Chapter 210: The Storm

Eddie went completely crazy, and so did all the sailors. Instead of raising the sails to flee, they lowered all of them because there was no escaping a storm like this.

“Get to the cabins! Tie yourselves down!” Eddie shouted. “Close all the doors!”

Almost as soon as they completed these tasks, the dark clouds engulfed them, and it became very dark. Torrential rain poured down from the sky, leaving no place to hide.

Huge waves crashed over the ship. Eddie shouted commands, standing on the bridge, continuously adjusting the ship’s direction, trying to prevent it from capsizing in the massive waves. In just a few seconds, the Black Pearl began to rock violently, like a roller coaster.

Wu Qingsong and the others huddled inside the cabin, but it was equally dangerous there.

Objects that weren’t tied down flew around with the ship’s movement. The planks creaked ominously in the storm as if they might break at any moment.

Wu Qingsong activated the girls’ abilities, but in such chaos, no one knew what would happen next.

Daryl wanted to go outside to help but was held back tightly by Ram. Beck and the others were utterly disoriented by the rocking, their faces pale as they clung to anything they could grab, being tossed around by the violent motion.

Everyone was shouting at the top of their lungs, but the waves, wind, and thunder drowned everything out.

Everything spun. Everything jolted. Everything trembled violently. The items tied down with ropes began to shift, the ropes strained tightly and made ominous buzzing sounds.

No one knew how long it had been when the ship suddenly started spinning wildly with unprecedented force, followed by a loud crash, and then it stopped abruptly. It felt like a speeding train slamming into a cliff, throwing everyone and everything hard against the walls and then dropping them onto the ceiling.

The ship was still rocking, but much less than before. Waves continued to crash against the deck, and water was seeping in from somewhere, making everything wet.

“Ram! Ling! Liuli!” Wu Qingsong struggled to get up in the darkness, shouting.

His voice was drowned out by the storm outside, but after calling for a long time, he finally heard a response.

“I’m okay, and so is Liuli, but Sister Ram, she…” Ling’s voice said.

Wu Qingsong hurriedly crawled in the direction of her voice, stepping on someone in the process, and finally reached them.

Ling was unhurt except for her pale face. Her ability allowed her to anchor herself like a spider with many web-like structures, preventing injury during the final impact. She also managed to firmly hold onto Liuli after Liuli’s ability had ran out.

However, Ram was not as fortunate. She had hit the wall hard during the last jolt. She had a gash on her head that was bleeding profusely and a broken left arm.

“What should we do?” Ling had learned some basic first aid, but she was completely at a loss with such serious injuries.

Wu Qingsong frantically searched the overturned cabin for anything useful. Most of the furniture and crates were hanging in mid-air, their contents scattered everywhere. He grabbed what he hoped was a relatively clean piece of clothing for Ling to press against Ram’s head wound. Then he picked up a broken table leg but had no idea how to deal with Ram’s fractured arm.

“Let me help.” Red Moon’s voice came from nearby. “I know first aid.”

Wu Qingsong quickly dug her out from under a pile of debris. She wasn’t in great shape either, with several bleeding wounds, but luckily no broken bones.

Red Moon took a few deep breaths before crawling over to Ram under Wu Qingsong’s worried gaze.

Around them, a few others began to sit up or extricate themselves from the pile of debris. Wu Qingsong crawled through the darkness to help them get free.

The Houndmen were mostly unharmed, except for one with a broken rib who could still move around, and Daryl, who had hit his head. Fortunately, his combat skills had kicked in at the crucial moment, helping him avoid more serious injury by adjusting his movements just in time.

Bernar, however, was in bad shape. The old badger couldn’t react as quickly as the younger ones. During the impact, he hadn’t managed to brace himself at all. A rope had yanked his waist hard, twisting his spine awkwardly, and his head had slammed into the cabin wall, leaving him unconscious.

Just then, Ram let out a scream. Wu Qingsong rushed over to find that Red Moon was setting her broken arm, using cloth strips and sticks to immobilize it.

Ram’s face was ghostly pale, which pained Wu Qingsong to see.

“It’s a good thing the skin wasn’t broken, or this would be a lot worse,” Red Moon said.

“Please check on everyone else,” Wu Qingsong said. “Ling, take care of Ram and Liuli. Daryl, keep an eye on Bernar and make sure he doesn’t move.”

“What are you going to do?” Red Moon asked.

“I’m going to see what’s happening outside,” Wu Qingsong replied. “See if anyone needs help.”

The cabin door was jammed by something heavy. It took several houndmen working together to finally push it open.

Rain immediately poured through the cabin door, though it was much less intense than before. Wu Qingsong saw that the Black Pearl had capsized and was wedged between two massive rocks, mostly above the water’s surface. The main mast was broken, and the other two masts were submerged, making it impossible to see their condition.

The sails and broken ropes hung down, with a few sailors struggling to climb onto the rocks for safety. The rest were nowhere to be seen.

“We need to go out and help,” Wu Qingsong shouted back to the houndmen. “Bring those ropes with you.”

He was the first to jump from the overturned cabin door, only to be slashed by a sharp rock hidden below the water’s surface.

“This way doesn’t work,” he quickly shouted to the houndmen following him. “Climb down with the ropes.”

Waves continued to batter the ship, but they were no longer as fierce as before. Wu Qingsong tied a long rope around his waist, had the houndmen hold onto it, and then plunged into the sea, struggling to swim toward the rocks.

Reaching the rock amidst the surging waves took him nearly half an hour.

“Where’s Aifre?” he shouted.

The surviving sailors shook their heads, clinging desperately to the rock, fearing the waves would sweep them away.