The sailor was clearly quite annoyed; the deck was very busy when there were many guests on board. The fact that this Asian man got sick just three seconds after boarding was certainly not a good sign, especially since everyone was saying that the plague was rampant in Malacca. The weight of the word “disease” was much heavier for the crew. However, due to Steven’s earlier relationship and the professionalism of first-class service, the sailor still helped Zhang Haiyan.

What Zhang Haiyan wanted was this effect. The ship still needed some time to leave the port, and if they acted quickly now, it was possible to complete the investigation before the ship officially entered open sea.

If Zhang Haixia was in someone else’s hands, he would have to consider that if he left Malacca for a few months and then returned to exchange meat tickets, it could lead to trouble. The last time the South An docked, it sailed from Xiamen to France, stopping at four ports along the Malacca route. Those who disembarked from the ship carried the plague to various places in Malacca, but areas outside of Penang were controlled by Zhang Ruipu. From the situation on the ship, there had been no outbreak of the plague; if someone had contracted a disease on board, there would have been trouble long ago. Why was the South An continuously spreading the plague while it was fine?

This indicated that the person spreading the plague was on the South An itself. He must have the means to control the disease, and the developments could only unfold in a few ways:
1. Those people got sick on the ship but were controlled and did not show symptoms until some time after disembarking.
2. The person spreading the plague had the ability to ensure that people contracted the disease only after leaving the ship.

The fact that the sick individuals came from different areas indicated that they were specifically chosen, and all of them were lower-tier merchants, hence residing in the lower deck. Therefore, the person spreading the plague should be hiding in the lower deck and must be someone familiar and good at conversation.

A simple deduction shows that even if there was no plague on the ship, it was common for diarrhea and dysentery to spread in the lower deck. Thus, the ship’s doctor would regularly provide guests with pills and potions, making it very easy to control the timing of the onset of symptoms. Because the ship’s doctor was respected, he would also receive a lot of information, making him one of the first suspects. So, Zhang Haiyan needed to get to the infirmary as quickly as possible.

However, the sailor did not immediately take him to the infirmary. Zhang Haiyan put in a lot of effort to act sick, even sweating from his neck, but the sailor just looked away. Doubts arose in Zhang Haiyan’s mind, and when he looked up, he saw Steven returning.

The sailor said, “Mr. Steven, your friend is feeling unwell. You’re a doctor; should we take him to your room or to the infirmary?”

Steven looked at Zhang Haiyan with a somewhat disdainful expression, as if he felt he had been tricked into helping an old lady cross the street. However, he still glanced at Zhang Haiyan’s eyes, checked his pulse, and had a strange expression.

“Take him to my room,” Steven sighed.

Zhang Haiyan thought to himself that this enthusiastic foreigner turned out to be a doctor. He wanted to immediately stand up and say he was fine, but felt that would be too deliberate. Instead, he decided to gradually improve on the way to Steven’s room, and then once he entered and sat down, he would fully recover, thank him, and leave.

However, as soon as he entered the cabin and turned a corner, he arrived at Steven’s room. Just as he was about to quickly recover, he was taken aback by the room.

Steven’s room is very spacious, a VIP among VIPs. This room even has a balcony where sunlight streams in, and it is decorated in a completely European style. His luggage seems to have been delivered early, all unpacked, filled with books and documents.

He clutched his chest and was placed on a green velvet sofa. As he sat down, the springs let out a creak. The comfortable feeling that conformed to his body embraced him like a devil.

Having spent many years in rainforests and at sea, sleeping on branches and ship decks, he couldn’t remember the last time he had slept on a soft bed with springs, and he let out a groan.

Steven instructed the sailor to leave, and Zhang Haiyan quickly realized what was happening and began to follow the process of improvement. As a result, Steven poured himself a glass of whiskey, took a sip, and directly said, “Stop pretending; your heart is on the other side. Don’t you know?”

Zhang Haiyan was taken aback and looked at his hands. It suddenly occurred to him that he was different from others; his heart was reversed. During their adult health check-ups, a doctor had mentioned it to him, but he hadn’t paid much attention.

Why hadn’t he paid attention? Because all of their children had reversed hearts, as if that was the reason they were chosen.

“Having a mirror-image dextrocardia is not a disease; you don’t need to be afraid,” Steven said. “But what do you want? Friend, I initially thought you were just frugal and looked down upon, but now it seems you have an ulterior motive for boarding this ship.”

Zhang Haiyan was still touching his chest, realizing he had indeed touched the wrong side. He sighed deeply, thinking he had become unaccustomed to it. Had he known, he would have pretended to have a stomach ailment.

He looked at Steven and thought this was becoming troublesome. If people found out about his investigation, the difficulty would double. Not to mention that the Nanyang Archives was an obscure department, even if these foreigners believed he was an official investigating a plague case, the fact that the person spreading the plague was still on the ship was enough to ruin the entire journey.

He needed to come up with a story. Zhang Haiyan quickly turned over ideas in his mind. He had no problem boarding the ship; the ticket was real. But why pretend to be sick? He had it.

“The person I like is a ship’s doctor on this vessel. I miss her very much,” Zhang Haiyan said. “Sorry for holding you up; I was a bit too naive.”

“In the past, sea freight ships had one or two general practitioners. The ‘Nanyang’ has three doctors and four nurses due to the Malacca plague. As far as I know, they are all men. The person you like is a man?” Steven frowned.

Zhang Haiyan thought to himself, how does he know everything? He suddenly felt hesitant to speak freely and was still pondering how to fabricate a story when Steven said, “Stop pretending; your purpose for boarding this ship is because of me, right? How did you find out about us?”

Zhang Haiyan was still concocting a story when Steven’s words left him stunned. Huh? He thought: What? What secret do you have?

Steven turned around and opened his suitcase, quietly saying, “Speak up, how much would you be willing to pay to get off this ship?”

Zhang Haiyan shrank back, thinking, wow, is this a blessing from heaven or an awakening of the earth? It seemed this was a ship with a lot of stories. Tears of emotion welled up in his eyes; Steven didn’t know what secret he was carrying and mistakenly thought Zhang Haiyan was here to uncover that secret.

He tried twice, unsure of how to start explaining, when he suddenly noticed that Steven’s hand movements were off. Just as he was about to take a closer look, Steven turned around, and a revolver appeared in his hand.

Raising his hand to shoot, Zhang Haiyan instantly dodged, the bullet hitting the sofa behind him and exploding springs and cotton everywhere.

Without hesitation, Steven fired all his bullets in quick succession. Zhang Haiyan darted left and right, as the bullets tore through the room’s mahogany furniture and bedding, sending wood shavings and cotton flying all around.

Steven’s hand was remarkably steady; ordinary people wouldn’t be able to shoot with such frequency, yet he fired seven bullets in an instant. As he spun the gun, the spent cartridges fell, and he began reloading.

Zhang Haiyan tried to close the distance, but after just a couple of steps, Steven raised his gun again and fired another shot. Zhang Haiyan dodged once more, fully aware of his opponent’s capabilities.

This was a top-notch marksman. Zhang Haiyan rolled to evade the second shot and jumped off the balcony, leaping into the sea next to the ship. Steven fired all his remaining bullets into the water, then returned to the room and picked up the phone: “Notify Mr. Warner, the entire ship is on lockdown. Someone has entered the water from the port side; we need to capture this person.”

Meanwhile, as Zhang Haiyan surfaced, his hat floating beside him, he grabbed it and saw that the police had already boarded a small boat and were rowing towards him.