Chapter 1 The Young Master

The young master's gaze swept between Jiang Cheng and the fatty for a moment, then he smiled and said, "I'm afraid I don't have the same tacit understanding with Brother Fatty as you do. There might be oversights if I act on my own."

Hearing this, the fatty was stunned, then shocked. He hadn't expected this young master to see through the fact that he knew the doctor so early on.

"Alright," the woman leaning against the stone pillar spoke, panting heavily, seemingly not yet recovered from her memories. She lifted her eyelids painfully. "Go together. I want to be alone for a while."

A moment later, the woman snorted coldly and said, "I've said everything I can say. It's been too long, and I can't remember anything else." She paused, then added, "Guarding me won't do you any good."

Only now did the fatty realize that the doctor and this young master beside him had the same idea.

They wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to be alone with the woman to extract the remaining, most important part of what she knew.

In fact, the fatty wasn't stupid. He knew that the woman was hiding a lot.

Based on what she said and her fear of this place, the events that happened on those ships were also being re-enacted on their ship.

They were attacked by some unknown creature, or some twisted force, and then the survivors were stranded on the deserted island. It seemed that the experience of being stranded on the deserted island was not pleasant either, otherwise they wouldn't have been constantly clamoring to leave.

In other words, the danger wasn't just in the sea, but also on this deserted island... there was also danger!

Thinking of this, the fatty instinctively looked around. If there was anything strange on this deserted island, it would definitely be this building.

From the outside, this massive building was somewhat similar to the churches often seen in movies and TV shows, but it was much larger than the average church. The semi-circular frame had towering spires, like sharp blades piercing the sky.

The mottled walls seemed to have undergone countless years of baptism, and under the erosion of the sea breeze, presented an unusually tragic scene.

An ancient aura permeated here, lingering for a long time.

Logically speaking, under such a scene, the backdrop of such a massive building would undoubtedly give people a sense of the end of the world, or the end of the world.

Even taking a step back, it should be words like magnificent and spectacular.

But it wasn't. The only feeling this place gave the fatty was oppression.

Even when he was in the spacious building space, standing under the dome that was almost invisible at a glance, he still felt oppressed.

It was like a large stone was pressing on his heart.

Even breathing became difficult.

All around were collapsed stone pillars, and the ground, broken by the stone pillars, was uneven. The messy gravel was scattered on the ground, and he had to be very careful with every step he took.

The broken stone pillars collided and squeezed against each other, miraculously creating a very eerie light and shadow effect. In the intersecting shadows, there seemed to be something unspeakable hidden, ready to move.

He couldn't figure out where this damned sense of oppression came from, or if it was just his own imagination.

The woman slowly closed her eyes, as if she was resting, but everyone else understood that this was a sign that the woman didn't want to reveal any more information.

"Brother Fatty," the young master suddenly said, "Why don't you stay and keep the old lady company? I'll go out with this brother for a walk."

His expression and tone were very comfortable, and the smile on his face also gave people a very cultured feeling.

"After all, we're the only two who haven't seen what it's like outside." He said with a smile.

The fatty subconsciously looked at Jiang Cheng.

But before he could focus his eyes, he heard that familiar voice casually say, "Okay," Jiang Cheng said.

The two left one after the other, heading towards the open door.

The fatty watched the two leave until their footsteps gradually faded away. The woman's closed eyes opened again. The fatty didn't notice this. His attention was focused on the departing doctor and young master, guessing what was about to happen between them.

The woman lowered her head, her eyes hidden in the darkness staring straight at a spot less than half a meter in front of her feet.

There was a protruding piece of gravel there.

The shape of the gravel was strange, as if it had been peeled off from a whole piece. Two scales, about the size of a human hand, were carved on it with dark patterns.

As a ray of light, shot from an unknown source, reflected off of the scales, mottled patterns suddenly appeared on them, wriggling strangely like ripples of water, as if... they had come to life.

The woman suddenly closed her eyes.

...

Contrary to the fatty's imagination, the scene of the two fighting each other as soon as they left didn't happen at all. Having already left the building, stepping on the white sand, and bathed in the sunlight and sea breeze, the two were having a pleasant conversation.

"What's your honorable surname, brother?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"My surname is Chen," the young master replied, then tilted his head to look at Jiang Cheng and smiled, "Chen, as in 'a wisp of green silk cuts off the mortal world,' single character, Ran. Chen Ran."

"And you?" The sea breeze lifted the young master's bangs, behind which were a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes. Combined with a finely crafted face, he had a scholarly air about him.

"My honorable surname is Hao," Jiang Cheng faced the sea breeze, his hair blown into a mess. He squinted his eyes and shouted, "Hao, as in Hao *te me shuaide* (damn handsome), Hao Shuai!"

The young master was stunned, then looked at Jiang Cheng a few more times as if to confirm something. After a few seconds, he hesitantly said, "A good name."

"My friends all say so too," Jiang Cheng seemed to be very pleased with the young master's words, and continued, "They all say I live up to my name!"

"Well... Brother Hao, what do you think of the current situation?" The young master couldn't handle Jiang Cheng's words, so he simply didn't beat around the bush and directly brought the topic to the mission.

The sky was high and the sea was wide. There was only an empty beach and an endless sea. There was no need to worry about anything when talking, and there was no possibility of anyone eavesdropping.

Jiang Cheng lowered his voice, put on a mysterious expression and said, "That woman definitely only revealed a small part. The most crucial thing is what exactly happened to their ship, and what exactly happened to the small group of survivors who were stranded on the deserted island. She didn't say anything about it."

"That's right," the young master nodded, looked at Jiang Cheng and said, "And she didn't mention how that woman finally left this place."

"Perhaps it's not as simple as being silenced." The young master said with a smile.

Jiang Cheng looked at him, and a hint of something subtle flashed in his eyes.

The subtle emotional fluctuations in his eyes didn't escape the young master's eyes. He waved his hand as if helpless, and said with a wry smile, "Brother Hao, don't think too much. I just have a premonition, and my premonitions have never been accurate."

"Just like this building," the young master looked at the massive building not far away, which he couldn't quite describe, and sighed, "It gives me the feeling that it's alive. Being inside is like being in the belly of a monster, suffocating me."