Chapter 1716: Chapter 1716: The Strange Yacht

Qin Yize closed the two vermilion gates.

He stood still inside the newly purchased siheyuan.

Night was heavy now, dim fragrance drifting in the dark, a faint moonlight filtering through the clouds.

It added a touch of hazy veil to the place.

Making his shadow stretch long, his tall, jade-like figure even more striking.

The lock on this door clicked shut automatically.

Su Changan had thoughtfully had three keys made for the main gate.

He’d given one to his little uncle and one to Ling Nan; the remaining one was for him and Qiaoqiao to keep. Given Gu Qiaoqiao’s current condition, there was no way he would leave her alone to go off and do anything. Wherever he went, as long as it was convenient, he would take her with him; if it wasn’t, then he simply wouldn’t go. This trip had been meant as a chance to keep Qiaoqiao company and have some fun with her, to begin with.

He could direct his work in the Imperial Capital over the phone, so it was the same no matter where he was.

Qin Yize tilted his head and listened; his little uncle and Ling Nan had already gone far away. He could more or less guess they had gone back to that stretch of sea.

Qin Yize pressed his lips together and walked back to Qiaoqiao’s side.

At this moment, Ling Nan was already driving, taking Gu Junbai toward the marina where the yacht was moored.

The distance from here to that marina wasn’t exactly far. In an ordinary car it would take an hour and a half; in a car like theirs, only about an hour. So by the time they reached that marina, it was already 10:00.

But this was one of the most developed cities in the country: neon lights and gaudy nightlife, song and dance everywhere; everything most advanced and most fashionable cast its shadow here.

So even at this hour, there were still more than a dozen small boats and yachts gently rocking on the water nearby, their lights flickering; they could even hear the clanging music coming from tape decks.

Clearly, these people were having a great time.

Gu Junbai rented a small speedboat, and Ling Nan piloted it straight toward the patch of sea they had visited earlier that day.

The sea at night was a deep black.

The wind seemed stronger than during the day; with a flick of his fingers, Gu Junbai cast a Barrier over the little yacht.

This not only blocked the head-on sea wind, but also ensured the safety of this small yacht.

Ling Nan’s piloting skills were excellent; even though it was night, they still reached the same waters they’d come to during the day. They might not have stopped at the exact same spot to the inch, but it wasn’t off by much.

After all, they hadn’t found that exact place during the day, so Gu Junbai hadn’t insisted on anchoring at the original location.

Gu Junbai stood on the deck, gazing out at the surroundings.

Because it was night, naturally he couldn’t see as far or as clearly as during the day, but even so, he could still immediately pick out a fairly large yacht not far away.

The yacht was stationary.

By all rights, at this hour a yacht like that should be ablaze with light; even if not fully lit inside, the decorative lights outside should at least be flashing.

Yet this yacht looked like a big room lit by a few candles.

Dim and murky, with a very ghostly air.

It actually looked a bit like the ghost ships they showed on TV.

Gu Junbai couldn’t help but knit his brows.

Right now, their own yacht’s floodlights were on, but because of the Barrier, no one else could see them, including the people on that ship.

Even so, Ling Nan still asked quietly, "Little Uncle, why do I feel like there’s something off about that yacht?"

Gu Junbai remained on the deck, his line of sight fixed in the direction of that yacht.

He wasn’t someone who liked meddling in other people’s business, but once he ran into such business, he naturally wouldn’t stand idly by. Though he didn’t yet know what was happening over there, it was so late and they still had candles burning in a perfectly fine cabin—what was this yacht for, just for show?

He didn’t know much about such things, but he did know yachts like that all had engines, and those engines could power the cabins. A yacht that size without electricity was nothing short of a joke.

If the yacht had suffered a malfunction, it shouldn’t be this quiet and eerie; rather, it felt as if it were deliberately hiding here, not wanting to attract anyone’s attention.

So whether this yacht still had people aboard, and what was going on, drew Gu Junbai’s notice.

Anything furtive and sneaky usually meant some shady business that couldn’t stand the light of day.

He said in a low voice, "Xiao Nan, take us over by that yacht."

Hearing Gu Junbai’s words, Ling Nan raised his brows, started up the speedboat, and shot toward the large yacht.

If someone had been nearby watching, they would have seen the yacht part layer after layer of waves, but seen nothing actually moving across the surface. Anyone who didn’t know better would probably think some huge fish was churning through the sea beneath the waves.

Soon, Ling Nan brought their speedboat alongside the yacht.

Now that they were close, they could see everything clearly.

There were indeed people here; several figures on the deck, blurred and indistinct, doing something unknown—standing up, squatting down, muttering to each other under their breath.

"Little Uncle, are we going up?" Ling Nan asked softly from the side.

Gu Junbai waved his hand. "No. We’ll stay here and watch how things play out."

His intuition told him that the people on that yacht were about to do something.

But that "something" hadn’t begun yet.

"To catch a thief, seize the ringleader; to catch adulterers, catch them in pairs."

It was a very simple principle.

Ling Nan fell silent, his brows drawing together; he felt as if there was a faint trace of killing intent in the air. Since he’d entered the Dao via martial cultivation, he was especially sensitive to such auras.

So his expression shifted from his initial unconcern to gradually becoming solemn.

At this moment, the atmosphere aboard the yacht seemed taut and tense.

The owner of the yacht was Yun Shufeng of the Yun Family’s second branch in Sky Sea City. Hands on his hips, his gloomy, vicious gaze was fixed on a petite figure lying on the deck.

The figure was very quiet, not moving at all.

By all appearances she was asleep, but that was unrealistic—lying on the deck and that still; something was obviously wrong.

Around her stood several people, both men and women. One of them, a girl about the same age as the one lying on the deck, had a face that was hard to make out in the yellowish light.

But even if her features weren’t clear, the look in her eyes was: brimming with malice and schadenfreude.

There were six people in total.

Two middle-aged adults, and three youngsters of varying ages.

You couldn’t see the face or age of the one lying on the ground, but the three surrounding her were clear enough: two of them were probably in their twenties, and that girl looked about sixteen or seventeen.

By now, the wind had quietly picked up over the sea. The water carried faint streaks of briny stench, completely different from the bright, sunny air of daytime.

Coupled with the gloomy yacht, the atmosphere here felt especially oppressive.