Lu Maowang's back was still killing him, but coming from the murderer's mouth, he believed these words.

He felt he had no choice. Whether for surviving now or living well in the future, he had to agree.

"I, I'm willing. Sister An, don't worry, I'll definitely stand by you." He grimaced in pain, still trying to prove his loyalty.

Anna snorted and took an antibiotic from her small bag. "Eat this."

Lu Maowang saw the character "anti" on the small, foil-wrapped pill and didn't hesitate for a second. He tore open the package, popped it into his mouth, and swallowed it dry, regardless of how parched his mouth was.

"You moved my apples, didn't you?" Anna suddenly asked.

Even a rabbit has multiple escape routes. Of course, Anna wouldn't put all her food in just one or two places. In fact, there were seven or eight spots on the boat where she had stashed emergency rations and medicine. She had previously discovered that one of her fruit caches had been disturbed, and the apples were gone. The day Jia Wenjun took everyone down to check for drugs, she saw apple cores on the ground, gnawed down to tiny bits.

The only people who had been in there before were Jia Wenjun, Lu Maowang, and Bai Ma Shan. Jia Wenjun was under constant surveillance, and her opportunities to go on deck were limited, so it definitely wasn't her. And knowing Bai Ma Shan's character, if he had found them, he would have likely shared them with everyone. Only Lu Maowang was likely to have swallowed them all himself. But you can't judge a book by its cover, and no one knew who was friend or foe, so she was only testing him with her words.

Lu Maowang choked on the pill, unable to swallow or spit it out. Hearing her question, he felt guilty and coughed violently.

Seeing this, Anna sneered inwardly. She was right.

"Don't be nervous. I have plenty of apples. Since you're on my side, of course I'll let you have some. But you need to do something for me."

Lu Maowang swallowed the pill with difficulty, his mouth tasting bitter. "...Okay."

The woman was only giving him one antibiotic at a time. He'd injured his leg before, and the wound wasn't even this big. When he went to the hospital, the doctor prescribed a week's worth of antibiotics, two pills a day. Now Anna was only giving him one. It was clear she was using the medicine to control him.

Lu Maowang cursed the old woman in his heart, but as long as he could survive, as long as he had food to eat, he would do anything.

Anna tugged at the corners of her mouth, endured the stench coming from Lu Maowang, lowered her voice, and whispered in his ear for a long time.

Outside in the corridor, everyone huddled together to avoid the rain. The food was gone. Bai Ma Shan had collected some water with bottles and jars, intending to heat it up and boil it after the rain stopped so they could drink it, but Nao Nao couldn't wait. Seeing his father drinking, he picked up a bottle and started chugging it down.

Hao Jie Ning didn't stop him. They were all dying of thirst. Who cared about hygiene? She picked up a bottle of the cloudy water and drank it herself.

The teacher, Lin, and Lili, who were standing to the side, were still hesitant, but seeing that others were already drinking, they were all so hungry and thirsty, who could resist? They ignored Bai Ma Shan and Old Man Wang's objections and started drinking the rainwater as well.

Although it didn't taste good, at least it quenched their thirst. Teacher Lin wiped the water from her mouth and tried to persuade Bai Ma Shan and Old Man Wang, who still hadn't drunk any water. "Drink it. Anyway, the rescuers are coming soon. Even if we get a stomachache, we can get medicine when we get back. It's better than dying of thirst here." Old Man Wang sighed, looking at the increasingly heavy rain and waves.

Bai Ma Shan said in a low voice, "Given the current weather conditions, rescue boats are very likely not coming."

Everyone was shocked.

Lili raised her voice, not believing it. "What do you mean? Why can't they come? Even if they encounter this storm on the way, they can wait where they are, and when the rain and wind lessen, they can continue to rescue us."

Bai Ma Shan knew she didn't understand, but in order to prepare everyone for the situation, he patiently explained, "In high winds and waves, ships can't drop anchor and can't stay in place. They're prone to flooding and sinking. They have to return to port immediately to avoid the storm, or they could have an accident. So the rescue boats probably turned back this morning when they saw the change in wind direction."

"What? Does that mean they never came?" Teacher Lin was also anxious.

Old Man Wang was annoyed. "It's not that they didn't come, it's that the situation didn't allow them to continue forward, so they had to return temporarily."

Lili instantly felt as if her energy had been drained away. Her eyes were dull, and she started to cry. "I can't do it anymore. I really can't hold on. I want to go home."

Nao Nao hugged his mother and cried, "I want to go home. I don't want to be here."

Hao Jie Ning touched her son's head and anxiously asked Old Man Wang, "When can they come and rescue us?"

"That depends on the weather. They can only come out after the storm passes."

Hao Jie Ning looked at the increasingly dark sky, and the thought of having to stay on this boat for another day or two made her want to die.

If only she hadn't been greedy for a little advantage and brought her son on the ship.

If only she hadn't entered the lottery twice. Damn it all. It's all Jia Wenjun's fault!

With these thoughts, she put her hands on her hips and began shouting loudly towards the deck at the bow of the ship. In the heavy wind and rain, these curses traveled from the leaking deck to the lower hold, becoming faint and unintelligible sounds.

Hu Si Xiang, who had wanted to go ashore earlier, had a very different state of mind after the Gong Da Long incident. Hearing that the rescue ship might have turned back, he wasn't as disappointed as the others. On the contrary, he felt a slight sense of relief.

Since he would have to face charges if he went back, the longer he stayed here, the more freedom he had.

He felt that he understood Jia Wenjun's feelings of not wanting to return to shore and wanting to run the ship aground and break the phone.

Like Hu Si Xiang, Sun Jiao Jiao didn't cry or make a fuss. She sat on the deck, her eyes dull. Ever since she found out her child was gone, her heart had been dead. Even though Gong Da Long had already been punished, her child would never come back.

Thinking of the cute face of the child in her dream, she suddenly let out a strange, shrill laugh, like the sound of an owl at night, extremely frightening, scaring the few people who were still crying.

Listening to their wailing, Bai Ma Shan felt annoyed. This was why he didn't want to tell them so early.

First, they wouldn't believe it, and second, the sooner he told them, the more likely uncontrollable situations would occur.

Now that Gong Da Long was dead and it was unknown when the rescue ship would arrive, it meant that they would have to stay in this limited space with a corpse, without water or food.

The thought of it was chilling.