Upon hearing these words, everyone’s gaze turned towards the outside and Jane vaguely saw something nearby.
Just then, the sky quickly darkened and the wind on the sea picked up a bit. Jane blinked her eyes and heard a muffled thunderclap in her ears.
It was actually a tornado!
Jane suddenly realized why the afternoon had become so gloomy and why there were such heavy clouds. For a moment, she regretted not checking the weather forecast before coming out.
More accurately, she regretted not checking her almanac. Otherwise, how could she have been so unlucky to have predicted that an accident would happen as soon as she arrived?
At this moment, there was also an announcement on board telling everyone to take shelter in the cabin.
The three of them didn’t dare delay and quickly went into the cabin where many people had already gathered with worried expressions. Some even began to complain.
The sound of thunder outside grew louder while raindrops hit against deck became more distinct. Jane looked worried as she leaned against Patrick’s chest without saying anything.
Patrick’s face was cold; no one had expected this accident to happen. Furthermore, due to being affected by tornadoes, communication devices were unable to be used; they could only wait here with no other options available.
The ship began to sway slightly while announcements overboard became intermittent which indicated that tornadoes were about to strike soon.
People on board also started getting restless with complaints growing louder.
“Help! I want out! I want out!”
“How could we encounter such things? This is just plain bad luck.”
“I’m not going die right? What should I do…”
“I don’t want die yet! I’m still young! I can’t die!”
Noisy voices filled up entire cabin instantly while Jane held onto Patrick’s hand tightly causing it turn ice-cold within seconds.
She remembered their previous experience when they survived after crashing into sea together before…
Even thinking about it now made her shudder but Jane never thought that history would repeat itself so soon again…
“Patrick…” Her expression serious now as she tightened grip around his hand.
“It’s okay; you’re safe with me.” Patrick kissed Jane gently on temple reassuringly.
His firm voice made Jane feel warm inside because as long he was here by her side, nothing else mattered anymore…
On the side, Joseph’s face turned even worse. He looked worriedly out the window, stabilizing himself as the ship swayed. He then turned to Jane and said, “Jane, I will protect you too.”
Perhaps due to the tense atmosphere, Jane did not hear Joseph’s trembling voice at the end.
In fact, Joseph wasn’t too afraid of this kind of thing. What really scared him was that he didn’t know how to swim. If the cruise ship sank, he would be in great danger.
The crew on board began distributing life jackets to each passenger, but this action caused even more tension among the already nervous crowd.
“Let me out! I want to leave here! I don’t want to die here!” One woman screamed and pushed the crew members away.
“Protect me! Get me out of here!”
The crew member’s wrist was sore from being grabbed by the woman, but he still tried his best to comfort her, “Ma’am, please calm down. This is currently the safest place for you. Please put on your life jacket first.”
“Stay here? Stay here and wait for death? Don’t you have lifeboats on board? Let me leave now!” The hysterical woman shouted and many people around her were swayed by her words.
“But…” The crew member turned pale with fear as this was something he did not want to encounter either.
However, the woman continued relentlessly and even wanted to break into the cockpit.
Jane’s temples throbbed from all of this noise. She stepped forward and grabbed onto the woman’s collar with her hand. “Shut up!” she coldly scolded her.
“What are you going to do?” The woman was startled at first but then regained some confidence when she saw that Jane was a fellow female passenger instead of a crew member herself.
“If you continue making noise like this, I won’t mind shutting you up right now.” Jane remained expressionless throughout their exchange.
“Get lost! I don’t want to wait for death here. I want a lifeboat; get me out of here immediately!” The woman yelled loudly again in response.
“Go out? Sure, if you want to take a lifeboat, go ahead. Let’s see if the tornado hits and flips either this cruise ship or your precious lifeboat,” Jane released the woman, maintaining her composure. “The door is right there; feel free to leave.”
Upon hearing this, the woman’s body trembled for a moment. She seemed like she wanted to argue further, but noticing Jane’s cold demeanor, she let out a sarcastic laugh. Jane then grabbed the woman by her hair and dragged her to the door.
The woman immediately went hysterical, screaming at the top of her lungs, “What are you doing! Help! Save me!”
“You wanted to go out, right?” Jane pressed the woman’s face against the window, revealing the thunder and lightning outside.
The woman was instantly frightened out of her wits, shaking like a quail, too scared to say anything.
Jane let go and scanned the rest of the people, “Anyone else wants to leave?”
As soon as these words were spoken, the restless crowd fell silent.
“Who doesn’t want to leave? Are we just going to wait here and die?” someone protested, speaking up again.
“Do you think yelling and screaming will save us? Instead of wasting energy on that, let’s focus on how to deal with the typhoon,” Jane said, turning to ask one of the crew members about their plans.
The crew member wiped sweat from his forehead and replied, “The ship has already tried its best to steer clear of the storm center. If anything happens, we’ll immediately deploy lifeboats and evacuate everyone.”
After hearing this, no one spoke up again. Everyone forced themselves to calm down despite the violent shaking caused by the tornado. Jane frowned while Patrick held her tightly in his arms.
Everyone was terrified but didn’t know how much time had passed before things calmed down a bit. However, in the next moment, a broadcast announcement made everyone’s heart skip a beat: there was a leak in one part of the ship!
All previous composure vanished as people began shouting. The crew quickly organized everyone onto deck where lifeboats were already prepared for deployment into sea.
Jane wiped rainwater off her face while biting her thin lips anxiously.
“Jane… don’t be afraid,” Joseph’s voice came from beside her. His face was pale with fear as he looked uneasily at the vast ocean below them.
Jane looked at Joseph only to notice that his life jacket strap had broken off completely!
“Why is your life jacket broken?” Jane felt a sudden shock.
With such huge waves, a life jacket would be immensely helpful if one fell into the water. However, the situation was different when the life jacket was damaged.
“I… I accidentally broke it,” Joseph frowned, gripping the broken part tightly, trying to mentally prepare himself.
He stared at the dark sea, feeling a wave of dizziness.
“You can’t swim?” Jane seemed to notice Joseph’s unusual behavior and inquired.
Caught off guard by the direct hit, Joseph’s expression stiffened.
However, at that moment, a life jacket was handed to him. Joseph looked up in surprise, meeting Patrick’s cold gaze.
“Put it on.”