Chapter 15: Chartering an entire oil tanker overseas – Energy freedom achieved!
Hoarding fuel on a large scale domestically is no different from dancing on the edge of a knife.
Once targeted by the authorities, let alone The Fortress, even keeping one's life would be a problem.
Therefore, after Lin Xingwan stored all the medicine and cold-weather clothing into her space, she didn't linger for a second.
She bought a first-class ticket to a free port in the Middle East overnight.
After a flight of over ten hours, the moment the private jet landed on the runway and the cabin door opened, a gust of air mixed with salty sea breeze and rolling heat waves rushed at her.
"This damn weather is comparable to the extreme heat in The Apocalypse."
Lin Xingwan took off her sunglasses and squinted at the dock in the distance, which was distorted by the scorching sun.
She didn't go to a hotel. Instead, following a piece of Dark Web intelligence that Huo Yuan had "inadvertently" revealed to her over the phone, she took a taxi directly to an underground bar located in the port's slums, a place where dragons and snakes mingled.
The bar was thick with smoke and grime. Several dark-skinned, heavily tattooed men were gambling around a table.
Lin Xingwan walked to the bar and gently pushed a special coin engraved with the Sirius logo toward the bartender.
"Looking for someone."
The bartender's eyes sharpened when he saw the coin, and his attitude instantly became respectful.
He whispered a few words into an intercom, then made a "please" gesture to Lin Xingwan.
Passing through a dark, moldy corridor, Lin Xingwan was led into a secret room hung with thick Persian carpets.
A man with an eyepatch, a mouthful of gold teeth, and the nickname "One-Eyed Shark" was cuddling two hot-bodied women, puffing away. He was the most daring and resourceful oil smuggling tycoon in these waters.
"An Oriental chick, daring to come and talk business with me?"
One-Eyed Shark waved for the women to step back, sizing up Lin Xingwan with broken Chinese, his eyes full of contempt.
"Little sister, what I sell here is black gold, not the silk and tea you Orientals like."
Lin Xingwan didn't waste words with him. She threw a heavy briefcase she had prepared long ago directly onto the table.
With a "clack," the case opened. Inside, there were no US dollars or Euros, but rows of neatly arranged gold bars shimmering alluringly under the dim light!
A full twenty kilograms of gold.
One-Eyed Shark's breathing grew heavy instantly, and even his single eye widened like a copper bell.
"Gold... it's all gold!"
He pounced on it, acting like a madman, picking up a gold bar and biting it hard.
The tooth mark was clear. It was real!
"Boss, what... what do you want?"
One-Eyed Shark's attitude did a 180-degree turn, fawning like a pug.
"I want a ship full of oil."
Lin Xingwan pulled over a chair and sat down, crossing her legs.
"That medium-sized oil tanker that just docked—I want it fully loaded with diesel and gasoline."
"At twelve o'clock tonight, drive it to international waters."
One-Eyed Shark's cold sweat broke out immediately. This woman was not only rich, but her information was also so well-informed.
"Boss, this... the risk is too high. If the naval patrol catches us..."
Lin Xingwan took another small gold bar from her bag and tossed it onto the table like a pebble.
"After it's done, this is the amount."
She held up five fair fingers. Five boxes of gold!
One-Eyed Shark's eyes turned completely red.
"Deal!"
He slapped the table, spit flying.
"Forget the international waters; even if you asked me to ram an aircraft carrier with the tanker, I'd do it for you!"
Midnight. No wind.
A speedboat without any markings sped across the pitch-black sea.
In the distance, a behemoth of an oil tanker sat silently, like a sleeping steel giant.
Lin Xingwan stood at the bow of the speedboat, the sea breeze blowing her long hair.
"Boss, the ship and the cargo are all here."
One-Eyed Shark rubbed his hands, looking at Lin Xingwan with greed.
"Then our final payment..."
Lin Xingwan pushed the remaining four boxes of gold over.
"The money and goods are settled."
"Now, take your people and leave these waters."
"Within an hour, I don't want to see any living person other than myself."
Although One-Eyed Shark was curious about why this woman wanted a whole ship of oil by herself, in the face of money, curiosity was worthless.
"Alright! Have fun!"
He took his men, drove the speedboat, and disappeared into the night without looking back.
On the sea, only Lin Xingwan and the huge oil tanker remained.
She leaped, jumping onto the deck of the tanker with agility.
The cold touch of steel came from beneath her feet, and the air was thick with the smell of diesel.
She walked to the huge cargo oil storage area.
She pressed her palm gently against the cold steel plate.
"Store."
With a thought, the whole space trembled slightly.
An incredibly terrifying devouring force erupted!
Lin Xingwan could clearly feel that the tens of thousands of tons of diesel and gasoline in the tank were turning into two torrents, madly pouring into the two giant oil storage tanks she had prepared in her space!
Nothing could be seen with the naked eye, but the tanker's waterline was rising at an incredibly eerie speed.
In just ten minutes, the entire tanker became an empty iron shell.
Lin Xingwan flashed into the space, looked at the two filled giant oil storage tanks, and smiled with satisfaction.
With this energy, let alone driving an off-road vehicle, even if she got hold of tanks and planes in the future, she could afford to operate them!
Energy, completely free!
Lin Xingwan didn't linger for a second, returning to the port in the speedboat.
She directly boarded the earliest private jet back to the country.
When the plane landed on the familiar airport runway, Lin Xingwan opened the dense list in her phone's memo.
She found the "Energy/Fuel" item and crossed it out heavily with her finger.
She leaned against the porthole, looking at the still sultry weather outside.
Food, water, medicine, shelter, energy...
She had already taken care of the main elements of survival.
But just then, her gaze slowly moved down the list and landed on a term that was extremely easy to ignore.
The term was very short, only two words.
Yet it represented the most basic decency and dignity in The Apocalypse where production lines had completely stopped.
In Lin Xingwan's mind, the tragic scenes of women in her previous life selling their bodies for half a roll of yellowed toilet paper flashed instantly.
Her eyes instantly became sharp.
At this moment, a call from the black market agent, Lao Zhou, came in.
"Boss Lin! Welcome back! Everything is going smoothly at The Fortress; Boss Huo is treating the construction site like a battlefield!"
Lao Zhou's voice was incredibly excited on the phone.
"Are you planning another earth-shattering procurement now that you're back?"
Lin Xingwan looked at those two words on the list, a mysterious arc curling at the corner of her mouth.
"I wouldn't call it earth-shattering."
"But if this deal is pulled off, it should make every woman in the city worship me like a living Bodhisattva in The Apocalypse."