You're a US police officer, what are you thinking about going back to the East for?

The truck started up again. Wang Kang sat in the driver's seat, while Li Wei sat in the passenger seat, gripping the seatbelt tightly with both hands, cold sweat pouring down his face.

At 3 a.m., the port of Seattle was still brightly lit.

From a distance, those giant gantry cranes, some tens of meters high, look like steel behemoths standing on the dark sea.

High-intensity halogen searchlights illuminated the vast container yard as bright as day, and the air was filled with a strong smell of diesel exhaust and the salty odor of the sea.

"We're almost at checkpoint number one, so try to control your expression."

Wang Kang looked straight ahead and casually reminded him, "Pretend you're still half asleep. You're delivering frozen pork, not bombing the Pentagon."

Li Wei swallowed hard, forced himself to lean back in his chair, closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, but his eyelids were still trembling slightly.

With a screeching sound of the air brakes screeching, the refrigerated truck slowly drove into the port's commercial vehicle lane and stopped on the weighbridge.

The numbers on the red electronic screen flickered a few times before finally settling.

In U.S. commercial ports, the first step for trucks entering the port is weighing. Customs and the port authority compare the actual weight on the weighbridge with the weight on the customs declaration.

Old Bill and Arthur, two adult men, weighed a combined total of over 300 pounds, but Wang Kang had already increased the gross weight of those boxes of premium spare ribs on the shipping manifest. With the weight of the ice added, the error was perfectly controlled within a reasonable range.

The barrier gate at the security booth ahead did not lift directly.

A port security officer wearing a dark blue uniform and a bulletproof vest pushed open the glass door and came out.

The guy was a burly white man, holding a powerful flashlight, chewing gum, and looking somewhat impatient.

He walked to the driver's side window and knocked on the glass.

Wang Kang lowered the car window, and a gust of cold wind blew in.

"Turn off the engine. TWIC card (transport worker identification), driver's license, and delivery note." The policeman shone his flashlight in Wang Kang's face, his voice rude.

"Of course, officer."

Wang Kang yawned, then casually pulled a plastic folder from the sun visor and handed it over along with his and Li Wei's identification documents.

The police officer glanced at the list with a flashlight and then checked the photos on the documents.

Logically speaking, if a delivery vehicle carrying vegetables and fresh meat to a departing cargo ship in the middle of the night has all the necessary paperwork, the security guard should just glance at the form and let it pass.

But today, the policeman seemed to be in a bad mood, or perhaps he was just bored late at night and wanted to cause trouble.

He slapped the order on the car window and pointed his flashlight at the back of the truck.

"Open the back door. I need to conduct a routine spot check."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei, who was pretending to be asleep, suddenly stiffened and his breathing stopped.

"Random inspection?"

Wang Kang frowned, displaying the complaints and impatience typical of a truck driver:

"Officer, it's the middle of the night, and the room is full of frozen meat that's below zero."

"If the air conditioning runs out as soon as the door is opened, and the meat thaws and turns to mush, the captain will complain about us, and the company will deduct our pay if they receive a complaint."

"The stamp on the form was just put on by customs yesterday afternoon."

"I said, open the door. That's the rule."

The policeman, his face cold, placed his hand directly on the gun handle at his waist and repeated the action.

"Okay, okay, you're the boss, I'll listen to you."

Wang Kang raised his hands in surrender, opened the car door, and jumped out. He turned to Li Wei in the passenger seat and shouted, "What are you sleeping for! Get out and help me open the door!"

Li Wei stiffly pushed open the car door and followed Wang Kang to the back of the car.

Wang Kang took out his key and turned the heavy metal lock.

"Squeak—"

The moment the doors to the side were pulled open, a thick, white mist mixed with the pungent smell of raw meat poured out like a waterfall.

The police officer shivered from the sub-zero air, tightened his collar, and climbed onto the train's running board with a flashlight in hand.

The carriage was filled with layers of cardboard boxes and wooden crates labeled with labels.

The police officer, holding a flashlight, casually scanned the gaps between the wooden crates, his leather boots creaking on the frosty floor.

He walked further in.

Li Wei stood under the car, his back soaked with cold sweat.

Because the policeman was walking towards the deepest part of the carriage, where Old Bill and Arthur's two specially made wooden crates were located!

The police stopped in front of the huge wooden crate that read "Premium Frozen Pork Ribs".

He seemed interested in the wooden box, which was noticeably larger than the others.

He stretched out his tactical gloved hand and slapped the lid of the wooden crate twice.

"Bang, bang."

Hollow, crashing sounds echoed through the carriage.

At this moment, Arthur, hiding in the box, covered his mouth tightly. He could even feel the vibration from the wooden plank above his head. He was already breathing heavily due to recovering from a high fever, and now he was suffocating so much that his face turned purple, and he felt like his lungs were about to explode.