Although I felt a bit surprised, I had already guessed this possibility. The people who came out of the Lu Wang Palace included Da Kui, who was dead, my third uncle, who was missing, Panzi, who was in a coma, and the fate of the Mysterious Oil Bottle was unknown. Only the fat man and I were left. This organization must have prepared for both scenarios. I estimated that the fat man was probably their first choice, and I might just be a substitute.

When the boat reached the dock, it didn’t slow down. The fat man had gained even more weight in just a few days, but his agility was still intact. He jumped onto the boat along with the group and ran a few steps before stopping. Upon seeing me, he laughed heartily, “Comrade, you’re here too! It seems our Miss An Ning has quite the influence!”

The woman, named An Ning, forced a smile at him, and it seemed they were quite familiar with each other. My evaluation of this fat man was always mixed; I didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad about his arrival. However, recalling his actions in the Lu Wang Palace, which had nearly cost me my life several times, I couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on.

He tossed his luggage onto the deck and sat down opposite us, patting his back as he said, “You guys have been rushing me too much on this trip. By the way, have you found that place?”

The woman named An Ning shook her head, “There’s just one last point left. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be that place.”

The fat man replied, “I’ve told you before, I, Fat Master, don’t know anything about finding dragon veins or locating caves. Just notify me when you find the place. If you can’t find it, don’t blame me; I’ll still take my money. It’s the rules of the Jianghu; you southern barbarians have to respect local customs.”

An Ning sighed in frustration, “I know you don’t know. It’s already arranged; Mr. Wu will be responsible for the specific positioning.”

I was initially feeling relaxed, but upon hearing this, I was stunned. Responsible? What could I be responsible for? I hadn’t even dug a single shovel of dirt! I quickly said, “Me? Don’t you guys know where that sea cave is?”

She replied, “We can only estimate a rough location. It would be best if we could find the theft hole. If we can’t find it, the actual positioning and judgment of the underground palace’s shape will depend on you. We only have some old documents; they can’t replace the experience of a soil master. Your third uncle was very shrewd and didn’t leave any of this information for us.”

I was drenched in cold sweat. It seemed I wouldn’t be sleeping tonight; I needed to recall what my grandfather had taught me back in the day. Otherwise, once we got to that place, I would be embarrassed right away.

I had no problem with digging; if there were any issues or mistakes underwater, I could always blame it on the seawater. After all, I was a soil master, not a sea master. This area shouldn’t fall within my expertise. However, planning the underground palace was too difficult. Fortunately, although I hadn’t practiced, my theoretical knowledge was still intact.

I thought for a moment, and my earlier nervousness had eased considerably. I reassured myself that everything would work out in the end. If it really came down to it, I could just make up some nonsense about the underground palace being a bit strange.

The fat man looked at me and said, “That’s good. Everything is ready—however, since we rarely get to visit the Xisha Islands, we should have a good meal tonight to build up our strength. This treasure hunting is physical labor.” With that, he ran off to find the captain, dragging him along and asking what seafood they had on board.

Aning seemed to have no appetite, leaning to one side and not saying anything. I, on the other hand, was hungry; as soon as I heard there was seafood, my mouth watered, and I rushed over to take a look. There were plenty of Spanish mackerel, ribbonfish, and groupers. Someone said that in the waters of Xisha, half is water and half is fish, so fishing boats rarely come back empty-handed. During the tourist season, fishing in Xisha is also a very interesting activity. The fat guy insisted and coaxed the captain, who was very reluctant but still pulled out a large Spanish mackerel from the fish box and handed it to a crew member, saying, “Bring out a fish head pot.”

The fat guy didn’t know what had just happened. Seeing the captain with a long face, he was quite displeased and cursed, “Damn it, I’m not trying to cheat you out of money or rob you.”

But regardless of his displeasure, when the fish pot was served, the aroma was incredible. All my desires turned into appetite. I had never thought I would want to eat something so much like this in the city. The fat guy’s eyes lit up with greed; before the pot was even set down properly, he quickly used his chopsticks to grab a piece of fish skin and eat it, burning his mouth and making him tear up.

This pot of food was so powerful that I don’t know if everyone was really hungry or what, but all the newcomers gathered around. Even Zhang Tu, who had been sleeping at the bottom of the hold, rushed over. He sniffed and said, “Xisha is really great; we can’t even eat a fish like this in our whole lives.”

The fat guy pulled him away, angrily scolding, “Stop flattering! Don’t let your saliva drip in; it’s disgusting!”

Zhang Tu, seeing that the fat guy didn’t recognize him, hurried to shake his hand and said, “Hey, a new face! What should I call you?”

The fat guy, being straightforward, glanced at him and asked Aning, “Who is this bald guy?”

Zhang Tu’s face darkened when he heard that and said firmly, “Please call me Mr. Zhang or Professor Zhang, okay?”

The fat guy ignored him. Aning sensed the atmosphere was off and interjected, “I forgot to introduce you. This is Professor Zhang, one of our consultants this time.”

When the fat guy heard he was really a professor, he didn’t dare to be too rude and quickly shook Zhang Tu’s hand, saying, “Oh, I’m really sorry; I didn’t realize you were a cultured person. I’m just a straightforward guy, my surname is Wang, just a rough person, don’t take it to heart.”

Zhang Tu forced a smile and said, “Well, cultured people and rough people are both human. Cultured people are just rough people who have changed; it’s just different divisions of labor.”

The fat guy didn’t understand what he was talking about, so he could only smile awkwardly. Zhang Tu, not knowing when to stop, asked, “So, Mr. Wang, what do you do for a living?”

The fat guy was taken aback, feeling awkward, but he couldn’t appear too rough in front of a cultured person, so he said, “Well, to put it simply, I’m actually an underground worker.”

Zhang Tu immediately looked at him with respect and said, “So you’re a police officer, my apologies.”

I quickly stifled my laughter; damn, Zhang Tu was too verbose. The fat guy shot me a glare when he saw me laughing and said to Zhang Tu, “Stop talking for now; come, let’s taste it first.” He then urged everyone to dig in.

I ignored them and picked up my chopsticks to eat. The taste was absolutely incredible. Before I even swallowed the first bite, I was already reaching for the second.

The fat man took a few bites, exclaimed in delight, and then called for some wine. Aning said, “How could someone out here fishing possibly bring wine?” The fat man didn’t believe it, so he ran to the ship’s hold and rummaged around, laughing as he came out holding a jar of wine. When the ship’s captain saw this, he was shocked and said it was meant for the Dragon King, and he rushed over to snatch it away.

The fat man was furious: “Why are you talking so much nonsense? With this lousy wine, the Dragon King will definitely take your ship!” Saying this, he pulled out a bottle of Erguotou from his bag and shoved it into the captain’s hands. “Here, let the Dragon King try something different! This is called cultural exchange between the north and south. See? Hongxing Erguotou, a good thing! Don’t be ignorant of what’s good for you.”

The captain stood there, unsure of what to do, and the fat man took it as a yes. He tore open the seal and poured us some. The wine was indeed quite good, a famous coconut wine from the Limiang township. We feasted and drank heartily, indulging ourselves until the moon was directly overhead.

After finishing his last sip, the fat man burped loudly, slapped his thigh, sat up straight, and said, “Everyone, now that we are full, it’s time to talk about serious matters.”