So Luo Ren and his team must’ve taken a different route. Mu Dai was a bit disappointed. She glanced at Yan Hongsha, who looked thrilled—she’d even forgotten she was giving Mu Dai the silent treatment. “It’s my first time riding a tractor!”
“You’re not worried about your uncle?”
Yan Hongsha thought for a moment. “A little, I guess. But he’s always going off somewhere. It’s not unusual for him to be out of touch for a while. If it weren’t for…”
If it weren’t for that dream—and that strange phone call with only the sound of ocean waves, cut off by a dead battery.
The tractor dropped them off at the base of a dirt hill. The driver gestured for them to climb over and head east along the reefs by the sea. Wuzhu Village would be easy to spot—it was empty. And if not, just look for the ancestral hall.
“Oh yeah, the ancestral hall,” he added. “Ten little beasts on the corners of the roof. Can’t miss it.”
They climbed the hill, walked a bit more, and reached the sea. The water was calm, and the sand was fine. Yan Hongsha took off her shoes and carried them, walking along the beach, leaving behind a trail of shallow footprints.
She wanted to call Mu Dai over to play, but remembered the kick to her ribs and dropped the idea.
Soon after, she cried out, “A boat! A boat!”
Near the rocks was a short pier. Most of it was rotting, but some weathered boats were tied to the pilings with wire, bobbing gently in the surf.
Yan Hongsha ran ahead while Mu Dai’s attention was drawn elsewhere.
Not far off, tire tracks curved toward the beach, then doubled back. It looked like someone had tried to drive down to the shore, then changed their mind.
Mu Dai shielded her eyes from the sun and looked toward a higher spot. There—it did look like a village.
A faint smile tugged at her lips.
Meanwhile, Yan Hongsha was wobbling around inside one of the boats, banging on the side with a paddle she’d somehow found. “Mu Dai! The boat doesn’t leak!”
Mu Dai called out, “Let’s check out the village first.”
Yan Hongsha clutched the paddle. “Let’s just row around a bit first! My uncle was taking clam photos on the beach—maybe he left something behind!”
Total excuse. Let’s be real—she just wanted to row the boat. If Yan Jiuxiao had left anything, it’d be on the beach, not out at sea.
Mu Dai didn’t move.
Yan Hongsha ignored her and started fiddling with the wires tying the boat down. Her paddling was all over the place, but somehow, the boat started drifting.
She laughed her signature laugh: one “ha,” pause, then three more to finish. “Aren’t you my bodyguard? I’m rowing off now—are you coming or not?”
Mu Dai didn’t answer.
The sea was calm, the waves gentle. The boat was steady, didn’t seem to be leaking. Even though she couldn’t swim, she couldn’t let Yan Hongsha underestimate her.
She mentally calculated the distance between the boat and the shore.
Yan Hongsha was still rowing with gusto, though honestly, she just wanted to push Mu Dai’s buttons. She muttered under her breath, “Wouldn’t carry my bag, wouldn’t help chase off creeps, now won’t even follow me onto the boat. What kind of bodyguard is this? Should dock her pay.”
She was so caught up in her own drama that she didn’t notice Mu Dai backing up, sprinting, and then—using a rock near the shore for leverage—leapt toward the boat like a swallow.
Could she make it? Probably not. But she tapped the water lightly midair and used that momentum to rise again. The boat rocked once, and then Mu Dai landed neatly inside.
Yan Hongsha stared at her, clutching the paddle. “You—you can run on water?!”
Mu Dai sat cross-legged at the bow, calmly pulling in her wet foot. “Keep rowing.”
Yan Hongsha deflated. “Fine, let’s go back.”
She turned the boat around but messed up her technique. The boat just drifted farther out.
Mu Dai started to panic. She wasn’t going to be able to leap back to shore now.
Yan Hongsha was getting mad too—at Mu Dai or the paddle, it was hard to say. She swung it hard and missed. The paddle flew into the water with a splash.
She leaned over to grab it, just a bit short, when a wave pulled it farther away.
She wasn’t worried. “You’ve got that water-running thing. Go fetch it.”
Mu Dai nearly laughed out loud. “That wasn’t running on water. That was a momentum jump. I only pulled it off because of training and the right angle. It’s deep here—I’m not diving in for a dumb paddle.”
The water rocked them gently. It was so quiet. The sea stretched forever. The boat felt like a lone leaf adrift.
Yan Hongsha was the first to get scared. “Mu Dai… what do we do?”
Mu Dai replied, “We drift, I guess. Maybe your uncle’s somewhere ahead of us. Or maybe we’ll drift to the Philippines and they’ll think we’re spies. Bang bang, two shots.”
Yan Hongsha looked like she might cry. “I want to go home.”
Mu Dai glanced at her. “What? You done now? Still want to row?”
“No…” Her voice quivered like a bunny about to cry.
Mu Dai decided not to scare her anymore. “All right, I’ll think of something.”
She took out her phone.
Thankfully, the signal was weak but usable. She pulled up her contacts and found Luo Ren’s name.
It wasn’t like she wanted to call him—it was an emergency, okay?
She tapped the call button.
Just then, the boat gave a sudden jolt.
Something underneath had slammed hard into the hull.
Mu Dai froze. Even through her clothes, she could feel every hair on her arms stand up.
Yan Hongsha edged closer, whispering, “Mu… Dai… did you feel that?”
Mu Dai whispered back, “Don’t… don’t talk.”
Maybe if they didn’t move, nothing would happen.
Seconds passed—maybe half a minute, maybe a whole minute. It felt like a century. They forced smiles at each other, hoping it had passed.
Then the call connected. Luo Ren’s voice came through: “Hello? Mu Dai?”
At the exact same time, a second impact rocked the boat. It jumped from the water. Mu Dai’s scalp went numb. She screamed into the phone, “HELP! HELP! I’m at sea! I CAN’T SWIM—”
Another violent jolt. The bow rose into the air. Mu Dai hadn’t even had time to tell Luo Ren where she was when everything flipped.
Seawater surged up and swallowed the blue sky above.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152