Chapter Forty-Six: A Perilous Surfing Adventure, Part One

In less than ten seconds, the platform vanished from everyone’s sight. Though they had all been prepared for this outcome, none of them had truly been ready.

The scale of the tsunami was far beyond anything anyone had imagined. They had innocently assumed the waves would merely engulf the entire platform, and nothing more.

But what they saw before them was entirely different. Zhao Li could even see clearly how the platform where he and the old warden had usually watched the sea seemed to be wrenched up from the water, then slammed down hard upon the surface, and in an instant disappeared beneath billions of tons of seawater.

The sturdy sea platform that had borne aircraft landings and takeoffs, and had sheltered everyone’s quiet lives for decades, was no different from paper before such natural force. In less than a few seconds, it shattered apart, scattered into pieces, and was then swallowed by the waves, leaving no trace behind.

Without communications equipment, the power of the tsunami had still been underestimated. Everyone, including James in the aircraft, felt a chill crawl up their spines. If Zhao Li had not decisively proposed that daring plan, then it would be they who were now rising and falling in the waves.

Even so, their situation was far from good, because the towering walls of water did not stop after devouring the sea prison. They still retained that heaven-shaking, earth-shattering might as they came crashing viciously toward the makeshift raft lashed together from four rubber dinghies.

“James, you son of a bitch! If you don’t drive that damned thing faster, I swear next time I see you, I’ll smash your face in!” The hot-tempered Jack had already begun cursing the damned fellow flying high above them. But in such a storm of waves, with no communications device, the words would never reach James’s ears.

Fortunately, James’s performance made everyone breathe a little easier. The raft had already been fast before, but now it seemed to have grown wings, leaping swiftly across the calm water ahead of the giant wave, skimming and bounding like a dragonfly touching the surface.

At a certain speed, boats on the sea would behave like this. With the engine at the stern, the bow would be forced high, then fall under gravity; seen from the side, it looked like a speedboat constantly nodding its head. Now the situation was the opposite. With power pulling from the front, the bow remained angled upward, while the stern, lifted high, alternated between air and sea, truly resembling a giant dragonfly.

Only, a contraption made of rubber dinghies was wholly unsuited to fluid dynamics, severely limiting the craft’s ability to reach maximum speed. Worse still, the raft was being tossed violently up and down, jolts strong enough to throw a person clear off it.

Even with safety ropes tied fast, it still was not enough. Once someone fell into the sea, the best they could hope for was to be dragged across the surface by the rope. No one cared what position that person ended up in. If lucky, they would remain on the surface, only to be struck unconscious by the seawater, as hard as a concrete slab, and die. If unlucky, they would be entirely submerged, drown alive, and then their body would be dragged all the way to that safe continent, or until the aircraft could no longer move.

The thought had barely crossed Zhao Li’s mind when a figure beside him was hurled away as if flung by the heavens. On an upward jolt, Kang Hongyuan failed to grasp the fixed handle beneath his feet, and his whole body was thrown into the air. Before he could cry out a single word, he had already been carried backward at great speed. James had done everything he could; the aircraft was flying at its absolute limit. Once someone failed to keep up, this was the consequence.

“Damn it!” Zhao Li cursed loudly, but in the roar of their headlong flight, the words were so insignificant as to be lost completely. He should have had everyone tie themselves to the raft before they departed. Who had said that doing so might make them capsize and wipe out the whole group?

Though cursing in his heart, he knew very well that the man had a point. Under these circumstances, capsizing was entirely possible. But only a few minutes had passed, and already one man had fallen into the water. That was hardly a good omen.

Suddenly, it felt as though they were all yanked backward by some immense force, and everyone’s bodies lurched forward involuntarily. What was happening?

Zhao Li turned his head. Kang Hongyuan’s figure was staggering along behind them, the rope around his waist still sturdy enough, and was now forcing him to experience every step of the “fortunate fellow” Zhao Li had just been thinking of.

But the trouble was that, with him alone in the water, the raft’s speed had been severely affected. After all, these rubber dinghies had ample buoyancy and were made of material well suited for high-speed movement through water. Yet Kang Hongyuan was half-submerged and being dragged by force, which immediately reduced their speed by nearly ten percent.

The waves behind them still followed not far away. Once their speed dropped, the result would be utter annihilation.

“Damn it! Damn it!” Zhao Li shouted twice at the sky, then was about to rise to his feet.

“What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?” A burly man beside him reacted with startling speed, freeing one hand to seize Zhao Li and grip his arm so hard it hurt. His furious shout, flecked with spit and sea foam, nearly slapped Zhao Li in the face.

“Didn’t they say we mustn’t abandon our comrades?” Zhao Li’s resolve was unprecedentedly firm. “I’m going to get him back. Otherwise, he’ll drag down our speed!” It was hard to say how Zhao Li, who had never even been on a battlefield, had come to such a thought; perhaps it was inspired by James, who had clearly had the chance to flee alone yet had still waited for everyone.

The burly man glared at him fiercely. On the entire craft, Zhao Li was the only one whose true energy had not been sealed, and likely the only one with enough strength to bring Kang Hongyuan back.

“Be careful yourself!” the burly man shouted at him, releasing his arm and grabbing hold of the fixed handle with both hands. Then he turned back and yelled, “If even you can’t manage it, we’ll cut the rope if necessary!”

“Fine!” Zhao Li hurriedly placed Professor Hans’s hands on the fixed handle. Just as he was about to wrap a thinner rope around him, the professor pushed it aside. “Go save him!” Professor Hans had only lost the use of his legs; the strength in his arms remained, and without his legs he was also far lighter.

With no time to think of anything else, Zhao Li stood up. Under everyone’s gaze, he pushed off with both feet and launched himself free of the rubber raft. In midair, Zhao Li saw only a pair of beautiful eyes, bright with reflected light.

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