King of the Wilderness

Chapter 753: Chapter 347: The Riddler Aliya (Part 3)

The two of them hid behind the camera, their shoulders shaking as they obviously enjoyed seeing Lin Yu’an take a fall.

Lin Yu’an sighed helplessly and rubbed his forehead.

”How are December and Amber...?” he awkwardly attempted to change the subject.

”They’re just fine,” Max continued her performance, her tone turning even more sarcastic.

”Unlike me, who just watched a live stream and got to enjoy a spectacular damsel-in-distress scene, with a hot blonde coach bandaging the hero’s wound and giving him a heartfelt thank-you hug.”

”Honestly, darling,” she put away the joke, but her tone was even more sour, ”how did it feel? That hug... was it warm and soft?”

”Cough, cough...” Lin Yu’an was a bit awkward at this direct attack and could only look for help at the two people behind the camera.

Aliya and Emily couldn’t hold it any longer and laughed uncontrollably.

Aliya finally managed to stop laughing and stepped out to resolve the situation: ”Alright, sweetheart, don’t bully him. He must be exhausted today.”

”Exactly,” Emily chimed in, ”And I believe that our monster captain didn’t have any surging emotions, right?” She winked mischievously at the camera with her blue eyes.

Lin Yu’an loved Aliya for a reason; she always chose to think of him first.

”Of course.” Lin Yu’an quickly seized the opportunity, nodding earnestly.

Looking at the three women in the video, each with their unique style but all loving him, Lin Yu’an’s exhaustion from the day disappeared.

After chatting about everyday matters and confirming that Lin Yu’an only had superficial injuries, the three were ready to hang up the call.

Just before hanging up, Aliya suddenly seemed to remember something, leaned closer to the camera, and in a mysterious and tempting tone, asked softly:

”Darling, do you like the number four?”

Lin Yu’an was taken aback: ”Four?”

”Yes,” Aliya’s lips curled into a mysterious smile, and behind her, Emily and Max showed the same meaningful smile.

”The three of us... have all recently felt that ’4’ is a pretty good number.”

Before Lin Yu’an could ask further, Aliya blew a kiss to the screen.

”Goodnight, our hero captain, rest well.” With that, she hung up the video call.

The room returned to silence, and Lin Yu’an looked at the now dark phone screen, still pondering Aliya’s last cryptic words.

”4”... what does it mean?

He shook his head and chuckled out loud, choosing not to think further, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window to admire the distant city’s bright lights and the twinkling boat lights on the sea.

Although the police said they would handle today’s incident, the efficiency of the United States police is not something to be praised. He took out his phone, pulled out a number, and dialed it.

The phone connected, and a familiar voice came through: ”Hey, buddy, need a ride service so soon?”

It was the black driver, Marcus.

”No, Marcus,” Lin Yu’an’s voice turned a bit cold, ”I need to buy something else.”

”Oh?”

”I need information,” Lin Yu’an looked at the direction of the offending ship’s escape, a cold light in his eyes.

”About a deep blue, roughly 80-foot sports fishing boat with four Yamaha outboard engines. It went out near the longitude and latitude... this afternoon.”

”I want to know who it belongs to, where it usually docks, and the background of everyone on board.”

Marcus was silent for a moment before letting out a low laugh.

”Buddy, you know that kind of information doesn’t come cheap.”

”I know.” Lin Yu’an replied calmly, ”Name your price.”

Marcus seemed to be smacking his lips on the other end, as if assessing the value and risk of this deal.

”Five thousand US dollars, I need two hours.”

”Deal.” Lin Yu’an didn’t hesitate, ”Send me your payment details.”

”I like doing business with straightforward people,” Marcus chuckled, ”Expect to hear from me.”

After hanging up the call, Lin Yu’an didn’t sit idly by. He opened his computer and started searching online for relevant American legal provisions about ’Reckless Operation of a Vessel.’

He needed to ensure that once he found those people, everything he did was within the legal framework.

Less than an hour and a half later, earlier than agreed, Marcus’s call came back.

”You’re in luck, buddy,” Marcus’s voice sounded relaxed, ”Those little punks you’re looking for aren’t a tough nut to crack.”

”Go on.”

”It’s an 82-foot Viking sports fishing boat, rented at Sealion Pier. Used a credit card under the name Kevin Parker, rented for a week, today was only the second day.”

Marcus’s intelligence was very detailed.

Marcus chuckled softly on the other end, his tone full of disdain, ”This Kevin Parker is a leader among a group of second-generation rich kids who came from California for vacation. His dad runs a medium-sized software company in Silicon Valley.”

”Additionally, I looked into these guys’ backgrounds for you. None of them is a local tough character; they’re just a bunch of mama’s boys still suckling on the teat.”

”Their families have some money, but not enough to walk sideways in Florida. To put it bluntly, they’re a bunch of middle-class shrimp who think money can let them do whatever they want. It’s like swarms of flies every summer.”

These words completely put Lin Yu’an at ease. What he feared most was getting involved with local deeply entrenched gangs, which would bring endless trouble to his subsequent plans.

”Can you find out where they are now?” Lin Yu’an asked.

”I guess they’re probably either hiding in their rented villa having a party or throwing money around at some club. The ship is likely docked at their villa’s private pier.”

Marcus provided an address, ”Now it’s your headache, buddy. You know who they are and where they are.”

”But what can you do? Run over and beat them up? Then you’d go from a victim to a perpetrator.”

”The Coast Guard will deal with them,” Lin Yu’an said calmly.

”Ha! The Coast Guard?” Marcus sounded like he heard the biggest joke, ”Yes, they have your video, they’ll open a case.”

”But do you know how many cases they have to handle? Smuggling, illegal immigration... Your case, though serious, will have to wait in line if no one died.”

”By the time they go through the process and find that boat, those little punks from California will be long gone.”

Lin Yu’an fell silent. He knew Marcus was telling the truth, as this was the widespread efficiency issue in the United States.

”However...” Marcus shifted his tone, sounding like a coaxing devil, ”if you really want to speed up the process, it’s not like there’s no way.”