A Night of Desperation

At this moment, Yu Hong’s suspicions exploded in his mind, increasing rapidly. His anticipation also grew.

He confirmed that the direction of the Black Sea Star originated from the Black Ship, perhaps because the Black Sea Star was contaminated by the black fog brought by the Black Ship and Black River.

Does this mean that there is no other source of the Black Disaster here?

‘If that’s the case, this place might be very safe…’

Yu Hong made his calculations.

At this time, a group of people arrived at the rocky beach on one side of the island, facing the sea.

On the sea, a white double-deck luxury yacht with ‘Gao’ printed on its side was quietly swaying with the waves, waiting for everyone.

The yacht was about twenty meters from the shore, and it was necessary to use a lifeboat to transfer over.

“We’ve arrived! Hurry up!” Gao Wen saw the yacht as if he had seen a lifesaver, quickly took out a walkie-talkie, turned it on, and called for the people above to come and meet them.

“The island does seem off, I believe Mr. Gao isn’t lying or hallucinating. At least up until now, Mr. Gao’s logic is very clear, so I also don’t want to stay on the island. I’m supposed to have a boat pick me up tomorrow, but if possible, could I also take your boat back?” Yu Hong seized the opportunity to speak.

Gao Wen, who wasn’t very recognized, became slightly excited when he heard Yu Hong say this and patted him on the arm.

“No problem! This island is indeed weird! Your insight is too accurate! If it weren’t for me going to find Siyan… Wait!” Suddenly his expression changed. “Siyan hasn’t come yet!”

The sudden change frightened everyone else.

“Yes, maybe Siyan went to our temporary residence. We still have some miscellaneous luggage there.” Song Siyu said softly. “Shall we go back and look for her?”

Gao Wen held the walkie-talkie, his forehead covered in sweat, squeezing the walkie-talkie until it clicked.

He hesitated.

After hesitating for a while, he finally let go of the walkie-talkie.

“She… she came with me! I have to take her back!!” Finally, his conscience made him grit his teeth and nod.

“Old Yang! You are a capable person, help me! Just tell me whatever you need!” He looked at Old Yang and said loudly.

“Another person hasn’t come?” Old Yang frowned. “Okay, I’ll accompany you on another trip later.”

“No, you misunderstood, I’m not going, I would only be a burden if I went, I will just wait for you on the boat,” Gao Wen hurriedly said.

“!!?” Everyone.

It turned out he won’t go himself and was asking Old Yang to save the person alone.

This made everyone somewhat speechless.

Yu Hong was somewhat amused, but his interest in Old Yang and the Heavenly Master Mansion behind him grew even stronger.

This time, it seemed the Black Ship led him to a place with great potential.

If it’s confirmed that this place can combat the Black Disaster, he could start planning to move there, bringing anyone he could take to live a secure life.

Old Yang was also somewhat speechless, but truthfully, this was indeed the best arrangement since Gao Wen wouldn’t be helpful if he went.

“One million! Old Yang, if you bring Siyan back, I’ll give you one million!” Gao Wen quivered his lips, holding up a finger.

“Really?” Zhao Sisi couldn’t help but lick her lips. Upon hearing this, she even wanted to volunteer to look for Siyan.

She was probably the poorest among those present.

“Let’s do this, I’ll go back with Old Yang, I still have some stuff to retrieve,” Wei Chengjun was much calmer compared to Gao Wen.

Or rather, he, Zhao Sisi, and Song Siyu all believed that Old Yang was a swindler who had used some tricks to deceive Gao Wen, making him deeply believe in paranormal events and even willing to spend a million to solve bad luck and save someone. Going back with him was also to catch any of his faults and expose him.

Do they really think that because they are young, they are gullible?

Old Yang seemed to perceive their skepticism, shook his head slightly, said no more, and turned to walk towards the deeper part of the island.

No one tried to stop him; they only watched him leave.

“I’ll also have a look; I left some stuff on the island too,” Yu Hong was quite interested in Old Yang and followed him.

Without waiting for the others to speak, he quickly followed Old Yang, walking into the distance.

Wei Chengjun thought for a moment and followed at the end.

As the three of them”:[{“collapsed”:false,”text”:”left, Song Siyu, Gao Wen, and Zhao Sisi remained on the rocky beach, unsure what to do for a moment.

Whoo!

Suddenly, they felt a chill brush against their bodies, causing an involuntary shiver. But when they came to their senses, there signs of that chill had disappeared, even the cold sea wind was blocked by their coats. It seemed like their earlier sensations had been an illusion.

“Quick, get in touch with the boat!”

Seeing people leave, Gao Wen quickly picked up the walkie-talkie again, switched it on, and started calling out.

However, to his dismay, there was no sign of connection on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

“Ah Biao!” he simply put away the walkie-talkie and started waving his hands towards the yacht, shouting.

“Ah Biao, here! Look this way!!” he yelled.

“What about the satellite phone?” Zhao Sisi asked.

“There’s a lot of interference here, the satellite phone was tried before, it’s useless.” Song Siyu shook her head. If it weren’t for these strange phenomena, she wouldn’t have chosen this place as her program adventure site.

But though it’s an adventure, she honestly didn’t believe there was anything wrong with this place.

Having ventured so many times, she had never encountered any strange occurrences; in the end, they were all man-made.

On the other side.

Yu Hong, along with two others, joined together. Old Yang walked silently at the forefront, with Yu Hong and Wei Chengjun following behind.

“Where did you put your things? I’ll go with you to fetch them first,” Wei Chengjun quietly asked.

He felt that something was blatantly eerie about Old Yang and that he must have been constantly thinking about how to deceive others along the way. In contrast, Yu Hong seemed much more normal.

Yu Hong shook his head.

“It’s fine, we can go separately. You go get your stuff, and I’ll fetch my items alone and meet up by the stone beach we were at just now.”

“That works,” Wei Chengjun, sensing that Yu Hong preferred not to walk together, nodded in agreement.

Soon, the three of them had taken a roundabout route to a cluster of cabins on the island and parted ways.

Old Yang began searching everywhere for Qi Siyan.

Wei Chengjun went back to fetch his luggage.

Yu Hong, under the pretext of retrieving his items, had actually hastened to another stone beach to summon the Black Ship.

His reason for coming here was different from the others. The Black Ship was being affected by some force present here. If left unaddressed, like before, the ship would be influenced and suffer erosion damage.

Thus, addressing the source of this unknown erosive force was his primary goal.

Now, after encountering Song Siyu and others, he found a second purpose.

Standing on the stone beach, above the sea in front of Yu Hong, a mist formed, and an old, dark ship silently emerged within the fog, docking before him.

Yu Hong boarded the ship symbolically to fetch some clothes, then disembarked with them as luggage.

After disembarking, the Black Ship left, and the black mist also quickly dispersed, vanishing without a trace.

He executed a swift movement technique, transforming into a white silhouette, and quietly returned to the cluster of abandoned cottages.

Between the two rows of dilapidated cottages, in the house where Wei Chengjun and the others had stayed, Old Yang and Wei Chengjun continuously called out for Qi Siyan.

Their voices echoed intermittently in the sea breeze, at times strong, at times weak.

But no matter how much they shouted, there was no response.

Besides the sea breeze, there was no other sound around.

After shouting for a while, Old Yang, shaking his head, walked out of the house.

“There’s no one here named Qi Siyan. Did you notice anything?”

Wei Chengjun, putting down three large backpacks at the door, also frowned and shook his head.

The two looked towards Yu Hong, who also shook his head; he had not searched at all just now, so naturally, he noticed nothing.

It was approaching noon, already past eleven in the morning.

The area with the abandoned cottages on the island was utterly silent, with only the cold wind blowing in and out.

Despite the direct sunlight and clear skies, the place was starkly pale. Wherever one looked, there was nothing but desolation, decay, rust, and desolation.

Each cottage resembled a randomly placed box-like coffin arranged on either side of the road.

“Something’s not right,” Old Yang said, his brow furrowed into a deep crease.

With one hand, he quickly formed a handprint and flicked his fingers as if calculating something.

“This presence… she’s indeed not here,” he declared with confidence after a moment.

“The island is not that big; if she’s not here, where could she go?” Wei Chengjun asked doubtfully.

“Let’s just go back and regroup,” Yu Hong suggested.

He could sense something was off in the surroundings but was unable to pinpoint what exactly it was.

Seeing Old Yang’s mysterious and confident demeanor, he grew even more curious about the powers he possessed.

Immediately, the three of them started heading back toward the stone beach where the yacht was located.

Along the way, Yu Hong began to cautiously inquire about Old Yang’s situation.

“Old Yang, could you talk about how you deal with those dangerous, horrifying, filthy things?”

“Why? Do you believe me?” Old Yang glanced at him slyly.

“I do. Since childhood, I’ve always believed there are countless unknown entities in the world and the universe. Science is just one system, and there will always be phenomena that science cannot explain,” Yu Hong earnestly said.

“You’re pretty honest. Let me advise you—once we get back, just follow the yacht and leave this island. This place is not meant for irrelevant people like you,” Old Yang said indifferently.

“What exactly is here?” Yu Hong lowered his voice and asked. “Ghosts?”

“No,” Old Yang shook his head, “You watch too many movies?”

“Then what is it?”

“A natural phenomenon, very troublesome, unexplainable by science, and untraceable. Overall, this type of natural phenomenon has existed since ancient times and has persisted,” he paused, “We call them resentful marks.”

“Resentful marks?” Yu Hong narrowed his eyes. Another new term.

“Yes, in ancient times, it was also called Black Disaster, meaning a disaster that appears only during the night,” Old Yang explained.

Black Disaster!

Indeed, Yu Hong felt a sudden chill, immediately making the connection.

“Since it existed in ancient times and we have lived so long, there must surely be developed methods to counter it, right?” he quickly asked.

“Correct,” Old Yang nodded, “Utilizing some related research, we’ve discovered many special items that can resist or neutralize resentful marks. Compared to the strangeness and dominance of resentful marks, we humans are actually quite fragile and have many physical limitations. Hence, by using various external objects summarized from research, we have developed Daoist Skills and Arrays to combat them.”