The night wind blew by, carrying with it the salty scent of seawater, but it could not dispel the heavy weight of despair lingering in everyone's hearts.
"What should we do next?"
Gwen Stacy asked softly, her voice choked with emotion.
A cruise ship that had carried more than 4,000 people when it set sail had been reduced to just four survivors in an instant. Such a horrific death toll was almost impossible for her to accept.
Harry Osborn took a deep breath, his usually boyish face now etched with exhaustion. "Wait for rescue," he said. "There are emergency flares on the lifeboat. As soon as it gets light, we'll—"
"Hey! Is anyone there?! Help me! I can't swim—gurgle, gurgle…"
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out from the darkness.
All four of them froze.
"Did you hear that too?!" Peter Parker looked up, eyes wide with hope as he turned to the others.
"Yes! I heard it! It came from over there!" Kate exclaimed, pointing toward the sea to her left.
Everyone leaned over the side of the boat, squinting into the inky black water—
Not far away, a figure thrashed in the waves, arms flailing desperately.
Peter's eyes widened in recognition. "It's Z! It's really him! Hahahaha—
Z! Stay right there! Don't move! I'll come save you right away!!"
Without another word, Peter tore off his life jacket and plunged into the sea, swimming swiftly toward Damian.
Then—
"Help! Help! HELP! Gulp—gulp… Harry, help!
I forgot—I can't swim either!"
Less than five meters from the lifeboat, Peter was now flailing and shouting for help himself.
The three on board stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words.
Finally, Gwen Stacy reached into the water with a look of utter disgust and hauled the floundering boy back onto the boat.
Meanwhile, Harry Osborn dove in and quickly rescued Damian, pulling him safely aboard.
Peter crouched in the corner of the lifeboat, soaked and shamefaced. Gwen shook her head. How could someone as smart as me fall for this idiot?
She couldn't be bothered with Peter, who had just nearly drowned in his overzealous attempt at heroism—or with herself, for continuing to care about him at all.
Harry sat beside Damian, a bright smile on his face. "Good to see you're alive, bro!"
Damian, lying on his back and gazing up at the star-studded night sky, turned his head and grinned. "Don't worry! I'm tough! If I wrote my name on a piece of paper, it could double as a steel plate! How could a little accident like this take me out so easily~?"
Harry chuckled. "Ha! If I'd swum just a bit slower, we'd have had to wait a few days for you to float back up on your own!"
"You've changed, Harry," Damian mused. "You're no longer the brave kid who trained in Brazilian capoeira for a month, then challenged his love rival to a fight—only to miss a 360-degree spinning kick, twist his waist, and end up lying on the ground demanding 38,000 dollars in compensation.
"I'm no longer the honest kid who took Latin dance lessons for a month, only to realize his… equipment hadn't changed at all—and started suspecting the instructor was a fraud.
"And I'm definitely not the clever kid who signed up for Taekwondo for a week, only to discover the 'coach' didn't know a thing about it and just enjoyed kicking other kids for fun.
"Those days are gone… never again."
"Shut up!" Harry snapped, lunging forward to clamp a hand over Damian's mouth. "That's enough! Seriously!"
After a beat, he quickly changed the subject. "Anyway… I'm curious—how did you escape those monsters? And since you can't swim, how did you get out of the shipwreck's whirlpool and survive?"
Damian didn't flinch. He'd clearly rehearsed this part.
"It's a long story," he began. "When I was surrounded by those monsters, I thought I was done for.
Then, out of nowhere, this handsome red-haired guy showed up. He wiped out every last monster and got me to the top deck of the cruise ship!
But after dropping me off, he vanished without a trace. Then, just as the ship was about to sink, he reappeared out of thin air and hurled me far away from the whirlpool!
You know the rest… oh, by the way!"
As he spoke, Damian seemed to remember something important. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a golden fruit, and handed it to Kate, who looked pale.
"This is called the Sunset Fruit," he said. "It's a specialty of my hometown. Eating it is very beneficial for wound recovery."
At that moment, Kate was frowning, breathing sharply, her fingers pressing near the wound on her left leg. Blood had already soaked through the makeshift bandage.
She took the Sunset Fruit carefully but asked hesitantly, "Thank you! Is this fruit really that magical?"
Just then, Peter Parker—who was being beaten—glanced over and suddenly widened his eyes in shock.
"Wait! This fruit… is the one that cost you half your savings?!"
At those words, Kate's hand trembled, and she nearly dropped the fruit into the sea. Clutching it tightly, she immediately tried to push it back toward Damian.
"How much?! Half your savings?! This is too valuable—I can't accept it!"
Damian didn't answer. He simply waved his hand and said calmly, "Don't worry about the money right now. In your current condition, if the wound isn't treated promptly and starts to fester, your life could be in danger."
Gwen Stacy, looking at the red and swollen wound on Kate's leg, gently took her hand and added, "Z is right. You're in really bad shape. If the wound festers, you could die…"
Harry Osborn and Peter Parker nodded in agreement.
Kate hesitated for a moment, then finally took a bite. The fruit melted in her mouth—sweet with a hint of sourness—and a warm current instantly spread from her throat throughout her body.
"Huh?!"
After swallowing the last bite, Kate's eyes widened. She instinctively touched her injured left leg.
The burning pain was rapidly fading, and the bleeding had stopped.
With trembling hands, she untied the cloth strips. The deep gash—so severe that bone had been visible—was now healing at a speed visible to the naked eye!
"This… this is incredible!"
Peter Parker's jaw dropped.
As a biology enthusiast, Gwen Stacy carefully touched Kate's calf and whispered in awe, "Unbelievable…"
Harry Osborn picked up the fruit core that had fallen to the floor of the boat. Holding it up in the moonlight, he asked curiously, "How much is this stuff per pound? I'd like to buy fifty tons to try it out."
Leaning against the side of the lifeboat and gazing at the pale sea in the distance, Damian replied nonchalantly, "It's just a local specialty. Nothing to make a fuss about."
A night breeze swept across the water, and the tension on the lifeboat finally eased. Kate flexed her newly restored leg, her eyes wide with disbelief.
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