After swimming for a few minutes, Li Haochen struggled onto the flat rock. He forcefully pulled the inflatable boat towards the reef, needing to tie it down securely. Otherwise, the waves would sweep it away in minutes.
After securing the boat, he grabbed his gear and returned to Wu Mingwei. Wu Mingwei had woken up but was extremely weak. "How are you feeling?"
"I... I can still manage. Thank you!"
Seeing him about to speak further, Li Haochen quickly stopped him, "Don't talk too much. Conserve your strength."
He then set down the supplies, grabbed a blanket, and covered Wu Mingwei. Turning, he pulled the knife from his leg and began to peel a coconut. With a slight application of force, the husk peeled off like thin paper, showcasing the knife's sharpness.
In less than a minute, he had prepared a young coconut. Using the tip of the knife, he carved a small hole in one of the eyes and handed it over. "This coconut water is very beneficial. Let him drink some, and then eat some chocolate."
Zhao Yingxue took the coconut with tears of gratitude. Without a straw and unable to easily move Wu Mingwei, she had no choice but to drink the coconut water herself and feed it to him mouth-to-mouth.
Although it was a special situation and no longer necessary to be overly cautious, it felt impolite to watch others like this. To avoid awkwardness, Li Haochen picked up the remaining coconuts and peeled them with his back turned to the other two.
In a few minutes, he had peeled several coconuts. He drank one himself and left the rest for the other two. After wolfing down a few Snickers bars, he rummaged through the first-aid kit and produced a box of cephalosporin, handing it over. "This should help a little. Take two pills first."
Perhaps due to having eaten something, Wu Mingwei's complexion had clearly improved. However, the wound on his foot was still a cause for great concern. If rescue had been delayed by another half hour, their chances of survival would have significantly decreased.
As evening approached, the temperature began to drop, and Wu Mingwei's condition started to worsen. Zhao Yingxue's hand, holding his, was trembling violently. Even Li Haochen was pacing anxiously.
At that moment, a loud roar echoed through the sky. In the distance, a rescue helicopter was flying towards them at high speed. Li Haochen quickly took out a flare gun and fired it into the sky. With a loud bang, a trail of red smoke spread across the air.
"Target acquired. Prepare for island rescue."
Soon, the helicopter hovered over Luzhou Island. The deafening whirring sound and the powerful airflow kicked up dust on the island, causing the short plants to bend and sway.
The cabin door opened, and two rescue personnel descended like rays of dawn. In that moment, tears welled up, and gratitude filled their hearts for their strong motherland.
As she was being helped aboard, Zhao Yingxue's tears poured down. She knelt before Li Haochen, saying, "Mr. Li, I will never forget your immense kindness in this lifetime."
Watching the blue sky rescue disappear into the distance, Li Haochen finally let out a sigh of relief. "Phew... we made it just in time."
Doing a good deed always brought joy. Li Haochen, with a smile, tidied everything up and walked to the inflatable boat. He untied the ropes, and the boat slid into the sea. An object rolled out from underneath, and Li Haochen instinctively grabbed it.
Looking at the oxygen tank left behind by Zhao Yingxue in his hand, Li Haochen thought for a moment. "There's still one bar left? Should I go down?"
After a while, Li Haochen decided to dive. After all, his speargun and fins were at the bottom, worth thousands of dollars. It wouldn't take much effort to retrieve them.
He pulled the inflatable boat ashore again and tied it down securely. With the oxygen tank on his back, he waded into the water. Taking advantage of the receding tide, he pushed off forcefully for a few seconds before diving in.
A few minutes later, he reached the bottom, right where the oxygen tank had exploded. Seeing the already twisted and deformed tank, he broke out in a cold sweat again. Li Haochen had initially thought his spatial abilities would protect him from any danger, but he hadn't even had time to react. If the oxygen tank hadn't been shot off course, he would likely have become bait.
Li Haochen adjusted his powerful headlamp and began searching the vicinity. He found the speargun next to a large rock, but his fins had already been carried away by the current. The rope of the net bag was also caught at the bottom of the rock, and the abalone, conchs, and red crabs inside had likely turned into scraps of paper by now.
"Thump~"
A volleyball-sized rock suddenly rolled down from above and struck the large rock with a muffled sound, startling Li Haochen, who retreated a few steps.
Looking up, he saw a large, deep hole in the reef, looking quite eerie.
However, curiosity was human nature, and Li Haochen was no exception. With the speargun in his left hand and a dagger in his right, he approached the reef with the posture of facing a formidable enemy.
When he reached the entrance of the hole, a stream of cold water flowed out. The drastic change in temperature startled Li Haochen, making him suspect something unclean.
He muttered the Nine-Character Mantra for dispelling evil twice and opened his eyes just a crack to peek. Feeling nothing unusual, he lay down by the edge of the hole and peered inside.
The interior was likely very deep. His powerful headlamp could only illuminate a few meters. He turned his head, examining the uneven inner walls. At an arm's depth inside the wall, he saw more than a dozen pigeon-egg-sized abalone moving slowly.
Li Haochen's eyes lit up. This was quite tempting for him. His spatial ocean lacked abalone. As long as the base population grew, why worry about wealth not flowing in?
However, the deep, unknown cave made him hesitate. After a moment of internal struggle, Li Haochen raised his speargun with his right hand, his eyes fixed on the interior of the cave. He crawled into the cave, his peripheral vision catching sight of the abalone within easy reach.
The abalone were small and did not grip very tightly. Li Haochen extended his left hand, grasped one, and with a firm flick, it detached. He quickly glanced at the small abalone in his hand, smiled, and placed it at his waist.
Searching for a few moments, he couldn't find the net bag. Then he remembered it was trapped under the large rock. He chided himself and, with great reluctance, placed the small abalone back in its original spot.
As he looked up, he discovered a small pile of abalone again, about fifteen or sixteen in number, just above him. This discovery overjoyed Li Haochen. Dozens of small abalone were a very good catch, as it was difficult to find such a quantity of wild abalone in China.
Li Haochen glanced at his oxygen level and abandoned the idea of exploring further. He quickly exited the deep cave and surfaced.
Emerging from the water, he swam back to shore. Li Haochen took off his oxygen mask, tossed all his belongings into the boat, untied the ropes, and pushed the boat into the sea before climbing aboard.
The waves were still strong. Li Haochen had to use his wooden paddle to brace against a rock behind him, preventing the waves from pushing the boat back and damaging the propeller.
Li Haochen gripped the pull ring and yanked hard. The propeller shuddered a few times and then began to rotate with a "dong dong dong" sound. He lowered it, waited for the right moment, pushed off forcefully with the paddle, and twisted the throttle. The inflatable boat lifted its bow and cut through the waves.