Natalie couldn't help laughing when she saw their shocked faces. "Easy there," she teased. "Your eyes are about to pop out." Lucky, Cash, and Baron didn't even look at her. They just stared straight at the ocean. This was nothing like the Fearsome Flood in the city. There were no tall buildings, no street signs, and no junk floating around. The sea was clean and open, with nothing but wild, rolling waves. Nature's size and beauty were things humans could never copy. Standing here made her feel lighter inside. Natalie smiled and asked the three of them, "This is the ocean. Do you like it?" All three kept watching the waves below and nodded together. Natalie sighed with a smile. "It's a shame it's Frostfall. If it weren't, I could take you to the beach. Before the apocalypse, the best vacation was lying in the sun, feeling the sea breeze, drinking coconut juice, and watching people walk by with eight-pack abs..." She stopped mid-sentence. Something felt wrong. She glanced to the side. Sure enough, Cassian's face had darkened. "Do eight-pack abs look that good?" he asked. Natalie shook her head hard. "Not as good as yours. No one's abs are as perfect as yours." She knew when to back down. Cassian's lips twitched into a faint smile. He was about to speak when Lucky suddenly began to growl low at the sea. Both of them turned to look. The waves below the cliff, which had been crashing against the rocks, suddenly stopped.The sea level dropped fast—way down. Then the water rushed backward at an insane speed. Backward? Natalie froze. Low tide? But this is way too fast. Cassian's expression changed completely. He raised his arm and pointed at the far horizon. Natalie followed his finger. Her pupils shrank in fear. "A tsunami! It's a tsunami!!" She never thought it would come true so fast. Nearby water kept pulling back, all of it rushing toward the distance and piling into a massive wall of waves. From where they stood, the wave looked as tall as the sky. At first glance, it was like a giant staircase connecting the sea and the clouds. It wasn't just tall. It was wide, so wide she couldn't see the end. Like a huge net falling from the sky, it swept toward the city. Faced with such terror, even Natalie—usually calm and ruthless—felt her legs go numb and her scalp tingle. Cassian recovered first and shouted, "Quick! The helicopter!" A violent wind exploded around them. The salty air slapped hard against their faces. Cassian's voice was swallowed by the roar. Natalie reacted instantly. She pulled the helicopter out of her storage space, then quickly stored the Knight XV and the pets inside. She and Cassian jumped into the helicopter at once.It wasn't that they didn't want to hide inside the storage space, but this place would soon become a raging ocean. If she went in now, who knew what it would look like when she came out? Even if they survived this wave, what if another wave of tsunami knocked her out the moment she stepped outside? Or maybe, by the time they got out, this place would already be in the middle of the ocean. Nothing but endless water in every direction, drifting wherever the waves pushed them. Just thinking about it made Natalie feel hopeless. They did have a yacht. But in this violent sea, a yacht meant nothing. Even a massive ship weighing tens of thousands of tons wouldn't stand a chance. No matter how strong a vessel was, it was still just a leaf on the water, ready to be flipped at any second. The safest place was the sky. Cassian had already started the aircraft. The helicopter roared to life. The engine thundered as the rotors began to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster. A helicopter couldn't lift off right away. When the rotors spun fast enough and generated enough lift, it could rise into the air. But the towering waves wouldn't wait for them. Like a giant monster, the ocean roared and surged toward the shore. Natalie had always thought this helicopter took off quickly. Right now, every second felt painfully long. As the wave drew closer, they could finally see its size. It had to be over a thousand feet tall. Like several thirty-story buildings stacked on top of each other. The light above and around them was swallowed by the wall of water. In an instant, it felt as if the sky and the earth had both been plunged into shadow. The rotors were still speeding up, but the helicopter still wasn't ready to lift off. Cassian glanced back once and shouted without hesitation, "Pull back! Now!"Natalie understood at once. She clenched her teeth and blinked backward, dragging the helicopter with her in several rapid jumps, each over three hundred feet. The sea had already slammed onto the shore. The sea completely swallowed the spot where they had first stopped. The force was so strong it ripped out the guardrails and dragged them into the water. A few seconds later, they had retreated to the edge of the golf course. Behind them were rows of tall buildings, packed close together. At last, the rotors reached full speed. The helicopter slowly began to rise. The tsunami rushed toward them at an unbelievable speed. But they had only just lifted off. They weren't high enough yet. Natalie felt as if the seawater spray was already splashing against the glass.