On the Ark.

Then Lin Ye recounted his conversation with Tianhuo in detail, and everyone's expressions turned grim.

"That Felin tribe dares to threaten us?" Chōmaru sat up straight, picked up his Guan Dao, and said, "I'll be right back."

"...What are you trying to do? It'll be dawn in less than half an hour."

“Half an hour is enough,” Chūmaru said.

Lin Ye was speechless. He felt that the current Chan Wan was like Guan Yu about to slay Hua Xiong, and it would only take the time it takes to drink a cup of warm wine. Fortunately, Magellan and Blue Poison stopped her in time: "Don't make trouble at a time like this. If things get out of hand, we won't be able to handle it."

Blue Poison said, "We still need to have a proper talk with her."

Lin Ye shook his head: "Talking is useless. That woman is too arrogant. Besides, there's not enough time."

"What should I do?"

Lin Ye thought for a moment but couldn't come up with a good solution, so he said, "Let's ignore her for now and change our clothes so that no one can tell we went out last night. As for that Tianhuo... I don't think she'll tell Yin Jian."

"Why?" Magellan asked, puzzled. "You treated her like that just now."

"...What do you mean I treated her like that? What did I do? Did I do anything wrong?" Lin Ye said. "I just felt that someone as proud as her would disdain doing something like informing on someone."

"real or fake?"

"Just a gut feeling," Lin Ye said. "But she definitely won't let us off so easily. She'll probably retaliate at some other time, so we need to be careful. Although I think that given her personality, even if she retaliates, she won't use any underhanded methods. In my opinion, she's probably just an extremely arrogant and naive girl."

Lin Ye's words left everyone present stunned.

Chūmaru said, "You've only met her a few times, how do you know so much about her?"

Blue Poison said, "I think what Doctor Lin Ye said makes a lot of sense."

Magellan nodded: "I've also heard the rumors that Dr. Lin Ye is the one on Rhodes Island who understands women best."

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly: "Your rumor is false, absolutely false. I'm just good at judging people."

“I understand, then let me correct you,” Magellan said. “Dr. Lin Ye is just better at judging women.”

After she finished speaking, everyone laughed, adding a lot of joy to the otherwise tense atmosphere. Lin Ye also noticed this. Although she was using herself as a guinea pig, as long as it had a good effect, it didn't matter. So he pretended to be annoyed and complained a few times, making the atmosphere even more cheerful.

After last night's experience, they really need to relax now; the tighter the string, the easier it is to break.

After the laughter subsided, everyone felt much more relaxed. They then quickly began packing and changing clothes, naturally kicking Lin Ye out while they did so. About twenty minutes later, they finished packing and Magellan activated the remaining two drones when the Ursus military arrived, ordering everyone to assemble on the shore.

Despite not having slept all night, everyone was in relatively good spirits, except for Lin Ye, whose physical condition was not as good as the others in the group. So as soon as they arrived at the coast, Swire, who had arrived earlier, noticed them.

Swire stood beside Lin Ye and asked, "Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Why do you ask that?

“Just look in the mirror and you’ll see. Those dark circles under your eyes, are you having trouble sleeping?” Swire said, glancing at the team members standing behind Lin Ye. She immediately understood. “I get it.”

Lin Ye glanced at her: "You know it all now?"

“It’s really hard to get a good night’s sleep when one man and four women share a tent,” Swire said with a look of understanding.

Lin Ye glanced at the group of Guardian agents behind Swire and teased, "Does having one woman and many men really make for a good night's sleep?"

Swire's expression changed: "You idiot, are you looking for trouble? Do you think I'm the same as you? We have sleeping bags."

In a fit of anger, she uttered some vulgar language, showing that Miss Swire still values ​​her reputation. Lin Ye didn't dare to say anything more, after all, he still owed Swire a huge favor.

Not long after, Skyfire arrived. At that moment, all the members of Rhodes Island tensed up, like schoolchildren who had done something wrong, secretly glancing at her. Skyfire looked at Lin Ye, while Lin Ye pretended not to see her.

Swire noticed something and asked curiously, "Why is that girl who's a researcher in Originium Arts staring at you?"

"How would I know?" Lin Ye naturally wouldn't tell.

Soon, Silver Sword arrived with his men.

“We’ve found enough small boats,” Silver Sword said to those present. “Our task for the next few days is to search the islands near Harlan town in groups to see if we can find any clues. We will distribute signal flares to everyone. Once we find anything, fire the signal flare immediately, and the other groups will come to meet us.”

Swire said, "Don't we have communicators? Why do we need such an old thing as signal flares?"

Silver Sword said calmly, "Communicators aren't as reliable as you think."

Lin Yeshen agreed with this point.

Next came the grouping, as the main participants this time were Ursus, Sunset Merchant Guild, and Lungmen. Each of the three groups had more than ten members, while Rhodes Island, due to Skadi's disappearance, only had five people including Lin Ye, so they would inevitably have to be merged into the other three groups. Fortunately, they were merged into Lungmen's group.

"You little rascal, I'll protect you." Swire patted Lin Ye on the shoulder.

Lin Ye rolled his eyes and pretended not to want to talk, but in his heart he still agreed.

As for the heavenly fire...

It can only be said that Lin Ye's judgment of Tianhuo was correct; she indeed did not report them to Yin Jian. Yin Jian had been speaking for so long, and she had simply stood by expressionlessly, without uttering a word. But what Lin Ye didn't expect was that when Yin Jian was about to incorporate Tianhuo into the Sunset Merchant Guild, she finally spoke up.

“I’m not going there.” Tianhuo slowly raised his hand and pointed at Lin Ye. “I want to be in his group.”

The people of Rhodes Island were stunned.

Silver Sword frowned: "Why?"

"There's no reason," Tianhuo said coldly, arms crossed. "It's just that I know him among the people here."

Lin Ye: "..."

Silver Sword thought for a moment, then decided that since Skyfire was only one person, it wasn't a big deal, so he nodded in agreement: "Okay, then you can team up with Rhodes Island."

Lin Ye: "..."

Looking at Tianhuo's eyes, Lin Ye felt a headache coming on. He had a feeling that a lot of trouble was about to happen, but he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't very well refuse, could he? If he really pushed Tianhuo too far, they would definitely be the ones who suffered.

Since today's operation was all planned, we started immediately after dividing into groups, without any unnecessary chatter.

Lin Ye and his group were assigned a slightly larger ship than the one from the previous night. However, Swire's ship couldn't accommodate everyone, so Swire brought the operator codenamed "Dream" from the previous night to their ship, and Skyfire followed suit. With these three factions on one ship, Lin Ye had a bad feeling.

With poetry and elegance, and the presence of Heavenly Fire and Ghostly Dreams, the people of Rhodes Island should be careful what they say.

“This is the area we were assigned to scout.” Swire spread out a map and pointed to the circled area. “Hmm, two kilometers. Okay, let’s go… What? No engine? We need to row? [Lungmen swear word] What a piece of junk.”

Lin Ye glanced at the map, and then his eyes lit up.

The location they were assigned to was the same island they were on last night.

What a coincidence! I can go search for it again.

As soon as Tianhuo boarded the ship, she sat in a corner, holding her staff without saying a word, and no one spoke to her.

Yumeng, on the other hand, was taking pictures of the ocean with her camera.

Lin Ye asked him with some confusion, "What are you filming?"

“The sea,” Youmeng said with a smile, “don’t you think the sea is a magical place?”

Chōmaru pursed his lips: "I don't think so. It's all the same everywhere. You'll get lost after wandering around for a couple of hours."

"Haha, the ocean isn't really our home turf after all," Youmeng said enthusiastically, seemingly eager to share his knowledge. "But even marine life can get lost. Do you know orcas? When orcas lose their way, they make a constant sound, like they're moaning..."

Swire interrupted impatiently, "Alright, Youmeng, you're at it again?"

“…Some people say it’s singing…Ah, sorry, sorry.” Youmeng scratched her head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, “I just thought it was quite interesting.”

“You might find it interesting, but others might not,” Swire sighed. “You always like to say strange things, which is why you still don’t have a girlfriend.”

"Sir, you don't seem to have one either..."

"If you want to die, just say so."

Youmeng shut her mouth.

"Honestly, can't you just give me a break?" Swire sighed, then frowned when she saw Lin Ye standing blankly at the bow of the boat. "What's wrong with you now?"

Lin Ye slowly raised his hand, his voice changing.

"Where did that island go?"

Chapter 328 Peppermint Tea

"That island...where did it go?" Lin Ye's words drew the attention of everyone on the ship.

"An island?" Swire, naturally unaware of the term, asked疑惑地问道, "What island? Aren't there islands everywhere here? Which one are you talking about?"

Lin Ye did not answer Swire, but turned to look at Magellan.

Magellan understood Lin Ye's meaning and immediately turned on her microcomputer. A few seconds later, her expression turned grim as she replied, "The location is correct, the island is indeed gone..."

Chūmaru understood as well: "What the hell? How is this possible?"

Blue Poison frowned but remained silent, and even Frost Leaf's face was slightly pale.

"So what island are you talking about?" Swire tapped the hull of the ship in annoyance. "We're all in the same group now, shouldn't we share information? Is it really okay to keep playing games at a time like this?"

The group from Rhodes Island exchanged glances.

When Lin Ye discovered the island was gone, he was so shocked that he didn't consider that there were people from outside Rhodes Island on the ship. So now it was up to him to explain. Fortunately, there was a marine biologist on the Lungmen side, and perhaps he could get his help, but he definitely wouldn't mention Skadi. So Lin Ye said that they had sailed around the surrounding waters yesterday and spotted the island, but it was no longer there.

Swire and her men were the last to arrive in Harlan yesterday, so they couldn't yet determine the veracity of Lin Ye's words. However, she didn't doubt him; instead, she showed surprise and a hint of suspicion: "Such a thing? Impossible, right? Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

“It’s impossible to be wrong.” Magellan shook his head, then raised his hand and pointed ahead. “Yesterday we even made a point of recording the coordinates of that island, which is right here.”

"...Why did you specifically memorize the coordinates of that island?" Swire asked again. "Is there anything special about that island?"

That makes sense, Lin Ye said directly: "Because that island is the largest in the archipelago, with a diameter of about one kilometer. We felt that the probability of finding clues on it was higher than on other small islands, so we specifically recorded the coordinates of that island."

Shi Huaiya looked at Youmeng.

Youmeng was also puzzled: "But I've looked at the map of this sea area many times, and I don't remember there being such an island here."

Lin Ye then remembered that Lan Du had said something similar before they went to the island last night. At that time, he had been cautious and planned to check the map on the way back to see if the island was really not there. But now it seemed unnecessary. Since the oceanographer Youmeng had also said so, then the island was indeed not on the map.

But how could that be? If they weren't there, where were they last night... no, where were they a few hours ago? Could the island possibly move?

Lin Ye immediately posed this question to Youmeng, who pondered for a moment and then shook her head.

“An island that big couldn’t possibly move,” Youmeng said. “Of course, it’s possible that the tide is coming in and the seawater has submerged the island, which is why you can’t see it now.”

Youmeng had barely finished speaking when she immediately contradicted herself.

"No, no," Youmeng murmured. "It should be low tide now, not high tide. How could it be submerged? I've never heard of such a thing. Do you have the specific dimensions of that island? Could you show it to me?"

Lin Ye glanced at Magellan, who nodded and then handed his microcomputer to Youmeng.

"It sounds really weird coming from what you're saying," Swire muttered. "If the island's been flooded, why don't we just go and see for ourselves?"

This was also a method, and without hesitation, everyone rowed the boat over.