The golden sun descended in the west, the sea breeze caressed their faces, and the boat’s stern churned up white waves. If not for that thing causing trouble in the water, it would have felt like a vacation.

A “self-driven yacht” no less, though it was just a shabby boat.

Mu Dai felt quite content.

Looking ahead, Luo Ren was making a phone call at the bow. Looking behind, Yan Hong Sha sat in her wheelchair, enthusiastically practicing how to handle the chain net.

The chain net was too heavy to be manually cast. Luo Ren had devised a method: the chain net was spread flat and lowered from the side of the boat. The chain links around the edge were threaded with steel wire cables. Simply put, it was like the drawstring of a cloth bag—when the drawstring was lowered, it formed a flat surface, but when quickly pulled up, it could gather into a pouch.

The two ends of the steel cable were connected to an electric winch on the boat. When needed, the winch would rotate at high speed, winding up all the steel cable, turning the chain net below into a tightly cinched bag.

Yan Hong Sha, with her injured leg, was perfectly suited for a stationary position and was assigned the role of operating the winch.

She was extremely excited, feeling it was quite significant, and kept begging Mu Dai: “Mu Dai, go ask Luo Ren to borrow his phone and take a picture of me.”

Neither she nor Mu Dai had phones, and she was unwilling to borrow Yi Wansan’s phone, so Luo Ren was her only option.

Mu Dai agreed but didn’t want to interrupt his phone call. She kept checking if he had finished, and she didn’t know how many times she had looked when Luo Ren finally waved at her, beckoning her over.

Mu Dai jumped up and ran over to him. The whistle she had tucked into her collar felt cool, as did the pearl.

Two different kinds of coolness.

Luo Ren said, “Slow down.”

He spoke too late; she had already run over.

Only after she arrived did Mu Dai realize how awkward she felt, thinking she should have been more reserved.

Luo Ren said, “I called Uncle Zheng. Pin Ting is doing well. Uncle Zheng is trying not to give her sedatives. The bar is doing fine, too. Zhang Shu has hired some people, though they’re temporary, just filling in for you all. Also, according to Uncle Zheng, Hong Yi called the bar.”

Hong Yi? Mu Dai became excited.

Luo Ren smiled: “I know what you want to ask. She didn’t say where she was, just called to let you know she’s safe, so you wouldn’t worry. She didn’t say when she’d be back either.”

Is that so…

Mu Dai was still quite happy. She wasn’t that greedy; just having news was good enough.

Luo Ren paused for a moment: “And also… guess who’s at my place now?”

Who? Someone at Luo Ren’s house would have to be someone they both knew. Li Tan? Wan Fenghuo? Or…

Mu Dai’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Shen Gun?!

Luo Ren was pleased too: “From what Shen Gun said, he was going to visit a friend in the ancient city and happened to be passing through Lijiang. He first inquired at the bar, then found Uncle Zheng through the bar, and went to see Pin Ting.”

“He told me that my replica of the five elements box may look similar, but follows roughly the same principles. He thinks that even without the Phoenix Luan Buckle, there should be something that can temporarily seal the Death Bamboo Slip and spare Pin Ting suffering. He says he has some ideas, but hasn’t sorted them out yet.”

What a good day! All the news she heard today was good. Didn’t this also suggest that this journey would go smoothly?

Mu Dai gestured to Luo Ren for his phone, then went to take pictures of Yan Hong Sha. As soon as she finished, Yan Hong Sha snatched the phone: “Let me see, let me see. Do I look good?”

While looking, she muttered to herself: “Later I’ll ask Luo Ren to send it to me. I’ll need to edit it first.”

She flipped through Luo Ren’s photos: “What does he usually take pictures of? Does he have any selfies?”

Suddenly excited: “Maybe he has some half-naked ones!”

Mu Dai was curious too, but didn’t want to appear too eager. She maintained a nonchalant expression, though her eyes kept glancing at the phone.

Luo Ren didn’t seem like someone who enjoyed taking photos. There were no selfies, mostly casual shots of scenery. It was evident that he was the type who didn’t care about format or composition, just snapping photos casually.

Yan Hong Sha quickly lost interest and returned the phone to Mu Dai.

Mu Dai glanced down at it, and her heart suddenly stirred.

Her heart began to pound. She touched one of the photos, enlarged it, then enlarged it further.

Shrouded in mist was the Chongqing Yangtze River Cableway.

The photo captured the river scenery, with a cable car on the opposite side caught in the frame. Such a viewing angle would be impossible from the river surface unless he happened to be in another cable car.

The phone’s resolution couldn’t capture faces clearly in such conditions, but the clothing was roughly visible.

Especially that faintly discernible elephant-head undershirt.

Mu Dai felt tiny sparks running along her scalp, dancing on her tiptoes.

When returning the phone to Luo Ren, she tilted her head and looked him up and down.

Luo Ren was perplexed by her scrutiny and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Mu Dai replied with a single word: “Ha.”

Then she turned and walked away, but she was in good spirits. Luo Ren could tell she was humming a tune, though it sounded like nothing more than “hmm-hmm-ha-hmm-hmm-ha-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-ha.”

Mu Dai thought, that’s right, that person was Luo Ren.

That day, Luo Ren had been on the opposite side, nodding slightly towards her, and then she had suddenly turned her head and grabbed Cao Yanhua.

And now, she was on the same boat with Luo Ren, wearing the whistle he gave her around her neck, about to catch an old oyster together. As for Chubby Cao, he had become her disciple, following her around all day, calling her: “Sister Mu Dai, Little Master Mu Dai, Sister Little Master Mu Dai…”

Back then, she couldn’t have imagined things would develop this way.

The boat swayed slightly, finally stabilizing in the waters where they had previously encountered danger.

In the distance, Five Pearl Village was visible. Mu Dai squinted to see it, and Luo Ren came over, handing her something.

It was something she had seen before—the thumb-sized ultra-micro monocular telescope.

Mu Dai slipped the telescope onto her index finger and brought it to her eye, looking here and there. Suddenly, her gaze turned to the beach, and she became so excited she almost cried out.

Her luggage was still there. That day, when she had hastily boarded the boat, she had casually placed her luggage on the beach.

Good. So far, apart from losing her phone, everything else was fine.

When she turned around, Yi Wansan was already slowly lowering the “Water Eye.” To put it simply, it was an iron chain connected to a simple underwater camera. Fearing the camera might be too light, a fairly heavy iron ball was attached to the bottom. The chain passed through a temporarily installed winch on the railing, facilitating control over distance and pauses.

Luo Ren was adjusting the interface on the computer screen, reminding Yi Wansan not to rush the lowering, but to pause to check the imaging effect.

Slowly, the image became clear.

The underwater world was so still that it gave the illusion of an out-of-body experience. Luo Ren nodded: “Continue.”

The Water Eye descended inch by inch.

Everyone gathered in front of the screen. As the depth increased, each person held their breath, their emotions growing tense.

Yan Hong Sha’s eyes were fixed on the screen. She unconsciously grabbed Mu Dai’s arm and whispered, “Mu Dai, are there ghosts down there?”

Who knows? The ocean covers three-quarters of the entire Earth. Seven billion people only bustle about on land, and no one knows what might exist in the sea. Even if there were ghosts, it wouldn’t be your concern.

Yan Hong Sha gave everyone a warning: “I have a weak heart; I might scream.”

Screaming is one way to relieve tension, but there was one person now who couldn’t scream…

Mu Dai secretly pulled out the whistle from inside her collar.

The Water Eye continued its descent.

Luo Ren gradually sensed something was wrong. Glancing at the depth transmission numbers, he asked Yi Wansan, “Although this place is a bit far from the village, it’s still coastal waters. You grew up in the village—aren’t there fish in these waters?”

The Water Eye underwater was guided by the iron chain and ball, sometimes rotating freely with the chain as its axis, providing a 360-degree observation with no blind spots. Yet within its range of vision, no living creatures could be seen.

Wasn’t the underwater world supposed to be colorful and diverse? This seemed like a dead world. Where were the fish, the shrimp, the various plankton?

Yan Hong Sha murmured, “This sea seems dead.”

Yi Wansan said, “I don’t know. I remember there used to be many fish here.”

Not just fish—he had once dived down and retrieved a starfish, a blue one at that.

Everyone fell silent.

The Water Eye continued downward.

The view was getting darker. Sunlight couldn’t reach the seabed. Generally, below 500 meters, it’s completely dark. Luo Ren checked the depth transmission numbers again. This was the near-shore of the coastal waters, with barely acceptable visibility, estimated at around 200 meters depth. They were almost at the bottom.

Something long and slender suddenly flitted across the lens. Yan Hong Sha let out a scream: “What… what… is that?”

The others weren’t frightened by the image but were startled half to death by her scream.

Yi Wansan said irritably: “Seaweed.”

It was a type of seagrass, but with many varieties. The leaves were slender and ribbon-like, swaying slowly with the underwater currents. Appearing suddenly, it did indeed have a somewhat ghostly, magical appearance.

Luo Ren reminded Yi Wansan to be extra careful when letting out more chain, fearing it might get tangled in the seaweed.

Sure enough, farther down, the seaweed grew denser. Yi Wansan said, “This seaweed is quite long, probably one or two meters, but we’ll reach the bottom any second now. Seaweed grows from the seabed.”

Just as he said this, a strange object suddenly appeared on the screen.

It was roundish, with a metallic sheen. Perhaps it was very close to the Water Eye’s lens, making it difficult to identify at first. The Water Eye, being lowered through the winch mounted on the railing, could move up and down freely, but couldn’t adjust left or right.

Yi Wansan suggested: “How about we move the boat to a different position?”

Just as he was about to get up, Yan Hong Sha said, “It’s moving.”

It wasn’t exactly moving, but slowly turning with the water current. The luster grew stronger. Luo Ren vaguely saw a reflective surface and roughly guessed what it was. Just then, the current shifted, and the object turned completely around.

A pair of round, bulging, dead eyes!

Yan Hong Sha screamed, her body desperately jerking backward. Her wheelchair bumped backward, and Yi Wansan, unfortunately, standing behind her, had his vital area attacked. He cried out in pain and jumped to the side. Without obstruction, the wheelchair rolled backward, crashing into the edge of the pilot house door. Simultaneously, a shrill whistle sounded in Luo Ren’s ear.

The whistle he had given Mu Dai was a sailor’s whistle, characterized by its high, thin sound designed to penetrate sea winds and waves for rescue purposes.

When this sound rang in his ear, it was unbearable!

Luo Ren instinctively gripped the whistle’s body, covering the sound hole with his hand to silence it, saying: “If you blow it like that again, I’ll confiscate it.”

Mu Dai glanced at him, and like someone who had done something wrong, she released her grip. Her lips touched the back of his hand, and it felt like a line of electricity shot from that spot, racing like lightning directly to his heart.

Luo Ren quickly released his hand, thinking: Damn.

The whistle hung down, the mouthpiece bearing the faint, moist imprint of lips. Luo Ren immediately averted his gaze.

Yi Wansan was in agony, still hopping around while hissing in pain. Yan Hong Sha suddenly called out in a tearful voice: “Mu Dai!”

She pressed her hands against the wheelchair, wanting to move over immediately, but perhaps she didn’t apply the right force, as the wheels turned once but didn’t move.

In a flash, Mu Dai suddenly thought of someone.

Yan Jiuxiao!

Luo Ren had thought of him, too. His entire body tensed, and his gaze returned to the computer screen: it was a diving helmet. One could imagine Yan Jiuxiao wearing a diving suit with a diving helmet, likely with oxygen tanks on his back.

Was he standing on the seabed?

Yi Wansan, half-bent over in pain, suggested: “How about we move the boat a bit, increase the distance between the Water Eye and him? We should be able to see more clearly.”

The boat moved about one to two meters to the right. With the increased distance, the viewing angle widened, finally providing a full view.

Yan Hong Sha sniffled, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, she turned her head away. Mu Dai hugged her, feeling helpless herself, only able to pat her back as if comforting a child.

She didn’t dare look either, only glancing occasionally. But even with just a glimpse or two, the image lingered persistently in her mind.

The men’s reactions were much more composed. Mu Dai heard Luo Ren instructing Yi Wansan: “Lower it, continue lowering, stop.”

Then he said: “Look.”

Mu Dai stole another glance and breathed a slight sigh of relief. At least the man’s face was no longer visible on the screen.

Luo Ren turned on the Water Eye’s built-in remote-controlled light. Underwater, that small point of light was hardly worth mentioning, but still, it was better than nothing.

“Look at his legs. They’re entangled in seaweed. Freely growing seaweed, even if tangled like a mess, couldn’t possibly bind a person’s legs horizontally like this.”

Even Yan Hong Sha temporarily stopped crying and raised her head to look at the screen.

Luo Ren was right. Yan Jiuxiao’s legs below the calves were wrapped tightly, and at first glance, it looked like bandages bound around them.

Seaweed couldn’t possibly grow like that.

Yan Hong Sha spoke with a trembling voice: “I don’t know if my uncle had any companions, or if someone…”

If someone else had also gone down with oxygen tanks and tied her uncle to the seabed? But she hadn’t heard her uncle mention any companions. And what would be the motive or purpose for going to such trouble?

Luo Ren said, “It might not have been done by a person. I previously researched some information about oysters. There was a news story I remember clearly about someone who caught a large river oyster and kept it in a small pond in their yard, but the oyster escaped. After the owner caught it back, they tied a rope to its shell. Who would have thought that the next day, they discovered the oyster had just cut through the rope and was preparing to escape again.”

His voice suddenly lowered: “Do you think it couldn’t do this?”

Mu Dai seemed to envision the giant sea oyster slightly opening its shell, clamping one end of the seaweed like pincers, and slowly moving its hatchet-like foot along Yan Jiuxiao’s legs, circling him round and round.

Do you think it couldn’t do this?