Chapter 115 In the polar sea, at that time...
In the polar seas, time is the greatest enemy; every second can potentially cause irreversible damage to the body.
The lifeline was almost digging into her armpits; her wet clothes clung to her skin, and each pull felt like tearing. Several crew members in wetsuits pulled simultaneously, and seawater slid down her body, splashing cold water onto the metal deck.
Hold her tight!
"Don't move! Stay still!" someone shouted desperately, but Ye Yuying could hardly understand what the other person was shouting.
She was lifted by two people and placed into an orange stretcher. The bottom of the stretcher had a heating pad, which the crew immediately activated. Warmth emanated from the blankets and vibrated slightly, but her body was still shivering with cold.
She mustered her last bit of willpower to try and find Cheng Mingdu.
He was still hanging on the lifeline, half of his body submerged in the sea, his body already at the limit of incapacity, with icy waves crashing against him.
The crew threw down a second rope, and he hesitated for a moment as he raised his hand, as if he had lost consciousness.
“Pull him up!”
Several men pulled desperately upwards, the lifeline frozen stiff, the ice on it gleaming blindingly white under the lights. As they pulled, the crew scraped the ice with hooks, the metallic scraping sound so sharp it could almost pierce the brain.
Ye Yuying wanted to help, but a crew member grabbed her shoulder and said in a professional and unquestionable voice, "Don't move! He'll make it!"
Her eyelids moved very slowly, and each breath seemed to pull her into deeper darkness.
She forced herself to open her eyes, barely breathing, and looked at him. She saw that his fingers were almost white and blue. With his last bit of consciousness, he grabbed the railing and was pulled up by several people at the same time. Finally, he fell heavily onto the deck.
The scene was shocking, because Ye Yuying had never seen him like this before. He always seemed to be dignified, composed, and powerful, but now he was on the verge of death.
While rescuing someone from the raging ocean, she couldn't imagine how much irreversible damage his body would suffer in that one minute.
The crowd split into two groups and began to provide separate first aid to the two individuals.
Ye Yuying's consciousness was already fading. She was wrapped tightly in a warm blanket again. The rescuer, wearing cold-proof gloves, held her head and gently tapped her cheekbone with his knuckles to confirm that she was still responsive.
"Hey, look at me. You hear me"
She blinked hard.
"Good. Keep breathing."
Cheng Mingdu was carried to her side, their stretchers side by side, and they were pushed all the way to the cabin door.
The snow was still falling, and the cold wind rushed into the cabin along the corridor. The door slammed shut, shutting out the outside world.
The lights in the medical ward were very bright, almost blindingly so.
Several ship doctors quickly surrounded her and used scissors to cut open her wet clothes. The moment the metal scissors touched her skin, she felt extreme pain, not knowing whether it was from frostbitten muscles or the emergency equipment.
A chill, shivering, fainting... all the possibilities piled up, and she almost fainted several times, but she seemed to know that if she lost her willpower, she might never wake up again.
She tried to force herself to speak, but only managed a dry, hoarse gasp. Someone put an oxygen mask on her, and a faint, warm breath filled her lungs.
When she could control her subtle movements, she desperately turned her head to look at the bed next to her.
Cheng Mingdu was being treated by several people at the same time. The ship's doctor was wiping the ice water off his body with absorbent towels while covering him with an electric heating blanket. The monitor was attached to his chest, and the heart rate curve was flashing irregularly.
He showed no signs of waking up, and her eyes reddened.
Ye Yuying instinctively reached out to him, but a nurse gently held her hand down to prevent her from moving around.
But she was still trembling, tears mingling with the remaining seawater sliding down her face.
Then the world became blurry, her consciousness sank little by little, and her consciousness was completely extinguished.
*
The storm continued until late at night.
The entire ship was covered in thick snow, and the deck looked like a layer of frozen silver marble.
The lights in the medical ward were dim, and the air carried a faint smell of alcohol mixed with the scent of wood.
Ye Yuying was wrapped in a heated blanket, still shivering. Her body temperature had just returned to thirty-six degrees Celsius, but her hands and feet were still bone-chillingly cold.
The doctor told her to drink some warm water. She took the cup but didn't drink it immediately. Her gaze remained fixed on the bed next to hers.
Cheng Mingdu was still asleep, covered with two blankets. The instrument needles occasionally flickered, and although his breathing was steady, he seemed to be trapped in a deep chill.
Ye Yuying looked at him, her heart aching slightly.
She remembered the way he called her from the sea, his voice shattered by the cold waves, yet he lifted her to the surface and commanded her to "breathe."
She had never seen him like that before, so irrational and unguarded, as if he were desperately trying to snatch someone back from the clutches of death.
Why bother, Cheng Mingdu...
She suddenly smiled, her lips trembling.
The doctor came over and whispered to her in English, "He was very lucky. Two minutes later, the cold blood flowing back would have caused arrhythmia. You really escaped death."
"When will he wake up?" Her voice was distorted, but the doctor still understood.
"Wait until the temperature rises, then observe for a few more hours," the doctor said after a pause.
After speaking, the doctor gently pulled the curtain closed, leaving only the low hum of the heating equipment running continuously.
The entire medical cabin was bathed in a gentle yet oppressive light from the constant temperature lamps. The metal shell trembled slightly in the aftershocks of the waves, emitting a very faint hum. These sounds reminded them that they were still floating on this turbulent sea.
It took Ye Yuying several hours to barely sit up, but her movements were strictly restricted to ensure that her core temperature would rise steadily and to observe for any secondary symptoms.
She leaned quietly against the headboard, still holding the glass of warm water in her hand, but her body still couldn't feel any more warmth.
My gaze passed through the semi-transparent curtain and landed on Cheng Mingdu.
Cheng Mingdu lay there quietly, the breathing tube pressed against the corner of his lips, the sensor patch on his chest rising and falling slightly with his breathing.
The red tinge on her lower lip, once ripped open by the waves, had faded, but it was still visible.
The sea churned and rolled in the night as if it were boiling, like a wild beast that had been provoked and had not yet fully calmed down.
The door to the medical ward was gently pushed open, and a nurse peeked in to check the readings on the instruments.
"His temperature has returned to 35.6 degrees Celsius, and his condition is stable." The nurse lowered her voice. "You should rest too."
Ye Yuying nodded and thanked her softly.
After the nurse left, she remained sitting there, watching him.
A few minutes later, she almost thought she was hallucinating when Cheng Mingdu's finger twitched slightly.
She held her breath.
After a while, his brows furrowed slightly, as if he had encountered something in a dream.
“Cheng Mingdu…” she called him again, her voice trembling.
Why not call him "brother"? Because in the chaotic dream, "brother" might represent many people, but Cheng Mingdu only represents him.
His eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Finally, those dark eyes slowly opened, their gaze momentarily unfocused before gradually refocusing on her.
"Awake?" She immediately jumped off the hospital bed, her leg muscles went weak, and she fell to her knees, collapsing beside his bed.
She winced in pain and struggled to stand up, but she was too weak to move, so she could only look up at his profile.
Suddenly, a hand fell off the hospital bed, and she quickly grabbed it with both hands, eager to feel its vitality at that moment.
The hand was cold and stiff, yet still had a faint pulse.
Ye Yuying almost dared not exert any force for a moment, fearing that if she tightened her grip even slightly, the last remaining warmth would be shattered.
“Cheng Mingdu…” Her voice was so low it was almost swallowed by the air.
He didn't respond immediately. His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his breathing was intermittent, a light and shallow breath, as if he had just been pulled back from the brink of death.
His fingertips twitched, as if in response to her.
Then, in a very soft voice: "Don't cry."
Ye Yuying was stunned.
She looked down and realized that her face was covered in tears, mixed with the smell of wind salt and medicine.
He looked at her, his voice low and hoarse: "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She smiled, tears welling up in her eyes again.
He was silent for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "That's good..."
She said hoarsely, "Do you know you almost..."
"Know."
He closed his eyes, as if trying to calm the chill flowing back into his body.
“They said you were in the sea for more than a minute,” she said, almost crying. “A full minute and twenty seconds.”
"But didn't you say one minute was your limit...?"
He didn't answer immediately, but he gently squeezed her hand back with the one she was holding.
"Why did you have to..." she choked back tears, her voice trembling, "You could have chosen not to jump..."
She had nothing to hold her heart in this world, and apart from Cheng Mingdu, almost no one cared about her...
She died, and it had almost no impact on the world...
Cheng Mingdu gazed at her, the coldness in his eyes gradually fading, leaving only the silence after the snowstorm.
He seemed to use all his strength to say those words, then slowly closed his eyes, his voice almost inaudible: "The moment you fell... I didn't have a chance to think about all that, every second was precious."
She suddenly realized that the one minute and twenty seconds had been recorded by the sea.
That was the rescue time he personally risked his life to buy. After that, the price he paid was most likely a series of complications caused by hypothermia.
That also became the reason why she would never think of ending her own life again. After that day, she was reborn, and she wanted to live well, live actively, and live a long life.
*
On a clear morning after the storm, the light of dawn slowly spreads through the ice fog from the distant horizon.
The sea returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.
The announcement rang out at dawn, and the captain announced in a calm tone:
"Due to the extreme weather and safety incidents last night, we will adjust our route and return to Ushuaia."
Cheng Mingdu had not fully recovered; his breathing was even and weak.
The doctor replaced his monitoring patch with a new one, and the heart rate line rose and fell slowly on the screen.
Ye Yuying stood up and moved closer to him.
He looked quieter than usual, even the restrained coldness between his brows had dissipated, leaving only a slight weariness.
She crouched down and gazed at him.
The image of him pulling her from underwater suddenly flashed before her eyes, causing a dull pain in her heart and a feeling of almost suffocating.
“Brother,” she called softly, “we have to go back.”
He nodded slightly, his brow twitching slightly.
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