The young woman in the qipao had already come to her senses. It seemed she understood what kind of situation she was in—her eyes were wide open, her mouth slightly agape, and her breathing had become a bit rapid.

She must be feeling quite shaken now as well. I tugged at the back of my shirt, which was already soaked through with cold sweat in an instant, and couldn’t help but regret my earlier impulsiveness. Those two Immortalist thugs were notorious for their ruthlessness around Quanzhou, and now I was in the same boat as them. If things went wrong because of this woman I didn’t even know, I’d have a rough time ahead. But I couldn’t just stand by and let those two bastards hurt someone either, so for now, the only thing to do was to get on the boat quickly and figure things out later.

The woman wanted to ask me something, but I stopped her and pointed at the black boat, saying, “That’s the Fuchang, and they’re still behind us. Let’s get on board first and talk later.”

Unexpectedly, the woman pulled me back, refusing to let me lead her any further. I turned to look at her and saw her face had gone pale, but it didn’t seem to be out of fear of the people behind us—instead, she seemed afraid of the “black barge” in front of us.

I was puzzled by her reaction when I heard her ask, “Are you sure? Is this boat really the Fuchang?”

“It is,” I replied, thinking she was startled by my actions. “Absolutely, miss, I’m not a bad person—I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“It really is this boat,” she murmured. “But why does it feel different to me?” She stared at the boat. “I asked several people just now, and they all said this is the Fuchang. Others said so too, but this boat feels different from before.”

“You’ve been on the Fuchang before?” I asked in surprise.

She nodded, looking at the boat with deep confusion. “It’s different. This boat is different from before.”

Chapter Six: The Different Curse

Thinking of my earlier strange premonition about the boat, I couldn’t help but feel confused as well, but now wasn’t the time for questions. I grabbed her and, without another word, pushed our way deeper into the crowd.

There’s an emperor on land, and an emperor on the boat. As long as we got on board, there’d be no need to fear Henry Clark and his lot.

In the midst of the chaos, the crowd suddenly grew restless. People from behind surged forward all at once. I didn’t know what I tripped over, but I suddenly lost my balance and fell. The woman was swept away by the surging crowd behind us.

A sense of foreboding rose sharply in my heart. This kind of commotion meant someone was catching up to us. I tried to scramble to my feet, but saw Henry Clark looming over me, reaching out with his left hand to grab my arm, his face all smiles as he asked, “What’s your surname?” I froze for a moment and reflexively replied, “My surname is Carter…”

Before I could finish, I saw a flash of cold light in his right hand as he stabbed straight at my chest.

My mind went blank. I knew they were tough, but I never imagined they’d dare to kill someone so openly in a crowd!

For a moment, I was completely stunned. Instinctively, I tried to block with my hand, and the rattan medicine box I’d been gripping tightly met that flash of cold light with a crisp snap. The cold light in Henry Clark’s hand stabbed into the medicine box.

Startled, I snapped back to my senses and looked down. I realized that the cold light was a kind of weapon commonly used by people in the underworld, called a fish-spine dagger. It was similar to a knife, but sharper, with barbs and a blood groove.

Those who made their living by the sea, especially the sea scavengers, loved to use such weapons. At Quanyong Hall, I’d bandaged plenty of wounds from these. A stab to the chest or abdomen was almost always fatal or crippling. Even a stab to the limbs, with the barbs tearing out flesh, would leave a gaping, bloody wound that would take two or three months to heal even if the bleeding was stopped.

In the chaos, Henry Clark tried to yank the fish-spine dagger out, but couldn’t—maybe because the rattan was tightly woven. No matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t budge. Amid the crowd’s cries of alarm, Henry Clark flung my arm aside, crouched down, pressed hard on my medicine box with his left hand, and gripped the short handle with his right, trying to pull it out with all his might.

I knew that if he managed to pull out the fish-spine dagger, the next moment he’d be coming for me. At that critical instant, someone in the crowd suddenly screamed, “Run! The planes are coming to drop bombs again!”

As soon as the words were out, the crowd, like startled birds, erupted into chaos. People all around wailed and scattered in every direction. Luckily, I was facing away from the crowd and had already gotten up. Taking advantage of the chaos, I grabbed my medicine box and ran for the boat. Henry Clark, caught off guard, was knocked over by the crowd, and then countless feet trampled his thin body. All I could hear was his endless cries of pain.

I broke free, pushing through the crowd and looking around, trying to find the woman. If I didn’t get her on the boat, she’d still fall into the hands of those two bastards.

With my nerves stretched tight, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and grabbed my arm, the one holding the rattan box. Caught off guard, I was yanked to the right, and my heart sank—could it be that Henry Clark had more accomplices?

I steadied myself and turned to look, only to find it was the woman. A smooth, fair arm appeared before my eyes, extending from the shoulder of her qipao, pulling me along.

Relieved, I couldn’t help but find it funny. Just a moment ago, I was the one leading her in escape, and now it was the other way around. So much had changed in such a short time. Still, this girl was loyal—she even dared to come back and help me.