Chapter 14 Undercurrent

The others followed suit, kicking the door. Anna was beyond annoyed. What kind of bastards had gotten on this boat? None of them were doing anything right.

She'd wanted to use them as a smokescreen to do her own thing, but these guys were nothing but trouble, constantly causing problems for her. If they really pushed her, once she finished her business, she'd leave them to fend for themselves.

Jia Wenjun watched the internal chaos, tugging at Da Huang, who didn't want to leave. She simply shrank to the side. They were too busy to care about her now, so she could hide here for a while and get out of the rain. She couldn't afford to get sick right now. Less rain was always good.

Teacher Lin was trembling with anger, cursing as she pounded on the door, "Sun Jiaojiao, open the door! Are you even human? You'll get what's coming to you for what you've done."

Even the usually careful Teacher Lin was cursing Sun Jiaojiao to die a horrible death. The others' words were even more unbearable.

But no matter how much the people outside cursed and banged on the door, Sun Jiaojiao inside remained silent.

The rain grew heavier and heavier. Hu Sixiang and the others wanted to break down the door, but Anna stopped them, refusing to let them smash it. Whoever smashed it would pay.

Old Man Wang advised the already breathless Teacher Lin, "Don't waste your energy. Let's all squeeze into the opposite room for now."

"There's no room!" Lili snapped.

With Zhao Di gone, Jia Wenjun kicked out, and Gong Dalong and Sun Jiaojiao occupying one room, the remaining nine people couldn't even turn around in that small space.

"Women rest in room six, men take turns resting in the captain's cabin where the luggage is stored," Anna decided quickly.

There was no better solution, and everyone agreed.

"What about Little Jia?" Lü Maowang looked at Jia Wenjun, still huddled on the side.

Before Anna could speak, Bai Ma Shan pleaded, "Just let her stay there. At least she'll have somewhere to shelter from the rain."

"No, she has to leave." Hu Sixiang and Lili vented their anger at Sun Jiaojiao's occupation of the cabin on Jia Wenjun. They were agitated and resolutely refused to let her near.

Bai Ma Shan couldn't argue against so many people, and Captain Anna didn't agree to let her stay either.

Jia Wenjun looked at the people who seemed to want to kill her on the spot, didn't say a word, and pulled the dog into the rain.

"Before the rescue police arrive, we have to keep a close watch on her!" Lili said resentfully.

Bai Ma Shan looked at the figure in the rain and said coldly, "You guys go and rest first. I'll watch her tonight."

Old Man Wang patted Bai Ma Shan on the shoulder and sighed, "There's nothing we can do. Let's all take care of ourselves."

Indeed, people didn't have the energy to make any more fuss. The wind and rain beat against the top of the cabin, and the boat rocked from side to side in the big waves. Everyone on board was terrified and quickly crawled into the dark cabin, praying for a new day to come soon.

Driven out, Jia Wenjun slowly moved forward, feeling the railing of the boat. Lightning flashed above her head again and again. The torch had long been extinguished, and she could only use each flash of lightning to see the road under her feet.

At this moment, Jia Wenjun had only one thought: she had to survive, no matter how bad the situation was, she had to survive. The murderer who framed her probably wanted her to die in the storm tonight, so that the crime could be pinned on her forever.

She gritted her teeth and told herself that she couldn't just fall like this. Only by living could she defend herself and find evidence to prove her innocence. She didn't kill anyone, and she couldn't take the blame for no reason. Moreover, she couldn't imagine how painfully her parents would live in this world without her, so whether for herself or for her parents, she had to fight to survive.

The rain had eased a little, but the wind was still strong. Da Huang buried his head next to the suitcase Jia Wenjun was holding, trembling and afraid to make a sound, lest he be blown off the boat by accident.

Jia Wenjun didn't want to sit and wait for death. It would definitely rain again. The long night, she had to find a way to make a shelter from the rain.

She wanted to use the remaining planks at the bow of the boat to make an "A" shaped frame, and then tie her waterproof jacket to the frame to make a tent.

With the help of lightning, Jia Wenjun groped on the ground for the remains of the bonfire that had been extinguished by the rain, looking for longer planks.

The bonfire had burned through the planks, and the dense rain had formed a black puddle of charcoal where the fire had been.

Jia Wenjun felt the end of a plank in the puddle. She tried to lift the plank upwards, but it only moved slightly, rising half a meter.

The wood was flexible and resilient. The strong rebound gave Jia Wenjun an idea. She only needed to lift the plank another fifty centimeters to support the other two wooden sticks next to her in the raised space. If that could be achieved, then theoretically, she could form a solid triangular frame.

Jia Wenjun used shoelaces to tie two sturdy wooden sticks together, the forked ends of the sticks fixed in the gaps of the planks burned by the bonfire, and then she lifted them up with all her might. However, Jia Wenjun's strength was still somewhat lacking. She could only stand in the black puddle formed by the bonfire as the raindrops beat down wantonly.

Little did Jia Wenjun know that the bonfire had already burned the hull material very brittle, and it couldn't support her weight at all. Before Jia Wenjun could react, her foot went empty and she fell directly into the darkness below.

The wind howled in her ears, and Jia Wenjun only felt a thunderclap explode above her head, but the sound became much smaller, not as loud as her own shout. The next second, her back landed on something soft, without any pain.

Seeing Jia Wenjun fall into the hole, Da Huang paced back and forth anxiously at the entrance of the hole, barking wildly into the hole.

In the darkness, although the barking was somewhat muffled by the sound of the rain, it still attracted the attention of Bai Ma Shan, who was sitting on the deck.

Bai Ma Shan wanted to use the lightning to look at Jia Wenjun's movements at the bow of the boat, but God didn't give him this chance, and there was no lightning for a long time. All he could see was a dark, pouring rain.

"Da Huang, don't bark, come down!" In the darkness, Jia Wenjun could hear Da Huang's voice. She didn't want Da Huang's barking to attract the others.

The thing under her feet felt like a huge cushion, which gave Jia Wenjun no idea what it was. Although Jia Wenjun herself was not a ship expert, in her understanding, she felt that there shouldn't be such a large amount of soft material inside a ship.

Da Huang jumped down, landing heavily on Jia Wenjun's chest, causing both dog and woman to roll over.

This time, Jia Wenjun fell heavily on the uneven floor again. Fortunately, the drop wasn't high. Groping the ground, Jia Wenjun identified the keel of the hull. With the help of a flash of lightning shining in from the hole above, Jia Wenjun was able to see the inside of the hull.