After rowing for over an hour, John Brown received a message from Martin Miller, and he replied right in front of Sophia. Once he finished, Sophia coldly said, "Turn that thing off. If you can kill me, then you can turn it back on. If you die by my hand, then you can turn it back on again. I don’t want anyone to interrupt us."
"No problem!" John Brown promptly turned off his watch, then said to Emily Lopez, "Emily, I’ve already informed your sister. They won’t be worried."
"Hmm!" Emily Lopez nodded, then yawned and said, "Brother-in-law, I’m a bit cold, I want to lean on you and rest for a while."
John Brown immediately stretched out his arms and said, "Come over."
Emily Lopez immediately lay beside John Brown, resting her head on his arm, hugging his chest, and murmured, "Brother-in-law, do you think it might rain?"
John Brown looked at the sky and said, "I think it’s going to rain soon. If it starts raining and the wind picks up, if we don’t find land, I’m afraid we’ll all drown."
Emily Lopez hugged John Brown tightly and whispered, "It’s okay. With you here, even if we drown, I’m not afraid."
Lucy Campbell also looked at the sky, somewhat worried, and said, "It’s really troublesome now. Miss, I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but we’re all in the same boat now. The most important thing is to find land before it rains or get onto a bigger ship. Can you guarantee that?"
Sophia was quite annoyed, relying on her memory. If they rowed for another couple of hours, there should be a small island. Once there, she could have a real competition with John Brown, but given the current situation, reaching that island seemed quite difficult.
However, with her personality, she would never show weakness, snorted coldly, and continued rowing, but her movements were noticeably faster.
"James, the wind is picking up."
After a while, the wind began to rise, the waves surged, and the small boat rocked back and forth over the waves. Quite a bit of water splashed into the boat, soaking everyone’s clothes. The wind blew, making it quite cold. Lucy Campbell huddled her shoulders and moved closer to John Brown.
John Brown said, "Now everyone, take off your clothes."
Although Emily Lopez and Lucy Campbell didn’t know why John Brown said that, once he spoke, they immediately started taking off their clothes without hesitation. Seeing Sarah Utah not moving, John Brown immediately said, "Sarah Utah, take off your clothes too."
Blood rushed to Sarah Utah’s face, but she gritted her teeth and slowly started undressing. Her heart raced uncontrollably. Was John Brown thinking they were all going to die and trying to do something crazy? If that’s really the case, she’d accept it. She’d always liked John Brown, and in life’s final moments, giving her body to him would keep her from having regrets.
But Sarah Utah soon realized she was mistaken. John Brown quickly took their clothes along with his, tore them apart, and twisted them into a long rope, wrapping it around the waists of four people, tying it while saying, "Soon our boat will surely sink; then we’ll fall into the sea. Although we have life vests, the waves will easily blow us apart. By tying us together, I will be able to take care of you."
The boat rocked more violently now, and large raindrops fell from the sky, hitting their faces painfully.
Emily Lopez tightened her grip around John Brown’s waist, sobbing, "Brother-in-law, do you think we’ll really die?"
John Brown smiled faintly and said, "Silly girl, with me here, how could I let you die?" In truth, John Brown wasn’t confident at this point, though he’d swum dozens of miles with Lucy Campbell before. That was only with one person, and the weather was good then. But now, the weather was so bad, and direction was lost, making human strength seem very small in the vast ocean. However, he didn’t want to let them lose hope; he chose to face it calmly.
Looking at Sophia, John Brown smiled faintly and asked, "Do you want to join us?"
"No need!" Sophia replied coldly.
John Brown chuckled and said, "I advise you to join us. No matter how high your martial arts skills are, you can’t fight the sea alone."
Emily Lopez immediately said, "Brother-in-law, let’s not care about her. It’s that bad woman who made us this way."
Although John Brown didn’t want to be with this dangerous woman, if Sophia was with them, she would be a powerful ally, increasing everyone’s chances of survival. He didn’t particularly want to save her.
Sophia snorted, not responding.
John Brown shrugged helplessly. Since she didn’t agree, he didn’t need to worry about her.
"Boom!" Thunder roared, and lightning slashed across the sky like a silver serpent. The wind grew stronger, the rain harder, and the waves tossed the small boat upward, crashing it back down into the troughs. The group was already soaked to the skin. John Brown held Lucy Campbell and Emily Lopez tightly, while Sarah Utah clung to his neck from behind. In the face of nature’s force, pride and shame became irrelevant, and nobody thought there was anything wrong with being so close to John Brown.
"Splash..." Another big wave tossed the small boat high. This time, Sophia couldn’t keep the boat balanced, and as it came down, it capsized, trapping John Brown and the others inside.
Although everyone knew this could happen, the reality of falling into the sea panicked both Emily Lopez and Sarah Utah, who instinctively clung tightly to John Brown.
Before the boat flipped, John Brown took a deep breath and immediately started diving down with the others.
On the surface, it was all wind and waves, but just a few meters below, the water was much calmer. John Brown couldn’t tell the direction but kept swimming forward, hoping to escape the storm’s range and be safe.
After a short while, John Brown began to feel distress. Sarah Utah was gripping his neck so tightly it was almost suffocating. He quickly released Emily Lopez, pulled Sarah Utah in front, finally relieved some pressure from his neck, and then pressed his lips to hers, passing a breath over.
Sarah Utah, never having experienced such a situation, was a bit disoriented, instinctively clinging to John Brown as a drowning person’s natural reaction. But the breath he passed over quickly cleared her mind. Despite the underwater blackness, she knew it was John Brown, feeling both shy and embarrassed, never imagining something could happen underwater.
Feeling Sarah Utah calm down, John Brown gently patted her back and tugged at the rope around Sarah Utah’s waist, then let her go.
Sarah Utah immediately understood and released John Brown. With air now, she wasn’t panicking and felt more at ease staying with John Brown.
John Brown then passed a breath to Lucy Campbell. Lucy was already used to this, not only taking a breath but also teasingly sticking her tongue into his mouth. Even in such a hostile environment, Lucy’s playfulness amused John Brown.
But John Brown didn’t dare to fool around. He let go of Lucy, tugged on the rope again, preparing to pass a breath to Emily Lopez. However, as he pulled someone into his arms, he felt clothes and instantly knew it was Sophia. He quickly released her. Despite not being tied together, Sophia must have grabbed someone’s rope as the boat sank.
Luckily, Sophia didn’t attack now. Otherwise, in the water, John Brown couldn’t dodge her throwing knife. He finally found Emily Lopez and quickly passed a breath to the nearly unconscious Emily.
Emily finally breathed air, greedily taking it from John Brown’s lips, reluctant to part.
John Brown was supplying air to three people, and with his own needs, the burden was truly heavy. After giving each one breath once, he couldn’t manage a second round. So, after a bit of swimming, he led everyone upwards to the surface.
"Breathe!" Nearing the surface, their bodies became uncontrollable. John Brown had to hold onto them as best as he could, fearing the ropes might snap under the strain, so he relied on his hands instead.
Finally reaching the surface, despite the high waves and strong winds making it miserable, they could at least truly breathe fresh air. John Brown took a deep breath and shouted, "When I count to three, everyone take a deep breath and dive. That way, we can stay underwater longer."
"One! Two! Three!" John Brown could only shout, unsure if they could hear him, then pulled everyone down with him.
This time, they were prepared, not as panicked as before. John Brown didn’t need to exert as much force, leading them down once more, passing air twice, and surfacing again.
John Brown didn’t pay much attention to Sophia, but she cooperated. In the face of nature’s power, human strength seemed insignificant. To survive, she had to row in the same boat as John Brown and his group.
Sophia’s strength wasn’t much inferior to John Brown’s. Although not as skilled in water, she could at least take care of herself and contributed significantly when they dived. Without her efforts, John Brown alone couldn’t have repeatedly dived with several people in the storm without being exhausted.