Chapter 136 Part 2

“No time to help her find her parents. I won’t help, and we’re not turning back. Either you swim back to shore with the kid yourself, or hand her to the captain to fend for herself, or take care of her yourself without delaying my business. Pick one.”

All possibilities blocked, and with Master’s temperament that brooked no defiance, Shang Shan had no choice but to drop all ideas. She pinched the little doll’s chubby cheek and murmured softly, “I’ll take you to grope corpses. You won’t be scared, right? Can you only drink milk? Can you eat pickled crab legs? Once we get there, I’ll figure out something tasty for you, okay?”

Mu Qian Tan leisurely finished the entire roast chicken, leaving a small pile of bones in the wooden plate. She was wiping her fingers when she saw the girl below the bed look up. “You done eating? Can I eat the chicken bones?”

Mu Qian Tan: “….”

Sharing food with others was already beyond her tolerance, and now someone wanted to eat the bones left from her meal…

That woman’s expression was subtly strange, but since she didn’t outright refuse, Shang Shan took it as agreement and tilted the wooden plate into her mouth.

Eating the bones was like eating meat; her teeth had no trouble at all. Even the hardest bone parts softened in her mouth to cartilage hardness, crunching as she chewed and gulping them down. The plate of chicken bones was soon cleaned out.

Mu Qian Tan’s brow twitched; she found it somewhat hard to accept.

After all, those bones had just been in contact with her lips, teeth, and tongue.

She couldn’t imagine how she’d feel eating someone else’s leftovers.

No, this wasn’t even about leftovers…

“So good. I got to eat the roasted bone marrow—tastier than the meat.” Shang Shan licked her lips, greatly satisfied. She picked up the empty plate, pushed the kid’s butt up onto her shoulder, and said, “Almost forgot I was supposed to find you that incense. You’re more important; I’ll find yours first, and think about the kid later.”

Mu Qian Tan tossed aside the towel she used to wipe her hands. “No need. I want to sleep…”

But at that moment, the girl, who had seemed to be sleeping soundly, suddenly opened her eyes, leaped from Shang Shan’s shoulder, and pounced toward the window. Mu Qian Tan was quick-eyed and handy, intercepting in time and grabbing her ankle.

At the same time, a bolt of white lightning lit up outside, nearly splitting the heavens.

Holding the girl upside down by the ankle, Mu Qian Tan looked out. Soon after, thunder rolled in like the roar of an ancient behemoth pressing down from the sky, shaking hearts and souls, making one think a giant hand would descend from the heavens to snatch the ship away.

That bolt hadn’t faded when another white flash exploded the night sky, turning the entire sea surface and cabin stark white. Shang Shan’s lips trembled as she asked, “Why is it suddenly thundering?”

Amid the booming roar, the ship seemed to suddenly crash into something. It shook violently, rocking back and forth, side to side. Everything on the table, including the table itself, toppled over. Loose items smashed onto the floor with pattering sounds, and the similar noises outside were even louder—the violent storm had begun!

Outside the narrow window stretched a terrifying scene as if the devil himself had descended. Tsunamis loomed like pitch-black mountain ranges closing in from the murky distance. Splashes blooming across the sea surface were utterly shattered by the pounding rain, losing all shape. Damp, chilling winds whistled into the cabin with eerie intelligence, like mournful wails.

Lightning snakes struck ceaselessly through the clouds. Only the occasional flash of the sky revealed the thick, dark cloud layers vomiting out excessive rain.

Heavy rain battered the sea and the ship’s hull. Ears rang only with the ever-growing roar like a waterfall—nothing else could be heard!

Mu Qian Tan was stunned for a moment by the sight, but the ship’s excessive rocking soon made her nearly dizzy again. She gritted her teeth and endured it, one hand gripping the window ledge as she murmured, “It’s here again…”

The plot had shifted once more—this was a storm that didn’t exist in the original story!

Shang Shan saw her skirts flapping wildly in the wind and feared she’d be blown away. She reached out to grab the hem. “Come back first. Don’t stand so close to the window.”

The cabin door was suddenly kicked open. The captain’s face, already pale with fright, looked even more ghastly in the lightning’s glare. He held two ropes in his hands, his mouth opening and closing, but the thunderous rain drowned him out. Shang Shan leaned closer and cupped her ear. “What?”

She caught fragmented words: “Tie yourselves… don’t get hit… pass out…”

She pieced together what the captain meant: They should find a sturdy spot, tie themselves down so they wouldn’t lose balance amid the ship’s wild swaying, crash into hard objects, and get injured or knocked unconscious. The crew would try to steer the ship out of this rain cloud faster.

Though the weather was indeed frightening, Shang Shan wasn’t too panicked. After all, her master was here—such a minor issue shouldn’t stump them. She wanted to reassure the stammering captain instead.

But before she could speak, a massive wave lifted the ship into midair. The sudden supergravity slammed the captain to his knees with a thud. Darkness slid past the window, followed by a freefall from the heights. The weightlessness drove people mad, eyelids twitching uncontrollably as the captain screamed.

He had been at sea for most of his life and had never witnessed such a horrifying storm!

Mu Qian Tan kept a grim, cold expression, her grip on the window ledge tightening further. She estimated the ship wouldn’t hold out much longer. If it wrecked here, they couldn’t proceed, so was Myriad Medicines Immortal Island nearby?

She had endured seasickness for nearly ten days and couldn’t accept returning empty-handed.

Moreover, without this clue from the original story, finding it on her own would consume energy and wealth like an endless abyss.

Her eyes scanned the surroundings at high speed, but before she spotted anything, the ship crashed back into the sea at an ominous angle. The impact produced a highly inauspicious cracking sound from the hull.

Before the people aboard could catch their breath, another wave hoisted the ship high and smashed it down. This time, it didn’t stay intact. The slender hull snapped in half at the middle. The bow plunged into the water and vanished instantly, leaving only the stern half lingering on the brink.

Amid the rain, the sounds of the hull splintering grew constant. Seawater poured endlessly into the cabin, seeping through cracks in the wooden floor beneath their feet.

From breakup to sinking took only a blink. Before seawater flooded their cabin, Mu Qian Tan released the window ledge, spun around, and grabbed Shang Shan by the nape. Crawling out the small window would take too long, so she kicked through the hull wall beside it.

The entire side panel shattered and dropped into the sea. The instant she leaped from the cabin, White Pupil shot out from her nape, crouched low to catch the three in midair, flapped its wings to gain altitude—but not too high to draw lightning’s notice.

The rain in midair pelted so densely it stung like blows. Once exposed outside, the three humans and one crane were instantly soaked through.

Mu Qian Tan shoved the little girl aside and soothed White Pupil, whose blindness sharpened its hearing. Shang Shan knelt at the edge, struggling to peer through wind and rain at the ship sinking below.

The sailors, unaccustomed to such ferocious winds and waves, were dumbfounded at first. But survival instinct kicked in—those who reacted clambered out of cabins, clung to floating debris, and most managed to save their lives.

Shang Shan sighed in great relief upon seeing them safe.

But before she fully exhaled, her pupils shrank to pinpoints.

In the lightning flashes around the ship’s wreckage, dorsal fins sliced through the sea!

Sea flood dragons! And more than one!

She had just caught one days ago, so she had plenty of hands-on experience and knew exactly what they looked like. No chance of mistake.

Even on land, sea flood dragons could devour people with ease—let alone in their home turf. The sailors who had just escaped one peril now tumbled into another!

Shang Shan burned with anxiety and wanted her master’s help, but the woman searched intently through the torrential downpour, ignoring the scene below. She clearly wouldn’t intervene.

On her own, Shang Shan wasn’t sure she could handle so many sea flood dragons, but she steeled herself and asked, “Master, please save those sailors quickly.”

Mu Qian Tan didn’t look at her. “Save them? Save them where? You expect White Pupil to carry dozens of people?”

Shang Shan had guessed as much and said, “Then at least those sea flood dragons…”

“Can’t you handle it?” Mu Qian Tan glanced at her. “Sea flood dragons have horns too. Guess if they’re your kin?”

Shang Shan was stunned. “Kin?”

Mu Qian Tan kept searching for traces of Myriad Medicines Immortal Island. “I won’t interfere. If you want to save them, go ahead. Figure out where to put them and how to take them back yourself.”

She glanced downward, where the ship had nearly fully sunk.

Good thing she had eaten that roast chicken ahead of time.

Shang Shan realized her master had raised a major issue. This was the middle of the ocean— even if these dozens survived the storm, how would they get back?

Plus, with so many sea flood dragons, even if she grew three heads and six arms, she couldn’t fend them all off. Some would slip through and harm people.

What to do…

A tangle of unsolved problems clogged her mind. That familiar scorching heat surged again, making her head swell and foggy, blood racing, a pounding headache veiling her vision in crimson mist.

Why always… why did this body-bursting pain strike whenever she felt upset or hit a dead end?

It had plagued her since childhood, so the female teacher who saw through her issue taught her to live carefree, following her heart without overthinking.

That was fine, but it shouldn’t stop there!

What was wrong with her body? What was her true identity?

The more she thought, the fiercer the headache blazed. But lives hung in the balance. At the brink of losing consciousness, she yanked herself back and realized she was clutching her head, kneeling.

She wiped rain from her face and hurried to stand.

Since she couldn’t find a perfect solution, she’d do what she could—save as many as possible!

Her robes billowed in the wind, damp hair clinging to her back. She reached to cover the gold ring at her nape and turned to look at the woman.

Amid the sudden rain and thunder, her eyes flashed like lightning. “Master! Please help me unlock the Dragon Locking Ring!”