Chapter 276 — Grim Prospects

Many fishermen, having caught a shark, do nothing but slice off its fins—the so-called shark fin—and toss the shark back into the sea. Cruel though this practice is, it also goes to show that shark meat tastes bad and finds few takers.

The cheapest fish balls on the market are made from shark meat, for the simple reason that the cost is low.

As for shark fin, however, Wei Zhao was in no mood for it; at a time like this, a mouthful of ordinary meat would be worth a great deal more.

Shen Yushu had a small appetite. She found the shark meat delicious, all right, but after two pieces she could not manage another bite, and sat to one side with a hand clapped over her little belly. "I'm stuffed to death, but it was so good! Arrow Brand Bro, let's carry the rest of this shark meat home—let Sister Yaoyao have a taste too!"

With good things in hand, Shen Yushu had not forgotten Gu Mengyao. It was plain to see how close the two of them truly were: they bickered constantly, but the bond of sisterhood between them was real.

"But we need to get in touch with Uncle Qing first." Wei Zhao took out the phone's battery, set the handset down on the sand, and prepared to let it dry in the sun.

Once the moisture on the phone's motherboard had evaporated, the thing might still work for a short while yet—so long as the circuits had not already been eaten through by corrosion. Once the motherboard was thoroughly rusted, it would be finished for good.

Wei Zhao had heard this trick from a friend once, and meant to give it a try.

Someone had met with an accident at the amusement park's bungee valley. Ordinarily such a matter was no concern of the ** Team, nor was it any great felony. But Shen Yushu was involved, and even the Chief had issued orders, so Qiu Lingshan had no choice but to lead her squad in person and investigate the whole affair.

On the one hand they hunted for eyewitnesses; on the other they phoned the coast guard asking for support, to sweep the sea surface nearby.

In truth, with both feet and waist lashed fast by rope, even a man who could swim would have little hope of survival once he went over the edge—trussed up head to foot in cord, how was anyone supposed to swim?

On learning that Wei Zhao was among them, Qiu Lingshan could not help but start—that man as well? Her impression of him was hardly favorable, it was true, but the fellow had helped her twice: once in the capture of the bank robbers, once in the seizing of the Black Panther.

Both had been meritorious service of the plainest, truest kind. Wei Zhao had wanted none of it, so the credit had of course settled onto Qiu Lingshan's shoulders, leaving her with an inexpressible and peculiar feeling toward the man.

It could not precisely be called gratitude—yet the thought of Wei Zhao meeting with disaster was something she absolutely had no wish to see.

"Captain Song! The coast guard has come back to us—within a kilometer they've found nobody in the water. Do we widen the search radius, or..." The speaker was Liu Wangli, captain of the ** First Squadron; Qiu Lingshan had brought that very squadron with her today.

"Let me report up and ask..." Qiu Lingshan sighed. If nothing turned up within a kilometer, then either the two of them had been washed much farther out, or they had already sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Widening the search would, she reckoned, do little good; the longer they went on looking, the more of it would be labour thrown away.

Chief Chen's line was busy. Evidently the pressure on him was immense, for the ones in the water were none other than Shen Yushu, the Chen family's precious granddaughter. If she died just like that, the consequences did not bear thinking about.

Qiu Lingshan then dialed Yang Huaijun. Newly and formally promoted to Executive Deputy Chief, he oversaw both the Criminal Investigation Squad and the ** Team; apart from Chief Chen himself, he was Qiu Lingshan's direct superior.

"Xiao Song, what is it? Something the matter? I'm at a conference in the provincial capital." Yang Huaijun picked up the call and asked.

"Mm? Chief Yang—you're not at the bureau?" Qiu Lingshan was taken aback in turn, never having guessed that today of all days he would be away. "You haven't heard what happened at the amusement park?"

"What happened at the amusement park?" Yang Huaijun genuinely had no idea. His phone had been switched off during the session; now, in the recess, he had turned it on to see whether any urgent messages had come in from his subordinates, and he had barely booted the thing up when Qiu Lingshan's call came through.

"Shen Yushu—and your friend Wei Zhao—were bungee jumping when the rope suddenly snapped, and the two of them fell into the sea together..." Qiu Lingshan reported. "We've already asked the coast guard to help sweep a kilometer of the surface, but there's no sign of either of them. The coast guard are asking whether to widen the search radius, or... But in my own opinion, with the two of them tied together by the bungee cord when they hit the water, even if they could swim they would hardly come through—prospects are grim..."

"Grim prospects?" Yang Huaijun echoed the words with an odd, half-amused air, at a loss for what to say.

When he had first caught the name Shen Yushu, his heart had lurched—Chen Yuxuan's own sister in trouble, and this was no small matter by any reckoning. But on hearing that she had fallen into the sea together with Wei Zhao, his heart dropped straight back down into his chest. In a situation like that, he himself would hardly die—let alone Wei Zhao. With Wei Zhao there, Shen Yushu was certain to come through unharmed, and Qiu Lingshan was thinking far, far too much.

"No sign of them within a kilometer. Either the sea carried them farther out, or they've already gone to the bottom," Qiu Lingshan said. "Either way, there's no hope of survival."

"Xiao Song, you can have the coast guard stand down," Yang Huaijun said.

"Oh? Director Yang, you mean to call off the search?" Qiu Lingshan had been thinking the same thing herself, but since Shen Yushu was involved, the matter still gave her a bit of a headache.

She did not have the best impression of Shen Yushu's brother, Chen Yuxuan, but work and personal life were two entirely different matters.

"Call it off? Who said anything about calling it off?" Yang Huaijun laughed.

"But Director Yang, weren't you the one who told the coast guard to stand down?" Qiu Lingshan was taken aback.

"Standing down doesn't mean giving up the search," Yang Huaijun said. "I never told your people to stand down."

"But we..." Qiu Lingshan did not quite follow him. "If even the coast guard can't find them, how are we supposed to search?"

"Who said anything about searching the sea? Have your people take a speedboat and comb the coastline nearby—you may well find them there." Yang Huaijun pointed her down a shortcut.

"The coastline? Director Yang, you mean to look for their bodies washed ashore?" Qiu Lingshan would never believe that the two of them could have survived under such circumstances.