4 p.m.

At a small port on the Thames, Lin Xiu used all his savings to rent a dilapidated boat.

I pulled the engine cable twice before starting the engine.

The boat moved slowly.

No, there was a sound of hurried footsteps coming from the dock behind me.

A small and nimble black shadow descended from the sky. With a "bang", the bow of the boat dropped and rose violently, creating a snow-white splash.

Lin Xiu looked closely and saw that it was the man he had seen not long ago - Echizen Ryoma.

The boy raised his head, revealing his iconic cat eyes from under his white hat brim. He nodded and greeted in his usual rebellious tone, "What a coincidence."

???

skillful?!

What the hell, you obviously planned to do this a long time ago, so you were lying in ambush here, right?

Lin Xiu was anxious and angry: "Are you crazy? Get down quickly."

"oh?"

Echizen blinked innocently, looked at the way down with pretended embarrassment, and said: "But, there is water around here?"

What I mean is, you've already set out, and there's water all around us, you're not going to ask me to swim back?

So, you have planned everything, and I can only take you with me, right?

Lin Xiu: “…”

Just because of a few words, the boat has moved away from the shore under the drive of the engine.

Going back is not realistic because...

If it goes back, the ship will not have enough fuel and will not be able to reach its destination.

"As you wish."

He had no choice but to give up.

Yeah~ the plan worked!

Echizen Ryoma turned his head to look at the sea level in the distance, with his back to Lin Xiu, the corners of his mouth raised, and he couldn't help but want to give a thumbs up to his own wit.

......

On the other side,

The members of Qingxue who had already discovered his disappearance anxiously ran to the place where the members of the other three schools were having a temporary meeting.

That was the gathering place where everyone had agreed to discuss how to deal with this incident.

Oishi Hideichiro looked anxious, "Oh no, we can't find Echizen anywhere."

Facing Tezuka's questioning look, Kawamura, who followed closely, also shook his head, "We searched everywhere, including the tennis courts, dormitories, and cafeterias, but there was no sign of him."

Toyama Kintaro hung his head in dejection, "Chaoqian, where on earth did you go?"

Kikumaru Eiji said hesitantly, "Could it be that the little guy followed Lin Xiu and went to find Clark together?"

"Echizen..." Inui Sadaharu could be sure without even opening the data book, "The probability that he will go looking for Clark is 88%."

“No, it’s 88.41%.”

Inui Sadaharu twitched his lips as he looked at Yanagi Renji who was retorting, trying to save face: "In foreign countries, it is usually customary to unconditionally discard the digits after the decimal point."

So, 88% is not wrong.

"Lin Xiu once said before he left,"

Yukimura Seiichi, who was standing in the Rikkai University team, suddenly spoke up.

[If Clark is not defeated, he will never float up, whether it is me... or him...]

He turned and looked at the crowd.

"He had once felt hopeless about tennis, but now he wanted to pick himself up again. Not just by himself, but with someone..."

Atobe's face was still slightly frowned, as if he was troubled by something.

Tezuka Kunimitsu looked thoughtful.

"Echizen, he seems to have known who that someone is. So... he just let Mr. Lin Xiu leave without saying anything, right?"

Everyone in Qingxue fell silent.

After a while,

Oishi couldn't help but worry, and looked at the minister beside him, "Tezuka, after all, we should leave it to the police. Shouldn't we tell the police about this?"

Tezuka shook his head and said, "Since Lin Xiu told us to wait until morning, let's stay put until then."

"Tezuka..."

Oishi was still a little hesitant, but Tezuka spoke directly.

"Everyone, as you have heard, I hope that you will not act on your own. Please cooperate."