It was obvious that if her grandfather didn’t leave, then she wouldn’t leave either.
But her grandfather suffered from severe rheumatism, and at this moment, his old and frail body couldn’t cross this stretch of sea.
Staying on the ship meant a dead end.
Paisley watched as the flames engulfed the rear of the ship, getting closer to her by the minute.
She pulled Baylee out. “Hurry, come with me. I really can’t save your grandfather. I believe he wouldn’t want to see you die with him.”
Probably knowing that he was destined to die today, tears filled the grandfather’s eyes as he looked at his granddaughter.
He struggled to move his lips, saying something unintelligible. Hearing this, Baylee felt even more heartbroken.
She broke free from Paisley’s embrace and threw herself in front of her grandfather’s bed.
The surrounding temperature kept rising, and the flames approached them like a terrifying python about to devour them.
If they didn’t leave soon, they would all likely perish here.
“Baylee, listen to me, you need to leave quickly. I know you can’t bear to leave your grandfather, but…”
Maxim knew that he was destined not to survive today. Perhaps people have this strange feeling when they’re about to die.
He glanced at his granddaughter for the last time, reaching out his wrinkled, bark-like hand to gently stroke the child’s head. “Baylee, be good, go with them. I’m old, and it’s nothing if I die, but you’re different.”
Baylee cried even harder, clinging tightly to her grandfather’s hand. She still couldn’t speak, although she tried to open her mouth to shout “Grandpa.”
With a heavy heart, Maxim closed his eyes and pushed her away. “Go, go quickly! Go find your brother… After I die, I will become a star in the sky to protect you.”
“No… No…”
Baylee didn’t want her grandfather to die; he was their only relative in this world.
“It’s almost too late.”
Araceli saw the arsonist preparing to approach them by boat, so she had to go over and pick up Baylee. “We must go, Baylee… I hope you can forgive me.” With that, she raised her hand and swiftly struck the back of the little girl’s neck.
Baylee felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck, and then she lost consciousness.
Maxim knew they wouldn’t harm their granddaughter, so he smiled gratefully at the two of them. With his mouth open, he said something incomprehensible to Araceli and the others.
“Do you have something to tell me?”
The old man nodded, excitedly pointing his finger in the direction of the bedside table, indicating that there was something there.
“Are you trying to tell me to give what’s inside that box to Mike?”
“Yes.”
Upon hearing this, Araceli walked over and opened the wooden drawer. Inside was a paint-peeled biscuit tin, indicating it had been there for a long time. Araceli had to hold the child, so she entrusted the box to Paisley. The latter tightly held the box and said, “I understand. I will give it to Mike.”
“I’m sorry we can’t take you with us, but I promise to protect these two children.”
After hearing her last words, Maxim finally felt relieved. He glanced at his granddaughter one last time, then closed his eyes peacefully, leaning gently against the head of the bed, waiting for death to come.
As soon as they jumped off the ship, the small fishing boat behind them made a crisp “click” sound. Enveloped in raging flames, the ship sank. Mike and Baylee no longer had a grandfather. Araceli and Paisley looked at each other, seeing a mixture of grief and indignation in each other’s eyes.
“Don’t just stand there, get on the boat!”
It’s unknown where Leandro got a steam fishing boat from. The boat was rusty and barely functional.
“Let’s go.”
“Oh, by the way, Leandro, where’s Octavio?”
Araceli looked around and didn’t see Octavio’s figure. Just now, she and Paisley decided to come back to rescue people, but in the heat of the moment, they didn’t notice Octavio.
Leandro froze for a moment, then slapped his thigh abruptly.
“Right, where’s Octavio?” he asked.
“I was about to come ashore just now when I saw you guys turning back to rescue someone. I was afraid you might be in danger, so I changed direction to find the boat.”
“I thought Octavio was with you guys.”
Turned out neither of them was…
On the shore, from afar, they saw a group of men dressed in military green uniforms, looking imposing.
“Who are those people? Why are they setting fires? Could Octavio have been captured by them?”
“They don’t seem like Vrisa military. We’ll report back to Cheyenne and the others about this later. For now, escaping is the priority.”
With that said, Leandro, despite his old age and frailty, personally went to the engine and pulled the rope to drive the small boat.
Before leaving, they glanced back at the small village where they had stayed the night before.
In the sea of flames, the boats gradually sank, leaving only burning flames, with no trace of last night’s residents.
In less than a day, the peaceful fishing village had turned into a hellish place.
“Someday I’ll make them pay!” Leandro swore fiercely.
On the other side, the rainforest in the early morning was full of miasma, with a nauseating smell of earthiness and the rotten fermentation of fallen leaves filling the air.
The strange mixture of smells was extremely unpleasant, even making them feel a bit dizzy.
However, Cheyenne noticed that Mike seemed unaffected by the miasma.
“Mike, why don’t you feel dizzy?” Mike led the way ahead, responding to Cheyenne’s question:
“That’s because we’ve grown up here since childhood and are accustomed to these smells and environments.”
“There’s a tradition in the village that children are bathed in medicinal baths from the day they’re born, so maybe I’m not affected by the miasma because of that.”
Bathed in medicinal baths since childhood? No wonder…
It’s probably because he already has antibodies in his body.
“By the way, did we arrive at the haunted place you mentioned last night?”
“We’re almost there, just up ahead.”
In a few minutes, Mike led them to a banana grove with a stream and a waterfall nearby.
A clear spring-like lake adorned the surrounding scenery, except for two colorful piranhas in the water glaring at them menacingly.
Kelvin tossed the snake he had killed into the water, and soon the surface was rippled with waves.
The piranhas, smelling the scent of blood, swam over, and in a few moments, the dead snake was torn to shreds.
Blood spread out, reflecting the pale faces of the onlookers on the lake surface.
“Oh my god, these fish are too fierce. How are we supposed to cross the river like this? If we accidentally fall in, the fate of that snake will be ours.”
Just thinking about it is terrifying.