Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 319 - 17: Abandonment and Self-Slaughter

Chapter 319: Chapter 17: Abandonment and Self-Slaughter

The sudden plunge of the hooligan and Anthony into the water startled everyone, making them think they were attacked by a lake monster, especially the hooligan’s violent strugglings and splashing, stirring the lake water into a commotion. Along with his desperate cry, the group, already on edge, instantly resembled a cat with its tail stepped on, their nerves raising analert. In less than a breath’s time, all their guns were pointed at Arthur’s raft.

Witnessing his comrade in such a state, Anthony was equally shocked, not contemplating to help him at all. Feeling the chill of the lake water penetrating his protective clothing, his first instinct was to climb onto the raft, to escape this perilous lake water.

"Quiet down; he just can’t swim. And you, slow it down, the raft is going to capsize!" Arthur barked with anger, Anthony’s movements were too abrupt, violently rocking the raft.

Nobody was concerned if they would capsize or not. Hearing that they weren’t under attack, they breathed a sigh of relief. Then they began rowing strenuously, hoping to reach the opposite shore as quickly as possible.

"Hang in there, we can do it." Miranda murmured, rallying the spirit. Seeing their own raft surpassing Arthur’s, the women on the raft cheered while those rowing put in more effort seeming to believe the more distance they put between them and Arthur’s raft, the safer they were.

"Help...me." The hooligan was still struggling, having swallowed quite a lot of water and green algae mindlessly.

Arthur, on the other hand, had a grim look on his face. He cursed inwardly, feeling resigned, as he really wanted to abandon that bastard. The remaining hooligan attempted to help his companion but lost balance. Add to that the force exerted by the drowning person’s instinct of survival, he was abruptly pulled in as well. Fortunately, he could swim, but his luck had run out.

The drowning hooligan grabbed his hand and instead of loosening his grip because of Arthur’s fall into the lake, he fought even more fiercely, wrapping around his calf like a lifesaver.

Arthur never knew how difficult it was to save a drowning person; he almost sacrificed himself in the process. He tried his best to control his body, hoping to receive help, only to hear a shout that made him feel as if he had plunged into an ice pit.

"Row!" Arthur put his rifle down, grabbed a paddle, and started rowing the boat with all his might.

"What?" Anthony, who had extended his hand to help the hooligan, was suddenly taken aback, disbelievingly looking at Arthur. He was just a small fry who would think about running away first when in danger and then consider saving people when he was safe. But Arthur, was a purely egotistical man through and through.

"Row, unless you want to die here? I don’t plan to stay." Arthur’s face was filled with a malicious look. He originally wanted to find two allies, but they turned out to be so incompetent, so they might as well go to hell, "Even if they get on the boat, they won’t be able to row once exhausted. Do you want to bring two more burdens?"

Defoe and the high school student finally got the knack of it, and the raft gradually picked up speed.

Seeing them and hearing Arthur’s arguments, Anthony withdrew his subconscious outstretched rescuing hand, evading the drowning hooligan’s stretched-out hand. Then he saw his dumbfounded eyes filled with despair and panic.

"I want to survive." Drowning in water, the hooligan spat out a mouthful of water and glared at Arthur’s drifting raft. His face was filled with anger. After he was dragged back into the lake by the drowning hooligan, he glimpsed Defoe’s approaching raft and knew it was his only chance of survival. Then he took a deep breath and unhesitatingly dived back into the lake.

"What would he do?" This thought instantly poured into everyone’s minds, not just those rowing but also those responsible for watching out for danger. After seeing Arthur abandon them, they had been watching the two.

The newcomers all believed that the would-be rescuer hooligan would free himself from his companion and then swim to the opposite bank. The 150 meters distance, to tell the truth, wasn’t long. However, what he did was unexpected.

When they saw a pool of red blooding emerging from the lake and slowly diluting, the smell of blood mixed with the fishy lake water and drifted on the surface of the lake.

"He killed him!" Seeing this, the high school student who rowed the raft not far away screamed.

Except for the newcomers who were stunned, the conquerors were indifferent. Some even commended the would-be rescuer hooligan’s decisiveness - trying to untangle a drowning person clutching at him would consume all his strength, so better just stab him and be done with it. As for carrying him across more than a hundred meters in a lake that could be attacked at any time, no fool would do that.

The lake’s surface was eerily calm. Everyone was looking for the would-be rescuer hooligan’s figure. He suddenly surfaced beside Defoe’s raft and before they could react, he used his arms to powerfully climb onto the raft.

Seeing the soaked Joshua climbed up, Defoe dropped the oars intending to grab his gun. However, he was beaten to it.

"Row fast. Anyone who lazes around, I’ll shoot." Joshua’s face was twisted in ferocity, his lips trembled, hardly believing what he just had done. That was his good friend of six years. Upon thinking that he had stabbed a dagger into his friend’s heart, deep regret filled Joshua’s expression.

"It’s all that bastard Arthur’s fault. He killed Edward. As well as all those bastards who wouldn’t help, they deserved to die." Joshua muttered under his breath. Only by doing so could he temporarily alleviate his guilty conscience.

The sudden mishap finally came to an end, and the lake surface seemed to calm down. Tang Zheng’s inflatable boat was just twenty meters away from reaching the shore; his S-shaped path had been a bit slower. David’s wooden raft ranked second, still thirty-five meters away. Miranda’s raft had just crossed the center of the lake. Malfo was ten meters ahead of her and Arthur was a dozen meters behind her. Defoe’s group was the slowest, only rowing out forty meters.

"Uncle, there seems to be something in the lake." A sudden statement from Lu Fan scared several women, who hastily looked towards the lake surface.

"Where?" Nicole did not see anything.

"Stay alert and keep your guns ready. Lu Fan wouldn’t lie." Tang Zheng’s heart missed a beat; Little Lolita had been staring at the lake surface ever since she got on the boat. And considering the wide range plied by the inflatable boat, she could have been the first to notice the danger.

"Should we inform them?" Nicole glanced at the sweat-soaked newcomers who were rowing hard and asked uneasily, "Aren’t we going to be the first to be attacked?"

"With this speed of the boat, it should be okay I guess." Tang Zheng was unsure. The only thing he could do was land as soon as possible. He had originally wanted to make a few more detours to confuse whatever was hiding below the lake surface and delay any attack. But he gave up the idea because he realized that it would only waste time. Moreover, the creature could potentially be after the rafts instead.

"Then let’s maintain our speed and rush to the shore." Tang Zheng gritted his teeth, beckoned Lu Fan to come closer. When they were boarding, he had deliberately arranged for Lu Fan to sit next to him. If danger arose, they would abandon the others to run away.

Nicole and the others were tensed up, staring at the lake. They had no idea that Tang Zheng had already come up with several countermeasures in his mind and had even communicated with Little Lolita with their eyes.

"Maybe reminding them might make them panic and fall into the water. The raft’s speed is already at its limit." Lu Fan’s worry was not unreasonable. To increase speed, the newbies on the raft, except two who were on the alert, were all rowing. And for the first infrequent rowing, the speed of the raft didn’t improve with more people rowing.

"There’s a huge shadow in the lake." Lu Fan didn’t shout, but Rolin on Mars’ boat did, causing everyone on the five rafts to shudder and paddle faster subconsciously. Indeed, as Little Lolita had said, the rafts started to undulate dramatically and even started spinning.

"Stay calm, we’re almost there." The most respected figures on each raft tried to calm everyone down. There was no denying that Miranda and her team were very level-headed. If everyone panicked, they’d all be doomed.

"Get ready to brace against shock and fall as we are about to land!" Tang Zheng could not afford to worry about them anymore. After making a final adjustment to the direction, the inflatable boat rushed diagonally onto the shore.

"Aren’t we slowing down?" Jack was taken aback. Just as he finished shouting, the six-meter distance had already closed. The bow of the inflatable boat hit the shore causing it to flip over due to the inertia and the six people on the boat were thrown into the air.

A moment before the inflatable boat hit the shore, Tang Zheng had already cut off the engine. Then he held Little Fan Fan with his left hand. The inflatable boat was already flipping in the air; he pushed off the boat with his feet and jumped out towards Nicole who hadn’t reacted yet and was losing balance. He grabbed her chest and pulled her towards him.

Julia only had time to hold her daughter while Jack completely lost balance and was unable to do anything to protect himself.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Instantly, people on the shore were tumbling and falling. Tang Zheng had held onto the two women - one big and one small – and served as their cushion when they tumbled. The blond mother-daughter pair was the most unlucky as they were suppressed by the inflatable boat; however the boat didn’t weigh much and it didn’t injure them.

"Are you guys okay?" Brant, who was standing a dozen meters away, came running. He had actually intended to stand by and not provide any help, but he was even more afraid of being attacked while standing alone, which was why he did not dare to leave the shore. Given that he was treated as a cannon fodder, he was supposed to be furious.

"Thank you." Jack was quite simple-minded and even thanked him, oblivion to the fact that Brant had just been standing by without providing any help.

"Hmph, buzz off," Lu Fan got up from the ground, her face flushed with anger, "Disgusting fellow."

"How can you say something like this?" Jack was acting foolish again, defending Brant.

"Why didn’t he remove the raft? Julia and her daughter are still under it." Lu Fan pulled out her revolver, suddenly aware of Brant’s wicked intentions, "You don’t need to pretend here. Don’t think that standing next to us will make you safe. Just get lost."

"What are you talking about? I didn’t see it." Brant put on a face of confusion and worry, and then went over to lift the inflatable boat. Right next to him were the blonde mother and daughter, "Hmph, this is what you asked me to do. If anything goes wrong, don’t blame me."

"Hold on." Tang Zheng quickly jumped out. He had noticed the sneer at the corner of Brant’s mouth.

"Oh!" Brant was wondering how he could intentionally drop the inflatable boat on the blond mother and daughter causing them serious injuries, when Tang Zheng provided him the perfect excuse, so he didn’t hesitate and let go of his hold on the inflatable boat while pretending to be oblivious and shifted his step, directly stepping on Demi’s calf. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation and tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)