Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1737

“Captain, we need to respond!”\n\nChen Weilong was sweating profusely, struggling to find the right words. No matter how hard he tried, a suitable response eluded him.\n\n”Can we get closer?” he asked, his voice tight with anxiety.\n\n”Impossible,” came the reply. “Getting too close to a ship that size risks a collision. One or both of us would sink.”\n\n”…Then, what about letting them pass and approaching from behind?” Chen Weilong suggested, grasping at straws.\n\n”That’s also difficult.” The response was blunt, devoid of any optimism.\n\nChen Weilong knew it was impossible. He was just trying to buy time, to find a solution, any solution.\n\n”If our ship were smaller, maybe, but approaching with a vessel this size is out of the question.”\n\nChen Weilong swallowed hard, the knot in his stomach tightening.\n\n”Then… is there no way to confirm their intentions?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.\n\n”We could get as close as possible, deploy a patrol boat, and then approach. But that’s just as dangerous. Rather…”\n\n”Try it,” Chen Weilong interrupted, his voice firm despite his fear.\n\n”Yes?” The other officer was taken aback.\n\n”Try every possible method!” Chen Weilong insisted, his desperation growing.\n\n”But that’s…”\n\nChen Weilong was about to shout when another voice cut through the tension.\n\n”Captain, we’ve received a communication from headquarters! All ships are ordered to maintain distance from the approaching vessels. We’ve been ordered to track them.”\n\n”What?” Chen Weilong shook his head, as if he couldn’t comprehend the order.\n\n”What is this? Don’t approach? Just a moment ago, they told us to confirm!” The rapidly changing orders only added to his confusion.\n\n”C, Captain!”\n\n”What! What is it now!” Chen Weilong snapped, his nerves frayed.\n\n”L, look over there! Over there!” The helmsman’s voice was filled with a strange mix of fear and bewilderment.\n\nChen Weilong followed the direction of the helmsman’s trembling finger. His eyes narrowed as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.\n\nThe sea was shrouded in darkness, but something was sparkling in the black sky.\n\n’It’s not a star…’ he thought. The angle was too low. Then what was it?\n\nChen Weilong’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.\n\n”H, helicopters?” he stammered.\n\n”It looks like helicopters!”\n\n”Crazy! In this wind!”\n\nThe lights became clearer. Dozens of helicopters were rapidly approaching from the coast.\n\n”Helicopters! They shouldn’t have the range to reach us from the coast.”\n\n”They must not have departed from the coast,” another officer muttered, his voice filled with disbelief.\n\n”…Are you saying it’s an aircraft carrier?” Chen Weilong asked, his mind reeling.\n\n”…How would I know?” The officer replied, equally bewildered.\n\nChen Weilong stared blankly at the sky. Helicopters here? It made no sense.\n\n”T, there’s something below too! It looks like patrol boats! A lot of small patrol boats are coming!”\n\nThe situation had gone beyond Chen Weilong’s understanding. Everything was abnormal. He couldn’t comprehend what was happening.\n\nAnd then…\n\n”There!” someone shouted, pointing towards the unidentified ship.\n\n”What is it!”\n\nSomething that looked like a person was jumping out of the helicopter passing over the unidentified ship.\n\n”Rappelling?” Chen Weilong asked, his voice barely audible.\n\n”No! There are no ropes!”\n\n”…Jumping from that height? It can’t be suicide.” Chen Weilong’s weak voice echoed in the silent bridge.\n\n* * *\n\n”They’ve made contact,” a voice announced in the situation room.\n\n”Hmm, is that so?” Lee Hyun-soo, sitting with his legs crossed, whistled nonchalantly.\n\n”How will they react? It would be fun to just shoot them all and sink them,” he added, a hint of dark humor in his voice.\n\n”…What a gruesome thing to say? We’d have to pay for all of that sinking,” another voice replied, a touch of exasperation in their tone.\n\n”How much could it be?” Lee Hyun-soo asked, feigning ignorance.\n\n”You couldn’t afford it even if you sold the director!” came the sharp retort.\n\n”…I think your answer is a bit off the mark?” Lee Hyun-soo chuckled, unfazed.\n\n”Well, whatever,” he said, dismissing the matter with a wave of his hand.\n\n”Okay, then what’s their response…”\n\n”Director, a report has come in. You need to check it,” an aide interrupted.\n\n”Okay.” Lee Hyun-soo opened the file and frowned. “This crazy bastard…” he muttered, his momentary bewilderment evident.\n\nHe read the report several times, trying to make sense of it.\n\n”A container ship?” he asked, his voice laced with disbelief.\n\nIf their side had overturned common sense, the other side’s response was equally unconventional.\n\n”No, can you even load helicopters onto a container ship?” he wondered aloud.\n\n”Maybe not fighter jets, but helicopters are possible. They don’t really need a propulsion system. As long as there’s a flat surface, right?” the aide replied, trying to make sense of the situation.\n\n”…I guess so,” Lee Hyun-soo conceded, still shaking his head in disbelief.\n\nThey had mobilized every ship they could. Attacking all those ships was impossible. They were in a position where they had to pretend not to see each other. Attacking civilian ships without reason would be impossible to handle. But with this ridiculous measure, they couldn’t buy as much time as Lee Hyun-soo had thought.\n\n”I expected them to mobilize a large number of patrol boats…” he mused, his mind racing.\n\nIsn’t it obvious which method is faster, climbing onto a ship or jumping off a ship?\n\n”Chang Wang, Chang Wang… This crazy bastard,” Lee Hyun-soo smirked, a hint of admiration in his voice.\n\n’Yeah, he has to do at least this much,’ he thought. That way, the things he had prepared wouldn’t be in vain.\n\n”Tell them not to enter Chinese territorial waters and to return!” he ordered, his voice firm.\n\n”Is that okay? The original plan was…” the aide hesitated.\n\n”It’s fine,” Lee Hyun-soo said, a grin spreading across his face. “This is a battle of who’s crazier. Let’s see what you’ve got.”\n\n* * *\n\n”It’s empty?” Gao Xun asked, his voice tight with suspicion.\n\n”Yes!” came the reply.\n\nGao Xun nodded, his expression hardening. “I figured. Check everything! There must be ships with those guys on board inside!” he barked.\n\nIf they could find them and sink them, this war would be more than half over.\n\n”Such an obvious trick!” he muttered, his eyes narrowed.\n\nDid they think he wouldn’t expect this much? Gao Xun’s expression hardened.\n\n”No, no. It can’t be this simple,” he said, his mind racing. The opponents were Chai Kechang and Lee Hyun-soo. Even if it seemed like an obvious trick, there would be something hidden inside.\n\n”Ships, ships…” he muttered, his gaze fixed on the map.\n\n”Area A is clear! All empty!” came a report.\n\n”Area J is clear! This place is also empty. The captain and a few others have all surrendered!”\n\n”Empty!”\n\n”Empty!”\n\nGao Xun’s face twisted at the flood of reports. “Tell them to check again! If you miss even a single rat, don’t even think about surviving! Got it?” he roared.\n\n”Yes!” came the terrified reply.\n\nA question grew larger in Gao Xun’s mind. ‘No. There’s no way they’d do this for no reason.’ Everything has a purpose. Investing this much here means they’re aiming for something here.\n\n”What is it? What are they aiming for?” he muttered, his brow furrowed in concentration.\n\n”Empty!”\n\n”…All the ships we checked are empty,” another report confirmed.\n\n”What?” Gao Xun’s eyes shook. ‘No. There’s something! Definitely!’\n\nGao Xun shouted, his voice filled with urgency. “The South China Sea! What about the south?”\n\n”There doesn’t seem to be anything special. We haven’t received any reports of ships being found,” came the reply.\n\n”…Nothing?” Gao Xun’s mind raced. ‘Submarines? No, no. Submarines can’t transport that many people at once. Even if the US helps, it’s the same.’\n\nThen? “What about under the ships? Check if there are any hidden spaces! Just in case, check the bottom of the ships too!” he ordered.\n\n”W, we already ordered that. There’s nothing!” came the reply, tinged with frustration.\n\n”Nothing?” Gao Xun muttered blankly.\n\n”Then what… what is it? What are they trying to do?” he asked, his voice filled with confusion. Everything in the world has a purpose. But in this case, the purpose was not visible. What was the point of sending so many ships to the West Sea?\n\n”What the…” he muttered, his mind racing.\n\n”What should we do?” an officer asked, his voice filled with uncertainty.\n\nGao Xun’s gaze naturally turned to the map. ‘Ships? No, is it the sea?’\n\n”Recall all the personnel deployed and tell them to return to the coast!” he ordered, his voice sharp.\n\n”What about the captured ships…” the officer hesitated.\n\n”What are you going to do with empty ships! You idiot! Tell them to do whatever they want! Everyone returns. Protect the coast!” Gao Xun snapped.\n\n”Yes!” came the immediate reply.\n\n”Ah, no! Wait!” Gao Xun suddenly shouted.\n\n”Yes?”\n\nGao Xun bit his lip. “Tell them to check again! Again! Check again and again and report if the ships are completely empty, even if it costs them their lives!” he ordered, his voice filled with desperation.\n\n”But we already…” the officer began to protest.\n\n”Can’t you hear me!” Gao Xun roared, cutting him off.\n\n”Yes! Understood!” the officer replied, his voice trembling.\n\nGao Xun stared intently at the map. “…What the hell is this crazy bastard trying to do?” he muttered, his mind racing.\n\nGao Xun suppressed his wavering heart. This was a game where the one who panicked would inevitably show an opening. But Gao Xun had to admit that he was already panicking. Gao Xun, biting his lip, did what he had to do.\n\n”First, report to Chang Wang! Chang Wang will give us instructions!” he ordered.\n\n”Y, yes, I underst…” the officer began to reply.\n\n”No! I’ll do it myself!” Gao Xun interrupted, roughly grabbing the radio.\n\n”Damn it…” he muttered, his fingertips, pressing the radio, began to tremble slightly.\n\n* * *\n\n”But who’s in command over there?” someone asked in the situation room.\n\n”How would I know?” Lee Hyun-soo said indifferently. “Chang Wang wouldn’t do it himself, so it’ll be some lackey from Chang Wang’s faction.”\n\nAnd that was the primary problem. “Chang Wang’s faction has only one head,” Lee Hyun-soo explained.\n\nPerhaps there were a few brainiacs in Chang Wang’s faction who were comparable to Lee Hyun-soo. But they knew too well that they couldn’t match Chang Wang. So, no matter what decision they made, they would eventually have to wait for Chang Wang’s approval. That very short delay became a big problem at critical moments.\n\n”They definitely don’t want to fall out of Chang Wang’s favor, so they’ll definitely overreact,” Lee Hyun-soo said, a smirk playing on his lips.\n\n”That’s true. We also do what the Chairman orders with our lives on the line,” the aide replied, nodding in agreement.\n\n”But ta-da, the ships are empty,” Lee Hyun-soo said, his voice filled with amusement.\n\n”But can they just go back because the ships are empty? They’ll feel like someone’s pulling them back by the neck, right? What if they miss someone hiding on the ship?” Lee Hyun-soo made a cutting motion across his neck. “Chop.”\n\n”Then they can’t withdraw their forces, and they can’t keep them there either. They can’t do this, they can’t do that…” the aide said, his voice filled with understanding.\n\n”Ah, please don’t. It’s disgusting,” Lee Hyun-soo said, feigning disgust.\n\n”…This bastard?” the aide muttered, taken aback by Lee Hyun-soo’s reaction.\n\nThe person who received Lee Hyun-soo’s glare quickly changed the subject. “But will this be effective?” he asked, his voice filled with doubt.\n\n”It doesn’t matter if it’s not effective,” Lee Hyun-soo replied, his eyes gleaming with mischief.\n\n”Yes?” the aide asked, confused.\n\nLee Hyun-soo grinned. “Tension and stress lead to overreaction. Then gaps will appear. The problem is that those bastards are competent enough to recognize their own gaps.”\n\n”What does that mean?” the aide asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.\n\n”Then they’ll think I’ll exploit those gaps and overreact again,” Lee Hyun-soo explained, his voice filled with amusement.\n\n”If you throw it out there, they’ll struggle on their own. Then we can calmly execute the second step,” he added, his tone confident.\n\n”How long do we wait?” the aide asked, his voice filled with curiosity.\n\n”Why? Are you bored?” Lee Hyun-soo asked, a smirk playing on his lips.\n\n”It’s not that, but…” the aide trailed off.\n\nLee Hyun-soo chuckled. “Then let’s start right away. It doesn’t make much of a difference anyway,” he said, his voice filled with anticipation.\n\nLee Hyun-soo whistled and picked up the phone. Lee Hyun-soo, who had been waiting for the signal, opened his mouth as soon as the call was connected. “Start it right away,” he ordered.\n\nLee Hyun-soo, hearing the answer from the other side, grinned and hung up the phone. “Okay, then let’s shake things up again?” he said, his voice filled with dark amusement.\n\nThe person who saw Lee Hyun-soo’s expression shook his head. ‘He’s ruthless,’ he thought. His tone was incredibly light. Anyone would think he was just joking around. But Lee Hyun-soo’s face, as he said those words, was colder than he had ever seen before.\n\nClick. Lee Hyun-soo, taking out a cigarette, stared at the screen and slowly exhaled smoke. “Think, think. Keep thinking, Chang Wang,” he muttered, his voice low and menacing. “That’s your forte.”\n\nAnd… “The more you think, the deeper you’ll fall,” Lee Hyun-soo’s low laughter spread softly through the situation room.