Chapter 40: Through The Storm, Everyone Safe
Just as Lin Yan was thinking this, he felt a trace of coolness brush across his face.
Was the wind picking up?
He couldn’t help but open his eyes, watching the originally clear sky turn overcast at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The weather was changing.
He and Wu Xie looked on blankly as the ship captain and the crew rushed around, shouting things they couldn’t understand, but the terror in their tone infected everyone.
Just then, the ship captain happened to pass by them, and Wu Xie grabbed him: “Ship captain, what’s going on? Is the weather turning?”
The ship captain nodded: “It’s a storm, the storm came early!”
At these words, everyone frowned. They had rushed here so urgently precisely to dive before the storm, but they didn’t expect the weather to be unpredictable, with the storm arriving ahead of schedule. Under such harsh weather conditions, could they still dive? Even if they could go down, could they still find the underwater tomb?
The only thing they could do now was to quickly leave the storm center and head back, which was also what the ship captain was doing now.
Wu Yong understood what they were saying and hurriedly ran off to find the ship captain. Although they were far away, they could guess he was persuading him to continue forward.
The standoff between them lasted less than ten minutes; the weather now changed in an instant, and any time-wasting action was irresponsible to life.
They watched Wu Yong walk toward them with a grim expression, thinking the negotiation had failed, but unexpectedly, the first thing Wu Yong said when he reached them was: “The ship captain agreed to continue forward, you two head back to the cabin first, it’s not safe here.”
Wu Xie and Lin Yan exchanged a glance, nodded to him, then Wu Xie supported Lin Yan as they stumbled toward the cabin.
On the way, Wu Xie and Lin Yan whispered quietly: “What do you think made the ship captain agree? With the weather changing like this, I thought it was over.”
Lin Yan had just been so startled that his seasickness symptoms had actually improved a lot, and now he still had the strength to talk to him: “Don’t forget what their company does.”
Wu Xie asked puzzledly: “Their company? Isn’t it the Marine Resource Development Company? What does that have to—ah, I get it!” He gave a wry smile: “It’s still about money, I just don’t know how much, to actually make the ship captain change his mind.”
Lin Yan shook his head; he didn’t know either, but at least it had to be two or three hundred thousand, three or four hundred thousand, right?
“Oh right.” Lin Yan suddenly stopped, nearly causing Wu Xie, who was supporting him, to stumble as well.
“What’s wrong?” Wu Xie looked over and saw Lin Yan’s expression was somewhat troubled, but in just a few seconds it turned resolute: “Wu Xie, if there’s any movement outside later, let’s go take a look.”
He had originally thought that by missing the original plot’s timing and characters, the ghost ship wouldn’t appear, but unexpectedly the weather changed so quickly and unscientifically. Could it be that this ghost ship wasn’t tied to a specific time point, but to Wu Xie? He had always said that the book his third uncle wrote was completely unreasonable! Where was this sci-fi, this was straight-up mystical! It even had automatic tracking!
Since they couldn’t avoid the ghost ship, he had originally wanted Wu Xie not to go out, but then he thought, if that ghost ship really came, how would they get the notebook if Wu Xie didn’t go? That was an important item! If only he had read the book more carefully and remembered what it said, but the problem was he didn’t remember!
So even if it was dangerous, they still had to go take a look! But now there were no other original plot characters around; just based on the people present who could count, Lin Yan thought: the crew and ship captain and extras didn’t count, Wu Xie counted as one, he himself in this state barely counted as half, only useful when entering the environment. Wu Yong and the young ones counted as one, that doctor who got on the ship and was even more seasick than him without a name was passed.
Adding it all up haphazardly, it was barely three and a half in combat power. Lin Yan felt despair thinking of this; if it weren’t for that thing they absolutely had to get, wouldn’t it be better for everyone to just stay put honestly! This was really risking their lives!
It was all Wu Xie’s third uncle’s fault!
He glared at Wu Xie, who looked baffled. But Wu Xie was already used to him glaring whenever some thought crossed his mind; anyway, it would blow over in a few minutes, and getting glared at didn’t cost any flesh.
Since they couldn’t avoid it, it was better to prepare early. He wanted to go find the ship captain and ask at least for some intel on the ghost ship and sea monkey, so they wouldn’t be caught off guard later. But looking at the sky… heh, first survive this storm and talk!
It was hard to describe this sense of powerlessness facing nature without experiencing it firsthand; even Lin Yan, who had seen countless disaster movies before crossing over and even experienced a level 12 typhoon, felt the same.
He couldn’t describe the feeling of seeing the storm in that instant.
In his eyes, there was only that black line gradually pressing toward them between heaven and earth. The surrounding waves grew higher and higher; their 7-ton little boat tossed and fell like a leaf between the waves and wind, and no one could stand on the deck. Everything not secured was sliding around; the crew could dodge while moving, but Wu Yong and the others couldn’t, stumbling every now and then.
Speaking of Wu Yong, he was speechless too; this guy seemed to not know what fear was, and he was the happiest on the whole ship when the storm arrived, looking eager to compete with the storm in height—it was indeed cool, but getting smacked down by a wave was of course very embarrassing.
The wind had grown strong; it was still okay in the cabin, but even he and Wu Xie had to shout right in each other’s ears to communicate. On the deck, nothing could be heard except the wind. Everyone was working hard to secure things on the deck; anything not secured had basically slid into the sea. According to what the ship captain said later, they wouldn’t retrieve these lost cargo; it was “sacrifice” for the Dragon King.
Another big wave hit, and Wu Yong, who had just stood up, was knocked down again, but this time it was unlucky—the next wave came and actually swept him away. Everyone on the deck was busy; no one could help him, or even noticed he was gone.
This was the sea.
Lin Yan watched all this with a pale face; sure enough, it happened, the first person to die.
The braver the performance, the faster the death.
Although not dying later, he still died.
Was fate really unavoidable? Was this the cost of him changing the plot?
Gradually, the wind died down, the waves subsided, and their boat steadied again under the efforts of the ship captain and crew.
Lin Yan had Wu Xie support him to the spot where Wu Yong had been swept off the ship; he leaned sadly on the railing, but unexpectedly, when he looked down, he saw a hand.
“Holy shit! This guy isn’t dead! Someone come quick, help save him!”
The spot Wu Yong was holding was too low; neither he nor Wu Xie could reach it, but fortunately the boat was fairly steady now, allowing the crew to tie ropes around their waists and haul him up.
The hauled-up Wu Yong looked shaken, his legs trembling, and he shakily gave them a thumbs up: “Awesome!”
Everyone had a facepalm moment, so they decisively left him on the deck and went back to what they were doing. Lin Yan also glared at him and turned to leave; he shouldn’t have bothered saving him!
With Wu Yong not dead, Lin Yan’s lost confidence returned somewhat. The facts proved that he hadn’t changed that much of the plot, or rather, the plot’s correction ability wasn’t that strong. With Wu Yong not dead, and the ghost ship not appearing until the storm ended, he didn’t have to agonize over whether to risk going with Wu Xie to get the notebook.
Everything was changing for the better.
But Lin Yan had no idea that the ghost ship didn’t come during the first storm, but during the second storm when it caught up to them, discovered by Wu Xie on the way to save someone.
Or rather, waiting for Wu Xie to discover.
