With a splash, the body is thrown to the sea. The man on the rafe is leaning aside to catch his breath.
This man is very powerful. He was on the disadvantaged side. When he has seen two companions ready to give up him, he killed those two companions by his own efforts and dominated the liferaft alone. I think he must be very thankful to his luck at the moment.
But he should not have thought that I have waited for the opportunity. I’ve been waiting for a long time already! I’m immediately diving into the water and swimming quietly towards him. A few minutes later, just as the man is still breathing on the raft, I have suddenly surfaced from his back, and before he can respond, I have my dagger stabbed into his neck. Without waiting for him to fight back, I’ve dived back into the water and swimming to a safe distance before reaching the surface.
He is a dead man!
He’s struggling to get up from the raft and puts his hands over his neck. Actually, the dagger I have just stabbed askew, not in his neck, but a little bit close to his shoulder, but it’s fatal enough. The man is struggling for a while, staring at me. His eyes are full of anger, surprise, and despair!
Suddenly, he’s shouting, opening his hands and trying to rush toward me. Unfortunately, in half, his life has been away from his body. His body is stiff in mid-air, and then falling into the sea.
I swim slowly to the raft and get on it. When my body has gotten out of the sea, I’m finally sighing a deep breath of relief, gasping for breath.
I’m exhausted!
From watching these three crew members killing each other, to I change from a follower to a hunter and take the raft finnaly. I feel I have exhausted all my strengths. I’m lying on the raft and can even hardly move my little finger.
But after gasping for a while I still manage myself to get up to check the three bags on the raft. Struggling to move past, I’m going to check the supplies on the raft now!
I never believed in any God in my life, but now I’m praying to the God. God bless me to have some foods in the bags, even if there is no food, but at least there must be some fresh water!
“…” I’m staring blankly at the things in the bag in front of me, and then open the other two bags frantically and quickly.
“Ha-ha ha-ha ha-ha…” I’m bursting into laughter up and down. I’m laughing so hard that almost bursting into tears! I’m laughing, coughing, and gasping at the same time. The muscles on my face are trembling. I know I must be crazy and scary now. But I really want to laugh!
It’s ridiculous!
It’s really fucking funny!
There are three canvas bags in each of the three bags. When I open them, I find that they are packs and stacks of dollars!
I’m afraid there are millions of dollars in these three bags. But there’s not even a damn drop of water! Not a drop!
For the first time in my life, I have so much wealth. Unfortunately, I am facing the situation of dying of thirst or starvation! A millionaire who died of thirst or starvation!
Is there anything more ridiculous and funnier than that?
I have laughed for a while, feeling that my body is getting softer and weaker. I fall on the raft. I’m looking up at the sky, gasping for breath.
No! No! It’s impossible!
There must be foods and water! It’s impossible for the three crew members to escape without food and water! This is the most basic common sense!
Immediately I feel as if I have found a ray of life for myself and trying to turn it over from the raft, but I have checked the raft everywhere, but still find nothing.
I try to recall, and then vaguely remember the three crew members seemed to have some leather bags hanging on them. Were those the water bags?
They were carrying food and fresh water with them!
“FXXX!”
I am roaring angrily and immediately trying to search the sea for the bodies of the these three crew members, but it’s already too late.
The raft has been floating for a long time, and now the waves have increased a little. The three bodies do not know where are drifting at, and I’m surrounded by the vast sea. I have no courage to abandon the raft and jump back into the sea alone to find the bodies. If I have found food and water, and without the raft, I would have died too!
“Let it be!” I’m sighing.
I’m leaning on the raft helpless. Suddenly I have a brainstorm and I carefully take something from my pocket. My ring!
I sigh and pull out the measuring device. It was sewn in a small pocket together with the ring on my underwear.
A moment later, I’m laughing helplessly: “Damn, is it playing with me?” The yellow index on the measuring device is high, which is good luck for life. Unfortunately, I’m dying of thirst and starvation!
Where can I find food and drink on the sea? I really want to throw the things in my hands into the seawater with a fit of pique. But I’m just stretching out my hand and really reluctant to give up. I think about it and put them back to the pocket.
Just when I have decided to give up, I hear a cry from the sea in the wind.
“Help, help…”
I’m refreshed, turning over and sitting up. I see someone in a lifebuoy rising and falling in the waves in the distance. She seems to be swallowed up by the waves at any time, but is still struggling and paddling desperately.
It’s Phoenix. Without hesitation, I immediately pick up the paddle on the raft and moving towards her.
I reach out my hand and pull her onto the raft. She’s pale and grey. After coughing and gasping, she is looking at me in surprise, shivering and asking: “Is… Is it you, Little 5? How can you? How can you be here? This raft is…?”
I’m leaning on the boat and am too lazy to move: “Don’t ask, I got the raft.”
She is lying there exhausted and unable to move, but still struggling to give me a reluctant smile: “Little 5, thank you… You saved my life.”
I say lightly: “Don’t thank you so early. I have not saved you, yet! We’re both going to die.”
She is gasping for a while and struggling to ask: “What’s wrong?”
I sit up, pointing to the three bags and looking at her: “Have you seen that?”
“So much money?” The expression on her face changes slightly. Then she turns to me and asks, “This is…?”
“It’s a lot of money.” I’m laughing bitterly, “A lot, a lot, a lot of money… If use these monies to buy food. So many breads can crush me to death a hundred times! To buy water can drown me a hundred times! But the problem is… Miss, here is the sea. There’s no supermarket nearby!” I’m gasping, looking at her, say to her in a low voice, “There is no food or water on board, so we are dead. Dead! So, don’t thank me for saving you. I just helped you to make one more choice to death.”
I’m laughing more and more ugly: “If I don’t save you, you can only drown to death. Now, you have at least some choices. You can choose to drown or stay on board and die of thirst or hunger.”
We are both looking at each other for a while, and suddenly laughing. This is the helpless laugh. In the desperate situation, people seem to throw aside all the previous grievances.
Grievances?
The resentment between me and her, whether she hates me or I despise her. Is it important at this moment? In the vast sea, only two of us are left on such a raft. Maybe any big wave will send us to hell in the next hour.
Besides, when people reach such a situation, do they have the strength to hate each other? After laughing for a while, I see her face is getting paler and paler, her laughter is weakening gradually, and then she is beginning to cough again.
I move a few times to her side, then pinch her wrist and feel her pulse.
Her pulse is a little disordered, her breath is very fast and short.
“Have you been ill?” I sigh.
She is laughing reluctantly: “I’ve been sick for several days. I don’t seem to be able to adapt to the sea climate. At the beginning, I was short of breathes. Now it’s getting worse and worse in recent days.”
I’m silent for a while.
Originally, there were some foods in my own bag, and there were even some tablets of anti-inflammatory in it. But when I was jumping into the sea with that black man in my arms, I planned to end up together. That bag has already fallen into the sea that time!
Her condition is very bad, or even serious. In this case, what she needs most is a doctor! If there is no doctor, at least have a cup of hot water, and then a dry place, warm bed, can let her lie down for a while. But there’s none of them. I can only look at her and sigh.
She sees my face and smiling reluctantly: “Well, Little 5, I know my situation. It’s the situation now. It doesn’t matter how I die.”
Since she has said that, I think about it, just lying down and say: “By the way, I haven’t asked you, how did you get on that ship?”
“What else can I do? Escaping!” There’s a little resentment in her tone, and then there is a grim and tough expression is appearing on her face. It reminds me of her original look.
“Aren’t you very curious, how did I run to do pyramid sales?” There’s mockery in her tone, “After that club thing, I couldn’t get on with it. You have left the club, but when William took it over, he spoke something to the outside. As a result, no club dared let me go into business, so I had to go south to make money…”
What happened later was simple. She met a friend when she went south. That friend was doing pyramid sales, and Phonenix is dragged down.
But this woman is really tough! By virtue of her own ability, she actually got in touch with the boss of the pyramid sales! Then along the way, she established relationships with several leaders of the pyramid sales group.
“Don’t look at me like that.” She is saying coldly, “I know what you’re thinking… You’re right. I slept with those men all the way! Otherwise, where could I climb to that position? Hum?!” She is speaking in a disdainful tone, but with a touch of resentment.
“What kind of man haven’t I met? As soon as those guys see me and their eyes are shining, I know what they are thinking with the lower half of their bodies. Does it just open my legs only? I have opened all the time! I was lucky, one of them was falling in love with me. I showed all my abilities and have turned him upside down. That fellow even handed over the account to me afterwards. I was officially in their core circle. When you saw me, I was basically one of the leaders. If it hasn’t been for that time that the police banned there, I would have…”
Suddenly she is sighing and laughing bitterly: “I ran out the other day to find out that we were betrayed by someone in the group! Damn it… But since they were not kind, then I am unjust! I just stole their money and left! I went all the way south, went to Vietnam by sea, and stayed in Vietnam for around a dozen days. I managed to get on board the ship and prepare to stowaway to Canada. Isn’t Canada one of the most viable countries of the world? I was just going to take the money out and enjoy the rest of my life.”
It turns out that this woman was escaping for this reason.
“I am not only wanted by the police, but also be tracking by the people of the group. I have rolled up a lot of money from them. If they find me, I’ll die. So, I can’t stay in Southeast Asia. The farther I go the better!” There’s a hint of pride in her tone.
I’m not interested in these things, and I don’t want to continue listen these things. Anyway, they are all bad activities, and I’m not happy to hear that.
Gradually she is a little tired, and really can not support anymore, closing her eyes slowly and sleeping over.
I also fall asleep in a daze.
I’m dreaming. Ironically, I am not dreaming of Didi or Nanny or anyone this time. I also don’t dream about Juan anymore.
I’m only dreaming of running desperately in the streets and alleys. I have a lot of money in my pocket, but I have run all over any store and they are all telling me that there’s no water for sale. No Coke, no soda, no juice. Nothing! I see a fried chicken fast food restaurant from afar, but when I go in, I find no hamburger, no chicken wings, no coke! Nothing there!
Finally, I wake up in despair, feeling bitter and dry in my mouth.
Looking at the dollars in the bags at random, I suddenly think that if someone tells me that use one million dollars to exchange for a bottle of Coke, I’m afraid I’m willing to break my head to buy it.