Chapter 93

Chapter 93

After Panpan was rescued, she kept begging the rescue team to go back and search for survivors and recover bodies.

But night on the sea was too dark. Once the ship had sunk completely, they even lost its exact location. On top of that, the surface was littered with floating debris. With visibility so poor, accidents could happen all too easily, so the rescue team delayed deployment again and again.

Besides…

Everyone believed that under such circumstances, there was no way anyone could still be alive.

Panpan, however, refused to give up. In her heart, Nan Mu had given the only available spot to her, and that was why he had lost his chance to escape.

With no one else to turn to, she remembered Officer Qiu, who had brought Nan Mu to the hospital. She immediately called Yu Jingtong, and through several turns, finally got in touch with Officer Qiu.

When Qiu Ziyu received the call, he was still asleep. Woken by the ringing phone, he was full of irritation, but before he could lose his temper, he heard the news that Nan Mu had fallen into the sea.

He practically shot upright in bed and immediately called Wang Zheng.

By the time the two of them arrived at the harbor, it was already past three in the morning. Three hours had passed since the shipwreck.

Wang Zheng called together a rescue team he had hastily assembled, then brought Qiu Ziyu and Panpan with him as they headed toward the site of the sinking.

Although the team had set off, Qiu Ziyu and the others were still deeply uneasy.

After all, so much time had already passed. According to Panpan and the others who had experienced it firsthand, the disaster had happened extremely suddenly. No one had had much time to prepare.

When they reached the scene, the cruise ship had already sunk completely to the seafloor.

Everyone’s hearts sank with it, leaving only the chaotic debris floating across the surface.

But just then, a rescue worker holding binoculars suddenly pointed to a spot ahead and shouted in surprise, “There’s someone over there!”

“Where? Where?”

Qiu Ziyu, who had been sitting miserably at the stern, practically leaped up from the boat. Clenching his fists, he asked in agitation.

Wang Zheng’s eyes widened as well. He strained to search the mist-covered sea for the place the rescue worker had indicated, his hands clasped together in front of his chest as he prayed desperately that the person would be Nan Mu.

The rescue worker stared fixedly through the binoculars, constantly adjusting the focus, his voice excited. “He’s moving. He’s moving! He’s alive!”

===

Nan Mu and Xu Yang were rescued.

Xu Yang, who had been freezing in the sea all night, was taken straight to the emergency room, to say nothing of Nan Mu, whose abdominal wound had never healed in the first place.

When Panpan and the emergency responders on the boat lifted Nan Mu’s clothes, what they saw was an abdominal wound that, after being soaked in hypertonic alkaline seawater, had already developed interstitial edema.

Watching Nan Mu enter the operating room for the second time, Qiu Ziyu was overwhelmed with guilt and on the verge of breaking down.

Wang Zheng was relatively calmer, but he kept confirming Nan Mu’s condition with Yu Jingtong. Although Yu Jingtong was a neurologist and not the attending surgeon operating on Nan Mu, she certainly understood medical matters better than ordinary people like them.

Yu Jingtong also understood how the family felt and explained patiently, “Seawater has a high salt content, so it affects wounds quite severely. He also spent so long in the sea. Local swelling can obstruct blood circulation and slow venous return, which can lead to tissue necrosis. What we need to do now is surgically remove the necrotic tissue. But… the pathogenic bacteria in seawater can easily cause wound infections and may spread to deeper soft tissue, so they’ll probably have to reopen the previously sutured wound to clean and disinfect it again…”

“If I’d known… I never should have agreed to let him go…” Qiu Ziyu sat on a waiting chair to the side, clutching his head in self-reproach.

Yu Jingtong had wanted to say a few words to comfort Qiu Ziyu, but Wang Zheng cut in mercilessly, “You shouldn’t have let him go in the first place. What kind of people are you?”

The thought of it made Wang Zheng furious. “He had such a major surgery, and you knew full well his wound hadn’t healed yet. Just because he has a few tricks up his sleeve, you let him leave the hospital and attend a banquet on a cruise ship? Was the money worth more than his life?”
Wang Zheng didn’t know the real reason Nan Mu had gone to the cruise ship banquet. He had only assumed Nan Mu was there for Nan Huan Group’s business.

“And you-knowing full well he was going, you didn’t even try to stop him? I honestly have no idea what goes on in that head of yours.”

The more Qiu Ziyu listened, the guiltier he felt. Wang Zheng still didn’t know that part of the reason Nan Mu had attended the banquet was because Qiu Ziyu had been unable to investigate Huangfu Junsheng of Wisdom Biotech Company himself. If Wang Zheng found out, he would probably beat him to death.

===

By the time Nan Mu woke up, three days had already passed.

But the moment he opened his eyes, he saw Qiu Ziyu, unshaven and haggard, his face heavy with guilt.

When Qiu Ziyu saw that Nan Mu was awake, he was so excited his voice nearly choked. He rushed out the door, shouting for a nurse in a jumbled mess of words.

Before Nan Mu could say anything, several doctors and nurses had already hurried in. They checked his wounds, took his temperature, and asked a string of questions-how did his body feel now, could he feel anything, was there anywhere he felt uncomfortable, and so on. Finally, they adjusted his medication plan going forward, then turned to instruct the family member, “Now that the high fever is down, he should be all right. He must rest properly over the next few days. Keep the ward ventilated, but make sure the windows are closed again at night so he doesn’t catch cold. For the next few days, you still need to take his temperature once in the morning, afternoon, and evening. If the fever comes back, we can medicate him in time. If the patient feels any discomfort at all, notify the nurses immediately.”

As the doctor spoke, he specifically turned to Nan Mu and warned him, “For the next few days, do your best to stay in bed and rest. Do not walk around at will. You are not allowed to leave the hospital. No matter what you want to do, you must ask the nurses first and receive our approval.”

The doctor had never seen a patient who treated his own life with such disregard. Nan Mu had genuinely frightened him, which was why he gave such a pointed warning. He had even issued orders to the nurses on the floor: the patient in this ward was to be monitored closely, and he was not allowed to do anything that had not been approved by a doctor.

Qiu Ziyu listened in shame and silently swore that he would follow the doctor’s orders to the letter and never again obey in appearance while defying in secret.

After what felt like forever, the doctors finally left. Qiu Ziyu rushed to the bedside. “How do you feel now?”

Nan Mu tugged at the corners of his mouth, forcing out the faintest smile. “I’m fine… Where’s Xu Yang?”

“He recovered after lying in the hospital for a day… You were unconscious with that fever, and Xu Yang said Nan Huan Group still had a lot of things to handle, so he went back to the company to work overtime the next day.”

Nan Mu sighed. “He’s had it rough.”

Thinking of Xu Yang’s state, Qiu Ziyu gave a wry smile. “He’s completely loyal to you now… He said that if it weren’t for you, he would definitely be dead.”

Nan Mu froze. “He said… I saved him?”

The question sounded strange. Qiu Ziyu couldn’t help asking in return, “Didn’t you?”

He thought of the overwhelming news coverage from the past few days, and his tone grew heavy. “There were 376 people on the cruise ship in total. Aside from the 294 people who were evacuated by yacht at the beginning, of the remaining 68 people, no one survived except the two of you.”

“Only the two of us lived?”

“Yes.” Qiu Ziyu thought of what people online had been saying about Nan Mu and Xu Yang. “The instant the cruise ship sank, it dragged everything around it down too… You two… You were truly blessed by the heavens. Everyone’s saying that after surviving such a catastrophe, great fortune must await you.”

Nan Mu was silent for a long time. Then his narrow eyes lifted steadily and settled on Qiu Ziyu. His tone was certain. “But there’s one thing I’m very sure of… When the cruise ship sank, Xu Yang and I did jump into the sea. I wanted to bring him out of the area affected by the ship… But Xu Yang can’t swim, and he choked on seawater several times. By the time I made it halfway, I was already out of strength.”

Qiu Ziyu froze, unable to understand what Nan Mu was saying. “What do you mean?”

Nan Mu lowered his eyes and said, word by word, “I lost consciousness halfway. Someone brought Xu Yang and me onto a floating board.”