After coming out, Mu Dai briefed Zheng Mingshan on the job.

In short, Yan Hongsha’s uncle Yan Jiuxiao had “lost contact” in Five Pearl Village. The old man Yan was worried, but firstly, he was getting on in years, and secondly, his eyes were inconvenient, so he wanted to find a girl with decent martial arts skills to accompany Yan Hongsha.

He was grooming Yan Hongsha as the next generation treasure collector, with some intention of training her. The reason he specifically wanted a female was because of the convenience of living and traveling together, as it might be awkward with someone of the opposite sex. Also, like all grandfathers guarding beautiful granddaughters, Old Yan had to guard against bad boys setting their sights on Hongsha.

Zheng Mingshan said, “Oh, alright then. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”

He said he would leave, and he did leave. Mu Dai was stunned. When she came to her senses, she chased after him like a puppy: “Senior Brother, you’re just leaving? You’re just abandoning me like this?”

Zheng Mingshan stopped: “What else did you expect? Didn’t you want experience? If I don’t throw you into the sea to choke on water, how will you learn to swim?”

“But Yan Hongsha doesn’t have experience either, and I’m… just half-trained…”

Zheng Mingshan was even more confused: “It’s not like it’s war or tigers blocking your path. You’ve been out on your own before, haven’t you? Buy a ticket, and you can get anywhere. As for experience, you’ll gain it as you go.”

“But…”

Zheng Mingshan said, “Young lady, do you still resemble someone who practices martial arts? With your skills, I dare not speak for other situations, but in a street fight, you’d rarely meet a match. Yan Hongsha knows a few cat’s paws techniques too. Your combat strength is much stronger than backpackers touring Tibet with a hundred yuan. You’re just going to Guangxi, is it worth worrying about?”

Mu Dai felt embarrassed: “Then… Senior Brother, you should at least give me some instructions.”

Like a traveler setting out, without the family’s nagging, the ritual feels incomplete.

Zheng Mingshan made a sound of acknowledgment and was about to say something when Mu Dai cautiously interrupted: “Don’t tell me again about finding restaurants, hotels, or train stations in unfamiliar places. I could recite that in my sleep.”

So he couldn’t say what he’d said before. Zheng Mingshan thought long and hard, and after a pause, he extended his thick palm and lovingly patted Mu Dai’s head.

“If you’re in trouble, find the police. Spend money sparingly. If you meet a good man, just take him.”

After finishing, he picked up his plastic bag, walked out with measured steps, without even looking back once.

Mu Dai felt somewhat emotional. This bland relationship between senior and junior disciples was no better than those unscrupulous fathers in the old society who sold their children to landlords to labor like oxen.

Hepu, Five Pearl Village.

Should she tell Luo Ren? Mu Dai thought about it back and forth and decided not to: I’m not chasing after you, I’m going for work, two different things. If we run into each other, I’ll say hello; if not, I don’t care.

But Five Pearl Village should be quite small, right?

She stayed one night at Yan Hongsha’s home. The furniture was all old-fashioned, especially the bed, which was surprisingly enclosed on three sides. After getting in and lowering the canopy, it was like lying in a square box.

Mu Dai couldn’t sleep and thought about walking in the courtyard. When she came out, she saw the light still on in Old Yan’s room. As she got closer, a mumbling voice came out. The wooden lattice paper door, even when closed tightly, had large gaps for ventilation, making it easy to eavesdrop.

“Hongsha, be very careful outside. No matter who you meet, treat them as bad people to guard against. Caution ensures safety over the years.”

“Should I be wary of Mu Dai, too?”

“Zheng Mingshan vouched for her, so theoretically there shouldn’t be a problem, but being cautious is never wrong…”

Mu Dai snorted, not even bothering to continue eavesdropping.

This old man was insecure, but it made sense. Treasure collectors were exclusive—the more people involved, the more the profits had to be divided. So they preferred to work with a small team and viewed everyone as having ill intentions toward their treasures.

From Kunming to Hepu was about 1,200 kilometers, a journey of approximately one night and half a day, so they set off at noon the next day.

Both had little luggage, traveling light, but their moods were very different.

Mu Dai was vigilant. No one had taught her how to do this job, but out of a sense of responsibility, she was self-taught. Her eyes rarely left Yan Hongsha, and she would consciously or unconsciously observe the people around. Whenever strangers approached, her entire body would tense up.

For her first job, she didn’t want to mess up.

Yan Hongsha, however, was in a pleasant mood. From the looks of it, Old Yan’s earnest advice and experience had been completely thrown to the back of her mind.

Oh, no, there was one point she followed.

Being wary of Mu Dai.

Of course, it was mostly out of personal grudge. That kick from Mu Dai had kept her awake with pain for half the night.

As soon as they went out, she haughtily handed her bag to Mu Dai: “Carry this for me.”

After speaking, she walked ahead with her chin up. Mu Dai didn’t say a word, silently following. After walking about a hundred meters, Yan Hongsha looked back and immediately jumped in anger: “Why aren’t you carrying it for me?”

“I’m a bodyguard, not a Chongqing porter.”

Chongqing porters—she had seen them for the first time only on her last visit to Chongqing, but now she spoke casually as if she’d known them since childhood.

Yan Hongsha had no choice but to run back to retrieve her bag. As she ran, her stomach hurt with each contraction.

After boarding the bus, Yan Hongsha’s face darkened as she resolved not to speak to Mu Dai. Mu Dai was glad for the peace. She reclined her seat and, like her Senior Brother, closed her eyes to rest. The swaying bus was like a cradle.

It took Yan Hongsha a long time to realize Mu Dai had fallen asleep, which infuriated her. After all, maintaining her “strangers keep away” posture had taken considerable effort—she could have at least said something before falling asleep.

In the late afternoon, the bus made a midway stop for passengers to have dinner. All the nearby restaurants were full. Mu Dai and Yan Hongsha waited a long time for seats. They ordered two small dishes, but before they had taken more than a few bites, Yan Hongsha called out: “Mu Dai, Mu Dai!”

Mu Dai looked up to see Yan Hongsha’s face red with anger: “That table, that man, he’s leering at me.”

Looking in that direction, it was indeed true. This kind of shameless person could be encountered anywhere, like leeks that grow back after being cut, or like wild grass that sprouts again with the spring breeze.

Mu Dai said, “Hurry up and eat.”

“He’s staring at me.”

Mu Dai continued eating her rice: “Let him look. Looking won’t make you lose any flesh. Besides, can’t you just lower your head to eat without looking at him? If you don’t look at him, you won’t see him looking at you.”

Yan Hongsha was so angry she couldn’t eat: “What kind of person are you? How can you have no personality at all?”

…

The night passed without incident.

They arrived in Hepu early the next morning, then took a two-hour minibus to town. Mu Dai asked various people for directions, saying they needed to take the township bus and get off at the “Two Trees” stop, then ask around from there.

The township bus stopped between two trees, dropped off Mu Dai and Yan Hongsha, and drove away in a cloud of exhaust.

Yan Hongsha screamed: “The Two Trees stop really just has two trees, not even a platform!”

Mu Dai was also surprised, but in front of Yan Hongsha, she held it in. Someone had to appear steady and mature, right?

At the same time, she began to worry. Both had misjudged the tourism reception capabilities of Five Pearl Village and its surroundings. This place didn’t seem to have hotels.

She took Yan Hongsha to the nearest village to inquire, and the response made her feel uneasy.

“Five Pearl Village? It’s been abandoned for a long time. It would be better to go via the coastal road. Why did you come this way? There’s no transportation here; you’ll have to walk for an hour or two.”

Mu Dai was puzzled. How could it be abandoned?

The locals explained that it wasn’t profitable, so people had gradually moved away.

Mu Dai discussed with Yan Hongsha, and they both decided to continue inward. After all, they had already come this far, and it was still early. Even if they found nothing in Five Pearl Village, they could still make it back before dark.

Kind villagers found a tractor to take them part of the way.

Mu Dai, bouncing chaotically on the tractor, still remembered to ask the driver: “Have any outsiders come here recently? In a black SUV?”

The negative response indicated that Luo Ren and his group hadn’t come this way. Mu Dai felt somewhat disappointed. She turned to look at Yan Hongsha, who was happily excited, having forgotten her resolve not to speak to Mu Dai: “This is my first time riding a tractor.”

“Aren’t you worried about your uncle?”

Yan Hongsha thought for a moment: “A little, I guess. My uncle often travels around and sometimes doesn’t contact home for long periods. If it weren’t for…”

If it weren’t for that dream, and that abrupt phone call, where she only heard the sound of waves before the battery died quickly.

The tractor dropped them off at the foot of an earthen hill. The driver gestured for them to cross the mountain, then follow the reef along the sea eastward. Five Pearl Village would be easy to recognize because the village was uninhabited. If all else failed, they could identify it by the ancestral hall.

Oh, the ancestral hall with ten small beasts on the ridge and an immortal pointing the way—there was no way to mistake it.

After crossing the earthen hill and walking a bit further, they reached the seaside. The sea here was relatively calm, and the sand on the beach was fine. Yan Hongsha took off her shoes, holding them in her hand, and walked along the beach, leaving a long trail of shallow footprints behind.

She wanted to invite Mu Dai to join her, but suddenly remembered that kick, and the thought immediately vanished.

After walking a bit further, she excitedly shouted: “A boat! A boat!”

By the seaside, near the reef, there was a short sea-viewing bridge. Probably due to age, most of the bridge planks had rotted, but on the piers, several pearl-harvesting boats were tied with wire, bobbing with the seawater.

Yan Hongsha ran over, but Mu Dai’s attention was drawn elsewhere.

Not far away, at some distance from the beach, there were tire tracks that curved. It seemed as if someone had wanted to drive down to the beach but changed their mind midway and turned back.

Mu Dai shaded her eyes with her hand, looking toward the distant high ground. It seemed there was indeed the shape of a village.

Her lips involuntarily curved into a faint smile.

Yan Hongsha wobbled as she stood in one of the boats. Who knows where she found an oar, but she knocked it against the side of the boat, then called out excitedly: “Mu Dai, this boat doesn’t leak!”

Mu Dai called to her: “Let’s check out the village first.”

Yan Hongsha hugged the oar, refusing to let go: “Let’s row around a bit first. My uncle filmed the oyster on the beach. Maybe he left something by the seaside.”

It was a transparent excuse; she simply wanted to row the boat. Even if Yan Jiuxiao had left something by the sea, it would be on the beach—he wouldn’t have gone into the sea.

Mu Dai stood still.

Yan Hongsha didn’t care about her and proceeded to undo the wire tying the boat, then began rowing in a completely unsystematic way.

One stroke to the left, one to the right. Whether it was the effect of the oar or the current, the small boat began to move, swaying back and forth.

She laughed “Ha ha ha” again, in her typical Yan Hongsha style, with a pause after each “ha,” taking three laughs to complete: “Aren’t you a bodyguard? I want to row the boat now. Are you coming with me or not?”

Mu Dai didn’t respond.

The sea was flat, the waves calm. There shouldn’t be any problems. The small boat was stable and didn’t seem to leak. So, even though she couldn’t swim, she couldn’t let Yan Hongsha look down on her.

She silently calculated the distance between the small boat and the shore.

Yan Hongsha rowed energetically. She didn’t want to row the boat that much; she was just making an issue out of it, hoping Mu Dai wouldn’t be able to board: “You wouldn’t carry my things, you wouldn’t help deal with that lecher, and now you won’t follow me out to sea. Let heaven judge, what kind of bodyguard is this? Shouldn’t your pay be docked?”

The sky was high, the sea vast, and Mu Dai was too far away to do anything to her. Yan Hongsha was practically dancing with joy, her voice rising an octave: “Tell me! Shouldn’t your pay be docked?”

Before her words had fallen, Mu Dai took a few steps back, then suddenly burst into a run. Before Yan Hongsha understood what was happening, there was a flash before her eyes. She saw Mu Dai leverage herself off the farthest rock from the sea, her body gliding over like a swallow skimming the water.

Could she fly to the boat? That was impossible, right?

Indeed, it was impossible. Halfway through, her body was already descending, but Mu Dai placed her foot on the sea surface, a ghostly tap, and instantly propelled herself upward again. The next second, the boat shook, and Mu Dai was inside.

Yan Hongsha held the oar, looking at Mu Dai with a dry laugh: “You… you can even water-walk?”

Mu Dai sat cross-legged at the bow, instinctively drawing in her wet foot. It wasn’t walking on water—at that moment, half her foot had already stepped into the water. Fortunately, her foundation in lightness kung fu was good, and she had calculated the distance appropriately. With one dip and one rise, she could still intimidate Yan Hongsha into silence.

She lowered her eyes, her tone neither cold nor warm: “Continue rowing.”

Yan Hongsha felt awkward, finding it boring herself: “Let’s go back then.”

She turned to row back, but misjudged the force. Her face turned red with effort as the boat swayed left and right, actually getting farther from shore.

Mu Dai panicked a bit: at this distance, she couldn’t even “skim like a swallow” back to shore.

Yan Hongsha was also frustrated, unclear whether she was angry at Mu Dai or the oar. She raised the oar and, using too much force on the downstroke, lost her grip. With a splash, the oar fell into the water.

She quickly leaned over the side to reach for it, almost touching it, but a wave surged, instantly carrying the oar far away.

Yan Hongsha wasn’t worried: “Mu Dai, you can water-walk, go get the oar back.”

Mu Dai almost laughed at her anger: “That’s not called water-walking. I was using momentum, taking a deep breath, with lightness kung fu as a foundation, to glide further on water than others can. The water is deep here. I’m not going to step into water for a broken oar.”

The current rippled gently, pushing the small boat to rock back and forth. It was very quiet around them. Looking up, the sun was dazzling; looking around, the sea stretched endlessly. The small boat truly seemed like a drifting leaf without support.

Yan Hongsha lost her nerve first: “Then, Mu Dai, what should we do?”

Mu Dai said, “There’s nothing to do. Let’s just drift. Maybe your uncle is drifting ahead of us. Or maybe we’ll drift to the Philippines, and they’ll think we’re spies—bang, bang, two shots!”

Yan Hongsha almost cried: “I want to go home.”

Mu Dai glanced at her: “Are you being honest now? Do you still want to row the boat?”

Yan Hongsha shook her head tearfully: “No more rowing.”

Poor thing, like a red-eyed rabbit. Mu Dai stopped scaring her: “In that case, I’ll figure something out.”

She took out her phone.

Fortunately, although the signal wasn’t full, making calls was still possible. Mu Dai flipped through her contacts and found Luo Ren’s name.

It wasn’t like she was actively seeking him out; this was an emergency.

She extended her finger and lightly touched the dial button.

Just at that moment, the boat suddenly shook violently.

It was as if something beneath the water had abruptly rammed their small boat with great force.

Mu Dai froze for a moment. Even through her clothes, she could feel the hair on her forearms standing on end.

Yan Hongsha was also dumbfounded. She unconsciously moved closer to Mu Dai, her voice as low as a whisper: “Mu… Dai, did you feel that?”

Mu Dai’s voice was also as low as it could be: “Don’t… don’t speak.”

Perhaps if they didn’t speak, nothing would happen?

The time that followed, whether it was one minute or thirty seconds, seemed as long as a century, yet quieter than any moment before. Mu Dai and Yan Hongsha forced smiles at each other, harboring hope: Was it over?

The call connected, and Luo Ren’s voice came through: “Hello? Mu Dai?”

Almost at the same moment, there was a loud bang against the bottom of the boat. The small boat was hit so hard it nearly left the water’s surface. Mu Dai’s scalp tingled as she screamed desperately into the phone: “Help, help, help! At sea, I can’t swim…”

Another heavy impact came. The boat’s bow tilted upward. Before Mu Dai could tell Luo Ren where she was, her body suddenly flipped, and countless seawater surged before her eyes, instantly obscuring the blue sky dotted with white clouds.