Who moved her body?

"You won't see much scenery at night, you should board the boat during the day." The man offered, "We'll soon reach the boundary between the shallow and deep sea, where the seawater suddenly changes from light blue to dark blue, and sometimes you can even see many different colors changing. But you can't see it at night, it's all pitch black."

The lights at the bow of the boat shone on the sea, but it was indeed all pitch black; just as the boatman had said, you couldn't see anything.

"And seagulls, in the morning, flocks of them swoop down from dozens of meters above, as fast as rockets. Before you can even find where they've disappeared into, they've already taken to the sky, with a lively fish tucked in their beaks." The man steering the boat held a cigarette between his lips, placed his hands on the rudder, and turned fifteen degrees to the right.

"Hearing you say that, it seems I'll have to come back again during the day," Guan Jie said.

"But you have to come early, otherwise there are no seats on the boat. If you sit with people who have two or three kids, you'll be deafened by all the noise." The man put the cigarette back between the fingers of his left hand and said, "I don't know what's wrong with this time of year. People who have many children are either rich or poor. Rich people naturally don't take these kinds of boats; they charter their own boats. The rest are people who don't have much money but chatter on and on. They act like they're going to perform at the United Nations, and they can't go out without making a scene. As for the kids, don't expect them to take care of them. The adults themselves are so eager to jump into the sea and catch a mermaid. You think they can educate their children to be quiet? That's a pipe dream."

Guan Jie smiled ingratiatingly. Although he had never spent time with children before, the man in front of him was telling the truth.

Nowadays, the people having more children are indeed the rich and the poor. The rich have children to select the best successor to inherit the family business, just like an emperor wants to expand his lineage and choose an excellent heir. The poor, on the other hand, hope to fulfill their desire to be the father of a self-made millionaire by having more children.

One is to create a future for children, and the other is to hope to obtain a future from children.

This might be why many middle-class people are unwilling to have more children. They don't have family businesses to inherit, nor do they fantasize about being the fathers of self-made millionaires. They are pragmatic, wanting to bear the responsibility of having a child to continue their genes and live a good life in the present.

The man steering the boat asked Guan Jie, "Do you have kids?"

"No, but I'm getting married soon."

"That's great! Why didn't you bring your girlfriend along?"

"I'm on a business trip, I'll bring her next time. It's beautiful here, especially that white sand beach."

"That's right. That white sand was imported from abroad at a high price. It's thanks to that beach that Wild Rock City has developed so well. I heard it's now called a tourist city." The man said with a proud look.

The boat had already sailed far from the beach. Guan Jie looked back and saw the white sand beach standing out prominently, like a dike separating the sea from the buildings.

"I heard that all of this was funded by Diro Company; otherwise, this would still be a poor, remote place with hardly any fishermen," the man said.

As the ship drew closer to the desolate island, flashes of light occasionally streaked across the sea around it. Guan Jie pulled out his binoculars, which he had bought along with the high-powered binoculars kept in his room; they also had night vision capabilities.

There is a lighthouse-shaped tower on the island, cylindrical with a pointed top. The light comes from the searchlights inside. Judging from the frequency of the light moving back and forth, there is more than one searchlight.

Once in the room on the other side, Guan Jie couldn't see the light from the searchlights. The area connecting to the sea bridge was already brightly lit and heavily guarded; perhaps that's why searchlights weren't needed at the entrance.

The man steering the boat looked towards the location of the desolate rocky island and immediately spoke enthusiastically.

"That's Barren Rock Island, the headquarters of the Diro Company."

"Can we go up to the island and have fun? It looks pretty good."

Guan Jie himself didn't know if his words could convince the man on the other side; he certainly didn't believe it himself. The island was surrounded by piles of boulders, and apart from the towering lighthouse, there were no other buildings in sight. The few corners of buildings that could be seen from the other side during the day were now completely hidden in darkness.

If it wasn't a work of nature, then these boulders were piled up by human hands, forming a natural wall that prevents passing cruise ships from seeing anything on the island. Guan Jie adjusted his binoculars; a wave crashed against the island's edge, retreating in defeat after being hit by the rocks, revealing a sharp object on the rock's edge.

Guan Jie stared but couldn't see clearly. Although the seawater passed smoothly between them, those sharp black objects wouldn't allow any solid object to pass through alive.

The man chuckled a few times, as if mocking Guan Jie's naiveté.

"Wilderness Island is Diro's private property, not a park open to the public. Not only are tourists not allowed in, but even we locals have never been up there," the man said, waving his cigarette. "I heard it's all research up there, very confidential."

"Has no one tried to go up there?" Guan Jie asked, staring at the pointed objects that occasionally peeked out from under the searchlights.

"Go up?" The man shook his head, looked back at the cabin, and then lowered his voice to Guan Jie, "They have this."

The man temporarily removed his right hand from the rudder, raised his thumb, straightened his index finger, and retracted the remaining three fingers.

"Oh," Guan Jie replied.

……

The round trip by boat takes an hour, including a half-hour stop at sea.

The cruise ship sways gently in the bright moonlight and breeze, the waves lapping against the hull like the whispers of loved ones; couples whisper sweet nothings to each other, wishing they could stay in this moment forever; the boatman, having finished his work, ties up the mooring lines, humming a cheerful tune as he waves goodbye to Guan Jie.

Apart from Guan Jie, everyone else seemed to be doing well and content.

The beach silently churns with visitors. A yawning child is reluctantly dragged back by his parents, clutching a plastic shovel and bucket, pleading with them to promise to bring him back to dig in the sand the next morning. The impatient parents give perfunctory "uh-huhs." No one cares about these trivial matters, yet they play out every day.

Guan Jie, wearing a baseball cap, became an oddity on the beach, since no one else was wearing a hat at that moment.

The shop selling photos of long-legged women was still open. Papaya stood behind the counter, leaning out to talk to a lone man. For some reason, the man shook his head and left.

After the man walked away, Guan Jie appeared in front of Mu Gua.

"Business isn't very good." Guan Jie nodded, watching the man's retreating figure.

"Wrong, buddy." It was obvious that Papaya recognized Guan Jie. He said to Guan Jie, "The orders were all placed in the afternoon, and in the evening they are all individual customers. I'm just killing time. I'll close up shop in a little while."

The papayas now are completely different from those in the morning. It's like the papayas you see during the day are wilted, while these are fresh and juicy.

Guan Jie nodded, picked up a magazine, casually flipped through a couple of pages, and then put it back on the shelf.

Papaya leaned forward, jumping up and down, and asked, "Haven't you gotten over the afternoon's heat yet?"

Papaya stretched out two slender fingers and shook them, then pushed her lower lip up to her upper lip and grinned, saying, "Two hours, non-stop, damn it, are you made of iron? You still look full of energy. It's true what they say, comparison is the thief of joy."

In the afternoon, he transferred 1,000 yuan to Mugua via WeChat and gave Ali a 1,000 yuan tip. Guan Jie didn't know what Ali had said to Mugua, but he knew she wouldn't tell Mugua about their conversation.

Guan Jie curled up the corners of his mouth and reached out to pat Mugua's chest.

It has no texture, no elasticity, and is so hard that it seems to be nothing but skin and bones.

"You can't last long if you just burn calories without training." Guan Jie clenched his fist and lifted the short sleeve of his T-shirt, revealing his bulging biceps. Papaya, who was envious, almost drooled.

"If I had half your muscles, I wouldn't be stuck here watching this shop. At least I'd be living the high life alongside some important people. Sigh, that's just fate." Papaya walked out from behind the counter and took the bookshelf hanging there back down.

"Do you have connections? Can you introduce me?" Guan Jie asked quietly as he approached the shop.