Chapter 20: Naval Battle (2)

  The helicopter's bombing caused the entire cruise ship to seem to have a tendency to tilt to the left, at which point **** finally began an effective counterattack.

  I just took a glance and saw several massive objects being brought out from under some covers.

  Those are three warship-mounted large-caliber guns, all of which appear to be medium-caliber naval guns. I estimate that the caliber is at least over 100mm. It seems that they have great power, and if they were used from the beginning, the government's helicopters might have been at a disadvantage.

  Right after that, I saw a huge object being pushed out, it was a fully automatic multi-barreled naval gun, the dense rows of shells on it, with a ring of red marks, looked very intimidating.

  There were even more people carrying portable missiles emerging from the cruise ship, and as soon as they appeared, they immediately began aiming at the government army's helicopters in the sky. Suddenly, various explosions erupted everywhere, and I saw a government army helicopter emitting thick black smoke from its tail, apparently hit.

  Before I could look around, Li Huanhuan pulled me and ran to the other side of the cruise ship. She probably still didn't give up, wanting to find a lifeboat.

  I also held a glimmer of hope, and Li Huanhuan rushed to the other side of the cruise ship with me. But hopes are often not realized, all the lifeboats on the cruise ship had been destroyed or taken away by people.

  I didn't dare stay in the center of the battlefield for long, and loudly asked Li Huanhuan: "Can you swim?"

  Li Huanhuan didn't hear what I said at all. The explosion and other sounds here are too loud, I can barely hear myself speak.

  But her idea was the same as mine at that time. As soon as she found out there were no lifeboats, she immediately and without hesitation pulled me towards the sea.

  Staying on the boat now is no different from waiting for death. The only option is to jump into the sea, and maybe there will be a glimmer of hope.

  Li Huanhuan is a decisive person. She clearly knew I couldn't swim, yet she dragged me into the sea without hesitation to escape together.

  People who can't swim have a natural fear of water, so as soon as I enter the water, I feel my whole body tense up, as if something is wrapped around me and I'm unable to move. Moreover, my entire person immediately sinks into the deep water, completely losing control. At this time, it's chaotic, there are many floating objects in the water, and since I don't know how to swim, it's no wonder that I sink.

  Li Huanhuan pulled me with all his might, and I almost dragged him into the deep water as well. They say people who can't swim are heavy as iron in the water, it seems that's true. Li Huanhuan anxiously shouted: "Why are you so heavy?"

  My heart grew more urgent, and I suddenly remembered a friend who was good at swimming saying: When people who can't swim fall into the water, don't panic, try to relax as much as possible. It's best to try to move your limbs to slow down the sinking speed.

  I remembered it firmly in my heart after hearing this at that time, and now I suddenly thought of it in the midst of danger. So I hurriedly imitated Li Huanhuan, using my hands and feet together, and did a dog paddle.

  At first, I was completely at a loss and instead accelerated the sinking speed. Li Huanhuan grabbed my clothes on one side and loudly instructed me on the other, saying things like "slower", "use some force with your legs" and "pay attention to hand and foot balance". As she spoke, I followed her instructions, and incredibly, in such a critical moment, I barely learned how to swim.

  People often say "in times of crisis, wisdom emerges", but I was in a crisis and learned to swim, and performed exceptionally well, learning it in just a few minutes. Although I only know how to dog paddle, and as soon as I stop moving my hands and feet, my body immediately sinks.

  Li Huanhuan was anxious and excited, grabbing my belt and swimming vigorously towards the distance. I also cooperated with her by using all my strength to dog paddle, hoping to leave this place that could claim our lives at any moment as soon as possible.

  At this time, I couldn't hear the deafening explosion sound, nor could I hear any other sounds. I didn't care that my body was still very weak, and with all my might, I swam far away with Li Huanhuan.

  Unfortunately, my body was still very weak after all. I swam less than a hundred meters and felt exhausted, gasping for air. After a brief pause, my body immediately sank down, causing me to swallow several mouthfuls of seawater.

  The seawater was bitter and astringent, drinking it into my stomach made my stomach protest. However, just like most people who can't swim, once I drank the first mouthful of water after falling in, I couldn't stop, pouring mouthfuls of seawater into my stomach.

  Luckily Li Huanhuan lifted me up in time and got my head out of the water, otherwise I would have been drowned by the sea.

  I was gasping for air in big gulps, feeling terrible, as if I would die the next second. Fear and anxiety completely occupied my mind.

  Li Huanhuan roughly saw my current state and hurriedly said: "Hold on a bit longer, there's a lifeboat ahead, we can be rescued if we swim over..."

  As soon as I heard this, I immediately regained my sense of survival, and my body seemed to have gained strength all at once. So I hurriedly started digging again.

  This time I only persisted for 15 meters. Then I felt extremely uncomfortable in my stomach, and suddenly I completely lost all my strength.

  Li Huanhuan has been paying attention to me, and at this time she quickly grabbed my collar to prevent me from sinking again to drink seawater. With one hand, she stroked the water with force, swimming with me who was almost fainting.

  I have no idea what's going on now, and I can't feel anything around me, as if I've fallen asleep.

  This feeling lasted for a long time, until something heavy hit my forehead, and a heart-wrenching pain made me come to my senses.

  I looked around and saw a large wooden board floating in the water beside me. The board was big enough, but it had several obvious cracks on it, apparently it was a piece of something that had been blown up. I was overjoyed, immediately grabbed the board and shouted: "Let's get on!"

  Li Huanhuan also seemed exhausted and didn't notice the wooden board in my hand, which was still slowly floating on the water.

  I reached out and pulled her up, saying again: "Get on!"

  Li Huanhuan then turned around and looked at me for a moment before turning back and pushing me forcefully towards the wooden board.

  When you push someone or something in the water, it takes less effort, provided that you have a place to borrow force from. Otherwise, when you push something forward, you yourself will be pushed backward by the reaction force. So when I was pushed by Li Huanhuan to climb onto the wooden board, she herself sank into the water.

  I hastily stretched out my hand and grabbed her, without minding the plank's large tilt, almost making me fall into the water again.

  After finally climbing onto the wooden board, Li Huan and I were both panting heavily, unable to stop for a long time.

  After a while, Li Huanhuan suddenly shouted: "You've been hit?"

  I heard anxiety in her voice and I was startled too. I quickly looked at myself, but didn't find any wounds: "There isn't any..."

  Li Huanhuan reached out and touched my forehead, letting out a long sigh: "It turns out you were hit by something, I thought you'd been shot!"

  I only just remembered that I was indeed hit by something earlier, reached out to touch my forehead, and was about to speak when I suddenly felt a wave of turbulence in my stomach, couldn't help but vomit.

  Just now I drank a lot of seawater, and this time along with the things I ate not long ago, everything was vomited out. To be honest, this vomiting, although it's also very uncomfortable, but surprisingly feels better than before.

  Li Huanhuan was startled by me, and then she immediately understood: "Just spit it all out. We have to leave here quickly, I'm afraid this wooden board won't last much longer..."

  I nodded, enduring the discomfort, and together with Li Huanhuan, I used my hands to paddle the water, letting the wooden board slowly drift away.

  The war has reached a fever pitch, with the deafening roar of various weapons and the screams of the wounded, combined with the rumble of engines, making it impossible to hear any sound. But the thick smoke and flames everywhere are enough to show how intense this battle is.

  Even Li Huanhuan, who had been through wars, turned pale in this intense war and didn't dare to stay for a minute. Fortunately, we found this wooden board and temporarily secured our safety.

  As the saying goes, "good fortune follows bad", I've been so unlucky lately, being dragged into war several times and almost losing my life. Good luck should be coming to me soon. If heaven has eyes, it will surely bless me to leave here safely and reach a safe place.

  My stomach suddenly started acting up, perhaps because I drank seawater, it began to cramp in waves.

  I gritted my teeth and paddled hard with Li Huanhuan.

  The battlefield was in chaos, and no one noticed us escapees, which gave us a thread of opportunity. Li Huanhuan had more strength than me, she used more force to paddle, the wooden board under her paddling, gradually slanting towards the distance.

  I don't know how long it took, but I felt like we should have reached a safe place by now, so I stopped and prepared to rest.

  Li Huan was so tired that he couldn't help but stop too.

  I saw her sweating all over her face and said: "Take a rest, it should be safe now."

  Li Huanhuan nodded, panting heavily, unable to say a word.

  I looked around and saw that the cruise ship in the distance had turned into a sea of flames, its original appearance was completely gone.

  Even the waters around the cruise ship were a sea of flames in many places, looking as if they had been doused with gasoline.

  Li Huanhuan was also watching, and she suddenly burst into tears: "Woo... they're all dead, they're all dead... the Wanlong Society is finished..."

  I was taken aback, but then I remembered that she was also a member of the Wanlong Association. Seeing the Wanlong Association's base surrounded by flames, she must be extremely heartbroken at this moment. So I said in a soft voice: "Although we are not on the same side, I still want to advise you not to be too heartbroken. Whether or not the Wanlong Association is as good as you think it is, it has already been eradicated by the government army. It's no use being heartbroken, so why not take this opportunity to think about your future..."

  Li Huanhuan suddenly shouted loudly: "You're just my captive, what right do you have to lecture me? If I get angry, I'll kick you down and see if you can still say anything..."

  I was stunned by her shouting, and it took me a long time to say: "I know you're heartbroken now, and it's hard for you. I won't say those useless things. But from our current situation, if we want to survive, we have no other choice but to surrender to the government army."

  Li Huanhuan calmed down a bit, thought for a moment before saying: "You can completely tell those so-called government troops that you are our hostage, ask them to rescue you. But I'm not going to make it, once they catch me, I'll definitely have no good ending, might as well die in this vast ocean..."

  I furrowed my brow, feeling extremely perplexed. Li Huanhuan was one of the people who had caught me, and she had even hurt me before, but she was also the one who had saved my life. To me, she was both an enemy and a friend, and I really didn't know what to do anymore.

  My hesitation made Li Huan extremely disappointed and angry, she suddenly burst into tears again: "Good for you, Jin Cang, I was blind to have liked you all along... it turns out you're a heartless and unscrupulous guy..."

  I was scolded by her and immediately thought of the things she had done for me, I quickly made up my mind: "You misunderstood, I just wanted to think about how to protect you... Ah, there's a way, I'll say we were kidnapped together, they should believe it, after all, you're a girl..."

  Li Huanhuan shook her head and interrupted me: "They will definitely investigate carefully, they can't be fooled."

  I saw Li Huanhuan stop crying, so I thought carefully and said: "If not, I'll just say you're my friend. We were both kidnapped by **** and sent here, where we met and became friends."

  Li Huanhuan shook her head again: "No way, you're a student, I don't want to drag you into this. Besides, your school is so far away from here, how could you have a friend like me?"

  "I hastily explained: 'What I mean is that we met and became bosom friends here. Bosom friends, friends who go through thick and thin together, understand?'"

  Li Huanhuan wanted to refute me again, I raised my head and saw a small black dot appearing on the sea surface not far away, hurriedly saying: "Look, there's a boat."

  Li Huanhuan quickly turned her head and looked back, overjoyed: "Great, as long as we get on that boat, we don't have to worry about being caught by the government army."

  My heart skipped a beat, and I secretly thought to myself: I'm not afraid of being caught by the government army, that would be my salvation... You're the one who's scared, what can you do about it? But on the surface, I still said: "Yes, this boat must have seen the firelight and come over, we're saved."

  Li Huan was overjoyed and didn't think much, he bent down and started paddling with his hands again, hoping to get closer to the boat.

  I also started paddling, after all, the wooden board we were sitting on couldn't take us away from this vast ocean, we needed a boat.

  This time the government army came to attack the Wanlong Association, it was the air force, and they brought some helicopters. To follow them out of this vast ocean, without mentioning identity issues, just location, I think there are problems. The government army would not leave all the surviving members of the Wanlong Association in the sea without a word, right? There were many people from the Wanlong Association on this ship, not counting the dead, at least several hundred to thousands of prisoners. To transport these prisoners, how many helicopters would be needed? So I don't plan to wait for the government army's rescue, if we can save ourselves, we must try our best.

  We slowly approached the ship and gradually saw clearly the ship.

  This boat is a yacht and doesn't look very big, probably just an ordinary private yacht.

  Li Huanhuan understood the ship better than I did, she took a glance and said: "It's a small yacht, looks like it's private, don't know which country it belongs to, too far, can't see clearly which national flag is hanging."

  I nodded: "It should be our country's, isn't this our country's waters? No matter which country it is, as long as they can rescue us, that's all that matters."

  Li Huan glared at me and said: "What's with 'your country's waters'? This is international waters, do you think you're still in your own country? Humph!"

  I only just realized where I was and couldn't help but say: "No wonder this time the attack on the Wanlong Association was by a few helicopters, not a single naval vessel appeared?"

  Li Huanhuan glared at me again, stopped talking and went back to rowing.

  Ten minutes later, I finally saw clearly the national flag hanging on the yacht. On the bright red flag, there were five golden five-pointed stars, one big and four small. It was our national flag, and the people who came must be from our country.

  Li Huanhuan also saw it, but she didn't take it to heart, and just stared at me again with a hint of worry in her eyes.

  I knew she was worried about being caught, so I whispered: "Just say you're my friend, no, fellow captive, we're all hostages..."

  She hesitated for a moment and then whispered "thank you" after a long time.

  I put down my guard, but my heart was in conflict again. I never thought that I would help a ****, and this **** was one of the people who kidnapped me.

  The people on the yacht should have discovered us long ago. As soon as they approached us, someone asked loudly: "What happened to you? Why is there a fire and explosion over there?"

  I knew I couldn't hide the truth, so I replied loudly: "We were kidnapped by a group of **** and taken as hostages. Just now, the government army came to rescue us and clashed with the ****. We took advantage of the chaos to escape, please help us!"

  A middle-aged man stood up on the yacht and looked at us carefully for a while, pointing at me and saying: "Are you injured?"

  I reached out and touched my forehead, and the wound on my forehead was still oozing blood. I said loudly: "Just now, I don't know what hit me, so I bled a lot."

  He looked at me and Li Huanhuan a few more times before putting down a rope: "Can you climb up by yourselves?"

  I hesitated for a moment, looked at Li Huanhuan and said: "You go up first, I need to rest for a while before I have the energy to climb up."

  Li Huanhuan knew that I hadn't had a full meal in months and had just recovered from an illness, so I couldn't climb up with just one rope. She didn't hesitate, and climbed up the rope first herself.

  I was about to rest for a while and then climb up, but I saw Li Huanhuan and the middle-aged man retrieve the rope and tie a plastic chair to it before throwing it down again.

  I knew they wanted me to sit on the chair and then pull me up, so I didn't stand on ceremony, sat on the chair and let them help me board the ship.