novelraw Chapter 640 - 664: Boarded the Thieves’ Ship
Chapter 640 - 664: Boarded the Thieves’ Ship
Chapter 640: Chapter 664: Boarded the Thieves’ ShipThe women were all sent onto the lifeboats, and each lifeboat was manned by a sailor responsible for rowing, quickly moving away from the cruise ship. After all, when a ship sinks, the force of the water flow can sweep everything around it into the sea, an irresistible force.
At that moment, the ship suddenly shook violently, and a chorus of alarmed cries erupted from the passengers. The crew shouted urgently for everyone to get into the lifeboats quickly, but these boats had to be mechanically transferred from their storage. After everyone was aboard, they were then lowered into the sea, which took time. So even if they wanted to speed up the process, it couldn’t be done in an instant.
Two more groups had boarded the boats, and the cruise ship had already begun to tilt. The most crucial problem now was that the mechanical device used to transfer the lifeboats malfunctioned, and no more could be brought up. Meanwhile, there were still over a thousand people on board.
"Crack!" A strange, snapping sound.
"Jump into the sea!" Li Yifei bellowed, and the other crew members also began to shout.
Being experienced, they knew the ship was about to break apart, and once that happened, it would sink quickly. If people went down with the ship, they would undoubtedly die. With the limited time they had, their best chance at survival was to jump into the sea and quickly move away from the cruise ship.
"I can’t swim!" someone immediately yelled out.
"I can’t swim either!" Even a burly man felt like crying, knowing that in the vast open sea, being a strong swimmer wasn’t enough to avoid a tragedy if you couldn’t swim.
"You all have life jackets on; even if you jump into the sea, you won’t drown right away. Rescue will come soon."
There were enough life jackets on the ship for everyone, and those who could swim began jumping into the sea one after another under the crew’s urging. Li Yifei and Zheng Mingrui couldn’t do anything more at this point. They weren’t saviors, and having done all they could under the circumstances was no small feat. After urging those nearby who were hesitant, they threw the last few into the sea and then leaped in themselves.
Everyone swam with all their might, the strong swimmers faster than others. Those who couldn’t swim were at least able to paddle away thanks to their life jackets. Some people were accompanied by companions, looking after one another, so it wasn’t a big problem. Before long, those who had jumped in had put some distance between themselves and the cruise ship.
Then, a loud explosion was heard from behind. Li Yifei turned to look and saw the cruise ship split in half. The midsection was starting to sink while the bow and stern rose high into the air. The scene was quite similar to what one would see in a movie. If there had been people on the ship at that moment, they would have slid into the water one by one, just like in a film.
"Swim faster!" Li Yifei yelled, and the people nearby swam away with all their strength. No one was foolish enough to stay close, knowing that if they didn’t move further away, they could be sucked into the torrent created by the sinking ship, sealing their fate.
In their struggle to survive, everyone unleashed their greatest potential and, by the time the cruise ship went down, hardly anyone was in a dangerous position.
For such a major disaster to have not taken many lives on the spot indeed counted as a miracle in the history of shipwrecks. Li Yifei and Zheng Mingrui were now taking care of those in the water, directing them to the lifeboats. After the cruise ship had sunk, the lifeboats had already begun rowing towards them. Although the small boats couldn’t carry all the people, having them hold onto the sides provided a measure of safety.
Xu Yingying and her group rowed back,
Xu Shanshan and Su Mengxin had seen Li Yifei like this often, so they weren’t shy at that moment. Instead, their eyes lit up, although both feigned embarrassment as neither wanted to reveal their overly intimate relationship with Li Yifei.
Michelle had also seen Li Yifei swimming like this, but now seeing him, she felt different and was quite embarrassed, yet couldn’t help stealing glances at him.
Sophia acted as if she hadn’t seen Li Yifei at all and continued rowing. However, Li Yifei could still sense a hint of shyness in the woman’s gaze. It seemed she might be quite innocent, at least in regards to men and women, otherwise such a formidable assassin should not have shown such a look after seeing a man’s body.
But Li Yifei had no plans to fight with Sophia on the boat. If it were just the two of them, it would have been a different story, but with Xu Shanshan, Michelle, and Su Mengxin there, Sophia’s Flying Dagger would surely claim their lives if a fight broke out. So, for now, they could only let Sophia decide where to go.