Ding Yudie swallowed hard.
He figured this couldn’t be A Pa—he might have stumbled upon one of Jiang Xiaoguang’s unknown secrets.
Ding Yudie quickly pulled out his phone and switched to camera mode: whatever it was, he’d never seen anything like it, better take a couple of photos first, it would only take a few seconds.
He’d barely taken a few shots when the “person” suddenly raised its head toward him. The grotesqueness of its face needs no description, but what was truly striking were those eyes—an excess of white, with pupils focused into intensely bright points, their gleam mesmerizing.
Ding Yudie nearly dropped his phone in fright, stammered “Sorry to disturb you,” and quickly retreated.
Next room.
Ding Yudie pressed his ear against the door, trying to listen for movement while also watching for anyone entering the corridor. He was so frazzled he couldn’t hear anything clearly, and silently cursed Yi Sa again—others in dangerous situations would mutter “Buddha protect me,” but not him; he cursed whoever had dragged him into this mess.
No more hesitating, just go in. If it was another strange creature, at least it would be locked in an iron cage. If luck wasn’t on his side and he opened the door to find a room full of people, he’d quickly close it, turn tail, sprint a hundred meters, run up to the deck, and splash into the water.
Whether A Pa lived or died would be up to fate—this job was too nerve-wracking, too tense. Water ghosts weren’t 007 agents after all. Ding Yudie was trained for underwater work: how to avoid whirlpools, how to fight fierce creatures underwater…
Dealing with people, especially their people, he had no experience with that. The psychological burden was too heavy. Rather than do this, he’d prefer to tackle alligators—several of them even.
The wire felt right in the lock. Ding Yudie took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
His eyes fell on Zong Hang, who had already freed his hands and was laboriously sawing at the ropes around his ankles with a piece of broken porcelain—probably too focused on the task to notice the slight noise from the keyhole. When he suddenly heard the door, his body jolted, and when he looked up, his face was pale…
Thank Buddha, finally found him.
Ding Yudie felt like he’d spent half his life on this boat.
He darted over and drew his Wu Gui dagger. Zong Hang shrank back in fear: “Who are you?”
Only then did Ding Yudie remember he was still wearing the black stockings. He grabbed the edge with one hand and pulled it up, revealing his mouth.
Then quickly pulled it back down: “Me.”
In his nervousness, he hadn’t noticed he’d only shown Zong Hang his mouth.
That voice…
It took Zong Hang two seconds to realize it was Ding Yudie.
The dagger was effective, its blade instantly cutting through the bindings. Zong Hang was both shocked and delighted: “You… how did you get here?”
Ding Yudie responded irritably: “Hurry up and go, I don’t have time to explain! Listen, stay close to me. Once we’re out the door, walk silently. If we run into anyone, run for your life. When we reach the deck, jump into the water, got it?”
This boat was like a hot stove—Ding Yudie couldn’t stand staying another second.
Zong Hang quickly nodded.
Ding Yudie inhaled, exhaled, opened the door, and barely poked his head out before pulling it back like he’d been stung by a scorpion. His face beneath the black stockings grew even paler as he muttered: “He’s coming, we’re done for.”
Terrible, we’re dead!
Jiang Xiaoguang was coming down.
Those bastards took the money but couldn’t do the job properly. They were supposed to “cause trouble” and “buy time”—how did they get settled in just a few minutes? Garbage! Useless!
Actually, this was unfair to them: up on deck, the temporary workers were currently checking the money—eight thousand yuan, eighty bills, examining them with flashlights for authenticity. It was Jiang Xiaoguang himself who had no interest in staying, leaving the water handlers to deal with them.
Jiang Xiaoguang’s muttering made Zong Hang’s hair stand on end: “Who’s coming?”
“Jiang… Jiang Xiaoguang.”
Dead, dead, trapped like rats, about to be caught red-handed.
“Is he alone?”
Wasn’t one enough? Ding Yudie nearly jumped.
Zong Hang said: “One is manageable, there are two of us. If he comes in, we can knock him out. As long as we don’t let him make a sound, we can still escape.”
Ding Yudie said: “That’s my uncle…”
How could he raise a hand against an elder?
The footsteps drew closer, and from the direction, they did seem to be heading for this room.
Ding Yudie’s lips went dry. Zong Hang, quick-witted in crisis, quickly sat back in the corner, pushed the broken bowl behind him and arranged the cut ropes to appear as if they were still around his ankles.
Ding Yudie stared in disbelief.
What was he doing?
The footsteps reached the door.
Zong Hang frantically gestured to Ding Yudie, first making a fist and miming a downward strike, then quickly putting his hands behind his back. His meaning was clear: I’ll distract him, you strike.
Why him?
Weren’t they supposed to fight together? Why was he supposed to do it alone? Damn, that was Jiang Xiaoguang—someone he normally had to respectfully address as “Uncle.” Besides, the man had just lost his son, how could he do such a thing?
The door opened.
Ding Yudie’s body acted honestly, quickly moving behind the door, where he saw the back of Jiang Xiaoguang’s head.
His hair was already graying—each gray hair carrying the pain of losing a son.
How could he strike?
Jiang Xiaoguang barely scanned the room before his shoulder blades suddenly rose.
That rise was like a starter’s pistol or a signal flare. Without thinking, Ding Yudie clasped both hands together and brought them down hard on the back of Jiang Xiaoguang’s neck.
People all have varying degrees of danger awareness, and often their bodies react before their minds. Water ghosts, being physically superior to normal people, had even better warning abilities: according to Three Families’ internal legend, when Jiang Xiaoguang sensed something was wrong, his shoulder blades would unconsciously rise. Yi Yunqiao was even more remarkable—a strand of hair by her ear would defy gravity and curl upward.
Jiang Xiaoguang’s body swayed but didn’t immediately fall. He even managed to turn around.
Ding Yudie’s ears burned, his heart pounded, his mouth dry. Behind the black stockings, his face wore an awkward, forced smile. Feeling the situation was hopeless and irredeemable, with “Uncle Jiang” almost rolling off his tongue, Zong Hang suddenly charged from behind and smashed a porcelain bowl against the back of Jiang Xiaoguang’s head.
Jiang Xiaoguang pitched forward.
Ding Yudie instinctively raised his arms to catch Jiang Xiaoguang’s imposing body, then slowly, guiltily, lowered him to the ground.
Up on deck, the show continued.
Two idlers were crouching, one on each side, each holding a flashlight, their beams crossing in mid-air.
The middle-aged man in charge sat cross-legged on the ground, holding a red banknote up to where the beams crossed. In the light, the leader’s face on the note looked increasingly benevolent.
The middle-aged man tried hard to find fault: “Hey, look at this magnetic strip, isn’t it a bit thin?”
The young water handler watched from the side, arms crossed, no longer angry. With a calm mindset, his thoughts became clearer: “Brother, are you here to scam us? Doesn’t look like it to me. You’ve got the money but won’t leave—after checking the money, what’s next, you’ll do some exercises?”
The middle-aged man was about to snap back when he suddenly saw Ding Yudie poking his head out from the cabin entrance, frantically signaling to him.
Alright, time to wrap it up!
The middle-aged man perked up. He stood and walked toward the two water handlers. When he got close, his right hand holding the thick stack of bills, he slapped them hard against his left palm.
The young water handler lowered his arms, expression alert: “What are you trying to do?”
The older one frowned: “Brother, we gave you the money, causing more trouble would be going too far.”
Not far behind them, Ding Yudie and Zong Hang were stealthily climbing over the ship’s rail.
The middle-aged man said: “Who doesn’t know what’s good for them? Just joking around, we’re leaving now. Come on everyone, move your butts. Thanks, boss for the money, welcome us back anytime.”
A splash in the water—probably someone getting cocky after getting paid, jumping into the water carelessly.
The young water handler cursed under his breath: “Street thugs.”
Compared to Ding Yudie’s “roller coaster” experience, Yi Sa’s situation was relatively “stable.”
After entering the water, she assumed a modified “half lotus” position under the boat, still suspended vertically in the water, with one foot’s instep hooked into the other leg’s popliteal space.
This position, also called the “anchor sit,” made her like a weight hanging beneath the boat, essentially broadcasting a signal: this area is under my “watch” now, passersby please give way, come back after I’m gone.
She closed her eyes and focused on listening.
Even someone like Ding Xi, who worked alone, could hear far better than normal people when given a relatively quiet environment and preparation time, let alone a water ghost-like Yi Sa.
She carefully distinguished sounds coming from all directions.
Electric motors were running on the boat, but these sounds were absorbed and conducted by the vast water body, becoming background noise. The clamorous arguing above was like water drops hitting plastic film, unable to penetrate.
Underwater was much more peaceful.
As she gradually entered the right state, the lake water seemed to seep into her skin, connecting with all her sensory organs, extending her sensory endings outward, allowing her to keenly detect subtle movements—this was typical “controlling movement with stillness.” When you could seamlessly merge with your environment, you would know if water flows changed, and you would know if fish approached.
After some time, Yi Sa’s eyelashes flickered slightly.
Something seemed off in the right rear direction.
It was already dark underwater, and being nighttime made it worse. Even with night vision, she couldn’t see far. Yi Sa turned her palm up and “pushed water” in that direction.
This “water pushing” was similar to throwing stones to test the path, requiring precise technique and force. With repeated, subtle movements, using water as a conductor, you could push “force” over if there was a fish, it wouldn’t care about your pushing, going about its business; if there was a fisherman who had strayed in, being suddenly pushed by this force would cause panicked movements that she would sense; and if it was someone from the Three Families, even better—they would push back.
But strangely, after pushing once, there was no response from that direction.
Meaning: someone was there, but they weren’t interested in interacting.
This was suspicious. Yi Sa grew tense, drawing her Wu Gui dagger.
Her instincts told her the person was still there, neither approaching nor leaving.
Being able to stay underwater this long wasn’t something water handlers or eight-legs could do…
Yi Sa wanted to go look, but silently reminded herself to resist: the priority was to help Zong Hang and Ding Yudie escape, she couldn’t rashly get drawn away and mess up the important task.
While she was undecided, two splashes came from above—Ding Yudie and Zong Hang had entered the water.
Seems things went smoothly. Yi Sa’s heart lifted as she quickly surfaced. When she reached the two, she did a roll, turned head-down again, and with Ding Yudie, each took one of Zong Hang’s arms and rapidly descended.
This was planned, to prevent pursuers—eight-legs and handlers couldn’t dive as deep as water ghosts, so going deep first would increase their chances of successful escape.
After reaching sufficient depth, they switched to rapid horizontal swimming. The deeper they went, the darker it got, with night vision only showing two or three meters around them. Yi Sa made a water ghost signal to Ding Yudie, first extending two fingers downward in an inverted “V,” then making a snake-head gesture forward, followed by curling her hand into a claw backward, meaning: situation unclear, you lead, I’ll cover the rear.
Ding Yudie drew his dagger and pulled Zong Hang along as he led the way.
Yi Sa deliberately fell back some distance, sometimes swimming backward, sometimes looking back, but noticed nothing unusual. Only when surfacing at the end, out of caution, did she look back one final time.
She saw, at the limit of her vision in the dark lake bottom, what seemed to be a vague dark shadow, like a rigid old tree.
Finally, they crawled onto the shore.
Though used to breathing underwater, it was still different from breathing fresh air. Ding Yudie collapsed on his backside, panting heavily.
Yi Sa urged him: “Let’s go quickly.”
Ding Yudie responded weakly: “Can’t go on, need to catch my breath, my legs are like jelly.”
Looking at his state, you’d think he’d been through a life-or-death struggle on the boat. Yi Sa was puzzled and wanted to ask Zong Hang, but held back.
After all, their last parting wasn’t a pleasant memory. Though they’d rescued him, she hadn’t figured out how to face him yet.
Guilty? Impossible, she was a bad person, why should she feel guilty?
But if she was a bad person, wouldn’t it have been simpler to just leave? Why come back to rescue him?
She couldn’t explain it, hadn’t sorted out her attitude, so she simply ignored Zong Hang, not looking at him, treating him as if he didn’t exist.
She checked the lake’s condition, then urged Ding Yudie again: “Let’s go quickly, what’s the point of sitting here? You can rest properly back at the hotel, can’t you?”
Ding Yudie was angry, thinking about it, Yi Sa was the most hateful.
He jumped up: “I shouldn’t have trusted you. Do you know what happened on the boat?”
What happened?
Yi Sa looked Ding Yudie up and down.
Apart from being wet, she saw no injuries.
“Were you tortured?”
Ding Yudie gritted his teeth: “I won’t even mention how difficult the process was, but the key thing is I hit Jiang Xiaoguang, hit him, understand? Someone familiar, an elder—in your position, could you have done it?”
Yi Sa said: “…Sure.”
Damn! Such a straightforward answer.
Ding Yudie was speechless for a long while, finally pointing at her: “Very good, Yi Sa, I really know you now. Turns out I never understood you before.”
Isn’t that obvious? Meeting once every few years, what understanding could there be?
“I’m going to keep my distance from you from now on…”
Then keep your distance, what’s with the pointing? Want to bet I could break that finger if I got angry?
“You’re finished!” Ding Yudie said, “A woman, without kindness.”
He stormed off angrily, walking recklessly.
Finally willing to leave. Yi Sa rolled her eyes and followed. After just a few steps, Ding Yudie suddenly turned back: “You promised to go down to the lake with me, you can’t back out of that.”
Without waiting for her response, he turned and left again.
Yi Sa snorted and casually followed.
She didn’t call out to Zong Hang or look at him, but as she walked, she unconsciously slowed her pace.
With his brain, who knew if he’d realize he should follow.
Zong Hang first watched the two argue, unable to get a word in, then watched them walk away one after the other, neither acknowledging him.
Especially Yi Sa, who hadn’t looked at him once from start to finish.
What did this mean? That he could go wherever he wanted?
Zong Hang stood there for a while, then jogged to catch up.
Whatever.
He was going to follow them.