Cold."Cough… cough, cough, cough!" Ao Yu jolted upright in bed, violent coughs tearing at his throat, his lungs still feeling full of icy, salty grit and… the despair of loss. The Water-Warding Pearl! The hope he had finally found, which had briefly offered him shelter, had been ruthlessly swallowed by the savage tsunami before his eyes once again!"The lighthouse… the pearl…" A hoarse growl escaped his throat. A frantic thought, uncontrollable, surged up. He had to go check. Now!Ao Yu charged out of his dorm like a maddened beast, ignoring the morning tranquility and the shocked looks from others, sprinting with all his might toward the east of the island. His lungs burned, the sea wind cut his face like knives, but he didn't care. Only one thought remained in his mind: *The lighthouse! The pearl!*Yet, when he finally gasped for breath and reached the familiar rocky area on the east point, all that remained before his eyes was… the rocks.Rocks soaked in turbid seawater!A mountain of rubble and debris piled high, the waves slapping against it, emitting a hollow, mournful wail. The lighthouse that had once stood here, witness to conspiracy and death, had completely vanished!
Ao Yu stumbled to the edge of the rocks, frantically searching, groping in the icy water. The cold seawater soaked through his trousers, sharp stones cut his palms. Nothing. There was nothing. Only cold, hard, deathly stillness. The Water-Warding Pearl that had briefly given him hope was gone without a trace."Hah… Hah…" Ao Yu knelt in the icy seawater, the briny water mixing with the sweat of despair flowing into his mouth. He dug his hands deep into the gravel, his shoulders shaking violently. Again! Failure again! Even his only hope was utterly extinguished!Icy despair, like the seawater, slowly drowned his heart. Ao Yu forced himself to look up, his bloody eyes stair at the ruins.The map! That tattered ancient map! The half Wu Feng had clutched in death! It was the key to finding the Water-Warding Pearl! If the map still existed… This thought was like a faint spark in the darkness.He surged to his feet, ignoring his soaked, cold clothes and the stinging pain in his palms, and sprinted once more towards the summer camp activity room! *Wu Feng!* She had the other half, the rubbing! It was the only hope to piece together the complete map! If the map was whole, perhaps… perhaps there were other clues…"Assistant Wu Feng!" Ao Yu burst through the door, his voice hoarse and urgent, breathing like a drowning man. "The map! That rubbing! Quickly! Let me see it again! The one you had!"Wu Feng, startled by his sudden entrance and disheveled state, furrowed her brows, her eyes filled with deep confusion and a hint of wariness. "Ao Yu? How are you… injured? What rubbing?"Ao Yu walked directly to the filing cabinet, pulling open the drawer and rummaging through it himself. Wu Feng watched his frantic search, growing more puzzled. "What are you looking for? Ao Yu, what's wrong with you? Do you need me to take you to the infirmary?"Ao Yu's fingers, flipping through the papers, froze abruptly. Not only did she not have the map, even her memory of it was completely erased! Everything about the lighthouse, about her death… all the events of that loop were, to her, like a dream that never existed.The clue of the map was here… completely, utterly severed. He couldn't explain a map she had never seen—a map that might have been destroyed with the lighthouse—to someone with no memory of it. A tremendous sense of powerlessness and despair clamped around his heart once more like icy iron pincers.Ao Yu didn't know how he walked out of the activity room. He drifted aimlessly along the edge of the campsite like an empty shell. His cold, wet clothes clung to him, the biting sea
wind unable to disperse the chill deep in his bones. Every path seemed blocked.Just then, an almost forgotten image, like the last fragment rising from a sunken ship, pierced the dark despair, emerging with startling clarity—…That rolling pin Granny Bao had dropped! Tumbling in the filthy water, its shaft had faintly revealed a strange, vein-like glow! Faint, yet stubbornly piercing the murk, outlining a vague, ancient pattern!*That light! That pattern!* How similar it was to the pattern on the rubbing!"The rolling pin… the kitchen… the light…" Ao Yu muttered to himself, his vacant eyes suddenly snapping into focus, blazing with an almost obsessive light of survival! This was the last straw! The only place where a clue might possibly remain!He shot toward the kitchen like a bolt of lightning!In the kitchen, Granny Bao, apron tied, was glaring at the pile of brightly packaged concentrated ingredients on the counter, muttering to herself. "...looked downright lifeless when fried. A waste of good oil…"Ao Yu's eyes instantly locked onto the rolling pin by the stove. Suppressing his wildly beating heart, he forced a smile uglier than a grimace. "Granny! I'm starving! Fry me a sweet pancake, will you? I'm just craving your cooking!"Distracted, her anger subsided slightly. She shot him an annoyed glance. "Picking quite the time, aren't you? Fine, wait there!" She grabbed the rolling pin and began kneading and rolling the dough with practiced ease.Ao Yu's heart leaped into his throat. He moved closer to the stove, pretending to check the heat, but his eyes were nailed to the rolling pin moving under Granny Bao's hands.It was different!Under the bright kitchen lights, especially as Granny Bao repeatedly kneaded and rolled the dough, some extremely fine lines near the contact surface of the rolling pin's head, originally hidden deep within the wood grain, seemed… a fraction clearer than during the flood!He looked even more closely. Sure enough! About one-third of the way down the rolling pin's head, the outline of a miniature lighthouse emerged clearly! The lines were ancient in style, but its features were distinct! Beyond the lighthouse, starting from the middle of the shaft, more intricate, broken lines extended towards the end, seemingly depicting a path, though most areas remained blurry, as if covered by an invisible film."Granny! The heat! The oil temperature!" Ao Yu suddenly pointed at the wok, his voice
feigning urgency."Whoops! Almost forgot!" Granny Bao's attention was instantly diverted as she hurriedly checked the oil.In that lightning-fast moment! Ao Yu, with speed too quick to follow, swiftly ran his fingers over the head of the rolling pin (where the lighthouse outline was) and a subsequent section of relatively clear lines! His fingertips picked up a thin layer of raw flour and grease!"Alright, alright! The oil's ready!" Granny Bao turned back and deftly slid the rolled dough into the hot oil. Sizzling sounds and aroma instantly filled the air.Ao Yu's heart pounded wildly. Forcing calm, he stared intently at the pancake puffing up in the oil. The moment Granny Bao lifted the golden, crispy pancake onto the draining rack with her long chopsticks, Ao Yu immediately reached out. "Granny! This one's for me! It smells too good! I can't wait!""Hot! What's the rush, you monkey!" Granny Bao scolded laughingly but wrapped it in oil paper for him.Ao Yu took the scalding pancake, the searing pain on his fingertips making him gasp, but it was nothing compared to the excitement in his heart! He carefully turned the pancake over, letting the side that had touched the rolling pin face up. Using the sheen of the oil and the kitchen light, he looked—Success!The pancake's surface clearly bore the imprint of the patterns from the rolling pin's head! The miniature lighthouse outline was visible in perfect detail!Beyond the lighthouse, a path—broken yet direction-ally clear—was also distinctly visible! The path extended towards the edge of the pancake (corresponding to the rolling pin's tail end), pointing towards a vague mark resembling some sort of architectural entrance!Although the patterns further away weren't fully imprinted due to the pancake's limited size, a path map—with the lighthouse as the starting point, leading towards the "Xiao Sha Tou No. 37" direction—was now clearly displayed on this special "pancake map"!"XiaoShaTou No. 37 again!" Ao Yu roared inwardly!He could no longer contain himself. Clutching the burning hot pancake map, he turned to dash out!"Hey! Ao Yu! Wait…" Granny Bao's voice was left behind.He charged out of the kitchen, heading straight for the island's west—the direction of the "Xiao Sha Tou No. 37" gift shop! The pancake map burned in his hand, its heat a urgent reminder of the little time he had.This time, Ao Yu circled the gift shop. Behind it lay a treacherous cluster of jagged rocks, like giant fangs reaching into the sea. Consulting the path lines imprinted on the pancake map, he navigated with difficulty through the jagged rocks. Though the map was simple,
using the lighthouse as a reference point and his familiarity with the island's terrain, he could barely discern the direction. The path pointed towards a hidden sea trench entrance beneath the Jingmeng Pavilion.Just as he rounded a massive rock screen covered in sharp barnacles, approaching the target entrance—"Halt! Ao Yu!"A sharp cry came from behind and to the side! Ao Yu's heart lurched. He spun around!Xiao Yi stood there, panting heavily, his face a mix of shock, suspicion, and a trace of betrayed anger. "Why are you running?! Sister Wu Feng sent me to check on you! What were you doing sneaking around with that pancake in the kitchen? And you're soaked… What are you up to?!"Ao Yu inwardly cursed. Xiao Yi's appearance completely disrupted his plan! He couldn't be delayed!"Xiao Yi! No time to explain! Trust me! Get away from here! Get to high ground!" Ao Yu yelled urgently, turning to leap into the sea, intending to enter the trench from underwater."Don't jump!" Seeing him about to "commit suicide," Xiao Yi rushed forward in desperation, trying to grab him.At the moment they were about to make contact—Whoosh!!!A dagger, condensed like a black venomous snake, shot out with a piercing shriek from the dark waters below without any warning! Its target was directly Ao Yu's back!"Look out!" Xiao Yi's cry and Ao Yu's instinctive dodge happened simultaneously!Giggle!The blade grazed Ao Yu's arm, drawing a line of blood and a burning, numbing sensation! But worse, Xiao Yi, in his desperate lunge to save Ao Yu, had charged too fast. His foot landed on the edge of a rock slick with wet seaweed!"Ah—!" Xiao Yi's feet slipped. Losing his balance completely, he cried out in shock as he fell towards the jagged, sharp rocks below!"Xiao Yi!" Ao Yu's eyes widened in horror! Forgetting his own injury, he threw himself towards the edge of the rocks, trying to catch the rapidly falling Xiao Yi!As Ao Yu reached the edge and stretched out his hand towards the plummeting Xiao Yi, his gaze inevitably swept over the dark waters below—The sight made the blood rush to his head, only to freeze solid the next second!Umimoto!He was suspended in the dark blue water, his feet not on rocks, but… on a monstrously
large, nearly pure white shark! Umimoto gripped a hard fin on the shark's back with one hand, while his other hand held high the Soul Banner, radiating thick, ominous black energy! The banner flapped wildly, the runes at its core glowing like red-hot iron, flickering with an extremely unstable, near-collapsing dark red light!What made Ao Yu's blood run cold was the look in the giant white shark's eyes as it struggled in agony under the banner's evil power—a human-like, bone-deep pain and despair! And the expression between its brows felt familiar—and the tattoo on its fin! The shark had a tattoo?!"This tattoo… it's clearly… Granddad Bao?!" Ao Yu's shock erupted from his lips!And at this very moment, Xiao Yi was screaming, falling straight down towards the waters where the giant shark and Umimoto were!Cold. Despair. The crisis exploded in an instant!