The enormous spinning open clamshell came whirling toward her. Mu Dai’s mind went blank, with an illusion that even the air was being split apart.

Luo Ren felt as if an icicle had pierced straight down from the crown of his head, freezing his throat and penetrating his heart. His first reaction was actually to draw his gun, but he grasped at nothing.

This wasn’t the Philippines; he didn’t have that handy Uzi submachine gun.

At that moment, Mu Dai suddenly let go and dropped from the rope.

A drop, a rise—in that extremely brief time difference, the clamshell brushed past her body and continued upward, breaking the rope.

Mu Dai fell back into the small wooden boat, while the old clam, its momentum undiminished, cut into the water after a long parabolic arc.

The entire process took only a few seconds, but Luo Ren felt as if his heart had stopped once already.

There was also great relief—Mu Dai’s ability to react in the moment truly exceeded his expectations.

Also, he realized that this old clam couldn’t fly; it was just leaping with momentum like a swimming fish.

Mu Dai dazedly crawled up from the boat cabin. Yan Hongsha screamed, “Mu Dai, hurry and row! Row over here!”

Luo Ren quickly untied a length of rope from the ship’s railing, tied a wrench to the end, spun it in the air several times, and threw it far toward Yi Wansan’s boat.

Fortunately, they were prepared. The distance between the two boats wasn’t very far, and they could quickly create another rope path for Mu Dai.

With a clang, the wrench securely hooked onto the railing of the opposite boat. Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua hurriedly tied a secure knot. Amid their frantic efforts, Cao Yanhua suddenly realized that the boat seemed to be… trembling.

He looked at Yi Wansan with a deathly pale face and asked, “Did you hear that?”

Yi Wansan had heard it too.

The vibrations were coming from the bottom of the boat, from different directions.

After two seconds of silence, Cao Yanhua felt his hair stand on end: “Is it… is it cutting our boat?”

Yi Wansan reacted, turned toward the other side, and waved frantically, shouting at the top of his lungs: “Luo Ren, start the boat and go! It’s cutting the boat! Cutting the boat!”

The fishing boat they had rented from the fishermen was larger, but its equipment and speed were average. To use it as a “warship” that could advance and retreat at will was simply a pipe dream. The boat’s hull was wrapped in iron, but it wasn’t a solid piece of iron after all. There were too many vulnerable spots on the bottom and sides of the boat. Moreover, if the vibrations were coming from different locations, it meant the old clam was probing.

Yi Wansan rushed into the cabin and tried to start the boat. The familiar sound of the engine started, but before he could fully relax, there were several clanging sounds, and the engine died.

This was deadly—was this what they called “dying before achieving success”? They hadn’t even begun to fight, and one boat was already out of commission.

Many thoughts rapidly passed through Yi Wansan’s mind.

They were too far from shore. If both boats were stranded in the middle of the sea, they would truly be at the mercy of others.

He rushed back to the deck and shouted to the other side: “Our boat can’t move! You go first! Go first! Think of another way, don’t let your boat be ruined too!”

Before he finished speaking, a high-pitched spinning sound erupted. The old clam surfaced, beginning to cut along the middle seam of the boat.

Waves rose on the sea surface, pushing Mu Dai’s small boat up and down. She rowed, seemingly trying to approach the rope, but human strength was no match for the force of the waves, and she moved even farther from the boats.

Cao Yanhua’s scalp tingled: “Is it… is it trying to cut our boat in half?”

However, being solid wood wrapped in iron, the clamshell slowed down when cutting into the hull.

Luo Ren suddenly had an idea. He glanced at Mu Dai—good, she was far from both boats.

Luo Ren rushed to the railing in a few steps, untied the rope that had just been secured, and threw the end to Yan Hongsha: “Tie yourself to the boat, as tightly as possible, and tell Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua to do the same.”

He signaled to Mu Dai in the distance: “Move away, move away, don’t come close!”

After saying this, he quickly entered the cabin. Shortly after, the boat started, turned around to form a ninety-degree angle with Yi Wansan’s boat, and continued to reverse.

Although Cao Yanhua didn’t understand the purpose of Yan Hongsha’s instructions, he quickly used the coiled rope on the boat to tie himself securely and attached the other end to something solid and sturdy. The vibrations continued to transmit from below the boat, and in his line of sight, iron and wood chips were flying everywhere.

He asked Yi Wansan, “What is Luo Ren trying to do?”

Yi Wansan vaguely guessed.

Luo Ren was planning to… ram the boat!

How do you stop a high-speed rotating gear? In common experience, you’d insert an iron rod to stop or at least slow down the rotation of the axle.

Similarly, although the old clam’s spinning was terrifying, it was still affected by external forces. Just like the first time when Mu Dai had covered it with a blanket, this time its shell had cut into the hull and its speed had noticeably decreased.

If they could take advantage of this moment and provide the old clam with the same resistance from another side, there was a great possibility that, in a short time, they could reduce the clam’s spinning speed to zero.

Its shell was open—this was the best opportunity to extract the evil bamboo slip!

Yi Wansan firmly secured the rope end while extending his hand to grip the railing tightly.

From a distance, after Luo Ren’s boat had backed up a bit, it indeed accelerated toward them!

Cao Yanhua didn’t dare to look anymore. He tightly closed his eyes and shrieked, “I don’t want to die!”

When watching horror movies, some people scream in terror before the ghost even appears, almost frightening their companions to death. Cao Yanhua was exactly this type.

The tremendous force approached. Yi Wansan clenched his teeth even tighter, preparing to fully receive that devastating blow when…

He saw Luo Ren’s boat change course at close range, sweeping its tail to transform a direct hit into a side impact.

Although it wasn’t a complete capsizing, the huge impact, collision force, and water movement still gave Yi Wansan a terrifying sense that the boat was about to flip over. His stomach felt extremely uncomfortable, his whole body felt like it was being thrown up and then slammed down hard. Walls of water rose before his eyes, but…

But he didn’t miss that almost delightful sound: the sound of gears creaking, wanting to turn but unable to, with the will but not the strength.

Yi Wansan collapsed onto the deck. The boat had already been soaked by waves, and as soon as he lay down, seawater quickly wet his back, but he didn’t care.

He just lay there. The two boats were almost side by side, just a big step apart. He saw Luo Ren holding onto the doorframe as he came out of the wheelhouse, steadying himself as he took a chisel and hammer from the toolbox.

Yi Wansan struggled to get up and crawled a few steps toward the gunwale to look down.

The old clam was right below, its two open shells stuck in the hulls of both boats, futilely trying to rotate but moving clumsily like a machine with a broken power source, making creaking sounds.

Yi Wansan laughed heartily.

Now it’s your turn to suffer.

The sun retreated behind the clouds. Somehow, the sea surface had become misty, as if fog had risen.

There was a pungent fishy smell. Between the light brownish-yellow clam meat, he saw a square pearl box.

Or perhaps it was just wrapped in the pearl substance secreted by the old clam.

Among the clam meat, there were pearls of various sizes. They weren’t very round, with one side gleaming as if slightly gilded. Luo Ren recognized this type of pearl. At that time, when he wanted to add a pearl to a whistle as a gift for Mu Dai, the shop assistant had told him that such pearls were called “dang pearls,” which ancient people called “bright moon pearls.” On clear days, one could see a line of light flickering unpredictably within the pearl.

Everyone struggled to their feet and gathered around. Cao Yanhua, breathing heavily, asked, “Is everyone uninjured?”

It seemed no one was hurt, but even if they were, there was no time to worry about that now.

Luo Ren jumped into the water, leaning half his body against one boat, his feet pressing against the hull of the other boat. He positioned the chisel at the back of the cremation urn, held his breath, and struck it hard with the hammer.

The clam’s body shook, causing both boats to sway slightly. The clam meat contracted violently. Yan Hongsha shouted, “Look!”

She didn’t need to say it—everyone saw it. The surface of the pearl box suddenly rippled with blood-like patterns, a vertical line in the middle with two shorter lines on either side.

This character was easy to recognize and most pictographic.

The oracle bone script for “water.”

The second evil bamboo slip was indeed inside.

Yi Wansan murmured, “Death by knife, perishing by water—so, is this telling us the causes of death?”

They had discussed before whether the seven murder cases each had a special meaning. Were they like the seven deadly sins in Christianity, representing greed, lust, gluttony, envy, sloth, gluttony, and wrath?

Luo Ren had rejected this idea for a simple reason: Shen Gun had said these were the world’s earliest recorded murder cases.

Being the earliest, they must have occurred close together in time and couldn’t be categorized separately—you representing greed, me representing envy.

The first evil bamboo slip was “knife,” the second was “water.” The answer seemed to be gradually becoming clear.

A second chisel strike, one decisive hammer blow, and the pearl cremation box separated from the body. After the clam meat convulsed for a moment, it slowly subsided.

Yan Hongsha timidly asked, “Is it dead?”

Luo Ren didn’t answer. He suddenly seemed to remember something and looked around: “Where’s Mu Dai?”

Where was Mu Dai?

She wasn’t on his boat, nor was she on their boat? He remembered—at that time, to avoid being affected by the collision, he had told her to stay away.

But where was she now?

Luo Ren became anxious. He handed the cremation box to Yi Wansan, quickly boarded the boat, and swiftly climbed to the top of the boat. As far as he could see, there was silence everywhere. Further away was fog, hazy and indistinct, making even the shore barely visible.

Below the boat, Yan Hongsha and the others had already started calling out.

“Mu Dai…”

“Little Boss Lady…”

“Sister Little Master…”

Luo Ren’s face gradually turned ashen as he asked, “Could she have fallen into the water?”

Could it be that when the boats collided, the waves were too big and overturned her boat? At that time, just after the collision, everyone had experienced a period of dizziness and intense ringing in their ears, unable to hear anything. And when they came to their senses, he had only been focused on dealing with the old clam…

Had Mu Dai called for help? Could she have… drowned?

Yan Hongsha and the others seemed to have thought of this too, looking down at the water with frightened expressions.

Luo Ren’s mind was buzzing, as if he could hear a voice saying: Drowning a person happens quickly, it doesn’t take long at all.

He bit his lip and, facing everyone’s alarmed gazes, plunged into the water.

Without the sun, the water was exceptionally cold. Luo Ren held his breath, diving down desperately, searching, and searching again.

Only when he could no longer hold his breath did he swim back up. Just before reaching the surface, he saw water splashing above—Yi Wansan had also come down, along with Yan Hongsha. Yan Hongsha’s legs weren’t good, so she had a rope tied around her waist and had told Cao Yanhua that if she couldn’t come up, she would shake the rope, and he should quickly pull her up.

With a splash, he surfaced, and crisp air rushed into his lungs. Cao Yanhua stood alone at the edge of the boat, holding the cremation box, asking blankly, “Is my Little Master down there?”

Luo Ren didn’t speak. Cao Yanhua’s face grew increasingly pale, almost tearful: “Isn’t my Little Master down there?”

Luo Ren suddenly made a “shh” sound, gesturing for Cao Yanhua to be quiet.

He held his breath, his eyes gradually brightening, and asked, “Did you hear something?”

Hear what? No.

Luo Ren seemed to have heard something. He determined the direction, hesitantly looked at the two stalled boats pressed together, and leaped back into the water, leaving with a final instruction: “Have Yi Wansan test the boat later.”

Wait, where are you going? At least say something! Cao Yanhua watched helplessly as Luo Ren swam away.

With two splashes, Yan Hongsha surfaced first, unable to hold her breath any longer. Cao Yanhua knew she couldn’t use her legs well and was about to go help her when Yan Hongsha’s face suddenly changed dramatically. She shrank back in shock, her speech becoming stuttered.

“Cao… Cao Fatty, throw it away, throw it away!”

Throw what away? He was only holding a cremation box.

Cao Yanhua looked down in confusion, and what he saw scared his soul out of his body.

On the pearl surface of the cremation box, at some point, a grotesque human face had bulged out. The face was distorted, looking as if it could burst out of the box at any moment.

Was this the evil bamboo slip? The first evil bamboo slip still had the shape of a bamboo slip, so why was the second one different?