"Quick! Get on the boat!"
A crew member almost violently shoved Zhang Xiaotao into the lifeboat. Zhang Xiaotao was already crying. Although she was in a lot of pain from the fall, she still managed to get up: "I won't get off! I still have friends up there! Chen Xiao! Chen Xiao!"
She tried desperately to shout into the crowd, but at that moment, the crew pushed two more women onto the lifeboat, knocking Zhang Xiaotao down again.
Zhang Xiaotao's forehead hit the edge of the boat, and blood immediately welled up from her eyebrow. She covered her eye socket with one hand while continuing to scream.
"alright."
Suddenly, a gentle voice rang in her ears, and Yan Hua gently embraced Zhang Xiaotao. Her embrace seemed to have a magical power; Zhang Xiaotao's body went limp as she was held, and she sat down in Yan Hua's arms. Yan Hua's fingers pressed against Zhang Xiaotao's brow, and blood trickled from between her fingers. Yan Hua's voice remained calm: "Don't worry, your friend is alright."
"No...no...he's still on the ship." Zhang Xiaotao cried. At this moment, she wasn't entirely worried about Chen Xiao, but rather her fear suddenly erupted.
Ultimately, she was just a young girl. On this sinking ship, she only knew one man she could rely on, and that was Chen Xiao. At this moment, it was inevitable that she would want to find this only support.
"Twelve! Thirteen! Fifteen... Eighteen... That's enough! That's enough! Put it down! Put it down! Quickly!!"
Once the lifeboats were full, the crew members in charge of piloting them shouted frantically.
As the ropes began to be lowered and the fully loaded lifeboats were about to be launched, the crowd still waiting behind them immediately began to clamor.
"Don't panic!! Don't panic!! There are enough lifeboats!! Everyone, don't panic!!" The crew member shouted desperately, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the noise and commotion.
Zhang Xiaotao was crying. As the lifeboat was quickly lowered, she watched the deck gradually rise above her head. Her body was held by Yan Hua, and she trembled violently, weakly and blankly calling out, "Chen Xiao... Chen Xiao..."
“You might not survive if you follow me,” Chen Xiao snorted. “If you follow your people, there are more of you Japanese. You might be able to grab a lifeboat in time. But if you follow me…”
"Please stop talking!" Tang Ying's face flushed red, but she lowered her head and said resolutely, "I must stay with Chen Xiaojun!"
"Whatever you want." Chen Xiao gave a deliberately cold snort.
He rushed out of the first-class cabin and by the time he passed the economy class floor, there were hardly any passengers left. Chen Xiao ran quickly down the corridor, calling out Zhang Xiaotao's name.
That damn woman! Where did she go?!
When Chen Xiao rushed back onto the deck, he was surprised by the chaos of the crowd outside. His shouts couldn't carry far amidst the noise, making it impossible to find Zhang Xiaotao.
His face was very gloomy and ugly. Seeing several strong young men around him desperately squeezing and pushing, pushing aside several elderly and weak women, he rushed forward, grabbed one of them by the back, and yanked hard, throwing the person who was struggling to push aside. Then, Chen Xiao didn't stop, and with a wave of his hand, he forcibly threw three or five people away. Then he helped up a middle-aged woman next to him: "Quickly, go to the other decks!"
The person he helped up seemed to be stunned, and Chen Xiao noticed that blood was flowing continuously from her calf.
Chen Xiao frowned, about to kneel down to wipe the blood from her wounds, when the woman suddenly seemed to go berserk, letting out a sharp scream. She frantically tore at Chen Xiao, punching and kicking him, trying to prevent him from touching her.
"Hey! Hey! I just wanted to help you!" Chen Xiao called out a few times, but the woman had already turned and run away desperately, ignoring Chen Xiao's shouts, and plunged into the crowd. Helpless, Chen Xiao could only sigh.
Turning around, he saw Tang Ying still staring at him with those big, dark eyes.
"Let's go." Chen Xiao sighed.
Just then, a gunshot rang out from the side!
Chen Xiao raised an eyebrow and saw, about twenty meters away on the deck, a group of male passengers taking advantage of the chaos to rush to the deck edge and push a crew member holding a gun to the ground. The crew member had clearly fired a warning shot, but the frenzied crowd still managed to overtake him. As he fell, he quickly threw his gun into the sea. However, after pushing him down, the violent crowd rushed to the lifeboat lift next to him.
On the lift, a lifeboat was already half-lowered, hovering about three to five meters below the deck. The men, their eyes bloodshot, pushed aside the crew members who tried to stop them. Some, staring at the lifeboat below, had lost their minds and, disregarding everything else, simply jumped over the railing…
Once the first person started dancing, it immediately attracted others to follow suit!
These people tried to jump directly from the fence onto the lifeboats. Some of them, after jumping onto the lifeboats, started fighting with the people already on board because the boats were full, trying to push others off.
The boat was originally full of women and elderly people. How could they possibly fight against these few young and strong men? Suddenly, cries and screams rang out.
Chen Xiao saw this and immediately rushed over.
But just then, in the chaos of the frantic effort to deploy the lifting platform, someone damaged the control lever. A loud crack was heard, something snapped, and the winch on the wheel suddenly went out of control and plummeted downwards. A gasp rippled through the crowd, and the ship tilted violently! The people on board plunged into the sea like dumplings being dropped into a pot!
Others clung desperately to the boat, screaming frantically.
"Get out of the way! Are you all crazy?!" Chen Xiao rushed over, kicking aside several frantically maneuvering the hoist's cable, and then swiftly grabbed a rope that was rapidly descending. With a snap, the boat finally came to a stop thanks to Chen Xiao's powerful pull on the rope. After forcibly securing the rope with his immense strength, Chen Xiao quickly wrapped it around his arm several times and then continued lowering it little by little...
At that moment, a surprised and familiar voice suddenly came from the lifeboat under the railing.
"Chen Xiao! It's you!! Chen Xiao!!"
Chen Xiao leaned over the railing and saw that the lifeboat, which had been tilting badly, had regained some balance under his control with the rope. However, half of the people on board were gone (they had probably all fallen into the sea). Among the remaining people on board, there were two familiar figures!
One of them was Zhang Xiaotao, who was being held tightly by a woman, yet desperately tilting her head back and calling out to herself. The woman holding Zhang Xiaotao wore a cheongsam, her hair disheveled, but her face was as calm as still water… Who else could it be but Yan Hua?!
At this moment, the first thought that suddenly flashed through Chen Xiao's mind was a completely inexplicable idea:
This... is this the second time I've seen fireworks?
After Chen Xiao bravely kicked several people over, he couldn't stop the frenzied crowd. At this moment, the lifeboat was a symbol of survival for these people! Although Chen Xiao acted bravely, the situation was already out of control, and more people rushed in immediately.
These people were baring their teeth and brandishing their claws, and some of them were even holding weapons they had somehow gotten their hands on, such as small knives or daggers—presumably from the restaurant. Others were carrying wooden sticks, probably from dismantling chairs or similar items.
Tang Ying immediately rushed forward to try and block Chen Xiao, but there were simply too many people. Tang Ying, a young woman, although skilled in combat, was unarmed: her short sword and dagger had been destroyed during her fight with Chen Xiao, leaving her bare-handed and injured. After managing to kick down a few people, she was nearly swallowed up by the crowd.
Chen Xiao, with the lifeboat's lifting rope wrapped around one arm, dared not loosen it, and could only barely resist with his other arm, but there were simply too many people. Dozens of people came up, and although Chen Xiao fought back desperately, he was surrounded by fists, kicks, wooden sticks, and knives from all sides, and he had to stand still, unable to even dodge—normally, with his fists, superhuman strength, and the ability to teleport, how could anyone possibly hit him?
But at this moment, there is nothing that can be done.
He managed to release a few bursts of psychic energy. But Chen Xiao couldn't bring himself to use his full power. If it were an enemy, it wouldn't matter, but these thugs were just ordinary people driven mad by panic and despair. So Chen Xiao only channeled his psychic energy into a few ripples and launched them out. Even after hitting four or five people, he was surrounded by a group of them. He waved his arms to defend himself, but still took several punches and kicks. Some even tried to snatch the elevator rope from Chen Xiao's hand, while others flipped over and jumped off the deck, trying to reach the lifeboat.
Chen Xiao sent several men flying with a few punches, but he couldn't handle the sheer number of people, and his attacks gradually became more forceful. One punch sent one of the men spitting blood. But to everyone's surprise, the blood seemed to stimulate the ferocity within the crowd; after a commotion erupted, even more people rushed forward!
"Grab it! Grab the boat!! Otherwise we'll drown!!"
"Kill this brat!!"