Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Jiang Cheng smiles sadly as he feels the sea breeze caressing his face. There’s not a single cloud in the sky, allowing the sun to shine mercilessly on the people gathered around the ship that will soon set sail for the United States. Although the heat is hellish, causing beads of sweat to form on Jiang Cheng's temples, sliding down his cheeks and neck, the people gathered around the dock are heedless to the scorching heat and lack of shade.

The crowd is made up of street vendors, families who have come to say goodbye to their loved ones, lovers crying in each other’s arms, and members of high society, parading their privilege as they obstruct the entrance when they park their carriages in front of the ship to board it directly.

People flit about —reluctant to leave, cherishing the last chance to engrave in their memory the faces of the people who are about to embark on a month-long trip (maybe even longer if the weather is bad) to the other side of the world, not knowing when they will see each other again —or if they still will. Jiang Cheng doesn’t blame them, he would do the same if one of his relatives were to leave the country. However, there’s no one in the crowd to put up with the weather for his sake.

Jiang Cheng could fool himself into thinking that given the height of the deck, he cannot make out the faces of his relatives among the crowd waving handkerchiefs and shouting the names of their friends and family, but that would be self-deception. No one is here to see him depart, he doubts that any of his family members even know about it, as it was a hasty decision made with the best interests of the Jiang family in mind.

Jiang Cheng sighs. He’s the only person on the deck whose fate doesn’t seem to matter to anyone. His eyes fill with tears at the thought and his mind, always so treacherous, drifts to the memory of his father’s last words before disowning him for the last blow. You are an embarrassment to the family and I don’t want to see you ever again!

Well , Jiang Cheng thinks, leaning his forehead against the metal railing, I hope you're pleased, Dad.

Since it’ll take a while for the ship to leave the port and Jiang Cheng has nothing else to do but feel miserable, he turns his back away from the crowd and heads straight to the other side where he sees the expanse of the sea. As expected, there’s no one there, so Jiang Cheng feels free at last. He doesn’t know what the trip holds for him. He bought a ticket at the last minute, packed his luggage, and set off with blind optimism that anything is better than his current life.

That it will be better.

It has to be.

.

Several days later, Lan Xichen is having tea with other members of high society traveling on The Red Phoenix when the captain approaches to inform them that there will be a slight delay due to a storm. The man assures them that there’s nothing to worry about and that the ship will be fine —although he can no longer guarantee that they will disembark in New York on the stipulated day, before retiring to fulfill his duties, leaving the passengers to their usual chatter and opinions about the weather.

At first, Lan Xichen pays no heed to it  (just like all the other people he shares the table with) and continues to dine in silence, but when the ship begins to shake violently, throwing all the cutlery on the mahogany floor, he knows that something’s wrong. Lan Xichen sees his fear reflected in the faces of the people in the banquet hall and forces himself to remain calm —panicking will do no good. It’s not his first sea voyage, so he’s familiar with the capricious tide, and that’s why he goes out on deck to try to weigh the coming storm.

When Lan Xichen opens the door to the upper deck, a gush of cold air greets his body, making him stagger backwards. Clouds as dark as night cover the sky even though his pocket watch tells him that the sun is just setting, turning the horizon into a pitch-black cavern. The sea is rough, great waves with white crests rise everywhere, shaking the ship in all directions, making its imposing bulk, made of all steel and with the best steam ovens, seem like a toy at the mercy of nature.

"Oh," says a woman next to him, as if she had found a stain on the tablecloth. However, her eyes are wide open while looking past him and into the distance, realizing at last how small she is and how trivial her fortune is against the fury of the sea.

"Maybe we can go back to China?" A man asks, looking around for someone who can confirm or deny his suggestion. Someone next to him calls him an idiot, reminding him that even if they turn around, they’re several days away from the nearest port, and soon they’re arguing.

Those are the first signs of panic among the passengers that Lan Xichen detects. Of course, not everyone succumbs to the fear of knowing themselves unprotected in the middle of nowhere, some ignore it completely, continuing their dinner as if there had been no interruption. Since Lan Xichen belongs to the first group, he retires to his cabin in first class, although he’s not quite sure how that will help him. A part of him hopes for the best, so that by the time he emerges from his cabin the next day, the sky will be as clear as ever, but there will be no next day for most of the passengers.

Lan Xichen has been in his cabin for half an hour trying to read a book when he hears a loud knock on the door. When he opens it, after not receiving an answer to his question of who is it? he realizes that the pounding is caused by the rain. Thick drops the size of golf balls hit his face, momentarily blinding him as he scrambles to close the door again.

The storm finally rages on and it’s so strong that it even reached the first-class cabins despite their location below the main deck. Along the corridor, at intervals of three or four meters, Lan Xichen sees other people poking their heads out after being deceived by the rain, who has not tolerated being ignored.

The panic rises another degree when a child begins to cry in the distance, calling his father in anguish while his mother tries to reassure him and increases even more with each onslaught of the waves against the ship. Lan Xichen is thrown back and forth in his cabin, slamming against the furniture until he’s out of breath. Water begins to seep under the crack in the door seconds later, painting the red carpet the same dark color as blood as he tries to grasp one of the bedposts to stay upright. Now there’s no doubt that they’re in danger and the ship's bell confirms it when it begins to ring.

"Lock yourself in your cabins, build a barricade out of the furniture, and don't leave until instructed!" The bellowing shouts of the officers going from corridor to corridor can be heard outside his door, risking their lives in an attempt to protect the passengers

Lan Xichen doesn’t think it’s the best option, but he obeys. He drags one of the chests in which he stored his clothes to the door, wondering if he’s not closing the lid of his own grave in the process, and waits. However, the water continues to seep under the door and the lights blink more and more frequently, which, coupled with the nausea caused by the constant movement of the ship, makes every minute unbearable.

It feels as if hours have pass and the storm doesn’t have any plans of relinquishing its reign of terror. Lan Xichen who has been kneeling and slumping on his chest against the wall, barely aware of his wet knees looks up as he hears the first strike of the clock. He follows the sound in time with his breathing. 1… 2… 3…

The clock strikes nine as the ship begins to stabilize and the rain goes from pounding on the door to gently hitting the deck overhead, turning into a melody of sorts. Lan Xichen allows himself to breathe easily and pull the chest aside to step out into the puddle-filled but otherwise walkable corridor. His neighbors, like him, look relieved when they realize that the storm has subsided and are ready to celebrate in the banquet hall when the emergency bell rings again.

"It must be a mistake," says the neighbor to his left, an aristocratic-face old woman who seems to be wearing her most expensive clothes and accessories. “Or maybe it’s the captain's way of celebrating that we got out alive. In any case, I don't like it. I will never travel by ship again.”

Lan Xichen smiles in response. He also doesn’t feel inclined to get back on a ship, though he will have to on his return trip from New York, but before he can follow suit and lock himself in his cabin to recover from the scare, he hears the officers who ordered them to lock themselves in their rooms ask the passengers to head to the lifeboats.

They don’t come alone but are accompanied by a group of people that gets bigger and bigger as they go through the corridors, reporting the bad news.

“What's going on?” Several people ask, peering out from the safety of their cabins. “Why do we have to go to the boats? It’s still raining! Many of us have children on board, do you want us to expose them and have them catch a cold?”

The voices in dissent grow in number until Lan Xichen cannot distinguish what they were saying, only their tone, alternating between anguished and worried.

"The ship has a hole in the hull, ma'am!" snaps the officer who is running out of patience after the long day. His words silence everyone and mark the beginning of true panic. As soon as the words left the officers mouth, people started running in all directions. Some head to their cabins to try to save their belongings, jewelry, and cash, while others rush to the deck to make sure they are the first to board a lifeboat. The sea, which until then had been their enemy, seems to open its arms, offering them refuge.

Lan Xichen doesn't think twice and heads towards the deck without considering taking any of his belongings with him. Neither his designer suits, nor watches, cufflinks, or leather shoes are as important as his life. Thanks to that decision, he’s one of the first to reach the lifeboats, although he’s not allowed to board one before all the women and children are safe. A fine rain continues to fall from the sky, insidious as it sneaks through the gaps in his clothes, making him shiver. Its presence only makes things worse. Not long after Lan Xichen takes up residence beside a boat to help women and children board, a fight breaks out.

"Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me what to do?" asks a man, slapping a young man's chest with the palm of his hand. “I have the right to get on that boat!”

"You have no right to anything!" the young man answers without losing his temper.

Lan Xichen cannot see him clearly due to the fine rain curtain that blurs all things, but he’s sure that it’s someone younger than him. He has black hair and eyes the same gray color as the clouds above them. Lan Xichen thinks he looks fierce.

“Wait for your turn!”

The man pushes the young man, throwing him backward until he hits the railing, yet he’s unable to intimidate him with this gesture. Instead, the young man strikes back, turning a simple argument into a full-blown fight. Lan Xichen and other men start running towards the place when they see how the man's fist connects with the young man's jaw, but they don’t arrive fast enough to prevent the younger male from hitting the man in the stomach, leaving him breathless.

“Enough!” Lan Xichen says, holding the man's arms from behind, thus facing the young man's furious gaze. “This is not the time to fight.”

The fight only increases the anxiety among the passengers. Lan Xichen wouldn't be surprised if more conflicts break out soon; in such a nerve-wracking situation it is to be expected.

"Then tell him to wait his turn," says the young man, shaking off the arms that hold him. The rain that continues to fall, fine as needles, runs down his face in a parody of tears, making his bangs stick to his cheeks. His suit, from a good brand but a bit old, has darkened from a grayish tone to a black one. “Women and children first.”

“Fine!” The man says, also disengaging himself from Lan Xichen. “But when you can’t get into a boat, don't come begging and wait your turn, young man.”

The man looks at the young man up and down as if he were something dirty stuck in his shoe, spits at his feet, and then turns around before he can retaliate. Only when the man is gone does everyone else return to their posts, helping the women and children to board the lifeboats before lowering them to the sea with a pulley system.

Lan Xichen stays behind.

“Are you alright?” he asks, approaching the young man.

"Yes," says the young man, wiping his jaw with the back of his hand as if the punch had sullied him. A purple flower begins to bloom where the punch landed on his face but he ignores it and says, “Help me with this, will you? We’re behind.”

The young man points to the opposite end of the pulley, asking Lan Xichen to follow his movements until the boat is far away from the sinking ship. Since they have no time to waste exchanging pleasantries and small talk, Lan Xichen refrains from asking his name and gets to work, hoping that despite their lack of food and water, everyone will survive the disaster.

By the time the men can board the boats, Lan Xichen is exhausted. His arms ache from supporting the weight of so many people, but he knows that the hardest part of the night is about to begin and there’s no time to rest. The ship, already relieved of considerable weight and with the water rushing up the hull, begins to tilt to the opposite side, making just walking across the deck a feat.

However, that’s not the only problem that Lan Xichen and his companion have to face. Boats are becoming scarce, so scarce that they won’t be enough for everyone, and the ship is tilting so fast that the pulley system will soon become unusable.

Lan Xichen and the young man exchange a look full of terror.

"Let as many people as possible in!"

Doing so carries the risk of the boats being too heavy, but at that point, with panic buzzing in their ears in the form of screams of anger, terror, and frustration, it’s their only option. They shouldn’t decide something so important, but the ship's officers and even the captain himself have their hands full trying to salvage as many people, letting the passengers impose their own criteria to save lives.

“Shit!” says the young man when the boat reaches such a steep angle that he can’t stand on his own. His knuckles turn white at the strength with which he clings to the railing.

“Let's go! Lan Xichen says before boarding the only boat they have left. Then he ties the rope he was holding into a knot around the railing to support the boat’s weight.

Upon seeing him, many men rush to his side, jostling each other in their desperation to save themselves. The sudden movement causes many of them to lose their balance and fall —their bodies slamming against the ship's walls, the anguished wailing and cracking of bones a sinister sound that would be hard to forget. Although the sight is frightening, Lan Xichen cannot do anything for them. Instead, he reaches out to those lucky enough to get to his side, helping them board until the boat reaches full capacity.

“Come!” Lan Xichen says, reaching out to the young man when he realizes there’s only room for one more person.

So far, the young man had remained in his place, helping to support the boat’s weight, making Lan Xichen believe that he was waiting until the last moment to get to safety, but the young man shook his head.

“Why?” Lan Xichen asks, though his question is overshadowed by the other men on the ship. “Come! You have to get in!”

"Leave him," someone says. “We have no time to waste with cowards.”

“Yes, let's go!”

“Come on!”

Lan Xichen struggles with an old man who tries to cut the rope that he tied moments before; once he does, the young man will be unable to bear their weight and he will drop them, thus relieving them of the trouble of waiting for him. 

Lan Xichen won’t leave without him, though. He won’t let someone who helped so many onto the boats, guaranteeing them at least one chance to survive, die.

“Give me your hand!”

The young man looks at him with doubt in his eyes.

"Shit, we have to go now!" someone yells in Lan Xichen's ear. The ship is almost completely lopsided, so even if they manage to free themselves from it the fall could still kill them. “If you want to stay with him so bad, then do it!”

By unspoken agreement, the men Lan Xichen had helped climb inside moments before gangs up on him, trying to throw him off the boat. Only then does the young man move, more out of fury than by the desire to survive, and takes the hand that Lan Xichen offers him. This means that the rope he was holding for much of the night slips through his fingers, making the boat jerk violently. The young man trips over the railing, falling onto Lan Xichen's chest.

The added weight and the abrupt movement caused by the young man's fall make it unnecessary for Lan Xichen to cut the rope; it breaks immediately, throwing them into the sea at full speed. All passengers scream at the pull of gravity, holding onto the boat for dear life to avoid flying off to certain death. In Lan Xichen’s case, he ends up clinging to the young man and the young man clings to him while they yell into each other's ears. All sounds cease immediately when the boat hits the water, stealing their breath.

Lan Xichen doesn’t have time to process what’s happening when he swallows a long mouthful of water and starts coughing. Amid the panic, Lan Xichen wonders if perhaps the boat turned over as it fell, throwing them into the vastness of the ocean, although if so, the water is very warm.

“It’s ok.” says a voice that’s already beginning to sound familiar to him. “Damn, don't make me hit you!” says someone trying to immobilize him. “Keep your hands to yourself! You're okay, you're safe. Look at me.”

Until that moment, Lan Xichen had his eyes fixed on the sky full of clouds, but he managed to focus his gaze on the person speaking to him and also holding his hands tightly to prevent him from hitting himself or others.

"Ah, it's you," Lan Xichen says when he meets the young man's eyes. Lan Xichen lets out a relieved sigh before looking around. The sea stretches in all directions, looking even more infinite inside that little boat clogged with people. Not counting the two of them, five other men are sitting in the small wooden boat, all with faces contorted with fear. “What happened?” he asks, more serene.

The young man leans back after examining his face carefully as if making sure that Lan Xichen will not succumb to another panic attack.

"The boat turned to the side due to your combined weight," explains one of his companions. “We were about to sink, but we managed to counterbalance it. Although you swallowed a lot of water first.”

"Oh," Lan Xichen says. “Thank you.”

The man shrugs, even though Lan Xichen is looking at the young man in front of him. However, before he can respond, a new scream pierces through the air, reminding them where they are. The ship is to their right with its left side completely sunk, the great funnels through which the steam escaped are almost at sea level and sinking rapidly. The people who were left in the Red Phoenix get more and more desperate with each passing second, so it’s not surprising that they take drastic measures, like jumping straight into the sea.

Scattered on the dark surface of the ocean are all kinds of things that the passengers threw in their wish to save their material possessions: trunks full of clothes and jewels, paintings, pillows, quilts, not to mention all the things that were inside the ship and now float adrift, like shoes, chairs, umbrellas and other stuff unrecognizable in the dark. 

A man that jumps from the ship in a last attempt to save his life hits one of these things.

The sound his body makes after the impact (a piece of furniture, maybe?) is horrible, making everyone cover their ears as if that prevented them from hearing it in their heads. By the time they open their eyes, that poor man also floats along with the debris, although he will soon sink, just like the ship behind him.

“Let's go!” A man urges as he realizes that all his companions are mesmerized by the sight of the ship, the dark smokestacks pointing at them like blind eyes in the night. People keep jumping from it just to find death, but he doesn't want to witness any more of that macabre spectacle. “Let's leave before the ship takes us with it.”

His words break the stupor brought about by the horrific scene bringing everyone back to reality . Their boat is the only one still in the vicinity, all the others have already moved far enough to become small points on the horizon. Some drift away with no one to guide them, others head in the direction where they think they will find help.

“You!” says the man who took the lead, pointing a finger at Lan Xichen. “Take the paddle and wait for my signal. Start rowing as soon as I tell you, do you hear me? We have to coordinate if we want to get out of here.”

" We were lowering the boats for hours," says the young man with gray eyes. “Let someone else do it. He must be tired by now and I am too.”

The man seems about to protest but then shrugs.

“Move then. Leave room for someone else.”

Not without effort, Lan Xichen and his partner manage to move around in the seats, letting a burly man take the paddle.

“Where are we going?” Someone asks.

"Just far from here for now," the self-proclaimed leader replies. “We'll decide later. We might be close to a civilized place or there might be a ship nearby.”

Nobody believes him, otherwise, someone would have helped them when they saw the wreckage, but it’s their only hope. Thus, for the next hour, they join their efforts to get away from the ship, taking turns at the paddles without disturbing Lan Xichen and his companion, who take advantage of the truce to rest and chat a bit.

"My name is Lan Xichen," he says, holding out his hand in the Western way—a habit he picked after doing business with Americans for a long time.

The young man arches an eyebrow but ends up shaking Lan Xichen’s hand.

"Jiang Cheng, I hope you don't mind that I don't say it's a pleasure to meet you ."

To Jiang Cheng's surprise, Lan Xichen laughs.

"Not at all," Lan Xichen says, feeling better after laughing. “Thanks for saving me.”

Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

"I didn't save you, I just pinned you down before you could punch me," the young man says, shrugging, although Lan Xichen seems to detect a hint of a smile on his thin lips. “Rather, you saved me when you asked me to get on the boat. Thanks, I guess.”

"Then we're even," Lan Xichen says, shaking Jiang Cheng's hand for the second time. He’s still intrigued why he had to convince Jiang Cheng to save himself, but that’s not a topic that he can ask him about, so Lan Xichen leaves him be.

Once they stop talking, silence befalls the boat, broken only by the sound of the paddles hitting the water, driving them further and further away from the Red Phoenix. Now the ship looks like a toy inside a child’s bathtub, so small it is; two of its three chimneys have already been swallowed up by the water, accelerating its journey into the depths of the sea. Everyone has their eyes fixed on it until the last second, when it disappears below the ocean line, leaving an almost perfectly smooth horizon were it not for the things that float around them.

Soon after, the rain begins to subside, allowing the moon to emerge from behind the dark clouds to trace a silver path across the surface of the water. Whether it leads anywhere or not, no one can tell, but the sudden clarity after those nightmarish hours makes them feel relieved. So much so that they allow themselves to take a break from paddling and let the boat drift in a silent hope that it will get them somewhere safe without them having to do anything.

"Does anyone have something to eat?" asks an elderly man sitting at the back. Judging by his clothes, he comes from the third-class cabins, but in a situation like that, social ranks don't matter anymore—at least in Lan Xichen’s opinion.

"No," Lan Xichen says, looking around hopefully as if he were the hungry one.

The others seem to come out of a reverie before responding negatively as well. None expected the situation to break down to such a degree, so when it became clear that the ship would sink, all prioritized their immediate survival. Now all food, from the simplest to delicacies only for first-class passengers, is heading to the bottom of the sea.

"It doesn't matter," says the self-proclaimed leader. “We can go one night without eating, we'll eat when they rescue us.”

Most nod, clinging to the idea. However, as the hours go by, the hopes that someone will rescue them slowly fade. Soaked by the fine rain, they spend the night shivering, hugging themselves until dawn breaks. Afterward, the morning sun allows them to doze off for a couple of hours until the star reaches its zenith, transforming its warm caress into hell itself. From then on their torture begins. There’s not a single cloud in the sky, unlike the day before when it was completely covered, so the sun hits them directly, making them sweat what little water they have left in their bodies.

"I'm thirsty," says the leader of the group, looking around with unfocused eyes and the tone of someone addressing a servant. “I'm so thirsty.”

The passengers look at each other not knowing what to do; no one has water either. Their only way to protect themselves from the heat is to cover their heads with their jackets or any equivalent, but that doesn't stop them from sweating.

“Fuck it, I’m gonna drink some water.”

Jiang Cheng says, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Shut up and mind your business.”

The man leans into the sea to take some water in his hands and brings it to his lips, delighting in it. Much of it escapes between his fingers, running down his wrists and staining his white shirt, but the man doesn’t care, there’s much more at his fingertips just by extending his hands and taking it. And that he does, over and over again, drinking with such relish that the other passengers end up envying him.

"I wish I had something to eat and wash off this disgusting salty aftertaste," he says, once full of water. He even regains his vigor from the night before, urging them to mobilize in search of the other boats that were launched into the sea before theirs. “You two, it's your turn. You’ve rested enough already,” he says, pointing at Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng.

Neither of them protests—the man is right. They exchange places with the men who had rowed the night before and prepare to follow orders. The leader points at what he believes is the north, following a bright light that ends up being a trunk full of women's clothing. Lan Xichen can’t say if seeing his expectations collapse is the final blow for the man or if his intake of saltwater has finally harmed him but suddenly the man collapses like struck by lightning.

“What do we do?”

“He’s dying!”

"We have to help him!"

Until then they had pretended nothing was wrong, but the idea of death, even someone else's, reminds them of how fragile they are. Everyone panics, or almost everyone.

"We can't do anything," Jiang Cheng says, looking sadly at the man. “He’s dehydrated and he will only get worse as the hours go by.”

“How do you know?” asks the old man who brought up the subject of food for the first time.

“I'm a doctor.”

"If so, why don't you do anything to help him?"

"Because there’s nothing to be done," Jiang Cheng says patiently, which is already a lot to ask under such circumstances. Beads of sweat trickle down his cheeks, his shirt clings to his body once more—this time damp from perspiration—and he feels an incipient headache throbbing in time with his heartbeat. “Unless we reach land in the next few hours, it’s impossible to treat him.”

"What do you suggest we do then? Let him die?”

Jiang Cheng purses his lips into a fine line.

"Protect him from the sun as much as possible," Jiang Cheng finally says after a while. “Lan Xichen and I will keep rowing trying to find land.”

The men obey, covering the leader (who has already begun to hallucinate, calling out the names of those who appear to be his wife and his children) with their jackets, leaving them unprotected from the sun . To remedy this, Jiang Cheng pauses and, with a lot of effort, brings the chest of women's clothing that the leader discarded closer, sticking it to the side of the ship so that the passengers can loot it at will. In other circumstances, there would be many complaints and comments about the inappropriateness of putting a lady's underwear on one’s head or covering one’s shoulders with the petticoat of a silk dress, but the situation is critical.

“Nothing yet?” asks the old man after an indeterminate time.

Lan Xichen shakes his head. His arms ache after spending several hours rowing and he assumes that Jiang Cheng must feel the same, although who knows if the young man feels the same despair when he sees nothing but the ocean in all directions.

The leader dies not long after sundown.

“What do we do with it?” asks a red-haired man, staring at the corpse with wide eyes. Perhaps it’s the first time he’s faced death, but it will not be the last and the prospect terrifies him as much as everyone else. The day before he was eating seafood in his first-class cabin and now there’s a petticoat on his head, he hasn't eaten in a whole day and there’s a corpse in front of him, rotting as they talk.

"We have to throw him into the sea," Jiang Cheng says, massaging his temples. “We can't leave it here.”

"But what about his family?"

"We don't know when we'll be rescued," the old man says, coming to Jiang Cheng's defense. “We could spend days with a rotting corpse in the boat with us, do you want that?”

The answer is obvious. Soon after, the remaining passengers wrap the man in a long white silk dress (much like that of a Western bride) and throw him into the sea after saying a quick prayer, realizing that they never knew his name.

Lan Xichen sees the man being engulfed by the sea in a matter of minutes, getting lost in its depths with a minimal chance of his family ever finding out about his fate. The night has begun to fall again and it cannot be more different than the previous one; twenty-four hours ago they were eating in the banquet hall, ignorant of the overcast sky above their heads, now the sky is diaphanous, allowing them to see the stars and the moon, but they have nothing to eat.

“What are we going to do?” asks a man after taking a nap. The lack of food and dehydration makes them more likely to feel fatigued and irritable, so they prefer to sleep rather than face the reality that they may never get out of there alive. “What the fuck are we going to do?”

"Do you think we would be here if we knew what to do?" another man asks, raising an eyebrow in derision.

"Well, I don't see you planning anything."

“Why don't you suggest something then? Enlighten us with your wisdom on how to get out of here.”

Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen intervene before a fight breaks out. Getting angry with each other will not bring them to a solution or closer to getting help. Besides, Jiang Cheng thinks it’s stupid to spend what little energy they have left trying to outsmart each other.

"I will lead then," says the gentleman, standing up to look at them; ghosts hidden from the wind that breaks the wave s under women's clothing.

Since no one refuses, the man proclaims himself the new captain of the boat and this is how they go from having no leader to getting a new one in a matter of hours after the first one’s death. The man organizes them in two-hour shifts so that they continue to row throughout the night no matter how tired they may be or the great effort involved in propelling a boat with six passengers.

However, all his enthusiasm fades with the arrival of a new dawn without any signs of land on sight. Now not only do they have no idea where they are, but they’re also at the limit of their strength, which, coupled with the merciless sun that shines over their heads, as if making fun of their bad fortune, forces them to spend almost the whole day dozing off.

Hunger is hard, but thirst is intolerable. At dusk on their second day adrift, the old man collapses from dehydration and doesn’t open his eyes again. But, unlike the death of the first leader, this second death raises questions that they never thought they would face.

“He might… be useful?”

“How?” asks the leader.

"Well, we're hungry..." one passenger says, looking at each of his companions in the eye so that he doesn't have to put his thoughts into words. “What if instead of throwing him into the sea we...?”

Nobody says a word, but what the man suggests makes them pale and someone even vomits. A week before they would never have considered eating human flesh, but now they find themselves looking at the old man’s body with hunger. Lan Xichen is the first to shake his head, followed by Jiang Cheng. The technicalities of how they will eat it aside, they owe respect to the body and the man’s family members.

“Fine! If you want to starve so badly, then I'll eat it myself,” says the one who suggested the idea, getting up to take the old man's body before everyone’s terrified gaze. But perhaps the lack of support manages to make him clear-headed because he stops and then throws the poor man overboard, letting the sea claim him without ceremony.

Lan Xichen thinks the worst of the crisis is over and allows himself to breathe a sigh of relief, but he’s wrong. When the man turns to look at them, he looks as determined as minutes before.

"Dead meat could be bad for us," he says, following his own twisted logic. “But if it's still fresh…”

"What the hell do you mean?" Jiang Cheng asks although he knows it very well.

"Someone must sacrifice himself for the rest or we'll all die here!"

"Why don't you do it?" Jiang Cheng asks, standing up too to face him. “What makes you believe that your life is more valuable than ours?”

The man gives Jiang Cheng a scornful look, encompassing the dirty and slightly worn clothes that he’s wearing as if they were enough of an answer. Jiang Cheng hates guys like him, they remind him of the society he comes from, where the slightest difference from the standard could make you an outcast even to your own family. Jiang Cheng wants to tell that idiot that he also has money (or his family has it) and perhaps much more than he does, but someone so obtuse will not care about his story. Punches, on the other hand, are a much easier language to understand.

Lan Xichen stands up to prevent the conflict from escalating further.

"Enough," he says in a loud though somewhat raspy voice. “Who else agrees with what this man is proposing? Raise your hand.”

"My name is Wen Chao," he says dismissively, glaring at them as if daring them to go against his master plan.

To both Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen's relief, no one raises their hand. They have yet to cross that line, which will take them from civilized gentlemen to barbarians, but the seed has already been planted. Wen Chao takes his seat again without complaining because he knows that soon the majority will turn to his side. He’s not wrong.

The next morning, they find another man curled up under the seats with no signs of life. He has sunken cheeks and paper-dry lips, so no one dares even suggest that they eat him. In the end, they throw him into the sea like everyone else and watch until his body completely sinks before turning to each other. They started as seven, but now, three days later without any sign of civilization in sight, only four remain.

"I think it's time to vote again, don't you think?" Wen Chao asks with a wicked smile. “Who agrees to sacrifice one of us for the others’ sake? Raise your hand.”

Lan Xichen watches out of the corner of his eye as Jiang Cheng flashes a wry smile before standing still like a statue. However, aside from Wen Chao, the other man in the boat also raises his hand, meaning there’s a tie. As soon as they realize it, the atmosphere between the two groups becomes rarefied and there’s even a physical separation; Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng on the right and Wen Chao and the other passenger on the left. Now the boat is empty enough to allow such a division.

"Well, it seems like we'll never agree," Wen Chao says in an affable tone, indicating that he hasn't given up yet. “We will have to resort to other methods to decide what to do.”

Wen Chao exchanges a look with his new ally and they both begin to very slowly approach Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen. Before Lan Xichen can process that they’re trying to attack them, Jiang Cheng is already standing in front of him with both arms extended.

"Want a fight? Come if you want, but don't complain about the result,” says Jiang Cheng, assuming a stance similar to that of a boxer. He doesn't have much experience fighting (except with his brother when they were children) but just by looking at Wen Chao's appearance, he can tell that he will be able to beat him. He’s not sure about the other man, though, but perhaps it won’t be necessary to face him if Jiang Cheng manages to scare him.

Lan Xichen also stands up, although he’s not quite sure with what intention. Does he want to avoid or join the fight? In the end, he realizes that any decisions will lead him to the same result because unless Wen Chao or his partner change their mind, they will not listen to reason. Lan Xichen has to defend himself.

"Come on, why are you helping him?" Wen Chao asks, turning to Jiang Cheng, who’s the less muscular of the two. “If you join us, we can dominate him together. He’s the healthiest of us all, we can survive a couple of days with his meat.”

"And then I will be next?" Jiang Cheng asks without lowering his guard.

Wen Chao smiles. With his only chance to get an advantage lost, he goes on the attack, relying on the element of surprise to win. His fist connects with Jiang Cheng's jaw, making him stumble backward and Lan Xichen grabs him by the shoulders to prevent him from falling into the sea. Wen Chao, upon seeing his weakened prey, lunges at Jiang Cheng with all of his might but Jiang Cheng kicks him in the stomach, knocking his breath out before Wen Chao goes overboard.

All of this happens in a matter of seconds.

“Shit!” Wen Chao's ally says, stepping aside as if he feared for his life when Jiang Cheng looks at him.

Wen Chao can't swim. He claws at the side of the boat trying to climb into it while kicking hard—it’s his only way to stay afloat. Every time he sinks into the sea, he swallows more and more salty water, drowning out his cries for help that leave no one indifferent.

Jiang Cheng's jaw hurts, yet he leans over the side to reach out to Wen Chao.

“Take it!” he says, leaning in as much as possible. Even though Jiang Cheng can swim, the situation could get out of hand if he falls into the water, especially with Wen Chao seized by panic. “Wen Chao! Take my hand!”

Wen Chao reaches up, hands grasping nothing as he tries trying to hold onto Jiang Cheng’s outstretched hand. However, he can barely see anything, since the water gets into his eyes, as well as inside his ears and mouth, turning things around him into blurry silhouettes. Wen Chao’s throat burns from screaming and he feels like he’s choking every time he swallows another mouthful of water, making it impossible for him to focus on anything other than staying afloat. So it falls to Jiang Cheng to get him out of the water and for this, he has no choice but to bend over even more, until the foam of the waves splashes his face and wets his shirt sleeves.

"Wen Chao!"

For a moment, Jiang Cheng believes that he’s succeeded. He manages to grab Wen Chao by the wrist, but the next instant, the sea, sensing that they’re about to steal its prey, throws a huge wave against them that almost takes Jiang Cheng away with it. As a consequence, Jiang Cheng ends up releasing Wen Chao, who had already relaxed knowing himself out of danger, pulling him away from the boat at least two meters. If Jiang Cheng doesn't follow him, it's only because Lan Xichen holds him by the torso, anchoring him to the boat.

"I can't reach him!" Jiang Cheng yells, gulping down some water as a second wave arrives to claim him.

“What do we do?” asks the third passenger, looking wide-eyed at Wen Chao and Jiang Cheng alternately.

Lan Xichen pulls Jiang Cheng onto the boat once more and then says:

"Let's row there!"

Jiang Cheng obeys, ignoring the third passenger's questions and pleas. An hour before he had been tired, ready to fall asleep in the scorching sun and never wake up, so he’s surprised by his sudden strength, as if he hadn't been starving and dehydrating for three days. However, their efforts are in vain. In the short time it took them to row upstream to Wen Chao, he has already disappeared, engulfed by the waves.

Jiang Cheng falls back on the seat with his head thrown back, while Lan Xichen covers his face with his hands. This is the last strain—they’ve lost, they’ll surrender to the fate that the sea has prepared for them. The death of Wen Chao, the fact that the crew has been reduced so much and there’s no land on sight manage to destroy their spirit, plunging them into a deathly silence.

In the end, they fall asleep due to exhaustion and also as a way to withdraw from reality only to wake up with a cloudy sky overhead. The clouds are as dark as the day the Red Phoenix sank, with white and purple lighting crossing the clouds in the distance, bringing the echo of thunder, heralding a storm as strong as the previous one. Yet after everything that has happened in recent days, none of them can panic. They even envy Wen Chao and the others’ fate, as they will not have to face that last test that will end their lives anyway.

"Maybe we should say a few words?" Lan Xichen suggests as the first droplets begin to fall, drawing gray circles on his still-white shirt.

“Like what?” Jiang Cheng asks. He feels so tired that he doesn't even make an effort to sound sarcastic. Luckily, everything will end soon, not only for him but also for his parents, who will never know what happened to the son that brought them so much shame. “No one will hear them, so what’s the point?”

"I..." says the third passenger, trembling like a leaf. What started as a drizzle is quickly turning into a curtain of rain that will soon prevent them from looking at each other. “I have a family. Two daughters and a wife, I... I don't want to die! I'm scared!” He cannot cry because there is no water left in his body to fulfill that function, but the raindrops that run down his face provide him with the effect he needs.

Lan Xichen nods as if he were a priest hearing a confession.

"I don't want to die either," he says, looking down at the floor of the boat, littered with soaked women's garments that look like ghosts. He doesn't add anything regarding his family, whether he has a wife or children waiting for him at home or not, before his gaze turns to Jiang Cheng,  requesting him to join the mourning session.

Jiang Cheng shakes his head. What's the use of lamenting? They will die anyway. Perhaps that man's wife will think that he ran away with another woman when he doesn’t return or she will remember him as a romantic hero who never came back from his journey, but they won’t know about it.

The boat rocks violently, wetting their backs with each wave trying to turn them over. Jiang Cheng clings to the seat with all his might, wrapping his arms around it to stay inside the boat as the world convulses around him. The wind screams in his ears, deafening him, but not enough that he doesn't hear a cry of surprise through the curtain of water.

When Jiang Cheng raises his head he realizes that one of the two figures inside the boat has disappeared, swallowed by the sea. Before he can guess who it was, the answer comes in the form of a cry.

"Please!" he says. He sounds close.

Jiang Cheng feels his stomach sink when he realizes it’s Lan Xichen and without a second thought, he dives into the ocean, leaving the third passenger alone and terrified. It’s a suicide mission, he knows it as soon as his body comes into contact with the sea, making him—an expert swimmer—choke on a mouthful of water while trying to make sense of his surroundings.

"Lan Xichen!" Jiang Cheng yells, swallowing equal parts foam and water. “Lan Xichen!” A part of him tells him to give up, that Lan Xichen must have already lost his life, so the easiest option would be to follow him; but another part, much less rational and more instinctive, orders him to continue fighting until the last consequences.

Jiang Cheng dives down after taking a long breath and finally detects Lan Xichen floating adrift in the sea, apparently unconscious, although he might as well be dead. His long brown hair floats around him like a cloak and his clothes have swelled from the water, giving him the appearance of a sea creature.

Come on , Jiang Cheng thinks, slapping Lan Xichen's cheeks lightly. Wake up.

He's running out of breath, so he decides to take a chance and bring Lan Xichen to the surface in case he’s still alive, which is easier said than done. Lan Xichen is a muscular man and as tall as Jiang Cheng, so pulling him up is quite a challenge. Jiang Cheng surrounds Lan Xichen’s torso with his arm to anchor him to his side and then kicks with all his might, feeling how his lungs are about to explode from lack of air. The surface seems so far away, especially in the face of the impending darkness of the night, that he’s about to give up, but his perseverance pays off at the last moment when he finally breaks through the surface of the water.

Jiang Cheng sucks in a long breath, feeling reborn. Then, wasting no time, he turns to Lan Xichen, still unconscious in his arms, and starts slapping him.

"Lan Xichen!" Jiang Cheng yells, looking desperately around him for the boat. He only spent a few minutes underwater, yet the sea has already dragged their only chance of survival somewhere else.

Why am I doing this? Jiang Cheng wonders, at the limit of his strength. His legs ache and so do his arms, and still, he can't let Lan Xichen go. Why did you save me? I wouldn’t have lived this long were it not for you. And now, we are both going to die—it was all useless. Just as this thought crosses his mind, Lan Xichen spits in his face before he begins to cough violently.

Jiang Cheng doesn't know whether to laugh or cry at seeing his efforts rewarded with such rudeness, but he leans toward the former.

“Lan Xichen, do you hear me? If you can't speak, nod,” Jiang Cheng says, returning to his quest for finding the boat. When Lan Xichen obeys, Jiang Cheng says, “Good. Listen to me, we have to swim to the boat and get on it, it’s our only chance to survive. Can you swim?”

Lan Xichen shakes his head.

“Well, you have to try, okay? I can't take you all the way, I don't have the strength anymore.”

The rain subsides enough that they can see the boat in the distance, drifting without the third passenger on it. However, Jiang Cheng doesn’t have time to search for him, for even if he found the man he would be unable to carry two men to the boat. One task at a time—he will see if he can come to the man’s aid as soon as Lan Xichen is safe. Both of them concentrate on swimming towards the boat, fighting against the waves that threaten to take them to the starting point. Jiang Cheng clings to Lan Xichen and Lan Xichen also holds him tightly, trying to imitate his movements so as not to be a burden to him.

"Close your eyes and hold your breath!" Jiang Cheng yells the first time a huge wave topped with white foam approaches in his direction. “Don't panic and don't let go of me!”

It’s terrifying to close your eyes to the unknown, yet Lan Xichen obeys, letting the wave engulf him and drag him back before breaking back to the surface. It’s an arduous process they repeat countless times until Lan Xichen begins to wonder if he’s not undergoing torture like in the Greek fables, but it does eventually pay off.

When they reach the boat, Jiang Cheng allows Lan Xichen to go up first so he can help him up.

"Thank you," Lan Xichen says, turning to look at Jiang Cheng.

"Don't thank me, we're not out of this yet," Jiang Cheng says before his eyes widen. Nature confirms his words. A huge wave hangs over their heads, mocking them before crashing on them.

The last thing Jiang Cheng remembers before losing consciousness is holding onto Lan Xichen, wrapping his arms around him as if he could protect him from the impending catastrophe. By the time he wakes up again, the sky is as blue as ever, making him wonder if he’s dead and has reached the heaven that Christians talk so much about—then he vomits a mouthful of saltwater.

Little by little, Jiang Cheng becomes aware of the hardness of the wood under his aching body, the sound of the waves hitting the boat in a whisper, and the cry of the seagulls in the distance. Then he rises to a sitting position and looks around him, towards his new home, although at that moment he doesn’t know it.