We looked down, and sure enough, a massive fish lay struggling not far from us.

This great fish was entirely black but covered not in scales, but in small, yellow circular spots, somewhat resembling the whale sharks found in the ocean. However, a whale shark would be much larger.

Overall, the fish wasn't overly bizarre, but when we circled to its front, we saw it had a horn the thickness of a little finger protruding from its head, and its teeth were extraordinarily sharp, growing in two distinct rows, upper and lower.

"Once this fish is ashore, no matter how fierce, it will die quickly," Nie Chuan remarked.

I nodded and agreed, "Something this terrifying, if allowed to swim into a river frequented by humans, would certainly cause massive trouble. Letting it die here is a decent outcome."

Nie Chuan nodded back, saying, "By the way, why did we suddenly end up here just now? *, what exactly did you discover?"

I paused, saying, "Oh... that. Actually, I haven't fully figured it out myself. Ever since I absorbed whatever was inside that spider, it feels like I can see things ordinary people can't."

"Really? Are you sure you haven't just been reading too much science fiction?" Da Xiong finally showed some belief, leaning in to ask.

I shoved him away, saying, "Get away from me."

Nie Chuan continued his inquiry, "It seems you can see spacetime rifts, is that right? Are there any near us?"

I scanned the surroundings, finding nothing unusual, and replied, "None nearby. I think these things usually exist in more secluded places. For example, the rift we passed through from the riverbed to get here was located within an upward current—even fish rarely swim there, which is why it went undiscovered. If rifts existed everywhere, all the time, it would bring considerable chaos to the world."

Nie Chuan stroked his chin, clearly finding my reasoning sound.

Da Xiong, standing idly to the side, chimed in with boredom, "Stop studying this; we should focus on where we are now. Did we teleport to America, or did we travel back to the Tang Dynasty?"

I looked around and spotted a type of white wildflower, saying, "No, we're still in modern times. This ** is a European species that has only begun to invade Asia in large numbers recently; you wouldn't see this in the Tang Dynasty."

Da Xiong glanced at the flower and gave a thumbs-up. "I thought only our Xiao Chuan was a botanist; I didn't realize * was so knowledgeable too."

I flustered, quickly explaining, "Oh, I read it in a newspaper, hehe."

Nie Chuan glanced at me and said, "* is right. We are definitely still in the modern era. Furthermore, observing the surrounding flora, the species are similar to those near the Lei Yun Monk Shrine; we should still be in that vicinity."

"Look over there, is that something?" Da Xiong suddenly pointed out.

I followed his gaze and saw what appeared to be the corner of a building.

Looking closer, I could make out that the architectural style resembled that of shrine palace structures.

So, we quickened our pace and headed over.

However, only when we drew near the structure did we realize we weren't standing on flat ground.

There was a gap, about three meters wide, between us and the building, and the actual ground lay beneath that chasm.

In other words, the platform we were standing on must have been the roof of a flat-topped structure.

This flat-topped building had clearly been there for some time, evidenced by the abundance of weeds growing on it.

But that felt wrong; why would there be a flat-roofed building in ancient Japan?

The other two had evidently noticed the strangeness as well. Da Xiong took out Brother Xiao's dagger and pried up a patch of turf with it.

We all crowded closer to look, only to see concrete underneath the grass.

"This is a modern structure…" Seeing this, I could definitively state.

"It seems this place wasn't abandoned over a hundred years ago; at least someone has visited and built structures here in more recent times," Nie Chuan added.

"Should we try to get inside and look…" I suggested.

I expected hesitation from the other two, but to my surprise, they both nodded simultaneously, saying, "Let's take a look."

Their readiness caught me off guard. I stood stunned for a good two seconds before saying, "Alright then."

But just as I prepared to jump from the rooftop, Nie Chuan grabbed my arm and said, "Wait!"

I was about to ask why, but at that moment, I saw it: a person had appeared on the three-meter-wide gap directly below us.

That person hadn't seen us; they had scrambled, half-rolling, out of the building's doorway.

"Don't kill me... don't kill me..." The person sat down heavily on the ground, scooting backward repeatedly, holding both hands up in a defensive gesture, murmuring in Japanese.

"That person…!" Da Xiong seemed to recognize him and spoke in a low voice.

I clapped a hand over his mouth, whispering in his ear, "Quiet, don't let them spot us."

I knew why Da Xiong was so shocked: the person sitting on the ground was one of the Japanese men we had encountered on the boat—the skinny one who had been controlled by Long Jia.

In a way, that skinny man had saved our lives, reducing the number of Thunder Corpses we faced.

But we all knew this man was ultimately a minion of the White-Haired Old Man, a genuine villain.

And now, this villain, perhaps having his life threatened by someone else, looked terrified enough to wet himself.

We waited quietly on the roof for a moment. Sure enough, a tall man soon emerged from the doorway.

The man held a gun and wore a long cloak. Though the collar was pulled high, we still saw his wildly spiked white hair.

"White Hair…" Da Xiong's teeth ground together in hatred; he started to move as if to shout again, but I clamped my hand over his mouth once more.

"Don't rush, let's see what happens…" I whispered.

At this point, the White-Haired Old Man pointed his gun at the skinny man and spoke in English, "Useless trash. I should have killed you on the boat. I gave you a chance, but you can't even handle something this minor… Losing track of a few people—what use are you now!"

With those words, the White-Haired Old Man pulled the trigger. With a sharp pa, the skinny man collapsed, twitched a few times, and then lay still.

A layer of cold sweat broke out on my forehead. I truly hadn't expected the White-Haired Old Man to be so ruthless, showing such disregard even for his own subordinates.

As the pool of blood beneath the skinny man slowly spread, the White-Haired Old Man turned and went back inside the flat structure.

A few seconds later, I finally released Da Xiong's mouth.

Da Xiong lamented, "*, what are you afraid of? He's alone now! Don't you want revenge for Liang Qian!"

I remained silent for two seconds, then said, "Even if he's alone, we might not be a match for him. We should find Xie Yuting first, and then we can settle accounts with the White-Haired Old Man together."

Nie Chuan seemed to understand me perfectly. "What * says is correct. Perhaps the White-Haired Old Man's subordinates are nearby. If we rush in rashly, we'll only be asking for trouble."

Da Xiong slapped his thigh, looking regretful. "Fine then, let's make haste."

The truth was, saying we needed to find Xie Yuting was one thing, but we had no idea where to start looking among this dense cluster of buildings.

After jumping down from the other side of the flat roof, we followed a small path into a dense collection of structures.

We couldn't identify which part of the shrine complex this was, but seeing stacks of scattered albums and scrolls in the open space between a few buildings confirmed that Xie Yuting and his group had been here.

"Xie!…"

Da Xiong was about to shout again, but I muffled his mouth once more.

I whispered to him, "Don't yell. The White-Haired Old Man's men might be nearby. Why are you shouting?"

Da Xiong seemed to grasp the situation immediately and fell silent.

Then, I took out my phone and dialed Xie Yuting's number.