Inside the typhoon, the surrounding area was a raging storm, yet around the ship it was calm and peaceful. Everyone aboard the monitoring ship felt as though their entire understanding of reality had been overturned.
“Captain?”
“Yes?”
“What do we do now?”
The captain very much wanted to say, “How the hell should I know?” But as the commander, he had to show decisiveness to give his crew confidence.
Though he was dying of curiosity about this phenomenon, he could not gamble with the lives of everyone on board.
So he said, “Continue the turn. Disengage from the typhoon as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, sir!”
The monitoring ship kept turning, but because of the angle and speed, it was still slowly drifting closer to the typhoon centre.
However…
“Report! Typhoon path continues to shift. It has turned from due north to northeast!”
“Report! Wind speed near the eye is still rising, but the rate of increase is slowing!”
“Report! The level twelve, level ten, and level seven wind circles are all expanding!”
The captain glanced at the left screen showing their relative position to the typhoon centre, then at the gentle diagonal rain outside. He smacked his lips, walked to the window, and strained to look at the sea and sky around them, searching for something.
“Ship 528! Ship 528! This is Zhejiang Province command. Ship 528, please respond!”
“This is Ship 528!”
“Thank goodness you’re all right!” A relieved voice came through the earpiece.
“Thank you for your concern. We are fine,” the communications officer replied thoughtfully, looking outside.
…
At Zhejiang Province Meteorological Bureau.
Hearing that the monitoring ship was safe, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
They had maintained contact with the ship and knew its real-time position, so they were fully aware it had just plunged into a level eleven wind zone.
Shortly after entering the zone, a string of emergency reports had come in. In the final communication, they had heard the alarm warning of excessive tilt and to brace for impact.
Then silence. No further contact.
Everyone at command had assumed the ship had capsized and sunk.
The men fell silent, the women choked back tears. They all knew what capsizing meant in such weather.
The entire hall was quiet, only the red dot representing the ship continued blinking stubbornly on the screen.
Everyone stared at the radar, waiting for the dot to vanish.
Yet…
The dot kept flashing… flashing… flashing… refusing to disappear, and it was still moving.
Everyone: ???
“Ship 528! Ship 528! This is Zhejiang Province command. Ship 528, please respond!”
“This is Ship 528!”
Hearing the voice through the hall’s loudspeaker, everyone let out a long breath.
“It’s wonderful you’re safe, but do not relax yet. You are still in a level eleven wind zone, very close to level twelve. The typhoon continues north with signs of turning east. Please disengage immediately.”
“Thank you for the concern. Understood! Disengaging at full speed!”
Seeing the ship complete its turn and move farther from the eye, everyone relaxed.
Someone sighed, “They were lucky. They really snatched their lives back.”
…
Within several hundred metres of the monitoring ship, the sea was calm, showing no sign of being inside a level ten or eleven wind circle.
Then, with almost comical ease, they sailed out of the level eleven, ten, nine, and finally eight wind zones. Only when they reached the level eight zone did the invisible barrier suddenly vanish. The surrounding waves grew large again.
Gales whipped, flags flapped wildly, waves surged, rain poured. The ocean displayed its towering fury, flaunting the might of heaven and earth without restraint.
“Captain…”
“Yes?”
“Just now…”
“I will report this to the higher-ups. Regarding the incident, all personnel of Ship 528 are to observe the confidentiality protocol, temporarily classified at the highest level. Relevant personnel will speak with you individually later.”
“Yes, sir!”
Everyone answered in unison, hearts pounding, then turned to look toward the typhoon centre with profound meaning.
…
Having rescued the monitoring ship from danger, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan returned to the typhoon eye.
Lin Wan said helplessly, “This feels even more miraculous than the rain we brought to the southwest.”
Lu Zheng shrugged. “To be honest, they only ended up in danger because I suddenly changed the typhoon’s path and they couldn’t evade in time. So what else could I do but save them?
I couldn’t think of any other method on the spot. Whatever I did would count as a supernatural event anyway, and the ship looked expensive. I couldn’t bear to save only the people.
Besides, I’ve already given away planes and brought rain. One more time won’t matter.”
Lin Wan laughed. “You’re at the point where you have so many debts you stop worrying!”
Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow. “Worry about what? This is still technically a natural phenomenon. Who can prove supernatural forces were involved? No matter how strange, if it’s a natural phenomenon, it’s natural!”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
Lin Wan nodded repeatedly, unable to stop smiling. “You’d better hope nobody connects this with the southwest rain and the thunder over the Great Wall, or you’ll be exposed in a minute.”
Lu Zheng, “…”
“Just kidding. You think everyone has God’s-eye view in real life? People aren’t novel readers who spot the pattern instantly.
Besides, daytime thunder isn’t that rare. I remember a report recently about people square-dancing when a bolt struck out of the blue and killed two or three.
So it’s fine, it’s fine. Just a bit of thunder. Definitely won’t give me away.”
While chatting, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan continued controlling the small cyclone inside the eye, guiding the typhoon northeast.
Once the direction was fixed, they dispersed the small cyclone.
“Done. Time to go home!” Lu Zheng said with a smile.
Lin Wan looked at him, eyes gleaming.
Lu Zheng blinked. “What?”
Lin Wan’s gaze shone with hidden meaning. “I hear the coast of Japan has lots of Lighthouse Country military bases.”
“Hiss—”
Lu Zheng sucked in a breath and couldn’t help continuing, “You mean, if we steer the typhoon to pass right by…”
Lin Wan’s eyes flicked thoughtfully. “Ships damaged, bases wrecked. Perfectly reasonable natural disaster, right?”
“Very reasonable!” Lu Zheng nodded emphatically.
“At this speed, how long until it reaches the coast of Kyushu?”
Lu Zheng rubbed his chin. “One or two days, probably?”
“Then…” Lin Wan smiled sweetly.
Lu Zheng wrapped an arm around her. “We’ll come back when it’s about to make landfall and I’ll fine-tune the course.”
“Perfect!”
…
Zhejiang Province Meteorological Bureau.
“The small cyclone has vanished!”
“Did it merge with Typhoon Dragonfly?”
“No, it just grew weaker and weaker, then disappeared into thin air.”
Everyone stared speechlessly at the now pristine typhoon eye on the satellite image.
It had appeared out of nowhere when the typhoon was aimed at China’s coast, changed the path, then vanished just as suddenly. No matter how you looked at it, it was bizarre.
“By the way, now that the small cyclone is gone, have we calculated the new path?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Just looking at the direction, the leading official already had a guess. Sure enough, the answer was exactly what he expected.
“Japan. Kyushu Island.”
