A bolt of lightning struck the surface of the sea, hitting precisely where the speedboat had gone down just moments ago. Then came a series of thunderous crashes, each accompanied by a new bolt of lightning slamming into the same exact spot. The sea rippled violently from the impacts. Thunder roared incessantly overhead—there was no sign of the storm abating. The sudden turn of events startled all of us. Even Zhang Rantian, who had just been brimming with manic fervor, stood frozen, staring blankly at the point where the lightning struck.
What made things worse was that the nearby rescue boats, having spotted the bizarre phenomenon, began turning back. Judging by the way the lightning showed no sign of stopping, they clearly weren't going to risk coming any closer.
"Old Zhang," Sun Fatty shifted his gaze from the lightning-charged waves to Zhang Rantian, "not saying it's you, but... this isn't your doing, is it?"
Maybe it was the tranquilizers, but Zhang Rantian's face was unnaturally pale—deathly pale. Sun Fatty called him twice before he finally responded. After a pause, Zhang Rantian muttered, "If I really had that kind of power, I wouldn't have waited until now to make my move."
As soon as he said that, Xiao Heshang turned around and fixed him with a sharp look. "Then you must know something," he said. "Don't tell me this is all a coincidence."
Zhang Rantian didn't answer directly. Instead, he turned again to the sea, watching the spot where the lightning kept striking. He took a deep breath and spoke slowly, as if recalling something far away.
"When I first arrived on this island, the hotel over there hadn't even finished construction. I wandered around the place out of boredom and stumbled upon something... rather interesting."
As he spoke, his gaze swept over us, one by one, until it finally settled on Hao Zhengyi. His expression twisted into something unreadable before he gave a dry laugh and asked, "Boss Hao, care to guess what I found?"
Hao Zhengyi's eyes narrowed slightly, but he said nothing. Zhang Rantian continued.
"Before I found that place, I had no way of getting back at those bastards from the Xie family. My so-called master never taught me any real spellwork—he was afraid I'd use it for revenge. At the time, my only option was to wait until they were all gathered and poison them en masse. But maybe Heaven took pity on me. Maybe that's why it led me to that place. By the way, Boss Hao, what do you call a place like that again? A Yin Convergence Point?"
At those words, Hao Zhengyi's pupils contracted. He bit off each word: "Where... did you find the Yin Convergence Point?"
Zhang Rantian glanced again at the lightning-scarred sea, then raised a hand and pointed. "What if I told you... right there? Would you believe me?"
Hao Zhengyi frowned and followed Zhang's pointing finger. After a long pause, he turned back, eyes cold. "No," he said. "I don't believe you."
At that moment, Xiao Heshang suddenly snapped to attention. He turned on Hao Zhengyi and barked, "You're still hiding something! There's more inside that Yin Convergence Point—what is it?!"
Though visibly intimidated by Xiao Heshang's tone, Hao Zhengyi didn't reply right away. But it didn't matter—Zhang Rantian was already prepared to tell the rest. Hao sighed and finally spoke.
"I don't know exactly what's inside. But that location is marked with special annotations in the Atlas of Hidden Heavens. It says the site might have once been used by immortals... or that it could be a place of grave misfortune."
"Wait a second," Sun Fatty interrupted before Xiao Heshang could follow up. "Did you just say used by immortals? Shouldn't that make it, like, super lucky or something? Why call it misfortune?"
Hao Zhengyi softened a bit at Sun Fatty's tone and replied, "That's exactly how the Atlas phrases it. Without that annotation, I never would've paid much attention to the place."
Then came a new voice—Nicolas Hugo, the former Bureau chief, who had been quiet since being disowned by his godfather.
"Gentlemen," he said, breaking his silence, "if you're all so curious about what's inside this so-called Yin Convergence Point, why not ask the person who's actually been there?"
He turned toward Zhang Rantian. "Mr. Zhang, I sympathize deeply with what happened to your mother. But that does not mean I condone your actions. Given everything that has already happened, perhaps it's time to tell us what you saw in that place—if only to seek God's forgiveness."
Zhang Rantian didn't answer directly. His eyes were still fixed on the bolts of lightning striking the ocean surface, lost in thought. After a moment, he slowly said, "The first time I entered that place, I noticed something strange. Of course, I didn't know anything about Yin Convergence Points back then. Honestly, it's a bit embarrassing to admit—I only learned the term from you, Boss Hao. That first time you came here with a map, wandering around like a headless chicken, I knew something was off. I overheard you on the phone—just a single sentence—and that's when I first learned about the idea of a Yin Convergence Point."
"My master never taught me anything useful, but I did grow up in a Daoist temple for over twenty years, soaking up knowledge by osmosis. After reuniting with my mother, I also read over a dozen Daoist scriptures on ghosts and spirits. I could tell the place had been modified—someone tampered with it. There were some very interesting constructs inside. Unfortunately, most of the tools and spells were beyond me. But I did find an unnamed scripture. It contained a rather intriguing curse."
He glanced back at the Xie family members lying unconscious on the ground and continued, "This curse spreads through direct blood relatives. The caster must be someone who wants their entire bloodline wiped out. Once activated, anyone within a ten-mile radius sharing the same bloodline as the target will die in an 'accidental' way. It's not affiliated with any traditional Daoist school, and it doesn't disrupt the balance of Yin and Yang energies. It's almost like the curse was tailor-made just for me."
As Zhang Rantian described the curse, Xiao Heshang frowned deeply. When he finished, Xiao Heshang immediately shook his head. "Impossible! I've never heard of any such curse. Who would go out of their way to invent something that kills their entire family line?"
Zhang Rantian shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I saw. Believe it or not—it's up to you."
Xiao Heshang wanted to argue more, but Hao Zhengyi cut him off. Looking at Zhang Rantian, he said, "You've said a lot already. Don't you think it's time you told us where the Yin Convergence Point actually is?"
Zhang Rantian glanced at him, then pointed toward the lightning-lashed sea. "Believe it or not—it's out there."
Hao Zhengyi didn't seem convinced. He chuckled and looked Zhang Rantian straight in the eye. "Prove it."
Zhang Rantian looked back at him for a moment, then turned without a word and began walking toward the seawall. Xiao Heshang exchanged a glance with Sun Fatty and me. We got the hint and quickly stepped ahead to block his path. Because of his thigh injury, Zhang Rantian was limping badly. When he reached the collapsed section of the seawall, his face began to flush again. He reached into his pocket, only to remember he had used up the last dose of sedative earlier.
"Take it easy," Hao Zhengyi said, frowning. "Calm down first. When you're feeling better, we can talk about how to enter the Yin Convergence Point."
Zhang Rantian gave a strange smile. "No need. I'll be calm very soon—whether I want to or not." With that, he suddenly leapt toward the gap in the seawall. Sun Fatty and I grabbed the back of his coat, but the momentum of his leap was too strong—he pulled both of us with him. By the time we thought to let go, it was too late. My feet were already off the ground, and I was falling with him toward the ocean.
Just then, a hand reached out and grabbed me, yanking me back. With one hand, the person pulled me up; with the other, they caught the collar of Zhang Rantian's coat. But Zhang Rantian was determined to go—he shrugged off his coat in midair and plunged into the sea.
Someone else pulled Sun Fatty back up. It turned out to be Hao Zhengyi and Crow. Both of them were wiry and lean, not the kind you'd expect to haul up a 260-pound man like Sun Fatty. Normally, anyone trying to pull him would get dragged down with him.
Sun Fatty's face had turned pale from fright. When he realized it was Hao Zhengyi who saved him, he managed to catch his breath and said, "Director Hao, big bro—thanks. If you ever end up in the hands of the Bureau, I'll be sure to speak up for you. With any luck, they'll only give you two or three years before letting you out."
His words made Hao Zhengyi laugh—until Sun Fatty added, "Not saying anything, but... Director Hao, big bro, did you let Zhang Rantian jump on purpose?"
That question was quiet but sharp enough to draw all our eyes toward Hao Zhengyi. He gave a wry smile and replied, "I should've let Zhang Rantian take you with him."
Then he turned away and walked to the seawall's edge. He shielded his eyes and peered out at the sea, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of Ashes of the Guardian Buddha. He crushed it in his palm, letting the powder scatter into the sea breeze. Unfortunately, the powder drifted aimlessly, with no clear direction. The result made Hao Zhengyi frown.
After thinking for a while, he turned to Xiao Heshang. "Consultant Xiao, what do you think we should do now?"
Xiao Heshang didn't believe that Hao Zhengyi had deliberately let Zhang Rantian escape. But they'd all seen him vanish into the sea—gone in the blink of an eye. Could the Yin Convergence Point really be underwater? Even Xiao Heshang wavered. In the end, it was Director Hugo who spoke up: "Either way, we're not finding Zhang Rantian anytime soon. Why don't we wake the people lying on the ground? They've been out cold for a while—if we don't do something, they'll freeze to death."
He had a point. None of us could help with that, so we left it to Yang Jun. He moved among the unconscious crowd, checking them one by one. Hundreds of people—it was going to take him a while.
Just then, the lightning in the distance stopped. A huge whirlpool formed on the sea's surface, pulling something down beneath the waves. It looked almost identical to what happened yesterday when the speedboat went down. As the whirlpool spun, a thick aura of death spread over the water. After about ten minutes, the vortex slowly disappeared, along with the deathly aura.
We all stared wide-eyed at the phenomenon. After it was over, Sun Fatty asked, "Did any of you catch what got pulled into the sea?" Everyone here had Spirit Eyes, and even from a distance, I saw it clearly. It was Zhang Rantian.
Could it really end like that? I saw him vanish with my own eyes, but I couldn't believe he was truly dead.
The rescue ships offshore were too spooked to approach. Instead, the mainland dispatched over a dozen speedboats. They skirted around the affected waters and shuttled people back to shore. By the time the first boats docked, most of the unconscious people had been revived by Yang Jun. The return trips were done in waves: the deputy mayor's group boarded the first two; hotel staff followed in the next two. The Xie family, now out of favor, were left for the last batch.
After a brief discussion, Hugo and Xiao Heshang decided that Xiao Heshang would return with the first group to report to the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation. Thanks to Sun Fatty's connections, he used his "provincial-level" authority to squeeze my entire extended family onto the first boat back with Xiao Heshang.
My grandfather wanted me to go with them, but I told him I had to stay and secure the scene for local authorities. I promised to join them once I handed over responsibility. Reluctantly, he agreed. My younger cousin, however, was a problem. He hadn't seen his wife all night and was panicking. He refused to leave without Xie Mochou. No matter how much his parents argued or threatened him, he stood firm. In the end, they had no choice but to ask me to keep an eye on their precious son.
I watched the boats leave with a knot in my stomach. Fortunately, nothing strange happened as they passed the accident site. When I finally saw them land safely, I breathed a sigh of relief. The others on the island cheered as the boats arrived on the mainland.
But then I realized—we were missing a few people.
At some point, Sun Fatty and Hao Zhengyi had quietly slipped away. I looked around and finally spotted Sun Fatty among the hotel staff, animatedly gesturing while speaking with someone who seemed to be a deputy manager. After some back-and-forth, the deputy manager shook his head. Just as Sun Fatty was about to try someone else, a male staffer nearby overheard them and interjected. Sun Fatty's eyes lit up. He pulled the young man aside, and they continued the conversation in private. The staffer pointed toward the back of the hotel. Concerned he might forget something, Sun Fatty handed him a pen and paper to sketch a map.
Once he had the drawing, Sun Fatty thanked him politely and returned to us. Before I could ask what he was doing, he gave me a look. I understood and kept quiet, pretending nothing had happened. By chance, I looked over just in time to see Hao Zhengyi crouched beside Xie Pang, with Crow standing behind him. They had their backs to us and clearly hadn't noticed Sun Fatty's little excursion. Xie Pang had dismissed Xie Mochou and Guo Xiaoni and was now whispering something to Hao Zhengyi. But from the way Hao Zhengyi was shaking his head, it didn't seem he got any useful information either.
Still smiling, Sun Fatty came over and stood behind me, using my body to block Hao Zhengyi's view. He leaned in and whispered, "Lazi, get Yang Jun and Hugo. We're heading to the far side of the island—might be something worth seeing. I'll get Hugo, you grab Yang Jun. We'll meet behind the hotel, one by one. And don't let Hao Zhengyi or Crow catch on."
With that, he playfully wrapped an arm around Hugo's shoulder and began chatting in rapid Latin.