Zhang Haiyan having blades in his mouth is something many people know, but where he usually hides the blades and how he can shoot them out powerfully enough to pierce through three layers of iron is something no one knows. According to Zhang Haiyan later, the training of the tongue and the muscles in the mouth is crucial, especially the trick of creating a vacuum in the mouth.

He particularly enjoys using this method to harm others because when he looks at someone, his mouth is almost simultaneously aimed at that person. Anyone who plays with blow darts or archery knows that aiming with the mouth is very accurate; during archery, the fletching of the arrow must be close to the mouth, and the movement of the mouth when turning to look at someone is something others find very difficult to detect. So, when Zhang Haiyan committed his earlier acts of violence, people would fall as he looked at them; this time was no different, as he shot out cold light while glancing in that direction.

His habit is such that he does not wait for the prey to be hit; regardless of whether the prey successfully dodges, he will have already pressed in close. Zhang Haiyan’s movements were already considered fast, but when he arrived, Haixia had already gotten there without him noticing how he had kept up.

However, he found that there was nothing in this area. Zhang Haiyan discovered two blades embedded in the rocks, pulled them out, and put them back in his mouth, wondering where the third one was. Haixia twitched his nose, squatted down, struck a match, and saw bloodstains on the rocks.

“Got him,” Zhang Haiyan exclaimed excitedly.

“Turns out it was a person,” Haixia said, feeling very disappointed and letting out a long sigh.

The training they received was rigorous and profound; most of the content felt unsuitable for dealing with people. But upon arriving in the South Seas, they hadn’t even seen a zongzi, let alone any monsters or demons. Every time they went out on duty, both hoped to encounter something significant—Zhang Haiyan out of boredom, and Haixia hoping to achieve merit and be reassigned. However, for many years, their returned reports were all closed as “rumors.”

At this moment, it was unclear whether their swift actions had thrown the other party into disarray, but they began to hear all sorts of sounds emerging from the thick fog.

The two stood up and saw shadows of people in the fog, one by one disappearing at an astonishing speed, truly like phantoms. In just three or four seconds, all the shadows retreated into the depths of the mist and vanished.

“What’s going on?” Zhang Haiyan squinted his eyes and felt a sea breeze blowing in, causing the fog to begin dissipating.

They hurried to chase after it, only to find that all the bodies had mysteriously vanished from the fog. The sea breeze grew stronger as they searched, and they could visibly see the fog shifting. A few minutes later, the fog was completely blown away, and the rocks appeared as though nothing had ever happened, completely clean.

A bright moon hung in the sky, the sea breeze began to rise, and the waves started crashing against the rocks again. The moonlight shimmered like scales on the distant sea surface. They saw no boats and no people. Zhang Haiyan looked in the direction their own boat had left, and there was nothing there. The boat was indeed gone! If it weren’t for the bloodstains, it seemed as if everything that had just happened had never occurred.

“This ghostly act is quite sincere,” Zhang Haiyan murmured.

Haixia returned to the bloodstains and squatted down.

“This is magic.”

“Where have the people gone? Can this blood help you find them?” If it were magic, these bodies should still be on the reef, just hidden away. But they had searched so carefully just now and found nothing like a secret door.

“Blood isn’t a very good scent marker. Its range isn’t far enough,” Zhang Haixia said as he turned his head and sniffed the air. The sea breeze was strong here, quickly dispersing many scents, but suddenly he looked towards a spot where Zhang Haiyan had discarded a cigarette butt. The two of them went over and found that the cigarette butt had been stepped on.

“Someone stepped on this cigarette butt,” Zhang Haiyan picked it up. “I put agarwood in this butt; the smell is strong. Anyone passing by will pick up the scent, and it has good penetration. You should definitely be able to smell it.” He held it under Zhang Haixia’s nose. “Come on, have a sniff.”

Zhang Haixia took the cigarette butt with annoyance, sniffed it, then tossed it aside, closing his eyes to smell the air. After a while, he opened them again and said, “No way, your breath stinks too much from smoke and alcohol.”

Zhang Haiyan couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time. “Hanging out with you means I have to wipe three times after using the restroom; if I miss one, you’ll know. Farting is a capital offense. Life is too hard. You might as well find a place to smash your nose so we don’t have to torture each other.” With that, he stepped back.

Zhang Haixia ignored him, closed his eyes, felt for a moment, then looked towards the sea.

That was the edge of the reef, and ahead was the black sea, rolling like obsidian under the moonlight. Zhang Haixia pointed forward. “Out in the sea.”

The waves were very high, and there was no sign of any boats in sight.

“Are you saying that these people quickly transported the bodies out to sea? Then moved away from the reef? What kind of boat could go that fast?”

“Maybe it’s not a boat; maybe it’s something else. If you want to know, just go take a look.” Zhang Haixia gazed into the darkness far out at sea. “There must be something out there.”

A big wave crashed against the reef. For an ordinary person, jumping into the sea at this moment would be equivalent to suicide. But the two of them exchanged glances, took off their military uniforms, and jumped into the sea together, swimming forward.