I really don't want to date a girl addicted to the internet!

491. Iceberg

Cheng Fei opened the photos he had taken and looked at them, rubbing his chin. "Master Ye, couldn't you lean your head a little closer to me? The way you are now makes us seem so distant."

"No, I'll get angry if you say that again," Ye Shuang said with a smile.

"Well, that's really stingy," the boy muttered, while using two fingers to zoom in on the photo, letting the girl's pleasing smile take up most of the screen as he examined it closely.

"Cheng Fei." Ye Shuang took a deep breath, her eyelids twitching.

"What's wrong, Master Ye?" The boy stared intently at the screen.

"I'm a little reluctant to have this photo saved on your phone." Ye Shuang's smile turned annoyed.

"why?"

"How dare you ask? What are you staring at?"

"Look behind us, Master Ye, could that be a whale reflecting light?" The boy pointed to the distant horizon beside the girl's face in the photo, which was not clearly visible due to the focus.

Ye Shuang was stunned, leaned closer, and pondered for a moment, "I can't tell."

As soon as they finished speaking, the two turned their heads at the same time, shading their eyes with their hands as they looked at the sea behind them.

Under the rising sun, an object appeared directly ahead of the flight path at some point. Due to the angle of the light, most of it was hidden in the shadows, and only a slightly reflective outline could be seen.

"Doesn't it look like a whale?" Ye Shuang muttered.

“Whales shouldn’t be that big, and there’s no reason for them to be floating.” Cheng Fei nodded.

"Like a small island?" The girl tilted her head, seemingly lost in thought.

"It does look quite similar, and it feels like it's getting closer." The boy glanced at the undulating waves on the nearby sea. He had never been a sailor and couldn't estimate distances or speeds, but he could tell from the sea breeze blowing in his face that the cruise ship was not slow at all, and the distance between them was rapidly closing.

At that moment, a photographer with long lenses suddenly pointed ahead and shouted.

"What did they say?" Ye Shuang turned her head.

"It looks like an iceberg?" Cheng Fei raised his phone, switched to telephoto mode, and pointed it at the object. This time he could finally see it clearly. "It really is, and it's not small."

The iceberg, entirely blue and white, has a fairly flat surface above the water, resembling a platform floating on the sea. Even from a distance, its immense size can still be felt.

"Won't we crash into it?" the boy muttered.

"Don't jinx it here." The girl glanced at him sideways.

"That makes sense, it's not like the Titanic." The boy nodded and put down his phone.

The two continued their search for whales and also observed icebergs, and some time passed in this way.

"Master Ye, something's wrong. It looks like we're really going to crash into it." Cheng Fei looked back and forth between the iceberg and the cruise ship's route, judging from his intuition that they were almost on the same line heading towards each other.

"How is that possible? We can see such a huge iceberg, how could we not see it from the driver's seat?" Ye Shuang frowned slightly.

Cheng Fei met her gaze and said quietly, "What if you deliberately try not to see it?"

The girl's pupils contracted. "Are you kidding me?"

“Modern navigation has satellite early warning systems, and ships also have radar and sonar. For safety reasons, such a large iceberg should be avoided. Why risk passing it at close range?” The girl looked into her eyes.

"To...save fuel?" The girl looked into the boy's eyes, lost in thought.

"Master Ye, to be honest, I have a bad feeling. Let me tell you a secret: I have particularly bad luck." After saying this, Cheng Fei quickly walked back.

"Where are you going?" Ye Shuang followed.

"I suspect there's something wrong with the first mate in the driver's cab."

"Didn't he already have a problem to begin with?"

“What I mean is that there’s a bigger problem.”

"You suspect he's deliberately trying to crash into the iceberg? Why?"

"Who knows? Anyway, let's go check it out first."

The two quickly made their way to the corridor leading to the driver's cab.

A crew member was walking and yawning when he suddenly felt a cool breeze blowing past him. He looked around but didn't see anything, so he continued walking.

Behind him, two ghostly figures entered the corridor and found the captain's cabin door tightly closed; the heavy electronic door seemed impossible to break open by human power.

The two exchanged a glance, and Cheng Fei rang the video phone doorbell on the door.

Several minutes passed, and there was no response.

"What should we do?" Ye Shuang turned her head.

"Find Fu Qian and have her contact other senior crew members." Cheng Fei took out his phone and made a satellite call.

……

Meanwhile, Fu Qian, who was slurping noodles in a Chinese restaurant, received a phone call. Holding her chopsticks, she looked surprised and asked, "What? An iceberg?"

"What's wrong?" Wan Haoran, who was slurping up rice noodles across from him, looked up.

“Stop eating. They said the first mate is going to ram the iceberg and they want us to find someone to go into the captain’s cabin.” Fu Qian stood up.

"Have you been watching too much Titanic?" Wan Haoran asked suspiciously.

"We'll find out when we go out and take a look. Let's go."

By the time the two arrived on the deck, the unusual course of the flight had already been noticed by many people.

Tourists who originally planned to go whale watching held up their phones or cameras, exclaiming in amazement as they took pictures of the massive iceberg.

The flat iceberg is several stories high just above the water, and melting ice blocks fall into the sea from time to time from its steep edges, creating white waves.

However, because the cruise ship is taller, the iceberg does not look particularly frightening. Most people are unaware of the danger beneath the surface and are simply marveling at the magnificence of nature.

"Is it really going to crash?" Fu Qian muttered to herself, staring at the iceberg.

“To see the second or third mate, you need to make an appointment with the first mate first. If the first mate really is the culprit…” Wan Haoran became worried.

"We have no choice but to use special means." Fu Qian took a deep breath, turned around and went into the cabin. She grabbed a passing crew member and explained the situation.

The crew member looked confused, and managed to contact the bridge using his walkie-talkie, exchanging a few words with them.

"The route is very safe, so you two don't need to worry. Just enjoy the scenery." The crew member put down the walkie-talkie and smiled.

Fu Qian turned and left with a gloomy face.

"Senior sister, what do we do now?" Wan Haoran quickly caught up.

"Break into the broadcasting station and call for help over the loudspeaker," Fu Qian said in a deep voice.

"Huh? Isn't this against regulations?" Wan Haoran asked, his expression blank.

……

Meanwhile, Cheng Fei and Ye Shuang were waiting outside the driver's seat.

The two tried to break in by climbing or other means, but all of them failed. The cockpit was heavily guarded, and it was impossible to break in empty-handed without authorization.

"What exactly is going on?" Ye Shuang's face showed unease, as if the shadow cast by an iceberg was slowly enveloping her.

After pondering for a long time with his hands in his pockets, Cheng Fei suddenly said, "Master Ye, I think that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the First Mate and Ding Sheng are in cahoots."

"How did you know?" The girl turned to look at him.

“Remember? We suspected the captain was colluding with Ding Sheng. Now that the captain has been killed by the first mate, it makes perfect sense if the first mate also knew about Fu Qian and the others meeting with the captain and then informed Ding Sheng.” The boy said slowly.

"What benefits do they get from doing this?" Ye Shuang asked, puzzled.

“At least one benefit is certain,” the boy said softly.

"what?"

"After today, Ding Sheng can legitimately disappear from this world."

492. Ye Shuang felt that running away was too shameful.

Ye Shuang thought for a moment, "You mean Ding Sheng wants to fake his death?"

Cheng Fei shrugged. "Dying in a shipwreck, their bodies never even found, isn't that perfect?"

"This is too much trouble." The girl blinked.

“There must be other motives, otherwise the first mate would have no reason to help him. Maybe the cruise company executives wanted to commit insurance fraud or something. The Macquarie Ridge has one of the deepest trenches in the world. If the cruise ship sinks, there will be no way to verify the deaths. Judging from the way the captain was murdered, they were well prepared.” Cheng Fei rubbed his chin.

"Is it really possible?" Ye Shuang muttered.

"I was just guessing. To be honest, Master Ye, we have the best option." The boy shrugged.

"what?"

"Go get a lifeboat and run away. Let them do whatever they want." The boy said seriously.

"Is it still uncertain whether we'll run into each other?" the girl asked, opening her mouth.

“It will be too late if we wait until we're sure. In any case, it’s safest to prepare for our escape now. Of course, staying might save more people. What do you choose?” The boy looked into her eyes.

The girl turned her face away and remained silent for a moment before saying softly, "Knowing the truth and running away like that is too shameful."

"Master Ye, you really are adorable." The young man suddenly patted her head.

"Cheng Fei, don't take advantage of me!" The girl snapped out of her daze, glared at him, and shook him off.

"Okay, actually even if we do hit an iceberg, with the safety margins of modern cruise ships, we'll have plenty of time to escape, so staying behind isn't a problem. If we fall into the water and are left with only a plank of wood, we'll huddle together for warmth on it." The boy said seriously.

"Stop jinxing me." The girl's eyes flickered, and she said irritably.

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded behind them.

The crew members rushed over with security guards, followed by two Interpol officers.

“He’s the third mate, and the second mate is on duty inside right now according to the shift schedule,” Fu Qian explained in a low voice to Cheng Fei. “If we break into the broadcasting station to contact him, it’ll be troublesome if everything is normal in the driver’s cab.”

"Don't worry, it won't be normal," Cheng Fei said in a low voice.

The third mate was a kind-looking man. When the two were talking, he led the security guard forward with a serious expression and used his authority to open the cockpit door.

When the hatch opened, everyone inside and outside was stunned.

There are three people in the driver's cab, if you include the dead.

The first mate and another thin, cold-looking man were seen putting a uniformed corpse into a black nylon bag; unsurprisingly, it was the second mate who was supposed to be on duty.

Cheng Fei raised an eyebrow. "Ding Sheng?"

After a brief moment of deathly silence, the security guards with batons shouted and rushed forward.

Cheng Fei and Fu Qian stood at the back of the corridor watching.

Security guards worked together to subdue the first mate and Ding Sheng, who were responsible for the murder—that's how it was supposed to be.

Only Cheng Fei and Ye Shuang saw what happened in that instant.

Ding Sheng faced the six security guards bare-handed and knocked them down with incredible speed. Each of them was subdued with a single blow, and the dull thud of each punch sent chills down one's spine.

In the blink of an eye, the driver's cab was filled with people lying haphazardly on the ground. Apart from Cheng Fei and Fu Qian, there were only three officers still standing outside.

"My God! Is Ding Sheng really that powerful?" Fu Qian's body tensed up, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Does he really have ALS?" Ye Shuang's eyes widened slightly as she turned to look at Cheng Fei.

"Maybe it's just the right opportunity to open up the Ren and Du meridians." Cheng Fei had a bad feeling and began to doubt whether Isena's information was wrong.

Wan Haoran stood at the front of the group with a serious expression, adopting a fighting stance.

"I told you all to mind your own business, but now that you've seen it, don't blame me." Ding Sheng twisted his neck, expressionless, and strode quickly toward the group, his fists clenched in gray gloves, perhaps to deal with the corpse.

Wan Haoran took the initiative to meet the punch, swaying his body to dodge it, but was hit in the face by a second punch that was as fast as lightning, and fell down with his eyes wide open.

Fu Qian followed up with a whip kick, but she too was knocked down by a single punch.

The third mate had already retreated outside the corridor, leaving only Cheng Fei and Ye Shuang standing in front of Ding Sheng.