BXBX NOVEL Chapter 356: 354 Flammable and Explosive
[Damn, that’s a huge waterwheel!]
[So this is what a sewer looks like? The movies didn’t lie to me]
[I always thought it was fake]
[Why is it still turning, is there still electricity?]
Bi Fang pointed at the water channel below the waterwheel, “The waterwheel has already stopped; it’s the flow of water that’s pushing the blades. It has rained yesterday and the day before, accumulating lots of wastewater in the sewer, which naturally flows towards the ocean and rivers at lower elevations. Also, due to the unique structure of the blades, they continue to rotate, though the force is weak and it can be easily stopped.”
Here, the sewer had widened to resemble a river, with droplets of water jumping and rolling between the blades, carrying large swathes of polluted algae.
The two climbed up the iron ladder beside the waterwheel, ran through the flume, and faced the slowly approaching blades. Bi Fang reached out and grabbed one, the blade was heavy, and it cut through the water like a steel knife under the effect of the current. Fortunately, it wasn’t very fast, and they were just barely able to block it.
“In a normal operating status, the more than a meter-long stainless steel blades could easily shred an adult into pieces, which would then be discharged into the sea along with the wastewater, to be eaten by schools of fish, leaving no trace for anyone to discover.”
As the blades passed close by, Bi Fang and Matthew took the opportunity to move across, sliding down the damp pipe wall. Bi Fang shined his flashlight down at the pipe below and said.
“There should have been layers of cleaning nets here to intercept the waste in the water. Cleanup workers would shovel the sediment and waste that had accumulated at the bottom of the pipe and carry it to the sewage chute above, but I suspect the cleaning nets may have been damaged. Otherwise, the build-up of several months of dirt would have blocked up the place long ago.”
His voice echoed through the pipes. As everyone followed the direction of the flashlight beam, sure enough, a large wire mesh had already been torn open, and all the original algae and trash had flowed out through the hole, rendering it utterly ineffective as a cleaning agent.
Bi Fang turned off his flashlight without lingering further: “Let’s go, we didn’t come here to look at small water channels, let’s hurry, we’re less than five hundred meters from our destination.”
Matthew followed behind Bi Fang and asked, “How come you know so much about the sewers too?”
“Read more books.”
Matthew: “…”
…
The sound of footsteps echoed through the pipes.
“Did you hear that?” Bi Fang whispered, silently gesturing upwards with his hand.
Matthew caught on instantly, holding his breath to listen. Soft footsteps began to sound from overhead, his eyes shining.
“From now on, don’t speak loudly, in a tubular space, any sound can be magnified and carried far away. We must be careful not to be discovered. Take this,” Bi Fang instructed as he handed Matthew a pebble, “hold it in your mouth, so you won’t make a sound if something unexpected happens.”
Matthew awkwardly accepted the stone, thinking of stuffing it into his mouth, but after two attempts, he felt too foolish to proceed.
Seeing the hesitation on his face, Bi Fang reassured, “Don’t worry, I’ve washed it; it’s clean.”
“Fine!”
Determined, Matthew closed his eyes and stuffed the pebble into his mouth. When he opened his eyes and looked at Bi Fang again, he discovered that Bi Fang hadn’t also placed a stone in his mouth but had instead turned around to climb the ladder, ready to open the manhole cover.
“…?” Matthew mumbled unclearly, “Why aren’t you holding one?”
“I’ve undergone professional training and can control the impulse.”
[Mr. Matthew, we’ve received strict training. No matter how funny something is, we won’t laugh unless we can’t hold it in.]
[Ah hahaha!]
[Unless we can’t hold it in, ah hahaha!]
[Strong Visual Impact]
After about a dozen seconds, footsteps were heard above again. Bi Fang turned off his flashlight and climbed the iron ladder, took a deep breath, and carefully pushed the manhole cover.
The perspective switched to the first person, with everything pitch-black in view, but soon, a bright light appeared in the middle of the frame, gradually coming into focus.
The moment the manhole cover was opened, streams of water poured in through the cracks, turning the silent world into a noisy one; the sound of flowing water disappeared, replaced by the bustling noise of rain.
The massive warehouse seemed like a behemoth hidden beneath the night sky, with the air filled with a damp, stifling smell as rain drizzled down.
About a dozen bandit gang members, wearing clear raincoats, patrolled around, their flashlights sweeping back and forth. Even though they were from the bandit gangs, they didn’t want any major mistakes happening so close to delivery, so they had arranged a substantial number of people to guard and patrol.
Through the raincoats, one could see the bandit gang members’ bulging waists—there was no doubt that guns were equipped there.
“It’s raining,” Bi Fang said as he closed the manhole cover, “It must have started on our way here, but the rain isn’t too heavy yet.”
Gurgle.
The bandit gang members, wearing boots, stepped over the manhole cover, gradually moving away, never suspecting that someone was hiding just beneath them.
“What do we do now? There are at least ten people there, and you can’t possibly take them all down, not to mention it’s a problem just getting out,” Matthew murmured with a pebble in his mouth, speaking indistinctly.
The plan was perfect, but reality was harsh.
If only the manhole cover led directly into the warehouse, but no one would do such a thing.
“Although I have enough bullets now, I can deal with only three to five targets at a time at most, and with Matthew taking one, that makes it around five or six, but the other side has at least fifteen guns, and I don’t even know if they are equipped with grenades or other deadly weapons. Suppressing them with firepower is definitely not an option,” he said.
The audience fell silent, aware they were only a step away from success, yet that single step held the distance of an entire Mount Everest, virtually insurmountable.
Was the rescue mission going to fail just like that?
[Maybe we should just give up…]
[I think so too, it’s too dangerous. With so many people, Master Fang can’t possibly take them all down. Even if he manages to take down most of them, he might still be targeted for retaliation later on. That would be the end.]
[Yeah, let’s just drop it.]
[I’m just worried someone will guilt-trip us.]
[Ha, I’d rather save a goose than a person, pathetic.]
[My blood pressure is rising!]
“No, there still might be a chance,” said Bi Fang.
He spread the map out again, shining his flashlight on it. As soon as he’d learned that the passage didn’t lead directly into the warehouse, he considered such a scenario and had planned accordingly.
On the map, Bi Fang pointed to a red dot that marked their current manhole cover’s location. Then with a sweep of his hand, covering just a few centimeters, another manhole cover appeared.
“It’s not far from the warehouse, still inside the shipyard, only a few steps from the warehouse. If we create enough noise, the guards watching the warehouse won’t have any choice but to investigate.”
“But how are we going to create enough noise?”
“Explosion,” Bi Fang said as he rolled up the map and stuffed it back into his backpack. He then pulled out a canister of liquid—automotive antifreeze!
Ethylene glycol, highly flammable and explosive!
“We’ll just make a time-delayed explosive. As long as it’s powerful enough, at least a third of the guards will be drawn. These guards are spread in four directions; only those in three directions can see us directly. If these people are lured away, we will have our chance to break through!”