Zhou Chen gave a forced smile and asked casually:

"After all that, do you have any connections to get on that ship? It sails around the world, so its routes shouldn't be publicly disclosed, right?"

Lu Xingyao lowered his voice and smiled mysteriously:

"The shipping route is indeed not publicly disclosed, but I heard that the 'Royal Shadow' will be docking in Haicheng soon."

"The last time we stopped here was five years ago."

Jing Min narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze sharp:

How do you know all this?

Lu Xingyao's smile faded, and his tone lowered:

"Recently, several teenage girls have gone missing in Haicheng, and rumors suggest that this cruise ship is involved."

"The same thing happened five years ago. A group of girls disappeared without a trace. The police investigated for a long time, but made no progress."

He paused, then continued:

“The ship ‘Royal Shadow’ is marked with a butterfly and a white rose, and the girls who escape from the ship are branded with either a butterfly or a white rose.”

"The mark looks like it was burned by a high temperature, and it can never be removed."

Zhuo Qun frowned, his tone laced with disdain:

"So, wherever this ship stops, the girls there suffer? And we can't do anything about it?"

Lu Xingyao nodded, a fawning smile on his face:

“This ship is a lawless place, and no one can do anything about it.”

"I've only heard a little bit of rumors. If you big shots could take me aboard and let me see the ship, I would be extremely honored."

Jing Min glanced at him coldly, suppressing the impatience in her heart:

"You know so much, and you even know it's coming to Haicheng, but you don't know how to get it on board?"

Lu Xingyao quickly smiled apologetically:

"I don't have your kind of financial resources."

"The Royal Shadow is not open to ordinary people. There are two ways to board the ship: one is to receive an invitation, and the other is to pay a huge membership fee—starting at five million US dollars per year."

"Moreover, the royal family's privileged clients all have their own permanent rooms, and only a small number of rooms are available to the public through auctions, with a starting price of fifty million US dollars."

Seeing that Jing Min was clearly getting impatient, Zhou Chen waved his hand dismissively, his tone perfunctory:

"Alright, alright, I'll contact you later."

Lu Xingyao mistakenly took this as tacit approval, and immediately beamed with joy, hurriedly saying:

"Thank you all in advance! Please feel free to contact me anytime, I'll be there whenever you need me!"

The group watched Lu Xingyao leave.

The room fell silent again, but a suffocating chill filled the air.

Zhou Chen's gaze darkened slightly, and he said in a low voice:

"Jingmin, it's been five years, and this cruise ship has reappeared..."

Jing Min remained silent, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes. He glanced at the silent Li Yan beside him, his voice low but commanding:

"Go and contact Yan Zhou immediately to find out the exact arrival time of the downstream ship."

Li Yan accepted the order, nodded, and went out to make a phone call.

Rong Yu frowned, then suddenly asked:

"Yun Yang, Yun Shu's younger sister, could she be the girl who was captured and taken aboard the 'Royal Shadow'?"

Jing Min nodded with a heavy expression.

Rong Yu's heart tightened, and his tone carried an unconscious urgency:

"Has she woken up?"

Jing Min picked up the wine glass that Zhou Chen had just filled and drank it all in one gulp, feeling annoyed.

The liquor slid down his throat, but it did little to alleviate his inner turmoil.

"woke up."

Rong Yu raised an eyebrow and pressed for an answer:

"Has she regained her memory? What clues did she get?"

Jing Min seemed a little impatient, his eyes unconsciously sweeping over Li Yan, who had just walked in from the other end of the phone.

He clearly didn't want to speak.

Li Yan noticed Jing Min's mood, coughed lightly, stepped forward, and spoke calmly:

"She woke up, and after waking up, she personally explained many things."

"She said that the reason she was tortured to the point of near death was entirely due to her older sister, Yunyang."

Rong Yu's face showed a shocked expression:

"What happened?"

He frowned, somewhat confused, and wanted to figure out more details.

Li Yan glanced at Jing Min, and seeing that he didn't react, he relaxed his guard and continued:

"So the reason Yun Yang was by President Jing's side was because she used her own younger sister, Yun Shu, as a bargaining chip in a deal with those perverts on the ship, in exchange for an opportunity."

Rong Yu was stunned for a moment, completely unexpected that things would turn out this way, and asked in a low voice:

"What exactly happened?"

Li Yan paused, trying to sort out his thoughts, before continuing:

"Yun Shu said that Yun Yang was originally called up to work as a waitress on the cruise ship at the last minute. I don't know if she offended any powerful people."

"Then she tricked her sister into becoming a plaything of the powerful in her place."

"As for Yun Yang herself, she was probably chosen by President Jing's enemy and sent to President Jing's side by chance."

He paused, then continued:

"At that time, President Jing's enemy was also on the ship,"

"According to Yun Yang's account at the time, in order to rescue and transfer the unconscious President Jing, she neglected her own sister, which ultimately led to Yun Shu being captured and put on the ship."

"At that time, President Jing felt deeply guilty. That's why he compromised with his maternal grandfather, Old Master Jin, and saved Yun Shu. But it was too late; Yun Shu was no longer human when she was rescued..."

Zhuo Qun couldn't help but sigh softly at this moment:

"I never imagined that Yun Yang would be this kind of person."

"Before, when she was abroad, everyone thought she was brave. I never expected her true colors to be like this. She is so shameless and has no bottom line. She can even do this to her own sister."

Li Yan nodded, his tone heavy:

"Over the past few years, President Jing has been blaming himself for Yun Shu's situation, thinking that he might have been implicated and innocently taken to the ship to be tortured. So he has been trying to find a way to cure Yun Shu all these years."

"But he overlooked the fact that Yun Yang seems to have never cared about his younger sister, and probably hopes that Yun Shu will never wake up."

Rong Yu's expression was solemn, and his tone was serious:

Where is Yunyang now?

Li Yan sneered, his eyes filled with disgust:

“She was just a pawn. Now she’s mentally unstable and has been thrown into a mental hospital.”

Rong Yu's eyes flickered, but he didn't speak again.

Jingmin glanced at the sky; it seemed getting late. He grabbed his clothes and left.

He took the car keys from Li Yan.

What I was thinking was: My wife said I couldn't drop her off, but she didn't say I couldn't pick her up.

The car was traveling in the direction of Hanyue Temple.