Gardner was so shocked by the fact that his precious son had suddenly transformed from a human into a mosasaurus that he was speechless for a long time, stiff as a large Roman column, sitting dumbfounded on Shen Lan's back.

Floating on the surface of the sea, Shen Lan listened to the commotion on his back and silently rolled his eyes towards the sky.

There was no wind on the sea at night for the time being, and the moon was obscured by a layer of clouds, casting a faint moonlight, but it was much brighter than the nearly pitch-black cabin.

Xia Chuan could not see Buddy, nor could he see the so-called Little Xia Chuan and Little Amos. In his eyes, there were only three people on Shen Lan's back: Xia Liang, Xia Anyao and Gardner.

He hadn't noticed before, but now he could see that Gardner and Shen Lan did indeed look very much alike. Especially when he lowered his head and stared blankly with no expression, the contours of his profile were deep and three-dimensional, reminding Xia Chuan of Shen Lan when he first saw him in the cave. But their faces were very different, perhaps Shen Lan looked more like his mother.

"The sea must be very familiar to you, right? Can you find a nearby island? Let's go there first and get our bearings." Xia Liang patted Shen Lan's back and asked.

Of course, Shen Lan, who had turned into a mosasaurus, did not speak, but he obviously increased his forward swimming speed, heading straight for a certain direction, looking very confident.

Everyone looked back and saw that the inconspicuous passenger ship slowly shrank in the darkness of the sea at night, quickly turning into a black dot and gradually disappearing from view.

Just as Professor Linton had expected, there were no new attacks from the ship, so they easily entered a relatively safe sea area.

Xia Liang kept looking back, not knowing what he was looking at. Xia Chuan glanced at him from the side and found that his gaze was fixed on a certain spot in the void of the sea surface, as if he was in a daze, or as if he was concentrating on something.

Xia Chuan also remembered what Dennis had said before. He said that when he saw the photo back then, he had asked Professor Linton about the passenger ship, and the professor said that there had been an accident at sea and some passengers had died.

Xia Chuan did not know which people were among those passengers, whether it was just Xia Liang and the others. Nor did he know whether deliberately cutting off the power supply would affect the truly innocent passengers on board, whether the passenger ship could return safely, or whether there would be more passengers affected later, such as the girl listening to the CD, the man borrowing a candle in the aisle, or the few diners sitting in the restaurant...

He only hoped that there would be fewer innocent people who were inexplicably involved in these things back then, because according to the professor, these things had already become facts and they were powerless to change them.

"The moon is quite round today. According to Chinese custom, it's a suitable day for reunion." Xia Liang finally withdrew his gaze after concentrating for a while and said with a smile, "We're quite in tune with the occasion."

"It would be even better if Ellie were here." Gardner, who had been hanging his head in a daze for a long time, finally raised his head when he heard this.

"Ellie?" Xia Chuan asked subconsciously.

"My wife, Amos' mother." Gardner murmured, "Unfortunately, she left me due to heavy bleeding during childbirth..."

Shen Lan, who was swimming at full speed, paused his tail when he heard this and rushed forward a long way from sheer inertia.

"Buddy... I mean the Buddy who left, was what he said true?" Gardner turned his head and looked at Xia Liang, "The facts can't be changed, we're all going to die, right?"

Xia Liang pondered for a moment, but before he could speak, Gardner had already shrugged and said, "Well, it doesn't matter. At least Amos and Xia Chuan are alive, not bad."

"Hey, little Amos," Gardner called out this name, but patted Shen Lan's back, obviously talking to Shen Lan, "Promise Daddy one thing."

Shen Lan: "..."

"Oh no, maybe it's two things." Gardner bent his fingers a few times in all seriousness, as if he was really counting, "Well, whatever, you have to promise everything I say, otherwise, when you return to the real world in the future, I'll float to your window to look at you every day."

Shen Lan: "..."

Xia Chuan: "... I'm sorry, but I think the place he'll be staying after going ashore should be my home."

Xia Liang: "... Wait, what?"

Gardner didn't pay attention to Xia Liang, only looked at Xia Chuan with a regretful expression, as if he hadn't reacted to the meaning of those words, and said, "Then I can only trouble you, Xia Chuan, to keep an eye on this kid for me, otherwise I might have to scare you together with him."

"..." Xia Chuan twitched the corner of his mouth and asked, "What things?"

"Although Ellie is no longer with us, his mother, that is, Amos' maternal grandmother, is still alive. Every holiday, I would take Amos to visit her. I don't know if the old lady is still alive when you return to reality, and how she is doing. If possible, I hope you can also take the time to visit her."

Gardner looked up and thought, "She lives in a house by the sea in C town, F state. Drive from L Street all the way to the end, there are two houses standing side by side, the one with the red roof is it. Ellie is also in the cemetery of that town. If possible, I hope you can go and bring her a bouquet of flowers every year. She likes sunflowers."

Xia Chuan: "............"

Because it was not convenient for Shen Lan to speak at this time, Gardner looked at Xia Chuan after he finished speaking, but found that the latter's expression was a bit complicated, not knowing whether it was a laugh or cry or something else...

"Xia Chuan, what's wrong with you? Did I say something strange?" After saying that, Gardner even patted Xia Liang, "Sorry, your son seems to have been dumbfounded by me, although I don't know why. Wait, Liang, why do you also look very complicated, like a vegetable field, a little green."

He is indeed Shen Lan's biological father, with a heart so big that it simply breaks through the sky. In the previous second, he was still sighing and regretting the fact that "they ended up dying after all". In the next second, he was bouncing around and teasing Xia Liang and Xia Chuan, the father and son on Shen Lan's back, one after another. He was simply born to be a teaser.

"...If you didn't misspeak the place name, then I think I not only know the place where Shen Lan's grandmother lives, but I'm also very familiar with it." Xia Chuan said with a complex expression on his face, "Because I lived there for a long time before. Coincidentally, the red-roofed house was right next to mine. An old lady indeed lived in that house. She often knocked on my door, asking me to help her repair some electrical appliances. I never thought she would actually be Shen Lan's... grandmother?"

He said, with a rare hint of disbelief in his tone at the end.

One can only say that fate is probably the most magical thing in this world.

"And I told Shen Lan before that when we return to reality, we will move back there again," Xia Chuan added.

Gardner said, "That would be fantastic. This way, I can have one less regret and concern, and the number of times I float to your window can be appropriately reduced. How cost-effective!"

Xia Chuan: "..."

Shen Lan was probably also shocked by his father's plan. His tail swished loudly, and his swimming speed rose in a straight line, splashing up high white waves.

Facts have proven that Shen Lan's navigational ability in the ocean is very reliable. Everyone was blinded by the splashing waves and couldn't see the scenery ahead at all. However, in almost the blink of an eye, they felt Shen Lan abruptly slow down. Not long after, he seemed to lightly bump into something. After sliding for a distance, he came to a complete stop.

Everyone sat on the broad back of the mosasaur, experiencing the taste of being stranded under the faint and detached moonlight on the sea.

They had reached the shore.

This was a tiny, isolated island in the sea, so small that one could almost see from one end to the other at a glance. Even on such a nearly miniature piece of land, the vegetation had not given up on growing, still squeezing the place densely.

Xia Chuan and the others packed up their belongings and disembarked from the back of the Shen Lan passenger ship.

Shen Lan slid back into the sea along the sloping coast like a corpse, then flipped over and dove into the depths in a splash of white foam. He transformed into human form as he came ashore, shaking his short, dark brown hair like a big dog, walking up to Xia Chuan, splashing his face with water.

"Not a bad place," Gardner looked around, then followed everyone and walked into the woods. He found a relatively dry spot and sat down.

"Eh? If I didn't misunderstand, didn't Buddy's parting words indicate that the information devices we carry have not yet been upgraded to have surveillance functions?" Gardner thought for a moment and said.

Xia Chuan nodded, "My understanding is the same as yours."

"That's great. At least we can have a proper farewell in a completely free state," Gardner sighed. "Tsk, on the last night of a family reunion, what meaningful things should we do? Oh right, do you know how to return to the real world? If we don't know how to go back, are we going to just stare at each other like this until the end of the world? How long would that take? Even the deepest affection would get tired from looking at each other, right?

"Although we died in real life, we are still alive and well here. Will we grow old then? Liang, why has your face turned even greener? Don't stand, sit down. You looking down at me like this is a bit like a horror movie character..."

Xia Anyao couldn't help but laugh, sitting down and pulling Xia Liang's finger, "Don't scare him with your straight face."

"I'm not scaring him. I just want him to stop talking for a moment so I can find a gap to say something," Xia Liang said with a forced smile.

Gardner said "Oh" and shrugged, "Alright, I'll shut up. What did you want to say?"

Xia Liang said indifferently, "If we were destined to die, with no possibility of turning things around at all, why would I go to such great lengths to bring you all here?"

Xia Chuan: "..."

Anyao: "..."

Gardner was dumbfounded, his mouth agape.

Only Shen Lan said numbly, "Please, the one who went to great lengths seems to be me..."