林云感觉自己的骨头都在 Ngoài khơi. How he ended up on this leaky tub is still a blur, but the hunger gnawing at his stomach wasn't. He was pretty sure the鸡腿 he'd carved out of last night's dinner had vanished into thin air by morning, leaving only the bone behind. Not that it'd help much right now. His throat was like sandpaper, and his stomach felt like a bottomless pit ready to devour him whole.

"Anything?" he mumbled, half-dreaming, half-praying, as he peeked out into the pre-dawn gloom. The wind howled like it was trying to pour itself over the sides, and the waves crashed with the relentlessness of something angry and betrayed. The ship, a creaky old junk apparently, had taken on some water somewhere along the way, and it was listing slightly, making every movement on deck feel like playing Jenga with death.

Then, a tiny flicker of light caught his eye. Not one of the usual ghostly phosphorescence that danced on the water's surface. This was different. steadier, somehow more deliberate. It was coming from the direction of the dunes, where the shore should be.