Chapter 874: Cash In First

Strictly speaking, it was now the third day since the ship set sail. The cruise had turned a corner and entered the Erperil Strait.

Despite being called a strait, there was no coastline in sight in either direction—only endless sea.

The situation onboard remained dire. No new enemies had been discovered. Yesterday, they had sent most of the passengers’ information back to be verified, but today, at the agreed time, there was no response from land.

At first, they assumed the company hadn’t gotten results yet. But after waiting a while longer with still no news, they tried to make contact—only to discover the telegraph machines were broken.

There were only two telegraph machines on the entire ship, and both were out of order.

This was far beyond anything they had prepared for.

“It must’ve happened last night. The girl who was on duty then has disappeared. She might be hiding,” said the first officer—the same foul-mouthed man who’d lost money gambling and exposed himself, and who had been killed for it.

His face was grim. They had done multiple sweeps, and just when everyone thought they were being overly cautious, the infiltrators had slapped them in the face.

“We don’t have many options left now.”

The first officer looked at the captain. The most logical move at this point was to dock and thoroughly screen every crew member.

They could use any excuse—maintenance, refueling, resupplying—it didn’t matter. It was clearly the best choice.

But the captain remained silent, face dark, the pipe in his mouth twitching in rhythm with his beard.

The other senior crew members turned to the first officer, clearly under immense pressure themselves. The tension aboard the ship had worn everyone down.

Docking would clearly relieve some of that pressure.

Just as the first officer was about to speak, the captain finally opened his mouth.

“We’re not docking.”

He dismissed the idea outright, then explained, “Before the telegraph went down yesterday, the chairman told me someone in Eminence is making massive short positions against EveryMoment.”

“He suspects the people targeting us and those shorting the company are working together. Their goal might not be simple robbery—it could be to manufacture a scandal.”

“If we dock, the company’s stock will crash. You all know what kind of person the chairman is.”

“Before we ended the call yesterday, he said he’d send people to meet us. We just need to hold out until we reach Marilo.”

The captain forced a strained smile. “What we really need to do now—besides rooting out those hidden bastards—is pick up speed.”

“A voyage originally scheduled for fifteen days will now be cut in half.”

News of the massive short positions in Eminence couldn’t be kept secret. A large-scale short requires the cooperation of the exchange. Once traders knew, the word would spread fast.

Even without leaks, such blatant activity would attract attention.

This made EveryMoment’s board paranoid, forcing them to connect the short sellers in Eminence with the current crisis on the cruise.

Fortunately, this was still a cruise ship, not a speedboat you could just climb onto. As long as no one inside opened a door, no one could board it in motion.

Their response: increase speed, tighten defenses.

The first officer nodded in agreement, following the board’s decision.

The chairman’s brother was the warlord behind EveryMoment. Neither of them were gentle men. The number of people they had directly or indirectly eliminated was well into the tens, possibly hundreds of thousands.

Disobey the chairman? You’d be dead the moment you set foot ashore.

Seeing no objections, the captain sighed lightly.

He removed the pipe from his mouth and held it in his hand. “I know we’re all under a lot of pressure, but it’s okay. We’ll reach Marilo in at most five days. Reinforcements are already en route.”

“They might arrive in three to four days. Once they do, we’ll be safe.”

The first officer nodded, then asked, “What about the patrol boats following us?”

“Lose them,” the captain said without hesitation. “We can’t trust anyone right now.”

The cruise ship speeding up wasn’t something easily noticeable. With no reference points on the open sea, no one could tell if the ship was moving faster or slower than before.

Aside from a slight bump at the start, passengers quickly adapted to the new speed.

Still, the tense atmosphere onboard was beginning to spread. Some guests had started asking if something was wrong. A few, sensing danger, had stopped leaving their cabins casually.

That was for the best. If these weren’t wealthy and powerful people, the captain would’ve preferred to lock them all in their rooms.

It would’ve made it much easier to identify friend from foe.

That night, after a full day of stress, everyone locked their doors and tried to rest. The captain stayed up until after one before finally giving in and going to bed.

Someone remained on duty in the captain’s quarters.

Around 3 a.m., a crewman who had been napping suddenly opened his eyes. Stretching, he walked over to the helm and naturally took the wheel from the other crew member.

“I’m good now, go get some rest,” he said with a smile.

The other crewman didn’t think much of it. He nodded, yawned, and lay down in the hammock nearby, quickly falling asleep.

The fast-moving cruise ship slowly began to drift off course.

By the fourth day—or more accurately, the fifth—the atmosphere among the crew had slightly improved, causing some to secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

If nothing went wrong, it would all just be idle speculation.

But the moment something did go wrong, it would spell the end for EveryMoment.

Everyone was gambling.

What was supposed to be a joyful journey had suddenly become grim. Everyone was anxiously awaiting judgment from the future.

On the fifth day, nothing happened.

On the sixth day, a problem arose.

“We’re off our planned course.”

In the captain’s cabin, he spoke privately with the first officer, his expression dark. “I don’t know who tampered with the controls, but we’ve deviated from our original route. I’m not sure by how much.”

The first officer frowned. “So what do we do now?”

The captain was grim. After a long pause, he said, “I’ve adjusted our plans. We’ll continue heading due north and hope we haven’t strayed too far…”

Meanwhile, after a three-day journey, the sergeant and two action teams had crossed the central belt of the Federation, from the east coast to the west.

Rather than chasing the moving cruise ship blindly, he arrived early at a designated supply point along its route.

No matter what was happening onboard, the cruise would need to resupply. And when it did, it would have to come here.

The sergeant had two speedboats rented. Everyone was armed and ready.

“They could arrive as early as this afternoon, no later than tomorrow. Be ready for combat at any time, understood?”

Back in combat gear and out of his dress uniform, the sergeant felt completely in his element. This was the life.

He looked at his energized team and couldn’t stop smiling.

But they ended up waiting in vain the entire day.

By noon the next day, the EveryMoment luxury cruise still hadn’t appeared.

It was a massive ship, not a small yacht—there was no missing it. The thing looked like a floating capitol building on the sea. There was no way it could go unnoticed.

That’s when it hit the sergeant and the troops: the ship was missing.

The news quickly reached Mr. Truman’s desk—the same Mr. T Lynch had mentioned. He was shocked to hear that the cruise ship had vanished.

He questioned the coast guard, and they soon reported that several days ago, the cruise ship had suddenly accelerated and moved into open waters during the night.

Coast guard boats are speedboats—fine near the continental shelf, but dangerous in open sea. Concerned for their own safety, they didn’t pursue. Nor did they report the incident to higher authorities.

After all, how the rich choose to travel—what route, how fast—is their own business. The coast guard’s shadowing was more a symbolic show of respect than actual duty.

As a result, such a critical piece of information had only now come to light. Which meant the cruise ship could be well outside its intended waters.

And that was a serious problem.

When the sergeant got the news, he started to panic. If anything happened to Lynch, a lot of things could spiral out of control.

As one of the earliest beneficiaries of the Lynch Group, he immediately began contacting various factions, trying to locate Lynch.

At the same time, a junior coast guard officer who had been reprimanded by his superior got drunk and called a journalist.

The coast guard often dealt with smuggling and illegal immigration, so they had decent ties with the press. Selling some insider info occasionally helped with personal expenses.

This officer had his bonus docked and was suspended for not reporting the cruise’s sudden detour. Furious, he vented by leaking the info.

Not long after, a reporter arrived at the bar. After paying the officer’s tab and handing over five hundred bucks, he walked away with a bombshell scoop.

The next day, The Federal Times ran it as the front-page headline:

Over a Hundred Millionaires Missing at Sea—EveryMoment May Be Held Responsible!