Chapter 220 - All Prisoners Are Accounted For

Since Li Wen had already taken over the ship, Lu Fang and Yeong no longer had to worry about their movements being captured on camera. Hanxi went down the from the vessel, carefree, bringing additional uniforms for the two. 

After getting changed, all three men went to the ship carrying an unconscious female. 

As soon as they were about to get on board, all the lights went out. If that wasn't enough, the port had also lost power. The Neptune Trader docked further from the other boats in the port. Some personnel quickly went to check on the power control and called the engineers.

When the trio passed through the other guards, it was utterly dark. 

"Who is that you are carrying?" Asked one of them. 

"It's a new test subject Mr. Duval wanted us to bring over," answered Lu Fang. 

"How come we were not aware of this?"

"We don't know. We were just told to pick her up and bring her here. We can send her back and you can talk to Mr. Duval about this," replied Yeong. 

"Look man, you saw me come down from the bridge to meet them. They ordered me to pick them up," Hanxi tried to reason with the two armed men. 

"Is that the prisoner? The doctors have been waiting for her. What took you so long?" It was Han-joon who came to the rescue. 

The men on guard could barely see their faces. They were hesitant to let them on board but, if this was really a new prisoner, they would end up getting punished severely for not securing the said test subject. 

Eventually, they reluctantly submitted. The guards agreed that if their act was unauthorized, they could not enter the boat's facility and remain only on the deck. 

One of the guards followed them from a safe distance while the others observed from afar.  When their silhouettes found the facility's main entrance, they saw the enormous steel door opened; they let out a sigh and went back on guard.  The man who followed Lu Fang's party returned to his post. 

The captain was having a nervous breakdown. He still could not reach his officers. They needed to be in the sea by now as Mr. Duval would check on their location first thing in the morning. He was even surprised that his boss had not found out yet.

The worst part of that day was that something had gone wrong with the ship's power management system affecting all the lights from inside and outside the ship. 

What the captain didn't know, everything was Li Wen's doing. Apart from controlling the power system, she had diverted calls from the ship's leeches to a pretend voice mailbox of Bertrand Duval. She had also purposely pinned the ship in the middle of the sea to avoid suspicion from its owner. The Neptune Trader was being infiltrated under the captain's watch and up to now, he had no clue. 

The captain's chief mate and chief security officer returned an hour apart. Hearing their arrival, they were summoned to the bridge. 

"Why did you leave without telling me? What was so urgent that you had to leave?" The captain asked as he walked back and forth in front of his officers. 

"Captain, I received a call from the hospital saying my wife was in an accident. I rushed to our hometown only to find out that the hospital called me by mistake," answered his chief mate. 

"Captain," his chief security officer spoke. "I had a very important personal matter to attend to."

Just as he was about to rant, they heard an explosion. Shortly after, the alarm went off, indicating that there was a fire from inside the facility. The officials immediately commanded to their team to be on high alert and check the inside.

The metallic door swung open and swiftly came out the doctors, nurses, utility personnel and some guards. They were trying to get away from the smoke. 

"Something blew up in the lab!" One nurse exclaimed. 

The entire ship was still dark. The guards found it troublesome to settle everyone and get inside, having most of them crowed at the facility's entrance. Together with the ship's empty containers, the deck from where they stood was completely packed. 

"Step aside! Move to the other side of the boat!" Instructed one of the security personnel. 

"Help! There were some who fainted!" One of the guards called carrying one other male security and another one carrying a doctor in a white coat. "Give them some air! Give them some air!"

Two other guards followed carrying a nurse and another doctor. "Excuses us! Let us trough!"

"Chief," called the guard who was carrying a female doctor, "We'll take them to the other side to help them breathe. It's too crowded here."

"Wait for a second!" The chief security officer responded. He then turned on a mini flashlight that he normally carried with him and flashed it to the doctor's face. "It's Doctor Kelly."

He then went to check the other doctor and the nurse. After confirming their identity, he instructed them to proceed to the direction nearing the dock. 

"Chief, would you like to check on him too?" Asked the guard who was carrying one of their own. 

"No need!" The Chief responded as he gave a quick glance at the unconscious man, whose short hair was a mess. He did not care much about the security team. What was important to him was that none of the doctors and nurses get off the boat. 

It did not cross his mind that the prisoners would get away considering they were locked in their individual holding rooms. The attending employees needed approval from the control room to open their chambers each and every time. 

While those who carried the unconscious individuals proceeded to an unguarded section of the boat, the rest of the security team went inside the facility to inspect the accident.

After nearly an hour of waiting, the lights were back on. The captain was caught by surprise. He had the engineers thoroughly check on the power system earlier but with no results.  Now, the lights came back to its own. He shook his head and mumbled, "useless engineers."

A security supervisor returned to the deck and reported, "Sir, it was laboratory three that blew up and caused the fire to the nearby stations. We have already secured the area and had put out the fire. The rest of the employees are still inside."

"Check each and every prisoner. Make sure they are still inside," ordered the captain. 

"Yes, sir."

They sent all employees back to the facility, and some guards returned to their post. Those who were originally assigned to secure the ship's entrance saw the unconscious doctors and nurses laid down on the floor. It puzzled them why they were left behind but recalled the earlier instructions to bring them on this side of the boat. They merely called out to their colleagues and had them brought back inside for treatment. 

After an hour the captain received a full report from the chief security officer, "All prisoners are accounted for."