SES Chapter 56 V2

No one needed to ask. It was obvious. Yan Jiuxiao was wearing a wetsuit and helmet—his body clear as day.

This time, he lay on the ocean floor in a contorted position, like he was mid-action.

Luo Ren let out a quiet sigh.
“Keep going.”

After capturing a wide enough area, they returned to the main cabin to plan how to deal with the clam. The photo files were passed to Yiwansan for stitching—over a hundred images, some overlapping, but that didn’t matter.

At this point, they’d learned the clam was only threatening in the water or at the surface. The key was separating it from the sea.

Even more critical: separating it from the cursed bamboo slip.

Yan Hongsha remembered the footage her uncle had left—of the clam basking in moonlight.
“We could wait until the full moon, when it comes ashore. Then it’d be easier to catch.”

Luo Ren hesitated.
“Hard to say. No way to guarantee it’ll come out that night. Plus, it’s still ten days away—we can’t wait around forever.”

Cao Yanhua offered,
“What if I row out there alone again? Didn’t they say the clam likes to attack solo pearl divers?”

Luo Ren grimaced.
“You can’t swim. I’m more worried the clam wouldn’t get caught—but you’d be gone.”

Mu Dai suddenly thought of a chain net.

Luo Ren frowned.
“Too unpredictable. The net’s angle is hard to control, and the clam’s speed and direction aren’t easy to guess. It’s worth considering, but not ideal.”

Mu Dai’s brow furrowed tightly.

Cao Yanhua sighed.
“If only we had a giant.”

“A giant could scoop it up with two fingers. Or swing a big ol’ net and just—whoosh—catch it like a bug.”

Everyone ignored his daydreaming—except Luo Ren, who suddenly paused.
“Actually… remember how the clam circled at the surface when we pissed it off?”

Of course, they remembered. Cao Yanhua still shuddered.
“Like a firewheel. Zipping around—anything it touched bled.”

Mu Dai glanced instinctively at Luo Ren’s injured shoulder.

Luo Ren continued,
“While it was circling on the surface, the sea floor was safe. If we had a big enough net down there, we could scoop it up from below.”

The idea made sense in theory, but execution seemed impossible. Yan Hongsha frowned.
“How would you even get a net that big in place underwater? Not realistic.”

Luo Ren smiled.
“You’re just not thinking big enough.”

Yan Hongsha snapped,
“The clam’s not dumb. If it sees a net, it’s not just gonna waltz in!”

Luo Ren grabbed a pen and paper and drew a boat.

His drawing wasn’t as good as Yiwansan’s, but Mu Dai still found it endearing. She rested her chin in her hand and watched.

He drew another boat beside the first, spaced apart.

Yan Hongsha objected,
“We don’t have two boats!”

Mu Dai glared at her.
“Then rent one. Think bigger.”

Yan Hongsha pouted, frustrated that Mu Dai and Luo Ren were so in sync. She grumbled,
“So what, you think being in love makes you better?”

What does that have to do with anything? Mu Dai’s face turned red, not sure how to respond. Luo Ren replied casually,
“Of course it does. She’s got backup when she talks.”

Mu Dai thought that was right.

Yan Hongsha huffed and fell silent.

Luo Ren continued sketching, adding chain nets that hung off the sides of each boat.

He explained,
“The boats need to be spaced out. The sea between them becomes the hunting zone. The pearl-diving decoy boat must operate in that area only.”

Then he drew a small boat between the two big ones. On it, a little figure. After a glance at Mu Dai, he added a ponytail to the figure.

It was a girl.

Yan Hongsha shrieked,
“Me?! My leg’s not even healed!”

Luo Ren replied,
“You’re staying on the main boat. The girl on the little boat is Mu Dai.”

Yan Hongsha gasped.
“Wow, throwing your girlfriend into danger like that? Cold.”

Mu Dai felt nervous, but not panicked. She trusted Luo Ren to have a plan.

And sure enough, he added a taut rope between the two big boats.

“With Mu Dai’s agility, walking that rope shouldn’t be a problem. She can move between the small boat and the rope to lure the clam to the surface. Then…”

He added a person to each large boat.

“Cao Yanhua and Red Sand will each quietly lower their chain nets straight down. Meanwhile, Yiwansan and I…”

He paused.
“We’ll dive and hook the two nets together from below.”

He mimed clasping two pieces as one.
“Got it? Once the nets join beneath the clam, all we need is perfect timing. Engage the winches on both boats, and we haul the thing out.”

Cao Yanhua’s jaw dropped.
“So once it’s out of the water… it’s ours? We can kill it or do whatever?”

He was getting excited, about to say more, when Luo Ren looked past him.
“Is it done?”

Behind him, Yiwansan replied,
“Yeah. Done.”

“A map?”

Yiwansan smirked slightly.
“A picture. Come see for yourself—it’s… disturbingly lifelike.”

On the computer screen, Yiwansan had finished stitching the photos. It wasn’t complex—just an ancient scene. How complicated could that be?

Bleached white bones formed landscapes—mountains, forests, even a nearby river—like a rough ink sketch, symbolic and metaphorical.

But the reason he called it “lifelike”… was because of the people in the picture.

They weren’t made of bones. They were real. Dead bodies.

And there were two panels—like a storybook.

The second one wasn’t finished.