The crisis was temporarily averted. Once they passed through the shark area, they would be safe.
But now, they were about to face huge, surging waves on the sea.
Now, everyone was too busy holding onto the raft to keep rowing. They pressed the oars under their bodies, clinging tightly to the bamboo raft with their legs, and gripped the bamboo stalks with their hands.
Tang Xiaoguo couldn't help but complain, "Why are the waves so big?!"
Lin Qianqian looked up, "The weather looks pretty good. What's going on?"
Jiang Yao said, "Don't tell me, Xiaoguo, that you took a dump out here and now Poseidon or the Dragon Kings of the Eastern Seas feel insulted?"
Tang Xiaoguo yelled, "Humph! They should feel honored!"
"Something's not right!" Lu Zhe pondered for a moment, and suddenly realized something.
"That's it. September 12th. The seventeenth day of the eighth lunar month!"
Tang Xiaoguo was shocked, "What? We missed the Mid-Autumn Festival?!"
"Is that the point?"
"Then what is?"
Lin Qianqian said, "During these days, the sun and moon are at opposite ends of the earth. Sunlight shines directly onto the moon's front side. Also because of the 0 degree angle between the ecliptic and celestial equator, the sunlight cannot be blocked. All the light is aimed at the earth, making the moon look especially big and round!"
"Wow Qianqian, so professional... But wait, that's not the main point either!"
Lu Zhe said, "But you're thinking in the right direction. During this time, the moon's gravitational pull on the tides is strongest, which makes it easier to produce surges. The Qiantang River tide happens around this time every year. So it's not that strange we encountered big waves now."
Jiang Yao said, "No wonder the waves have felt quite strong the past few days despite little wind..."
As she spoke, another wave crashed over them, frightening Jiang Yao into screaming again.
If Lu Zhe hadn't put an arm around her waist, Jiang Yao would have likely fallen into the sea.
Lu Zhe yelled, "Everyone stop rowing! Focus all your energy on holding onto the raft. Don't fall into the water no matter what!"
"Got it..."
"Whoosh... Whoosh..."
The waves kept pounding them ceaselessly. If they hadn't clung to the plane raft like riding a horse, they might have been thrown off.
Now, Lu Zhe squeezed the raft between his legs. He felt this was far more thrilling than horseback riding.
Because of the giant waves, they couldn't row anymore. Their plane raft was pulled by some unknown ocean current southeast!
That was the opposite direction of Volcano Island!
Lu Zhe knew that if this continued, they would drift farther and farther from home until they ended up who knows where.
But was there anything they could do about it now?
There really wasn't.
After calm analysis, the top priority was getting everyone to survive. They had to resist falling into despair from this uncontrollable situation. Keeping a positive mentality was most important.
So whether or not they could go home wasn't something to bring up now.
Only by staying alive could they have a chance of reuniting with their companions.
"Hold tight to the raft. Surviving is most important. After we get through this wind and waves, we'll row back!"
The four clung to the bamboo raft, waiting for the waves to weaken.
But they didn't.
This gale lasted a full five hours!
For five hours they just lay plastered against the plane raft, drifting along.
Around three thirty in the afternoon, the waves finally started subsiding.
When Lu Zhe tried to turn them around, he discovered the sea surface was empty all around!
The big bright sun shone on the undulating sea. They were stranded in this endless ocean, with no land in sight for miles.
"Where did our Volcano Island go?" Jiang Yao asked.
"Don't know," Tang Xiaoguo replied.
"Where is this place?" Qianqian asked.
Lu Zhe didn't say anything.
To be honest, he didn't know either.
Jiang Yao said anxiously, "We couldn't have drifted all the way into the Pacific Ocean!"
Lu Zhe knew that while Jiang Yao was exaggerating out of emotion, it wasn't entirely impossible.
In his mind he calculated.
They had drifted southwest the whole time, at about 1-2 meters per second over 5 hours. It was highly likely they were now over thirty kilometers away from their original location!
And without any point of reference during the drift, Lu Zhe didn't know their exact speed either.
What should they do now?
Just let themselves and three girls drift aimlessly on the ocean?
That would lead to death eventually right?
"What do we do, Lu Zhe..."
"Sis Mu and Captain will be so worried..."
The girls' voices carried tinges of crying.
"Everyone calm down first. Qianqian, observe our surroundings for any islands we can land on or ships."
Hearing Lu Zhe say this, Qianqian felt like she had a backbone. She nodded and started scanning their environment through her glasses.
"Yao Yao, Xiaoguo, take stock of our current supplies."
Jiang Yao and Xiaoguo nodded. "What about you?"
"I'll dive into the water to check its depth, and see if there's a spot we can anchor."
Saying so, Lu Zhe put on his swim goggles, took out a coil of rope with one end tied to the plane raft, grabbed the other end and jumped into the sea.
There were many fish down there, including tuna, sauries, sea breams and more. As long as they caught fish, they could obtain necessary proteins and energy in the short term.
Only fresh water was a problem.
Lu Zhe kept diving until over seventy meters, but still couldn't see the seabed.
This showed how terrifyingly deep this part of the ocean was.
If he went any deeper, his rope wouldn't be long enough.
Lu Zhe was also feeling thirsty now, so he hurried back up.
"Hey, did you find anything?"
Lu Zhe shook his head. "The waters here run too deep. No continental shelves nearby either, so we can't anchor. How about you guys?"
Qianqian shook her head. "I didn't see anything!"
Jiang Yao said, "We originally each carried a backpack. Yours and Xiaoguo's got snatched away by the Giant King Octopus. There's just mine and Qianqian's left."
"For food there's half a bottle of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, a small bottle of honey, two lemons, that's it."
"Fresh water... there's just two bottles left. One regular bottle of drinking water, the other is Qianqian's... you know..."
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
