When Madam Fan came downstairs, she was holding a longevity lock in her hand. Tears welled in her eyes as she handed it to him. "Sir," she said, "this is Zhuozhuo's longevity lock. The morning he left, the chain broke. He asked me to find someone to fix it, so I left it behind. I fixed it that same day, but the child has never come back since." Choking back sobs, she handed the gold longevity lock to Yuan Zhuan, her face pale and ashen. "Sir," she continued, "I'll write down his birth date and time for you."
Having received what he was entitled to, Yuan Zhuan nodded and stood up. "I'm leaving now. Wait for my news."
"Sir!" Madam Fan called out instinctively as Yuan Zhuan turned to leave. She bowed deeply, saying, "Please..."
Yuan Zhuan hummed in agreement and left, this time with Fan Liwen following him.
After dropping the man off at the roadside, Fan Liwen handed him a car key. “Mr. Yuan, you can use this car. There’s £100,000 in the trunk. If that’s not enough, just give me a call.”
Yuan Zhuan looked up in surprise, and Fan Liwen smiled awkwardly. "Mr. Yuan, I only have one son. Please help me." He then put the key into Yuan Zhuan's hand, bowed again, and stood aside without saying a word.
Inside the car, besides money, there were all the vehicle registration documents, and although the photos weren't of hers, they were complete.
The car started, and in the rearview mirror, Fan Liwen remained standing still, getting further and further away until he disappeared from sight.
"He's not a bad father." My dislike for Fan Liwen has lessened considerably.
Although this has nothing to do with her, it doesn't affect her dislike for it.
The golden longevity lock, worn for fifteen years, had long since become one with its owner's aura and was also bound by fate. Its breakage was a warning.
To the average person, the longevity lock still had a golden sheen, but Yuan Zhuan saw that black occupied most of the space.
Clearly, this child is in a very bad situation.
When Yuan Zhuan shook hands with Madam Fan just now, she also saw some things, but none of them were related to the child's disappearance, which made it more difficult for her to track down the location.
It would be nice if it had hair or nails, but it's a pity.
With one hand turning the steering wheel and the other gripping the longevity lock, the Yin energy within his body circulated rapidly, providing vague information, but still offering some clues.
Tsk...the seaside.
Both times I searched for someone, it was related to the sea. Could this be considered fate?
Because the route was unfamiliar and there were occasional traffic jams, it was already dark when we arrived at our destination.
Before the 9 p.m. curfew, Yuan Zhuan arrived at the port of Xihai, the first place where Fan Shuozhuo's presence had completely disappeared.
At this time, the Xihai Port was filled with countless fishing boats. There were also places to store cargo boxes on the shore, filled with red and blue boxes. Some workers were busy and focused, going in and out near the boxes.
On the shore, there were some steel frames nearly ten meters high, some of which looked like lifting equipment. Yuan Zhuan didn't understand or know what they were used for.
"Hey, kids aren't allowed here." As Yuan Zhuan stood on the steps of the border crossing, deep in thought, someone suddenly spoke from behind him and walked towards him.
Turning around, he saw a tall, strong black man with a stern face, seemingly annoyed by Yuan Zhuan's appearance.
My gaze swept across the Black man's face, but I didn't see any apparent cause or effect of his actions. He was just an ordinary person, neither good nor bad.
"I want to go out to sea, do you have a boat?"
Markley, a Black man, intended to stop the playful child from doing something bad, but when he turned around, he was surprised to find that it was an adult man.
The surprised raised eyebrows and the undisguised astonishment at the other person's height made the latter's face darken.
Suppressing his displeasure, Yuan Zhuan spoke again, "I want to go to sea. Help me find a boat, and I'll give you one hundred pounds."
Perhaps it was the sheer volume of the hundred pounds that snapped the black man out of his daze, his bright white eyes widening dramatically. "You want a boat? Oh, you've come to the right place. I'm Captain Markley. I have a fishing boat, but it's not very big and can't go too far. But my brother, Masala, has a fifteen-ton fishing boat that can go very far. He's going to deliver goods to the port of Bethlehem in the United States tomorrow morning..." The black man continued talking as he approached, rambling on and on.
Yuan Zhuan listened selectively to his words, then frowned and said, "I need to hire a ship separately. Let me see your ship."
Upon hearing this, Flathead Black shut his mouth, his thick lips trembling as he uttered a single sentence: "If you give me two thousand pounds, I'll hire you the ship and myself."
"One thousand," Yuan Zhuan said, as was his habit.
"Deal," Markley agreed with a beaming smile.
Yuan Zhuan: !!! What a loss!
How annoying, haggling like that.
"Come with me, my dear friend. Oh, I forgot to ask your name. Are you from Japan?" It's a common perception that Japanese men are not tall.
“Yes,” Yuan Zhuan replied.
Not far after following the incessantly talking Markley, Yuan Zhuan saw his boat, a small fishing boat of less than five tons.
Yuan Zhuan: ...
Markley didn't notice Yuan Zhuan's speechlessness. He said excitedly, "Look, dear Zhou, this is the first fishing boat my dear father gave me when I came of age. I've been using it for three years now, and I've taken good care of it. My father always praises my abilities when he sees it. I've already used it to earn myself a nice car, thirty thousand pounds! Super cool! When we come back from sea, I can take you for a ride..."
Yuan Zhuan forcibly suppressed the urge to silence the other person and changed the subject, "How old are you?"
“Zhou, didn’t I just say that I only bought the boat three years ago? I’m 21 years old.” Markley pursed his thick lips, protesting his new friend’s unserious attitude.
Yuan Zhuan: Indeed, precocious.
"By the way, dear Zhou, tell me where you're going..."
"Let's go, let's set off now."
"What?"
Even after the fishing boat sailed out of the harbor, Markley still couldn't understand why he had gone out on the boat so late at night, when he never went out on the night boat.
“Zhou, you have to give me half of the voyage fee first.” Markley shouted to the people on the deck outside the window while holding the helm.
Just as Yuan Zhuan was drawing out some energy from the Longevity Lock and was performing the Guiding Incantation to search for energy, Ma Kelai's loud voice rang out. She didn't reply immediately but continued her actions. After completing the Guiding Incantation, she pulled out the Black Karma Thread and stared at it as it stretched out. At first glance, it looked like a black rope extending infinitely across the sea, with no end in sight.
alright……
"Hey, Zhou, I'm talking to you, Zhou, Zhou..." If the sea hadn't been so calm, Markley would have already rushed out of the control room to find him.
"Understood." Yuan Zhuan glanced at the direction the black fate line pointed to, paused for a moment, and then turned and went back to the cabin.
"Hey, Zhou, you actually gave me all of it? Aren't you afraid I'll turn back halfway?" Markley joked, not expecting his foreign friend to give him all the money.
"If you want to die." With those words, he was already out of the cabin.
Upon hearing this, Markley was taken aback at first, but then he snapped to attention and involuntarily swallowed.
The look Zhou gave him just now was terrifying; it was as if his life was already under Zhou's control.
The Japanese are indeed somewhat terrifying; they are always strange and sinister, just like their shrine maidens who curse others at the drop of a hat.
At that moment, Markley decided not to be friends with this foreigner; he was not friendly at all.
Yuan Zhuan thus gained a rare moment of peace. Although it's unclear what Markley was imagining, in any case, not speaking was a good thing.
"Let's go according to this direction..."
Yuan Zhuan calculated the position and gave the sailing direction.
Markley glanced at it, said nothing, immediately adjusted the lever and some buttons, and headed towards his destination.
And so, a small fishing boat silently sailed on the sea at night, stirring up waves of white foam.
Soon, it was 11 p.m.
On the originally pitch-black sea, faint lights began to appear, and those lights were clearly coming from the masts of the ships.
Markley squinted at the dozen or so white lights that had suddenly appeared, and his heart sank.
Oh no...
Childhood fears from the depths of memory surged forth, those lights...
"Zhou, Zhou, Zhou!! We can't go any further, we have to turn back now. I'm sorry, I'll give you the money, and you don't have to pay for the fuel." After shouting, Markley tried to turn the control lever to quickly prepare to turn back.
However, the moment his hand touched the control lever, a chill ran down his spine, and Markley couldn't help but shiver. He turned his head and met a pair of cold, dark eyes.
"I'm looking for someone, and I'll kill anyone who gets in my way. Do you understand?" There was no room for negotiation.
The threat has reached its peak!
Markley froze, his heart pounding with fear.
“They’re here. There’s no going back.” Markley, regaining his senses, glanced at the lights ahead, which were heading straight in their direction. He muttered to himself, his face pale and his whole body trembling.
He knew the pirates' rules because when he sailed with his father, they traded cargo for their lives. Ten years ago, a human life was worth a thousand pounds. Now, it was certainly not worth that much. And their ship had no cargo at all, only that thousand pounds.
"Zhou, Zhou, we're finished, Zhou..."
Yuan Zhuan merely glanced coldly at Markley's neurotic behavior, saying, "If you're scared, just sleep for a while." With that, he placed his hand on Markley's head, and the next second, the burly black man fell backward, crashing onto the cabin floor, unconscious.
He moved the man aside and took the helm himself.
She had already figured out how to operate the fishing boat, so it didn't matter whether Markley was there or not. Since he was afraid, she might as well take a nap.
Once he got the hang of it, Yuan Zhuan quickly used the Gale Talismans, attaching all eighteen to the ship's side. At the same time, he turned the control lever, pushing the speed to its maximum.
Swoosh...
Inside the outer pocket of her down jacket, the black malevolent energy on the longevity lock churned, gradually devouring it.
Time is running out.
At the same moment, fifteen pirate moon ships sailed through the waves, coming straight towards us!
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