"Will they come back?"
Jiang Feng thought Song Heping was joking.
But Song Heping's prediction soon proved to be extremely accurate.
Because the "Man Tianxing" still had two days of travel before reaching Aden Port, this period was the most dangerous.
At nine o'clock in the evening, the lookout on the ship indeed sounded the alarm again.
Due to the low visibility at night, the pirate ships were only detected when they were within four hundred meters.
"Two unidentified speedboats were spotted on the port side, rapidly approaching."
"There are some on the starboard side too..."
"Unidentified vessels approaching from the stern!"
"And three more ahead to the right of the bow..."
In that moment, the alarm on the "Man Tianxing" resounded throughout the night sky.
Edmond had intended to not return to the captain's quarters for the next two nights, finding a spot to set up a bed in the steering house to stay up all night on duty. Hearing that ships were approaching from all directions, he was so frightened that he could hardly speak clearly and hurriedly ordered a crew member to go to the cargo hold where Song Heping and the others were to report the situation, urging them to come quickly and save their lives.
"Fuck, they really came?"
The first reaction of Jiang Feng was surprise.
"They're here for revenge," said Song Heping. "Let's go see."
"How many ships have come?"
"Many... from all directions..."
Looking at the frightened Filipino crew member whose face had turned pale, Song Heping paused and quickly asked, "Exactly how many ships are there?"
"I'm not sure..." the Filipino crew member said, sweating profusely from anxiety: "The lookouts were all reporting pirate ships... the captain sent me to inform both of you urgently, to get you on deck."
"So serious?"
Song Heping then turned back into the cabin, pulled a tactical bag from the corner, and said to Jiang Feng, "Don't be careless, I estimate that quite a number of them are coming. Carry more ammo boxes, and bring as many hand grenades as you can, remember to bring two shock bombs."
Jiang Feng seemed to realize the gravity of the situation as well.
Although he and Song Heping were both top-notch fighters, they couldn't cope with overwhelming numbers.
The length of a large cargo ship could reach more than three hundred meters; if pirates attempted to board from different directions regardless of their own lives, it would indeed be difficult to deal with.
Song Heping strapped eight magazine pouches to his body, hung seven hand grenades and two shock bombs, and then slung the tactical bag over his shoulder.
Jiang Feng stuffed four ammo boxes into his tactical bag, hung another on his PKM machine gun, carried only four hand grenades, and also two shock bombs.
"Not bad, you've got the strength and stamina," said Song Heping, no longer doubting Jiang Feng's ability for a machine gun assault.
"Let's go!"
He waved his hand and led the way to the deck.
While running, he looked back and told the Filipino crew member, "Quickly go to the steering house and tell Edmond to immediately turn off all the ship's lights, lock all the important cabin doors, gather all the crew, and take my two engineers to the safe cabin to hide. Tonight, we're likely in for a big fight."
"Is it... is it that serious..."
The Filipino crew member's lips had turned white with fear.
When they reached the deck, Song Heping said to Jiang Feng, "You take the stern, I'll take the bow. We'll operate separately and stay in contact through the radio. Remember, the ship is big enough; judge for yourself how to engage. If it gets too tough, retreat to the steering house. We'll hold the high ground and wear them out."
"Okay."
Jiang Feng seemed to realize that tonight's battle would be difficult.
Looking around, there seemed to be many pirates and their ships.
The ship was too large and with just the two of them, some pirates might slip through the cracks.
But Jiang Feng, who had not experienced such excitement in a long time, felt his blood boiling.
It was his first mission with the new company and he was already facing such a thrilling situation, which made him incredibly exhilarated.
Song Heping saw the gleam in Jiang Feng's eyes too.
To judge a soldier, one only needed to look into his eyes in a moment of danger.
If there's a spark in his eyes, excitement and calmness, that's a good soldier.
"Stay alive, keep in touch."
After speaking, Song Heping pushed open the cabin door, entered the deck, and sprinted toward the bow.
Meanwhile, Jiang Feng headed in the opposite direction, running towards the stern.
Just then, the entire ship suddenly lost power, all lights went off, and the whole vessel was plunged into darkness.
Song Heping put on night vision goggles and, holding his gun, ran to the bow to gaze out at the sea.
In the darkness, he saw two pirate speedboats only a bit more than a hundred meters away on the right side, so he quickly sprinted to the left and spotted three speedboats.
These three speedboats were only about forty meters away.
They were very close.
Pop, pop, pop—
He raised his gun and fired a burst.
A man on the lead pirate speedboat fell.
Song Heping didn't dare to stay in the same spot and quickly moved a few meters away.
As expected, just as he left, bullets like raindrops had already swept over, spraying the place where he had just fired.
The pirates in the speedboats were shouting frantically.
The sudden blackout of the cargo ship caught them off guard.
After all, these men did not have night vision equipment and could only rely on flashlights and some battery-powered floodlights, which were not very powerful and only provided illumination within a small area.
After one of their men was killed, they fired crazily towards the spot where they had seen the muzzle flash and the leading boss was yelling loudly, ordering someone to turn on the speedboat's floodlights and shine them on the cargo ship.
Though their lights could reach the ship's deck, they illuminated only a very small area.
What Song Heping was waiting for was for them to turn on their lights.
Once the lights were on, the pirate boat was like a glaring target.
This time, Song Heping was merciless and aimed directly at the floodlight's location for a long burst of fire.
After firing, he immediately moved positions without staying for a moment.
The deck was large enough to give him plenty of places to move to.
The floodlight on the pirate ship exploded, one man was hit in the neck, blood spurting wildly as he lay on the deck, dead in an instant; another was hit in the shoulder, the medium-power Warhead of the AKM assault rifle shattering the bone and ripping off a large piece of flesh, leaving the man lying on the ground, wailing pitifully.
At that moment, Song Heping didn't continue to shoot at them but instead turned and quickly ran back to the right side of the deck, looking out at the sea on that side.
He then saw that the two speedboats, which had been over a hundred meters away, were now right below the ship, less than ten meters away.
With the help of night vision goggles, Song Heping could see that they seemed to be moving ladders, preparing to board.
Because they were so close, someone among the pirates spotted Song Heping's figure.
In fact, this situation also had disadvantages for Song Heping; although he was at a higher vantage point, if he wasn't careful, he could become clearly visible from the lower pirate ships.
"There is someone on deck!"
A pirate shouted in alarm and, without a second thought, grabbed an AK47 and began spraying bullets wildly towards the right side of the deck.
When he started shooting, the others did the same.
Whether they saw Song Heping or not, spraying in the direction of the deck was the right thing to do.
After all, a blind shot could still take down a skilled opponent.
Song Heping was pinned down by the intense hail of bullets on the deck and dared not raise his head, let alone return fire.
He didn't think much about it; there was no time to consider.
He grabbed a grenade, pulled the pin, estimated the timing, released the spoon, and after a two-second delay, he threw it into the air, basing his trajectory on the sound of gunfire.
The grenade exploded just three meters above the water's surface.
This type of throw was extremely lethal in naval combat.
Especially against unprotected small boats like those of the pirates.
The shrapnel scattered in all directions like a goddess scattering flowers, bringing great suffering to the pirates in the speedboats; countless tiny fragments burrowed into their bodies, some lucky ones were hit but didn't die immediately, while the unlucky ones had their skulls pierced and were killed on the spot.
Song Heping wasn't planning on taking them head-on.
After hearing the screams, he took out another grenade and repeated the process, throwing it after a two-second delay.
The same method.
The same effect.
Once again, the sounds of agony rose in a chorus from below the starboard side.