"Boom..."

A massive wave instantly slammed into the cargo ship's deck, shattering all the glass in the cockpit. The frigid seawater came crashing in, and the ship began to tilt backward at a fifteen-degree angle, teetering on the edge of capsizing.

"Get to the deck, find the lifeboats!" Ye Tianfan shouted, but there was no response.

Ye Tianfan quickly turned his head to look, only to find that Ren Ningyue had already fainted. The impact of the towering waves had flipped the helm in the cockpit, striking her squarely on the temple and knocking her unconscious.

Frowning, Ye Tianfan didn't have time to think. In a flash, he dashed to Ren Ningyue, scooped her up in his arms, and waved at Qin Hu: "Qin Hu, come with me, quick!"

Responding immediately, Qin Hu hurried after him. The two rushed out of the cockpit one behind the other, making their way straight to the lifeboat on the side of the deck.

Waves now blocked out the sky as Ye Tianfan lowered the lifeboat, shouting, "Stay under the lifeboat first. Once the waves pass, we'll come back out!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Tianfan and Qin Hu flipped the lifeboat over and submerged themselves in the water, waiting calmly for the waves to pass.

"Boom..."

Another thunderous noise sounded as the cargo ship began to pitch downward, sinking rapidly and generating a powerful suction that formed a whirlpool. It pulled on the lifeboat housing Qin Hu and Ye Tianfan, dragging them downward involuntarily.

With one hand, Ye Tianfan held the unconscious Ren Ningyue, and with the other, he gripped the lifeboat tightly. Fortunately, the lifeboat had significant buoyancy; even when the waves pushed it below the surface, it quickly floated back up.

They hid beneath the lifeboat for about seven or eight minutes before the fierce waves subsided and the sea slowly returned to calm.

The cargo ship began to sink gradually, its powerful suction swirling around. Ye Tianfan and Qin Hu hurriedly righted the lifeboat, and Ye Tianfan first tossed the unconscious Ren Ningyue inside before flipping himself aboard.

"Quick, we need to leave this area immediately."

Ye Tianfan threw an oar from the lifeboat to Qin Hu, who, without a word, picked it up and started rowing fiercely.

Their primary task now was to distance themselves from the sinking cargo ship, lest they too be sucked into the depths by its immense pull.

Fortunately, both Ye Tianfan and Qin Hu were skilled with oars. They rowed with speed, quickly extracting the lifeboat from the sinking zone.

At that moment, Ren Ningyue rubbed her temples and slowly woke up. Seeing their surroundings, she asked, "Did the ship sink?"

"It's gone," Qin Hu responded.

"What do we do now?" Ren Ningyue frowned, knitting her brows. In their current circumstances, they had three people, one lifeboat, two oars, no freshwater, no food, and a pitch-black sea with raging winds and no sense of direction.

"Nothing much we can do," Ye Tianfan whistled, giving up on paddling and lying back in the lifeboat.

Ye Tianfan understood clearly that in their situation, any actions would be futile. Even if they kept rowing, nothing would change. Moreover, they couldn't discern direction; there were no stars in the sky, and the sea was shrouded in darkness.

Continuing to row, they would only exhaust themselves to death.

By his side, Qin Hu put down his oar. He had rowed desperately to escape the cargo ship's sinking range as quickly as possible and was now panting heavily, sweat pouring down.

Agreeing with Ye Tianfan, Qin Hu knew that conserving energy was the best course for now, especially until dawn when they should refrain from any unnecessary actions.

Ren Ningyue sat in the lifeboat, staring into the distance. The sea lay pitch-black, devoid of any light, with clouds obscuring the moon and visibility nearly at zero.

Soon, thunder roared, and raindrops the size of beans pelted the sea. Frustrated, Ye Tianfan saw their small lifeboat, already deep in the water with their weight, taking on more as the rain poured down until it reached their feet.

As the saying goes, "When it rains, it pours." It couldn't get any worse than this.

"Alright, no one stands idle!"

Seeing the lifeboat about to be flooded, Qin Hu began bailing water with his hands, scoop after scoop.

Meanwhile, Ye Tianfan and Ren Ningyue remained unmoved. Qin Hu looked at Ye Tianfan: "What are you doing? Help out!"

Ye Tianfan looked at Qin Hu, finding him simple-minded—borderline foolish.

"Jump into the sea, then flip the lifeboat over, and the water will be gone. Then we can get back on," Ye Tianfan candidly corrected Qin Hu's futile effort before jumping into the sea.

Thus, the three of them spent the entire night in the rain, flipping the lifeboat each time water reached their knees. They continued until the sun rose over the sea and the rain ceased.

"What do we do now?" Staring at the vast ocean, Qin Hu seemed lost, his hands and feet whitened from soaking in the rain and seawater all night.

"What do we do? I wish I knew,"

Ye Tianfan shrugged helplessly. On this voyage, he had anticipated countless possible scenarios, like being attacked or a ship collision causing an accident at sea.

But never did he expect to end up in such dire straits.

Even in a ship collision, waiting quietly along the original course might eventually lead to a passing vessel and rescue.

But now, having drifted far off the intended path, no one could say where they truly were.

Even if they had a satellite phone to inform Long Yuqing and Qin Ruomeng, they wouldn't know where to start searching without a specific location—to look for them would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Look, there's something ahead!" Ren Ningyue suddenly stood up in the lifeboat, pointing directly in front of them.

A densely vegetated island had appeared right ahead!

"Quick, grab the oars and row toward that island."

Seeing a glimmer of hope, Qin Hu grabbed an oar with renewed energy, rowing toward the island, with Ye Tianfan matching his pace.

Spotting an island in the vast sea indeed spelled hope. As long as they could land, once their feet touched the ground, these three were bound not to starve.

"Wait, look over there."

Ren Ningyue raised her hand, quickly signaling the two rowers to stop: "Look, why are there modern buildings on the coastline?"

Ren Ningyue's words caused Ye Tianfan to instinctively furrow his brow. Judging by the area where the cargo ship had sunk, their current location should be within that massive triangle sea-forbidden zone.

While the appearance of an island isn't strange here, the presence of buildings on it defies belief.

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