Cao Yanhua screamed in terror and threw the cremation box away immediately. Yan Hongsha saw the box flying toward her, felt her scalp tighten in fear, and desperately swatted it away. After doing so, she suddenly realized that she was in the direction of the old clam!

What if the cremation box is reattached to the clam? Would the old clam… come back to life?

Cao Yanhua had thought of this too. In a rare moment of quick thinking, at this critical moment, he let out a great shout, grabbed the ship’s railing with both hands, slid his body out from under the railing, and kicked the cremation box away with one foot.

Then they heard Yi Wansan roar: “What’s wrong with you two?!”

Cao Yanhua had no time to answer. His martial arts skills were poor, and he couldn’t control his movements precisely. His entire body lost control, and with a splash, he fell into the water.

Yan Hongsha turned her head to see Yi Wansan with eyes wide with anger, looking as if he wanted to swallow them whole. Not far behind him, the cremation box was bobbing up and down on the surface.

Yan Hongsha guiltily recalled the scene that had just played out: Cao Yanhua throwing—her blocking—Cao Yanhua kicking. To someone who didn’t understand, it might have looked like they were playing catch, no wonder Yi Wansan was furious—that was his father’s cremation box.

Yi Wansan didn’t want to waste words with the two of them. He turned and swam toward the cremation box. Cao Yanhua was barely staying afloat with his dog paddle, wiped the water from his face with one hand, and shouted to Yi Wansan: “Brother San, be careful, don’t touch it with your hands! I just saw with my own eyes, it was about to come out!”

Yi Wansan’s hand was already reaching for the cremation box. Hearing this, he froze in place, and after a while turned to instruct Cao Yanhua: “Get the boat hook.”

Cao Yanhua understood. He climbed back onto the boat using both hands and feet, and shortly returned with a boat hook, helping Yi Wansan slowly pull the cremation box closer.

Yi Wansan and Yan Hongsha also climbed back onto the boat, dripping wet. Yi Wansan asked Cao Yanhua: “You saw it?”

Cao Yanhua was certain: “It looked like it was about to come out, just like last time when the evil bamboo slip tried to emerge from Pin Ting’s body. But this time it wasn’t in the shape of a bamboo slip, it looked like a face…”

Remembering that grotesque face, Cao Yanhua shuddered.

Yi Wansan wove a simple net pouch from the coiled rope, lay prone on the deck, and lowered the net pouch through the gap under the railing. With Cao Yanhua’s help using the boat hook, he scooped up the cremation box and slowly lifted it.

Cao Yanhua and Yan Hongsha both held their breath, lying on either side of him, both stretching their heads to look down. Yan Hongsha tried to stop him.

“Don’t, don’t bring it so close…”

Girls, always whining and fearful and troublesome. Yi Wansan frowned, about to snap at her, when suddenly, with a bang, a grinning human face bulged from the pearl surface of the box, as if about to break through.

Yi Wansan was so startled that his hand trembled, and the net pouch with the cremation box splashed back into the water, but fortunately, he still held onto the lifting rope.

Yan Hongsha and Cao Yanhua had just been frightened earlier, so they were now calmer than Yi Wansan. Yan Hongsha even seemed somewhat smug: “See? I told you not to bring it so close.”

Yi Wansan ignored her and blurted out: “Look!”

The cremation box was floating on the water’s surface, its cover perfectly flat, gleaming with a milky-white pearlescent light.

Yi Wansan pondered: “It seems like as soon as it hit the water, that face instantly disappeared.”

Cao Yanhua immediately realized: “The evil bamboo slip is afraid of water, it doesn’t dare come out directly!”

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he felt: the evil bamboo slip had previously resided within the old clam, able to move freely with the clam’s help. Now separated from the clam’s body, it was eager to find a new “host.” He had just foolishly held the cremation box in his arms, and if not for Yan Hongsha’s timely warning…

Cao Yanhua shuddered.

But when it was immersed in water, it could only rely on the external box for protection. If the box broke, it would be equivalent to going directly into the water, so it was quite wary and didn’t dare to break out of the box immediately.

What should they do? Just keep it in the net pouch, submerged in the sea?

Yi Wansan glanced at him: “Find a basin, bucket, or water tank, and make another metal-wood-water-fire-earth formation. It may not last ten days or half a month, but it should hold for a couple of days.”

Only then did Cao Yanhua remember what Luo Ren had instructed before leaving: “My Brother Luo wanted you to test the boat.”

Is that so? Looking at the scene, it was indeed a mess. Both boats were stranded here, and if the boats couldn’t be fixed, they couldn’t even return to shore.

Yi Wansan asked him: “Does Luo Ren know where Mu Dai went?”

Cao Yanhua said: “It seems like he might know…”

Luo Ren was certain he had heard the sound of a whistle.

He couldn’t say how long he had been swimming. The sound of the whistle was intermittent, hidden behind the endless thin fog, but the direction should be correct. As he continued forward, it became clearer and clearer.

Something was floating nearby. Swimming closer, he discovered it was an oar. Luo Ren reached out and pushed the oar aside: what had happened to Mu Dai that she had even lost her oar?

But there was no time to think about that now. Surfacing once more, he finally vaguely saw the lonely small boat floating not far away, and someone sitting on it.

The breath he had been holding was finally released. At this moment, he suddenly felt as if his arms and legs weighed a thousand pounds, and he could no longer lift them. Aches and exhaustion flooded his body. He told himself: hold on a little longer, just a little longer, and you’ll be there.

Ten meters… eight meters… five meters…

Finally reaching the boat, Luo Ren’s body was experiencing mild spasms. He rested his forehead against the gunwale, breathing heavily, his arms trembling repeatedly.

After a while, he finally raised his head to look at Mu Dai.

She must have been crying; her eyes were rimmed with red, and she was clutching the whistle in her hand.

Luo Ren said, “You drifted far.”

This was the truth. Today, there were waves on the sea, and the small boat would unconsciously drift with the current. Fog had also risen, reducing visibility compared to normal times. But judging from the whistle sound he had first heard, her position was extraordinarily far, and at an ordinary distance, his hands and feet wouldn’t have become so weak.

You drifted far.

Mu Dai said, “It’s not like I wanted to drift.”

She added: “Come up.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to climb up, but his limbs had no strength now, and even climbing onto the boat seemed difficult to accomplish.

Luo Ren looked at her for a moment and said, “Come down for a bit.”

“I can’t swim.”

“It’s okay, you won’t drown.”

Mu Dai hesitated for a moment, carefully sat on the edge of the boat, put her arms around Luo Ren’s neck, and then slowly moved down.

She didn’t drown; Luo Ren quickly put his arm around her waist. His arm slowly tightened. The seawater had soaked through their clothes—it was very cold, yet it made it easier to feel his body and warmth. She had no footing in the sea and could only nestle against him.

Why did he ask her to come down?

Luo Ren gently brought his lips close to her ear and said, “I’m sorry.”

He found it hard to continue, just held her, and buried his face in the crook of her shoulder.

He truly felt sorry. During that time, during the struggle with the old clam, he had truly forgotten about her.

On his swim over, the seawater might not have been very cold, but to him, it felt bone-chilling. He had imagined a terrible possibility: what if she hadn’t drifted away but had drowned?

She would have drowned, she would have drowned, because during the time he had forgotten her, she could have drowned several times over.

Was the old clam so important? Was that creature so important? What if they hadn’t caught it? Luo Ren hated himself for unconsciously prioritizing dealing with the old clam during that time.

What about Mu Dai? He had forgotten her.

So when he saw her again, he felt like he had lost and regained something precious.

Fortunately, she was safe. Fortunately, that terrible hypothesis hadn’t come true. If something had happened to her, it would have been the most absurd, clumsy, and regrettable mistake of his life—losing her for the sake of a clam.

Mu Dai was a bit puzzled. Had Luo Ren just said “sorry” to her? What was there to be sorry about?

Luo Ren said, “Come on, get back on the boat.”

He helped her back onto the boat, his gaze and movements gentle, just wanting to be a little better to her, even better.

Mu Dai asked: “How do we get back?”

Luo Ren smiled: “Let’s rest for a while first. We’re not in a hurry. Maybe Yi Wansan has fixed the boat and can come to pick us up. At worst, I’ll swim and pull the boat back.”

Hearing Yi Wansan’s name, Mu Dai suddenly remembered.

“How are you all? What about the old clam?”

Luo Ren said, “It’s fine now, we’ve resolved it.”

Mu Dai let out a long sigh: “I was so scared. At that time, I thought I was going to die, my mind went completely blank.”

Luo Ren teased her: “Compared to when I scared you with a knife before, which was more frightening?”

Mu Dai said, “It’s different. That time, although I was scared to tears, I wasn’t that afraid. This time was different, I was immediately terrified out of my mind…”

She shrank back a little and lowered her head. Luo Ren smiled, extending his hand to brush her hair.

“Then, somehow, I ended up here. The fog was thick, I couldn’t hear anything, and I couldn’t see any of you…”

Luo Ren’s heart sank, and his outstretched hand slowly withdrew.

She continued to murmur: “Then I suddenly remembered the whistle. I thought, if I blew the whistle, you might hear it…”

She looked up: “And then I indeed saw you.”

Luo Ren smiled again, but this time, the smile was somewhat forced.

He asked: “Mu Dai, do you remember falling from the rope onto the boat?”

Mu Dai shook her head wearily: “I might have been too scared. I just remember being on the rope, and then the old clam suddenly flew up. Cao Fatty even shouted that the old clam could fly…”

A strange feeling rose from the depths of his heart.

“Do you remember when I was about to ram the boats, and I told you to stay away?”

Mu Dai looked confused: “You were going to ram the boats? I don’t remember. Maybe it was too chaotic then, and I was too panicked to notice.”

“Mu Dai, where’s your oar?”

She seemed to only notice now that the oar was missing: “Maybe when I went to the rope, the small boat rocked, and the oar fell into the water.”

Luo Ren said to himself: That’s not it.

At that time, when the old clam was spinning toward the rope, Mu Dai suddenly let go and fell down. He had even praised her in his mind for her quick reaction time, which truly exceeded his expectations.

Then, they secured a rope to help Mu Dai climb up, but for some reason, she rowed her boat away from the rope instead of toward it.

Thinking about it now, it was strange. Mu Dai’s movements were usually very quick.

After that, he decided to ram the boats, so he told Mu Dai to move away, move away, don’t come close.

He had seen with his own eyes that she had rowed the boat farther away.

But now she said she didn’t remember, had no impression, only remembered being on the rope with the old clam spinning toward her, and the next moment, she was in the thick fog, alone on the small wooden boat, everyone else was gone, and she didn’t even know where the oar had gone.

How could this be explained? Had she fainted from fear? He didn’t believe that.

At that time, when he shouted “move away, don’t come close,” was the person rowing the boat away really her? If not, who was it?

Luo Ren suddenly felt disoriented.

Mu Dai looked at him strangely and stretched out her hand, waving it in front of his eyes: “What’s wrong?”

Luo Ren came back to his senses. He tried his best to suppress the uneasiness in his heart, returned her a smile, and said: “Nothing.”