"Oh, my God!"
"Mr. Shi..."
"John! John..."
"Uncle John!"
"Oh, my God! What happened?"
"Help! Help!"
The banquet hall descended in total chaos. Adrian ran out with Henry on his heels.
Only Sam stayed where he was and kept calm. He asked Jake, his butler, to wheel him close to the window.
Very few people ventured about in the winter. There were no people walking around the river as the place was out-of-the-way.
They could do nothing but watch John's car sink into the river.
At this critical moment, James jumped out of nowhere, tore off his clothes, and ran straight to the river. He jumped into the ice-cold water to look for his uncle.
"Uncle John! Uncle John!" The icy water instantly numbed James's body, but there was no time to think about that.
Just now, they saw John's car plunge into the river.
John had a fear of water. He would feel dizzy and couldn't breathe when he saw rivers. James wondered how his uncle must be feeling now that he was at the bottom of a freezing river.
Not letting his anxiety get the better of him, James kept swimming with all his strength.
"Uncle John!" Emma, who ran to the river after him, stood there with her eyes wide with horror. She watched as James paddled through the water like his life depended on it. When she finally found the courage to speak, she yelled after him, "Please be careful, James!"
She waited by the river anxiously.
At this time, Adrian and some others also rushed down and jumped into the river to look for John.
Henry stood by the river fretfully and looked around. He saw Michelle standing not far away. She had her hand over her mouth, and her eyes brimmed with shocked, fearful tears. Wynn quietly appeared beside her and put a phone in her pocket.
Then, Wynn looked straight at Henry.
The two looked at each other for a few seconds before Wynn turned around and left.
The river was deep, and its undercurrents flowed steadily out of the city. Looking in the direction of the river, Henry found some ripples at one corner that seemed to be bigger than the rest.
"John, John..." Vivian also came over and sobbed by the river. "Where are you, John?"
The people who decided to help expanded their search, but they found no signs of John. Many of them surfaced.
"I don't see him here."
"He's not here either." James looked at Adrian and asked, "Have you found him?"
Adrian raised his hands and brushed all his hair up with his fingers. He then wiped his face. "The river is too deep. I failed to get to the bottom."
"I got to the bottom. I saw the car. One of the windows was broken. Uncle John must have smashed his way out, but he's afraid of the water. If only I had reacted quickly and rushed down before the car! Shit! What do we do now?" James said remorsefully, flapping the water with one hand.
"We've searched this area and didn't find anything. It could only mean that John was washed downriver. Damn it! Why did Richard let him drive by himself?" Adrian's eyes burned red with anger.
"Let's go ashore and get more help to search along the river. If we don't take action now, John will be washed toward the confluence. We won't be able to rescue him then."
"Right. Let's go ashore first." James swam for the riverbank.
The search party followed after him.
The moment James stepped out of the water, Emma rushed to him and held him in her arms.
"Are you okay? Where is your uncle? Where is John?" Jessica was the first to rush over and ask. Her eyes and nose were red from crying.
How could this be? How could there be a car accident?
"We haven't found him yet. We suspect he's already somewhere downriver." James gently patted Emma's back. "I'm fine, dear. You stay with Dad, Mom, and Grandpa, okay? Adrian and I will look for Uncle John. I'll be careful, I promise."
Then, James pulled away from Emma, boarded a boat with Adrian and some others, and searched for John downriver.
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