Proofreader: Sandra

Chapter 152

The ship continued to sail forward. Approaching the typhoon zone, the sea outside was no longer calm, and the ship’s movements became more pronounced.

An imminent storm was brewing.

Song Wen looked up and asked Lu Siyu, “So now, have you confirmed the address of Zhang Hongqiao on Nansha Island?”

Lu Siyu nodded, lifting his gaze with a serious expression. Since Song Wen had tracked him down to this point, there was no need to hide anything anymore. With this in mind, he typed out a line on his phone for Song Wen to see: “Nansha Island, Qingzhou Road No. 27.”

After Xu Changying informed him that Wu Hongyou might be on Nansha Island, Lu Siyu followed the leads Xu Changying had uncovered and, based on the name information, found the exact location.

The experience from his childhood was deeply imprinted in his memory. From that day on, he had always hoped to uncover the truth of the case. He inherited his parents’ estate, studied the relevant subjects, followed Teacher Wu’s advice, and returned to Nancheng to find clues about the 519 case.

Now, he finally had a feeling that the truth, which once seemed unattainable, was within reach.

Song Wen continued to ask, “If you see her, what will you do?”

“I believe that Wu Hongyou, as an accomplice in the 519 case, should be brought to justice after evading it for so long,” Lu Siyu said, his lips trembling, his teeth clenched, and his gaze resolute as he looked at Song Wen. “I want to find out who the mastermind is and catch him.”

Wu Hongyou was not his target for revenge. She was just a minor accomplice, and considering her age, she should be middle-aged by now. What he was concerned about was the mysterious mastermind.

“And then?” Song Wen asked him.

“I…” Lu Siyu’s chest heaved, his heart pounding. He knew what Song Wen was worried about.

The mastermind had been involved in numerous major cases, directly or indirectly causing countless deaths. Such a person deserved the most severe punishment. However, whether to capture or kill him, Lu Siyu was uncertain.

Lu Siyu knew that Song Wen was worried he might act impulsively. In his initial plan, Lu Siyu indeed hoped to personally kill his enemy. He could not wait for justice and was willing to die for this goal, even willing to perish together with the culprit.

But in that initial plan, Song Wen was not included.

Moreover, he was now a police officer.

Catching the mastermind was no longer just his personal matter. It was connected to the veterans of the 519 task force, those who sacrificed their lives, and all who contributed to the case.

If he resorted to vigilante justice, would it not disrespect their efforts?

However, could they bring that person to justice on their own?

Song Wen saw that Lu Siyu’s eyes were turning red, feeling a pang of sorrow in his heart.

He gently held Lu Siyu’s cold hand, “No matter what happens, I’ll be with you. Let’s first figure out what happened back then.”

Looking at Lu Siyu, Song Wen said, “Whether this path leads to life or death, I’ll walk it with you.”

Lu Siyu nodded slightly. In the past few days, when he was struggling alone, he felt uneasy. Now that he had shared everything with Song Wen, he felt much more at ease and the burden on his shoulders was lighter.

As they spoke, the ship suddenly rocked, and there were some commotions outside.

Lu Siyu frowned. The soundproofing on this ship wasn’t great, so they had been speaking in low voices in this relatively closed-off tea room to avoid being overheard.

Now that there was a sudden argument outside, it seemed they couldn’t continue their conversation. Fortunately, they had already covered most of the important points.

“Let’s go. It’s almost lunchtime. We’ll go out first and talk about the rest tonight,” Song Wen said, standing up and opening the door of the tea room. The wind and waves had noticeably increased, making it safer to head to the central hall.

Outside, a short-haired female student was arguing with a waiter, “There should be a restroom upstairs too. Why can’t guests use it?”

The waiter replied, “I’m sorry, but since there aren’t many tourists today, the second floor is temporarily closed, and the restroom is locked…”

“There are only a few people on the whole ship, why can’t it be opened?” The female student seemed quite anxious.

“This… is really inconvenient. How about I take you to the employee restroom downstairs?” the waiter suggested. Just then, the restroom door on the opposite side of the cabin opened, and the girl from the couple who had boarded earlier walked out, shaking her wet hands casually. Clearly, she had occupied the restroom for quite a while.

Seeing the problem resolved, the waiter sighed in relief, “The door is open now. You can go…”

The female student hurried over.

Lu Siyu and Song Wen exchanged a glance and headed towards the central hall where the crew had directed the passengers to gather.

The environment in the ship’s central hall was quite nice. On the side near the sea, there were small windows made of tempered glass that couldn’t be opened, making it seem much safer than other rooms. The floor was covered with a soft red carpet, and a circle of cream-colored low sofas surrounded the area. Four pairs of two-seater sofas were placed around a round white coffee table in the middle. The ceiling cast a warm orange-yellow light, and there was a faint scent of air freshener in the air.

If not for the slight rocking, it would resemble a tastefully decorated coffee shop in the city.

The twin-tailed female student and the middle-aged man who looked like a teacher had already taken their seats here. The couple also sat nearby, each holding a phone. Soon, the other female student emerged from the restroom.

The two female students took one of the two-seater sofas, the couple took another, and the teacher sat beside them, reading a guidebook.

Lu Siyu and Song Wen sat on the remaining two-seater sofa, directly facing the two female students.

All seven passengers were now gathered in the central hall. As the ship sailed forward, the wind and waves outside grew stronger. They couldn’t feel much of the strong wind inside the cabin but could sense the ship rocking more intensely and hear some whistling wind through the glass.

Earlier, Jiang Jiang and Qiu Lan had been searching for the two handsome men as soon as they boarded the ship. After wandering around without finding them, they learned from the crew that the two had gone to the tea room. The two men had stayed in the tea room for quite a while, and no one knew what they were doing.

Now, they had finally come out and sat right across from them, naturally taking seats on the two-seater sofa.

Jiang Jiang, curious, looked at Lu Siyu and then at Song Wen. Although the two men had different styles, they seemed to be about the same age. She mustered the courage to ask, “Do you two know each other?”

Lu Siyu shook his head expressionlessly, “No.”

Song Wen nodded with a smile, “Yes ah.”

Lu Siyu shot a reproachful glance at Song Wen. For this trip, he had deliberately bought a high-end camera and disguised himself as a photographer to avoid suspicion and reveal his identity. He hadn’t expected Song Wen to blow his cover with just two words.

Song Wen immediately caught on, rubbed his nose, and corrected himself, “We just met on the boat. We had a chat and hit it off.”

While saying this, Song Wen pinched Lu Siyu’s waist where no one could see, a clear gesture of apology. Having just gone through a lot to find his partner, he was understandably excited.

Jiang Jiang made an “oh” sound, looking at the two of them with some confusion, even more puzzled about their relationship.

Qiu Lan straightened up, “Well, since we’re all headed to Nansha Island, sharing this boat ride and now facing typhoon weather, it’s fate. When the typhoon hits, we’ll all have to stay on the island, so we might as well get to know each other and look out for one another.”

Qiu Lan, who often hosted events and worked in the student council, spoke crisply and clearly. She continued, “Let me introduce myself first. I’m Qiu Lan, a student at Hayang University. I’m here with my classmates and teacher for academic research. This is my classmate,” she said, pointing to Jiang Jiang beside her.

The short-haired girl Jiang Jiang nodded, “My name is Jiang Jiang. The first ‘Jiang’ is for water engineering, the second ‘Jiang’ is for beautiful ginger.”

The scholarly middle-aged man also spoke up, “I’m their teacher leading the group. My surname is Su, and everyone calls me Teacher Su.”

“We’re here to study seabirds. Nansha Island is a stopover for many migratory birds flying south. They rest here briefly before heading to more southern islands for the winter. So in October, there are hundreds of bird species on the island,” Qiu Lan introduced enthusiastically.

She couldn’t understand why Nansha Island’s peak tourist season was in the summer. To her, the bird migration in October was the island’s most unique feature.

During this period, there might be thousands of birds on the island, many of which are nationally protected or rare species. The sight of so many birds gathering on the beaches and in the forests before flying south together is a spectacular bird migration.

After introducing her classmates and teacher, Qiu Lan looked at Song Wen with her big, round, watery eyes, making it hard to refuse, “What about you, handsome? What’s your name? What do you do?”

Among the two, although Lu Siyu was more delicate-looking, Qiu Lan preferred Song Wen’s type.

Song Wen was wearing a hooded cardigan, through which the outlines of his muscles were visible. It wasn’t hard to imagine that he had a well-defined body with a six-pack, exuding a sense of security. The image of him leaping onto the ship earlier had been incredibly cool.

In Qiu Lan’s mind, she had already equated Song Wen with her ideal man.

Cooperating with Lu Siyu to conceal their identities, Song Wen said, “My name is Song Yu. I’m an artist. I’m here to do some island sketching.”

This name was a mix of his and Lu Siyu’s surnames and names, and he said it without hesitation.

“Then you must be really good at drawing. Can you show us your work later?” Qiu Lan asked.

Song Wen thought to himself that he should go all the way with the act. To prove his artist identity, he got up to retrieve his backpack and started looking for his sketchbook.

Jiang Jiang followed up by asking Lu Siyu, “What about you, handsome?”

Lu Siyu adjusted his glasses and said, “My name is Lu Siwen. I’m a freelance photographer, here to take pictures of the island.”

Qiu Lan’s eyes lit up with excitement, “No wonder! I thought your equipment looked very professional. Let’s exchange photography tips later, and please share some of your photos.”

Lu Siyu nodded, thinking to himself that he had just received the camera yesterday and was still figuring out the aperture, shutter speed, focus, and photography modes.

After expressing her amazement, Qiu Lan turned to the couple and asked, “What about you two?”

The man in the couple, who had an earring and was wearing ripped jeans, spoke up, “My name is Chen Zui, and I’m a bartender.”

The woman in the couple, with dark red dyed hair and slightly smoky eye makeup, said, “My name is Amy, and I’m a sound engineer.”

It seemed these two worked in a bar.

Jiang Jiang glanced at them, noting their trendy clothes. They were clearly not like the goody-two-shoes among them, but since they were traveling together, she greeted them, “Are you here for a vacation?”

Chen Zui smiled and said, “No, we’ve been to this island many times.”

Qiu Lan’s eyes lit up. “So if we don’t understand something later, can we ask you guys?”

“Many times?” Jiang Jiang was a bit wary, blinking as she asked from the side, “If you’re not here for a vacation, what have you been doing on the island?”

Chen Zui smiled. “We’re here to eat cake.”

With that, Qiu Lan suddenly understood. “Oh, I get it! You’re here for that famous cake shop. I read some travel guides saying there’s a cake shop on this island that’s really good! They have a lot of returning customers. I heard it’s right next to the inn. We were planning to try it too.”

As they chatted, Song Wen brought over his sketchbook and handed it to Qiu Lan. She took it and started flipping through it with Jiang Jiang.

The sketchbook was filled with various sketches, mostly portraits and facial studies that Song Wen had drawn in his spare time. The sketchbook was already more than halfway filled.

Qiu Lan and Jiang Jiang quickly noticed something peculiar. “Ah, this person looks scary.”

“Uh, a bit creepy…”

“But the drawing is really good… very lifelike.”

Song Wen thought to himself that those were sketches of murderers, so they couldn’t look pleasant.

Qiu Lan flipped to the later pages, which featured a different man who was much more attractive. He had a defined jawline, a high nose bridge, and long eyelashes, making him very handsome.

Unlike the other portraits, which had only one or two sketches each, this man appeared repeatedly throughout the sketchbook, initially every few pages, and then more frequently.

There were sketches of him sitting, standing, in profile, full-face, and even one of him sleeping.

“This one is so handsome…”

“Yeah, he looks familiar…” Jiang Jiang mumbled softly, looking up at Lu Siyu. Were these two really just acquaintances? Somehow, she had a sixth sense that the artist had been sketching the photographer, just without the glasses.

Lu Siyu could also see the contents of the sketchbook from his angle, and the tips of his ears began to turn slightly red again. He silently turned his head to the side.

Song Wen glanced at him, feeling a bit awkward. It seemed that without realizing it, he had drawn many sketches influenced by his thoughts and dreams.

Teacher Su said, “Just make sure you look carefully and don’t get his sketchbook dirty.”

Jiang Jiang then returned the sketchbook to Song Wen. Song Wen finally breathed a sigh of relief and put the sketchbook away.

With the introductions over, everyone was feeling a bit bored and took out their phones to play with, but the signal out on the open sea was quite poor.

Qiu Lan got up to pour some water, and when she returned, she accidentally knocked over her bag, spilling some paper cards onto the floor.

Jiang Jiang and she hurried to pick them up, and the red-haired girl, Aimi, also squatted down to help. She looked at the cards and said, “These are… Tarot cards. Do you play with these too?”

Qiu Lan felt a bit embarrassed. “I… just started learning recently, mostly with some classmates.”

Chen Zui became interested. “Are these for fortune-telling?”

Jiang Jiang corrected him, “Tarot is not just about fortune-telling. It can reveal unknown situations and guide you in the right direction.”

Chen Zui smiled, seeming not to understand Jiang Jiang’s explanation, and continued to speak to Qiu Lan. “Since we’re all idle now, why don’t you do a reading for me?”

Aimi added, “There are so many of us here, and we’re all bored. Why not give it a try?”

The sky outside started to grow darker, and the bored passengers gathered together.

Qiu Lan shuffled the cards, saying, “Alright then… but I’m really just a beginner. For a proper reading, Tarot requires everyone’s birthdates and…”

There are many ways to use Tarot cards, some of which are very complex.

Chen Zui, impatient, said, “Why make it so complicated? I’ve seen people just draw a card to interpret their fate.”

After saying that, he directly drew a card from Qiu Lan’s shuffled deck, and Aimi followed suit, drawing one as well.

Seeing the others treat the Tarot cards like fortune-telling slips, Qiu Lan felt a bit helpless but still spread the cards out and asked the others, “Do you want to try?”

Jiang Jiang and Teacher Su each drew a card. Song Wen also drew one, and finally, the deck was passed to Lu Siyu. He extended his slender fingers and drew a card from the middle.

Qiu Lan, with a bit of personal interest, started by interpreting the card drawn by Song Wen. “This card is the Emperor, a symbol of authority and masculinity, representing courage and action.” She then looked up at Song Wen, thinking that, as expected, the card he drew was quite favorable.

Song Wen said, “Thank you, Tarot reader.”

Qiu Lan then turned to the card drawn by Lu Siyu, which was the Hermit. “The Hermit symbolizes wisdom and has keen insight. The card depicts a solitary figure seeking truth in the darkness. Its meaning involves finding your inner self, confronting your destiny, and bidding farewell to your past…”

Lu Siyu adjusted his glasses upon hearing this. Whether the Tarot was truly accurate or just a reflection of his thoughts, the card seemed to align well with his current purpose.

Teacher Su had drawn Judgment. Qiu Lan tried to explain, “Judgment is the 21st card in the Tarot deck and symbolizes resurrection. Its meaning is about discovering the truth and embracing a new life…”

Teacher Su nodded thoughtfully.

Next, Qiu Lan looked at Jiang Jiang’s card, which was the High Priestess. “The High Priestess can discern right from wrong and represents feminine intuition, a calm mind, and mysterious wisdom.”

By this point, the final couple had eagerly turned over their cards. Aimi drew the Devil.

Chen Zui drew a Tower.

Seeing these two Tarot cards, even someone who wasn’t very familiar with Tarot could tell that Chen Zui’s face changed. He threw the card aside and said, “Why did I get the worst card? Tarot cards are indeed unreliable.”