With his company during this time, she did not have a chance to feel lonely. Every day, Lisa would make a mark. In the blink of an eye, they had already spent five peaceful days at sea. Lisa thought it was wonderful that they could sail together so peacefully.
Alas, this thought came too soon.
On the seventh day on the sea, they encountered a sea storm! Just as she was dozing off in the cockpit, she was startled awake by a violent turbulence! She suddenly sat up and saw a huge wave surging towards the bow of the ship. Then it crashed and caused a huge tremor! âDamn it! A sea storm!â
The strong turbulence woke Little Yichen too. The entire hull was shaking. The boy immediately rolled out of bed and stumbled to the cockpit, only to find Lisa standing in front of the dashboard, calmly controlling it.
Startled, he asked, âWhatâs going on?!â
Lisa took over the instrument panel as she said steadily, âWeâve encountered a sea storm!â
âSea storm?!â Little Yichen had never encountered such a situation before! As such, he inevitably felt a little helpless!
âWhat should we do now?!â
Lisa turned around and looked at him calmly. âWeâre preparing to turn back.â
âTurn back?!â Little Yichen protested in disbelief, âIsnât that just a waste of time?!â
âIf we donât turn back and insist on sailing into the storm, things can go wrong easily.â Lisa added, âWe canât take this risk now!â
A sea storm might be accompanied by a tornado. Hence, she did not dare to take the risk. She would rather waste some time and turn back for now! Little Yichen did not know what to do, so he could only agree with her.
Very quickly, the yacht began to turn back and sailed away from the center of the storm. After a few hours of turbulence, the sea gradually calmed down. Only when she was certain that they were far away from the storm did she finally relax.
By now, it was already dawn.
She told Little Yichen, âWeâre safe!â
Little Yichen suddenly saw a familiar island. He could not help but narrow his eyes. He felt that this iconic island was too familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before!
He asked Lisa, âHave we really sailed back the way we came?â
âNo.â In her panic, she had instinctively steered away and sailed towards calm water. In reality, she did not sail back the same way they had gone.
âWhatâs wrong? Where are we now?!â
Looking at the route map, Lisa felt her heart skip a beat. She started to feel uneasy.
âSomaliaâ¦â
âThat would be right then.â Little Yichen furrowed his brow. âThis is Somalia,â he said solemnly. âThat island. Iâve seen it in the newspaper at the special training camp.â
ne
At that time, there were newspapers at the special training camp. He happened to see the headlines in the newspaper about the Somali pirates hijacking Chinese ships, killing and robbing the people on board. The photo published on the front page then was this island.
Because the image was deeply impressed upon him, Little Yichen could clearly remember the islandâs appearance.
âBe careful.â Little Yichen reminded, âThe pirates are very rampant here.â
Lisa knew this more than he did. In the past, when she was sailing with Gong Jie, they often encountered pirates at sea.
The Somali pirates were notorious and fearsome!