CH 180

Lin Chen followed his voice and looked at the middle-aged man beside him, but the cabin was so pitch black that he couldn’t see the other person’s appearance at all.

When he was driven into the cabin just now, he caught a glimpse of the “passengers” inside under the dim light of the fishing boat. They were all ordinary villagers who were around 30 to 45 years old and generally characterized by a strong physique. According to what the other side said, it seemed that they were going to the Dana Region for “gold panning”.

“We…”

As soon as Duan Yang spoke, Lin Chen held him down.

He squeezed the palm of the young doctor’s hand to prevent him from saying more to the villager beside him. “No, we came here accidentally.”

“Hey, you didn’t owe Boss Hei money and were sold to repay your debts, right?”

“The situation is a bit complicated, but it’s probably similar.” Lin Chen gave a vague reply. He thought for a bit, then asked, “How about you?”

“Man, you really shouldn’t mess with people you can’t mess with.” The villager sighed with emotion, then said, “We’re just here to work.”

“Going to work in the Dana Region?”

“Yes, you know there are gold and diamond mines over there, but they have a shortage of people digging them, so the pay is really high.”

Although Lin Chen couldn’t see the face of the villager beside him, the excitement in his voice couldn’t be concealed, as if he was expecting mountains of gold and silver waiting for him thousands of miles away.

“The pay is good, but it’s also dangerous, right?” Lin Chen leaned on the deck, a little tired. There was a roaring motor sound in the cabin, so it took a lot of effort for him to speak to these stowaways.

“What can I do? My wife has given birth to six cubs. How much can I earn if I go to work in the city? I can earn ten times as much if I go abroad.”

“You can earn 20,000 to 30,000 a month in Dana?” he tentatively asked.

“More than that! Fa Ge of our village went to Dana and came back with a lot of money. He said that if you do a good job, you can get 10,000 a month, all paid in US dollars. Don’t you know how much that is?”

“So high?” Lin Chen exclaimed, half-believing and half-jokingly. “But I heard that it’s very chaotic there, and you said those people above aren’t easy to mess with. What if…”

“It’s a matter of seeking wealth and taking risks. Besides, Fa Ge has been there and came back with a lot of money. His family used to be the poorest in the village, but now they have built a three-story building. Who wouldn’t be envious?”

“Indeed.” Lin Chen didn’t know how to answer.

He had heard of frequent examples of acquaintances entrapping their village in coastal fishing communities. Usually, someone who had been missing for a long time returned home from a foreign country, flaunting his wealth to the entire village. They would hold a big feast to show off their riches, and during the meal, they would constantly talk about their experience working abroad, tricking those who hoped to improve their lives into falling for their schemes. In the end, they would deceive their fellow villagers, and even those who were related to them, into going abroad to do the lowest and most difficult job.

This was the most primitive form of human trafficking. Once upon a time, countless black people were trafficked all over the world, and now such dirty and bloody transactions still occur in many places.

But what made Lin Chen feel incredulous was that now he himself had become one of the trafficked people. Such a sudden fate arrangement made him unable to react. However, no matter how much disbelief he was in, he was sitting in the bottom of a cabin on a fishing boat, talking to a group of trafficked people who didn’t know their fate.

Duan Yang also picked up on the clues. The young doctor kept pulling his arm, as if urging him to explain the situation to these villagers. However, for an ocean-crossing voyage, in an enclosed space, even cannibalism could happen. Those gangsters who kidnapped them and locked them up with these stowaways showed that they weren’t afraid of them telling the truth to these villagers.

However, just as he was thinking about these things, the lights in the cabin suddenly lit up.

Duan Yang was so frightened that he suddenly backed away. Lin Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. Only then did he see the dark faces in front of them. The villagers were very close to them, as if they wanted to listen to him. Everyone surrounded them. Under the dim light, there was neither good intention nor malice in those eyes, as if they were searching for something.

The oncoming breath and fishy smell of the bottom cabin of the fishing boat were suffocating. They were underwater, so the air pressure was extremely low, and the heat was unbearable. He had been soaked by the rain before, but now his body was sticky and greasy, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Of course, the person who was more uncomfortable than him was the doctor next to him.

Duan Yang had a serious obsession with cleanliness. When the lights came on, he immediately fidgeted after seeing the situation in the cabin.

“Young men in the city are so squeamish,” someone whispered.

“It’s fine, they are so pitiful,” someone else chimed in.

“Thanks.” Lin Chen showed a look of bitterness and stopped talking. He and Duan Yang were obviously out of place with the villagers. The people around them gradually lost interest and dispersed. They sat down against the bulkhead of the fishing boat in twos and threes and began whispering to each other or closing their eyes to rest.

The sound of the ship’s motor covered most of the whispers. Except for the two who were close to them, they couldn’t hear any other voices at all. Duan Yang leaned into Lin Chen’s ear and spoke. His first sentence was full of trembling. “Consultant Lin, do you know how high the mortality rate of ocean-crossing smuggling is?”

Lin Chen couldn’t help but glare at him.

However, Duan Yang still rambled on. “You see, the smell here smells like the place where the catch should be stored. Dead fish and shrimp carry all kinds of bacteria and microorganisms. And it’s sweltering here. It’s like a huge petri dish!”

“Doctor Duan.” Lin Chen felt dizzy from the waves as he spoke softly.

“Consultant Lin, I’m worried about you. You are in poor condition; you were just exposed to the rain, and your hand is still infected. You…”

“In the dark space, a doctor who’s desperately suggesting that their patient has a certain disease—what do you think the chances of the patient surviving and walking out of this ship are?” Lin Chen asked.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I…” Duan Yang hugged his knees depressingly. “I’m sorry. I’m the one who dragged you into this. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“How did you come to this result?”

“What?”

“That you dragged me into this.”

“You’re right. This should be on Zhorui Pharmaceutical’s head. I feel that their goal was to search through my home. Is it because I offended them, they are now selling us to Dana to do hard labor?”

“It’s hard to say.” Lin Chen loosened the neckline of his shirt.

“Perhaps it’s because killing us directly wouldn’t be as good as kidnapping us and selling us off to avoid leaving any trouble behind. This way, no one can find our bodies.”

“Why are you so good at reasoning?”

“I just think they were too blatant. Are they a pharmaceutical company or the mafia? Consultant Lin, do you think we still have a chance to escape?”

“This is the ocean. Since we’re locked up with these stowaways, I think it’s unlikely we’ll be able to escape in a short time.”

“Are we going to be sold to Africa to do hard labor for the rest of our lives? Then why didn’t you tell these villagers the truth just now? Don’t we have a better chance if we unite them rather than just sit and wait to accept our fate?”

“Because right now they won’t believe anything we say.” Lin Chen said it bluntly. “Even if they have regrets or doubts, they won’t show it now. Anyone who dares point out a problem will only be attacked by the mob. This is human instinct.”

“Then what should we do now?”

“We can only wait.”

“For how long.” Duan Yang sat down and looked up at the ceiling as he covered his face. “This environment will only weaken our physical strength. It’ll be difficult for us to survive.”

Lin Chen looked at the young man. Although he was indeed uncomfortable now, he and Duan Yang needed to encourage each other. Otherwise, the situation would only get worse. “Anything difficult can be solved. Besides, this isn’t your fault. No matter what you’re involved in, you don’t have yourself to blame.”

“But…”

“Besides, isn’t it great to go to Dana?” He tried to find something to cheer up the youth.

“What’s great? That hellhole isn’t as safe as this boat full of stowaways.”

“But you might be able to see your teacher.”

“Consultant Lin… You… You don’t have to.” Under the faint light, Duan Yang’s face flushed again in an instant. “This is impossible.”

“Why?”

“We’ll definitely be sold to do hard labor with them. We can’t escape. How can we meet my teacher?”

“As long as you will it, there’s a way,” Lin Chen said seriously. “So, do you want to see your teacher?”

“Isn’t this just a lie? There are many things in the world I wish to see, but this isn’t some cultivation novel,” Duan Yang muttered.

“There’s a classic called <The Secret*>. Have you heard of it? It contains the most famous principles of success. That is, as long as you firmly believe something will happen, it will happen.” Lin Chen raised his injured hand and wanted to pat Duan Yang’s head, but the tingling pain in his palm made him subconsciously switch hands. “Your belief should be stronger. When you’re invincible, you’ll be able to achieve anything because no one can stop you.”

*Self-help book by Rhonda Byrne. It’s based on the belief in the pseudoscientific law of attraction, which claims that thoughts can change a person’s life directly. The book alleges energy as an assurance of its effectiveness. Scientific claims made by the book have been rejected by a range of critics, pointing out that it has no scientific foundation.

The young man blushed. “It means that as long as I want to see Teacher, I’ll definitely be able to see him?”

“That’s right.”

“Then you must firmly believe that your resistance is strong enough not to get infected. Even if you are infected, you can resist!”

Lin Chen sighed as a chill came over his body. He regretted going down this scam route. However, he could only nod and say, “I will.”

Kinky Thoughts:

As explained in the footnotes, the things mentioned in the book don’t have any scientific merit, but thinking about one’s outlook can change your mental state. Lin Chen was simply trying to cheer up Duan Yang by basically saying, “Keep a positive outlook and don’t fall into despair” (as that would only hamper their situation even more), but Duan Yang totally missed the point and actually bought into the bullshit.

One thing I will say, though, is that the saying “fake it until you make it” can be applicable and could give you a boost in confidence.