Chapter 37 Part 3

It was packed with people, all desperate to be first up.

“No elevators now!” someone shouted in warning, but the panicked crowd ignored it, seeking the fastest way out of the lower decks.

In the shoving, Zhong Nian’s knee knocked again, pain nearly toppling him. A bystander steadied him.

“You okay?” the stranger asked.

Zhong Nian shook his head. “What happened?”

“No idea how the explosion happened below, but the ship’s bottom is breached and flooding.” The passerby explained.

Zhong Nian recalled the bombs the kidnappers had planted, his face paling.

But they had no reason to detonate now; they were just for intimidating the hostages.

In his disarray, his peripheral vision caught a familiar figure squeezing through from another corridor side, reaching him.

“Zhan Lu!” Zhong Nian called his name joyfully.

Without a word, the man scooped him up by the legs and headed for the stairwell.

“What was the explosion?” Zhong Nian asked, arms around his neck.

Just as he spoke, another massive boom erupted nearby, the whole Cruise Ship shuddering.

Amid the violent shaking, Zhan Lu’s steps remained steady, no stumbling, ascending rapidly.

“Explain later.” Zhan Lu shifted position, letting Zhong Nian straddle his waist face-to-face to avoid collisions.

Zhan Lu was agile, fast as a cheetah, bounding several steps at a time.

En route, Zhong Nian noticed another private mega-yacht trailing at the Cruise Ship’s four o’clock position, with a helicopter circling overhead.

At a glance, it wasn’t police—hostile intent clear. It had to be the Zong-Sheng-Guan Three Families.

Their position exposed the previous night, they’d been tracked ahead of schedule.

Lost in thought, Zhong Nian was carried by Zhan Lu into a higher-level room.

Charles had brought him here before; it was their office. Now the leadership had gathered.

Upon entering, those waiting approached.

Charles caressed Zhong Nian’s pale cheek, asking warmly, “Little Nian, you okay?”

Ke Zhengchu stared grimly at Zhong Nian’s injury. “Your knee.”

Instantly, all eyes focused on Zhong Nian’s knee.

Zhan Lu set him on the sofa. “What happened?”

Charles shot Zhan Lu a glance. “Weren’t you fetching him? And this is how you do it?”

“I…”

“It was my own fall.” Zhong Nian saw Ke Zhengchu already fetching medicine and extended his leg proactively. “I was too anxious and ran out myself.”

Charles looked at Zhan Lu.

“When I got there, the door was down and the room empty. Found him at the elevator on the level above.” Zhan Lu frowned at Zhong Nian. “Little Nian, how’d you get out? Someone came for you?”

Zhong Nian shook his head. “By myself.”

Charles: “The door…”

Zhong Nian moved his injured leg. “I kicked it open myself.”

The group froze. Charles laughed first. “Our Little Nian is amazing.”

So, if they really wanted to lock him in, they couldn’t—not truly.

But busting out like that was pointless; the ship was full of their people—he’d just get recaptured.

Then, the Kidnapper Boss entered from outside, looking exceptionally disheveled from whatever happened. His clothes had scorch marks, legs soaked below the knees.

Upon entering, his gaze fell on Zhong Nian. “What happened to your knee?”

Zhan Lu said, “Medicine’s on. Hurry and change his clothes first.”

Before Zhong Nian could react, they held him down and stripped off his thin pajamas, dressing him in casual clothes.

Zhan Lu secretly stuffed money and high-calorie emergency foods into his pockets. Charles buckled his belt. Ke Zhengchu knelt to put on his socks and shoes.

The Kidnapper Boss smoothed the hair sticking up by Zhong Nian’s ear, met his eyes, and said gravely, “Little Ke stays to accompany him.”

With that, the rest followed the man out.

Only Zhong Nian and Ke Zhengchu remained.

“Little Nian, eat something.” Ke Zhengchu pushed over a box of Doughnuts—clearly Zhan Lu’s handiwork.

Zhong Nian had no appetite for now. “Tell me exactly what happened first.”

“They’ve come.” Ke Zhengchu handed him a cup of hot water. “Someone deliberately set a fire, detonating one of the bombs in the lower level.”

Zhong Nian’s fine brows furrowed. “And now…”

Ke Zhengchu nodded. “Lower decks flooding. In a few hours, this Cruise Ship will sink.”

He gripped Zhong Nian’s fingers clenched on the sofa. “Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

But things weren’t that simple.

Zhong Nian found it hard not to worry. Outside was chaos: panicked crew, rioting hostages, pursuing ship and helicopter forcing compliance…

How to control this situation?

“There was a lifeboat on the cruise ship that could hold three hundred people. Once the Boss and the others were ready, I would take you out.”

Three hundred people.

This number made Zhong Nian breathe a sigh of relief. He had never imagined he would one day feel grateful for the extravagant waste of these rich young masters—barely enough spots for three hundred on the cruise ship.

“It’s not that bad. Eat something now.” Ke Zhengchu opened the box and gazed at him eagerly.

This time, Zhong Nian did not refuse. He ate one and a half himself, but no matter how much he coaxed and persuaded, Ke Zhengchu would not touch the rest. Zhong Nian wrapped it up and stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

He helped him zip it up: “Just in case, hide the food inside well. Don’t let anyone else know.”

Even with the lifeboat, they were not out of the woods. If no rescue came, and they ran out of water and food in desperation, the snacks hidden in the jacket lining could save lives.

Zhong Nian felt the fabric of his clothes and realized it was the finest material—waterproof and warm, though a bit oversized. He did not know whose it was.