NOVEL WEB Chapter 136 - Fight for the raft (1)
Chapter 136: Fight for the raft (1)
Translator: Lionwwang Editor: Lionwwang
I’m in the sea, holding my breath, open my eyes and watching the black man sinking and disappearing in my sight until I can not see him anymore. I’m just stepping on the seawater and trying to swim up.
As soon as my head has come out of the water, I begin to cough violently. My swimming skill is just so so. Holding my breath under the sea for such a long time, I was supported by my excellent physique and a hatred in my heart to fight with that black man. Now I only feel a torn burning pain of my lungs.
As soon as the head comes out of the water, the hearing returns to normal. At the moment, although the stowaway ship did not stop, its speed is much slower. When I come out of the seawater, some crew members have seen me. I hear the cries immediately, and then I see several crew members are pointing their guns at me.
I take a deep breath and dive underwater again.
The bullets are fired into the sea, passing by me one by one, and I try my best to kick my legs and waving my arms to swim deeper.
People in desperate situations can always explode potentials that they do not normally have! After struggling all the way, I swim a long way from the bottom of the ship to the other side and looking at the ship from afar.
The ship is still full of the noises, and there are still sporadic gunshots and occasional sounds of people falling into the water. It seems that the stowaways are almost finished.
I’m floating on the water, stepping and looking around. My heart is also anxious!
I’m in the sea, and I don’t even have a lifebuoy or life jacket. Now I can only swim with my own strength. But after all, I can’t swim all the time! Once I run out of strength, I’ll be dead then!
The crews of the stowaway ship in front of me is still cleaning up the stowaways, and I can’t get on.
The ship that has been pursuing in the distance behind is getting closer and closer. I can even see clearly the flag flying on the ship. It’s a Maple Leaf flag with a number on its hull. It seems to be a military ship, still sounding the warning siren.
I don’t know if it’s the Coast Guard or the Navy or others, but I hesitate a while and decide, instead of drowning or be killed by the crews, I’d better surrender to the people of this ship. There’s at least one way to live.
It seems to be a small gunboat. While chasing the stowaway ship, it’s occasionally firing artillery to deter. But the artillery is carefully landed far and wide on both sides of the stowaway ship, seemingly not in a hurry to hurt people, but purely as a deterrent.
I don’t have any experience in sailing, but it seems that the gunboat is not far from me by visual observation. Unfortunately, I don’t feel it until I have swum for a while. At sea, it seems that this distance is not far, but in fact it is a very long distance!
Although the waves are not big, swimming in the sea is very laborious. Because you have to use a lot of physical strengths to fight with the waves, and the waves will take you away from your direction.
What happened to me these days has determined that my physical strength is much worse than before. After swimming for a while, I suddenly feel a convulsion in my feet and a chill is coming across in my heart! I know I’m about going to cramp!
Originally my physical fitness is in a bad state, coupled with such cold seawater, my physical fitness is almost exhausted. And my swimming skills are general. Swimming is more laborious. A wave hits me suddenly, I’m immediately drowned. When I get out of the sea, I cough a few times. I can’t help but see that I have been carried away by the waves. I find neither the stowaway ship nor the gunboat, are all far away from me now.
I’m crying out powerlessly, trying to raise my arms so that the people on the gunboat can see me. Unfortunately, my actions do not attract anyone’s attention.
I feel that my legs are getting heavier and heavier in the seawater and the movements of pedaling is slowing down gradually. I don’t seem to have much strength. I sigh in my heart and can’t help laughing bitterly.
Do I really have to die here?
After so long time, so many stuggles, and so much suffering, I still can’t get through this barrier finally?
Just when I’m almost desperate, I suddenly hear a voice coming from the left side along the wind.
It seems to be a few shouts and curses, but when they come along the wind, they are slightly unpleasant and intermittent.
Immediately I turn my head and looking at there, then I see a scene that gives me a glimmer of hope!
About a dozen meters away from me, three figures seem to be struggling in the waves. Because the waves have blocked my view, I can’t see them clearly. But it is enough for me to judge their identities. Surprisingly, these are not the stowaways who jumped to the sea to escape, but some crew members!
Each of the them is wearing a life jacket and soaking in the sea. They seem to be trying to swim to the same direction, but are arguing loudly about something at the same time.
And to my surprise, the three of them seem to be holding a piece of black stuff together. It’s a big piece, which is floating on the sea.
I feel their eyes are sweeping toward here, and immediately diving alertly into the sea, then swimming to the other side to drill out.
By this time, the gunboat is far away from us. It seems to have caught up with the stowaway ship. The three crew members are cheering when they see this scene. Then, on the sea, they suddenly tidy up the black stuff.
My eyes are shining! I immediately recognize what that thing is. It is an inflatable life raft, the best equipment for escaping at sea!
Obviously, this is a small life raft. This inflatable life raft can only be used once. There is a valve on it. When it is used, just throw it into the sea, and then turn the valve open, it will inflate itself immediately, and eventually become a rubber raft!
And just under my watching, the three crew members see the gunboat has gone away and make sure that they won’t be found anymore. They just carefully open the valve.
“Chi—”
With a whoof, the raft, which was originally folded rubber sheet, swelling up at once, and in a moment, it has become the shape of a small boat. Three crew members are cheering, and immediately one of them is trying to get on. I see that each of them is carrying a bag, which is bulging. I don’t know what it is inside. Then the second man gets on it and puts his bag on the raft.
And then, there’s a problem! It’s obviously a very small life raft, which can bear the weight of three people, but the thing is that the bags they are carrying seem too heavy! After the third man has thrown his bag up, when he wants to get on the raft himself. His body has just been on a small half, and the raft has been heavily tilted!
With a cry, he let go and tring to adjust. Then he is tring to swim to the other side to get on again. But he fails again. As soon as he is climbing, the raft begins to tilt again.
At that moment, the two crew members of the boat begin to talk to him loudly, and the man still in the sea seems angry and dissatisfing, pointing to the bags on the boat and saying something loudly.
I can’t understand what they are saying. Maybe the man in the sea thinks the bag is too heavy. They should throw away some things to let him go up. But his request is immediately rejected by two companions.
They begin to quarrel. At the end of the quarrel, the two men on raft are looking at each other. One of them immediately pulls a dagger out of his waist and moving towards the man in the sea with a murderous face. The man in the sea also finds that his companion is unkind. He is swimming back a little. When the other crew is rushing towards, he immediately wrenching with him, then, with a great effort, he drags the dagger taking crew into the sea.
The two men are fighting in the sea, and the third man on the raft has pulled out his knife. He’s watching the two guys in the sea vigilantly. From time to time, he leans against the side of the raft and is ready to join the fight.
I patiently hide myself behind the volcanic waves. While trying to tread on the water, I’m quietly following around these guys, keeping dozens of meters away, trying not to be thrown away by them.
At this time, I suddenly hear a screaming, and then a man is struggling a few times on the sea and doesn’t move anymore. The sea is dyed red, and the surviving crew is coldly pushing the body away, pulling the dagger out and biting in the mouth, continues to look coldly at the man on the raft.
I see. It was the man who has just been dragged from the raft killed. Now the crew in the sea is looking at his ex-companion on the raft. They seem to be thinking about whether continuing their fights.
At this time, the man on the raft suddenly says a few words. After the conversation, they reach an agreement immediately. The man on the raft loosens his knife and reaches out his hand to the man in the sea to get on. I understand that there are too many people to the raft, so that they have to give up one companion. The two crew members on the raft have intended to give up the guy in the sea. But now one man has dead and two people are just right, so they both compromise and decide to stop fighting.
The two people who were hostile just now are holding their hands together!
The reality is so cruel!
Before I could sigh, I suddenly see that the man in the sea has just boarded the raft. While the other fellow is turning around, he is taking out the dagger from behind and quickly cutting on the other guy’s neck.