Chapter 89: Have You Ever Seen A Lifebuoy Dropping From The Sky…?
Wu Xie and Fatty searched the entire boat with no success. They checked not only the cabins, cargo hold, and cockpit, but Wu Xie even searched the fish hold, yet they didn’t see a single person.
When they finished searching and gathered at the bow of the ship, Zhang Qiling was in the cockpit studying something.
“Fatty, did you find any clues? Where did this person disappear to? The food is still warm; where could they have gone?” Wu Xie looked into the distance with frustration, but saw nothing except the sea level shimmering red under the setting sun. Fatty shook his head, “I didn’t find them either. It’s one thing for them to disappear, but how can their luggage disappear too? I checked the cabin, and not a single personal belonging was left behind. The cargo hold was the same, nothing small was left for us except large equipment. Do you think they left because they saw us come out?”
Wu Xie shook his head and denied his guess, “Impossible. From when we came out to getting on the boat, it was at most ten minutes. Is ten minutes enough for everyone to leave with their equipment?”
Fatty thought about it and also found it impossible, “Then what could it be? Look at this clear sky; if there were other boats around, we would have seen them. Without other boats, how did they leave? And such a large group of them?”
Wu Xie was also deeply puzzled, but his injury was making it hard for him to hang on. He couldn’t help but plop down on the ground, leaning against the ship’s railing. “I can’t anymore, I need to rest for a bit. Where’s Lin Yan? It’s been so long, why isn’t he back yet?”
As Fatty relaxed, the after-effects of excessive blood loss made him dizzy. He stumbled to the railing, leaning on it with his right hand to look ahead. Wu Xie was worried he might fall headfirst just looking at him. Fatty squinted slightly and saw a black shadow in the distance. On top of the shadow was a white thing, bobbing up and down with the water ripples.
He estimated, “About twenty to thirty meters from us? Not far, probably only a few minutes away. It’s just that his posture is so strange.” As he said this, he saw the figure representing Lin Yan quickly surface to take a breath, and then sink again within two seconds.
“Huh? Why isn’t he swimming over? Isn’t that Forbidden Woman just there and not moving?”
With Fatty’s eyesight, he really couldn’t see the Forbidden Woman slowly approaching Lin Yan, and the person in question was not in a good mood. If Zhang Qiling hadn’t stopped him from killing this Forbidden Woman, she would be gone already! What business did she have with the Huo family? It was obvious that Zhang Qiling definitely wanted to use this Forbidden Woman to do the Huo family a favor, or to exchange for something?
Sigh, considering he was planning for Wu Xie’s sake, Lin Yan grudgingly endured it; otherwise, he could have knocked the Forbidden Woman’s head askew!
Suddenly, Fatty and Wu Xie felt a vibration beneath them. The boat suddenly tilted to the right, almost throwing Fatty off, but Wu Xie managed to grab his leg and pull him back.
“Hiss!” After finally pulling Fatty back, Wu Xie felt his ribs hurt even more. He remembered the sideways movement he made and wondered if his ribs had dislocated again? Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but look at Fatty with a hint of resentment. However, seeing that Fatty landed on his left hand and his expression was quite contorted, the situation immediately balanced out.
Only then did they have the capacity to see what had happened. Wu Xie listened intently, “Is that… the engine starting? What about Mute Bottle? Can he drive a boat?” Fatty pressed his left shoulder, which had started bleeding again, thinking it might get inflamed after being soaked in seawater, but there were no conditions to treat it now, so he could only wait until they got out. Hearing this, he weakly glanced at Wu Xie, “What’s the big deal? Fatty Ye knows how to too!”
He might be mouthy, but in his heart, he still admired Zhang Qiling. After all, not everyone could start a completely unfamiliar boat after only a few minutes of practice, even if it was just the most ordinary fishing boat!
Zhang Qiling steered the boat, slowly heading in Lin Yan’s direction. After setting the course, he came out of the cockpit and lowered a lifebuoy from outside the ship’s railing. He shouted to Lin Yan, “Grab the lifebuoy, we’ll pull you up!” After speaking, he returned to the cockpit to continue operating the vessel.
Wu Xie and Fatty exchanged a look, both feeling a bit lost. One was suffering from excessive blood loss, and the other had a broken rib that hurt even to raise his hand. Zhang Qiling was asking the two of them to pull Lin Yan up? Was he sure he wasn’t asking Lin Yan to pull them down instead?
They exchanged a look and shared a wry smile. Fatty stood up and leaned on the railing, “Young comrade, you see my left hand can’t move, so how about I use my right hand?” Wu Xie nodded; that was reasonable. He had originally intended to cooperate with Fatty using his left hand, but he remembered he wasn’t strong to begin with, and besides, moving his left hand wouldn’t make much difference from using both hands; his ribs hurt either way. Thinking about it, he grasped the rope of the lifebuoy with both hands, preparing to pull Lin Yan up once he grabbed it.
Lin Yan vaguely heard someone calling him and thought it might be the three of them who had started the boat to pick him up. However, he couldn’t hear clearly what they were saying from in the water. He wanted to go up and see, but he was afraid the Forbidden Woman would pounce on him. It wasn’t anything else, but this Forbidden Woman… was too ugly, and he found it disgusting.
Wu Xie saw that there was no movement from Lin Yan’s side and gradually noticed something was wrong. He tentatively called out a few more times, “Lin Yan, Lin Yan? Give me a response if you can hear!”
After a few seconds, Lin Yan still hadn’t responded, and Wu Xie and Fatty’s expressions turned serious. They were already very close to Lin Yan, and if they didn’t grab the lifebuoy soon, they might miss him.
Wu Xie pondered for a moment and looked at Fatty, asking, “Fatty, how are your ring toss skills?” Fatty had no experience with such things and looked confused, “Ring toss? What’s that?” Seeing that time was running out, Wu Xie quickly unfastened the other lifebuoy and explained without looking back, “It’s a hidden weapon! How’s your accuracy?”
Fatty’s spirits lifted upon hearing this. He twisted his neck and stretched his limbs. “It’s not me bragging, but they don’t call me the ‘Fat Prince of Tomb Raiding’ for nothing! I’m incredibly skilled and accurate with hidden weapons!” Wu Xie’s eyes lit up upon hearing this. He thrust the lifebuoy into Fatty’s arms, “Alright, use this to loop Lin Yan, and we can pull him up!”
“Uh, this…” Fatty’s hand felt heavy as he looked at the seven or eight-pound lifebuoy, then at Lin Yan, who was at least five meters away. For a moment, he was speechless. Gritting his teeth, he took a few steps back, “I’ll try.” He was a bit weak due to excessive blood loss, so throwing three to four meters from a stationary position was good; to throw over five meters, he would need to run to achieve it.
Fatty stood still, took two deep breaths, then ran forward three or four steps to the railing, let out a deep roar, and used the momentum to throw the lifebuoy. In Wu Xie’s hopeful gaze, the lifebuoy landed precisely… on the Forbidden Woman’s head?
Wu Xie: ???
Fatty: .
The Forbidden Woman, who was suddenly encircled by a lifebuoy falling from the sky: !!!
Lin Yan, who was startled and almost choked on water watching the Forbidden Woman get trapped by an orange thing falling from the sky, poked his head out with a confused look: “What the hell is going on?”
