Chapter One: Boarding the Ship

  I spread my hands and said, "This is why I didn't want to say it out loud at the time. Because only I know the ins and outs of this matter, so even if I had said something, it wouldn't have been useful, and might have even raised suspicions... Since you asked, I'll tell you now. After receiving your call last night, I took some oil and rushed to Li Yubo's room. His door wasn't locked, and in my haste, I burst in and saw him holding a small object with holes all over it, about the size of a flashlight. I asked him what it was, and he hesitated before saying it was an MP3 player. After he went missing, I also wondered how that scream had been transmitted, so I searched his room again and found that this thing was gone too. I reckon this thing isn't just an MP3 player, but also has a public address function - those holes are speaker holes. This makes it clear: all he needed to do was put an audio file with a long blank space at the beginning and a pre-recorded scream at the end into the MP3 player, tie a long thin string to it, attach a heavy object to the end of the string, open the window, and hang the string down to the first floor. After he had prepared the blood on the ground and pressed play, he would run downstairs and grab the string. When the scream finished playing, he would pull the string from downstairs, and the MP3 player would fly out the window and disappear without a trace. This is also why he deliberately left the window open - to create a crime scene that would make us think the window was open for throwing out the body."

  Although Mingying was extremely calm and quiet, after hearing this, she also took a cold breath and said: "Li Yubo is so meticulous, what is he really after?"

  I heard her ask, and I replied in a hoarse voice: "Actually, I've always thought that he shed so much blood and created the illusion of his own disappearance to escape the organization's pursuit of traitors, to run away to a distant land and live a peaceful life. But today, seeing only six body bags, it means Li Yubo didn't escape, but thoroughly joined the enemy's camp! It was him who told the organization that we only have six people left, so we only need six body bags! So... that's why my face looks so terrible."

  Mingying was about to speak when I interrupted her and continued: "There's another problem, which is that the enemy may find the location of Xishi's tomb one step ahead of us."

  Mingying hastily asked why upon hearing this.

  I said that the peach blossom paper found in the painting, after I applied oil to it, revealed some strange symbols. I didn't recognize them, but when Li Yubo looked at the paper, he stared for a long time before saying he didn't recognize them either. Normally, if you can't understand something at all, you can come to a conclusion after just two glances. But he stared for so long and then immediately ran away. I reckon he actually understood the meaning of those symbols, thinking he had sufficient evidence to prove where Xishi's tomb was located, which is why he didn't even want the painting anymore and defected to the enemy.

  Ming Yingdao said: "So you're in a hurry to go and investigate the clues of Xishi's tomb today, is it because you're afraid we'll fall behind the enemy?"

  I nodded and said that most of the enemies had already set out to find the remains of Kang City today, in order to avoid us giving them trouble, they sent someone to silence us... The current situation is indeed not favorable to us. Moreover, we also lack experts like Li Yubo...

  Mingying stared at me and suddenly said: "Without him, there's still you."

  When I heard her say this suddenly, I couldn't help but pause for a moment, and smiled wryly: "Didn't you just say that after all, I'm not a god?"

  "Although it's not, but you always surprise people, and can see through mysteries at a glance."

  I'm a person who can't stand being flattered, especially by the praise of this icy beauty, even if she has ulterior motives and is intentionally flattering me. I couldn't help but feel a surge of pride in my heart, and smiled: "This is Lin Yu's rhythm."

  "Lin You's rhythm? Poor thing." She shook her head and went out the door.

  I know she's going to tell Yang Chao what I said. That's good, Yang Chao trusts Mingying a lot, and the same words coming from her mouth will be more persuasive than if they came from mine. However, judging from the change in attitude of each member towards me after my analysis and command today, Lin You has gradually become the main melody in this team.

  It was a night with sparse rain and strong winds. The strong wind blew in through the window gap, making a mournful sound like a ghost crying. I slept very restlessly on the bed, feeling as if I was in a state of half-dreaming and half-waking, my mind still conscious but my body unable to move. Suddenly, an enormous pressure came from my chest, making me unable to breathe. Even when I wanted to shout loudly, I couldn't make any sound... When I overthink during the day, I often experience this so-called "ghost pressing bed" phenomenon.

  After a sleepless night, Yang Chao came knocking on the door early next morning, saying it was time to set off. I grumbled about the terrible weather at sea, and even if we were on the Titanic, we might end up as fish food, did we have to rush like this? Yang Chao didn't say a word, just busied himself packing his things, and together with several others, moved the captives from the basement into the pickup truck. I reckon he was also anxious after hearing Mingying repeat my words last night.

  Those guys in the bag, who were thirsty and hungry, frightened and scared, struggled through the night, I guess they're out of energy now, not moving at all. I'm really worried that something terrible will happen, and unintentionally, I'll become an accomplice to murder.

  Even if it's not intentional homicide, in this situation, we've all already constituted the crime of illegal detention at the very least. Even if we consider ourselves to be acting in self-defense, it's already fallen under the category of excessive defense, and according to the law, we still can't escape going to prison.

  Six people squeezed into a pickup truck and arrived at the port. There were no buildings to block the wind and rain, directly facing the vast sea. The seawater was very turbid, not at all like the azure blue in imagination. The dark clouds overhead blocked out the sun, and large raindrops fell recklessly onto the sea surface; the wind was strong, the waves surged and rolled, foaming with white foam.

  Yang Chao received a call saying the boat would arrive soon, just wait a bit.

  I stand on tiptoe and gaze out at the distant sea horizon.

  A small, rickety motorboat chugged along, swaying back and forth.

  This boat is almost indistinguishable from the sightseeing boats we usually sit in at the park's small lake, with a duck or white goose on the bow. It floats and sinks like a tattered leaf in the endless ocean, drifting with the waves, and could capsize at any moment.

  This organization is too stingy, although the typhoon hasn't landed yet, but who knows what will happen once it goes out to sea. Giving us such a broken ship, one big wave comes and we'll all be dead, mission over. This is just too unreliable, right?

  The boat drew near us, and a young man jumped down, looking quite clean and dressed neatly, not like any sailor. He called himself "Xiao Han", greeted Yang Zuo, jumped onto the pickup truck, and drove away in a cloud of smoke.

  I stared blankly at all of this, what the heck? This guy just waved goodbye and left? Didn't even see us off? And he just abandoned this broken ship to us? Is he trying to get us to row with both oars, little boat pushing against the waves?

  This boat can barely seat 6 people and it's still very crowded. It's good that this guy left, so we don't have to fight with him for a spot.

  I sighed and thought to myself, "What bad luck! I'd rather just die!" And with that, I started walking towards the boat.

  Yang Chao suddenly said: "The boat is here."

  I took a glance at him and followed his gaze, unable to help but take a sharp breath.

  This thing, I've probably only seen it in business magazines.

  This is an extremely stylish high-end yacht, with a snow-white and shiny hull that is particularly large, very eye-catching in the wind and rain, steadily advancing towards us on the sea. The streamlined shape is breathtakingly beautiful, enough to make any model who is infatuated with luxury life scream. Everyone's attention was drawn to this yacht, and that small broken boat was immediately forgotten to Java.

  This... this contrast is too big, right? My heart almost jumped out. This isn't an adventure, it's clearly a holiday trip full of joy.

  The yacht slowly sailed into the harbor's breakwater, several boat boys ran over, tied ropes with all their might, pushed a gangway, and set it up at the entrance of the deck.

  A handsome young man, holding a large umbrella on the deck, smiled slightly at us. I stole a glance and even Zhao Chen, who only cared about eating, had a silly expression on her face. Only Mingying was still expressionless, as if no man could spark her interest.

  That young man, dressed in a slim-fit casual suit, walked down the gangway and shook hands with us one by one. When he came to me, he said in a very pleasant voice: "This gentleman looks unfamiliar, my name is Dong Hao, may I ask your surname and given name?"

  I saw him so polite and busy, replied: "Lin is his surname, Yu is his name, Lin Yu."

  Xin Xiaoxin chimed in from the side: "Professor Lin is our advisor for this operation."

  The young man ignored Xin Xinxin and said to me: "Oh, Professor Lin, nice to meet you. Well, please board the boat, everyone."

  I stepped onto the first step of the gangway, gazing at this dreamlike yacht, and for a moment I didn't know what to do. This feeling was just like Liu Lao Lao entering the Grand View Garden. Taking a deep breath, I strode up quickly. After circling around the deck to the cabin door, just as I was about to slip inside to take a look around, a coarse voice shouted: "Hey kid, what are you running around for? Who said you could get on the boat?"

  I turned around to see a stout man with a round waist, a full beard and mustache, wearing a short-sleeved sailor's uniform, his arms covered in tattoos, staring at me with wide eyes.

  "That...that Dong Hao made me come..." I stuttered under his intimidating aura.

  "This burly uncle's voice was very low, with an irresistible majesty. 'Dong Hao? You little brat, don't you know who's in charge here? Without my permission, you think you can get on the boat? Get out of here!'"

  I heard this and was at a loss for what to do. My intuition told me that this uncle really wanted to drive me off the boat...