He sat upright in confusion, wiped the water droplets on his eyelids, and looked at the water surrounding the assault boat under his buttocks.
"What's going on?" He stared blankly at the two people sitting in front of him, and then asked in hindsight, "Is the tsunami over?"
"Um."
"Then what happened to me?"
"You were hit by a brick." Wen Qizhou gave him a raincoat, took a look at the compass, and steered the assault boat north.
Through the thin curtain of rain, Xie Changxiao could not clearly see his expression at this moment, but he could hear the seriousness behind his words.
He had no doubts. While putting on his raincoat, he asked him what happened after he fell into coma. When he learned that they dragged him to the parking space and found the assault boat from the car, he was moved and hated himself for being so careless. The child was knocked unconscious.
Thinking of them desperately trying to save his life in the waves, he raised his eyes again, as if he caught their fatigue and the tiredness in their brows.
"Xiao Yue, give me the telescope." Due to the inconvenience of changing positions, he took the telescope from Chi Yue's hand and carefully observed the surrounding situation: "Let's find a place to hide from the rain first?"
Chi Yue responded: "Look if there are any buildings in front of you." The rain curtain obscured her view, making it difficult for her to see clearly.
After the assault boat had traveled eight kilometers, Xie Changxiao finally saw a building standing in the seawater without leaning.
He asked Wen Qizhou to drive to the left. If the distance was slightly closer, he could see the words "Lianpeng Hotel" on the top.
They approached a window that was broken by the sea water. He walked inside first, and then he and Wen Qizhou dragged the assault boat in and walked along the safe passage to the top-floor suite.
"There is no one here." Xie Changxiao looked out through the floor-to-ceiling windows, frowning with complicated emotions: "When you went back to find the assault boat, how were the people at the base?"
"Most of it was washed away."
"Is there no official rescue?"
"No." Wen Qizhou recalled what he saw before entering the space and said calmly: "They left in a helicopter."
Xie Changxiao said nothing again.
While he was staring at the sea in a daze, Wen Qizhou picked up his backpack and led Chi Yue into the bedroom next door to change out of his diving suit.
When I came out again, the rain outside the window became lighter.
Thinking that it was almost noon, Chi Yue used the cover of her backpack to take out three boxes of self-heating spicy soup and asked them to sit down and eat.
Instant noodles are very common, but spicy hot noodles are really rare. Xie Changxiao was puzzled for a while, and then the rich aroma drew his attention away, so he picked up his chopsticks and started eating.
"It's so delicious!" He chewed the crispy hairy belly, his taste buds and growling stomach were satisfied at the same time.
"Then you eat more." Wen Qizhou picked out the tripe in the bowl and put it into his bowl.
Chi Yue gave him the meatballs.
They usually eat a lot of good food, but he is different, so they feed him all the meat and vegetables.
"That's enough, that's enough!" Xie Changxiao, who didn't know the truth, was so heart-warmed that his eyes turned red, and he picked up the bowl to avoid their movements.
Holding back the tears that were rolling in his eyes, he ate the food they had put in his mouth and waited until the bowl was empty before he calmed down.
"Shall we take a nap?" Chi Yue pretended not to see his red eyes, turned around and said, "Wait until the rain stops before leaving."
"Okay." Since the bedroom was dirty and there were no quilts, they set up a tent in the living room and got into sleeping bags to sleep.
The warmth enveloped them, providing them with a safe environment and allowing the sleepiness after exertion to quietly creep into their bodies.
Wind and rain were beating against the windows, and they had no idea that as they fell into a deep sleep, a gray water line slowly rose to a height of six meters, becoming clear at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The gathered sea water poured back into the city, picked up the debris floating on the water, and rushed towards the hotel again.
"Wow──"
The waves shattered the glass windows.
The stairs standing in the water immediately shook.
The three people who were woken up suddenly opened their eyes, put on their coats and walked unsteadily to the floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the situation downstairs.
The raging waves were only five meters away from them. Wave after wave passed through the shattered doors and windows, and passed through the entire floor unstoppably, making the building shake uncontrollably.
Even if the sea water does not reach the top, they are still afraid, and their hearts will still beat wildly at the scene before them.
They squatted down subconsciously and watched with fear as the waves rushed through the hotel, leaving indelible traces, rushing towards the base, and then disappearing in the rain and mist.
The building no longer shook, but the furniture and items tilted to the right in the room clearly told them that the building could not withstand the violent secondary impact and had been tilted.
"Let's go, let's change places." Wen Qizhou was worried that the rickety stairs would not hold up for long, so he immediately put away the tent with them, put on raincoats, and dragged the assault boat downstairs.
The corridor was full of water marks. They walked through the corridor to the end, entered a room with an open door, slung off the assault boat, then boarded the boat one after another, and drove in the direction of the tsunami.
The area swept by the tsunami returned to calm, but there was no intact building to be found within ten miles.
"There is an island in front of you on the left." Chi Yue looked through the telescope and saw the island standing on the sea clearly: "Shall we go to the island to have a look?"
Hearing Qizhou nodded: "Okay."
It was approaching evening now, and there was no suitable building nearby. If I stayed on the sea for too long, I was afraid that I would encounter another crisis. The unsubmerged island was really the best choice.
After Xie Changxiao controlled the assault boat and stopped beside a low slope, they got off the boat one after another and walked into the lush forest.
This should be a tourist area. The road leading deep into the forest is paved with warm stones. There are railings made of tree trunks in the slightly steeper places and wooden signs reminding tourists to pay attention to safety.
They found a flat open space, set up their tent, and suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes behind them.
"It seems like a snake?" Xie Changxiao pulled out the dagger uncertainly and walked toward the bushes, approaching the place where the sound came from.
He accidentally caught a glimpse of a white short tail. He was surprised and happy. When it wasn't paying attention, he quickly grabbed its ears and picked it up. He smiled and said, "We have rabbits to eat tonight."
His joy was obvious. Wen Qizhou and Chi Yue were infected by his emotions, and their tense expressions relaxed.
"Then you take care of it." He threw a dagger to Xie Changxiao and led Chi Yue to stand up: "Let's find the water source."
Xie Changxiao responded: "No problem." He took the dagger and warned uneasily: "Be careful."
"Know."
They walked diagonally downhill.
Although there are roads in the forest, in order to avoid accidentally losing the direction, Wen Qizhou will leave marks on the tree trunks along the way.
Observing the terrain and plants along the way, they walked more than a thousand meters in the forest and finally saw a clear river.
"Pray for a boat." Chi Yue suddenly stopped and pointed to the stone on the other side of the river with her delicate fingers: "There are two people over there."
