70: Chapter 70 This boat is harder to row than I imagined, and the waves are bigger than I imagined.

Before long, all four boats were in the water.

On the sea surface, the four plastic bottle boats lined up in a row, gently swaying with the ocean waves.

The design of each boat was actually a bit different.

But looking at them as a whole, they still felt pretty good; it was just unclear whether they would hold up once in the water.

"Alright! All the boats are in the water!"

"The lifeboats are all ready, and the lifeguards are all in position. Grab your oars, put on your life jackets, and get ready to set off now."

Director Zhou stood on the beach and shouted into a megaphone.

Hearing this, everyone immediately collected a life jacket and an oar.

The life jackets were bright orange and looked bulky when worn, which, paired with the expressions on everyone's faces, made the scene inexplicably comical.

Lu Li tied the last strap of his life jacket tight, making sure it wouldn't come loose, then bent down to pick up his oar. The weight of it made him let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the oar was made of carbon fiber and was very light.

On the other side, Shen Qingxue was already standing by the boat.

"You get in first, I'll go after."

Lu Li jerked his chin at her, signaling her to sit in the front.

Shen Qingxue glanced at him without declining. Holding onto the edge of the boat, she stepped into it with a light movement, causing the hull to sway only slightly.

She bent down to sit, steadying her center of gravity with both hands holding onto the bottle bodies on either side.

Lu Li handed her the oar and then stepped in himself.

However, as soon as he came in, the hull sank noticeably by a notch, though fortunately it was still above the safety line.

[Is the goddess's weight that light?]

[I'm dying of laughter, is Lu Li a pig? The moment he gets in, it sinks two levels directly.]

[You don't say, their boat can probably fit one more person.]

[I'm so pissed, that Lu Dog gets to have close contact with the goddess again.]

[Kill Lu Dog! Snatch Qingxue!!!!]

At the scene.

Lu Li was also a bit panicked by this sudden turn of events, fearing that this small boat wouldn't be able to bear it and would be forced to disintegrate.

But fortunately, after his observation, the waterline had stabilized at that position and basically hadn't changed much.

Yep, very safe!

Soon, Lu Li slowly adjusted his posture and then sat at the back of the boat, the space just enough for two people to sit.

It was just a bit cramped, and the space between the two of them was infinitely squeezed.

Lu Li moved back a bit, trying his best not to touch Shen Qingxue.

"Ready?"

"Mm."

"Then let's go."

Lu Li thrust his oar into the water and pulled back hard.

The hull only darted forward a short distance, which was much more strenuous than imagined, and the speed probably couldn't be picked up either.

Shen Qingxue also paddled at the same time, the two of them unexpectedly in sync with their rhythm, and the hull slowly moved forward.

Here, Lu Li had used a small trick beforehand, which was to build the hull into a triangular shape.

This way, the incoming waves could be split open by the bow, significantly increasing speed and saving effort.

On the shore.

Xu Hao watched as Lu Li's boat had already paddled a dozen meters away, lowered his head to look at his own boat, and then looked at the oar in his hand with a bewildered expression.

"How come they paddle so fast?"

Lin Yu squatted at the stern of the boat, holding the edge with both hands, and cautiously stuck one foot in. The hull shook violently, frightening her into quickly retracting it.

"Stop shaking!"

"I'm not shaking!"

Xu Hao also grew anxious, the veins on his hands holding the edge of the boat bulging out.

After tossing and turning for half a day, the two of them managed to sit in the boat together, and it was especially cramped.

Moreover, the hull was submerged quite deeply in the water; the water level was about a bottle-and-a-half's thickness away from washing over the hull, which made people feel panicked just looking at it.

Lin Yu didn't dare to move now, sitting stiffly in the boat with both hands tightly gripping the bottle bodies on both sides.

Xu Hao picked up the oar and tentatively stroked it into the water.

The hull shook, and the bow turned a circle to the left. He paddled again, and the hull turned another circle.

"What's going on?"

Xu Hao was a bit dumbfounded. Is this boat sick? It just spins around and doesn't move forward.

On the shore, Director Zhou stood under a parasol, looking at the progress of the four boats on the sea, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

Even though Lu Li's group's boat swayed a bit much, it still paddled out a small distance, even if the speed wasn't fast.

As for the other three groups... they were basically still struggling on the shore.

Xu Hao's boat, the "Guaranteed Non-Demise," was spinning in place.

As for Lin Mo and Chen Wenwen's "Wenmo", it was slightly better. At least the direction was straight, but the speed was appallingly slow.

As for Zhou Yichen and Su Qing's "Qingchen Boat"...

Director Zhou couldn't bear to look anymore after just one glance.

Although the two had already paddled out and their speed looked okay, it was just that the hull was too low.

It was fine when encountering smaller waves, but if they hit slightly larger ones, water would splash into the boat.

Therefore, Zhou Yichen and Su Qing could only paddle while scooping the water out of the boat; otherwise, they would sink sooner or later.

[Didn't they wash their faces this morning? Why do they have to wash once every wave that comes over?]

[I'm dying of laughter, is this a dating reality show? This is Island Survival: Desperate Survival.]

[Are there sharks in the sea? I want to watch Raft Survival~]

[What are sharks? My idol can take on two!]

[Zhou Yichen's fans are about to arrive on the battlefield, you upstairs better pray for yourself.]

On the other side, Lu Li and Shen Qingxue also ran into trouble.

The waves on the sea rolled over one after another, and no matter how hard they paddled, they were still pushed back by the waves.

"These waves are so annoying."

Lu Li couldn't help muttering curses.

He didn't feel it when he was on the shore, but once he actually paddled into the sea, he realized how big the waves really were.

To be honest, the waves in this kind of resort area were generally considered small. If they encountered huge waves like those in other places, Lu Li doubted whether this boat would fall apart directly.

Fine beads of sweat also oozed out of Shen Qingxue's forehead, and the oar in her hand hadn't stopped either.

Lu Li looked back at the shore, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching.

He felt his hands were about to turn sour from soreness, and yet they had only paddled out less than a hundred meters? It wasn't even half of the total journey, which was so demoralizing.

Shen Qingxue seemed to sense his mood and said without turning her head.

"Don't look back."

Lu Li was stunned for a moment, withdrew his gaze, and continued to paddle with his head down.

The two of them paddled silently for dozens of meters more. Even though their cooperation remained tacit, the forward speed of the hull still couldn't be picked up.

Every time they paddled, the hull darted forward a tiny bit, and as soon as a wave came, it retreated more than half, repeating in an endless cycle as if they were always marching in place.

Soon, Lu Li's arms gradually began to grow sore.

There was no help for it; Shen Qingxue's strength definitely couldn't compare to his, so he had to put in all his effort the whole way, otherwise the boat would definitely regress instead of advancing.

He gritted his teeth and kept paddling.

"If you're tired, rest for a bit."

Shen Qingxue's voice drifted over from the front, her breathing also much more hurried.

"You're not tired at all, why would I be tired," Lu Li stubbornly said.

Shen Qingxue didn't speak again.

Lu Li also used every ounce of his strength to paddle, his heart filled with complaints about the inhumanity of the Program Team.

In the livestream chat, the netizens watching were more anxious than one another.

[The waves are too big, can their boat withstand this?]

[It should be fine, right? The boat Lu Li and the others made is quite sturdy, and there are lifeboats following them anyway.]

[No, look at the other groups, Xu Hao's group is still spinning in place.]

[Zhou Yichen's side doesn't seem to be doing well either; the hull is too low and too much water has gotten in.]

[To be honest, the difficulty of this segment is too high, ordinary people simply couldn't complete it.]

[Did the Program Team go too far with this?]

[Don't be pessimistic, Lu Li and the goddess have already paddled very far, much better than the other groups.]

[What's the use of being better? If you can't paddle to the opposite shore, aren't you still the same?]

The bullet comments were arguing in a ball, and the situation at the scene was also becoming increasingly tense.

On the sea, the boat of Lu Li and Shen Qingxue had paddled nearly two hundred meters, making it the fastest-progressing among the four groups.

But the price was also obvious: the physical strength of both people was rapidly depleting.

It was precisely at this moment that a wave, larger than any before, surged toward Shen Qingxue.

"Watch out..."

Before Lu Li could finish his words, the wave had already slapped onto the hull...