Chapter 437

The sea wind carried the acrid scent of gunpowder.

Evelyn Laurent's fingertips trembled slightly, the blood on her palm long dried into a dark crimson. She moved mechanically with the evacuation team, her gaze fixed on the direction of Vessel 001.

"Evelyn?" Julian Langley waved a hand before her eyes.

She jolted awake, then suddenly broke into a sprint. Her combat boots thudded against the deck like a drumbeat against her ribs.

The operating room lights glared harshly.

Liu Changjin stood at the end of the corridor, his dark face glistening with sweat. "Bullet through the left chest, severe blood loss..." His voice rasped like sandpaper.

Evelyn staggered, bracing herself against the wall.

She remembered the moment Ethan Sullivan collapsed. The man who always stood tall as a pine tree crumpled into her arms, his warmth seeping through her back, burning her skin.

"Captain... Ethan?" Her own voice sounded distant, unreal.

Liu hung up the call, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Yes."

Silence swallowed the corridor.

In the distance, waves crashed against the hull, each strike more urgent than the last. Evelyn stared at her bloodstained palm, noticing flecks of dried crimson still lodged under her nails.

"Why did you call him Captain?"

Liu's camouflage collar was smeared with blood. He opened his mouth—then a shrill alarm blared from his combat terminal. Both turned as the operating room doors slid open.

The lead surgeon removed his mask, revealing exhausted eyes.