"Do you think it’s strange that those patrol officers saw us arriving here, heavily laden, and obviously planning something, yet instead of coming over to question us, they quickly walked away?"

"You haven’t been here for long, so you might not know about this, but it’s actually an unwritten rule." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"When we appear on the deck with our large and small bags, others, including the patrol officers, will assume we are preparing to leave from here."

"Normally, even though the patrol officers won’t obstruct us from leaving, they would, according to regulations, need to control us first, then inspect our luggage. Only after everything checks out with the rules, would they let us leave."

"However, going through such a troublesome process means that even if they find some special items, since it’s all happening in front of everyone, the patrol officers would have to hand everything in."

"But after doing all that work, in the end, the patrol officers might just get some verbal praise, at most, they would receive some insignificant rewards like mosquito legs."

"So after experiencing this a few times, the patrol team, upon seeing those ready to leave, won’t immediately come over to interrogate us and then control us to check our luggage."

"Instead, they’ll pretend they didn’t see anything and act as if they didn’t see us at all, quickly leaving our side. After all, the deck is so large, and they can’t manage to handle everything, so it’s common for people to take the opportunity, while they patrol elsewhere, to climb over the railing and jump overboard to escape."

"But if they were to notice us and come over to inquire, only to let Dong Tianyu and the others escape because of negligence, the entire responsibility would fall on them."

"Faced with these two outcomes, even a fool would know which is the better choice."

"Besides this point, the most important thing is that nobody knows when, but everyone tacitly came up with another unwritten rule."

"That is, if one really wants to sneak away, one must leave some valuable supplies in a conspicuous place at home."

"When the patrol team sees our actions now, they will basically confirm the thoughts of the three of us. It’s only after they see me make a certain gesture that the patrol team will directly leave."

"That gesture of mine is actually to indicate that when we leave, we are only taking some clothes with us, and those valuable but hard-to-carry items are all left in the old house. In fact, this is a form of bribery."

"Only by doing this will the patrol team turn a blind eye to other survivors like us who are preparing to escape from here."

"Actually, this tacit understanding has been going on for quite some time, and perhaps the big shots on the ship should also be aware of this. But as the saying goes, ’clear waters have no fish,’ and as long as those below don’t overdo it, those who are high above won’t bother too much."

After listening to Mr. Thompson’s explanation, Dong Tianyu understood the cause and effect of this matter.

Since Father Dong and Mother Dong had a certain level of cultivation, Dong Tianyu was not worried about his parents having any accidents during the rappelling process.

Therefore, Dong Tianyu started to explain to his parents, "The big ship that I came on didn’t come close to this side. If we want to board that big ship, we need a transfer."

Hearing Dong Tianyu say this, Mr. Thompson immediately asked, "Then how do you plan to take us over there?"

"That’s simple, just transfer with a small boat. I’ve prepared the boat, but I’ll have to go down first."

"There’s that rapelling rope over there, we can go down together," said Mrs. Thompson.

Seeing this, Dong Tianyu glanced at the situation on the deck and saw that there were indeed many ropes for rapid descent fixed along the railing.

Dong Tianyu took the luggage from his parents’ hands and then tied them, big and small, in front of and behind him.

Once the three of them were all ready and made sure that the ropes were securely tied, they jumped down from the deck together.

Descending rapidly along the rope, the three of them quickly reached the surface of the water. Before Mr. Thompson could even speak, a nearly transparent boat appeared on the water.

Zachary undid his safety harness and then, with a graceful leap, easily jumped onto the Jade Ship.

Once Zachary had steadied himself aboard the Jade Ship, he immediately controlled it to come to his parents’ side and smoothly picked them up onto the boat.

After picking up his parents, even though Father Dong and Mother Dong were curious about the Jade Ship beneath them, in this pitch-dark place, it was not the time for discussions. So, despite their curiosity, they refrained from asking any questions.

To avoid any accidents, Zachary maneuvered his Companion Spiritual Treasure and quickly arrived in front of the Wave Rider.

Zachary did not want his parents to struggle with climbing up and down anymore, so he directly controlled the Wave Rider to descend slowly, reducing the gap between the deck and the water’s surface.

The Wave Rider was no ordinary ship, but a Spiritual Treasure forged by Zachary. As he had already consecrated it, he could freely control its movements.

So, although the slight sinking of the ship was trivial in Zachary’s eyes, it was still incredibly shocking for the survivors who hadn’t experienced such an event before.

When the hull of the Wave Rider had sunk to a certain level, Father Dong and Mother Dong easily jumped from the Jade Ship to the deck of the Wave Rider.

Once his parents had set foot on the deck, Zachary untied the luggage strapped to him and threw it all onto the deck.

But Zachary didn’t board the deck of the Wave Rider. After ensuring his parents’ safety, he rode the Jade Ship back this way.

When Zachary, pulling on the rapid descent rope, came back up on the deck of the large ship, he saw that the entire Taylor family had already gathered there.

After Zachary climbed over the railing and stood on the deck, Madeline gently nudged him and then said to him, "Why didn’t you wait for us?"

Hearing Madeline’s words, Zachary gave him a look and then explained to the others, "The ship I came on is quite large and couldn’t get close, so I needed to use a smaller boat for transfer. But my small boat isn’t very big, so I had to send my parents over first, and then come back for you guys."

Hearing Zachary’s explanation, Madeline suddenly spoke up, "You mentioned that the small boat isn’t very spacious. Can it carry all of us at once? Or do we have to go in two groups?"

After Madeline asked this question, Master Ye and Robinson William also turned their attention to Zachary, curious to see how he would solve this dilemma.

Upon hearing Madeline’s inquiry, Zachary looked somewhat helpless and kept sighing. Seeing the expression on Zachary’s face, Madeline suddenly had a bad premonition.

Just as he was trying to make sense of it, Zachary suddenly said, "The small boat can only fit three or four people. If we all want to go together, someone will need to make a sacrifice."

Anyway, the large ship isn’t far from here. You can swim directly over to it.

Otherwise, we’d have to make two trips. Leave some people here to wait while I take the others to the ship I came on, and then come back for the rest."

Hearing Zachary speak, before Madeline could say anything, Robinson William quickly arranged, "Zachary, you take my father, my wife, and my child on the boat."

"Point us in the right direction, and Madeline and I will swim over. Since we’ve decided to leave, the sooner the better, to prevent anything else from happening," he said.

Madeline, upon hearing Robinson William’s plan, wanted to object; he actually preferred to leave by boat as well, even though he knew how to swim but didn’t enjoy it.

But now that things had come to this point, with Zachary as the boatman who certainly couldn’t leave the boat, and the rest being either his own father or his sister-in-law and nephew. They couldn’t swim, either.

After going in circles, Madeline couldn’t find a suitable scapegoat and reluctantly had to nod in agreement with Robinson William’s arrangement.