114: Chapter 114 There really is no rescue.

Just as she was hesitating, Wang Lan spoke up, "Do you guys want to hear the truth?"

"Nonsense." Xiao Liang glanced at her.

Wang Lan looked at Su Qingxue and said, "According to conventional maritime search and rescue mechanisms, the GMDSS system will automatically trigger an alarm after a ship loses contact."

"Even if our cruise ship's emergency position-indicating radiobeacon was destroyed in the tsunami, the track records of the shore-based radar and AIS system can still lock the search range to within fifty nautical miles of the last known position."

She paused for a moment.

"Fifteen days. Given the response capability of the domestic maritime search and rescue center, plus external help from President Su's father, every square nautical mile within this range should have been searched at least three times."

The rock crevice fell silent.

Xiao Liang didn't quite understand those terms, but he could understand the meaning hidden in that last sentence.

"You mean they searched, but didn't find us?"

Wang Lan neither nodded nor shook her head.

She was silent for a few seconds, the expression on her face collapsing layer by layer, and then she spoke a string of words that no one expected.

"March 8, 2014."

"Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, lost contact with the control center en route."

"239 people on board."

"Joint search and rescue by Malaysia, China, and Australia. Military satellites, underwater sonars, and deep-sea detectors were deployed, with a search area exceeding 120,000 square kilometers."

"The search continued for four years."

She looked into Xiao Liang's eyes and spat out the words one by one.

"Not found."

The weight of these three words was heavier than the falling stones Lin Fan pushed down from the cliff that day.

Louder than the sound of Da Zhang crashing onto the beach.

Xiao Liang's face turned ashen bit by bit.

No, not just Xiao Liang.

Except for Su Qingxue, everyone's face was turning ashen bit by bit.

Someone collapsed straight onto the ground, holding their head with both hands.

A young female employee leaned against the wall, her lips trembling for a long time, before suddenly letting out a dry howl—no tears, only a wail squeezed from deep within her throat.

For the past half month, the belief that supported them through hunger and gritting their teeth to stay alive was those four words: "Rescue will come."

Now those four words were shattered.

Completely and utterly shattered.

"You mean..."

Xiao Liang's voice was trembling.

He didn't dare to say that conclusion completely.

Once spoken, there truly would be no way out.

"You all experienced the storm intensity on the day of the tsunami. Our cruise ship's tonnage is no different from paper against that level of swells. After the hull disintegrates, the wreckage fragments will be carried by ocean currents in unpredictable directions. If we drifted to an area outside the scheduled route..."

"Their search grid might not cover this place at all."

"But judging by the position of the sun that day, we should have only drifted..."

"Then can you be sure that the sun you saw was the same day as the day our accident happened?"

No one spoke in the rock crevice.

Yeah, perhaps they had been unconscious for a day and a night.

The wind poured through the crevice, howling.

"So," Xiao Liang's voice was dry, "are you saying there really is no rescue?"

Wang Lan opened her mouth, neither saying yes nor no.

But her silence was clearer than any answer.

This was the answer.

No one would come.

The warships that entered that sea area fifteen years ago never came out.

The cargo ship that went off course eight years ago disappeared from radar. This year it was their turn.

This sea area is not on any normal navigation chart.

It devours everything that enters, then closes its mouth, leaving no trace.

...

The silence lasted for about a dozen seconds.

Then it exploded.

"Fuck your mother!" A male employee sprang up from the ground, his eyes bloodshot, veins bulging from his neck all the way to his temples, "We've been eating sand and drinking urine in this ghost place, and you, Su Qingxue, sat in the corner for half a month without even saying something like this?!"

Another person stood up along with him, kicking over the stone in front of him, "From the first day on the island you've been lying to us! Lying to us that rescue is on the way! Lying to us to wait! We believed you and that's why we didn't lay a hand on you!"

Su Qingxue's lips trembled: "I didn't lie to you, back then I also thought..."

Su Qingxue had truly believed at the time that rescue could arrive.

"Thought my ass!" Xiao Liang violently lashed out with a kick at the sandy ground in front of Su Qingxue, sending sand splashing all over her face.

"There was never any rescue from the very beginning! You dangled this thing in front of us just to make us keep protecting you! You were afraid that if we stopped protecting you, you'd be thrown out as a meat shield!"

Su Qingxue pressed her body tightly against the rock wall.

For the past half month, "Rescue is coming" was the only armor on her body.

Not money, not status, not the title of chairman of Shengtang Group.

These things were utterly worthless on a Deserted Island.

Only the two words "Rescue" made this group of people still willing to maintain a shred of tolerance toward her.

Now the armor was shattered.

In these people's eyes, she was no longer President Su who could bring hope.

She was just good-for-nothing trash occupying a corner, consuming resources that didn't even exist, and unwilling to dirty even a single finger.

No, even worse than trash.

Trash at least didn't consume food.

Xiao Liang stepped forward, grabbed Su Qingxue by the collar, and pulled her up from the ground.

Because of dehydration and hunger, Su Qingxue's weight had dropped by at least ten pounds; one of Xiao Liang's hands was enough.

"Why keep this bitch?" Xiao Liang turned his head and roared towards the back, "Since rescue isn't coming! What use is there in keeping her?!"

"I'll vent my anger on her first. I've seen plenty of domineering female executives, but I haven't experienced one yet."

"Wait." A man came up; it was the middle-aged employee named Han who hadn't spoken much before.

His gaze was very strange, the dead skin on his lips had been chewed by himself until it was bloody and bruised, and the corners of his mouth twitched as he spoke.

"I remember Chen Jian said something before."