“Contact the control center quickly.There is something wrong with parachute No.08.”
A safety inspector immediately did as he was told.
Lila hadn’t jumped yet.She stared at the figures below, which were getting smaller and smaller, her face full of horror.She covered her mouth with her hand and couldn’t help but feel inexplicably excited.
The earth was getting closer and closer.
Natalie squeezed her eyes shut and felt her life flashing before her eyes.
The coach gritted his teeth and tried every means to use the wind to their advantage.He had rich experience in this field.
As a coach, he had also learned many ways to save himself in case of such a dangerous situation.
He tried using the malfunctioning parachute to change the direction of their fall.
Soon, the coach saw a patch of forest in front of them.
If they could fall into the trees, perhaps the branches could buffer their fall and they could survive.
“Listen to me.Let’s glide towards the forest and try to fall on a tree!”
Natalie was too terrified to speak.She could only nod in a panic, a Breathtaking seconds later, the two of them fell into the forest.
Natalie closed her eyes as she felt her back collide with the branches. She had no control over her body as she plunged, getting thrashed by the branches along the way.
Natalie yelped as the pain grew unbearable. The branches broke, and the birds fled in fear, squealing aloud.
Natalie passed through several branches and finally dangled on one of them that seemed to squeak under her weight. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the world spin around her.
For a moment, she couldn’t fathom why the whole world was upside down. The sky was under her feet and the land above her head. Natalie involuntarily wriggled to escape. Unable to withstand her weight any longer, the branch broke, and she fell to the ground with a loud thud.
“Ouch!” Natalie screamed as she felt something sting all over her body. The ground was covered with layers and layers of leaves.
The deformed parachute decelerated the fall, causing minimal damage. Besides, the canopy of branches and the heaps of leaves seemed to hold her in place. Natalie looked around and saw the coach writhing on the ground a couple of meters away from her.
“Are you okay?” Natalie took a deep breath and tried crawling toward him to check his condition. But she couldn’t move a finger.
Every bone in her body hurt. Even the slightest movement caused her immense pain. She lay on the ground until her breathing returned to normal. Finally, she mustered the strength and stood up.
Then, she slowly limped toward the coach, An involuntary moan escaped her lips as she struggled to place her foot on the ground, The coach was still lying on the ground, gasping for breath. He was more injured than Natalie.
“Legs, my legs…” Natalie carefully rolled up his pants and found that both his legs had swollen up like a pumpkin. They were deformed.
“It looks like a fracture. Can you try and stand up?” Natalie grabbed his hand, trying to help him stand up. However, as soon as she moved his leg, he screamed in pain.
Natalie tried several ways to help him but to no avail. The coach was in so much pain that he couldn’t move his body.
“No! I can’t!”
The coach cried out in pain and immediately lay back on the ground. His back was drenched in a cold sweat. Natalie finally gave up to spare him from the pain. She sat on the ground and scanned the surroundings.
They were deep into the woods. To make things worse, the coach had broken his legs. Therefore, it was impossible to leave the place by themselves. Natalie closed her eyes and let out a weary sigh. They had no choice but to wait for someone to rescue them.
“I hope they can find us before it gets dark.” Natalie untied the parachute and rolled her sleeves up to examine her wounds. Her body was covered in scratches and bruises. She rolled down her sleeves and groaned, “How unfortunate of me to encounter such a situation during my first skydiving experience. Gosh, I’ll never try this again.”
“To be honest, I have never encountered such a situation before,” the coach said breathlessly.
“The toughest situation I had encountered before was with a client who became terrified midway and wanted to get back into the helicopter. But we were already flying in the air.” Natalie smiled bitterly.
The coach shifted on the ground, yelping in pain.
“Check if the satellite phone on my waist is working or not. If it is, then we can use it to ask for help. The people in the helicopter should have seen our approximate landing location as well.”
Natalie quickly took the phone from his waist. Luckily, the phone was still working. Following the coach’s instructions, she called the emergency team for help.
“Mr. Larson, we’ll get this project, I guarantee it. You’re such a visionary for coming to Barnes for development. Your suggestion at the meeting just now was revolutionary!”
As the shareholders filed out of the meeting room, they kept flattering Sebastian.
Sebastian smiled courteously but said nothing. He got his private phone back from the assistant and checked it for messages.
The next second, his expression darkened.
“Why didn’t you tell me someone had sent me a message?” he asked his assistant in a low voice.
The assistant was so frightened that he stammered, “Well, Mr. Larson, you never check your phone during such significant meetings. You told me never to bother you with texts or calls.”
Sebastian reread the text from Natalie and frowned. The shareholders from the meeting just now exchanged glances when they saw Sebastian’s dramatic change in disposition. What could’ve happened? Did stock prices plummet? Sebastian tried dialing Natalie’s number, but he couldn’t get through.
“Move tonight’s meeting to tomorrow.” With an icy cold expression, Sebastian grabbed his suit jacket and stormed out of the building. Almost every single time he left Natalie alone, something bad happened to her.
This made him seriously consider bringing her with him wherever he went. She was an adult for crying out loud. Why couldn’t she take care of herself? Skydiving was an extreme sport. Besides, given their current situation, neither of them were safe. The Klein family was out to kill them. 1
Sebastian closed the car door. He didn’t know which club Natalie had gone to, so he asked the driver to head to the northern Suburbs first. Most parachute clubs in
Barnes were located there.
He leaned against the window and rested his forehead on his hand. He blamed himself for not reading the message in time. If he had seen it earlier, he wouldn’t have allowed Natalie to go. Two hours had passed since Natalie texted him. Sebastian tried calling her again, but to no avail. Just as he was about to give up, the call suddenly connected and he heard a woman crying on the other end of the line.
“Who’s this? Where’s Natalie?” Sebastian narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He could instantly tell that this voice didn’t belong to his wife. Natalie wouldn’t cry like that.
“This is… Lila,” the woman said in between sobs. Her pitiful crying only annoyed Sebastian. “Give the phone to Natalie,” he said coldly.
“No… Natalie… Natalie isn’t here. She…” Lila was too choked with sobs to complete a single sentence.
“I’m… Sorry. I’m just so scared…” Sebastian’s patience soon wore thin. He raised his voice and shouted, “What happened?”
His angry voice struck fear in Lila’s heart. She promptly stopped crying and said, “Natalie… Her parachute malfunctioned. Oh, my God! I don’t know what to do… I just…”