Chapter 64: The Sunken Unsinkable Ship

April 14, 1912, late at night, 23:40.

All along the way the sea was calm and smooth, not a ripple in sight; even if a wave lapped against the iceberg, the lookout might still have been able to judge it with the naked eye.

In the midnight of the forest, lookout Frederick Fleet spotted the black shadow of the iceberg, which rapidly grew larger in his vision.

He immediately sprang into action, striking the bridge's warning bell three times, grabbed the phone and shouted: "Iceberg dead ahead!"

The chief mate, upon receiving the call, was startled and loudly ordered: "All engines reduce speed! Hard left! Reduce steam pressure, reverse the number three propeller!"

Although the reaction was swift, it was already too late.

At that moment, the Titanic was less than four hundred meters from the iceberg; from Frederick Fleet's sighting to the starboard side striking the iceberg took only a brief 37 seconds.

After 37 seconds, the Titanic, moving too fast and too massive, could not stop or turn in time, and could only drift obliquely into the iceberg.

There is an idiom called "the tip of the iceberg".

What lay before the eyes was merely a chunk of ice floating on the sea surface, but beneath the waterline it was far more perilous and ferocious.

Thus, the Titanic and the iceberg shared a deadly kiss, scraping destructively along the starboard side, with the iceberg contacting the hull underwater for about seven seconds.

A few minutes later, all engines stopped; inertia tore the ship's steel plates, forming six huge gashes through which water flooded in at great speed.

The crew promptly shut the watertight compartments, causing many lower-deck laborers to lose their lives instantly.

Except for some passengers in the lower decks who glimpsed the milky-white iceberg scraping past the portholes, first- and second-class passengers felt only a slight shudder, unaware of the impending doom; they even played with iceberg fragments on the upper deck.

But the third-class compartments were already flooding, even the rats had fled.

Inside a first-class cabin, feeling the ship's vibration, Su Qing knew the time had come.

He immediately turned to the bewildered Lu Si beside him and said, "Lu Si, the danger I warned you about has arrived."

"What danger?" Lu Si asked, puzzled.

"Did you just feel that? The ship shuddered." Su Qing asked.

Lu Si nodded, but still didn't understand: "Just a tremor—how could that be dangerous?"

Pressed for time, Su Qing had no chance to explain; he grabbed Lu Si, picked up their luggage, and left the room, heading straight for Lu Si's mother's quarters.

Coincidentally, as soon as they stepped out they saw someone, saving them time.

"Lu Si, hold onto your mother and don't let go." Su Qing gave the mother-in-law no chance to speak, turning his head to Lu Si.

"Okay!" Lu Si, though doubtful, saw Su Qing's stern expression and hastily took her mother's hand.

Next, under Su Qing's leadership, the group made their way to the deck.

On the deck lay many scattered ice chunks.

Su Qing frowned, then turned to the dazed Lu Si and her mother and explained, "The hull has been torn by the iceberg; soon the whole ship will sink into the Atlantic, and we must save ourselves."

"What should we do now?" Lu Si's face changed as she asked.

"Impossible!" Mrs. Buckett frowned, utterly disbelieving.

Su Qing was heartened by Lu Si's unconditional trust; as for the mother-in-law, whether she believed or not made no difference to him.

"Don't worry, do you still remember that ship following the Titanic? It's mine." Su Qing ignored the mother-in-law's attempt to comfort Lu Si, saying, "Just wait a moment; it will catch up to us, and once we board it we'll be safe."

"It's your ship!" Lu Si exclaimed, somewhat surprised. Since the voyage began, a ship had been trailing the Titanic; she naturally knew that, but she never imagined it was Su Qing's vessel.

Su Qing nodded, somewhat helpless: "The Titanic's speed is too great; my ship fell behind, otherwise we could have left already."

Meanwhile, while the three waited on deck, inside the wheelhouse the shipowner, Captain Smith, several mates, and designer Andrew were in a frenzy, like ants on a hot pan.

Andrew's face flushed red as he pointed to the design plans and said solemnly:

"The situation is dire; five compartments have flooded, but the ship's buoyancy can only withstand four compartments flooding, not five."

"In other words, we are overweight; the ship will now sink, with water spreading from the bow to the stern, unstoppable."

"The Titanic's final outcome can only be one thing: sinking."

Hearing this, the shipowner objected: "This ship will not sink."

Andrew immediately retorted: "It's made of iron; iron sinks, it will sink—there's no doubt about it."

Upon saying that, everyone in the room fell silent.

After a few seconds, Captain Smith finally came to and asked: "How much time do we have left?"

Andrew, looking at the plans with bitterness, replied: "At most two hours."

The room fell silent once again.

Just as everyone was looking at each other, the door was suddenly kicked open with a loud bang.

This abrupt change instantly drew everyone's attention in the room.

They turned to see a yellow-skinned Eastern man standing at the doorway.

As the captain and others were about to speak, the man said: "I know the ship is going to sink, but I have a vessel outside; I need you to immediately notify everyone to go up on deck."

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up; Shipowner Mr. Is stepped forward to speak.

But Su Qing ignored him, shouting sternly at the assembled crowd: "Time is life—what are you standing around for? Go notify everyone!"

"Oh oh oh, okay okay."

"Understood, sir; we're off right away."

""

After those words, the people in the room finally reacted; the mates hurried out one by one.

Looking at the remaining Captain Smith, Shipowner Is, and Designer Andrew in the room, Su Qing bluntly said: "My ship plus the lifeboats can hold everyone; you need not block the third-class passengers from coming onto the deck, or I will have the right to refuse you boarding."

"Well…" Shipowner Is hesitated, wanting to say something.

But Captain Smith waved him off, solemnly declaring: "We won't."

Andrew also nodded repeatedly.

Thereafter, the four of them didn't just stand idle; they walked out together to the cabins and assisted in the evacuation.

With Su Qing's involvement, the aristocratic wealthy lost their privilege of fleeing first, and the lower-deck passengers also began to escape onto the deck.

When they arrived on the deck, they saw that beside the Titanic, a cargo ship was moored.

And that was the Morris.

At that moment, the Morris had already, under Su Qing's orders, lowered its gangway and was taking on many passengers.

"I am a noble, I want a private room……" A well-dressed middle-aged man, as soon as he stepped onto the Morris, stood there repeatedly, blocking the passage, arrogantly ordering Jie Ke, who was helping passengers.

"Sorry, sir, we're a cargo ship with no private rooms." Jie Ke replied humbly.

The man, hearing this, glared angrily and opened his mouth to rebuke.

But before he could speak, he felt a strong gust blast his face, and then saw a hand rapidly enlarging before his eyes.

"Slap……"

A loud slap rang out, the man's face stung and he lost consciousness.

Su Qing slapped the man unconscious, turned to Jie Ke and said, "Stop the nonsense, move him aside, don't block the way."

"Oh, okay, boss." Mr. Jie Ke blinked, then nodded repeatedly, gesturing for Fabuliaoqi to lift the man away.

After dealing with that trivial matter, Su Qing turned to the crowd of nobles, wealthy, and commoners about to board the Morris and said angrily, "The Titanic is about to sink, yet he stands here blocking those trying to board—this is practically murdering me and your lives."

"Yes, Mr. Su is right."

"Mark, you idiot, what time is this, still pretending to be cool?"

"I really want to go up and kick his head……"

"……"

This outburst immediately ignited everyone, including the nobles and wealthy, filling them with righteous indignation.

Looking at their gritted-teeth expressions, if the man named Mark were still lying here, they'd probably want to step on him twice, pointing at his head and shouting, "Damn, you're safe while we're not!"

Thus, under Su Qing's thunderous methods, in just one hour and fifteen minutes, everyone on the Titanic had been evacuated to the Morris and the lifeboats.

Because of the large number of people, the Morris was bloated and hard to maneuver, so Su Qing simply ordered it to slowly drift a hundred feet away from the Titanic and then wait for rescue ships.

In the following time, under everyone's gaze, amid the sound of tearing steel, the Titanic split in half down the middle.

Seawater flooded the shattered hull, then the stern rose high and, slanting, slowly sank into the ocean.

A few minutes later.

The supposedly unsinkable Titanic, having completed its brief voyage, sank completely into the Atlantic, this quiet, icy tomb.

From striking the iceberg to total submersion, only two hours and forty minutes passed.