SES Chapter 53 V2

Mu Dai quickly unhooked a coiled rope from the railing and tied it around her waist.

Yiwansan shouted to Yan Hongsha, “Throw the net! Catch the clam!”

Yan Hongsha was sweating bullets. “It’s not close enough!”

Just then, Luo Ren surfaced with Cao Yanhua in tow. The clam lunged again. Luo Ren twisted, and the shell grazed his shoulder, slicing it open. Blood sprayed through the seawater.

Then, a sudden idea hit Mu Dai.

“Don’t net the clam!” she shouted. “Net Luo Ren!”

She pushed Yiwansan. “Go! Start the engine. Once he’s on board, we take off!”

Luo Ren understood. He changed direction, dragging Cao Yanhua toward the stern. He’d already calculated the ideal position when he taught Yan Hongsha how to use the net.

But the clam was gaining.

Someone had to buy them time.

Mu Dai, lips dry, sprinted into the cabin, scanned around, and came back out clutching a thick quilt.

She stumbled to the deck. Luo Ren and Cao Yanhua were nearly at the net, but the clam was still chasing. Yiwansan had grabbed a boat pole and was trying to fend it off. The rotating shell screamed like a buzzsaw. The submerged end of the pole was quickly chewed through.

Mu Dai tightened the rope around her waist and told Yiwansan, “Hold me.”

He took a swing at the clam, then helped her climb onto the railing.

A deep breath. She spread the quilt and leapt.

It landed perfectly, covering the clam like a giant blanket. Mu Dai bounced off the shell’s center and sprang back up.

The clam seemed to sense someone on it. The shell began to snap shut. Mu Dai launched off, barely clearing it, and dove for the boat.

On the other side, Luo Ren and Cao Yanhua had reached the net. Luo Ren tugged the chain—Yan Hongsha slammed the button.

The winch roared to life. With a splash, the two men were hauled from the water.

Mu Dai was just about to grab the railing when she felt her waist yanked back. She screamed.

Yiwansan lunged and grabbed her arm.

Then they saw it—the rope tied to Mu Dai was caught in the clam’s shell.

The clam yanked back hard. Yiwansan almost flew off the boat.

“Hold on! Hold on!” he screamed—either to Mu Dai or to Yan Hongsha, who scrambled over to help.

She threw herself forward, wrapped her arms around Yiwansan’s waist, and locked her legs on her overturned wheelchair.

The wheelchair’s weight gave them a second of resistance, but the clam was stronger. With another tug, the wheels started lifting off.

Yiwansan yelled, “We can’t win this tug-of-war! Cut the rope! Get a knife!”

“I can’t!” Yan Hongsha cried. “If I let go, you’ll both fall!”

The stalemate broke when the rope suddenly snapped.

Mu Dai, Yiwansan, and Yan Hongsha collapsed in a tangled heap. Mu Dai saw Luo Ren’s knife fly through the air and vanish into the sea.

Yiwansan bolted for the helm, started the engine, and gunned it toward shore.

Looking back, the clam seemed to chase them briefly, still entangled in the quilt, before stopping mid-sea. Then it slowly sank back beneath the surface.

Mu Dai exhaled shakily and collapsed against the deck.

Nearby, Yan Hongsha struggled to right her wheelchair. “Mu Dai, help me up. My legs aren’t working…”

The shore was in sight. For now, they were safe.

Mu Dai walked to the stern. The net hung off the back like a giant bundle. Inside, Luo Ren and Cao Yanhua huddled together. Cao Yanhua looked dazed and defeated. Luo Ren, on the other hand, sat calmly, arms crossed, watching the sea like a spectator at a play.

Mu Dai crouched. “Are you badly hurt?”

Luo Ren glanced at his shoulder—flesh torn, blood visible.

“I’ll live.”

“We’ll let you down once we’re onshore.”

“No rush. It’s nice and cool.”

Mu Dai almost laughed. Then, after a pause, he said, “Your knife’s gone.”

Her head was lowered, hair falling over her face.

Luo Ren smiled, and for a moment, something stirred in him. He wanted to brush her hair back, but the net was too tight. His hand couldn’t reach.

He sighed and dropped his arm. “Mu Dai, I’d like to talk to you sometime. Just us.”

She suddenly didn’t want to. If it was something she wanted to hear, fine. But what if it wasn’t? Things were good now. Why ruin it?

She neither agreed nor refused.

Then the boat slammed into something hard.

They’d landed.

Thudding footsteps approached. Yiwansan, panting, arrived with a strange look on his face. He didn’t release Luo Ren or Cao Yanhua. Instead, he asked:

“Luo Ren… when the clam fully opened—did you see what was inside?”

Inside?

Luo Ren frowned. He and Cao Yanhua had been too busy escaping to look closely.

Mu Dai hadn’t noticed either—her eyes were locked on Luo Ren and Cao Yanhua.

Only Yan Hongsha remembered something.

“I’m not sure what it was,” she said. “Maybe a pearl? But it was… square.”

Square?

Luo Ren’s heart skipped a beat.

Yiwansan tried to laugh but failed. His smile looked more like a grimace.

“When I started the engine,” he said, “I suddenly remembered. After my dad’s urn fell into the sea years ago… we never found it.”