After Zong Hang left, Yi Sa led Wu Gui along the lake for a while, then crouched down, patted Wu Gui’s head, and pointed toward Duck Head Mountain.
Wu Gui understood, wobbling toward the water’s edge. As it entered the water, its wings suddenly spread out, as if warming up.
Yi Sa let out a breath and reached toward her lower back.
There, besides the Wu Gui dagger, she had small vials of animal tranquilizers, disposable syringes, and unopened sterile needles, all carefully sealed in waterproof bags and securely fastened to her waist.
The day after receiving the water ghost mark, there was a physical examination.
Though Yi Sa was extremely reluctant, she went with an obedient expression. After the blood draw, she stared intently at the syringe, wanting to grab it or exchange it with someone, but the entire process was too tightly controlled to manipulate anything.
After the examination, she immediately packed her bags and familiarized herself with the routes around the hotel, learning which path to the station was the shortest. She had even planned a deception strategy: if something was wrong with her body, she couldn’t simply escape from the many people of the three families. She would pretend to go to the station, pretend to buy a ticket, pretend to board the train, and leave while having different plans – building a decoy road while crossing through a hidden path.
Yes, this was all predicated on “if something was wrong with her body.” Like a desperate gambler, she wouldn’t give up until the very end, still wanting to bet on her good luck: what if they found nothing?
Heaven favored her.
The examination results showed she was nearly perfect in every way. Instead, it was her peer Ding Yudie who had various minor ailments, receiving lengthy medical advice about what to avoid eating and touching.
She first breathed a sigh of relief, then became even more nervous.
She couldn’t let her guard down – slow and steady wins the race. When certain signs appear, you must remain vigilant, or you’ll eventually stumble.
She began studying herself, making detailed tables recording everything she ate, did, and touched that day. She had never had blood vessels burst before, so why did it start specifically on the 19th? What triggered it?
She recorded, analyzed, and was extremely careful not to reveal her secret. On the 19th of the second month, it happened again at midnight. After six months, she had six samples to study.
She discovered some patterns.
For instance, the 19th was just the outbreak – her temper would gradually become more volatile starting from mid-month, resistant to any attempts at control.
For instance, regarding the duration of the blood vessel bursts – the more panicked and anxious she became, the harder it was for the black blood vessels to subside, and the more difficult the physical pain was to endure. Conversely, if she remained calm, they would usually recede within three to four hours.
Terror often stems from the unknown. As samples accumulated and experiences multiplied, her nerves became numb, and it no longer felt like the sky was falling.
In the ninth month, she began experimenting with medication.
Perhaps it was truly good luck that she found the right approach from the start. She began with sedatives like “Andin,” and quickly seized upon any discoveries. She filled and burned notebook after notebook of analysis and records, watching the pages curl and blacken in the flames, always feeling a flash of triumph at turning the tables: no one could know her secret. Even if she was infected and had a terminal illness, in the end, she would determine her fate. From birth to death, she wouldn’t be controlled or directed by others.
She stole the animal tranquilizers by picking locks. Sedatives were useful but always felt like scratching an itch through one’s boots – not quite reaching the right spot. What about animal tranquilizers? In truth, humans and animals are both mammals, differing only in the strength of their bodily functions. As a water ghost, her abilities far exceeded normal humans, so perhaps she could withstand the effects of animal tranquilizers.
This year she was twenty-four, her zodiac year, carrying this secret for the tenth year.
Every month on the 19th, she avoided exhaustion and injected herself with animal tranquilizers near midnight. Injecting too early wouldn’t achieve the optimal effect while injecting too late would cause blood vessels to burst. Moreover, as she aged, her symptoms became more severe than in her youth – even when it wasn’t the 19th, intense emotional outbursts would cause anomalies.
She believed this was some unknown illness, and she gradually learned its patterns, learning to coexist with it. It wasn’t strange – many elderly people live with chronic illnesses, human and disease reluctantly coexisting, bowing to each other until the final moment, entering the grave together in a relationship more difficult to separate than love.
She was just experiencing it early.
The rain continued falling as Yi Sa stood in the water, running both hands through her hair from her forehead, pressing it back against her head, and tilting her face up to receive the fine rain.
Sometimes life felt so meaningless, hiding secrets, wearing different faces, smiling and laughing, dealing with everyone, not even knowing why.
But having taken one step, you must take the next; having lifted one foot, you must move the other.
Things, days, life-like the path beneath your feet, must continue.
Yi Sa slowly sank into the water.
Many islands in Lake Poyang have been developed into small tourist attractions due to their beautiful scenery, with fixed ferry routes for visitors.
But Duck Head Mountain had been abandoned after several surveys.
Firstly, its greatest tourist value was its “duck head” shape, clear from afar but indistinct up close.
Secondly, the entire island was a massive reef jutting out of the water. The highest point, the duck’s head, was a vertical cliff seventy meters above the water, making it impossible to dock boats. While ships could barely dock at the duck’s body, there was nothing worth seeing on the island. The path to the duck’s head was steep, full of trees and loose rocks, making it difficult to ensure visitor safety.
Thus, it remained uninhabited, with even wild waterfowl rarely landing there – a truly deserted island.
Zong Hang moored the speedboat at the duck’s body section and carefully climbed ashore, carrying the tape player.
No one came to meet him. Zong Hang hesitated as he walked upward, softly calling out, “Yi Xiao?”
Loose rocks shifted under his feet as the forest loomed darkly above.
After a few steps, Zong Hang saw writing on the rock face.
—Upward.
Written in some luminescent material with a night-glow effect, he could see it especially clearly with the brightener in his eyes.
So he continued upward, feeling tense and carefully scanning his surroundings, but the island was particularly windy and rainy, with leaves rustling and trees swaying, creating sounds everywhere.
After walking a long way, nearly becoming agitated, he saw two more characters written on the ground.
—Continue.
Zong Hang looked up toward the heights.
Continuing would lead to the duck’s head.
The duck’s head was the highest point, a protruding rock roughly the size of a badminton court. Once there, there was nowhere else to go “upward” – every direction led down, and he wasn’t sure which way to “continue.”
Moreover, standing up there would make him like a target.
Yi Xiao liked being mysterious, but wasn’t this a bit much to still not appear?
Zong Hang swallowed and took out the tape player. “Yi Xiao, are you here?”
Still no response.
“I’ll play you a song, see if it sounds familiar.”
He pressed play.
The tape player was old, making clicking sounds as the cassette turned, and then the melody of “Shanghai Bund” slowly drifted across Duck Head Rock, through the wind and rain.
While the song played softly, Zong Hang’s heart gradually tightened as his gaze repeatedly swept across the lower trees.
Where there were guiding characters, there must be someone behind them, but why wouldn’t they appear?
Was she observing him? Did Yi Xiao still need to observe him?
Buying time?
Almost as soon as this thought sparked, during a lull in the music, Zong Hang heard boat engines.
He quickly turned around.
In the distance, two speedboats were racing toward them one after another, with numerous shadowy figures visible aboard – not a small number of people.
“Damn,” Zong Hang jabbed the stop button on the tape player and grabbed it to run, then suddenly froze.
He saw, seemingly also drawn by the boat sounds, a figure flash briefly in the dense undergrowth.
That silhouette was not Yi Xiao!
Zong Hang’s mind exploded instantly. The next second, he used all his strength to run madly back the way he came.
Yi Xiao hadn’t come!
Or perhaps she had come but left, leaving another group of people on Duck Head Mountain to deal with him.
He had no time to think about why – he needed to escape, to run quickly!
Yi Sa was swimming underwater, holding onto one of Wu Gui’s flippers.
After working together for so long, they had developed an understanding – when she pulled lightly, Wu Gui would swim faster; when she pulled harder, Wu Gui would slow down. The journey was long, and Wu Gui needed to surface periodically for air.
Yi Sa remained underwater continuously, so to anyone watching, it would appear to be just a water bird diving in and out.
As Wu Gui dove down again, Yi Sa seemed to see something moving quickly past her in the opposite direction, at some distance.
It was pitch black underwater, and even with the brightener in her eyes, she couldn’t see clearly. Yi Sa only vaguely sensed that the thing was fairly large, stark white, and moved very nimbly.
A big fish? Maybe a river dolphin?
The thought flashed through her mind.
Suddenly, Wu Gui’s whole body shuddered, then burst forth with enormous strength, making a suspended turn in the water – like a car drifting into a U-turn on the road – and rushed to chase after it.
This had never happened before. Yi Sa was yanked into an unexpected underwater roll. An unprepared underwater roll made her chest extremely uncomfortable. She was forced to surface for air, and it took several strong pulls to get Wu Gui back. She slapped its forehead.
Damn, it, asking for a beating – can’t you see what situation we’re in, still thinking about catching fish to eat!
Wu Gui finally came to its senses, reluctantly flapped its dripping wings, corrected course, and dove back underwater.
It didn’t know what that thing was either.
It was just an animal’s instinctive reaction to a scent it had pursued before.
When Zong Hang reached the shore in his mad dash, the two approaching speedboats had already landed elsewhere. The people aboard jumped ashore with swift movements – just from their postures, it was clear they were all strong, skilled individuals.
Zong Hang stepped into the water and climbed into the boat, about to start it when he suddenly froze.
The propeller had been removed!
What to do? Jump in the water? No, he was holding the tape player – it would be ruined. Yi Xiao had said it was her sister’s memento, she had kept it for many years, maintaining it carefully, which was why the tapes still played…
In just this moment of hesitation, several people had already rushed toward him. Zong Hang had no choice but to jump out of the boat and run in another direction. After running some distance, he looked back and saw that besides those few, the others weren’t rushing to chase him.
They spread out along the shore, positioning themselves at intervals, holding long poles that they extended into the water. Several others took the speedboats to the cliffside, also carrying long poles.
It seemed like an encirclement, but honestly, would this kind of surrounding water be effective? Yi Sa had said that water was like having a home-field advantage. The island was surrounded by water on all sides – if he could just find a gap to jump in…
First, find a safe place to hide the tape player.
Zong Hang gritted his teeth, grabbed onto a reef with one hand, and took large strides to jump across a rock crevice.
Yi Sa heard boat engines underwater.
At first, she thought it was Zong Hang finishing their quick meeting and leaving, but upon careful listening, she realized it wasn’t – it seemed to be two speedboats, their sounds growing louder as they approached Duck Head Mountain.
To be cautious, Yi Sa tugged Wu Gui’s flipper, avoiding the loudest area and moving toward where the coastal reef was highest. As they neared the shore, she released Wu Gui’s flipper.
Wu Gui wobbled and splashed away in the opposite direction.
Someone shouted angrily: “What was that!”
Just as Yi Sa was secretly relieved that Wu Gui had diverted their attention, suddenly her whole body felt like it had been struck by a pole, slamming her against the underwater reef.
Wu Gui’s struggling sounds came from far away as Yi Sa floated up face-up, her limbs convulsing, mouth gaping, eyes fixed. For several seconds, she did not react at all.
She heard human voices, like flour being blown by the wind, falling slowly grain by grain, covering her face.
“Oh my, it’s a wild water raven, what a shame – that’s our three families’ lucky mascot. Quick, quick… pull up the poles…”
The cool lake water lapped at Yi Sa’s nose and mouth.
After a long while, when that side had gone quiet, she shakily climbed up using the reef’s uneven surface.
Chase’s calls and human voices came from an unknown direction, like drumsticks beating against her eardrums, sometimes soft, sometimes loud.
Her consciousness was becoming unclear, and she kept shaking her head or slapping herself.
Those were electric fishing poles – they had electrified the water below.
She didn’t know how Wu Gui was, it had probably been knocked unconscious by the electricity.
She reached for her lower back.
The impact had shattered the vial of animal tranquilizer, its sharp pieces puncturing the waterproof bag. After soaking in lake water, it was now filled with water.
Yi Sa wanted to vomit but couldn’t.
She stumbled toward the shadows, with only one thought in her mind.
—There are people from the three families here, who hide, hide quickly.
The effects of the electric shock hadn’t worn off. Yi Sa’s head was splitting with pain, and she seemed to hear human voices from all directions. In her daze, she crawled into a hole and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
It wasn’t really a hole, just an inward curve in the rock face with a tree conveniently growing in front that poorly concealed it. The top was open, and she could see the moon.
Yes, the rain had stopped, and a waning crescent moon hung in the sky. It looked fuzzy white, and Yi Sa rubbed her eyes, feeling as if the moonlight was like melting water drops, slowly falling onto her face, making it itch.
She reached up to touch her face and felt gradually rising bumps.
The voices approached again, along with hurried running footsteps. She even heard Jiang Xiaoguang’s loud rebukes.
Strange – hadn’t he left early in the morning escorting Jiang Jun’s corpse home?
Yi Sa pulled out the Wu Gui dagger from her lower back.
This was fate – she might not be able to keep her secret anymore. Rather than being captured alive, studied, or “burned” after her condition worsened, she’d rather end it cleanly herself.
Suddenly, someone rushed in panicking, apparently not expecting anyone there, and nearly cried out.
Yi Sa kept her head down, her wet hair trembling slightly, and said: “Don’t come closer.”
The person froze, then suddenly became both surprised and delighted: “Yi Sa? Why are you here?”
It was Zong Hang.
Zong Hang hadn’t expected he could run so well, though he nearly threw up from the exertion: darting and jumping, occasionally grabbing rocks to knock down two pursuers, even being tackled once, but he kicked and struggled free again.
Finding Yi Sa here filled him with such joy his eyes grew hot.
She was truly like his savior, always appearing when he was most desperate.
He lowered his voice, warning her to be careful: “Yi Sa, I wanted to escape by water, but I saw many fish floating belly-up, so I thought they might have poisoned the water. What should we do now…”
He suddenly stopped speaking.
The pursuers were close, their voices and footsteps all around. Someone shouted:
I just saw him.
—He couldn’t have run away, and searched around, he must be nearby.
—Isn’t there a hole over there? There…
Yi Sa raised her head.
In the moonlight, her face was covered with grotesque blue-black marks.
Zong Hang was stunned, momentarily incoherent: “Yi Sa, how did you…”
Flashlight beams appeared, one, two, many.
Someone cursed: “Get more people over here, surround all sides. Damn, he’s like a monkey, jumping around so fast.”
Yi Sa said: “Zong Hang, they can’t find me. If they find me, I’ll die, do you understand?”
Zong Hang nodded: “I know, I understand, they can’t find you…”
Yi Sa looked up at him, pushing against his abdomen, her eyes showing an almost cruel resolve. She whispered again: “Do you understand?”
Zong Hang suddenly understood.
He looked down at her hand, not raising his head again. His vision gradually blurred, and he didn’t even know what he was mumbling: “I understand, so hide well, don’t let them find you…”
Before finishing his words, he turned and rushed out, tackling two people who were about to enter.
Yi Sa stood motionless, her empty hand still frozen in place, and then began to tremble slightly.
Through the rock wall, she heard Zong Hang fighting, fighting desperately.
Then he seemed to be knocked down, with a muffled thud. They probably stuffed sand in his mouth because he kept roaring and spitting.
Then there was silence. Someone shone a flashlight and laughed: “Oh look, he’s crying.”