Sea Demon Rus

As Jiang Xiang led Gwen Stacy away from the crowd, the capable bodyguard escorting Tony Stark led his group away as well.

"Mr. Jiang Xiang."

The bodyguard called out to Jiang Xiang.

Jiang Xiang looked at him calmly.

"My name is Victor Duru. I work under Mr. Coulson, and I've had the privilege of seeing you and your uncle at work." Victor discreetly revealed that he belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Apparently, he hadn't revealed his identity to Tony Stark.

Jiang Xiang understood.

"So, what's your plan?"

Tony stepped forward. "Get out of this compartment."

"You're Tony Stark?"

"Of course." Tony puffed out his chest as much as he could, maintaining his pride, though he looked rather ridiculous against the wrecked compartment.

Tony continued, "We can't stay here long. I designed the ship's lighting circuitry. Nobody understands it better than I do."

Now that the conversation had turned to his specialty, Tony began explaining how excellent the electrical system was.

Jiang Xiang nodded. "We're leaving too."

Recalling the cruise ship's layout from memory, Jiang Xiang rotated the map in his mind.

Jiang Xiang pointed out route after route, leading the group onward.

Along the way, more people gradually joined them.

Miraculously, the Black crewman hadn't suffered any serious injuries.

There were no other crew members in this compartment.

Once he regained his bearings, he hurriedly followed the emergency procedures and directed the attendants to get to work.

He reassured the panicking passengers, "Although we don't know what happened, the ship isn't sinking. If we look on the bright side, we might have gotten caught on submerged rocks. Once help arrives in a few hours, we'll be safe."

Jiang Xiang might have believed him if he had managed to rein in the terror on his face while he spoke.

Still, the Black crewman's frightened expression had little effect on the others.

After all, the lighting was gone.

They couldn't see it.

"We'll use tables, chairs, and other objects to brace the doors and windows and keep seawater from seeping in. We can also..." the crewman continued.

Time to go.

Hearing the crewman start explaining methods that bordered on nonsense,

Jiang Xiang sensed trouble.

Staying here was definitely a bad idea.

Jiang Xiang whispered to Gwen Stacy, "Let's leave."

Gwen Stacy looked at Jiang Xiang in confusion.

Wouldn't staying in the compartment be safer?

Jiang Xiang led Gwen Stacy away from the survivors.

"That crewman probably just wants to give the survivors something to do."

At Jiang Xiang's hint, Gwen Stacy recovered a little from her panic.

"Those measures don't seem to help at all, do they?"

What good would bracing the sealed hull with tables and chairs do?

The ship's side was in contact with the sea, yet there still weren't leaks springing up everywhere. That alone said a great deal.

The compartment's seal wasn't bad.

At least, leaks were rare.

At this rate of seepage, holding out for half a day, or even a full day, wouldn't be much of a problem.

Soon,

the group reached the outside of the ship.

Tony looked at the young Asian man before him in surprise.

"Do you work on this ship?"

Jiang Xiang chuckled and looked into the distance. His expression suddenly grew serious, and he said nothing.

Seeing Jiang Xiang's grave expression, S.H.I.E.L.D. employee Victor sensed trouble and hurriedly drew his gun.

Gwen Stacy explained, "Jiang Xiang only looked at the ship's map for a little while before memorizing it."

Pepper and the others were somewhat surprised. After all, most people... probably wouldn't deliberately memorize a map.

Tony muttered, "I could memorize it after one look."

Jiang Xiang, Gwen Stacy, and the others gazed at the unobstructed expanse of sea.

The sea was eerily calm, without wind or waves.

It was like a lake.

"Is this really the ocean?"

"It's too calm."

The people who had followed them out weren't fools.

Most were decisive elites in their respective fields, or even leaders.

The ocean.

It shouldn't have been this calm!

"Victor, have you contacted your superiors?" Jiang Xiang asked without looking back as he led the way.

"There's no signal at all." Victor's expression darkened sharply.

His communications device wasn't some rudimentary cellphone. It was a specially made S.H.I.E.L.D. phone.

They had tested it. It could receive a signal even at high altitudes, in the mountains, and underwater to a certain depth.

Jiang Xiang surveyed his surroundings and picked up an iron bar that had broken loose from the ship.

He walked to a door and called Victor and Tony's bodyguard, Happy, over to pry it open together.

"Cough, cough."

"That smell is awful!" Happy coughed a few times and covered his nose.

Gwen Stacy's expression suddenly turned terrified.

She had vaguely glimpsed what looked like a hand emerging from the tangled pile of cables!

"What's wrong, Gwen Stacy?" Jiang Xiang noticed her unusual reaction.

"Over there. I think a hand just came out over there!" Feeling Jiang Xiang's arms around her, Gwen Stacy calmed down a little.

Jiang Xiang looked in the direction Gwen Stacy indicated but saw nothing unusual.

Gwen Stacy had always had good eyesight, and Jiang Xiang trusted that she probably hadn't been mistaken.

Just as Jiang Xiang was about to pick up a nearby iron bar and go take a look,

Bang-

Bang, bang-

A sudden barrage of gunfire rang out.

"What's going on?"

"Why is there gunfire?"

The group picked up iron bars and other makeshift weapons and hid behind cover.

Jiang Xiang had no intention of going over to investigate.

Whether out of caution, a desire to protect Gwen Stacy, or reluctance to expose his identity,

the safest course of action now was to stay where they were.

He would hold his position and adapt to whatever came.

The gunfire gradually subsided.

A figure stumbled toward them from the direction they had come.

It was the Black crewman who had instructed the survivors to move tables and chairs to barricade the doors and windows.

"Sea Demon Rus! Sea Demon Rus!"

He ran out in a daze.

He kept repeating the same words.

Victor pointed his gun at him, ordered him to stop, and demanded to know what had happened in the hall.

With a gun pointed at him, the Black crewman abruptly calmed down, though his hands were still trembling.

"Easy, easy." The Black crewman's face twisted again. As soon as he spoke, he raised his hands to show that he was unarmed.

"What happened?"

Agent Victor had barely asked the question

when the eerie sounds rang out again.

There was more than gunfire. There was also the sound of a child crying.

It sounded mournful and pleading, like singing mingled with sobs.

On top of that, terrified screams rose from the crowd, one after another.

With everything so strange, Jiang Xiang drew Gwen Stacy deeper into hiding.

"It's Sea Demon Rus! It's come to hunt us down! We're all doomed! No help is coming! No one will survive!"

Hearing the chaotic noises again, the crewman finally broke down, shouting at the top of his lungs as he vented his despair.

Quite a few of the passengers who had followed them out emerged, and before long, a crowd had gathered around the crewman.

Agent Victor's expression grew solemn.

Could this be a supernatural incident?