The Charm Against Evil

In the yacht's central cabin.

The two women listened to the commotion outside and exchanged uncertain looks.

First came a barrage of cannon fire, then a storm of gunshots, and finally explosions rang out one after another. When the power failed, the room plunged into darkness, lit only by the dim emergency lights.

Despite all the noise outside, no one came to check on them, leaving them completely baffled about what was happening.

"Could help have arrived?" Chu Xiaoxiao asked hopefully.

Things could hardly get worse than they had a moment ago. At least now, it seemed there might be a chance things could turn around.

Ye Min listened carefully for a while. Once she was sure it had gone completely quiet outside, and she couldn't even hear the mercenaries anymore, she said to Chu Xiaoxiao, "We can't be sure yet. Stay here and don't move. I'll go check."

"Bang!" Just then, a huge boot kicked through the door, knocking open the hole that had been hanging by a thread.

Ye Min jumped, thinking the mercenaries were about to break in. She immediately pointed her pistol at the opening.

"Don't be nervous, it's Nie Yun! Xiaoxiao, are you all right?"

"Nie Yun!?" Chu Xiaoxiao could hardly believe her ears, but that really was Nie Yun's voice.

Ye Min's eyes widened in disbelief, too. That kid from earlier today? What was he doing here?

"Nie Yun, I'm here! I'm fine!" Chu Xiaoxiao finally came to her senses and called out excitedly.

A head appeared in the opening. Nie Yun grinned at the two women. "Hey, beauties. We meet again!"

The two women froze and glanced at each other, their faces suddenly turning a little red.

"Uh, what's wrong? Did I say something?"

Nie Yun climbed inside and looked at the two women's strange expressions.

"N-no... nothing! By the way, what are you doing here? What happened to those bad guys outside?"

"Oh, my buddy and I were nearby, grabbing a late-night snack. We happened to see your boat under attack, so I called a friend for help. He took care of all the mercenaries!"

Grabbing a late-night snack? Chu Xiaoxiao was used to Nie Yun talking nonsense and couldn't help rolling her eyes.

"Your friend?"

"Yeah. Didn't I tell you? I have a friend who builds aircraft carriers! He's well connected and has lots of friends, so he managed to get a warship over here, with a bunch of marines aboard. They were incredibly fierce. They made short work of those mercenaries.

"But they left their post to help me, so don't tell anyone about this. If anyone asks, just say it was a clash between pirates."

What? His friend had called in a warship and a bunch of marines?

Both women gave him looks that said they weren't buying it.

But when they left the cabin and saw the smoking ruins outside, which looked like a battlefield, they couldn't help thinking that maybe it was true after all.

The yacht was riddled with bullet craters, and flames still burned here and there. Nothing short of a large-scale armed conflict could have done this.

Compared to Chu Xiaoxiao, the more experienced Ye Min could see more clearly what didn't add up.

First, there had been a lot of artillery fire, but strangely, it hadn't done much damage. Compared with modern artillery shells, its destructive power was so weak it was unheard of—like someone had thrown a string of hand grenades. Yet she had clearly heard the cannons.

Then there were the mercenaries' injuries. Apart from Feng Ge, not one had been shot. They had all died in explosions resembling close-range grenade blasts.

That was practically unbelievable in a close-quarters fight over such a confined area!

A unit that fought using only hand grenades? Were they some kind of specialist grenadiers? Did such a unit even exist? That was ridiculous!

"Where's that unit?" Ye Min asked, staring at Nie Yun after surveying the battlefield.

"Oh, they had to get back to their assigned area, so they left. You know, they'd be disciplined if they were caught abandoning their posts!" Nie Yun replied casually.

Then he turned to Chu Xiaoxiao and handed her a case. "Here. Good thing I happened to come back and find it on the ground. Don't lose it again."

Chu Xiaoxiao took it in a daze, unsure why the case had ended up outside.

After thinking for a moment, Nie Yun took off the silver-white bracelet on his wrist and handed it to her as well.

Chu Xiaoxiao accepted it, confused. "What's this?"

"I noticed you've been having a lot of bad luck lately. You keep getting kidnapped. This is an heirloom from my family. It wards off evil!"

Chu Xiaoxiao: "..."

Ye Min: "..."

Though she really wanted to smack the guy, for some reason Chu Xiaoxiao said nothing. She simply put the bracelet away, lowering her head as if lost in thought.

"Remember to wear it all the time. It's really effective!" Nie Yun reminded her. He only relaxed when Chu Xiaoxiao nodded, her face faintly flushed.

The incident had also given Nie Yun a timely reminder. If he left the Mechanical Insect bracelet with Chu Xiaoxiao, he would know right away if she was ever in danger again.

Once Ye Min managed to contact the police and the Chu Group using her phone, Nie Yun sailed off in his battered little fishing boat.

The Sea Wolf was far too eye-catching, so to keep the two women from seeing it, it had gone ahead and waited for Nie Yun.

"Your friend really is mysterious. He can call in military units just like that? Is he the son of some high-ranking official?" Ye Min asked Chu Xiaoxiao, watching the battered fishing boat disappear.

"Probably not. He's very ordinary." For some reason, Chu Xiaoxiao instinctively didn't want anyone else to know too much about Nie Yun. It felt like a secret that belonged to her alone.

"Ordinary?" Ye Min rolled her eyes.

"By the way, didn't you say that if someone beat all the bad guys and rescued you from danger, you'd give yourself to him? I guess the future son-in-law of the Chu Group has already been chosen. This is big news!" Ye Min added with a giggle, recalling something.

Chu Xiaoxiao blushed at her words and retorted, "You said that too, Sister Ye!"

"Sure. I don't mind sharing a husband with you. But can you bear to?" Ye Min was far too thick-skinned for an innocent girl like Chu Xiaoxiao to tease.

"You!" Chu Xiaoxiao was speechless. She wanted to say she could, but the words just wouldn't come out.

"Giggle..."

"Giggle..." Chu Xiaoxiao couldn't help laughing, too.

The two women's clear laughter rang out over the sea.

Not long afterward, several coast guard vessels sealed off the area. As the investigation proceeded, it gradually set off a series of ripples. But that's a story for another time!