Darkstone Code-Chapter 880 - 878: Creating a Focal Point

"Mr. Lynch..."

The female manager entered the room and immediately knelt on the ground, full of guilt, "On behalf of ’Every Moment’, I offer our sincerest apologies to you and your companion!"

She bowed down, lowered her head, and pressed her forehead against the carpet within the cabin.

Over the past few days, if you weren’t a fool, you could sense that some uncontrollable things were happening on the ship.

Being on a ship, not a home court, the Federation’s wealthy individuals preferred to stay in their rooms, having food, drink, and other necessities delivered to them.

This facilitated the captain’s control and management of the ship but also silently increased the pressure for everyone during the process.

Pressure is akin to "the more you try to endure, the angrier you get." If not relieved initially, it easily forms an environment of internal high pressure.

People were unwilling and afraid to casually leave the "narrow" cabins, which accelerated the pressure, leading to today’s outbreak by a young man.

His outburst became a vent for others’ pressure and emotions, and from the conversation between him and the first mate, many people received a similar answer.

Now the ship was still under control, and the journey was expedited, giving everyone a sigh of relief.

Following this, they sent their respective client managers to soothe people’s emotions.

Looking at the kneeling female manager, Lynch seemed to have forgotten to ask her to rise, "How long until we dock?"

Without Lynch’s summons, the female manager dared not rise casually, "We will reach the predetermined location in no more than three days."

Lynch quickly did a mental calculation, "Our journey has accelerated compared to the plan, I remember the original schedule was half a month."

"Yes, Mr. Lynch."

"When did the acceleration start?"

This question puzzled the female manager. Shouldn’t he be more concerned about his safety? Why inquire about such a meaningless question?

However, since the captain insisted they comfort the guests’ emotions, the female manager answered truthfully, "About four to five days ago."

"So we’re actually now in the far northwest sea area of the Federation?" For a moment, Lynch envisioned a map of the Federation and nautical charts before him, and he furrowed his brows slightly.

He didn’t expect the captain to dash madly like a rabbit in heat, without pause. This might even render the Senior Soldier unable to find them, diminishing the plane’s value.

Fortunately, Every Moment’s stocks would offer him some compensation.

If they hadn’t accelerated or only slightly sped up, they should still be on the West Coast, with the Senior Soldier probably searching for him with the plane. But now they are further northwest, which is not a pleasant region.

Uncertain if the plane can catch up...

Lynch pondered for quite some time, while the female manager remained in prostration, her forehead pressed firmly onto the carpet. She was unaware of Lynch’s thoughts and dared not raise her head. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The situation on the ship is tense; one careless move could result in death—this isn’t an exaggeration or a joke. The warlords of Mariluo frequently obliterate entire families, and under such terrifying high-pressure rule, ordinary people indeed dare not act recklessly.

Sitting beside him, Penny’s expression grew somewhat fearful; deep down, she kept telling herself maybe things weren’t as bad as Lynch imagined.

However, the female manager’s visit with an apology confirmed Lynch’s statements, which slightly exceeded a girl’s tolerance range.

After about twenty or thirty seconds, Lynch snapped back and asked, "One last question, where does the danger stem from?"

Before the female manager arrived, the captain and the first mate had actually met them, indicating they could share the truth with each guest.

Being targeted by pirates was particularly common at this time; without the capability to capture radio silent targets beyond visual range, pirates have always been the primary cause of maritime losses.

What they didn’t expect was pirates mixing aboard, and not just one person, with connections to Mariluo’s forces. It’s not a simple, isolated incident.

They could speak of the main portions, yet some aspects weren’t allowed to be disclosed, such as the captain suspecting someone intended to exploit the hijacking of the cruise ship as a means to combat the warlord group and Every Moment.

Their goals weren’t purely to extort ransom from the wealthy, which implicates everyone with Every Moment and the warlords behind it. As one could imagine, once they escaped, anger might rise.

Only share what can be shared, anything that can’t be disclosed must remain unspoken.

The female manager quickly recounted the main points, whereas Lynch identified some loopholes but chose not to delve deeper.

Knowing where the danger originates was sufficient; he felt the trembling body of the girl hugging his waist from behind. He glanced at the kneeling female manager, paused for a few seconds, then gently smiled, saying, "Strip... "

The female manager took a deep breath, then without any hesitation, removed all her clothing...

Lynch had read a book, a philosophical one, titled "The Best Way to Face Fear."

It sounded quite absurd, akin to those unscrupulous authors penning books purely to profit—back then, the internet wasn’t as prevalent, and physical bookstores hadn’t become places where one could casually read books.

People typically went to bookstores finding the counter employee, spoke the name of the desired book, and the employee fetched it.

Taking a few glances at it, it’s what you want, then paying for it, or putting the book down and choosing another one.

There isn’t much time to look at books carefully; if you’re too slow, the store employee will tell you to get lost.

So back then, many magazines and newspapers introduced other books to readers, which sounds a bit... incredible, but it existed.

They would excerpt parts from various books for publication, along with reviews from famous critics and editors, forming the earliest recommendation-type publications.

People feel an excerpt matches their tastes and go to the bookstore to buy that book, but they don’t always find what they want.

The book "The Best Way to Face Fear" has a very interesting perspective, where the author believes that stimuli more intense than fear from the sensory side can help people conquer fear.

For example, extreme anger, even facing something you’re afraid of, you can attack proactively.

Or, for example... extreme joy.

All day long, the three people indulged in extreme joy, until dusk when everyone was too tired to move.

Penny slept peacefully, without fear, without being scared, and her body was no longer trembling.

After resting a little, Lynch got up; he needed to have the kitchen send some food over.

At the end of February/beginning of March, before entering Daylight Saving Time, the sky starts to darken shortly after five, and it gets dark faster than on land.

In the captain’s cabin, the captain was looking at the cruise ship through the window, with the room filled with thick smoke.

He stood like a statue, motionless.

Just at this moment, a sudden knocking startled him slightly, and he asked in a deep voice, "Who’s there?"

"It’s me, caught one!" The first mate’s voice made the captain’s eyebrows twitch and relax; he hurriedly opened the door, the first mate’s expression was somewhat excited, "We’ve caught that telegraph operator."

After the telegraph operator broke the telegraph machine, he hid in the lower deck cabin. Although there were many cabins, as long as each room was carefully searched and locked after searching, eventually, they could find the person.

To prevent these people from having keys, all searched rooms were locked, and the lock cores were additionally hammered with nails to ensure even having keys couldn’t open them.

Eventually, they found the telegraph operator, once thought to have jumped overboard, in an empty box in the storeroom.

"Quickly..."

The group arrived at the captain’s cabin on one deck, and the female telegraph operator was sitting pale-faced on the chair, she hadn’t expected that almost a week later, these people were still frantically searching.

Ultimately, she couldn’t escape and fell into their hands.

Thinking of their methods chilled the female telegraph operator’s heart.

When people saw the captain arrive, they greeted him, but he couldn’t spare the time for hellos; he walked directly to the female telegraph operator, glanced at her, then abruptly grabbed an ironwood paperweight used for holding down sea charts from the table, and struck it viciously on her calf.

Without any surprise, her calf was fractured, and it was a horrifying open fracture, with the broken bone piercing the skin and protruding from the other side.

She froze, then pain hit, and she screamed incredibly, even losing control and wetting herself.

The captain casually tossed the paperweight back onto the table, adjusted his collar, and looked at the female telegraph operator with no expression, "I may not get anything you think is very important from your mouth."

"I can’t distinguish whether you’re telling the truth or lies, so I’m prepared for being deceived or getting nothing."

"And you, are you prepared to be killed?"

The female telegraph operator’s body trembled violently, part of it was the pain causing her to shake. Being brutally leg-broken was a terrifying, painful sensation.

Another part was due to the captain’s attitude. He really didn’t care about forcing the female telegraph operator to speak, at least that’s what she felt.

Death!

This was her sole thought at this moment, and it led her to face unspeakable fear.

And at this time, the sailor who first discovered the female crew member hiding in the box had already reached the lifeboat davits.

According to Federation laws and industry regulations, civilian vessels had to provide lifeboats capable of carrying twice the passenger number and placed on both sides of the ship.

To prevent being too late for escape if capsizing or capsizing on the side with lifeboats.

By now, it was very late, and most crew members knew someone was caught, leaving no one on the boat deck.

This sailor looked left and right, lowering a lifeboat.

And together with the lifeboat, he lowered four steel-core ropes...