"The system is corrupted!" Nie Feng's face had turned pale. In his rage, he kicked the control panel hard and cursed.
Chen Xiao's face was grim, and he asked in a low voice, "So, we only have one hour."
“Yes…” Nie Feng glanced at the crew behind him, then suddenly roared, “What are you all standing there for! Sound the alarm! Evacuate the entire ship!! Damn it! Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!!!”
The captain's roar startled the crew behind him, and they scattered in a flurry.
Soon, the piercing alarm sounded, and the sailors rushed to both sides of the deck to begin lowering the lifeboats' launchers.
"Send two teams of armed men to maintain order! We can't afford any chaos now! Lower all the lifeboats!! Everyone else, evacuate the cabins! Search every part of the ship!! Send someone to the communications room to send a distress signal!! Hurry!!"
Nie Feng quickly sent out one command after another.
He then rushed to the control panel and completed the final series of operations.
Chen Xiao stood beside him, watching the man on the ship, who was covered in sweat but still managed to maintain his composure.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
After Nie Feng finally issued all the orders in one go, Chen Xiao spoke.
“That’s all…” Nie Feng seemed to have all his strength drained away. He staggered back two steps and sat down in a chair. He gave a weak, bitter laugh: “Damn it, my ship is about to sink.”
Chen Xiao suddenly glanced behind him. Li Wenjing stood there quietly, this intelligent man. No one knew what he was thinking, but his face remained calm and composed, without the slightest hint of panic.
"Perhaps I can buy you a little more time."
Li Wenjing suddenly smiled.
"What?"
Nie Feng jumped up.
"The stern." Li Wenjing pondered for a moment. "I've roughly calculated that if we go to the stern's deck now and drain the bilge tanks, the flooding might slightly level the already tilting ship, causing the bow to rise slightly. This would reduce the water pressure at the bow, forcing water to back up—but only for about ten minutes. However, during those ten minutes, the pressure at the bow would decrease, slowing the ship's sinking. I've roughly calculated that doing this could buy us at most about twenty more minutes."
Chen Xiao's heart skipped a beat, and she stared at Li Wenjing in surprise: "These... you just calculated them?"
Li Wenjing smiled and pointed to his head: "My only strength is this. I haven't been able to help much before, but I'll do my part now."
Nie Feng lunged forward and grabbed Li Wenjing's clothes: "Are you serious? You didn't miscalculate! Damn it! If you miscalculated, this ship would sink faster, and we wouldn't even have an hour left!"
“Okay, I can make a bet with you,” Li Wenjing said calmly. “Do as I say! Then, starting now, I won’t leave the ship for the next hour! I guarantee that if you do it my way, the ship will sink in more than an hour! If I’m wrong, then… I’ll be on the ship too!”
Nie Feng jolted, staring at Li Wenjing in surprise. However, he hesitated for only a few seconds before slamming his fist heavily against the wall beside him. His eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "Fine! I believe you!!"
Chen Xiao looked at Li Wenjing from behind and sighed, "You...you're really a strange person. You didn't have to do this. Your helicopter should be here soon."
"I am a gambler," Li Wenjing said with a calm smile.
Chen Xiao stopped looking at Li Wenjing and stared at Nie Feng: "Where is the drainage tank in the stern bottom? I'll go there."
"No need," Nie Feng shook his head. "You've already helped us a lot."
As he spoke, he shouted twice, and two sailors from the ship ran over. Nie Feng looked at his two men and said, "You... go to the stern drainage tank... open the valves and release the water! Open them to the maximum!"
"..." The two sailors were stunned. They stared at the ship in astonishment, even wondering if the captain had gone insane from excessive stimulation!
The ship is already leaking and sinking. Why keep releasing water?!
"There's no time to hesitate! This is an order!" Nie Feng gritted his teeth: "Go! This method can slow down the ship's sinking! Trust me! I'm the captain! I take full responsibility!"
The two sailors then came to their senses. Although they were still puzzled, the captain's usual authority worked its magic, and the two immediately saluted and ran away quickly.
“You…go back and stay with those Japanese. They might need your help now.” Li Wenjing smiled at Chen Xiao: “Right now, the cabin is probably in complete chaos.”
As Chen Xiao tried to rush into the cabin down the stairs, he was nearly pushed out by the surging crowd of passengers!
Although some crew members tried to maintain order, panic had already spread. Something had happened on the ship; everyone felt it: explosions, gunfire, the ship listing… and the armed personnel blocking the stairwells below the passenger cabins…
Although the crew eventually regained control of the ship, they were unable to stop the panic among the crowd.
Several sailors tried to guide the crowd, but were nearly knocked down by the chaotic rushing crowd. Although one sailor was shouting desperately with a megaphone, the screams and shouts from the crowd drowned out his voice.
Fortunately, the other two sailors immediately drew their guns without hesitation and fired warning shots into the air. After several shots rang out, the crowd quieted down a little.
Chen Xiao saw that the stairwell was blocked. Frustrated, he looked around...
"Chen Xiaojun! Over here!"
Chen Xiao heard Tang Ying calling from afar behind him. He turned around and saw Tang Ying in the crowd. She struggled to squeeze through the throng, her small body swaying from side to side as she made her way to Chen Xiao's side.
"Where did you go just now?" Chen Xiao frowned.
The people I led to attack the cockpit just now, but Tang Ying has disappeared somewhere.
"There's a path down there."
Tang Ying didn't bother to explain and pointed to a hatch next to her: "Go down from here."
This is a crew access passage. Going down directly from here leads to the rear area of the ship's second-floor restaurant. Further along, there are two narrow passageways; these are two very small, dedicated lifts. They are not for transporting people, but for transporting cargo. Their original purpose was to allow food ordered from the passenger cabins below to be directly lowered down from the rear area of the restaurant via these lifts.
After the ship's elevators were shut down, both cargo elevators were also shut down.
Chen Xiao was dragged here by Tang Ying. Tang Ying had already kicked open the elevator door. Chen Xiao immediately reacted, pulled Tang Ying away, and kicked the elevator's base through with both feet.
The narrow elevator was barely big enough for one person to squeeze through. Tang Ying, being petite, managed to squeeze in before Chen Xiao and then climbed down the passageway inside.
Just as Chen Xiao was about to follow him inside, he suddenly heard a voice behind him.