Abandon Ship

In that instant, everyone aboard fell silent. No one dared move a muscle. They kept their eyes fixed on the giant snake, bracing themselves for what it might do next.

York, the jungle survival expert, crouched halfway down and signaled for everyone to do the same. In a low voice, he urged them, "Whatever you do, don't move around. Don't make any sudden moves. Slowly, crouch down..."

Just then, the giant snake moved.

It opened its jaws wide and lunged at the mercenary captain standing in the middle of the deck.

The mercenary captain rolled to the left, dodging the attack, but the giant snake's body slammed into the ship's mast and snapped it in half.

Then the Black man Wuji let out a furious roar, raised the stick he had been clutching, and swung it at the top of the giant snake's head.

The moment Wuji charged forward, York nearly went mad. He shouted, "Get back! Don't!"

But it was already too late. Wuji's stick had struck the top of the giant snake's head. The snake, reacting to the attack without regard for where it was, curled in on itself and immediately began to constrict everything around it.

This was a python's way of attacking, but this snake was so enormous and long that the moment it was struck, it instinctively coiled its body around itself.

Its body, nearly a hundred meters long, was flung out of the water and thrashed across the deck. Everything it touched was caught in its coils and crushed.

The Black man Wuji was among those closest to the giant snake, and the first to be caught. He tried to force its body apart, but in the next instant, he was crushed into a pulp.

The captain's two sons were caught in the coils as well. They weren't trained fighters, and when danger struck, they couldn't make the right decisions, so they reacted more slowly than the others.

When the giant snake went berserk, they were the first to scream and run around, and ended up blundering into the reach of its coils.

By then, York understood that they couldn't stay on the ship any longer. Without even looking back, he leaped into the river and shouted, "Everyone, jump in! Get to shore!"

Perkin reacted the fastest. He took one look at the chaos on the ship and ran for the side without a word.

The sound of their footsteps caught the giant snake's attention. Its body straightened in an instant, and it lunged toward the noise.

Perkin felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He ran faster than anyone his age should have been able to, then dove forward just before the snake could bite him, throwing himself more than a meter through the air and over the railing into the river.

The giant snake bit down on the railing, chewing the wooden barrier to splinters.

The others seized the opportunity and ran toward the sides of the ship from every direction. Even the captain had no thought of avenging anyone.

Their footsteps drew the giant snake's attention again. After snapping at empty air, it raised its body and flicked out its tongue, "listening" to everyone's footsteps.

Without York's guidance, the people aboard had no idea they should move quietly. They had only one thought: get into the water before anyone else. They couldn't stay on the ship.

So they ran with all their might. Their pounding footsteps shook the deck, giving the giant snake plenty of information.

Only Liu Zhi, who was closest to the side of the ship, still held to the posture York had taught them, carefully edging toward the railing.

He had watched enough television to know that most snakes hunted by sensing heat and vibrations. As long as he wasn't the one making the most noise, the giant snake wouldn't attack him first.

Just as Liu Zhi was about to reach the side of the ship, something unexpected happened: the mercenary leader running beside him caught the giant snake's attention.

It wasn't hard to understand why. After several people had died, there weren't many left aboard. The mercenary leader was carrying too many weapons; even when he moved casually, they clanked and rattled.

Now that he was running for his life, he was practically a walking noise source.

The giant snake immediately locked onto the mercenary leader.

Just as the giant snake was about to bite him, the mercenary leader raised his hand and flung the hand axe hanging from his belt at Liu Zhi.

Using the force of the throw, he leaped over the side of the ship. The clatter of the axe hitting the deck drowned out the sounds of the rest of his equipment, drawing the giant snake's attention toward Liu Zhi.

Liu Zhi had already reached the side of the ship. Faced with this situation, he could no longer afford to move slowly. He braced a hand on the railing, swung himself over, and jumped into the river.

But the giant snake reacted much faster than he had expected. The instant Liu Zhi swung over the railing, its jaws were already lunging toward him.

Liu Zhi instinctively pulled back, dodging the bite.

It was pure instinct. As he dodged, he used the footwork of the Z-Secret Sword technique, Night Strike Counter. Looking at the giant snake as it prepared to open its mouth again, Liu Zhi suddenly felt an urge he couldn't explain. He drew the sailor's cutlass at his waist and swung at the snake's tongue the instant its jaws opened.

As his blade fell, Liu Zhi felt it strike something slick and slippery, as if the cutlass didn't want to cut through.

He didn't stop to look. He let go of the hilt, turned, and jumped off the ship.

As he fell, he looked back and saw the giant snake lunging down from the ship with its jaws wide open. His cutlass was lodged halfway along its tongue.

Liu Zhi frowned and quickly estimated how fast he could swim. He knew the instant he hit the water would also be the instant the giant snake caught up with him.

So he lifted his foot and kicked hard against the ship's side, using the recoil to propel himself farther away.

The instant he reached the water's surface, Liu Zhi pressed down against it with both hands, somehow forcing his body up above the surface and using the momentum to run across the water.

That left the others, who were still struggling to swim, in an awkward position. No matter how fast they swam, they couldn't match the speed of running.

More importantly, swimming made a lot of splashing. The giant snake had been on the ship before, but now it had clearly slipped beneath the water. Everyone had become its target again.

The moment the giant snake submerged, the people who had been swimming froze. Then they began thrashing through the water in a frenzy. To them, reaching the shore was their only chance of survival.

As for fighting the giant snake, they never even considered it. If it had been just a somewhat larger python, they might have had the courage to fight. But they didn't even dare face this one head-on. There was only one thought in their minds: escape!