SES Chapter 56 V1

Chapter 56

She heard Yan Hongsha walking with the support of the bed frame, her voice tinged with surprise and delight as she said she could manage a few steps. Then came the sound of the wheelchair, and Cao Yanhua saying, “Alright, Red Sand, hop on—I’ll push you to breakfast.”

At the hatch, it seemed they ran into either Yiwansan or Luo Ren, because Cao Yanhua’s voice suddenly rose dramatically:
“My little master is pretending to be asleep!”

Mu Dai rolled her eyes hard under the covers.

Only after everyone had left did she finally drag herself out of bed, brushing her teeth and washing up with water from the tank. Once she was cleaned up, she went to the cockpit. The others were almost done eating, though calling it “breakfast” was generous. It was just leftover packaged buns and dry biscuits from the day before, along with bottled water.

When Mu Dai entered, Yan Hongsha suddenly reached out to pull all the remaining buns on the table into her arms.
“Gone! All finished!” she announced.

Cao Yanhua had just torn open a bun. Hearing that, he shoved the whole thing into his mouth and mumbled,
“Yeah, all gone. Finished.”

Then he wheeled Yan Hongsha out of the cockpit, calling back to Yiwansan,
“Brother San, come out and watch the sunrise!”

Yiwansan grumbled,
“Sun’s already up. Can’t even eat in peace.”

Still, he followed them out.

Which left only Mu Dai and Luo Ren in the cockpit.

Luo Ren found it amusing. He chewed his bun slowly, watching Mu Dai with great interest.

Mu Dai felt incredibly awkward. She didn’t dare meet his eyes, but she could feel him looking at her. Her hands and feet felt out of place. Trying to appear busy, she fidgeted with the empty wrappers on the table, muttering to herself,
“Seriously… they ate everything, huh?”

Luo Ren suppressed a laugh and didn’t respond.

Like she needed to fidget—wasn’t it obvious the food was gone the second she walked in?

Then she turned to him politely.
“You see? You guys didn’t save me anything.”

Luo Ren’s stomach hurt from holding in his laughter.
“I did save some. I saved it for my girlfriend. But… she’s not here yet.”

A moment later, she softly spoke up.
“That’s me.”

Luo Ren blinked.
“Who are you?”

She hesitated again, then said quietly,
“Your girlfriend.”

Luo Ren burst into laughter. She was too cute for words. He pulled her in for a hug, nuzzling her cheek. She kept her head down, silent, her ears glowing red.

Luo Ren said,
“Next time, get up earlier. Or you won’t even get crumbs.”

Then added,
“But it’s okay. I’ll always save some for you.”

She nodded and took the water and bun. It wasn’t anything special—just water and a bun—but somehow, it felt different. Heavier in her hands, more meaningful.

That first day, everything felt wonderful. Even the giant clam in the sea didn’t seem as terrifying anymore.

The boat began heading toward that same stretch of ocean again.

The closer they got, the lower Yan Hongsha’s spirits sank.

Maybe it was her youth, but earlier, she’d been excited by the smallest things. Now, it hit her all at once—her uncle was still down there. The guilt crashed over her. She shouldn’t have laughed. She shouldn’t have felt happy.

She tugged at Mu Dai’s sleeve and whispered,
“Mu Dai… I know Luo Ren listens to you. Could you ask him… to help bring my uncle’s body back?”

Mu Dai didn’t know how to answer, so she just comforted her.
“We’ll figure something out. Yiwansan’s dad’s urn, your uncle’s body—we’ll find a way.”

It sounded easy enough when said like that. But how? Yan Hongsha bit her lip, resting her chin on the railing and gently bumping it again and again.

The engine was cut, and the sea fell silent.

This time, they weren’t here to battle the clam, nor did they expect to capture it. The goal was simple: reposition the cameras to shoot new footage and stitch it into a single vast panorama, just as they’d planned.

Mu Dai and the others were used to the “water eye” camera’s underwater view. But for Cao Yanhua, it was a first, and he kept making surprised comments.

—“There aren’t any fish. Probably scared them all off.”

—“What’s all that down there? Kelp? Think we can eat it?”

—“Damn, that’s a lot of bones…”

Yan Hongsha was getting irritated by his chatter and glanced at the screen. Her expression grew strange. She asked Mu Dai,
“Are we at the same spot as that day?”

“Roughly. No precise coordinates on the open sea, but it looks about the same,” Mu Dai replied. “Why?”

“Where’s my uncle?”

Yan Jiuxiao was gone.

The body, once tangled in seaweed and drifting eerily in the currents, completely vanished.

A chill ran up Mu Dai’s spine, straight to the top of her head.

Oddly, this gave Yan Hongsha a glimmer of irrational hope. She gripped Mu Dai’s hand and nervously licked her lips.
“Mu Dai, what if my uncle… isn’t dead?”

Yiwansan shut that down fast.
“If he’s not dead, that’s even worse. Who survives underwater that long? That’d be terrifying.”

Yan Hongsha shrank back in silence.

Luo Ren thought for a moment.
“More likely, he was moved. Down there, anything could’ve happened—especially with that mysterious clam around. The camera’s view is limited. Let’s stick to the plan and finish stitching the images. If it doesn’t give us what we want, we’ll revise.”

Turned out he was right. On the third pass, Yiwansan pointed something out to Yan Hongsha.
“Is that him?”