Maja's heart skipped a beat as she sat motionless on the wooden bench of the boat, her eyes staring blankly into the distance.

When Beck boarded the vessel, the first thing he noticed was her faraway gaze.

He immediately walked over and gave her shoulder a gentle pat.

"The sea's chilly, and dawn's breaking soon. You should change out of those wet clothes," he said with a touch of concern.

Maja almost shook her head in refusal, but the first light of dawn was already spreading across the horizon, followed by a shout

that jolted everyone to attention.

"Over here!"

She quickly stood up and made her way towards the commotion.

It wasn't so much that they had found lan, but rather his jacket, aimlessly drifting on the water's surface.

From her vantage point, Maja could see the island's sky, where smoke slowly ascended, hinting at the horrific battle that had raged

the night before.

She withdrew her gaze, ready to plunge into the sea, but Beck stopped her.

"There are plenty of people searching down there. If lan's in the water, he'll be found."

Without a word, Maja grabbed a pair of binoculars and began scouring the sea.

Helicopters buzzed overhead as part of the massive search effort. With such a large-scale operation, even if lan had drifted far, he

should have been found by now.

Maja's brow furrowed as she peered into the deep, vast ocean. Could he have sunk to the bottom?

Ignoring Beck's protests, she insisted on launching a lifeboat to search for lan herself.

spoke into his walkie-talkie,

with her binoculars, she searched for any blind spots that others might

gaze landed on a cluster of trees in the distance, and without hesitation,

the person sprawled among the branches, her heart felt as though it had been torn to

girth and the

enough to

above and then plunged into the water with a splash, determined to bring

arm was caught on something, blood diluting in the seawater, the wound sickeningly pale from being

as she steeled herself and yanked the object from his

and

onto the

helicopter swiftly landed, and a team rushed lan to a

barely reached the hospital corridor when she

passed, and she could hear Beck speaking

was asking someone, "So, has the island

by the blast. The explosives were buried there long ago, likely by

than twenty locals survived. We also discovered a self-destruct

have been reduced to ruins and sunk silently

raised an eyebrow. If someone wanted the island gone, why not

trouble of detonating bombs?

a woman inside. Several groups tried to

We wanted to bring her back, but she won't leave the chamber. She faces the wall, her eyes wrapped

bandages—probably blind, possibly someone

can't she leave

hit by an electric shock.

could respond, he noticed Maja

the informant away

"Maja, you're awake."

"How's lan?"

"He's still under observation."

eyes and

out, especially since receiving lan's emergency signal from

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