Chapter 88: Mass Disappearance

As soon as the boat slowed down, Lu Ayao was the first to dash up to the deck. I noticed the visibility outside was dropping fast, so I turned to nudge He Yu, who was slumped beside me. After a few tries, all I got out of him were drunken mutterings. Left with no choice, I threw on my windbreaker and went out alone to check the situation.

The moment I stepped onto the freighter’s deck, I realized the mountain ridges that should have been faintly visible in the dark had completely vanished. We hadn’t seen any sign of fog along the way earlier; it had materialized almost out of thin air. I looked toward the nearest canyon rocks, but something about them felt off, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Han Jian was talking to the boat captain nearby, so I leaned in and asked him, “Where are we? Why aren’t we moving forward?”

“Something’s wrong! Something’s not right! We hit something, we can’t go any further!” The boat captain’s face was flushed red with anxiety. Holding a flashlight, he shakily spread a map out flat for us to see. “I followed the route you gave me exactly. I can only take you this far. I can’t keep going!”

“Why not? You charged three times what anyone else would, and now you want to bail before we even get there?” Han Jian’s expression darkened.

The captain waved his hands frantically. “No, no! We’re honest people, but you can’t trick us like this! We can’t keep sailing forward. The bottom of the boat just hit something. I’ve been captaining boats on this river for over ten years, and I’ve never hit anything before! Look at these rocky mountains; I’ve never seen mountains like these in the river! If we go any deeper, I won’t recognize the way! The fog inside is so heavy, we’ll get lost for sure!”

I glanced at Han Jian, about to suggest we head back for now. At worst, we would lose one night and could head back in first thing tomorrow morning.

I hadn’t expected him to pull out a gun. He moved so fast I didn’t even see where he drew it from. By the time I reacted, the gun was already pressed against the boat captain’s head. Looking around, I saw that the other boatmen had also been completely restrained by Han Jian’s men.

I thought to myself, what the hell kind of turn is this taking? Are they gangsters?

“Boss Han, Boss Han, you’re all big figures, while we’re just small-time traders. I really can’t take you to that place. If we get lost in there…” The boat captain begged piteously, clearly terrified out of his wits, almost dropping to his knees.

I pulled on Han Jian from the side. “They’re just trying to earn a living too. Don’t be in such a rush, put the gun down first. The fog is heavy tonight, so it really isn’t easy to find the way. It’ll be the same if we come back in first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Little Master is right, we…”

“No!” Han Jian shook off my hand. “We must reach our destination tonight. He will take us in.”

Then Han Jian shoved me back half a step. He stared at the boat captain, yet spoke to me: “You’re young, and there are many things you don’t understand yet. The captain definitely remembers the right way to go, right?”

His words sounded strange, as if spoken to me, yet also meant for the captain in front of us. But after hearing them, the captain fell completely silent.

I tried to step forward for a better look, but Lu Ayao darted over and blocked me. Glancing at the deadlock on deck, he slapped two full sets of diving gear into my arms and whispered, “Don’t mess around in this. There are a lot of things I can’t explain to you right now. Go wake He Yu. It’s time for us to get off the boat.”

There was an undeniable firmness in his voice, and I knew this was definitely not the right time to ask questions. So for once, I actually obeyed, turning and heading down into the cabin with the heavy equipment. Once inside, I jogged over to He Yu, pushing him awake while stripping down to put on that hard-to-don wetsuit.

The makeshift bed piled out of cargo was narrow to begin with, and with such a sudden push from me, He Yu tumbled straight onto the floor before he even opened his eyes. Still dazed, he babbled, “Who?! Who’s attacking? Who dares ambush the emperor?!”

I was halfway into the suit, already annoyed by how tight it was. I didn’t bother wasting breath on him and tossed the other wetsuit straight at him. “No time to explain! Put it on, quick!”

He Yu had probably been to creepy places enough times that as soon as my speech quickened, he got tense too. He quickly rolled to his feet and started taking off his clothes.

Back when I followed Hou Jinshan into the ruins, although we didn’t have gear as complete as this, Xiao Wu had taught me plenty of diving theory during the prep phase. So I was fairly handy at navigating all these long and short hoses and iron tanks. He Yu dressed haphazardly, but at least he got everything put together.

Outside the cabin, it was terribly quiet. I thought to myself that twenty minutes had passed, so they couldn’t still be at a standstill. With that thought, I walked out of the cabin. Yet the deck, which had been packed with people just moments ago, was now completely empty.

I rushed over to check. It wasn’t that I was blind; there really wasn’t anyone there. Cold sweat instantly broke out all over me.

He Yu was still inside calling out for me to help secure his oxygen tank, but I had no time to pay attention to him. I rounded back to search the rear cargo hold and checked the entire ship back and forth. Apart from He Yu and me, there was not a soul on board.

I returned to the deck, squinting at the black rocky mountains all around us. The ship was still sitting in the exact same spot, but where were the people?! Where had everyone on the ship gone?

“What are you doing standing here by yourself? Weren’t we supposed to get off the boat? Whoa! Why is it so quiet? Did your Uncle Han ditch us and run?” He Yu came bounding up beside me, still unaware of what was going on.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. It wasn’t just a few people on board earlier; there were over thirty of them. In just twenty minutes, all thirty-something people had vanished together, including Lu Ayao who had told me to wake He Yu. They hadn’t even had time to turn off the lights in the rear cargo hold.

“What’s wrong, Xiao Yao? Why is your face so pale?”

Thinking too much was making me confused. I couldn’t take in a single word He Yu said, stubbornly heading back toward the rear cargo hold to search one more time.

He Yu didn’t understand what was going on and tried to pull me back, but I shook him off. Still, he kept blocking my way. When I finally stopped in my tracks, I completely broke down. “Everyone on the ship is gone! Twenty minutes ago they were still here, and when I came back out, they’d all vanished! All their stuff is still here. How could they just disappear into thin air? How is that even possible?!”

After I finished shouting, the world seemed to fall silent. The light above the cargo hold kept swaying from side to side, and my mind started to clear a little.

“Don’t panic! Are you calm yet?” He Yu yanked me toward him, his gaze unusually steady. “If you’re still not thinking straight and keep yelling out here, I don’t mind dunking your head in the water to clear it. So what if they disappeared? It’s not like you’re the only one left here this time. You’ve still got me with you, haven’t you? What’s there to panic about? For all we know, they found some great treasure and decided to go dig it up without telling us.”

His relaxed tone rubbed off on me, and the taut string in my mind finally loosened. If there’s one thing that makes He Yu so formidable, it’s right here: even if he were facing swarms of centipedes the size of train engines, he’d still be able to calmly ask what you want for lunch tomorrow.

“Did you check their gear? That stuff is important. If they were leaving the ship, they’d definitely take it with them,” He Yu said, looking around before asking me.