Chapter 18

"That's Ah Min. Five years ago, I found him on the beach. I felt sorry for him, so I left him on the island to work. He usually works as a waiter in the hotel. Although he has difficulty walking, he works very well and is more diligent than everyone else."

The old man followed Lin Keyan's gaze and the man's figure came into his sight.

Lin Sheng seemed to have suddenly thought of something and asked,

"Have sacrifices to the sea god always existed on the island? Tell me about the sacrifices."

"Why are you suddenly interested in this?"

Lin Sheng bent down, approached the old man, handed him a lollipop, and said in a flattering manner,

"I've always been interested, can't you see?"

The old man snorted coldly, took the lollipop, and pretended to be disgusted, but he began to speak patiently.

"How can you feed an old man lollipops? My teeth can't handle it. Sacrificial offerings have always been there. I heard it's a tradition on the Four Circle Islands. The Poseidon statue is cleaned every month, and every five years it's dismantled and rebuilt to keep it clean."

While listening to the old man's story, Lin Sheng thought for a moment.

"Is there someone in charge of cleaning the Poseidon Eagle?"

"There wasn't one before. Each household took turns, but after Amin came, he was the only one to do it."

"Is anyone missing on Four Circle Island?"

When the old man heard this, he began to realize that something was wrong. He immediately dropped his joking tone, looked at Lin Sheng in astonishment, and slowly said,

"I haven't heard of anyone going missing. Many people from Siyuan Island go out to work every year, and most of them never come back. Even if someone is missing, we can't find them."

Xu Guannan saw the heavy expression on Lin Sheng's face and realized that something was wrong.

"Did you discover something?"

Lin Sheng shook his head and denied it.

"No, I had my fortune told last night, and it didn't feel good. It seemed like something was going to happen, and it was directed at me."

The old man's eyes trembled slightly when he heard this, and he asked in a worried tone,

"Is it related to Amin? What are you talking about? I don't understand."

Lin Sheng didn't explain too much, and told the old man,

"First, have someone upgrade me to a suite. Make sure you do it quietly and don't let anyone else know. Please keep the room I originally booked. I still need it."

The old man immediately realized that Lin Sheng was not joking, and his heart became nervous in an instant, and he agreed repeatedly.

Xu Guannan frowned slightly, his face showing some worry.

"No wonder you asked me to be your tour guide. What are you going to do?"

Lin Sheng watched Amin's back as he left not far away, and spoke slowly.

"Since Lin Yiyi is in such a hurry to leave, she must know something. We'll find out tonight."

"So what do we do now?"

"Old man, take us to see the statue of Poseidon."

Lin Sheng did not directly answer Xu Guannan's question, but instead spoke like this.

The wind blowing across my cheeks was still dry, but the Dao Island on the sea was as hot as a steamer.

The statue of Poseidon in front of me is taller than an ordinary person and stands on a one-meter marble platform.

Lin Sheng's gaze fell on the statue of Poseidon, trying to meet his gaze, but unfortunately the statue had no emotions and could not express any human feelings.

Lin Sheng walked forward, stretched out his hand, touched the Poseidon statue, ran his fingertips across the surface of the statue, walked around the statue, carefully observing every detail of the statue, and suddenly spoke,

"Can I go up and take a look?"

Lin Sheng pointed at the back of the Poseidon statue and asked directly.

The old man nodded at her, his brows furrowed tightly. From Lin Sheng's expression, he knew that things were starting to get complicated, so he specifically instructed,

"You can only look, not touch. Otherwise, it would be disrespectful to the statue of Poseidon. If you are discovered by the islanders, you will be captured and sunk into the sea. Little girl, be careful."

Hearing this, Lin Sheng turned to look at the old man, gave him a knowing look, and slowly walked up the steps, looking at the statue of Poseidon.

Xu Guannan stood guard at the entrance, looking around vigilantly.

The statue of Poseidon is made of cement, and the carved exterior details are magnificent, showing the sculptor's skilled craftsmanship. However, the statue of Poseidon has been eroded by sea breeze and exposed to the scorching sun for a long time, and several tiny cracks have appeared on the top of the statue.

Lin Sheng stared at the crack, his eyes seemed to be able to penetrate the entire statue. The sun was scorching overhead. Lin Sheng got closer and closer to the crack of the statue, looking inside, it seemed that it was not made of solid material.

After observing for a while, Lin Sheng's forehead was covered with a layer of fine sweat. A drop of sweat dripped down his slightly red cheek and landed precisely on the tiny crack. The sweat seeped into the crack and was instantly absorbed. A subtle erosive smell rushed into Lin Sheng's nostrils.

Lin Sheng frowned immediately and raised his hand to cover his mouth and nose. His other hand moved up involuntarily. Before his hand touched the statue, he heard a sudden angry shout.

"Stop! Who are you to disrespect the statue of Poseidon? Get off right here!"

The person who came was Lantian, the villager who was on duty guarding the statue of Poseidon today.

The old man stood guard under the statue of Poseidon, muttering,

"How come you're here so quickly?"

Turning his head to meet the sight of the person coming, the old man immediately greeted him with a smile, manually pushed his wheelchair forward, blocked Lantian's way, and smiled apologetically.

"That's not what you think. This is the Taoist priest I hired at great expense. She's a rain prayer! I heard she's very powerful. She's performing a ritual, begging for the Sea God's blessing. Don't interrupt her lightly."

"Where did this nameless Taoist priest come from? She's a woman, what power can she have? And she even dares to pray for rain. Get down here now, don't offend the Sea God."

Seeing the man's aggressive look, Lin Sheng withdrew his hand awkwardly. The expression in his eyes suddenly became calm. He pretended to be serious and took out a piece of talisman paper from his treasure bag. He pinched it between two fingers, put his hands together, and muttered something in his mouth.

Then, the talisman paper was thrown upwards and it actually hung above the statue of Poseidon. Lin Sheng shouted "Break", and the talisman paper shattered in an instant. The fragments flying in the air all turned into drops of water and fell on the face of the statue of Poseidon.

The high temperature accumulated on the statue quickly evaporated the water droplets, and a thin layer of water vapor emerged and evaporated into the air.

Seeing this scene, Lantian swallowed back the words he was about to curse...

The old man didn't mention that Lin Sheng could have this ability, and just thought that Lin Sheng's previous words were nonsense. But now it seems that he underestimated this girl. He suddenly felt confident and no longer cared about Lan Tian's identity. He pushed the wheelchair and caught up.

"You are still too young to take the old man's words to heart. Do you see it now?"

Suddenly, he felt a heavy pressure on his feet, and the sudden pain rushed straight to his head. Lantian quickly took a few steps back and looked at the old man in pain. Before he could apologize to the old man, he saw Lin Sheng coming down. He hurriedly went to meet him, and a bitter smile appeared on his painful face.

"Master, please wait a moment. Please, can you pray for heavy rain on Siyuan Island? The island has been suffering from drought for several months. The crops in the village have been completely destroyed due to the drought. The villagers can only go out to sea to fish, but the sea is so rough that several boats have lost contact. If this continues, the people on Siyuan Island will really die."

Hearing this, Lin Sheng's calm face was slightly moved, but he was unwilling to let Lantian go easily, and replied nonchalantly,

"Don't you know how to perform sacrifices? Doesn't the statue of the sea god protect you? How can a mortal like me, who doesn't know the rules of etiquette, take over?"

Lantian's face turned ugly, and he looked embarrassed. He lowered his head more and more, and finally knelt directly in front of Lin Sheng. His eye sockets were full of red bloodshot, his thick, dry and pale lips moved up and down, and his body trembled.

"Master, we're at our wit's end. Praying for rain in recent years has been completely useless. We don't know what angered the Sea God. Two years ago, a tsunami even hit, flooding the entire island. We haven't seen a drop of water since. I shouldn't have offended you just now. I apologize and kowtow to you. Please help us."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lantian suddenly lowered his head and hit the concrete floor, and a red mark appeared on his forehead instantly.

Seeing his behavior, Lin Sheng couldn't help but frown.

"Alright, alright, get up quickly. There's no point in kowtow to me. I'm not a savior, nor am I a sucker. I can't let you easily manipulate me into PUA. Stand up and talk, or I'll turn around and leave."

As soon as the words came out, Lantian stood up from the ground, swallowed back all the tears in the corners of his eyes, and quickly continued,

"Master, if you tell me to do something, I will do my best to do it!"

Seeing that he agreed immediately, Lin Sheng thought about it and asked,

"Have you always been the one guarding the Poseidon statue?"

Although Lantian didn't know Lin Sheng's intention in asking these questions, he felt an inexplicable trust in Lin Sheng and answered honestly.

"No, the villagers have been taking turns. Today is my turn. At 5:30 pm, someone else will come to take over the shift until 6 am tomorrow morning."

Lin Sheng listened, thought, and continued to ask,

"Will there not be others near the statue?"

Lantian shook his head seriously, directly denying Lin Sheng's idea.

"No, the staff on duty are always there, and no one else has a chance to get close."

Hearing this, Lin Sheng frowned slightly, looked at Lantian suspiciously, and suddenly said,

"No chance? Then where did you go? And how did I get here?"

As soon as the words came out, Lantian shut up immediately, lowered his head slowly, not daring to look at Lin Sheng, and faltered in his explanation.

"Just now...just now I accidentally drank a little and fell asleep under the pavilion over there. I really didn't mean to neglect my duties. The villagers all know the rules, and there are signs outside. Tourists generally don't break the rules...Of course...Of course, I'm not saying that the Taoist priest doesn't understand the rules, it's..."

"Okay, so that means everyone on the island has the potential to get close to the statue. So, let me ask you, since the statue is replaced every five years, which year is it now?"

Lantian thought for a moment, then immediately answered,

“This is the fifth year, and I remember it very clearly.”

"Is there a dedicated sculptor on the island?"

"Originally, Uncle Mo at the village entrance was in charge of this, but two years ago, Uncle Mo died of a heart attack. The statue fell over once, so Amin re-carved it. Later, we were only responsible for guarding it, and the rest was handed over to Amin."

"Amin again? When exactly will the statue be rebuilt next time?"