When Qiao Qingqing recognized the passenger ship the mothers were on, she saw the two of them jumping up and down, waving, and calling out, "Qingqing! Sheng'an! Feifei! Lao Shao!"
Shao Shengfei excitedly dropped the oars, stood up and waved: "Mom! Mom, mom! Mom Qiao! I'm here! I'm right here!"
Qiao Qingqing also straightened her upper body, a smile appeared on her face involuntarily, and she shouted "Mom!".
Hearing their powerful shouts, she finally felt relieved.
Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother squeezed to the exit. There were soldiers guarding the entrance and exit of the passenger ship. Qiao Songzhi hurriedly explained: "We are not going down, we just want to see our family! You see, they are my family, they won't come up, so we just want to see them." As she spoke, she couldn't help but cry.
The soldier looked back and recognized Qiao Qingqing: "Doctor Qiao? Doctor Qiao, why are you here?"
"Brother Xu, I'm here to see my mom and the others."
"Okay, don't stay too long." Brother Xu and his companions stepped back a little, asking the others who had gathered on the deck to stop crowding and go back.
The family finally met. Qiao Songzhi squatted down and reached out to touch Qiao Qingqing's head. She smiled happily: "Have you been doing well these days?"
Qiao Qingqing stood up and let her mother touch her. She smiled and said, "It went smoothly. We even saved someone. This is Zeng Guangyu. He said he came from the Nanping base."
Zeng Guangyu wiped his face quickly, grinned and greeted: "Hello, Auntie, haha."
"Hello, hello. Nanping? I remember it so far away... I'm glad you're safe, I'm glad you're safe." Qiao Songzhi's smile seemed a little forced. The survivors of the Nanping base appeared here, which was not good news no matter how you looked at it.
"Oh, you are tanned like charcoal, with spots all over your face." Shao's mother touched Shao Shengfei and Shao Shengan distressedly. Shao Shengan was a little embarrassed, and quickly moved away and asked: "It's from wearing a mask... Mom, have you been doing well recently?"
"Good, very good! We have food and shelter. I just miss you guys. Did you encounter any sharks?"
"No, I didn't even see a shadow." Shao Shengan guessed that the land collapse was also a threat to sharks, so they wouldn't get close at this time, but in the future... it's hard to say. So many people living on the water, what's the difference between that and a buffet for sharks?
The family expressed their thoughts and concerns to each other.
"Brother Xu, someone is climbing up here secretly!" someone suddenly shouted.
Brother Xu immediately went over and stopped the man from climbing up: "There is no room on the boat!"
There was really no room left. Every room was packed with people. Even the deck had an awning. The captain was already worried that if there was danger and an emergency evacuation was needed, the ship might not be able to move!
"I don't believe it. Please let me up. I don't need much space. I can just sleep on the deck!"
Brother Xu showed reluctance, but he still obeyed the military order and pushed the man down with a stick. The man fell into the water and caused a large splash. The hearts of the survivors floating on the water not far away, holding things, were also broken into countless pieces. They stared blankly at the Tangzhou fleet. The people on board looked at them with pity, vigilance or rejection. Obviously, they were all the same people, but at this time they were on the boat and in the water.
Life and death seemed to be separated by a huge gap.
No one will be willing to do that.
Qiao Qingqing held Qiao Songzhi's hand tightly: "Mom, you must be careful. We are nearby. Call us if there is any emergency."
Qiao Qingqing and his team decided to dock the boat next to the passenger ship to protect themselves with the deterrent power of the fleet, but Qiao Qingqing knew that this place was both safe and dangerous. If a riot to seize the ship occurred in the future, their wooden boat would be the first to bear the brunt.
Song Sanhe and his boat also came over. Shao Shengan thought they were here to pick up Liu Zhen, but Song Sanhe shook his head and said that the two boats decided to continue to accompany his family. Liu Zhen hurriedly asked, "Where are Su Cong and his family?"
"Su Cong and his team and other teams' wooden boats want to stay with the cruise ship. They think the cruise ship is safer."
"It is indeed safer near the cruise ship," said Qiao Qingqing. The cruise ship is large, and if there is no place to escape when encountering a shark, at least you can climb onto the cruise ship, and you should not be stopped at the critical moment. If her family was not on the passenger ship, she would also choose to dock near the cruise ship.
"With too many wooden boats surrounding the cruise ship, safety will be greatly compromised." The target is too big, or more human, Song Sanhe believes it is even more dangerous.
Qiao Qingqing said: "Opportunities and dangers coexist." She stopped talking about this topic and started preparing for dinner.
Zeng Guangyu said, "I'm going to go fishing now, please don't move, I'm afraid I won't be able to find you when I come back." She would say this every time she went out, and Shao Shengfei would always answer patiently, "Okay, be safe and come back soon."
Her heart calmed down, she smiled at Qiao Qingqing and the others, and dived into the water.
Zeng Guangyu is worthy of being an athlete, his physical fitness is really good. After getting on the boat, he rests for a while to regain his strength, and then he can go into the water to fish. He can catch several fish every time, which is equivalent to a day's amount. The leftovers are stuffed into a backpack, and the backpack is tied in the water outside the boat, so the fish are "raised" in a simple and rough way.
Night fell and the noise on the sea gradually faded away.
Spending the night in such a place is a great test of one's mental quality. Qiao Qingqing and others have been living on the water these days and have gotten used to it. Other survivors, such as Liu Zhaoyun and others, have only started spending the night on the water in the past two days and cannot fall asleep at all.
The night squeezes out courage, allows timidity to surge, and also provides a fertile breeding ground for desire and violence.
Although a vigil schedule was arranged that night, Liu Zhaoyun still couldn't sleep. She listened sensitively to the movements around her.
Someone quietly entered the water, something was swimming in the water, someone groaned, and there was a smell of blood... Liu Zhaoyun listened to the noises all night long, and her muscles did not relax until dawn, and she finally fell asleep.
On the first night here, Qiao Qingqing's family also made sufficient preparations. They made an agreement with Song Sanhe's two boats and took turns to watch the night, and successfully passed the first night. But Qiao Qingqing did not sleep well, and the slightest movement could wake her up.
Seeing the dark circles under her eyes, Shao Shengan felt distressed and suggested, "I'll go out in a kayak today to see if I can find any clues to other lands."
Qiao Qingqing didn't let him go. The Tangzhou fleet would definitely send a ship to look for him. Their ships were faster and more efficient. She was not at ease letting Shao Shengan go out. Perhaps it should be said that she didn't dare to let any of her relatives out of her sight - except for the mothers on the passenger ship.
This is the sea. If something happens, the body will sink to the bottom of the sea and there will be no trace at all.
Seeing his wife's anxiety resurfacing, Shao Shengan immediately agreed: "Okay, I won't go."
The small boats, speedboats and other vehicles of the Tangzhou fleet dispersed in more than a dozen directions. They did not find land, but brought news of the shark school.
Not daring to make too much noise and attract the sharks to arrive early, the Tangzhou fleet's speedboats shuttled through the waters where other survivors gathered to convey the news of the sharks.
The survivors fell into chaos.
"Don't panic, everyone come over here!" the soldiers commanded.
The fleet began to change its formation, with dozens of ships connected head to tail to form two circles, with the small ships in the inner circle and the large ships in the outer circle, and then left entrances and exits so that the survivors' wooden boats could enter.
"Hurry, hurry, follow the instructions!"
"Hurry over there too. If there's no boat, swim over! Hurry if you want to survive!"
The entire body of water began to move.
Qiao Qingqing's family's boat was still closely following the passenger ship where Qiao Songzhi and her friends were. Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother squeezed on the deck and looked down worriedly.
"It's okay, don't worry!" Qiao Qingqing looked up and shouted.
People were moving everywhere, and some were shouting that things were lost. Shao Shengfei protected the bamboo baskets on the kayak to prevent them from being stolen in the chaos.
"Wipe your face." Shao Shengan took a towel and wiped her face. Qiao Qingqing had just been splashed in the face by someone's paddle, and her hair was wet.
"I hope the fleet can hold on, otherwise so many of us here will be in danger." Shao Shengan was worried.
"I'll go talk to Brother Xu and see if we can be arranged to help out in the periphery. Sheng An, we need experience in dealing with sharks."
"You're right. One more person means more strength. Let's go and help."
Brother Xu and his comrades were maintaining order on the boat, and Qiao Qingqing called out several times before he heard them. After hearing Qiao Qingqing's request, he couldn't make the decision, so Qiao Qingqing asked him to ask his superiors: "My husband and I both have crossbows. These are our certificates from when we worked in the crossbow team and the security team at Xicheng Base. You can show them to your superiors."
Brother Xu took it: "Okay."
But he was too busy. Although the passenger ship only had two floors, it could accommodate too many people. The news of the upcoming shark swarm triggered anxiety and restlessness. The ship was a bit chaotic and Brother Xu was unable to spare any time.
The group of sharks arrived an hour later. Qiao Qingqing first heard the sound of the torpedo, and then felt the water surface shaking and the wooden boat shaking.
"Did you hear that? Something exploded!"
"Is that a shark coming?"
“Oh my God!”
The wooden boat swayed and hit Song Sanhe's boat. Song Sanhe stood up and drew the knife from his waist: "I'll go into the water to take a look. You guys be careful."
"Let me go, Qingqing, you stay up there." Shao Shengan took off his shirt.
"Be careful." Qiao Qingqing took his clothes.
Song Sanhe and Shao Shengan went into the water together, and Qiao Qingqing took out a bow and a crossbow, one for each of them.
The muffled sound under the water continued. Qiao Qingqing guessed that the fleet was using torpedoes to kill sharks. If the firepower could suppress them, it would be fine. If not... the explosion of the torpedoes stopped, but then there was a dense gunfire, which made people's hearts tighten. The survivors were close to each other, looking panicked. Qiao Qingqing looked at the water surface vigilantly, but the waters inside the protective circle were crowded with people. If a shark really broke through the siege, it would definitely cause a large number of casualties in the first place.
“Crash!”
Shao Shengan emerged from the water, shook his head and shook off the water: "The inner circle is safe for now, no sharks will come in." After saying that, he went into the water.
"I'm so worried, Qingqing, do you think we can get through this?" Shao's father asked.
"Of course we can, we are in the fleet's protection circle, don't worry, Dad." Qiao Qingqing's eyes did not leave the water.
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