Neither of them spoke anymore.
This secret was so immense it bordered on absurdity.
Zong Hang lowered his head, picked up a small pebble, and aimlessly scrawled on the ground. In the pitch darkness around them, he could neither see the ground nor what he was drawing.
After a long while, he finally spoke: “Who are these ‘they’? Aliens? Are they coming to take over Earth?”
Having been influenced by various films and TV shows, this was the only scenario he could imagine.
Yi Sa gave a sound of acknowledgment: “When encountering inexplicable things like this, blaming it on aliens is always a safe bet.”
The joke wasn’t funny at all.
Zong Hang raised his arm and threw the small pebble into the Yellow River.
The water’s roar was too loud; when the pebble was thrown, it didn’t even make an audible splash. “Yi Sa, there’s something wrong with your founding master.”
After careful consideration, it seemed the founding master, who had passed away thousands of years ago, had never truly retreated behind the scenes, but had always been calmly executing a phased plan.
Phase One: Laying the groundwork and waiting.
They appeared during the era of Yu the Great’s flood control, possibly carrying the “breathing soil.” When Yu passed the throne to Qi, establishing hereditary rule—given their water ghost abilities and the aid of treasured artifacts, they could have easily secured high official positions in the Xia Dynasty and left a prominent mark in historical records.
However, they didn’t.
Instead, they quietly retreated to riverside locations, propagating water ghost families, and established the lock-opening business of Jin Tang. They avoided fame, refused official positions, and stayed clear of all major historical conflicts, maintaining an extremely low profile. For hundreds and thousands of years, they remained consistent, peacefully pursuing wealth, living comfortably, and never making any major mistakes.
Phase Two: Using Jin Tang’s collapse to lure the three families into the Drift Cave and begin the first round of “grafting.”
It wasn’t until a hundred years ago, when Jin Tang repeatedly collapsed, watching vast fortunes slip away, and water ghost abilities gradually diminishing, that the golden rice bowl they had held for thousands of years was at risk of being lost. The three families, like frogs that had been lounging in warm water, finally felt anxious. But it didn’t matter—the founding master had foreseen everything like a prophet and provided a solution: Has it collapsed? Has the time come for “flying without wings, facing without facing”? No problem, go to the Drift Cave, that mysterious place where “rivers flow like brooms, the earth opens its doors, and wind charges toward the stars.”
No one doubted the founding master, so in 1996, the three families went happily and in full force, practically with gongs and drums. Divided by surname, three groups searched day and night in the Three Rivers source area, each hoping to be the first to succeed.
Finally, the Yi family both struck gold and met with misfortune. Nobody knows exactly what happened in the Drift Cave, but when Ding Changsheng and his people arrived, what they saw was “practically a scene of carnage.”
That was the first round of “grafting.” As Yi Sa put it, the purpose was to create an “advanced force.” The success rate was extremely low—a batch died on the spot, and the survivors were treated as “survivors” by Ding Changsheng and kept under concentrated custody, which ironically worked in their favor—these survivors had already become “them.”
Thinking about it now, perhaps the founding master didn’t care about the success rate; it didn’t matter how many failed products there were, as long as there were a few qualified ones, it would be enough to advance to the next step.
Phase Three: Complete the grafting, receive the mission, find a way to enter Jin Tang Cave, activate the Cycle Bell, and initiate the second round of large-scale grafting.
The “grafting” brought about both physical and conscious “invasion.”
Physically, it allowed newly deceased people’s wounds to heal and failed organs to function again. Simply put, it was a kind of life-growing force, but the extent was hard to control: some people’s muscles and bones shifted position, some had bones piercing through skin, some had heads growing to deformity, and some, like himself, recovered just fine except for mild rejection reactions.
Consciously, it was either the east wind overpowering the west wind or vice versa. Some people had already surrendered in their subconscious, shouting “Let me go, I need to go handle things, I need to go on duty in Jin Tang,” while others, though delirious, retained their self-consciousness and stance, sensing potential danger and yelling “kill them, we can’t let our guard down.”
More advanced ones were like Yi Baoquan and Jiang Jun.
Yi Baoquan was smug, envisioning prospects, making grand gestures, openly declaring “We have come,” but unfortunately was imprisoned from the start, probably never leaving that brick kiln until death.
Jiang Jun was more like a biting dog, never barking, never showing off, clearly knowing many secrets but not revealing a single word, only writing the most common phrase “they are coming” on the wall—sometimes, not standing out or drawing attention is also a form of self-protection.
Those who were relatively successfully grafted were entrusted with high hopes—that is, to enter Jin Tang Cave and initiate the next round of grafting.
Two people, also the longest-living among those affected, came closest to success.
Yi Xiao and Jiang Jun.
Yi Xiao was the only one who escaped from the brick kiln. She headed south straight to Tonle Sap Lake, not to find her sister Yi Sa, but was it because, in her subconscious, she was also going to “deliver”? But in her condition, she was still one step short.
Jiang Jun, on the other hand, proceeded quietly to the very end.
Taking advantage of the Jiang family’s opening of Jin Tang, he obtained the Jiang ancestor tablet. After entering Xi Chao, he first killed Jiang Xiaoguang, then attempted to attack Ding Yudi, because these two were not his kind at all. It was only a pity for Jiang Xiaoguang, who still considered him a son and showed leniency before death, trying to “wake him up.”
As for Yi Xiao and Yi Sa, he wanted to “assimilate” them. Through brain contact, similar to helping them strengthen this kind of conscious “grafting,” it’s not hard to imagine that if the assimilation was successful, the three could stay in Xi Chao together “on duty,” watching this grafting repeat and continuously optimize until this ferry truly began large-scale operation…
Everything was interconnected and methodical, seemingly all being realized one by one according to the founding master’s plan.
Now, they have progressed to the early stages of Phase Three. Of the three cycles, at least one was in a semi-activated state, no wonder Jiang Jun smiled so eerily when leaving the Kobe Maru.
Who exactly was the founding master? What was the purpose of all this? If there was such a plan, spanning thousands of years, it was too bewildering…
Zong Hang shivered: “Yi Sa, we… we can’t just let them come, can we?”
Although still unclear about their purpose, Zong Hang instinctively felt that these visitors meant no good.
Everyone knows that when visiting someone’s home, you should knock first.
Entering uninvited makes you either a thief or a robber.
Yi Sa asked him: “How do we stop them from coming? You saw in Xi Chao, there were so many. Once it begins, can you stop them?”
Zong Hang urgently said: “We still need to find a way to prevent it. What if while we’re talking here, people are already crawling out by Lake Poyang…”
He got goosebumps from the scene he imagined: what were these people crawling out for?
Surely not to participate in modernization construction.
The more he thought about it, the more urgent it seemed: “We need to… let everyone know about this…”
Yi Sa questioned him: “Let who know? Everything is just our speculation, without any real evidence. What can we use to make people believe? Just this booklet? Want to bet if you post it online, others will just think you’re making up stories or that you’re mentally ill?”
Zong Hang’s mind was in chaos.
Indeed, there was no evidence. No pictures, no truth. If only they could have taken photos in Xi Chao…
That wouldn’t work either, those cameras and photo equipment malfunctioned as soon as they went down.
He suddenly thought of something and blurted out: “Ding Changsheng! Yi Sa, others might not believe, but he will. He’s studied these people for over twenty years, and didn’t you say he must have an organization behind him? If he believes, it means a group of people will believe. Many people make things easier…”
Yi Sa was silent for a while: “What identity can we use to tell him? Don’t forget, we are also ‘them.'”
Zong Hang fell silent, sitting there dazed, his body alternating between hot and cold, occasionally shivering for no reason.
That question came back again.
What exactly was he now? Which side did he belong to? If one day “they” really launched a large-scale invasion, would ordinary people view him as an alien? How would they deal with him?
But even so, they had to speak up, right? They couldn’t just sit by and watch all this continue just to hide themselves?
He mumbled: “Yi Sa, you could think of a way to both hide yourself and pass the message to Ding Changsheng. Actually, you haven’t been exposed yet…”
A flash of something crossed his mind, and Zong Hang blurted out: “Your sister!”
Yi Sa didn’t understand: “What about my sister?”
Zong Hang spoke excitedly and incoherently: “Use your sister’s identity! When Ding Xi saw me come back to life, he must have known Yi Xiao also came back to life. He’s looking everywhere for me, but actually, he wants to find Yi Xiao through me, but in fact, Yi Xiao died in Xi Chao.”
Yi Sa interrupted him: “Wait a minute…”
Indeed, only a few people knew about Yi Xiao’s death. She could take advantage of this information asymmetry to create a story without loopholes, both protecting herself and conveying information.
As her mind was racing, her phone suddenly rang. Yi Sa was startled by the sudden screen light.
Ding Yudi?
She pressed to answer, about to speak, when her expression suddenly changed. She made a gesture to Zong Hang to keep quiet and turned on the speakerphone.
There was a rustling sound from the other end.
It seemed like an accidental connection.
Soon, a deep, hoarse voice came through. Yi Sa’s heart sank.
It was Ding Changsheng.
“Ding Yudi, why exactly are you asking about the kiln?”
Sure enough, the old fox had found Ding Yudi as soon as something happened at the kiln. What was this, an interrogation?
Fortunately, it wasn’t.
“Uncle Ding, you came to my house this late at night with so many people just to ask about this? Couldn’t you have just called? You scared me to death, I thought it was a robbery.”
From the tone, it seemed the conversation wasn’t too tense. Ding Yudi’s moth brain had shown rare cleverness, actually knowing to call her phone for a live broadcast.
Ding Changsheng laughed: “Yudi, you’re a water ghost, your abilities are undeniable, but you lack experience in reading people. Uncle Ding doesn’t want you to be deceived and still help count money for others. The kiln matter is a major issue for the three families, not something to play around with, and it’s not your Uncle Ding’s private business. Whatever you know, you must tell me.”
Ding Yudi said: “I just… I was just curious, just asked around about this kind of… ancient craft…”
Yi Sa couldn’t help but laugh. Ding Yudi truly lived up to his moth brain reputation, being poor at social interaction, telling such an unconvincing lie that could be seen through in seconds.
“Do you know this man in the photo?”
“No, who is he? Looks like a pretty boy.”
“This afternoon, this person injured Ding Tuo at the kiln. Based on Ding Tuo’s description, Ding Xi found his photo online and confirmed it was him. His name is Zong Hang. Think carefully, have you seen him anywhere?”
Yi Sa and Zong Hang exchanged glances, but this was expected: Zong Hang had been exposed long ago, otherwise, they wouldn’t need to keep hiding and wearing caps and sunglasses and all sorts of gear just to go out.
Ding Yudi’s tone was slightly exaggerated: “Oh, his name is Zong Hang?”
Yi Sa heard a hint of dissatisfaction directed at her in that tone: Damn it, didn’t you tell me his name was Apa? Even lied about his name!
Then decisively: “Never seen him. These plastic surgery faces, my god, eight out of ten look just like that.”
A heavy slam on the table.
Ding Changsheng’s voice had changed: “Ding Yudi! Don’t play games with me here. Your Uncle Ding isn’t stupid. You ask about the kiln first, then this person shows up at the kiln injuring people and stealing things right after. You expect me to believe it’s a coincidence? I’m being very polite to you because you’re a water ghost if you continue to…”
Ding Yudi was someone who wouldn’t yield to pressure: “Continue what? Uncle Ding, are you breaking plus making threats? If you keep this up, I’m calling the police… Damn it, Ding Xi, you dare push me? Try touching me one more time…”
Things seemed to be getting bad.
Yi Sa quickly hung up the phone and immediately dialed Ding Changsheng’s number.
It took quite a while before he answered. Ding Changsheng’s scene transition was truly skillful; his voice even carried a hint of warmth: “Sa-sa, what made you think of calling me?”
Yi Sa also smiled: “Uncle Ding, are you at Ding Yudi’s house?”
The smile piled on Ding Changsheng’s face instantly collapsed.
He raised his hand in a “don’t move yet” gesture.
In the corner of the room, Ding Xi and Ding Xi had Ding Yudi half-bent over. Seeing the gesture, they temporarily loosened their grip. Ding Yudi straightened up against the wall, his face changing color with anger: Fuck! The wrinkled collar was one thing, but these bastards had yanked off the butterfly clip in his hair, and now his hair was all messed up! Looking like a melon rind had been placed on his head!
Ding Yudi cursed loudly: “Just wait, Ding Xi, I’m not fucking done with you!”
Ding Changsheng quickly walked to the window, looked outside, and then went onto the balcony: “Sa-sa, you… haven’t returned to Cambodia?”
Yi Sa got straight to the point: “Uncle Ding, don’t give Ding Yudi a hard time. He doesn’t know anything. I asked him to help me inquire about the kiln.”
Ding Changsheng was momentarily speechless.
Yi Sa remained composed: “Also, this afternoon at the kiln – that was me too. I was in the middle of stealing something when you showed up, Uncle Ding. You nearly gave me a nervous breakdown.”
Ding Changsheng had never dealt with such an unorthodox play before, and for a moment didn’t know what tone to take: “Sa-sa, Uncle Ding doesn’t quite understand what you’re saying.”
Yi Sa giggled: “That’s simple then – let’s meet in person. I’ll send you my location, and you can find a place nearby. We’ll have a chat, preferably somewhere we can eat…”
She glanced at Zong Hang: “Zong Hang and I have been running around all afternoon, and we haven’t eaten yet.”