the horde of zombies, while others were alert and clever and avoided danger.

They eventually gathered in the cockpit.

Lu Wei sighed, "They don't know this, they don't know that, it's as if they didn't say anything at all!"
Just as he was about to give up, Fu Yao hesitantly raised her hand: "When we boarded the ship, I think I heard someone say that there were many people from Dongda University on board, but I don't know exactly where they were."

Lu Wei had a headache and strongly suspected that she was hallucinating because of what everyone said.

However, everyone's experiences corroborated Fu Yao's statement, leaving Lu Wei scratching his head in disbelief.

After asking around for so long, not only did I not understand the situation, it just got more and more complicated!

He pondered for a moment and said, "You've been on the ship for quite some time, and you've all inhaled some spores, so the possibility of you getting pneumococcal infection is extremely high. But don't worry, we have blocking medication, and we can give it to you once the situation stabilizes. But you must stay on this ship. No one is allowed to disembark without my permission, understand?"

Instead of asking whether they understood or not, everyone was focused on finding out about the blocking medication. However, Lu Wei had spent so much time figuring out the situation on the ship, so he had no time to waste arguing with them.

"We'll talk about that later!" He waved his hand dismissively, glanced at the real-time coordinates from the satellite, and said, "We don't have much time, let's go straight to the engine room!"

If you can't solve the control system, then solve the power system!
No matter who did it, once the propulsion system is destroyed, even the most advanced ship will not be able to continue sailing.

Whether the boat would take on water or risk capsizing after stopping was not within Lu Wei's considerations.

He turned to the crowd and said, "You all stay here and wait for us to come back!"

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the cabin door.

Song Rui struggled internally for a moment, then suddenly stood up: "I'll go with you!"

Lu Wei paused, then said, "No need."

He ripped open the cabin door and stepped into the raging storm.

Ouyang and Luohan followed closely behind, leaving behind a group of people looking at each other in bewilderment.

"How about we follow them?"

"Forget it, have some self-awareness. We're not going to help, we're just causing trouble."

"Exactly, the cockpit is quite safe. I also don't think it's necessary to go out. Haven't you heard people say that we don't need to follow them?"

Ouyang returned to the activity room via the same route and gathered together to discuss the matter.

Lu Wei said, "We are not familiar with the situation of cruise ships, but the basic principle remains the same. The engine room is definitely at the stern of the ship. Now we have two options: one is to go through the internal passage, and the other is to go through the outside."

No explanation was needed; both Ouyang and Luohan understood the meaning behind the words.

The advantage of using the internal passage is that you don't have to worry about falling into the water, but you have to face an unknown number of infected people; going outside means you have to bear the risk of falling into the water, but the advantage is that the possibility of encountering infected people is relatively small.

No, it's very small!

“I suggest we go outside!” Ouyang said. “It’s not just a problem with the infected. What if there are enemy traps on the ship, or they’re hiding somewhere and ambushing us?”

“I also think it’s safer to go outside.” Luo Han nodded in agreement.

Lu Wei tapped his forehead in exasperation: "I know it's safer to go outside, but there are only three of us. If one of us falls, we'll lose a third of our strength. So I still think it's safer to go inside."

He wasn't considering the issue from a safety perspective, but rather from the perspective of how to stop the ship.

“Let’s go outside, it’s faster and more direct!” Ou Yang said.

“Going inside is even less safe,” Luo Han said. “We don’t have much time left. What if something unexpected happens and we get held up…”

These words were the last straw that broke the camel's back. Lu Wei nodded heavily: "Okay, let's go outside... and have the artificial glans checked!"

Ouyang patted his waist: "No problem!"

Luohan gave the same answer.

"Let's go!" The three of them rushed out in a line and descended the gangway. To prevent falling, they held tightly to the railings or handrails wherever they went, never daring to be careless in the slightest.

Ouyang thought there would be no accidents, but after only two decks down, he saw that the hatch in front of him was open. The ship swayed and seven or eight infected people stumbled and rolled out of the hatch.

That's right, it's the kind where you roll out and fall right outside the door.

One of them got caught on the railing, two others crashed into him, and the rest were thrown overboard and swallowed by the dark sea in the blink of an eye.

Ouyang gripped the wooden beam with one hand and held onto the railing with the other, ready to engage in battle at any moment.

The tilted ship swayed in the opposite direction, and the infected people who had been blocked by the railings were involuntarily rolled into the cabin.

Lu Wei seized the opportunity: "Let's go, let's go, let's go quickly!"

Ou Yang took a few quick steps and arrived at the cabin door just as the ship began to right itself.

He quickly closed the hatch and locked it tightly.

Hmm, now the infected people shouldn't be able to get out, right?

The three continued forward, and Ouyang shouted at the top of his lungs, "This doesn't look like an accident!"

"What—" Lu Wei, who was behind, didn't hear clearly.

Luohan repeated, "He said, this doesn't seem like an accident!"

Ouyang added, "I think someone knows where we are and deliberately released the infected people..."

Lu Wei heard clearly this time: "I also feel something's not right..."

Ouyang suddenly raised his fist, signaling to stop advancing.

Luo Han and Lu Wei looked past Ou Yang and were astonished to see the open hatch appear in front of them again.

However, no infected individuals were observed.

Ouyang preferred that the area outside the cabin door be crowded with infected people.

The three waited patiently for a while to make sure no infected person rolled out before quickly passing through.

After that, we would encounter similar situations every now and then. Most of the time we didn't see any infected people, and the few we did encounter were thrown into the sea, so they posed no threat at all.

The three successfully reached the rear of the main deck and found the passage leading to the engine room.

From here, they would enter the cabin, and the three of them prepared in advance to encounter infected individuals.

However, when Ouyang opened the hatch and cautiously carried the wooden plank inside, the corridor was completely empty.

All three of them sensed something was wrong, but they couldn't stop and rushed to the engine room as fast as they could.

Everything went smoothly without any problems until they arrived at the engine room. To their astonishment, the three of them discovered that the passageway to the engine room was blocked by a thick steel plate with all the edges welded shut!
The group of people were completely dumbfounded. Who the hell came up with this?
The ship had to stop, there was no room for negotiation on that, but without access to the engine room, they couldn't sabotage the propulsion system, and they didn't have any weapons suitable for damaging the steel plates.

"I can't worry about that now!" Lu Wei steeled his resolve and returned to the deck as fast as he could. "Dongzhou, Dongzhou, this is the New City Emergency Response Team. Please respond!"

With a loud boom, a bolt of lightning illuminated the dark clouds.

A muffled voice came through the radio: "Dongzhou received, please speak!"

Lu Wei immediately explained the situation: "Based on our assessment, this ship is of unknown origin and has ulterior motives. It must be intercepted at sea. We request that the stern propulsion system be destroyed!"

"What? Please say it again!" On the Dongzhou, Pan Rui almost thought he had misheard.

Sinking a cruise ship is easy, but destroying only the propulsion system... are requests for support now being made with such specific requirements?
"Request the destruction of the power system!" Lu Wei repeated loudly.

"Understood." Pan Rui gritted his teeth. "Long-range firepower isn't that precise; we can only try. Emergency team, evacuate the target immediately!"

"Emergency team understood!" Lu Wei hung up. "Let's go back to the cockpit!"

If the propulsion system is destroyed, the cruise ship will become an immobile iron coffin. However, with such poor sea conditions, even the most advanced weapons cannot guarantee accuracy. Therefore, the people on board must be evacuated first.

There was no way of knowing how many people were still on board. There was neither the time nor the manpower to search for them, so the only option was to evacuate the people from the cockpit.

This time, the three of them didn't walk along the ship's side. Instead, they went directly to the top deck, rushed to the front, climbed over the railing, and landed on the passageway outside the bridge.

Ou Yang shoved open the hatch: "Everyone, follow me!"

The group of people were completely stunned, having no idea what had happened.

"Those who don't want to die, follow me!" Ou Yang didn't have much time to explain, nor did he have time to coax the child. He finished what he needed to say, turned around and left.

Song Rui was decisive and immediately followed.

Some others followed blindly, while others hesitated before following, but none of them stubbornly refused to leave.

Ouyang led the group to the port side, where a bright orange launchable lifeboat was hanging.

This thing looks a bit like a small submarine, rather than the kind of unprotected boats you see in movies.

There are still many more orbits available, but only this one lifeboat!
The group was both surprised and overjoyed: "We're saved! We're saved!"

Ouyang could hardly believe his ears: "Don't tell me you didn't know there were lifeboats!"

One sentence silenced everyone.

They did fight for survival, but with such bad sea conditions, everyone was stuck inside the cabin, and no one dared to come out.

Xu Zhou asked worriedly, "Won't there be any problems with this ship?"

Logically, there shouldn't be a single lifeboat left on a cruise ship, but there is one left, which just doesn't seem right!

Luo Han boarded the ship first and quickly checked everything: "It should be fine."

"Regardless of whether there are problems or not, we have no choice but to go now. Those who are willing to come with us can board the ship, and those who are not will not be forced!" Lu Wei said.

Without saying a word, Song Rui was the first to board the ship.

Under his leadership, everyone else, regardless of their own thoughts, eventually boarded the lifeboat.

Ouyang closed the hatch: "It's ready!"

Luo Han pulled hard, the locking mechanism opened, and the lifeboat slid down the track and crashed heavily onto the water.

“Let’s go too.” Lu Wei took out his artificial cheek and put it in his mouth before leaping into the sea.

Ouyang and Luohan followed closely behind, quickly rising to the surface after entering the water and swimming towards the lifeboat.

Anyway, with artificial gills, it's fine even if it's constantly soaking in seawater.

The sea was rough and the waves were high. Although the lifeboat was always in sight, swimming over to it was not so easy.

Ouyang simply dived underwater, avoiding the waves on the surface, and swam all the way to the lifeboat. He only surfaced after grabbing the hanging ring outside the lifeboat and clinging to it.

There are two reasons for not boarding the boat: first, the space inside the boat is limited and cannot accommodate so many people; second, due to space constraints, it is unable to cope with changes in the external environment.

Ou Yang patted the hull, Song Rui started the engine, and the lifeboat gradually moved away from the cruise ship.

Lu Wei sent a signal, and a spark pierced through the clouds, hitting the cruise ship squarely below its stern.

But the cruise ship did not stop. The fighter jets circling above the clouds launched several more missiles, creating a hole more than two meters wide in the stern, and seawater kept pouring into the stern.

Modern ships have multiple watertight compartments, so even if the stern is filled with seawater, there is no need to worry about them sinking.

The cruise ship was still powered, and just as Lu Wei was about to call for another attack, he suddenly noticed that the cruise ship had changed direction and started circling on the sea.

It seems the rudder is stuck.

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.

Regardless of whether there's still any power, as long as we don't drive towards St. Vary, we can go wherever we want!

(End of this chapter)