Chapter 716: Suffering a Blow

Chapter 716: Suffering a Blow

In the middle of the fishing boat stood a young, pretty girl — tight jeans on the bottom, a skull T-shirt on top, a full sleeve tattoo covering one arm, long pink hair, and a lip ring. She curled her lips slightly.

"Grandpa, this is so boring. Such a huge ocean and not even a single wave."

She was about eighteen or nineteen, leaning her arms on the side of the boat, her figure a perfect S-curve.

Just from the way she dressed, you could tell she was a total rock-and-roll rebel beauty.

She swung her arm around lazily. "I'm actually kind of regretting coming out here with you. I could've gone clubbing instead — now that's exciting!"

"Exciting my ass!"

The old fisherman gripped the helm. "Don't think I don't know what clubbing is. Nothing good ever comes out of those places. My granddaughter's this pretty — those bad boys would be swarming around you like flies!"

"I'm worried you'll get sweet-talked and taken advantage of!"

The rebel beauty sighed. "I could've at least stayed home and played some games."

The old fisherman shot her a look. "What's so fun about staring at a screen all day?"

"I brought you out here to fish, get some fresh air — isn't that great? Builds character, doesn't it?"

"Stop being so restless all the time. Calm down. Appreciate the beauty of life a little!"

He finished talking and pointed out into the distance. "Look at that stretch of sea — beautiful! And that one over there, even better! And that one too, just as good!"

The rebel beauty looked around in every direction.

This stretch of sea, that stretch of sea — it was all just sea. She was practically sick of looking at it.

She jumped up onto a wooden crate and sat down with a casual flair. "Grandpa, I seriously can't figure out how you've done this for over forty years. How do you stand it?"

The old fisherman puffed out his chest. "Let me tell you something, granddaughter — this ocean is full of mystery. Right here in these very waters, there have been mirages!"

"A massive city, floating up in the sky — absolutely magnificent!"

The rebel beauty perked up a little. "Grandpa, mirages are one of the world's great wonders!"

"Wonders?"

The old fisherman laughed with a touch of pride. "I've seen them over a dozen times over the years. Old news to me. I'm past sixty — I've long since learned to keep a calm mind. You've got a lot to learn, granddaughter!"

The rebel beauty flopped back onto the wooden crate, lying flat as the boat rocked gently on the water. "Grandpa, this is probably the last time I'll ever come out to sea with you. You think there's any chance we'll see a mirage today?"

"Silly girl."

The old fisherman chuckled. "Mirages need heavy fog to appear."

"Ugh..."

"So lame."

The rebel beauty let out a long sigh.

Then suddenly —

From her angle, a lush green island slowly appeared in the blue sea. Completely surreal.

Because the island was floating in the sky.

What?

What the —

She froze, then smacked her own forehead. "Oh right, I forgot — I'm looking at it upside down!"

She flipped over. "Grandpa, there's an island over there! You think there's treasure on it?"

"Easy, granddaughter."

"That's Bird Island. I've passed by it plenty of times."

The old fisherman called back with a grin.

"Why's it called Bird Island?"

The rebel beauty squinted at it.

The old fisherman's voice drifted over. "Not-even-birds-poop-there Island. Bird Island for short."

The rebel beauty kept her eyes fixed on the island. "Grandpa, there's a guy in white over there — and he's actually kind of hot!"

The old fisherman glanced over calmly and spotted a black stand set up in front of the man.

He sighed. "Nothing unusual. Just another bored streamer doing a wilderness survival thing. He'll be down by the shore picking up octopus in a bit."

"And honestly, those octopuses? Bought straight from the seafood market."

"Might even be ones I caught myself!"

The rebel beauty gave her grandpa a look of pure contempt. "Grandpa, you don't get it. He can pick up whatever he wants — good looks are all that matters. I'm a fan now!"

The old fisherman threw up his hands. "Always fanning over this person and that person. I keep telling you — stay calm, let go of everything, just enjoy the peace."

Meanwhile, Elbert was completely focused, his nerves on edge, tuning out everything around him.

Surprisingly, this time when he clicked the pen, the white mist cleared — but nothing else happened.

He stared hard at the green leaf, repeating three words over and over in his mind.

Flip over... flip over...

Robert crouched nearby, a complicated look on his face.

At this rate, Elbert was going to lose his mind.

In the distance, the rebel beauty lay stretched out at the bow of the boat, eyes locked on Elbert. "Wow, look at all those drones up there too. What a ridiculously good-looking streamer."

The old fisherman scoffed. "Doesn't matter how good-looking he is — he still eats the fish I catch."

Boom!

A sound like thunder rolled across the sky.

A second later, the world changed.

An enormous city flickered into existence in the sky — towering buildings, streams of traffic, a vast and imposing forest of steel.

It pulsed with drifting white mist, like the boundary between the mortal world and something beyond.

Then —

The massive city suddenly flipped upside down, hovering above Bird Island — one right-side up, one inverted, facing each other like two forces meeting head-on.

From a distance, the island was nothing but a tiny speck of land, while the city in the sky loomed above it like a mountain about to crush it.

Grand. Eerie. Impossible.

The grandfather and granddaughter stood there with their mouths hanging open.

The rebel beauty pointed at the spectacle in the sky, her hand trembling. "Grandpa — a mirage!"

The old fisherman was completely stunned. "What the hell! How is there a mirage on a clear sunny day?!"

The rebel beauty was overwhelmed. "This is incredible! I can't believe this!"

She didn't forget to pull out her phone and start snapping photos like crazy.

And Elbert —

Was buried deep in the layers of white mist, staring stubbornly at the tiny green leaf. "Can you cut me some slack? Just flip over!"

But the little tender leaf sat there like some indifferent god — perfectly calm, above it all, completely unmoved.

Elbert finally gave up and let out a heavy sigh. "Robert, I've taken a real hit. Turns out I don't have even the tiniest bit of this so-called spiritual power."