Demons Beside You

“Chen, please stop the boat,” Kane and the others pleaded with Chen Zhao.

The small boat was now a dozen nautical miles from the storm. The waves had grown larger and the ship was starting to shake.

Chen Zhao used the fixing rod to fix the steering wheel. Then he turned toward everyone and chased them out of the cockpit.

“Don’t you think that facing the storm is exciting?”

“You’re crazy, you know? This boat is so small. We’re going to die.”

“It is indeed dangerous,” Chen Zhao said. “Please put on your life vests.”

“Chen, I’m sorry. Let’s go back. I promise I won’t stop you and Fali from being together. I’ll give my blessings.”

Laurent and the others were terrified. They’d never seen someone so crazy. It was one thing to make the others drown at sea, but there was no need to drown yourself!

“You’re not a true man until you’ve experienced a storm.” Chen Zhao stood on the deck, gazing at the approaching storm with a tragic yet heroic expression.

“I lived 50 years like this and it’s great. I don’t want to be a true man.” Laurent was crying.

“We’re already here, so there’s no reason to go back,” Chen Zhao said nonchalantly. “There’s a Chinese saying. Since we are here, then let us settle.”

“Kane, Karim, Howard,” Laurent yelled. “If you don’t want to die, we must stop him!”

Chen Zhao picked up the baseball bat beside him. He’d prepared this beforehand. Laurent and the others were frightened by the bat. It was used just to scare them.

However, Chen Zhao wasn’t going to scare them by holding it. He wrenched and snapped the solid wooden bat.

“Does anyone want to experience getting his arm broken?”

“Chen, I know you’re angry at us. You can take revenge however you’d like once we get back to land. But we’ll really die like this.” Kane’s face was filled with pleading.

“Yeah, yeah. You can’t joke about this.”

“Is locking me inside the freezer a joke then?”

“You said you don’t mind.”

“Yeah. I didn’t lock you in a freezer or hit you, right? At least for now.”

“You know that you’ll die too, right?”

“Do you think I’m afraid?”

Just then, a huge wave crashed down. The entire boat was lifted four or five meters. It fell back onto the surface of the sea and everyone toppled to the ground.

Chen Zhao held the railing with one hand, admiring how pathetic the others looked.

The sky suddenly darkened. The wind and waves grew angrier too.

It was too late to go back now. They’d already entered the storm zone. A terrible wave slammed down.

The boat was overturned instantly. Everyone fell into the water.

The waves kept crashing down on them. Chen Zhao reached out and pulled Laurent out of the water.

He didn’t have to care about Kane, Karim, or Howard. They were fit, since they were bodyguards. They could totally survive being in the water. At least, they won’t die for the time being.

“You *sshole…you *sshole…” Laurent cursed at Chen Zhao wildly. “Psycho, idiot…you’re gonna kill us all.”

Cough, cough.

A wave came and Laurent choked on some mouthfuls of water.

Chen Zhao kept his eyes on Kane and the others so they won’t be washed away by the waves. They all wore life vests, so their lives weren’t in danger for now.

To be honest, facing the storm in the sea was safer than being on the boat. Plus, sea storms came and passed quickly. Within ten minutes, the sky brightened again.

But now came the true test. The hot sun baked the people on the surface of the sea.

“Chen, I know you brought the SOS instrument. Hurry and call people to save us.”

“Please, you think I have something like that?” Chen Zhao didn’t even wear a life vest. When they reached the storm zone, he’d also taken off his clothes and was only left with swim trunks.

“You really didn’t bring it?”

“Of course.”

“We’re at least 100 nautical miles from land. You psycho, how are we going back now?”

“Swimming, of course,” Chen Zhao said matter-of-factly. “You see how I’m wearing swim trunks? This should explain my intentions.”

“Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy…”

“You best save your energy,” Chen Zhao said easily. “If you keep yelling, you’ll be dehydrated.” He turned to Kane, Karim, and Howard. “Hey, you guys good?”

“Not good at all!” Kane said with gritted teeth. “I really regret angering you, madman.”

“Swimming a bit is just exercise.”

“This is 100 nautical miles. No matter how fit we are, we can’t swim all that under the sun.”

“It depends on the person. Believe in yourself.”

“Believe your *ss,” Kane said without energy. “Even a marathon athlete can’t do 100 nautical miles.”

Some professional swimmers could swim dozens of kilometers across a strait, but that was under conditions where they could receive food and fresh water.

Even Chen Zhao couldn’t swim 200 kilometers. However, he acted very calm as if there was nothing to worry about.

An hour later, the others had no more energy left. They could only float on the surface. Chen Zhao was still spirited. He swam around them all.

“Come on. We haven’t even swum two kilometers. How come you all stopped? We still have a long way to go.”

“Crazy…crazy…F*ck you…” Laurent swore.

They all thought that they would die on the sea. They didn’t know if Chen Zhao would die, but they were sure that they would die.

After floating for two more hours, it was already noon.

Laurent didn’t even have the energy to speak anymore. Everyone was dehydrated and the sun was even brighter now.

Chen Zhao was still very lively. This bastard is too fit, everyone thought. He clearly moved more than them, but he still wasn’t tired.

Everyone had surrendered to their fate. They were too small. Compared to the vast sea, they were nothing.

They couldn’t see land, couldn’t see hope…

“Look, what’s that?” Chen Zhao suddenly called out, pointing into the distance.

Everyone saw a black two-meter-tall fin on the water surface. They were all shocked.

“A killer whale!” Kane yelled. “It’s a killer whale. We’re dead…we’re dead…”

“We’re gonna get eaten…”