Really Found It

The bamboo raft drifted aimlessly across the vast expanse of the sea!

Looking for debris from the plane while also searching for a reef where the raft could be secured.

They were lucky. After half an hour of drifting in this area of ocean, they found a reef.

Lu Zhe thought it was the temporary foothold they had used previously.

But it wasn't!

This reef was over three times the size of the previous one.

Roughly 300 square meters or so, with uneven terrain, some parts protruding half a meter above the water's surface. Lu Zhe estimated at high tide it would likely be completely submerged.

In any case, it was a foothold, which was fortunate.

Tang Xiaoguo got off the raft and was immediately drenched in sweat by the scorching heat. She ducked back under the canopy.

Ning Shu ran down to the water to splash some on her face.

Fortunately the seawater wasn't as hot.

Lu Zhe repositioned the raft so that the breeze could flow in through the wide mouth of the bottles, lowering the temperature somewhat inside the canopy.

Everyone waved their palm leaf fans continuously.

The only box of baking soda was used repeatedly to make relatively cool lemonade.

If not for all their heat-relief preparations, some of the girls definitely would have fainted from heatstroke by now.

Tang Xiaoguo asked, "What kind of island is this?"

Lu Zhe said, "It's a coral reef. Coral polyps live on it, expanding the area over time, eventually forming a coral island. Later, sea birds and sea turtles bring seeds from other islands, gradually turning it into a thriving island."

He looked around, "I'll go check the perimeter. You guys stay here."

"Okay, be careful Lu Zhe!"

Lu Zhe nodded. He went to the edge of the reef and looked down.

The seawater was crystal clear. Colorful fish could be seen swimming freely below.

It seemed the El Niño phenomenon didn't impact all fish.

The underwater scenery looked deceptively close, as if it were only a meter deep, but Lu Zhe knew the actual depth was much greater than it appeared.

He dove in and found the depth was over twenty meters.

But for him now, that depth was child's play.

His aquatic abilities allowed him to handle underwater conditions with ease.

Finally, he saw a long lost friend.

A two meter long requiem shark!

It swam past Lu Zhe, shaking its big head, glancing at him before quickly swimming away.

This made Lu Zhe feel a bit disappointed.

Lu Zhe circled the entire reef underwater, gathering some sea cucumbers and scallops in a plastic bag before swimming back ashore.

Ning Shu handed Lu Zhe half a bottle of icy water, "Find anything?"

"Just saw a shark and got these things." He emptied out the sea cucumbers and scallops.

"Didn't find any solid clues. After the sun's not so intense, I'll go explore farther away."

Shen Bing nodded, "Lu Zhe, could it be the water's too deep, visibility too low to find anything?"

"Twenty meters of water has clear visibility to the seabed. Even fifty meters, while deeper, shouldn't obstruct all sight!"

After a simple meal, they endured until afternoon.

The temperature had returned to the low nineties by noon.

Lu Zhe searched the vicinity again but still couldn't find the plane.

The girls were all somewhat discouraged!

Even Lu Zhe was starting to want to give up!

At four in the afternoon, Shen Bing suggested searching one more time.

They stuck a long bamboo pole in the reef and tied a piece of plastic cloth to it as a flag marker. For the third time they set out on the raft to search.

This time, they found the plane.

But...

It wasn't theirs!

Yes!

They discovered another plane.

This plane was much smaller than the commercial airliner.

The nose was shattered, the fuselage broken, and one wing completely missing.

There was damage throughout the body, clearly having already sustained severe impacts before hitting the water.

The friends were shocked speechless.

Tang Xiaoguo exclaimed, "What is this?"

"Unclear!"

Lu Zhe said, "Let me go down and take a look before it gets dark."

Ning Shu urged, "Be careful Lu Zhe!"

"Got it!"

Lu Zhe dove into the water and swam downward.

When he got to the plane, Lu Zhe realized it was very small.

It looked somewhat like a reconnaissance plane, but was only three meters long and had no cockpit.

Lu Zhe understood - this was a military drone.

He noticed there were no identifiable words or markings on the aircraft.

Lu Zhe immediately thought of one possibility!

Could this be what collided with their plane?

Based on the algae growth, it was very likely!

He wanted to examine the plane to see if there were any usable parts.

The plane wasn't very heavy. He tied ropes to it and had the girls haul it up.

Ning Shu lamented, "Can't believe we actually salvaged a whole plane."

Jiang Yao frowned, "This must be what hit our plane!"

Shen Bing nodded gravely, "Very possible!"

Lu Zhe also nodded, "That's what I think too."

Shen Bing understood. She murmured, "Looks like they weren't trying to rescue that person, just simply wanted to kill him."

"He must've had too much inside information on the drug dealers."

"Definitely more than usual! Look, this drone isn't an ordinary drone."

Shen Bing nodded, "Military drone, can't identify the model. But clearly, they succeeded."

"Can it serve as evidence?"

Shen Bing shook her head, "The criminals erased all the aircraft's information. Even if we take it back it can't be used as evidence."

"They were ruthlessly thorough."

Now, whether they succeeded or not no longer mattered to Lu Zhe and Shen Bing. What's done is done.

All they could do was make the most of any resources they could find to survive as best they could.

"Lu Zhe, can this plane be used?"

Lu Zhe thought for a moment, "Can't say it's completely useless. It still has some parts. But the damage is too severe. The motors and fuel tanks took on water. It's basically scrap now."

Ning Shu said, "But if we can't find our plane, it's not a complete waste coming here."

"True!"

"And more importantly!" Lu Zhe had a thought, "Finding this plane means our plane didn't go down far from here!"

"That makes sense!"

"Keep looking. With some luck we may really find it."

Where there's a will there's a way. Finally, at four-thirty in the afternoon, they found the shallow shoal they had stayed on previously.

Based on that shoal, Lu Zhe recalculated where their plane must have gone down.

By now it was past five o'clock.

The water was murky grey below. If not for Lu Zhe deducing the crash site, it would have been very difficult to locate.

Lu Zhe jumped in, felt around for a bit, then popped back up, excitedly giving a thumbs up!

"Found it!"

"My god, really found it!"

The girls hugged excitedly!