The two young men were tongue-tied. The wind and waves were raging across the sea, and the storm was already right in front of them. Mo Qiong had climbed aboard because they were afraid the waves would sweep him away, not because they were worried he would get cold soaking in the water.
Of course, the cold was also a major problem. Staying in the sea too long could freeze someone to death.
But they were more worried that Mo Qiong, who was not wearing a life jacket, would be knocked into the water by the waves.
Still, they could tell that Mo Qiong was genuinely an excellent swimmer.
He moved through the sea as easily as he had in a swimming pool, without the slightest panic.
At that moment, Mo Qiong was swimming through the water while pushing the inflatable boat. He shouted, "Give me a hand! Don't just sit there."
"Oh, oh." The two men hurriedly paddled, working together with Mo Qiong.
With Mo Qiong pushing it, the inflatable boat maintained an extremely slow approach toward the large ship and was no longer being carried away by the waves. At this point, paddling toward the ship would only make them go faster, not slower.
However, although the inflatable boat was bound to collide with the side of the large ship, it might not hit it head-on.
Under the violent wind and waves, the boat kept pitching until it suddenly flipped over.
"Bang!" The inflatable boat turned upside down, and the two young men immediately fell into the water.
"Ah!" The people aboard the large ship cried out in alarm.
Mo Qiong hurriedly reached out and grabbed one with each hand. The three of them bobbed up and down on the surface of the sea.
They did not possess Mo Qiong's ability to let underwater currents propel their bodies, allowing them to tread water with minimal effort.
Ordinary people could easily be beaten beneath the surface by the waves. Even with life jackets, they would be submerged for a short time and choke on several mouthfuls of water.
The constantly surging waves made people lose control of their bodies. Even champion swimmers were in extreme danger.
In severe sea conditions, wave after wave could come crashing down. Although a life jacket would keep someone floating up and down on the surface, they might barely have a chance to breathe. One wave would come, leaving them underwater for several seconds. Just as they surfaced and prepared to inhale, another wave would crash down. If several waves came in succession, choking the person unconscious would be the end of it.
Without Mo Qiong holding them, the two men would soon be carried away by the waves. Their life jackets had instead become a burden while swimming, preventing them from freely adjusting their positions.
By contrast, Mo Qiong was much more relaxed without a life jacket.
Beneath the sea's surface, countless currents were his life jacket. As long as he set the Landing Point beneath his feet, the reactive force from treading water was several times greater than that of others.
The pressure of all that water against the soles of his feet made the sensation beneath them feel like stepping on springy rubber.
"Don't move around!" Mo Qiong shouted, then dragged them toward the large ship.
After the inflatable boat had flipped, Mo Qiong did not push them directly to the ship's side. Instead, he took them there himself.
The life jackets kept them afloat, while Mo Qiong dragged them along. As the two young men saw the large ship drawing closer and realized they no longer seemed to be drifting away, their emotions gradually settled, and they relaxed.
Then they looked at Mo Qiong, most of whose body was submerged in the water, yet whose expression remained calm. They could not help but admire him.
"Man, you're incredible. Can you keep this up physically?" one of the curly-haired young men asked.
Mo Qiong said, "I'm doing all right. If I really had to stay in a rainstorm, though, I wouldn't be able to manage it either."
Two minutes later, the yacht caught up with them. Mo Qiong dragged the two men to the hull, and the people above hurriedly lowered ropes.
Mo Qiong released one of them, grabbed a rope, and handed it to him. "Climb up, quick."
The two young men climbed up one after another. Once they reached the deck, they shouted to Mo Qiong, "You come up too!"
Unexpectedly, Mo Qiong's body sank downward, disappearing beneath the water.
The people above nearly died of anxiety as they searched all over the deck.
"Oh no, could he have run out of strength?" The people aboard the ship were horrified.
They had rammed someone else's ship. Not only had they failed to save him, they had ended up being rescued by him instead.
Although they were wearing life jackets, how exhausting would it be for someone to drag two people through the sea? After swimming dozens of meters, he was probably completely exhausted.
The curly-haired young man hurriedly took off his life jacket, tied the rope around his waist, and jumped into the water to search for Mo Qiong.
However, he dove down and surfaced, then dove down again. After searching back and forth for more than a minute, he still could not see Mo Qiong and could not help feeling desperate.
"Is he dead...?" The curly-haired young man floated while holding the rope, his face filled with grief.
"It's all my fault for not watching where I was going. I sank his boat..."
The curly-haired young man was on the verge of breaking down.
But just then, Mo Qiong suddenly surfaced in the distance.
"Ha..." Mo Qiong greedily drew in breath, while the curly-haired young man stared at him blankly.
"Huh? Why did you come down again?" Mo Qiong asked when he saw him.
The curly-haired young man hurriedly swam over and supported him. "Holy crap, thank goodness you're all right. Can you still swim?"
Mo Qiong had gone down to look for his own boat. Although that dilapidated boat was leaking, it had not broken apart and could still be operated...
Once it was dragged ashore, patched up, and repaired, it would be fine.
His own boat had a special distinctive icon, so he could certainly locate and track it. There was no way he would fail to find it.
Earlier, when he had taken his belongings to the large yacht, he had already "grabbed" the sunken boat from a distance while submerged in the water.
There was a grappling rope aboard the boat. One end had hooked onto and latched around the boat's railing, while the other end was lightly tossed onto himself. That allowed him to keep hold of the boat, preventing it from sinking to the bottom. Instead, it rose diagonally through the sea, following him.
Throughout the entire rescue, the grappling rope in the sea had been steadily drawing closer to Mo Qiong.
However, after rescuing the two men and delaying for so long, Mo Qiong felt the grappling rope touch him and begin free-falling. After finishing the rescue, he hurriedly dove down to pursue it.
They were about to enter the Philippine Sea, where the seabed was already extremely deep. If the boat sank to the bottom, retrieving it would be difficult.
At that moment, the grappling rope's Landing Point had been reset to the bottom of the large yacht's side, and its speed was only one meter per second.
At that speed, as long as the yacht did not stop and wait for a while, the grappling rope would keep pursuing it. Wherever the yacht went, the rope would pull his dilapidated boat along behind it.
Moreover, the rope would not snap. If it moved too quickly, the rope could easily be pulled apart.
"I'm fine, really. I'm just a little tired." Mo Qiong smiled.
"Let's get aboard. The storm's coming!" the curly-haired young man said.
Mo Qiong and the curly-haired young man climbed up the rope onto the yacht, and everyone cheered.
"Thank goodness you're all right. You really scared us to death."
"If you'd really sunk without a trace, we'd have been helpless out here in this vast ocean. It would have been so hopeless..."
They were still shaken. If Mo Qiong had truly gone missing here, they would have felt guilty for the rest of their lives.
That was also why Mo Qiong had not chosen to Feign Death. The people aboard this ship were decent, and he did not want to leave them traumatized.
I guess I'll be taking a ride with them. I don't know where they're going, but it doesn't matter. There's no need to rush. I'm already very close to my destination anyway, Mo Qiong thought.
By then, the storm had arrived. The ship rocked violently, and everyone staggered, unable to keep their feet.
"Brother, come inside quickly! The storm's here. Be careful not to get thrown overboard." Everyone hurriedly called for Mo Qiong to enter the cabin and rest.
"Coming!" Mo Qiong said as he picked up his belongings.
After his boat had been hit, he had immediately rescued the important items. Although he had lost a great deal of miscellaneous stuff, none of it mattered.
He took out a small file, walked to the railing, and looked down, wanting to scratch a mark somewhere.
But after thinking it over, he realized that this was someone else's ship, so he instead looked for a strip of cloth to tie to it.
"What are you doing?" the curly-haired young man asked.
Mo Qiong smiled. "Commemorating my little boat."
In reality, it was a marker. The point directly beneath the hanging strip of cloth was where the grappling rope was pursuing them.
No matter where the yacht stopped, Mo Qiong only needed to jump down from the marker to find—or wait for—his dilapidated boat.
Before you continue