"No!"
"Our hull is out of control!"
"Everyone, hold onto the edge of the hull! Don't let go, no matter what!"
Off the coast, not far from the Eye of the Storm in the Reef Sea, a small boat tossed and turned in the wind and rain.
Onboard, two men and two women faced the oncoming waves in terror, completely at a loss.
One of them, a burly, bearded man, shouted instructions while his mind raced, analyzing their chances of survival and possible routes.
"The giant waves generated by this hurricane are sweeping in that direction!"
"Over there, it looks like a mass of clouds!"
The bearded man pondered for a moment, then his expression suddenly changed. He yelled, "This is bad, we must be approaching the legendary Reef Sea!"
"The Reef Sea is perpetually surrounded by dark clouds and lightning, with chaotic magnetic fields that even satellites can't detect. Once we enter, it will be extremely dangerous!"
"Quick, everyone, row with me! We absolutely cannot let the waves suck our boat in!"
These few people were a survival team from White Eagle.
The bearded man speaking was the team's survival expert, Jack, a Level 5 Martial Artist.
The others were photographer Carlos, biologist Mia, and rich heiress Emma.
They had originally been on the East Sea ocean, filming a wilderness survival show on a small island.
But just after finishing filming, they were suddenly caught in an undercurrent, and their yacht was damaged.
Jack used his survival skills to build this small boat, intending to return by it.
However, they unexpectedly lost their way again, drifted here, and were swept towards the Eye of the Storm in the turbulent Reef Sea.
"The Reef Sea!"
The others turned pale upon hearing this.
As wilderness survival enthusiasts, they had all clearly heard of the Reef Sea.
"Then what do we do?"
"Are we going to die here?"
The rich heiress, Emma, was so terrified she was on the verge of tears.
She was the one who initiated this program!
And she was the first to break down.
"I'm still young, I don't want to die yet, sob sob sob!"
Hearing Emma still crying at a time like this, Jack felt a surge of annoyance.
"This is not the time to be pessimistic!"
"Put your strength into rowing, don't stop, don't stop!"
"As long as there's a glimmer of hope, we can't give up!"
He said, rowing with all his might.
However, facing the immense power of nature, their strength seemed insignificant and minuscule.
In just a moment, the hull was swallowed by the waves.
With one breaker crashing over them, they were instantly flung away.
Before falling into the water, a single thought crossed all their minds.
"We're done for!"
Gurgle gurgle!
The bubbles from their breaths disappeared without a ripple in the stormy sea.
The fierce wind swept by, and the small boat seemed as if it had never existed.
A little over an hour later.
On a beach in the Reef Sea.
Jack was the first to open his eyes.
Crack crack!
The constant flashes of lightning overhead stimulated his eyes, and he quickly closed them.
After a moment of silence, Jack suddenly realized what had happened and sprang to his feet.
"I'm not dead?"
He immediately scanned his surroundings.
It looked like they were on a small island, with lightning and thunder crackling in the sky above it, surrounded by dark clouds.
Jack's expression changed instantly.
"Could this be inside the Reef Sea?"
Remembering he still had companions, he hurried to search the edge of the beach.
"Mia, Carlos, Emma..."
"Mia, how are you?"
"Carlos, you're awake?"
"Where's Emma?"
"Thank goodness, everyone's still alive!"
"..."
More than half an hour later, Jack had found and woken everyone.
While feeling fortunate they hadn't died in the storm, he explained their current predicament to everyone.
After he finished speaking, the group stared at each other, asking in disbelief.
"You're saying... this is an island within the Reef Sea?"
They couldn't help but look up.
The island, apart from being enveloped by clouds and lightning on the outside, was eerily quiet within, with even dense vegetation.
It looked nothing like the legendary Reef Sea.
Seeing their doubts, Jack said with a grave expression.
"Do you all think the Reef Sea is a place of violent chaos?"
"You're wrong!"
"If you've seen a tornado, you should know that the eye of the storm is the quietest place!"
"The Reef Sea is constantly surrounded by dark clouds and lightning. If I'm not mistaken, its center is the Eye of the Storm!"
"So, it's not strange that we're on the island now, quiet inside!"
Emma said innocently.
"Then, does that mean we're safe?"
"We just need to send a message back and have someone come rescue us?"
Jack shook his head.
"Quite the opposite!"
"This is actually our worst situation!"
He sighed.
"Before you all woke up, I already made an attempt!"
"Here... the magnetic field is disrupted, and no signal can be sent out!"
"And outside, we're surrounded by dark clouds and lightning, so there's no way we can charge out ourselves!"
"Therefore..."
"We might be trapped on this island!"
The group gasped collectively.
As survival experts, they knew how difficult surviving in the wild could be.
If it were only a few days, or even a few weeks, they could manage. But if there was no end in sight, only one outcome awaited them.
Death!
The joy of their unexpected survival was suddenly dampened!
A heavy atmosphere filled the air.
As the team's survival expert, Jack could only try to encourage and comfort them.
"But don't be discouraged!"
"The situation I described is only temporary!"
"Although we haven't figured out a way to escape yet, at least we have a chance to catch our breath!"
"Maybe we'll think of something later, don't you think?"
The others forced a smile.
"Yeah!"
Jack clapped his hands and stood up.
"Alright, everyone, let's get moving!"
"Since we're trapped here, our top priority now is to survive on this deserted island!"
"The longer we survive, the greater our hope of being rescued!"
He looked up at the sky.
"It's probably getting dark soon!"
"Based on this latitude, it will be very cold here at night!"
"We need to build a shelter before it gets dark!"
Jack fully utilized his role as a team survival expert and made arrangements.
"I'll be in charge of the shelter!"
"Carlos, go check if there's anything edible on this island?"
"Mia and Emma, you two go find fresh water!"
"We'll meet back here in an hour!"
The group temporarily set aside their grief and responded.
"Okay!"
With that, they prepared to go their separate ways to carry out their tasks.
But just then.
'Rumble... rumble...'
The ground in front of them suddenly began to vibrate rhythmically.
A slight tremor ran through the ground.
The group exchanged glances, their eyes wide with fear.
"This... doesn't feel like an earthquake!"
"It's more like the breathing rhythm of some sleeping giant beast!"
"Could it be that we're on the body of a giant beast right now?"