"No way?"
After fiddling with it for a while, Zhuang Rui realized that the wind around him seemed to have increased significantly, and the reason why the parachute could not turn seemed to be caused by the howling wind around him.
"Where did the water come from? Is it fresh?"
Zhuang Rui suddenly felt a wetness on his face, stuck out his tongue and licked it. Looking down at the sea, which was still seven or eight hundred meters away, he was stunned for a moment before realizing that it was raining.
"The storm next to Mahler?"
Zhuang Rui shook his head vigorously. He was now certain that he didn't know how he had ended up at the edge of that stormy sea after jumping off the plane.
Moreover, the sea breeze kept pushing him towards the center of the storm, making him farther and farther away from Peng Fei and the others' landing point.
Zhuang Rui felt the wind blowing against him getting stronger and stronger, and the rumbling thunder in the clouds seemed to be exploding right next to his ears. The parachute swayed left and right like an acrobat, moving unsteadily towards the center of the storm.
One drop, two drops... The raindrops hitting Zhuang Rui's face slowly turned into lines, stinging his face, and then soaking him completely.
Zhuang Rui wasn't worried about his clothes getting wet, since it would be the same once he got to the sea. However, being blown around aimlessly by the strong wind made him feel a sense of helplessness.
Soaring through the air, watching streaks of lightning strike the sea in the distance, Zhuang Rui's heart nearly stopped beating. Thunder and lightning, howling winds—the power of heaven and earth was on full display.
Zhuang Rui didn't even have the mind to pray for Buddha's blessing anymore. The gale was like a giant hand, grabbing Zhuang Rui's parachute and tossing it around. Dizzy and disoriented, Zhuang Rui's thoughts were like mush, and he was unable to make any judgments or reactions.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhuang Rui regained his senses and found himself still in the air. However, the torrential rain around him seemed to have subsided considerably, and he didn't seem to be very far from the sea. But the wind was still very strong, and Zhuang Rui had no idea where he had been blown to.
"Damn it, two hours? When will this end? God, just give me a quick death!" Zhuang Rui struggled to raise his left wrist and glanced at his watch, which had a luminous and waterproof function. He realized that more than an hour had passed since he jumped.
In Zhuang Rui's mind, those two hours felt like an eternity. The parachute floated in the sky like a paper crane, but it just wouldn't fall.
Zhuang Rui doesn't know if his skydiving experience will qualify him for the Guinness World Record for the longest skydiving landing time.
Zhuang Rui was also unaware that he had been blown by the storm to a distance of over a hundred kilometers from Peng Fei and the others.
Actually, Zhuang Rui was quite lucky, because if the accident had happened in the Atlantic Ocean, he would have been met not by a "storm" of 10 to 20 meters per second in the Indian Ocean, but by a "hurricane" of over 30 meters per second.
It's important to understand that hurricanes are extremely destructive. Even a small car caught in a hurricane would be torn to pieces upon exiting. If Zhuang Rui had encountered a hurricane, it's unlikely even a single intact bone would have been found. ...
"Brother He, come on up." It took Peng Fei more than 30 minutes to inflate the rubber raft.
After unlocking the handcuffs and fastening the safe to the nose clip of the rubber raft, he struggled to paddle the raft and search for the people who had just jumped from the plane. Nearly an hour had passed since they jumped.
He Shuang grabbed Peng Fei's hand, climbed onto the rubber raft, pointed in a direction, and said, "Liuli and Tianya seem to have landed in that direction..."
Rowing a boat on a turbulent sea is an extremely frustrating experience. Often, you've only rowed a dozen meters when a big wave hits and sends the raft back twenty or thirty meters.
Adding to the storm in the nearby sea, the waves became very large. Often, a single wave would fill the entire rubber raft with water. Peng Fei was in charge of rowing, while He Shuang kept using plastic paddles to drain the water.
Even though they could already see the glow sticks on Tianya and Liuli, Peng Fei and He Shuang still took more than half an hour to rescue the two onto the rubber raft.
"Help...help me..."
Amidst the sound of the waves, a cry for help came from one direction. Without even asking Tianya and the other for their phone number, Peng Fei quickly grabbed his oar and paddled towards the sound.
"It's Ding Hao." Peng Fei was somewhat disappointed. After pulling Ding Hao onto the rubber raft, he couldn't wait to ask, "Did any of you see where Brother Zhuang landed?"
"I didn't see it, the wind was too strong, I couldn't open my eyes." "No, I didn't see it..."
"I didn't see President Zhuang either. It was all dark and messy; I couldn't see anything..."
The responses from the crowd made Peng Fei's heart sink.
Chapter 823 Misfortune
"I...I think I saw the direction where President Zhuang landed..."
Ding Hao, who had just been pulled ashore by Peng Fei, spat out the salty seawater in his mouth and said somewhat uncertainly.
"You saw it? Over there?"
Upon hearing Ding Hao's words, Peng Fei grabbed Ding Hao's collar and shouted, "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure, but when we landed, I glanced up and it seemed to drift in that direction..."
The direction Ding Hao pointed was the sea area where the storm had just occurred. However, the storm at sea came and went quickly, and it had now mostly dissipated. The dark clouds in the sky were no longer so thick, and a few stars shone on the sea surface, like fishing lights twinkling in the sky.
"Brother He, you go first, I'm going to make a phone call..."
Peng Fei had been battling the waves for almost the entire past hour or two without a break, and he was now completely exhausted.
As a special forces soldier with extensive experience in wilderness survival, Peng Fei knew the importance of physical strength. After handing the oar to He Shuang, Peng Fei first took out a piece of chocolate and bit into it before taking the satellite phone wrapped in a plastic bag from Tian Ya.
"Little...Little Peng, could I have some water?"
After handing the phone to Peng Fei, Tianya said somewhat embarrassedly that she didn't know how she had gotten herself into this mess, as all four bottles of mineral water she had on her were gone.
"Go ahead and drink, but going to the toilet will be a bit of a hassle..."
Peng Fei tossed a bottle of water over, and his words made Tianya, who was parched and about to gulp down the water, instantly become extremely ladylike. She merely wet her lips with the water before tightening the cap. ...
It was already three or four in the morning in Beijing. Ouyang Lei, wearing a coat, paced back and forth in his study. He hadn't heard from Zhuang Rui, which made him restless and unable to sleep all night.
"Zhuang Rui, are you alright?"
Suddenly, a ringtone sounded, and Ouyang Lei rushed to the table, grabbed the phone, but it was busy. Only then did Ouyang Lei realize what was happening and picked up the phone to answer.
"I am Peng Fei. Everyone except Brother Zhuang has been found. We are currently looking for Brother Zhuang..."
Peng Fei knew that the person opposite him held a high position and wielded great power, but this was not the time to show respect. He went straight to the point and explained the current situation.
"Did nothing go wrong during the skydive?"
After hearing Peng Fei's words, Ouyang Lei, who had been on edge for a long time, finally felt relieved.
As long as you weren't on board when the plane exploded, there shouldn't be a big problem. In another two hours, the Chinese warships that were originally on a military visit in the Indian Ocean will be able to reach the designated sea area.
"Reporting, sir, Brother Zhuang's parachute opened, but the landing site was slightly off-target. We are currently searching for him..."
Peng Fei repeatedly pressed him for the approximate altitude of the parachute he had seen, which confirmed that it was Zhuang Rui, hence the above answer.
"Okay, be careful, keep your phones on at all times. The rescue team should arrive in two hours at the latest..."
Ouyang Lei let out a long sigh of relief. After hanging up the phone, he reached for the landline, but after thinking for a moment, he decided not to pick it up. The old man was probably already asleep.
Just as Ouyang Lei was about to lie down for a while, the landline suddenly rang shrilly.
"Grandpa, why aren't you resting so late?"
When Ouyang Lei answered the phone, he was somewhat surprised by the voice on the other end.
Ouyang Gang didn't answer his grandson's question. He waved to the special nurse beside him, signaling her not to disturb him, before speaking into the phone, "How is Xiao Rui? Any news?"
"I have news! My little brother has jumped, and the parachute opened normally. Grandpa, you don't need to worry anymore. Go to sleep..."
As Ouyang Lei spoke, he looked up at the clock on the wall. The hour hand was pointing to four in the morning. Only then did he realize that the old man's love for this grandson had actually disrupted his decades-long routine, and he had waited until now.
"Find Xiao Rui tomorrow and have him call this old man..."
The old man looked exhausted. After hanging up the phone, he returned to his room with the help of a nurse. The night's wait had drained him of energy comparable to commanding a battle in his youth...
"Pfft, cough cough..."
Zhuang Rui had just surfaced when a large wave knocked him back into the water. Having never swum in the waves before, Zhuang Rui suffered a great loss, swallowing several mouthfuls of seawater.
Although the wind in this sea area had weakened considerably, the ocean was still turbulent, with waves crashing one after another like mountains and seas, making Zhuang Rui dizzy and his stomach filled with an unknown amount of salty sweat.
At this moment, Zhuang Rui missed the scene of floating in the air. He never expected that falling into the sea would lead to this situation. He struggled in the seawater for more than ten minutes without being able to catch his breath.
"Damn it, where am I? Peng Fei, He Shuang, Ding... um, cough cough..."
Zhuang Rui couldn't stand the endless waves any longer. He swam to the surface with all his might, but as soon as he opened his mouth to shout a few times, a huge wave swallowed him back down, making him cough up blood.
The repeated pounding of the waves made Zhuang Rui realize the unpredictability of nature, and that he was really overestimating himself by trying to fight against nature with human strength.
After calming down, Zhuang Rui learned his lesson. He stopped sliding his hands, relaxed his whole body, and floated on the sea surface solely by the buoyancy of his life jacket.
In this way, although the waves were large, they could no longer crash against Zhuang Rui. At most, the waves would sometimes sweep him into the water to a depth of more than ten meters. However, Zhuang Rui, who was prepared, was able to hold his breath in time each time and rely on the buoyancy of the life jacket to float back to the surface.
Zhuang Rui didn't know how long he had been floating in the waves, but the sky slowly brightened, as if the storm of the previous night had never happened. When the sun leaped out from the east, the sky and the sea were painted in a golden hue.
"Damn, finally it's quiet..."
As the sun rose, the waves gradually subsided, and the seawater appeared still. However, Zhuang Rui noticed that the seawater still had a direction, and at least his body was constantly moving.
"Let's eat something first..."
After a whole night of tossing and turning, although he could use spiritual energy to restore his strength, spiritual energy couldn't be eaten. Zhuang Rui took out a sticky piece of chocolate soaked in seawater from his life jacket pocket and stuffed it directly into his mouth. He desperately needed to replenish his energy.
The originally sweet chocolate now had a fishy and foul smell, and it took Zhuang Rui a lot of effort to swallow it. Compared to the taste of the chocolate, Zhuang Rui cared more about his life.
Chocolate shouldn't be soaked. After Zhuang Rui ate all four or five pieces of chocolate in his pocket, he took out a bottle of mineral water and took a big gulp.
Zhuang Rui had no intention of saving water. He thought the rescue team sent by Ouyang Lei would find him soon. However, Zhuang Rui did not know that he was now more than a hundred kilometers away from the coordinates.
A thick fog rolled in over the sea early in the morning. Although it wasn't pitch black, it was still very foggy and unclear to see more than a few dozen meters away.
An hour passed, and Zhuang Rui finished a bottle of water, his heart filled with the joy of escaping death.
Two hours passed, and Zhuang Rui finished his second bottle of water, pondering how to deal with that bastard Muta.
Three hours passed, and the sun was directly overhead. The scorching sunlight forced Zhuang Rui to frequently bury his head in the water to reduce the sun's exposure.
Five hours had passed, and the hour hand of Zhuang Rui's watch was pointing to noon. He had finished all four bottles of mineral water in his pocket, and his lips were white and cracked from being soaked in the salty seawater.
Fortunately, Zhuang Rui found a rock in the fourth hour. Although he injured his arm when he bumped into it, at least he had a place to stand.
This is a dead coral reef, only a little over two meters above the sea surface, and about one square meter in size. Zhuang Rui can only sit on it; he can't even lie down.
"What went wrong? Why haven't the rescue teams arrived yet?"
Zhuang Rui had a vague feeling that something was wrong. More than ten hours had passed since the plane crash, and during that time, he hadn't seen a single ship or even a plane.
This phenomenon is very abnormal. With the current development of the aviation industry, the airspace over the Indian Ocean is a very busy route. How could there be no planes passing by?
After waiting another hour, Zhuang Rui began to long for rain, because the water in his body evaporated too much at sea. Now, if Zhuang Rui licked his lips, he could peel off a piece of skin with blood on it.
Compared to the mirages in the desert, facing the vast ocean without a drop of drinkable water is obviously much more miserable. Zhuang Rui tried to drink two mouthfuls of seawater, but he felt so uncomfortable that he almost vomited up his bile.
Zhuang Rui vowed that he would never overeat again. If he had been more careful with those four bottles of water, he could have lasted for two days instead of ending up in this desperate situation.
"No, if we stay here any longer, we'll either die from the heat or from thirst..."
Zhuang Rui stood up and looked around, hoping to find an island nearby where he could solve his drinking water problem.
"Hmm? There are a lot of rocks here?" After calming down, Zhuang Rui noticed that there were many rocks of different sizes on the sea in front of him. Some were big enough for a person to lie down on, while others were smaller than the one he was standing on.