Chapter 277 — Not Dead After All

"Oh, all right..." Qiu Lingshan was a little puzzled, but since Yang Huaijun had said as much, she made ready to carry out his instructions to the letter.

She had the coast guard stand down for the time being, borrowed a speedboat from Liu Wangli's men, and began searching along the coastline.

"Captain Song, we're looking around here... a body probably wouldn't float over this fast, would it..." Liu Wangli was somewhat bewildered.

"Director Yang ordered it. Just keep your eyes wide open and watch!" Qiu Lingshan did not bother to explain further, because she did not quite understand Yang Huaijun's suggestion herself. But the person she admired most at the police bureau was Yang Huaijun, and his instructions she would carry out without the slightest deviation.

The moment Liu Wangli heard that the order came from the old squad leader, now Deputy Director Yang, he shut his mouth at once. Like Qiu Lingshan, he admired Yang Huaijun from the bottom of his heart. If Yang Huaijun wanted them to do this, there had to be a reason for it.

Shen Yushu sat on the beach, bored, playing with the sand. She piled it into a bunker, then dug a trap, having the time of her life.

Wei Zhao watched her, so full of childish delight, and smiled. At a time like this, Shen Yushu was the only one still in the mood to play in the sand.

He glanced at the phone lying on the sand, picked it up, put the battery back in, and pressed the power button. Sure enough, the phone switched on. It seemed there was something to what his friend had said after all.

Wei Zhao dialed Yang Huaijun's number directly, but to his disappointment, the line reported the phone was switched off. After a moment's hesitation, he dialed Qiu Lingshan's number.

A ringtone went off. Qiu Lingshan took out her phone, expecting a call from Director Chen, but when she saw the name displayed on the screen, her eyes went wide.

Had she seen a ghost? The caller ID on that phone actually read Wei Zhao's name! Hadn't he drowned?

Liu Wangli was baffled, not knowing why Qiu Lingshan was staring blankly at her phone instead of answering it. "Captain Song, what's the matter..."

"Oh, nothing..." Qiu Lingshan came back to her senses and hurriedly took the call. She was a **, and did not believe in ghosts or spirits at all. "Hello? Wei Zhao?"

Wei Zhao had waited impatiently for a good while. He cursed the tigress under his breath. What was she doing, not answering the phone? Who knew how much longer this phone of his would hold out!

"Qiu Lingshan, get someone to trace and locate my phone signal right now, then tell Uncle Qing to come pick me up! No time for more talk. We'll discuss it when I'm back!" With that, Wei Zhao hung up. He did not know Qiu Lingshan was out searching for him at this very moment, and had assumed she would pelt him with questions. But now he hardly dared use the phone in his hand, for who knew whether too much talking would make it switch itself off.

Wei Zhao's phone did have GPS software on it, but he could not guarantee the phone would not crash once he brought it up. A phone that had been through water—who knew what it would do next.

"Not dead?" Qiu Lingshan stared at her phone in astonishment, hardly able to believe it. Yet Wei Zhao had indeed called, and asked her to trace his location. Now she was certain: Wei Zhao had gotten out of danger, though she had no idea where he was.

"What do you mean, not dead?" Liu Wangli was perplexed. What was Captain Song talking about?

"Liu Wangli, call the technical section and have them trace the location of 152XXXX1234 at once, then report back to me!" Qiu Lingshan told him.

"Yes, ma'am!" Liu Wangli had not gotten an answer to his question, but that was of no importance. When Qiu Lingshan gave an order, he naturally did not dare delay in carrying it out.

Before long, the coordinates of Wei Zhao's phone signal were fed back to Qiu Lingshan. She entered them into the speedboat's GPS and found, with some surprise and some sense that it was only to be expected, that Wei Zhao's coordinates were on a stretch of coastline two kilometers behind her!

Wei Zhao really was on the coastline; Yang Huaijun had called it exactly right! Qiu Lingshan finally understood what Yang Huaijun had meant, because he had known all along that Wei Zhao would not die and would certainly swim to shore.

Qiu Lingshan frowned slightly. It seemed this kid Wei Zhao really did have some ability. Reluctant as she was to admit it, she had no choice. Wei Zhao, it seemed, was a cut above her—just a tiny bit! Of course, when it came to fighting skill, Qiu Lingshan would never concede defeat.

Having gotten Wei Zhao's coordinates, Qiu Lingshan could hardly wait to call him back. She wanted to confirm whether Shen Yushu was all right.

But after two rings, Wei Zhao's phone was inexplicably hung up. When Qiu Lingshan called again, the line informed her that the phone was switched off.

Qiu Lingshan was somewhat exasperated and more than a little annoyed. So he just wasn't answering his phone now? Still, she knew it might simply be that Wei Zhao's battery had died; otherwise he would never have called her in such a frantic rush, only to blurt out one muddled sentence and hang up. He was out of danger now, so he ought to have time to talk.

Qiu Lingshan's guess was close to the mark, though the phone had not run out of power; it was thoroughly broken. Wei Zhao had just been about to answer when he found the phone frozen, and it would not even power off. He could only pull the battery, and when he put it back in, the phone would no longer turn on.

He wondered whether that tigress Qiu Lingshan had thought to trace his location. Wei Zhao shook his head with a bitter smile, hoping the tigress had at least a little sense in her head.

The reason Wei Zhao had not called Uncle Qing but had gone straight to Yang Huaijun and Qiu Lingshan was that he feared his phone would not hold out much longer before dying. If he called Uncle Qing, Uncle Qing would then have to contact someone at the police station before they could lock onto the phone signal, and by the time it went all the way around, Wei Zhao could not be sure his phone would last that long. Better, then, to simply call Qiu Lingshan directly, which was a bit more straightforward.

When Wei Zhao saw a motorboat approaching from not far off, he knew Qiu Lingshan was not so reckless after all.

"Xiaoshu, someone's come to fetch us. We can go home now," Wei Zhao called out to Shen Yushu, who was playing in the sand.

In truth, Wei Zhao had not been worried in the least. Even if the phone was broken, it only meant they would be found a little later. Once Yang Huaijun learned that he and Shen Yushu had fallen into the sea together, he would surely conclude that Wei Zhao was not dead.

"Oh, Arrow Brand, it took me so long to build a castle out of sand!" Shen Yushu seemed a little reluctant to leave it.

"Ha, then in a moment I'll take a picture of it with someone else's phone, to keep as a memento for you," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"All right." Shen Yushu stood up and patted the sand from her clothes. The weather was hot, and the clothes soaked by seawater had long since dried, though they had a sticky feeling that was rather uncomfortable.