She didn’t know how much time had passed. By the time she came around, the sky had darkened and everything was pitch black.
Her hands and feet were bound with ropes.
It felt like her body was floating.
Was she floating on water?
“Stella, Stella.”
She thought she was hallucinating when she heard Jasper’s voice. Did she miss him too much?
“Stella, Stella.” Jasper’s voice travelled into her ears.
She was sure she’d heard it clearly this time, so she hurried to answer. “I’m here, Jasper. Jasper!”
A bright light suddenly shone from the flashlight on his phone.
Jasper Milton lifted the lid of the wooden box.
Stella Grace caught sight of his face and gasped in surprise. “Why are you here?”
Jasper bent over to untie the ropes that were binding her hands. “It’s a long story. Let’s get out of here first. Bryan is still outside,” he said hurriedly.
“Bryan is outside?” Stella panicked and grasped onto his hand. “Bryan is one of Ryan’s men. It was he who kidnapped me,” she said.
“What?” Jasper could feel danger coming towards them. He heard the sound of something swooshing outside and opened the window.
Suddenly a flash of light penetrated the darkness. Before he could properly process what was happening, he took Stella’s hand and jumped out of the window. With a bang, a bomb exploded on the ship, followed by nine other explosions. The ship was blown to smithereens, sinking beneath the waves.
There was a flash of shock in Jasper’s eyes. His mind was flooded with a myriad of half-formed thoughts, a headache rising unbidden.
He shook his head and tried not to think about it. After accounting for his wounds, he looked at Stella, who was also in a state of shock, and said, “Wait for me here.”
Stella held Jasper’s hand.
There were only the two of them out on the murky sea.
She knew that she would lose her stamina soon and die here.
At this time, she did not want to be separated from him. Even if she died, at least she would be with him.
“I’m running out of time. I’ll talk to you later.” Jasper said urgently and dived into the water.
She was floating alone on the sea. It was dark all around, and she could not see anything.
It seemed that she had seen this scene in her dream. In this world, she was the only one who faced endless loneliness and darkness.
She thought of the survival strategy that she had seen on the TV before she fell into the sea.
She took off her long pants, turned around and took a deep breath. She then tied a knot at the leg of her pants, tightened the waist opening of her pants and wrapped them around her neck. It was said in the video that this simple ‘flotation device’ could last for about two hours.
What about after two hours?
They were probably at the deep sea. Even if they were not eaten by sharks, they would probably either starve to death or die of thirst.
Jasper still did not appear after a long time.
Was there any need for her to keep on living if she was alone?
Several minutes later, a large piece of wood appeared beside her. Stella was shocked.
Jasper came out from the bottom of the water, gasping for breath.
“Jasper.” She broke out in a happy smile when she saw him return to the surface.
With him by her side, she would feel warm even if she was in the freezing waters.
Jasper smiled at her and said, “We’re very lucky that there’ isn’t any wind today. You can hold on to this wooden board first, and I’ll connect the other wooden planks.”
“Okay,” Stella replied.
Jasper swam away and disappeared from her sight. However, she could hear the sound of water splashing, so she knew that he was nearby.
She put on her pants and lay on the wooden board. Somehow, she felt inexplicably calm in her heart.
Half an hour later, Jasper connected the other three wood planks with ropes and swam toward her.
“I’ll just tie this one to the bottom,” he said with a smile.
It was rare for him to smile, but this smile at this moment made her feel at ease.
“I’ll help you.”
He nodded, “Come here and press the wooden board on my side. Try to press as hard as you can so that the other side would tilt up.”
“Okay.” She swam to his side.
And Jasper swam to hers.
She gathered her strength and tried to push the plank downwards, but she was too weak, and she almost collapsed on one part of the wooden board.
Jasper pressed his side of the board and turned it.
It worked splendidly, and they succeeded on their first try.
Jasper tied the rope to the wooden board.
“Why do you have so many ropes?” Stella asked curiously.
“I found quite a few of them when I was looking for you. In addition to the box you were put in, the beds and the wine barrels were all made of wood. Unfortunately, the barrels were all blown up and are useless now. You go up first,” he said.
“Okay.” Stella climbed onto the wooden board and lay on her stomach, not daring to move a muscle lest she accidentally roll off the planks and cause more trouble for Jasper.
Jasper climbed up and pulled several plastic bags out of the water.
“What’s this?” Stella was surprised.
“There was a water fountain on the boat. The large bucket in the water fountain was half-filled, but it was blown up too. I found three bottles of mineral water. We should use it sparingly, and the water should be able to last for a few days. I also took all the empty mineral water bottles. We can use it to make distilled water. There are still a lot of debris down below, but I’ve taken all the things that could be taken. I can’t say that they’ll be useful, though.”
“You did all that in just a few minutes?” She couldn’t help but admire him. He truly lived up to his name as a army general.
“Holding the breath isn’t one of my fortes. I usually last about seven minutes to eight minutes. An Italian man called David Molini currently holds the Guinness world record. He could hold his breath for 20 minutes and 55 seconds.”
“20 minutes and 55 seconds without breathing. Won’t he die?” Stella was very surprised.
“He probably had special training. I heard that there are a group of women who live by the beach and they could hold their breath for three minutes on average. They would go to the bottom of the sea to salvage stuffs. They could also do it for seven to eight minutes. However, they would usually avoid doing that, fearing that they might overexert their bodies.”
“Have you also undergone special training?” Stella tilted her head and asked him.
Although she had known him for a long time, she had never asked about his military affairs.
“Yes. We need that skill in battle,” Jasper replied. A few memories flashed across his mind and he lowered his eyes.
That time, he had boarded the ship for a mission. The enemy immediately engaged in battle when they recognized him.
The enemy was outnumbered and they ignited all the chain bombs on the boat.
He jumped into the sea and was hit in the head by the debris, thereby knocking him out. However, he managed to hold his breath for more than eight minutes. He was rescued, but he’d already lost some of his memories.
“Jasper? Jasper!” Stella shouted.
Jasper came back to his senses and looked at her.
On that day, in order to test him, those people caught Stella because they thought she was his girlfriend. Jasper immediately ordered people to save her after he left.
At that time, she was investigating Lionel Lausanne in the Sun City Public Security Bureau, and he was handling a chained bomb case in Yale City.
Someone had detonated a chain bomb during the Grey Wolf’s military training, injuring eight of Jasper’s men in varying degrees.
And the one who had detonated the bomb was Mike Lewis. Mike didn’t die, but after recognizing him, he immediately hopped onto a boat and quickly fled.
“Stella, I remember everything,” Jasper said in a deep voice.