The boat quickly docked, and we disembarked in order, taking the shuttle back to shore.

As we got off, the employer had people search us one last time to make sure we weren't taking any extra treasures.

After all, "eating on the sly" happened frequently. There were always some with sticky fingers who, besides the agreed-upon reward from the employer, were always thinking of secretly taking a few extra treasures back.

And sure enough, this search turned up someone hiding something.

Besides the Buddha statue he took as his reward, he had actually hidden a pearl necklace in his crotch.

This guy was ruthless. He hid the pearl necklace in his chrysanthemum, leaving only a small section exposed, but even so, he couldn't escape the experienced employer.

After the affair was exposed, the guy who was eating on the sly felt guilty and immediately knelt down to the employer, begging for mercy and babbling in Thai.

Yu Xiaobo translated for us, saying that it was his first time on the boat, he didn't understand, he was bewitched, and he definitely wouldn't dare to do it again next time. He hoped the employer would give him a chance and let him off.

But Yu Xiaobo told us that when something like this happened, the employer usually wouldn't show any mercy. If he did this time, it would be equivalent to condoning this kind of侥幸心理 (jiǎoxìng xīnlǐ, mentality of getting lucky). If the other divers saw it, they would probably follow suit and all start eating on the sly.

I nodded and said that it wasn't just this industry that strictly prohibited eating on the sly. The tomb robbing industry was the same. If any tomb raiders dared to eat on the sly, they would be buried alive.

When Yu Xiaobo heard this, his eyes lit up. "Oh? Little Chen, I didn't expect you to have such a wide range of skills. You're not just a corpse fisherman, but also a grave robber?"

I realized that I had said too much and quickly shook my head with a smile. "No, no, I was just talking nonsense. I'm just an ordinary corpse fisherman, how would I have the energy to dig graves?"

Yu Xiaobo saw through my lie but didn't expose it, just giving me an "I understand" smile.

As we were talking, two or three tall crew members came over. They pinned the guy who was eating on the sly to the ground, and one of them, a ruthless man of few words, pulled out a knife and chopped off three of his fingers on the spot!

The diver who was eating on the sly screamed like a pig being slaughtered, and after two screams, he passed out. The remaining crew members dragged him back to the cabin, presumably for more torture.

The crew member who chopped off his fingers walked around the area with the three fingers, sending a message—whoever breaks the rules will suffer the same fate!

Finally, he casually threw the three fingers into the sea to feed the fish, and another crew member came up and said a lot of things in Thai.

Yu Xiaobo translated for me, saying that the man was warning the divers behind us that anyone who was still hiding anything should hand it over immediately, or this would be their example.

I quietly turned my head to look at the people behind me. It seemed that none of the divers behind me were hiding anything anymore. Among this group of divers, there should only be one who didn't follow the rules.

After another half hour, the three of us passed the search smoothly, and finally took the shuttle back to shore, where Yu Xiaobo's arranged car came to take us to Pattaya.

While waiting for the car, I went to the pier to pick up my stored luggage. Yu Xiaobo had said that it wasn't suitable to bring too much luggage on board, otherwise it would be easy to cause misunderstandings during the employer's search, so I had stored my luggage at the pier.

But when I got my luggage back, I saw that both suitcases had been opened.

Suitcases back then didn't have combination locks, and even if they did, they were the kind with three digits, which were easy to crack.

Our suitcases didn't have combination locks, just zippers. I had been careful when I stored my luggage and remembered the positions of the two zippers.

Now the positions of the two zippers had changed, clearly indicating that someone had opened them.

I said to Uncle Mei, "Uncle, someone has been through our luggage!"

Uncle Mei had a nonchalant expression, saying, "It's inevitable. When you're traveling, there are plenty of people with sticky fingers. Anyway, we didn't bring anything valuable, so let them take it."

Uncle Mei was right. We kept our cash, phones, and other valuables with us, and the suitcases only contained some changes of clothes, nothing else valuable. So even if someone stole something, we wouldn't lose much.

I nodded and replied, "You're right."

Just as I was about to unzip the suitcase to check it, a car drove up in the distance. It was the car that Yu Xiaobo had arranged.

"The car is here, let's go," Yu Xiaobo said with a smile.

Uncle Mei and I quickly nodded, not having time to check the suitcases anymore. We first moved the luggage to the trunk of the car, and then followed Yu Xiaobo into the car to go to Pattaya.

Because we hadn't slept on the boat, and plus diving was too physically demanding, Uncle Mei and I fell asleep as soon as we got into the car, sleeping all the way in a daze.

Oh, and let me tell you something strange. When I was sleeping in the car, I dreamed about the child I saw in the sea again. I dreamed that the child was sitting in the passenger seat of the car—where Yu Xiaobo was supposed to be—he was quietly looking at me and kept smiling at me, making my hair stand on end.

Originally, this was supposed to be a terrifying nightmare. I should have been woken up by such a nightmare, but because I was too tired and sleepy, I slept soundly all the way. Even if I had a nightmare, I didn't wake up, at most just smacked my lips a few times and continued to sleep.

I don't know how long I slept, but I heard Yu Xiaobo calling us, saying that we had arrived in Pattaya, wake up, get ready to get out of the car.

I opened my eyes and looked out the car window, seeing that the environment outside had become much more prosperous. Although Pattaya in those years was not as prosperous as it is now, at first glance it still looked like an upgraded version of a rural-urban fringe area, but compared to the pier where we went out to sea, it was already very prosperous.

I nudged Uncle Mei and said, "Uncle, wake up, we're here."

Uncle Mei rubbed his eyes and woke up, humming in response.

The car took us to a villa complex. The environment here was indeed very good, with beautiful scenery.

Yu Xiaobo said with a smile, "How is it? Are you satisfied with the environment? The two of you will stay here for the next two days, waiting for Mr. Song to come and meet us."

Uncle Mei and I had never stayed in a villa before, let alone a seaside villa. When we saw the environment here, we were immediately a hundred times happier.

Uncle Mei even said politely, "Xiaobo, you're really going to all this trouble. It must be expensive to stay here? When we sell the pearls, we'll make up for the room fee."

Yu Xiaobo quickly shook his head and said, "No need, Mr. Song has already paid the hospitality fee in advance. The two of you should have fun and make sure you don't come to Pattaya for nothing!"