The next morning, when his gossip buddy called to share some juicy gossip, Jiang Yujin was still in the airport waiting room with three high school students, waiting for their flight.
This is a huge and explosive story. Everyone in the Special Investigation Bureau is secretly enjoying it. Although there's no progress yet, it's still a great scoop, and everyone's eager to share it.
Jiang Yujin, looking refreshed, sat down and asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
Xu Gao, as if he were doing something wrong, lowered his voice and said, "You don't know, do you? Captain Xu might have made some progress!"
"?"
Jiang Yujin: "Is that so?"
Xu Gao continued to tell him the details of the day the incident occurred, and he listened, occasionally responding with a few words.
As the other person was talking, they suddenly gasped and asked what was wrong.
"...I told him the cat in his arms was ugly, and he corrected me, saying it was a dog. He said something ugly was beautiful!"
"Do you know how vengeful this guy is! During the mission, he sent me to the most dangerous basement, where the mutants are terrifying. Luckily, I ran fast and only got a scratch. I'm applying medicine now, ouch—"
Jiang Yujin: "How come you only got a little scratch?"
Xu Gao: "?"
Xu Gao suspected he had misheard and asked his gossip-loving friend to repeat himself.
Jiang Yujin: "I wish you a speedy recovery."
Xu Gao: "Thank you."
I must have misheard.
When it was time to board and check in, the gossip session ended, and Jiang Yujin put away his phone and stood up.
He carried a backpack containing only his personal belongings, looking completely relaxed. The high school student next to him carried a bag on his back and had a suitcase in each hand, walking forward without complaint.
Once on the plane, the high school students, who had just finished their exams and had gotten up early, took the first half of the flight to catch up on sleep, while the adult man opened his Candy Crush game.
In the latter half of the flight, the South China Sea could be vaguely seen from the plane below the clouds. Several high school students looked down, while an adult man peacefully closed his eyes and began to snore.
When Jiang Yujin got off the plane, he was still not fully awake. He was walking unsteadily and almost tripped over his own feet. A high school student next to him helped him up.
They set off in the morning, and by the time they arrived at the hotel to check in, it was already noon.
After lunch, Mr. Jiang, who had been busy all day, lay down in his room, while the three high school students quickly went to gather information in the neighborhood.
The coastline here is beautiful and the local tourism industry has developed rapidly in recent years, and it is now thriving, attracting tourists everywhere.
Amidst the sea of people, Little Fatty looked around, his gaze finally settling on a restaurant, before stopping.
Chen Jing also stopped and followed his gaze, just in time to see several figures disappearing into the restaurant's entrance.
The person walking in the middle was very tall, wearing a black shirt and silver-rimmed glasses. He was led by someone in front and followed by others, giving off a very grand presence.
The chubby boy frowned, asking somewhat uncertainly, "Is that Lu Dongcheng?"
The figure looked very similar, but this was Nanyang, far from City A. Before they left, they heard that the other person was in City A discussing business, so they shouldn't be here.
Chen Jing said, "There's also stone cloth."
For a moment, Zhang Xin couldn't figure out how the two people were connected. She looked over, but couldn't even see their backs.
Chen Jing looked away and said, "Let's find out about Atsha first."
They couldn't get any information from tourists, so they tried to find locals. The locals were very enthusiastic, but their expressions changed when they heard "Atasa," and they all just waved their hands and said they didn't know.
The information blockade remains in effect, and Atasha seems to have become a taboo word here.
After being rejected multiple times throughout the afternoon, they couldn't find any information about Atsha. Instead, they learned that a disappearance had occurred there a few days earlier. A girl had gone for a walk on the beach and hadn't returned. Local police had searched the beach and surrounding area for several days but hadn't found her.
With no progress, the group breathed a sigh of relief. Zhang Xin looked at the maritime supplies store not far away and saw an elderly man with gray hair sitting behind the counter. She said, "Let's go there and ask again."
This shop was quite far from the other shops, and there were few tourists inside, only four or five people. An elderly man with gray hair sat behind the counter, half-closing his eyes, not looking at the customers, as if he was lost in thought.
The tourists in the shop were talking, but when they noticed someone coming, their voices suddenly dropped. After seeing that it was a group of high school students, their voices returned to normal.
Before Xiao Pang could approach the old man Atsha to ask about his situation, Chen Jing subtly moved his hand and stopped him.
"...Atsha must contain a lot of good stuff. After all, it's a country. If we find anything, it will be enough to make us rich for a lifetime."
"But those coordinates are fucking hard to find, that little girl..."
"Alright."
The small-eyed man, who was still talking, was stopped by the scarred man next to him.
This person's face is terrifying no matter when you look at it. The small-eyed man was interrupted halfway through his sentence, and he was a little annoyed, but after glancing around, he silently stopped talking.
Not far from them, the blonde woman glanced at them, her gaze lingering on the small-eyed man, before saying, "We'll all die from your mouth sooner or later."
After they got what they wanted to buy, they turned and walked toward the counter. The three people who were originally at the counter looked away before they could see them and began to look around the store.
Scarface and his group consisted of four people, including a burly man who hadn't said a word the entire time. After paying, they left, and started arguing afterward, but the content of the argument couldn't be heard from inside the store.
The old man, who had been sitting behind the counter with his eyes half-closed, finally opened them, accepted the money handed to him by several people, and said, "Those who have disturbed Atsha will pay the price."
"..."
The three people looked at the old man.
The old man had lived here for so long that he had witnessed firsthand Atsha's rise and fall.
After Atsha disappeared, many people with similar interests came to him, but most of them left empty-handed and disappointed. The rest simply vanished into the sea.
As time went by, more and more people disappeared, and the rumors became more and more varied. From the initial belief that anyone who disturbed the slumbering Atsha would die, it evolved into the current belief that mentioning Atsha would bring a curse.
The three high school students exchanged glances.
No wonder those people would change their expressions when they mentioned Atsha; there was one reason for that.
They wanted to ask the old man some more questions, but he had already closed his eyes completely and clearly did not want to continue.
The three people said goodbye and left. Their expressions changed instantly after they left the store. Chen Jing said, "I'm going to find those people. You guys go and look around somewhere else."
——
Jiang Yujin, who had been lying in the hotel all afternoon, finally woke up. He stood on the balcony for a while and felt the breeze outside. He noticed that the high school students still hadn't returned, so he decided to go out for a stroll.
He wore his usual wrinkled shirt over his clothes, along with beach shorts and flip-flops, and strolled onto the beach, blending perfectly into the crowd.
With many people around, including children wandering around, he eventually changed direction and walked towards the less crowded cliff edge.
The cliffs are steep and high; no one comes here. The wind is strongest here, making a sound as it blows through the cracks in the rocks.
Squatting on the rocky outcrop, with the fierce wind whipping his hair back, Jiang Yujin looked down and saw four people carrying a boat into the water on the beach, which was blocked by rocks and no one else was there.
Unlike the gentle beach on the other side, this place is full of rocks and overgrown with weeds. It's not a popular spot for tourists, but it's perfect for doing something else.
The wind blew through his hair. Jiang Yujin, standing at the highest point of this place, looked down and saw Hao Da'er hiding in the lower part of the rock pile behind the four people.
He heard light footsteps behind him, turned around, and said, "After following me for so long, you've finally decided to come out."
A person followed behind him, and he didn't seem surprised at all.
Standing behind, Lu Dongcheng unbuttoned a shirt button and asked, "When did you find out?"
"When you followed me on the beach."
Jiang Yujin truthfully expressed his thoughts: "You're a fucking pervert." He took both secret photos and stalking without hesitation.
I had heard from Yuan Sanshui that Shi Bu was on a business trip here, but I didn't expect that he was on a business trip with this person.
Lu Dongcheng accepted this as a compliment.
Jiang Yujin asked, "What brings you here this time?"
This was the first time he had taken the initiative to ask about his own affairs. Lu Dongcheng's lips curled up slightly as he said, "Let's talk business."
"Crouch down, so the people below don't see you."
Jiang Yujin finally glanced at the person next to him and said, "To Atsha?"
Lu Dongcheng squatted down, first glancing at the four people still busy below, then nodded: "What I want is there."
"It's so dangerous over there." Jiang Yujin reached out and patted the other person's arm, ignoring the muscles visible under the shirt, and said, "Look how thin you are, surrounded by people who usually sit in offices. It's so dangerous for you to be out in the world."
Lu Dongcheng listened to him with a smile.
Jiang Yujin finally came to a conclusion: "That's right, I think you need a bodyguard."
He rolled up his shirt sleeves, trying to demonstrate his bodyguard capabilities, implying that he had a very reliable bodyguard by his side.
To be honest, his arms and legs were just so-so, not as thick as Lu Dongcheng's, and a bit pale. They were the arms of a lazybones who liked to stay at the Lai family's house.
But Jiang, a skilled negotiator, still managed to land the job as a bodyguard, negotiating a modest hourly rate of ten thousand. Having achieved his goal, he found those around him much more agreeable and asked, "When are we leaving?"
Lu Dongcheng said, "Tomorrow morning...3 PM, at the port."
As Jiang Yujin listened to him speak, he watched as the four men below secured the boat and opened the hold that was usually used to hold fish.
There was someone in the cabin, a girl wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. Her skin was somewhat dark from years of sun exposure. Her eyes were closed, and her scarred face was bent over, as if she was confirming whether the girl was still alive. After confirming, she closed and locked the cabin door, and the group left.
Upon seeing the people who had been standing in the pile of stones walk toward the boat, Jiang Yujin stood up, clapped his hands, and left.
Lu Dongcheng, who was left behind, continued to enjoy the breeze for a while before standing up.
He ran into Shi Bu on his way back and said, "We'll set off at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon."
Shi Bu was very honest and said what he was thinking directly: "Didn't we say it was nine o'clock in the morning?"
Lu Dongcheng loosened his tie and said, "One of my bodyguards couldn't get up this morning."
——
The next day, before dawn, or rather, before it had been dark for long, there was a commotion in the hotel corridor, and three high school students quietly left the hotel.
The security guard standing at the entrance seemed surprised to see the three people, probably not expecting anyone to be up so early. At this hour, even going to the beach early to watch the sunrise was considered too early.
The security guard kindly reminded them that there was still a long time before sunrise. The three students thanked him and left the hotel.
Yesterday, Chen Jing went with the four people who left the equipment store. Xiao Pang and Zhang Xinjiu went to get a boat and some diving equipment that might be useful. There were some twists and turns along the way, but the result was good.
This time, the progress was inexplicably fast. They obtained Atsha's coordinates on their first day there, and they can take a boat to that place today.
The rapid progress was largely thanks to the four people from the supplies store. After they left, the girl Chen Jing rescued from the boat was the one who had gone missing earlier. According to the girl, the four men had been trying to trick her into revealing the coordinates of Atsha. They then tricked her into going to that deserted coast, forced her to give them the coordinates, and, not wanting to let her go, decided to keep her alive for now and locked her in the cabin.
After being rescued, the girl confirmed that Chen Jing was just a high school student who was interested in and investigating a country that had already disappeared, and then revealed his coordinates.
Even though she knew the person was asking for coordinates to investigate, she still repeatedly warned him that there were monsters in the waters near Atsha and that he should never go near them.
The girl is now under police protection, and the boat that was on the shore yesterday is gone. The four men may have realized that the girl is no longer there, or they may not care at all. In any case, they should have already gone to Atsha.
Little Fatty was driving the boat; he could move it, but he wasn't exactly a good driver.
In short, Zhang Xin sat in the back and dared not move.
According to the coordinates given by the girl and referring to the map, Atsa is close to the center of Southeast Asia, surrounded by an endless ocean.
It was a miracle that this island even existed in the first place, so it's no wonder that no one was able to find it immediately after it disappeared.
The weather was nice today, and the sea was slightly turbulent, but within normal limits. However, given Xiao Pang's boating skills, it wasn't exactly comfortable. There were three people on the boat, and only Xiao Pang himself, who was steering, was talking from time to time.
He was a terrible sailor, but fast. After witnessing a magnificent sunrise at sea, another ship came into view.
The distance was too far, so Zhang Xin squinted for a long time before finally making out four people sitting on the boat, one of whom was a big guy whose figure was the most conspicuous.
There were no shelters on the sea; anything that appeared would be seen. The small-eyed man on the ship, far away, also noticed what was happening behind him. He sensed something was vaguely there and was about to say something when the blonde woman sitting beside him looked down at the sea and said with a hint of doubt, "Is it darker down there than before?"
When she looked at it before, the seawater was blue, and she could vaguely see fish in it. Now it has turned dark blue, and she can't see anything else.
"It's just your imagination," the small-eyed man said. "Never mind that for now, something seems to be going on later…"
Before he could finish speaking, the sea began to churn uneasily, and the ship rose and fell with the undulating waves.
There is an anomaly.
"hold head high--"
The sea surface rose higher and higher in the distance, and when something broke through the surface, a loud sound echoed across the water and gradually spread toward the horizon. The entire field of vision of the people on the ship was replaced by a black expanse marked with watermarks.
The blonde woman's eyes widened, her entire pupils filled with the enormous figure.
What she felt before wasn't her imagination.
The underwater darkness earlier wasn't accidental; the thing was right beneath them at the time, and because of its enormous size, she even mistakenly thought there was something wrong with the seawater.
An eye several times larger than their ship stared straight at them, making a clear connection.
Scarface cursed, "Damn it, why didn't anyone mention that there's such a monster around here!"
The giant monster leaping out of the water stirred up waves that gradually rose, and the ship tilted as it was thrown higher. The burly man pulled out a gun and aimed it at the enormous pupil.
The bullet entered the eye, but it was like a drop of water silently merging into the ocean, having no effect whatsoever and without even the slightest change.
On the surging waves, the small-eyed man looked in the direction where he had noticed something earlier and finally spotted a boat with three people on it.
Or rather, three little devils who looked frail and weak.
The small-eyed man quickly turned to look at the scarred man who was controlling the boat and said, "Go over there and lure this monster to the brat."
After the giant monster appeared, Little Fatty also saw the ship speeding towards them.
Zhang Xin frowned: "I've never seen this kind of mutant before."
She had neither seen nor heard of it. Logically speaking, a species of this level should be mentioned by no one in the game.
Chen Jing picked up a plank from the ship, looked up at the huge figure not far away, and said, "Zero's headquarters should be here."
If it's a new species, the only thing that comes to mind is that it was created from scratch and placed here perhaps just to serve as a guard post.
Little Fatty gripped the handle and asked, "How so?"
The wooden plank in his hand gradually turned metallic. Chen Jing said, "I'll take care of it. You guys watch the boat."
The alien creature was enormous, so large that its entire form was obscured. The four people on the ship only knew that the oppressive feeling behind them was getting stronger and stronger. In the end, they dared not look back at all and continued to speed towards the direction of another ship.
As they drew closer, something brushed past them, leaping straight toward the monster behind them.
It was a person wearing a wetsuit with an overcoat over it. The brim of the overcoat's hood was already wet from the seawater. He was moving very fast, passing by them almost in an instant.
There was no time to turn around and look behind them; they continued to speed toward another ship not far away.
After Chen Jing left the ship, to avoid the ship being capsized by the monster, Little Fatty also started to sail away from this area.
"We can't let them leave."
Scarface called out "Big Guy," and Big Guy understood. He picked up his gun again, but this time aimed it at the ship not far away.
Little Fatty noticed the commotion and looked back while steering the boat. Zhang Xin patted him and said, "Just keep steering the boat."
A gunshot rang out from behind, and the bullet flew rapidly toward the ship. Zhang Xin turned around, and flames erupted instantly. The bullet, which had been flying at high speed, had not gone far before it exploded in mid-air.
The smell of gunpowder hadn't dissipated yet when the burly man's hand holding the gun trembled, and the small-eyed man's already small eyes opened.
——
At noon, Jiang Yujin slept until he naturally woke up, and when he did, he received a set of clothes.
The employer was surprisingly kind; he was only doing temporary work, and the employer even provided him with a bodyguard's outfit. After some deliberation, he put on a shirt and black trousers, and the temporary bodyguard, Jiang, with his messy hair, went to wash up.
The high school students had undoubtedly gone off to play on their own. He finished washing up and eating breakfast and still had plenty of time, so he leisurely walked to the harbor.
There were already people waiting for him at the port, most of them dressed in suits and looking rather serious.
A moron popped out from a group of serious people. Shi Bu, dressed like an elite, was full of surprise and was about to shout "Brother!" when he stopped himself under Jiang Yujin's gaze.
That look was kind of scary. Shi Bu felt wronged, but he didn't say anything and completely ignored what the other people around him thought. He quickly stepped forward and asked, "What are you doing here, brother?" "Have you eaten, brother?" "Did you come to see me, brother?"
Hearing "brother, brother" all over his ears, Jiang Yujin's eyes twitched.
Before he could no longer resist using physical noise reduction, a hand was placed on his shoulder, and someone behind him greeted him.
Without even looking, Jiang Yu knew who was behind him. He instinctively twisted the other person's arm, but before he could dislocate it, he remembered his job and put his hand down. He casually patted the other person's sleeve, pretending to dust himself off.