Chapter 1 An Hour Ago, West Side of Cannabis Island

An hour ago, on the west side of Cannabis Island...

At this moment, Clams Gersh was leading Feng Bujue and Ruoyu to a hiding place set up by the production team for the staff (at this time, Haven't Deaf had not yet revealed the information to Max, so these hiding places were still safe for the time being).

"Let me sort this out… so, there are still eighteen staff members on the island, divided into six groups, hiding in six different locations." Ruoyu repeated the information Clams Gersh had told her on the way, while organizing the current situation in her mind, "Each group has a walkie-talkie; you have two, one is yours, and one is the pirate's; also… Hat has set up a temporary encrypted frequency for you, so you can communicate without being discovered by the pirates."

"That's right, that's basically the situation." Clams Gersh replied, "The hiding place I'm taking you to now has more supplies, and Hat and Nober are there too."

"By the way… since Hat has the ability to set up communication, can he call for outside help?" Feng Bujue asked.

"He's already tried, and the conclusion is no…" Clams Gersh replied, "The pirates' submarines are equipped with a rather advanced long-range communication jamming device, which physically blocks long-range communication between this place and the outside world. In Hat's words, 'This is not a problem that can be solved with technology, unless you get me a pulse cannon.'"

"Okay…" Jue Ge nodded.

"Oh, one more thing…" Clams Gersh continued, "According to the prisoner I captured, there is an abandoned opium mine on the island, which is Greybeard's secret base. The entrance is covered by a holographic image, and the door uses a d.e.A technology lock…" He pondered, "I estimate… that there will be large computer equipment in that base. As long as we can get in and let Hat sit in front of the computer, then everything will have a turning point."

"d.e.A…" Feng Bujue repeated, his eyes slightly changed, and he asked suspiciously, "dynamic_encryption_algorithm?"

"Well… to be honest, I don't know. Even the pirate couldn't explain it clearly… but Hat seemed to have mentioned those three words you mentioned." Clams Gersh replied, "Oh, you can ask him yourself…" As he spoke, his pace slowed down, "Look, the hiding place is in front, we're here."

While the three were talking, they had arrived in front of a small waterfall several meters high.

Clams Gersh took the lead and rushed in without hesitation.

"Hehe… a water curtain cave." Feng Bujue smiled, took a deep breath, and followed closely behind. His mentality was really good. In this situation of being trapped on a deserted island with dangers lurking everywhere, he still had the leisure to joke about the scenery in front of him.

"Sigh… I finally managed to dry my clothes last night…" Ruoyu sighed, made a slight adjustment, and followed in.

After the three entered the hiding place, they saw three staff members from the *Wilderness Drug Trial* production team, as well as Bill Hat and Justin Nober.

At this time, Nober and the staff were sorting out equipment, while Hat was sitting in the corner, fiddling with an electronic device with a bunch of substandard simple tools.

"Hey, guys, how's it going?" Clams Gersh said as he entered.

"Mr. Hat seems to need to prepare for a while." One of the staff members looked up and replied, "We have a lot of messy things here, but the metal products are limited, he said most of them are useless."

Another staff member said, "Actually, in my opinion, the most useful thing right now…" He weighed the pistol in his hand (seized from the pirates), "is this…"

"Ha!" A third staff member chuckled, "Have you watched too many movies? Do you want to… take a gun, rush onto the ship, kill all the pirates, and successfully rescue the hostages all by yourself?"

"Hey! It's not impossible." The staff member replied seriously.

"Yeah… in some parallel universe, maybe you just need to wear a white cotton vest and go barefoot to get this done." The third staff member laughed, "But here, you'd better learn some basics first…" He reached out and took the pistol from the other's hand, and put on the safety, "For example… put on the safety before playing with it, so you don't accidentally fire it."

"Okay, everyone… stop thinking about such outrageous things." Clams Gersh said, "John is right, this is not a movie. We have to recognize the actual situation. We are members of the production crew, not professional killers. Just one pirate and one gun can take all of our lives… not to mention that the other side has more than sixty people."

"Hehe…" Feng Bujue smiled inwardly upon hearing this, "It's okay for you to say this to us, but putting yourself in the 'we' category… isn't that a bit too modest…"

"I agree." Nober listened to Clams Gersh's words, but expressed his approval, "We have absolutely no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation. Even if we ignore the lives of the hostages and act with the advantage of being in the dark… the chances are still slim. At present… getting in touch with the outside world is the most reliable approach."

"That's true, but…" Feng Bujue seized the opportunity to pour cold water, "Have you considered… if we enter the pirate base and still can't contact the outside world… what should we do then?"

"Oh?" Nober was also quite clever, and he heard the smell of conspiracy from Jue Ge's tone, "It sounds like you already have a plan?"

"That's right…" Feng Bujue smiled, "To deal with that genius child Max (Clams Gersh had gathered more information than Ruoyu, and he had told Jue Ge and the others about it on the way)… the most suitable trick is – crossing the sea without the heavens knowing."

…………

Back to the present, 9:50 a.m., captain's room of the Dolphin.

"Okay, let Uncle tell you what we want to do…" Feng Bujue paused for a second, and calmly began to explain, "First, we will use the computers in this drug factory to reconnect all the cameras on the island and restore video surveillance of the entire island. Then, the eighteen staff members and the five of us here will act simultaneously to clean up a total of twenty-eight pirates who are currently active on the island…" He laid out the tactics step by step, very clearly, "Next, we will take their weapons and build a defense line on the beach to limit your activities to the coast. Finally, we will launch a surprise attack on the submarine and the yacht under the cover of night and wipe you all out."

Looking at Jue Ge's expression and listening to his narration, Max's face changed from doubt to shock, from shock to anger, and then from extreme anger to laughter.

After a while, he first looked at Haven't Deaf behind him, "Heh… Mr. Haven't Deaf, I seem to understand what you meant by 'abnormal'." He paused, then turned back to Jue Ge and said, "Mr. Carbon, I don't know what kind of mentality you have that made you say those words just now, but after hearing them, I really have two questions…"

"What are they?" Feng Bujue raised his eyebrows, as if waiting for the other party to ask.

"First, how stupid and arrogant does someone have to be to actively tell the other party the details of their personnel configuration?" Max asked provocatively.

"What if I tell you?" Feng Bujue retorted, "Didn't you already know that before I said this?" He sneered, "Heh… if you haven't found out our personnel configuration from a certain hostage by now, then you're just extremely stupid, right?"

"You bastard…" Max cursed with a frown and a look of anger. Only when he made this expression did he resemble his father, Greybeard, by seven or eight points.

"Hey! Watch your language, young man." Unexpectedly, Greybeard looked at his son seriously and said, "You can't curse before you're fourteen, remember?"

"Um… sorry." Max immediately calmed down, apologized, and looked at the main screen, "Hmph… it seems you're very good at angering people, Mr. Carbon, even children…"

"Thank you for the compliment." Feng Bujue responded shamelessly, as if the other party was praising him.

"Then… my second question…" Max returned to the topic, and continued, "Even if your plan is a kind of unavoidable overt scheme, how can you guarantee… that the implementation process will go as smoothly as you say?" He smiled, "Whether it's strength or chips, my side has the absolute advantage. For example… I can now open the public channel and use the lives of the hostages to threaten those staff members on the island… what Kangaroo Squad, Koala Squad, Olive Squad, etc…" He consciously revealed some of the information he knew, trying to make the other party waver, "... What will their reaction be after being threatened? Will they fight to the end with you, or will they come out and surrender? If they don't surrender, will their actions be affected by psychological pressure?" He shook his head, "Hmph… Mr. Carbon, if you're really smart and not just pretending to be smart, you should understand… that even if we take ten thousand steps back, our people are professional pirates who mainly engage in robbery and drug trafficking, while your people… are just a group of people who make TV shows. Even if I don't do anything, how much confidence do you have in your plan?"

Clap—Clap—Clap—

"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!" Feng Bujue waved his hands wildly, applauding Max, "Sure enough, you only opened your mouth to talk to me after you had calculated everything clearly, full of confidence and fearless." He licked his lips, "Your analysis is very correct, you have strength and you have chips. The difference in strength can perhaps be compensated by the surveillance network and my on-site command, but I can't do anything about chips… after all, you have so many hostages in your hands, and the people on my side have some friendship with the colleagues on the ship, and it's impossible not to be shaken by your threats."

His words were praising Max, but as he spoke, Max's heart seemed to sink in the cold ocean… A faint unease became clearer and clearer in these short ten seconds, and finally turned into…

"But!" Feng Bujue changed the topic with a But, "After I entered this cave, I realized… that we are not at a disadvantage in terms of 'chips'…"

Finally, a fanatical smile appeared on Jue Ge's face. Even though he was in Stephen Carbon's body, the temperament revealed by this smile was still creepy: "Let me put it this way… Max, you can kill all the hostages on that ship, I don't care at all. But… can you accept the reality that I will destroy this mine?"

Before he finished speaking, Max's figure froze, and Greybeard's face showed horror.

"Hmph… you finally noticed?" Feng Bujue continued, "Your chips are worthless to me, but my chips are a true 'treasure' to you." He grinned, "Every time you kill a hostage, I'll destroy a batch of your inventory. Once the inventory is destroyed, I'll start destroying the raw ore. I want to see… who can last longer…"

"Enough!" Greybeard couldn't help it at this time, and he waved his hook in front of the screen, "Carbon! What do you want? Just say it!"

"Hehe… that's right." Feng Bujue said, "Many things in this world… are just a deal, aren't they?" He shook his head and swayed his head, saying with a smug look, "Don't worry, this will be a deal that satisfies both parties. The ending will inevitably be that everyone gets what they want and everyone is happy…"