Chapter 640 Game within a game
On the blue sea, the blue waves are rippling.
A large natural gas ship looks very small when sailing on the sea. Its huge hull is almost insignificant compared with the sea water.
Its hull is wide, and the upper deck does not have huge hemispheres, but a retracting superstructure. This is currently the most advanced membrane-type natural gas carrier in the world. Its liquid cargo fence system is closely integrated with The hull conforms to the hull, greatly reducing structural weight and providing optimal operating efficiency.
However, compared with other liquefied gas ships, it has a special feature: two large sails are installed on its bow! The two sails are in the shape of vertical strips, which leaves the middle area free so that the crew can clearly see what is on the route ahead. At the same time, in order to better observe the front, there is a special closed-circuit television system on the mast of the sail. , which can transmit images from the front to the cockpit behind.
In this type of ship, the bridge is located at the end of the entire hull. At this time, the tall captain is standing on the bridge. His skin has become a little darkened by his years of sea life, and his blue eyes are still bright. .
“Captain Lima, the weather is really nice today!” the first mate Alles said to him.
"Yes, it's good weather for sailing. It reminds me of the process of towing the Varyag. We also took this route at that time, but the weather conditions were much worse than this." Iris Lima said .
That's right, he is the former Greek crew member who helped to tow the Varyag's sailor Iris Lima! After several years of living at sea, he has continued to grow. Now, after the Hades natural gas ship was built, he has become the captain of the natural gas ship!
He was full of yearning for the East, so the task of picking up the ship at the Chongming Island Shipyard fell on him. After receiving the ship, they went all the way to the Middle East, loaded a ship of liquefied natural gas, and transported it to Europe. go.
Ales had a smile on his face. Ever since he boarded the ship, he had almost been listening to the captain talking about the past. Almost every day, he would mention how it was when I towed the Varyag!
After a long time, I got tired of hearing it, but who dares to offend the captain? You have to pretend to be listening to it for the first time.
"Really? Captain, you actually participated in towing the Varyag? That is a legendary warship!"
Hearing this sentence, Iris was very excited: "Yes, when I recall it now, it is full of legendary color! At that time..."
Lima was spitting foam and flying stars, and started talking about the past events of that year, which lasted half an hour.
After finishing speaking, Ales nodded: "Captain, you are so awesome!"
"Of course, that is the most unforgettable memory in my life! We are about to enter the Red Sea ahead, and after crossing the Red Sea is the Suez Canal. We also spent a lot of effort to pass the Suez Canal!"
Seeing that Lima was about to speak again, Ales couldn't bear it anymore: "Captain, I need to go down and check the situation."
"Okay, you go." Lima said, looking at the blue sea outside, and said again: "Mr. Qin was really awesome back then!"
Ales stepped out of the cabin and faced some cold air, which made him wrap up his down jacket tightly.
The liquefied gas ship is a special type of ship. It does not carry refrigeration equipment, but the temperature it transports is more than 160 degrees below zero. Although there are various insulation measures, some liquefied natural gas will still vaporize. This vaporized natural gas must be released, otherwise it will burst the liquid cargo fence system.
Mingzhou Group’s design is more advanced. The gasified natural gas will be collected and then sent to the marine engine to work.
This greatly improves the operating efficiency of the liquefied gas ship. Coupled with the sail, almost no oil is burned back and forth. This is why all liquefied gas ship owners around the world like to go to Mingzhou to order.
It absorbs heat during the gasification process, so the inside of the LNG ship is very cold. When you are close to the device specially designed to collect leaked liquefied gas, you can even see a thick layer of frost on the outside.
Alles continued to walk towards the collection device, then, putting on thick cotton gloves, he began to turn the red valve, which had the word danger clearly marked on it.
Creak, creak...Ales continued to turn the valve, his hands were shaking a little, but he couldn't stop.
"Hey, what are you doing?" At this moment, a voice came from behind: "Don't turn that valve, otherwise it will be dangerous! It is used for emptying when loading the ship!"
Hawari, the crew member, happened to be passing by, and when he saw Alles’s actions, he immediately shouted.
Ales was startled and turned the valve faster, clatter! The valve was unscrewed a lot.
At this moment, suddenly, a white smoke enveloped him. Before Ales had time to shout, the cold of more than 100 degrees below zero completely froze him in an instant!
"Damn it!" Hawari quickly ran back, came to the maintenance workshop nearby, closed the door, and then picked up the phone: "Hey, Captain, there is a leak in the No. 3 emergency valve of the No. 1 liquid cargo fence collection system, please immediately Activate emergency plan!”
After he finished making the call, he saw a layer of white ice beginning to appear on the door he had just closed!
The temperature in the maintenance cabin was getting lower and lower. Havari felt that his body was getting colder and colder. His eyebrows and beard began to be covered with frost, just like an Eskimo.
Boom, boom, boom! Blah blah blah!
Are you going to die here?
The door started to be banged on outside! The ice is being smashed!
“I’m here, save me, save me!” Hawari shouted loudly.
咣!
With the last sound, the door was opened, and Hawari looked at Captain Lima who appeared in front of him excitedly, almost crying.
"It's okay, kid, you're saved. It's a pity that Ales can't be saved."
When the valve was opened, Ales was the first to bear the brunt and was frozen into a popsicle. If it took a few more decades, there might be a way to save him, but now, there is no possibility.
“Captain, this accident was caused by Ales, he is the culprit!”
What? Alles did it?
"Why did he do this?" Lima looked at the frozen popsicle with some disbelief. This person was his loyal audience. He listened to himself telling the past things over and over again, and he never showed any impatience. How can people be bad people?
"have no idea."
“If someone is causing vandalism, should we call the police?”
"Call the police? What's the use of calling the police? Which country to call the police?" Lima glanced at everyone: "Now, contact the Mingzhou Group immediately!"
“Shouldn’t we report to the shipowner first?”
"Shipowner? Ares is the person sent by the shipowner. We said, does the shipowner believe us or him?" Lima was a little annoyed.
The natural gas ship continued to sail. After entering the Red Sea, a helicopter flew over and landed on the helicopter landing platform in front of the ship's bridge.
"Mr. Qin, are you here?" Lima felt excited when he saw the people coming down.
“Lima, are you a captain?” Qin Tao asked curiously.
“Mr. Qin, do you still remember me?”
"Of course, Iris Lima, you helped us a lot when our Varyag returned home, and we will never forget you."
Lima felt bursts of gratitude. Not only did he often put the Varyag on his lips, Mr. Qin also never forgot what happened!
“Zhengyang, go check the scene.” Qin Tao said to Xu Zhengyang.
Xu Zhengyang nodded.
When it comes to investigating cases, Qin Tao is not professional, while Xu Zhengyang has much more experience. Soon, Xu Zhengyang came back.
“Mr. Qin, the cause of the accident was that someone deliberately opened the valve, causing natural gas to leak. Fortunately, it was closed in time. If it took a long time, the leaked natural gas would freeze the hull, and cracks would appear in the hull and the liquid cargo fence system..."
Everyone knows very well that at that point, even if you are full of words, you won’t be able to explain clearly!
“Why did Ales do this?” Lima still couldn’t believe it.
"He is not trying to harm you, but he wants to damage the reputation of our Mingzhou Group." Qin Tao said: "Our group has undertaken a large number of LNG ship construction contracts, and even the Southeast Asian financial crisis has not affected us. Some people are afraid and deliberately cause damage to us!"
Lima nodded. Now, this is all that can be guessed. What does this mean? When gods fight, what happens to the kid?
“But, what should we do next?”
“The next step is to find the culprits and discredit them!” When Qin Tao said this, his face was calm, but in Xu Zhengyang’s eyes, Mr. Qin was already angry, and the consequences would be serious!
“Mr. Qin, please assign the task, I will listen to you.”
Qin Tao nodded: "Next..."
On the coast of the Red Sea, a telescope was set up on an inconspicuous rock. A pair of cold eyes looked at the slowly approaching liquefied gas ship. Then, an excited tone came: "See it, see it." Here it is! White smoke is rising from the ship! Sure enough, it has leaked. It is still on the Red Sea, the most important international shipping route. This will definitely cause sensational news. Quick, notify the relevant departments immediately and report the news! "
Moreover, they have made arrangements long ago and will never reveal that they are the masterminds behind the scenes. It was a European reporter who first exposed the leak of the Mingzhou Group’s natural gas ship!
There are a large group of people in Europe who love the environment. Let them see how much modern industrial development will affect the environment, and see how natural gas ships turn into bombs!
“The transportation of liquefied natural gas is dangerous!”
“There is a leak in the Mingzhou Group’s natural gas ship. It will become an atomic bomb larger than Hiroshima!”
“It’s terrible. Now the shipping route in the Red Sea has been blocked, which will seriously affect our ocean transportation! Oil prices are expected to rise in the near future!”
There is an overwhelming amount of news and reports. The transportation safety of natural gas has once again attracted public attention.
Various experts have also begun to analyze how dangerous liquefied natural gas is, just like a bomb with a failed fuse!
Distant island country.
“Successful, we finally succeeded!” Inutaro Yamamoto said: “Now, Europe has begun to report this natural gas ship leak!”
Inutaro Yamamoto said as he put down the pile of newspapers in his hand.
“This is the Guardian, a newspaper published by Europe’s most famous environmental organization. If it is on this newspaper’s blacklist, it will be completely difficult to get rid of the reputation of polluting the environment!”
“This is the Business Daily. The owner of this newspaper also builds natural gas ships. They are very dissatisfied with the expansion of Mingzhou Group. Now, they will not let go of this matter!”
After talking a few words, Yamamoto Inutaro suddenly discovered that Masuyama Yuju seemed to be in a bad mood!
“Mr. Masuyama, do you have any concerns?” Yamamoto Inutaro asked.
“Yamamoto-kun, do you know who first reported this news?” Masuyama Yuju asked.
“The first one to report it? Wasn’t it arranged by us?” Now it was Inutaro Yamamoto’s turn to be surprised.
“Yes, it’s not our people, the first one to report it was ORB!”
“ORB? What is this?”
“Brandenburg Radio (German: Ostdeutscher RundfunkBrandenburg), this television station released the news yesterday, and many reporters from other newspapers reprinted the news from Brandenburg Radio and Television!”
"How is this possible?" Yamamoto Inutaro was very surprised: "We did not disclose the information to this media, and this media has no influence!"
“Yes, it originally had little influence, but now, thanks to this news, their TV station’s ratings have reached the highest in the world!” Masuyama Yuju said.
This TV station can be traced back to the merger of Germany and Germany. The TV stations were also merged. A lot of things happened in the middle. Finally, East German Brandenburg Broadcasting was established in Brandenburg. However, they did not get along very well. It soon fell into obscurity.
As a result, because of this report, they became the most famous TV station again.
“How did they know?” Inutaro Yamamoto asked.
"I don't know, I always feel that there is something fishy about this matter." Zengshan Xiongju said: "Keep an eye on this TV station."
"OK."
Just as Inutaro Yamamoto was about to leave, someone came in and reported to him: "We have just received the news. The Mingzhou Group invited the media who paid attention to the leak, as well as the Greek police and personnel from the canal management office. Let’s board the Hades together.”
“Step on? That’s a leaking natural gas ship. Who dares to step on it? Shouldn’t they retreat now?”
“The leak has been repaired.”
"How is it possible? Once the steel plate outside is frozen at minus 162 degrees, hydrogen embrittlement will occur and it will be impossible to repair it!" Inutaro Yamamoto said in surprise: "Unless the natural gas ship has no leaks."
Early reporting, the leak was repaired, all of this seems to indicate that there is a conspiracy behind it!
"We must let our people board that ship and see what tricks they are going to play!"
The Red Sea is still wide enough to accommodate many ships moving side by side. Its narrowest point is the Suez Canal, and now, the Hades is still more than fifty nautical miles away from the canal.
The ships here have begun to become denser. They need to cross the river one by one in accordance with the regulations of the canal management office. Now, when they see the leaking natural gas ship, the captains of each cargo ship are a little scared.
“Damn it, get out of the way immediately and stay away from that ship!”
They were a little frightened. What if the natural gas ship leaked again and exploded? They don't want to be implicated!
This is an international waterway, and they have no power to stop the ship from moving forward. The most they can do is protest the irresponsibility of the natural gas ship and then quickly avoid it.
“Captain, I heard that they invited a large number of people up, so there shouldn’t be any problems, right?”
“Why not? Who knows this? God, please keep them safe.”
“Hey, a helicopter is flying towards them!”
Roaring sounds flew over their heads, and under their gaze, a helicopter landed on the Hades natural gas ship.
Tony, a reporter from Brandenburg Radio, stepped off the helicopter and looked at the people greeting him below. He felt a little excited. As long as this performance was completed, he would receive a large sum of money and live the life he wanted. Got it!
Holebas, a representative of the Greek police, and Jim, the head of the canal management office, stepped off the plane together and looked at the people who came to greet them.
"Everyone, welcome to board the Hades. I am Qin Tao from Mingzhou Group. The reason why I invite you here is that on the one hand, I want to prove that the construction quality of our Mingzhou Group is no problem. On the other hand, I want to ask you to uphold justice for us. Those who secretly want to smear our Mingzhou Group will not end well."
Smear behind your back?
Hollebas said in a deep voice: "Mr. Qin, you have been involved in the construction of natural gas ships for more than five years. Now, there are more than fifty natural gas ships built by Mingzhou Group on the seas around the world. Sailed. Now, this natural gas ship Hades has just been built. It encountered an accident on its first voyage. This incident makes us very strange. Please rest assured that if it turns out that there is another murderer, we will definitely We won’t let the murderer go unpunished!”
The reporter Olympus who finally walked down murmured in his heart. He thought about his mission and felt a little strange. Could it be that this incident has something to do with the employer behind him?
If that’s the case…
“Everyone, please go and take a look at the accident scene.” Qin Tao said, “Let me introduce to you what happened at that time.”
Everyone followed Qin Tao and walked down the cabin together and stood at the bottom. The space here was not big. After everyone got down, it was packed immediately.
“Here is our Mingzhou Group’s original device for collecting evaporated liquefied natural gas. During operation, part of the natural gas will evaporate and then enter here and be transported to the engine behind through pipelines. This achieves the purpose of waste utilization. , greatly reducing operating costs.”
“Yes, we know about this design. The popularity of Mingzhou Group’s natural gas ships around the world has a lot to do with your low operating costs.” Jim said: “But, what does this have to do with leaks?”
“Because the leak was caused by someone deliberately opening the valve here!” Qin Tao said: “Someone wanted to cause a crisis of trust in our Mingzhou Group, so they deliberately created a man-made leak here!”
“Man-made? Do you have any evidence?”
“Let’s invite witnesses first.” Qin Tao said: “Where is Hawari? As someone who witnessed this incident, please tell everyone what happened at that time.”
Hawari squeezed in from behind the crowd: "Everyone, I was walking by here, and then I heard a creaking sound, and then I walked in to see what happened. As a result, I saw it with my own eyes. Arles, the sailor who has arrived on the ship, is opening the valve!"
"Why did Ales do this? Where is he now? Did you kill him?" Tony asked.
“I don’t know what Alles did. I just saw that when Alles turned the valve, a large amount of white gas suddenly came out. Then, Alles’ whole body turned into a popsicle.”
“You’re lying! You’re standing right behind Ales, why didn’t you turn into a popsicle?”
"Because I ran to the maintenance cabin at the back in advance. You can see that the door of the maintenance cabin has been broken. It was the captain and others who arrived later who used a fire ax to open it in order to save me."
"No, this is not right! You are all lying! Did you kill Ales and then frame him deliberately?" Tony shouted.
“We can swear to God that everything we say is true!” Captain Iris said.
“Now, there are human witnesses, but there is still a lack of physical evidence. Moreover, since leakage and freezing have already occurred here, why did the accident not expand? Who can explain this?” Holebas said.
"Because our ships have safety devices developed by our Mingzhou Group. When the person who maliciously framed us opened the valve, the safety device immediately detected the leak, and then immediately activated the emergency plan to connect the pipeline here. Cut off, now, this ship can no longer use the evaporated natural gas ship to move, it can only use the diesel engine." Qin Tao said: "As for the physical evidence, I wonder if the footage captured by the camera can be used as physical evidence?"
The picture captured by the camera?
The reporter who followed us became excited: "Do you still have a camera?"
“You did this on purpose, right? Why did you deliberately install the camera here? It’s like you arranged it in advance?”
"We are here to better monitor the operation of the ship. Once an accident occurs, it is also convenient to find the cause of the fault." After Qin Tao finished speaking, he glanced at Tony: "Mr. reporter, your performance today is too special. I would like to I want to ask you, you have always doubted us, why? Do you have any ulterior motives? "
(End of this chapter)