Tynemouth Harbor, England
The rain continued for more than three hours without stopping.
The soldiers also stood by the sea for more than three hours.
It was July, and the warm Atlantic Ocean current swept the rainwater down to the ground. The night that should have been cool and warm had an inexplicable chill. It was as though winter was approaching.
The only light here was the lighthouse on the distant turbulent sea.
A huge beam of light swept the surroundings, and in the blink of an eye, it turned in another direction. It streaked across the surrounding rugged and dilapidated cloisters, as well as the dense rain in the air.
The air was filled with an inexplicable fishy smell. The smell came from the fishing boats that were parked by the harbor. The ground was covered in black wet bricks, and there were some inexplicable mollusks squirming on them.
The soldier, Coss Diman, touched the cold raindrops on his face. He moved his feet slightly and kicked away a thin fish that hadn't been transported away. It was still crackling.
This was the first time he was carrying out such a mission. Diman nervously swallowed a mouthful of saliva and looked beside him. His companions were like him, wearing helmets, holding guns, and wearing black ponchos. In the dark rainy night, they stared at the sea like reefs, as though they were waiting for something.
At this moment, the whale oil lamp of the lighthouse swept across the empty sea, and the shadow of a cargo ship was cut out. It appeared silently, and it was indistinct in the rain. Its appearance couldn't be seen clearly, as though it had passed through layers of space and was placed there by God.
"Team Three, be on guard."
"Team Two, retrieve the goods."
An abnormally thin and tall man walked out from the soldiers and shouted.
The man looked like a bamboo pole, thin and tall. He wore a mask that resembled a Victorian plague doctor. His round glasses were stained with rain, and his entire body was wrapped in a black robe. He was wearing a pair of black rubber boots.
Diman retracted his gaze and didn't move. He was in Team Three.
Behind him, the soldiers of Team Two switched on their flashlights. Under the illumination of the flashlights, a huge metal train was lying silently in the dark rain.
Bang!
Bang! The soldiers entered the train in a single file, and then they carried large wooden crates down the train. They were placed heavily on the dark and damp tiles of the harbor.
At the same time, the ghostly ship on the surface of the sea slowly came to a stop. The sailors lowered the lifeboat, put on ponchos, started the lifeboat, and approached the dock.
There were two lifeboats, one carrying people and the other carrying a large black metal box.
The leader, a strange man wearing a crow mask, waved his hand, and all the soldiers immediately became alert. They hugged the Lee Enfield rifles in their hands and spread out slightly.
Diman did the same, but his sharp eyes saw that the 'leader' took out a black wooden stick and stuffed it into his sleeve.
The lifeboat docked.
The head sailor jumped on to the quay and fastened the boat with a rope to prevent it from being swept away by the tide.
Then, they Zizi exerted their strength and dragged the other lifeboat with an iron chest to the shore. Four tall sailors hooked their arms around the ring at the bottom of the iron chest and used their muscles to forcefully lift the iron chest that could only be lifted by a crane.
The four of them quickly stepped forward and heavily placed the four meter long and three meter tall metal box in front of the group of soldiers.
Only then did Diman see their appearance clearly. They were all bald and had brown skin, like monks. But their heads were also like monks.
They were all abnormally tall and strong, wearing straight cotton shirts and trousers with patches. On their skin, there were some strange tattoos. Some looked like square words, and some were some strange red patterns that looked somewhat ferocious.
After the box was placed down, the four of them silently placed their hands on their hips and did not say a word.
"Where's Fatir?"
A woman with a flame tattoo on her face walked out from behind the group of men with her hands behind her back. She seemed to be the leader of their group.
She had a beautiful face, and her hair was tied in a ponytail that reached her waist. She wore a loose Tang dress and wooden clogs, but she spoke English very fluently.
"Here."
The man wearing a crow mask stood out. He was almost two meters tall, and the Asian woman was only as tall as his chest.
The man extended his hand. "Let's meet when we reconcile, Miss Xi."
"Just speak English, Mike."
The woman walked closer and pushed the man's hand away. Diman could see a mole under her eye.
"Okay, I've been waiting for a long time this time …"
"Where's the medicine?"
The woman interrupted him directly.
"Here."
The man with the crow mask waved his hand, and a few soldiers carried the wooden box over. "Aspirin, antibiotics, sulfonamide, quinine, morphine, yes, and some special drugs."
The woman squatted down and began to check the wooden box.
The leader was in charge of the transaction. Diman's gaze could not help but sweep over the woman's snow-white thighs under the cheongsam. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he retracted his gaze, only to see a pair of gloomy eyes in front of the big metal box.
The tall foreign man looked at him. His broad face was square, the muscles on his neck protruded, and his eyes were dim.
Diman could smell the smell of the sea and blood that assailed his nose. He swallowed his saliva, and his fingers trembled as he tightened his grip on the rifle in his hand.
This action alerted the yellow-skinned man in black cloth shoes. He narrowed his eyes slightly. He clenched his fist and took a step forward. The rain quickly evaporated from his bald head.
He was unarmed, but his aura was oppressive.
Diman took a step back with the rifle.
The woman with the flame tattoo on her face instantly turned her head. "Quan Zai, oh, don't lower yourself to the same level as the foreigner."
The man immediately stood back and lowered his head, appearing very respectful.
Diman did not understand what they were talking about, so he tilted his head slightly and asked a veteran beside him. "Who are these people?"
The veteran's lips squirmed. "People from HK, don't talk nonsense."
After checking the rows of wooden boxes on the ground, the woman in the cheongsam nodded with satisfaction.
"The medicine is all here, do you want to check it?"
She pointed to the big box that was brought down from the ship.
The man with the crow mask glanced at the box, and a cold white mist came out of the bird's nostrils. He shook his head and stretched out his hand.
"He Zuoyu loves it."
"Okay." The woman shook the man's hand, turned her head and waved her arm. "Scatter the water."
The group of eastern men in linen clothes immediately retreated to the wooden box, picked up the wooden box, and put the wooden box on the two lifeboats, and disappeared into the dark rain of the port without looking back.
The Far Eastern cargo ship flickered in the black tide, and then disappeared without a trace, just like how it came.
Only a strange big iron box was left in the port.
The rain in the sky hit the box, and water vapor hissed, as if water was dripping on a burning coal stove.
The man with the crow mask slowly walked to the big iron box, his back facing Diman, and knocked on the iron box with his slender fingers, and put his ear to it for a moment.
Then, he straightened his back. "Take it away, to Wales."
More than a dozen soldiers stepped forward, but the soldiers could not do anything to the box that was lifted up by the four eastern men.
Until the man with the crow mask knocked on the iron box with a thin wooden stick. The soldiers lifted the box and put it on the train.
Ten minutes later, the front of the train stopped at Tynemouth Port spewed out thick hot steam, and three thick lights shot through the rain, shining into the unknown distance.
The foreign goods were tightly placed in the middle of the train, and there were fully armed soldiers in front and behind.
Coss Diman stood sentry in the corridor closest to the cargo as he looked back.
Through the glass, under the illumination of the row of incandescent lights on the roof, he saw that the metal box sent by the foreign country was covered by a thick layer of dark gray tarpaulin, and it was firmly fixed to the iron plate of the train with steel cables and nails.
For some reason, he felt an emotion called "irritation" from the box.
The outer layer of the tarpaulin trembled slightly, and the train had not moved yet.
"What are you looking at?"
The soldier standing guard next to him tapped his shoulder with the butt of his gun.
Diman came back to his senses and found that the soldier had a cigarette in his mouth and a cigarette in his fingers.
"Oh, thank you."
He took the cigarette and lit it with a match.
"Don't look around," the veteran reminded him.
"Hey!"
Diman could not help but spit out a mouthful of white smoke. "Aren't you curious? The box is rumbling, but you pretended not to hear anything."
"Curious?"
The veteran looked at him coldly. "Let me tell you, young man, there are too many things in this world that you don't understand. Don't look, touch, and think … The danger has nothing to do with you."
Diman shut his mouth and smoked silently.
But he could not help but think about what was in the box. It was as if someone told him not to think about elephants, and the elephant's shadow immediately appeared in his mind.
.....
Time passed in the blink of an eye.
The train was still moving through the dark rain without slowing down.
Inside the carriage, Curtis Diman's eyelids gradually became heavy.
It seemed like three hours had passed, but it also seemed like only a second had passed.
Suddenly, something swept across his face, and he suddenly woke up from his drowsy state.
But at this moment, the veteran standing guard next to him had disappeared, and the other soldiers beside him were also nowhere to be seen.
The wind blew from behind, and he was shocked and looked back.
He saw that the chandelier in the carriage was crackling, and the foreign metal box had been opened at some point. The steel cables fastened to the iron plate were all broken, and the canvas fluttered, but there was nothing inside.
"Chris …?"
Diman swallowed his saliva and shouted the name of the missing veteran. No one answered. It was as if suddenly, he was the only one left on the moving train.
The carriage in front of him was flickering, and he could not see anything clearly. He did not know what was going on, but he was scared and slowly backed away with his gun.
He retreated to the corner of the other carriage and leaned against a hard object. He was slightly relieved. His body began to warm up, and the temperature rose, getting hotter and hotter.
He let go of the gun and wiped the sweat on his forehead.
Wait …
Hot?
The body temperature continued to rise, as if there were two hot blowers blowing at his back.
He looked back.
In the darkness.
The iris opened horizontally.
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