IWOL Chapter 91: Stranded on a Deserted Island

Dong Zheng rushed into the first-class cabins, hurried to the door of his room amidst the violent rocking, and took out his access card.

The door opened, and he staggered into the room using the wall as support. Seawater had already poured into the balcony. After taking out the stitched-heart bear and the needle and thread from the bottom drawer of the bedside table, he sat on the bed and stitched the bear’s bowtie to his shirt at lightning speed.

The heart-stitched bear was the last thing he wanted to lose.

Cui Zuojing’s Tang Sword was hidden under the comforter. Dong zheng took out the strap he’d made for it a few days ago and firmly tied the sword to his back so that he wouldn’t lose it under water.

As he was doing all these things, he heard the ship cracking as it’s structure began to break. The ship’s hull was already completely tilted, leaning into the sea like a shuttle.

Like the sinking of the Titanic.

Dong Zheng grabbed all the things they’d prepared in advance and tried to go back to the deck. But the elevator was no longer working and the stairwell was flooded with water.

He had no choice but to go back to his room. Even if the assailant was a giant squid it wouldn’t be able to immediately stop a cruise ship fashioned by modern technology. The ship was still moving very slowly, getting closer and closer to the mysterious island.

A tentacle flew over and smashed the glass door in the next room.

Dong Zheng hid in the corner. As he thought about how to get out, he stuffed a compressed biscuit into his mouth and washed it down with water.

Who knew how long it would take to find food on the island. He didn’t want to go hungry in the meantime.

*****************

Amidst the sound of wood splintering, Allen hid in the doorway of the first floor, blowing up a float. As he looked at the chaotic scene on deck, he asked Victor, “Uncle, can you swim?”

“I can, but cats can’t swim,” Victor said, clutching at Allen’s clothes tightly.

Allen became worried. “What should I do? Can Linhai still call you back into his space? Does he know how? Why hasn’t he learned yet?”

“It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about me. I should be able to manage,” Victor said without much concern. “Don’t forget, I have other powers.”

Allen stopped worrying. To be honest, at this moment, he wasn’t even sure he could take care of himself. He could swim well, but going under the sea without any equipment was fraught with danger. He didn’t know the terrain and it also had a giant squid in it. There was no guarantee that he would escape safely.

Boom—!

A series of loud noises suddenly sounded. Under the sensation that seemed as if the sky and the earth were shaking, Allen almost fell over. He hurriedly sat down with his back against the wall and saw the billowing smoke from the ship’s stern as flames rushed into the sky.

The engine room exploded.

Crack—Creak—

The cruise ship could no longer withstand the giant squid’s attack and splintered right down the middle. It’s front half began to slowly sink into the water, while the second half was engulfed in smoke and completely slipped into the sea.

Seawater swept across the deck. By now, the island was only about four kilometers away. Allen put the floats on each arm, took a deep breath, and ran out of the cabin with his waist bent.

As countless tentacles swirled in the sky and along the chaotic deck, a program crew rushed over frantically and grabbed Allen’s leg, screaming, “Help me, please help me!”

Despite knowing that these people were all NPCs and not real people, Allen still felt uncomfortable.

But, right now, survival was the most important.

“So sorry.”

He kicked the man away and ran along the sloping deck to the place overwhelmed by seawater. He squeezed passed the gaps in the broken railing, looked at the direction of the island, and jumped into the sea.

A lavender light flashed across Allen’s chest. There was the faint sound of a tiger’s roar. White wings grew on the white cat’s back. Victor flapped his wings awkwardly, trying to control the direction of flight and avoid the dancing tentacles. Like a bird, he allowed the sea breeze to guide his flight toward the island.

******************

“Hurry up!”

Wang Que put on her swimming goggles and watched as Dong Linhai tightened her life jacket. Seeing that the teen had put all the life-saving supplies on herself, she anxiously said, “What about you? What are you going to do?”

“I can swim very well. I can even open my eyes underwater. Don’t worry about me.” Dong Linghai went to check on Lin Hangzhi, who was standing next to Wang Que. “How are you, Brother Hang?”

“No problem. Let’s get ready to go!”

The ship was slanting at an increasingly deeper angle, and the rate at which it was sinking was also increasing. The water surface was full of people that had already jumped ship. Many of these people were wearing orange life jackets.

The three of them staggered to the edge of the deck. Wang Que stood between the two men and, as she looked out at the turbulent sea and the bright red blood spreading across its surface, her legs began to weaken.

Dong Linhai was also very scared, but the more scared he became, the less he panicked.

After confirming that the cruise ship couldn’t be saved, almost all the crew and pilgrims had jumped ship and were escaping toward the island. Only a few crew members who couldn’t swim were left on board, shrinking into corners and crying and praying.

They had to move now.

Dong Linhai stared at the sea and said, “If you’re afraid, grab my hand.”

“I’ll go first.” Lin Hangzhi gritted his teeth, held his breath, and jumped. Under the influence of his float, he quickly stabilized and floated on the water’s surface.

Wang Que still didn’t dare to jump. The water had now gone past her ankles. Her body was sweaty from the burning steam that came from the back half of the ship.

She held Dong Linhai’s hand tightly.

“Jump!”

Dong Linhai gave an order, and two seventeen and a half-year-old teens jumped into the sea together, holding hands and stirring up white splashes.

A few seconds later, a tentacle covered with other people’s blood swept across, smashing the place where they had just been standing.

***************

The ice-cold seawater engulfed him completely. The piercing coldness of the water was shocking. Dong Zheng didn’t bring any life-saving supplies, and so he could only hold his breath and kick the water vigorously. He maintained a depth of about seven to eight meters and swam out about 20 meters before floating to the surface for breath.

Compared to the ship, the sea wasn’t much safer.

The blood of the people the squid had killed spread out along the sea, and soon, several triangular-shaped dorsal fins were drawn in from a distance.

There were more tentacles under the water surface. From time to time, the tentacles would roll people up and send them into the squid’s mouth with it’s ten rounds of fine, sharp teeth.

No one knew what kind of monster this was to have such a large number of tentacles. In the real world, even the largest invertebrate King Physalis squid only had eight barbed tentacles.

Dong Zheng paid close attention to the direction he was moving underwater, while trying his best to avoid tentacles. He must move quickly! He must reach the island before the shark arrives!

The Tang Sword on his back inevitably affected his mobility. After swimming at full speed for about a kilometer, Dong Zheng was starting to become exhausted. Fortunately, he was already far away from the reach of the monster squid.

He gritted his teeth and felt a momentary urge to throw away Cui Zuojing’s Tang Sword. But, he knew that if he did this, the youth would definitely be upset with him. So, he had to continue swimming despite his exhaustion.

As the island got closer and closer, the situation seemed to no longer be so dangerous and Dong Zheng began to focus the bulk of his attention on what was in front of him. Aside from breaking the surface to take in gulps of air, he spent the majority of his time underwater, which allowed him to better see the sea floor and reef beds.

However, at this moment, a tentacle pushed aside the flowing seawater and slammed into his back like a whip.

Dong Zheng felt a sharp pain, and the breath that he had been holding puffed out. He immediately choked on a large mouthful of water.

The chilly seawater poured into his lungs, causing an unbearable pain. Under the intense pain of suffocation, Dong Zheng struggled up and finally broke the water surface. However, before he could cough up the water he’d sucked into his lungs, he felt something wrapped around his ankle.

Without hesitation, Dong Zheng drew out Cui Zuojing’s Tang sword with a backhand. He plunged it into the water and waved it randomly, trying to cut off the tentacle.

But, he was choking so hard that he couldn’t put much strength into it. The weapon might as well have been mud in his hand. He couldn’t cut off the tentacles, and it painfully tightened around his ankle, dragging him underwater.

Dong Zheng finally saw his attacker.

It was a squid about a meter long, and it might have been the offspring of that monster that had destroyed the ship. It had a huge pair of eyes on its head, as if there were scary, fake eyes attached to its head.

Dong Zheng gritted his teeth, raised the sword high, and struggled to stab the squid’s head. But, because they were underwater, the force of the blow lost much of its impact. The sword made contact with the squid but immediately slid away along its smooth body.

It dragged him deeper underwater.

The pain of suffocation quickly drowned Dong Zheng. All of his struggles seemed completely useless in front of the fierce squid. His consciousness gradually became fuzzy, and his hands could no longer grip the sword handle.

The Tang Sword slipped from his hands and slowly began to sink to the bottom of the sea.

Several tentacles wrapped around Dong Zheng’s body, ready to strangle him and pull him into the squid’s mouth.

No one saw the coat of arms on the back of the man’s hand flash. The youth with black hair and dark eyes appeared next to him in an instant. He grasped the Tang Sword that was sinking with one hand and waved it fiercely. The power of slayer nearly cut the squid in half.

Blue blood spilled out and melted into the sea.

Cui Zuojing held his breath with bulging cheeks, held the sword in one hand and Dong Zheng’s collar in the other. He swam underwater vigorously, just like the little mermaid with red hair in Andersen’s works, sending the drowning and unconscious man to the surface.

**********************

Wang Que pulled Dong Linhai with one hand and dragged a barely conscious Lin Hangzhi with the other, staggering step by step along the sandy beach.

She staggered with every step, so exhausted that she could barely keep herself from falling to the ground in the next second.

She gritted her teeth and temporarily placed Lin Hangzhi on a protruding reef. First, she dragged Dong Linhai completely ashore, before she went back to get Lin Hangzhi.

Not long after they entered the water, they encountered a shark. Dong Linhai and Lin Hangzhi had to fight with the shark underwater with a dagger, and Dong Linhai ended up being bitten on the arm.

Finally, after pulling the two men to a relatively safe place some distance away from shore, Wang Que collapsed to the ground. She was covered with wet sand and felt as if she hadn’t even the strength to move a finger.

After soaking in the water for such a long time, she was chilled to the bones. Even her lips were trembling, and she wanted nothing more than to directly fall asleep.

But she couldn’t.

She crawled up to Dong Linhai and rolled up the sleeve of his injured arm. It was still bleeding, and if she didn’t take care of it now, he might not last long.

She looked around, trying to find something that she could use as a bandage. When she went into the water, she was afraid that her coat might weigh her down so she only wore a black t-shirt.

“Use…use my clothes…” Lin Hangzhi’s voice was thin and weak.

Wang Que pulled Lin Hangzhi’s vest off with some effort, wrung out the water, and used it to tied up Dong Linhai’s wound, compressing the blood vessels to temporarily stop the bleeding.

After doing all this, she could no longer muster up the strength to move them to a safer place. She collapsed onto the beach on her back and closed her eyes.

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