The Ghost Ship

"How are you here?" Chu Xiaoxiao finally came to her senses and asked in disbelief.

"Instead of worrying about that, I think we should get out of here first. What do you think?" Nie Yun said with a wink and a smile.

By the "shipwreck," Lao Da approached cautiously, sweeping his flashlight around. Seeing nothing amiss, he called out, "Lao San! Are you there?"

Dead silence.

"Lao San, shout if you're there!" He called again, but there was still no response.

Lao Da cursed under his breath. The only satellite phone was with Lao San, and there was no cell service here. They had no choice but to go in and investigate!

He held his gun in his right hand, crouched slightly, and cautiously entered the shipwreck.

Just then, a gunshot rang out in the distance and made him jump.

His heart lurched. He took a couple of steps toward the edge of the boat and looked toward the tent. Lao Er was nowhere to be seen, and panic seized him. He had no idea what had happened.

He looked back at the pitch-black cabin, then toward the tent, and made up his mind.

"Damn it!" Lao Da cursed as he hurried toward the tent.

But before he had gone halfway, a sight that made his blood boil met his eyes.

Vroom, vroom! Someone had started their speedboat!

Then, under Lao Da's furious gaze, the boat quickly reversed into the sea, spun around, and sped away.

"Lao Er! You backstabbing bastard!" Lao Da was about to explode with rage!

As far as he could tell, Lao Er had seized the chance to take Chu Xiaoxiao away and claim the ten million yuan for himself. You could guard against enemies all day, but never against a traitor in your own ranks!

By the time he reached the tent, the speedboat was already over a hundred meters away, out of pistol range.

"Bastard! Lao Er, if I ever get my hands on you, I'll tear you limb from limb!" Lao Da roared furiously.

As he cursed, the sea breeze carried the scent of blood to his nose. He froze and glanced to the side. At the edge of the floodlight's beam, he saw the shadow of an outdoor boot.

The boot looked familiar. He shone his flashlight over, and a body lying in a pool of blood came into view. It was none other than Lao Er!

"What... happened here?" Lao Da was completely dumbfounded. He whipped around to look toward the speedboat. The person at the helm wasn't Lao Er!

Could it be...

A chill ran through Lao Da. In his mind, he saw Lao San's honest, simple face.

He'd made a noise to lure me over, then snuck back to kill Lao Er before taking Chu Xiaoxiao and escaping by boat! Could that loyal, painfully dull Lao San really have come up with such a meticulous plan?

"Lao San, I never thought you'd be the one hiding the most from us!"

For a moment, Lao Da was overcome with sorrow. Betrayed by the person he trusted most, he felt utterly disillusioned. Could years of brotherhood really be worth less than a mere ten million yuan?

He slumped to the ground and stared blankly at the dark sea, unable to bring himself to move.

A long while later, footsteps suddenly sounded in the darkness nearby.

Lao Da stiffly turned his head. Lao San emerged from the darkness, his broad face beaming with delight. He was holding up his pants with one hand and clutching his head with the other. He looked rather ridiculous, but Lao Da couldn't bring himself to laugh. His mind was in a complete fog.

What... was going on?

When Lao San saw Lao Da, he reacted as if he'd found a family member and exclaimed, "Lao Da! I finally found you! Listen, I think I just had a really scary dream! There was a ghost ship, and the ship's anchor, it..."

Before Lao San could finish, Lao Da grabbed him in a tight embrace and choked out, "Lao San! Thank goodness! So it wasn't you! It really wasn't you!"

Lao San was completely baffled. Then he suddenly realized what was going on, and goosebumps erupted all over his body. He shoved Lao Da away and clutched his waistband with both hands, trembling as he said, "Lao Da, I... I'm not that kind of guy..."

Lao Da was speechless...

Not long afterward, the two brothers told each other what had happened and realized something was wrong.

"Come on, let's check out that ship!" Lao Da said, angrily picking up his pistol.

They went to where the "shipwreck" had been, only to be left staring in disbelief again. There was no "shipwreck" in sight. The place was completely empty.

"L-Lao Da, do you... do you think we ran into a g-ghost ship..." Lao San stammered.

"Don't be ridiculous! Could a ghost have shot Lao Er dead?"

"But the ghost knocked me out! I still have a bump on my head. Oh, and when I woke up, the button on my waistband had popped off. Lao Da, do you think I... I was attacked by a ghost..."

Thwack! Lao Da smacked Lao San on the head. "What ghost would be blind enough to go for a big dope like you?"

Truth be told, Lao Da was feeling a little spooked too. He immediately turned and hurried away from this cursed place.

"Maybe it was a female ghost? I've got plenty to offer, after all... Hey, Lao Da, wait for me!" Lao San muttered, then hurried after him. He had no intention of being left alone there.

The brothers' conversation drifted through the darkness.

"Lao Da, are we still supposed to wait here for the client? Without the boat, we can't leave."

Thwack! Another smack on the head.

"Are you stupid? The client's gone. If we stay and his people take their anger out on us and kill us, who'll be left to complain?"

"Th-then what do we do?"

"Let's grab our stuff first, then hide deeper in the island. Once they leave, we'll figure out how to call for help and get a boat back to the mainland!"

Not long afterward, a medium-sized speedboat arrived at the beach again.

A middle-aged man with a sinister look stepped off the boat and frowned. "What's going on? You still haven't found the meeting point. What have the people scouting the area been doing?"

One of his men was sweating profusely. "Brother Feng, there was definitely a shipwreck here before. I came by two days ago! But... I don't know what happened. It's disappeared, and we found a body here, too. It was the second-in-command of the 'Pinming Sanlang' crew. He'd been shot in the chest. He's dead!"

"Dead? Have you contacted the other two?" Feng Ge's brow furrowed even deeper, and a murderous aura began to radiate from him.

The man replied nervously, "No luck contacting them, Brother Feng. I wonder if they... turned on each other?"

Feng Ge snorted. "Hmph! A bunch of useless rabble. Hiring professional mercenaries would've been the safer choice after all. Let's go!"

The group followed Feng Ge toward the boat. Suddenly, Feng Ge stopped and glanced sideways at the man who had reported to him. "Who... said you could get on the boat?"

After speaking, Feng Ge didn't linger. He turned and walked away.

The man panicked. "Brother Feng, give me one more—"

Bang! Someone beside him had already drawn a pistol. After the shot rang out, the man could never finish his sentence.

Behind a boulder not far from the beach, Lao San wiped the sweat from his brow and said fearfully, "Good thing you're clever, Lao Da. Those people really kill without blinking. We nearly got killed to keep us quiet!"

Lao Da watched the speedboat disappear, his face grim, as though he were watching ten million yuan vanish before his eyes...