novelPerplexed and Smitten (44)
| ← Ch.0983 | Ch.0985 → |
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The captain decided to return when the rain became lighter.
They stood at the harbor to wait quietly.
The weather was rather strange, because about half an hour later, the initial drizzle grew into a thundery shower that was even heavier than before.
At this moment, another ship approached.
"No matter where this ship is headed to, let's just board it for a while."
"Okay."
Once the ship stopped over at the harbor, the two of them talked to the people on the ship and paid the fare before boarding.
The ship was rather old and worn out, and it reeked of a strong stench. They decided to pay a little more for a cubicle.
However, the cubicle was merely a partition made from wooden planks.
Although the space was rather limited, there was at least a small washroom inside.
An Xiaoning decided to make the switch from a large, luxurious ship to an old and shabby one clearly because she had her own reasons. The results of the divination earlier was inauspicious. Although others may think that that was merely a phenomenon that could not be explained by science, An Xiaoning was apprehensive about it.
Her sixth sense was telling her that taking a different route would allow them to avoid peril.
"Young Madam, the rain seems to be getting heavier. I doubt the ship can continue sailing."
"It's alright, we'll see how things go once the rain stops. Don't call me Young Madam when we're out here. Let's pretend to be a couple like the previous time. It'll be much more convenient that way, " she instructed.
Fan Shixin found her words to have made sense and agreed.
"If you're sleepy, just lay on the table for a short nap. I'll call you when we're about to leave, " said An Xiaoning.
"I'm not sleepy yet."
An Xiaoning nodded and waited quietly.
They continued to wait for another few hours, until the rain gradually began to dissipate at two in the morning. Although there were still thunder and lightning, the rain had grown much lighter.
The sea levels rose after such a long thunderstorm.
Noticing that the rain was getting lighter, the captain of the ship hurriedly sailed off, lest they get trapped there.
Fan Shixin began to feel slightly sleepy. Thus, An Xiaoning told him to relax and sleep while she stayed awake to keep a lookout.
The ship was traveling at a snail's pace, perhaps because of how old it was. It could not be compared to Jin Qingyan's private cruise ship at all.
The ship was also extremely jerky when it was moving and would rock about like there was a mini-earthquake.
Being the careful and vigilant person she was, An Xiaoning decided to open the window slightly and took out her torchlight, which she then shone onto the surface of the sea. She was greeted with an appalling sight.
She immediately closed the window and woke Fan Shixin up. He was jolted awake quickly and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Look at the surface of the sea, " she said, handing him the torchlight.
Fan Shixin immediately opened the window to take a look outside. He turned as pale as a sheet and asked, "There's such a huge silhouette... what's that?"
"I'm afraid we've met with a flood dragon."
"What's a flood dragon?"
"I'll explain it to you later. Let's go out with our belongings now."
"Okay."
The two of them thus exited the cubicle. An Xiaoning walked toward the captain and asked him for two lifebuoys, after which she explained the situation to him, causing him to be frightened out of his wits. At this critical juncture, the captain did not maneuver the ship toward the coast because there was no time to do that. Instead, he instructed his subordinates to give all the passengers a lifebuoy each. It all depended on fate whether or not they survive.
An Xiaoning and Fan Shixin picked up their important belongings and left the unnecessary ones behind. They then placed their belongings into a plastic bag.
As soon as they did, the ship began to rock violently and the rest of the passengers started shrieking in terror.
At this moment, the captain was still maneuvering in the direction of the coast. However, it was too late.
In order to prevent Fan Shixin and herself to be separated by the waves later, they tied each end of a one-meter rope to their arms tightly to keep close to each other.
They were down on their luck during this trip.
However, all they could do now was try and come up with a solution to mitigate the problem and escape the ordeal.
"Seems like my premonition was accurate and we made the right decision by getting our boat to return first. However, I didn't expect that this would be the ordeal..."
Fan Shixin was clearly shell-shocked. Before he could even speak, a massive wave came crashing against the ship from behind, causing it to overturn immediately. Loud shrieks and bawling filled the air. Once An Xiaoning and Fan Shixin were in the water, they began swimming toward the shore, keeping their speeds in sync.
When juxtaposed against such a huge silhouette, humans tend to look as tiny as ants. The waves were rolling continuously and lifted all the victims up to a few meters before making them plunge into the water again.
An Xiaoning and Fan Shixin were both wearing a lifebuoy each and were still roped to each other.
As soon as they caught a breath of fresh air, a sudden bolt of lightning darted across the sky, accompanied by the deafening rumble of thunder.
A pitch-dark pigment gathered on the surface of the sea.
The thunder did not rumble again.
The rain had also ceased.
They were pushed along the sea rapidly by the strong waves.
The sky began to turn bright gradually.
They had no idea where they were and had no choice but to try and get onto the shore first.
Their clothes were completely soaked. By the time they got out of the water, An Xiaoning felt extremely weak and powerless, as if all her energy had been drained away by the sea.
They sat on a wooden bench and removed their lifebuoys.
"Fortunately, we were in the ocean. Otherwise, things would have been dire."
"What exactly is a flood dragon? What was that humongous black silhouette?" Fan Shixin questioned eagerly.
An Xiaoning explained, "A flood dragon is a mythical creature that flows from the river into the sea. The humongous silhouette that we saw just now was a flood dragon. I reckon there must have been floods in all the places that the dragon had passed by."
Fan Shixin got yet another eye-opener.
"I never thought I would get to see it with my own eyes one day. It's really terrifying. I felt so small and vulnerable, " he remarked.
"These creatures don't show themselves to humans easily. Perhaps we were just out of luck to have met with such an ordeal. It's going to take us even longer to get to V Nation now." She then turned around and took out the plastic bag that contained her mobile phone from her chest.
There were water droplets all over the outer layer of the plastic bag. They intentionally wrapped their belongings in several layers of plastic bags so as to waterproof them well.
An Xiaoning opened the innermost layer of plastic bag and was satisfied to see that her mobile phone was still intact.
As soon as she switched on her mobile phone, she received several reminders and notifications.
She was notified about how many missed calls and messages she had received while her mobile phone was switched off.
Apart from a single missed call from Shi Qingzhou, the rest were all from Jin Qingyan.
She read the messages to discover that he sounded extremely worried and eager. She reckoned that he must have heard about the violent waves that occurred that night.
An Xiaoning hurriedly gave Jin Qingyan a call that soon disconnected due to the poor reception. She proceeded to try and send several text messages to Jin Qingyan and her mother, which were finally delivered after multiple attempts.
| ← Ch. 0983 | Ch. 0985 → |