Chapter 229

This island is relatively remote, there are not many islanders, the village is also very small, and plus it was only relocated and resettled the year before last, so now people can only be seen during the fishing season every year.

There is a storefront in the center of the village that still hangs the sign of the supply and marketing cooperative; the space inside is very large, but the utilization rate is not high now, only some rice, flour, grain, and oil are placed near the entrance, as for the things on the shelves, a layer of dust has accumulated, and I am afraid many have already expired.

An old woman is sitting inside, quietly knitting a sweater.

Tan Wenbin walked up the steps and came to the counter.

"Grandma, making a call."

The old woman stopped her work, and the long wooden knitting needles scraped lightly on her temples.

After a long time, she seemed to come back to her senses, stood up, walked slowly, took out the telephone that was locked in a box on the counter, and placed it on the counter.

"Call."

Tan Wenbin picked up the receiver and was about to dial when he found there was no sound in the receiver.

"Grandma, is the phone broken?"

The old woman frowned, checked along the telephone line, and said: "It shouldn't be broken, it should be a problem with the line."

The phone couldn't be called.

Tan Wenbin took out a cigarette case and shared one with the old woman.

The old woman skillfully took the cigarette and bit it in her mouth, skillfully took out a matchbox, "crack," first lit it for herself, then sent the match to Tan Wenbin, Tan Wenbin hurriedly lowered his head to bring the cigarette butt over to light it, the old woman then flicked her hand, extinguishing the match that was about to burn her fingers.

One old and one young, two people, leaning against the counter, swallowing clouds and spitting fog.

Old woman: "Heard on the radio, there is a wave coming, you are still not leaving the island?"

Tan Wenbin: "I like it here, the scenery is good, quiet, most suitable for treating love wounds."

"Young people still have to look open, life is very long, it's not worth delaying too long for these little love things."

"Understood, but am I not still young."

When going out, identities are all given by oneself.

Tan Wenbin was born with this ability to talk nonsense and build relationships; when living in the dormitory, the dormitory aunt treated him as a godson, and no matter how many classes he missed, the teachers gave him full marks.

Because of this, Tan Wenbin could sense that the old woman had some problems.

What specific problem it was, he couldn't say, because he couldn't sense any strangeness on the old woman, plus the certificates posted on the wall of the supply and marketing cooperative and the old photos the old woman had shown him all showed that she had stayed on this island for most of her life, guarding this supply and marketing cooperative.

But when communicating with her, Tan Wenbin could feel a touch of shrewdness and transparency revealed by the old woman inadvertently.

On this island, there are two other people who also gave Tan Wenbin the same feeling.

One is the old man on the lighthouse; the old man's expression is wooden and numb, but in the gaze cast towards the sea, a deepness will be revealed from time to time.

The other is a boat boss who frequently travels to this island; he is very familiar with this area, and next, he will also collect money to carry everyone on the island to Wu Xin Island.

These three people uniformly have one characteristic, that is, there is a quality on them that exceeds their own work and living environment.

Although they have been hiding, when Tan Wenbin uses "stereotypes" to contact them, there will be a sense of error.

"Leaving."

Tan Wenbin waved his hand, turned and walked down the steps; whether the phone could be called or not, the effect was the same, after all, today is the third day, no report of safety, Brother Xiaoyuan must be clear that something happened on the island.

The old woman put the phone away, put it back in the wooden box, and then sat back, picking up the knitting needles.

Before she had knitted two stitches, the wind blew outside, and then the rain also fell.

The old woman circled out of the counter, took a long pole, hooked the hook on the door curtain, and pulled it down.

Halfway down, it thundered.

The old woman poked her head out and looked at the night.

The door curtain was only pulled down halfway, but she dropped the long pole in her hand, walked back into the counter, squatted down, uncovered a floor tile under her feet, and a groove was revealed below.

In the groove, a pitch-black statue was placed, with an incense burner in front, there was no incense ash in the incense burner, but a mouse with only the lower half of its body left, inside was a layer of mixed blood and corpse water, and the mouse's tail was still shaking unconsciously.

The old woman knelt down towards the statue, put her hands together, buried her head deeply, and pressed her forehead to the ground.

Gradually, the old woman's body began to tremble, emitting friction and crisp sounds of joints.

When the old woman raised her head again, her eyes were filled with purple.

She stood up, her originally hunched figure standing straight at this moment.

During the lightning flashes, the light bulbs in the supply and marketing cooperative also followed with flickering, and the old woman's figure changed position every time the light reappeared.

She first appeared outside the counter, and the next moment she appeared at the door; she picked up the long pole, her wrinkled fingers exerted force, the long pole shattered, revealing a long spear.

The spear tip was simple, but at the end of the spear, a black skull was embedded.

In the roar of the next thunder, the old woman's figure completely disappeared.

Under the eaves of an uninhabited house in the distance, Tan Wenbin's figure poked out; the half-smoked cigarette had already been pinched by him at his fingertips.

Originally, he should have left, but this rain came too fast, leaving him behind.

Then, he hid down by some strange coincidence, hiding his figure while looking towards the direction of the supply and marketing cooperative.

He happened to see the old woman leave the shop as if she had become a different person.

Brother Xiaoyuan's "Secret Scroll of Following Far" records the summary of experience of every wave, and Tan Wenbin himself is a personal experiencer; sometimes seemingly unconscious actions are actually instinctively urged.

"Sure enough, the more inconspicuous the existence in the waves, the more you can't take it lightly."

Tan Wenbin didn't rush back to the camp, but went to the lighthouse.

The light on the lighthouse was on, and it was still turning and flashing.

But the feeling it gave people was too mechanical and rigid.

Tan Wenbin hid behind the reef and observed for a long time, guessing that the old man in the lighthouse should not be inside at this moment.

Necessary risks still have to be taken, so that he can provide more valuable information after Brother Xiaoyuan and the others board the island.

Tan Wenbin left the reef, passed the stone bridge connecting the shore and the lighthouse, and came to the bottom of the tower.

The tower door was not locked, and he pushed it open with a little force, then climbed up the ladder.

"Grandpa, want a drink? I'm thinking about my ex-girlfriend again, we broke up on a rainy day."

Climbing to the top floor, he saw a woman lying on the light, moving numbly.

When Tan Wenbin appeared, the woman slowly turned her head and looked over.

There were obvious stitching marks on her neck and hands, one eye socket was white, and the other was empty.

The woman was wearing shackles, and the other end of the shackles was hung on an iron hook on the tower wall, tied up like a dog.

Besides that, the woman was wet all over, and thick liquid accumulated at her feet; the whole person was soaked white, but didn't look too bloated.

In the room where the old man lived at the bottom of the tower, a photo was hanging, the background was this tower, and there was a group photo of the old man and this woman inside; the old man cherished this photo very much, saying this was his daughter.

Tan Wenbin also asked the old man where his daughter had gone.

The old man answered: Married.

Married to the sea.

It is estimated that she was usually soaked in the sea by the old man.

"You're busy, continue."

Simply greeting her, Tan Wenbin went down; the woman didn't go crazy or chase him down, but withdrew her gaze and continued her numb movements.

Next is the last stop, and also the most important stop.

If that boat boss also has problems, the journey to Wu Xin Island will become extremely difficult.

Because most of the information about Wu Xin Island was provided by that boat boss.

Tan Wenbin ran to the pier; the ship was still parked there, and before Tan Wenbin could continue to approach, a chill rose, spreading from his shoulders down to his tailbone.

This is the two god-sons of his, giving him a warning; many times, as ghosts, their perception is more acute.

Tan Wenbin unconditionally relies on his children.

Without hesitation, he turned sideways and hid himself in a corner of the reef.

Then he wiped the rain off his face and observed the direction of the ship through the cracks.

The boat boss's purple eyes were so dazzling in the pitch-black rainy night.

He walked slowly on the shore, holding one end of a fishing net with one hand, dragging a long section behind him.

What was in the fishing net was not fish, but people one by one.

Accompanied by occasional thunder and lightning, the vision became bright instantly.

Tan Wenbin not only saw the fresh blood constantly overflowing from the fishing net, but could even recognize the identities of the corpses inside, because the characteristics of some people were too obvious.

One was bald, even if the temperature on the island was low, he liked to be shirtless, and would rub some oil on himself when he had nothing to do, showing off those muscles;

One had tattoos all over his body, saying it was an inheritance from his family, and after rebelling against the family, he washed the tattoos himself, but didn't wash them clean, making them a mess.

Both of their personalities were very perverse; two days ago, they were the first to join forces to launch sneak attacks and snatch from others.

Xin Jiyue almost died under their hands, and it was Tan Wenbin who saved her.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that this was probably the reason why the Great Emperor, although in Fengdu, watched his own bloodline descendants wither day by day.

For existences like them, bloodline not only lost its inheritance significance but would instead become a flaw in their own cause and effect.

But the Great Emperor didn't expect that the twelve dharma gates degenerated from the Yin family could be reverse-deduced back to the twelve dharma decrees by a youth, which could be called sitting at home, and the direct inheritance coming by itself.

Grandma Liu would vomit blood just by looking at a painting. The Great Emperor's dharma decree was used by him as a bamboo pole to stir hard in the river water, so it shouldn't be too comfortable either.

The thin monkey was dragged to the youth in despair.

The youth covered its head with his right palm.

In reality, the wordless book trembled lightly. A head actually floated out from the *Evil Book* that was already in powder form on the first page, curiously looking at the neighbor on the second page.

It was imagining what kind of sacred being this would be.

Very quickly, the picture appeared on the second page, which was a small iron cage with a monkey locked inside.

The *Evil Book* was very surprised, and then erupted with strong dissatisfaction.

This was the prison cell that locked it up; how could even this kind of unranked thing be detained inside?

Compared to the dissatisfaction of the *Evil Book*, the black shadows high in A-Li's dream collectively fell into panic.

They didn't know the ins and outs, didn't know that this time Li Zhuiyuan just used A-Li's dream as a transfer station, or called it a temporary shelter.

From their perspective, what they saw was the youth just taking away something that already existed in the dream!

From the earliest lantern pointing the way to catch people, to lantern fishing, then directly detaining with the Fengdu Dharma Decree, this time it was good, becoming a directional prison transfer and detention. This youth could bring them different shocks every once in a while.

Continuing to develop according to this momentum, what exactly did they become?

They were clearly here to add insult to injury and curse and intimidate the orphan. Now, how were they about to become those who took the initiative to surrender?

At this moment, some black shadows had already begun to leave. They lingered here, originally waiting for a turning point, hoping for a hope. Now, the matter had become increasingly uncontrollable.

This river-walking youth of the Qin and Liu families of the contemporary era might not be as powerful as the Dragon King they faced in their era, but the youth's means were making them feel despair.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, clapped his hands, and looked up at the sky.

Now he had things to do in his hands, and apart from those like the black-robed man last time who came proactively, the scum remaining here who couldn't be on the stage were already not enough to meet the difficulty requirements of the question setter.

But this didn't mean Li Zhuiyuan would let them go. He saw that some had already left.

However, what kind of place was this? Come when you want, leave when you want?

Li Zhuiyuan walked back into the room and asked the girl standing there:

"A-Li, you remember them all, right?"

A-Li nodded.

That was the nightmare she had to face since she was young; how could she not remember.

"Then wait a little longer. In the future, we'll sweep them all clean together."

Whoever had come, whoever had cursed, all left marks. This was mutual. Since they could come over, A-Li could also take the initiative to search for and sense them.

The experience and cognition accumulated through wits and courage with the question setter wouldn't become useless because of the success of walking the river.

Li Zhuiyuan believed that his future self would have enough methods to help A-Li deepen this cause and effect relationship, making them have nowhere to hide.

When he became the Dragon King, his partners would also grow to a quite powerful level. By then, he could dispatch them to search and solve them separately.

And at that time, the constraints of the cause and effect of walking the river would no longer exist, and Qin Shu and Auntie Liu could also join, and even a Dragon King Order could allow forces like the Nine Rivers Zhao to move out to help him carry out a big cleanup.

The youth was still young, and even at this moment, he could still be called a "child." Because of this, he was too lazy to choose to believe in the wisdom of later generations.

He would personally clean up the remnants left by the Dragon Kings of the Qin and Liu families in the past.

In reality, the two opened their eyes at the same time.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the second picture in the wordless book. The thin monkey was nervous and felt terrified of the environment here.

At the same time, the youth also perceived the resentment from the first picture.

Flipping back to the first page, the skull's mouth was wide open, as if it were denouncing and protesting.

Li Zhuiyuan covered it with his finger.

It seems you have a lot of energy, then just use up today's deduction amount.

After the deduction ended, the skull turned into powder again, and it calmed down.

Li Zhuiyuan spread his right palm. In the blood mist, the red silk thread could already be coiled and stacked.

This length was barely usable, but during normal combat, the positions of the partners would be very far apart, and it was impossible to squeeze together, so this length had to continue to be extended in the hope of covering the entire battlefield area.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the thin monkey locked in the cage in the second picture again. He found that the cage in the picture hadn't changed, but the thin monkey in the cage had changed direction.

What changed was the orientation with the paper as the pattern, but in reality, the single eye of the thin monkey had always been facing a fixed direction in reality.

Li Zhuiyuan took out paper and pen, first measured the direction angle of the thin monkey, and then brought up the map in his mind.

Taking the area where he was as the center, drawing a line along this direction, it could be drawn to the Zhoushan Islands in the southeast direction.

As for Yancheng, it was in the almost opposite direction.

Liu Jinxia was cursed in Yancheng and returned. According to common sense, he should go to Yancheng to find clues first, then follow the vine to find the melon, but now... he could skip steps.

The youth closed the wordless book and patted the cover of the book lightly. This book was truly a good thing; no wonder that reader, even if he couldn't understand it, still loved it and couldn't bear to part with it.

Next, he could pack up and prepare to head to Zhoushan.

Li Zhuiyuan sent A-Li downstairs and came to the east room. The door wasn't locked. The girl pushed the door open, walked in, and looked at the youth when closing the door.

Li Zhuiyuan returned upstairs, washed, and rested.

A-Li walked to the side of the bed. In the past, she slept on the inside of the bed, and Grandma slept on the outside.

Tonight, Grandma lay on the inside, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

A-Li lay down on the outside.

Liu Yumei opened her eyes, a smile on her mouth.

A-Li turned her head and looked at Grandma.

But very quickly, the girl turned her head back, staring at the roof beam above, and hadn't closed her eyes to sleep the whole time.

Liu Yumei picked up the thin quilt, gently covered it on her granddaughter, and said softly:

"Our A-Li, do you also want to go out to accompany him..."

A-Li didn't speak, and the two hands placed on her abdomen were gently twisted together.

"Grandma can tell. Actually, for Little Yuan, being able to see you when he comes home after going out is already satisfying, really."

A-Li crossed her hands, and her fingertips calmed down.

"There will be such a day. When our A-Li's illness gets better, she can go out with Little Yuan. We don't need to be anxious, take it slowly."

A-Li closed her eyes.

Liu Yumei stared at her granddaughter's exquisite and smooth side face.

Although Little Yuan was the successor of the Qin and Liu families, she had already treated the youth as her own child, but this didn't affect her equally hoping that her granddaughter would one day be able to stand on the river surface herself.

After all, the blood of the Qin and Liu families was flowing in her granddaughter's body.

Although the Qin and Liu families had ancestral houses, they didn't have the saying of a hometown, because their home was on this river.

The old lady reached out and gently stroked her chest. She suddenly felt a bit fortunate, fortunate that Little Yuan and A-Li were a boy and a girl, and the relationship between the two children had long been so intimate that even "childhood sweethearts" wasn't enough to describe it.

If they were really two children of the same sex, one supporting the family and the other with a gradually improving illness, even if both sides were reasonable, it would be hard to avoid causing some contradictions.

Now it was good. The contradiction hadn't been born yet, and it had already been nipped in the bud.

Liu Yumei couldn't help but laugh again. These days were truly getting better. She could even spare her mind to worry about internal strife.