By the ti he reached the bottom, he couldn’t see a thing without his phone’s flashlight. He aid it at his feet, its faint light becoming his only hope.
Gulping, Chen Yuan felt around for a hard protrusion on the side. When he shone his light on it, he discovered it was a lever. Beside it was a sign forbidding unauthorized use, followed by a string of tiny English text.
He focused for a mont and managed to decipher it! Pulling it would deploy the lifeboat! The instructions stated that people had to be standing on the steel hatch in front of it, that it must not be overloaded, and to be careful of injury during the descent.
’There’s hope...’ He put his phone back in his pocket, turned off the light, and bolted back the way he ca. His footsteps echoed in the hollow shaft—THUD, THUD, THUD—the sound pounding in his ears. Spurred on, Chen Yuan climbed with even more fervor, moving more than twice as fast as he had on the way down.
"Yaoyao! Ningning! Darlings! Get over here, quick!"
He ran and shouted, sending water splashing everywhere. He was already soaked from head to toe. Water dripped from his chin and stread down his neck. His expensive, well-tailored suit was a wrinkled ss, and his hair clung to his scalp in limp strands.
But he was not a pathetic sight. Even as the surging water knocked him down again and again, Chen Yuan forced himself back to his feet every single ti.
This was a mont when a man was most worthy of being called a "man." He didn’t care if he was treading on sharp blades or molten lava; all he cared about was his entire world, and the ones he loved within it.
This gave him limitless strength. No matter how damp and cold the water was, Chen Yuan felt his feet burning, his whole body blazing with heat.
Rounding the corner of the corridor, Chen Yuan stopped, gasping for breath. In the distance, he saw them: the two sisters, still standing in the sa spot, battered by the current and struggling to keep their footing. They hadn’t moved. Soaked to the bone, they clung to each other, their delicate bodies bracing against the increasingly ferocious flow of water.
It was as if a hole had been torn open in the heavens. Endless rain hamred the deck, churning with the seawater into violent whirlpools that seeped into every available space. The light hanging over their heads began to flicker erratically, sputtering and sizzling.
Their voluminous white wedding dresses billowed out, floating like two small, white flowers upon the water—delicate and fragile, blooming tremulously amidst the apocalyptic scene.
Jiangg Ning had a death grip on a nearby doorknob with one hand, her other arm wrapped tightly around her sister.
The mont she saw Chen Yuan, her eyes lit up with joyous surprise. She shouted with all her might, "Darling, we’re here! Did you find a lifeboat?"
"I did! I’ll take you to it now."
"That’s wonderful!"
Overjoyed, the sisters let go and tried to make their way toward Chen Yuan, but a violent surge of water burst through, slamming against the corridor walls. They lost their footing and were swept to the floor.
Underwater, two pairs of long, pale legs tangled together. The voluminous skirt enveloped Jiangg Yao like the petals of a closing flower. An intense feeling of suffocation and the terror of being subrged sent Jiangg Yao into a desperate struggle. The water was bone-chillingly cold. She flailed her arms, trying to push the dress away and break the surface to breathe, but her frantic clawing was useless. At that mont, Jiangg Yao was like prey caught in a net, the fear of death closing in, feeling as if her lungs were about to explode.
Just then, a pair of hands suddenly reached in, seized her by the arms, and pulled her forcefully upward!
Jiangg Yao couldn’t describe the strength in those hands. It felt as if she had fallen into hell, only for these hands to forcibly drag her back to heaven.
Jiangg Yao broke the surface, vigorously rubbing her face. Her ears were ringing, and everything sounded muffled, as if through a film. She pushed her hair back, gasping for breath. Her vision remained blurry for a long ti, and water continued to drip from her eyelashes.
"Darling? Yaoyao!" The shouts seed to grow from far away to right beside her, yet the man who saved her was standing right in front of her.
She opened her eyes to see Chen Yuan’s worried face, and in that instant, she couldn’t hold back her tears. They stread down her face in a sudden rush.
"Darling... I was so scared. I really thought I was going to drown..."
"It’s okay. Don’t be afraid, I’m here." Chen Yuan gave her shoulders a gentle shake. With a sudden burst of strength from nowhere, he swept Jiangg Yao up by the waist. He took Ningning’s hand with his other. In that mont, he was like Superman. "We have to go, now. The cruise ship is about to sink. If we don’t move, we’re all going to die in here."
The two beautiful yet bedraggled brides, with their groom leading their escape, ran through the narrow corridor. They supported each other, hands clasped tightly, refusing to give up no matter how treacherous the path. Gritting their teeth, they navigated the flickering passageways and descended one by one into the maintenance shaft.
Chen Yuan caught Ningning as she ca down, and then Yaoyao. He wiped the water from his face and switched his phone’s flashlight back on.
"Don’t be afraid." He had lost count of how many tis he had repeated those three words.
His calm words seed to have a soothing power. Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao instantly felt their panic subside. He reached out a hand and gently stroked both sisters on the head.
They exchanged a look, a silent, perfect understanding passing between them. They both knew what the other was thinking: ’Marrying Chen Yuan was the best decision we ever made.’
"You two stand right here. I’m going to pull the release lever. Don’t move."
"We understand, darling!" the two sisters replied, nodding in unison.
Chen Yuan shone his phone along the wall, feeling for the protrusion he had found earlier. He located it quickly, prying out a handle shaped like a door knocker. Then, gritting his teeth, he pulled with every ounce of his strength.
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