Chapter 15: Surrender Without Resistance

On the way to the pier, Yuan Zhong remained silent. Da Zhong and Xiao Hua sat in the back, equally withdrawn.

They all understood that although Old Pu’s men had not followed them, this matter was far from over. Even if they managed to cross the sea successfully, the road ahead would no longer be smooth.

Half an hour later, the three of them got out near the pier.

Dongcuo soon found them.

He said that Erga had boarded the ferry fifteen minutes earlier and should reach the opposite shore shortly. He had also arranged a boat, but it would take about an hour to get there.

After reporting everything, Dongcuo watched as Yuan Zhong nodded and thanked him. He opened his mouth to speak, but then caught sight of the faint guilt on Da Zhong’s face beside him, and hesitation filled his heart.

That hesitation made it impossible for him to say what he had intended.

“What is it?” Yuan Zhong asked.

Dongcuo forced out a smile and shook his head. “Nothing.”

Yuan Zhong gave him a meaningful look, then turned and glared at Da Zhong.

Da Zhong lowered his eyes and did not dare make a sound.

Only now did he finally understand what had caused the disappointment that had appeared in Yuan Zhong’s eyes on the hotel terrace.

He simply had not been clever enough.

If all he had wanted was for Tanwei to die, there were countless ways to make the man disappear without a sound. With his and Yuan Zhong’s abilities, they could have done it without leaving the slightest trace. There had been no need to expose themselves before the Buddha Hand Gang.

And if he wanted Xiao Hua and the others to establish their Chinese restaurant peacefully on Lanta Island, killing Tanwei would accomplish nothing. Once one Tanwei was gone, another would appear. There was no end to killing.

So the plan he had thought so carefully through had actually cost them more than it had hurt their enemy.

Tanwei was dead, but their peaceful lives were gone as well. Not only he and Yuan Zhong, but Xiao Hua and the others had all been dragged into it. They could no longer remain on Lanta Island, and whether they could escape safely was still unknown.

Looking back now, he felt he had been unbelievably stupid.

But things had already come to this. Regret was useless.

An hour was not especially long. The four of them found a secluded spot near the pier and waited there for a while, smoking several cigarettes. Then Dongcuo received a call saying that the boat had arrived and was waiting for them in a small cove three or four hundred meters northwest of the pier.

After hanging up, Yuan Zhong suddenly looked at him. “Is the boatman reliable?”

Dongcuo thought for a moment. “I don’t know him personally. I asked a relative to help me contact him.”

Yuan Zhong felt vaguely that the arrangement might not be dependable, but at this point they had no better choice.

Just then, Da Zhong pulled a pistol from behind his waist and handed it to him.

Yuan Zhong glanced at it. “Keep it yourself.”

Instead, he took out the two butterfly knives they had previously seized from Old Pu’s men and handed one each to Dongcuo and Xiao Hua.

“Keep them close, just in case,” Yuan Zhong said.

Xiao Hua accepted his without hesitation. Dongcuo stared at the butterfly knife for a while before reaching out to take it.

Yuan Zhong gave him another look.

“Let’s go.”

Seven or eight minutes later, the four of them reached the small cove Dongcuo had mentioned. From the roadside above, they could see a small speedboat floating some distance from the shore.

Clearly, they would have to swim to it.

The speedboat was small, and only one person could be seen aboard.

The four of them quickly made their way down from the road to the shore, then entered the water one after another.

After swimming for quite some time, they finally reached the boat. Once aboard, the boatman greeted them in Southern Thai and handed them towels.

Dongcuo and Xiao Hua both knew some Southern Thai. After speaking with the boatman for a while, Xiao Hua turned to Yuan Zhong and Da Zhong.

“He says that early this morning, people at the pier on the opposite shore were asking about several Chinese men. He wants to know whether he should take us directly to the pier later, or stop somewhere else hidden, as he has now.”

Yuan Zhong considered it. “Tell him to head north and take us directly to a pier near Krabi.”

Xiao Hua turned and spoke with the boatman. After a few exchanges, the boatman nodded.

The strait was not particularly wide. Under normal circumstances, the ferry took only twenty-two or twenty-three minutes to cross from the pier. But if they went north and headed directly toward Krabi, it would probably take about two hours.

It was just after ten.

The sea was calm and peaceful.

Seagulls occasionally flew overhead, leaving behind strings of clear, lingering cries.

Yuan Zhong sat leaning back near the stern and lit a cigarette. Through his sunglasses, the phosphorescence shimmering across the sea looked almost unreal in its beauty.

The speedboat roared as it plunged into that field of light. Amid the spray thrown into the air, it raced toward the open sea, and little by little, the coastline visible to them grew longer.

Yuan Zhong could not help slightly furrowing his brow.

Just as he was about to ask a question, Xiao Hua suddenly called out, “Brother Yuan, there’s a boat behind us.”

Yuan Zhong turned at the sound. Far in the distance, in the direction of Lanta Island’s pier, a white speck was racing toward them.

The other boat was moving fast. Yuan Zhong could clearly sense that it was doing everything it could to close the distance.

He looked back at the others. “Can any of you drive a speedboat?”

The three of them froze.

After a long moment, they all shook their heads.

“Brother, what’s wrong?” Da Zhong asked.

Yuan Zhong glanced at him but did not answer. Instead, he turned to Dongcuo. “Go ask the boatman whether he’s heading in the wrong direction.”

Dongcuo stared at him, then looked around in confusion. By now they were far from shore, surrounded by rippling seawater. If they fell into the sea at this point, swimming back to land would not be easy for people who had not grown up by the coast.

Dongcuo seemed to guess what was happening. His face changed abruptly. After looking at Yuan Zhong once more, he rose and walked toward the boatman.

After a few words, the grim expression on Dongcuo’s face eased considerably.

He turned back and said, “Brother Yuan, the boatman says there are many reefs along this stretch of coast. Going too close would be dangerous, so he has to make a slight detour farther out.”

Really?

Yuan Zhong gave a cold laugh inwardly, then glanced back at the speedboat behind them. In the brief time that had passed, it had drawn much closer.

A coincidence?

There were almost no true coincidences in this world. What people called coincidence was, nine times out of ten, merely the deliberate design of someone with ulterior motives.

He narrowed his eyes. If his guess was correct, the other side had clearly come prepared.

Still, they were not yet certain whether Tanwei was dead. Most likely, they would not immediately try to kill them. As long as the other side did not open fire with rifles the moment they caught up, the situation would not instantly become hopeless.

But even if it was not a hopeless situation, escaping would still be extremely difficult.

Since the other side had laid such an elaborate trap, there had to be something wrong with the speedboat they were on. Even if they seized the boatman, they probably could not get the boat back to shore.

In that case, had Old Pu’s attempt to surround them at the hotel that morning also been deliberate? Had its purpose been to drive them into crossing the sea as quickly as possible?

Once they were out on the water, with no villages ahead or behind them, all the other side needed was a gun to gain the upper hand. If Yuan Zhong and the others did not want to die, they would have no choice but to surrender obediently.

No wonder Old Pu had not sent anyone after them.

At that thought, Yuan Zhong raised his brows slightly.

It seemed that not everyone in the Buddha Hand Gang was as worthless as Tanwei.