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墨書 Inktalez
The crane on the boat had already begun to pull the Land Rover from the water onto the shore.
I suppressed the fear rising in my chest, wanting to understand what was happening. "Let's go take a look," I said.
Liu Yiyi initially shook her head, but after a moment's thought, she followed behind me as we walked toward the riverbank beneath the bridge.
On the riverbank, more than ten recovery workers had also come ashore. Soon after, the police arrived and began inspecting the vehicle, searching for bodies. However, apart from a few remains of catfish, there was no sign of Wei Qiang's body.
I leaned forward and overheard one of the recovery workers speaking to his companion, "This is strange; it seems the body was eaten by catfish."
"Catfish are sinister creatures; they love to eat corpses. The more bodies there are, the faster they grow. I never knew there were so many large catfish in Rainbow River," another worker muttered.
"It looks like things aren't peaceful here; we should avoid coming around this area in the future," said the first recovery worker.
Hearing their conversation, Liu Yiyi nervously grabbed my arm.
I took the opportunity to pat her hand reassuringly.
"Everyone move aside! Get out of the way! Hurry up and clear out!" A middle-aged woman suddenly pushed her way through the crowd, shoving people aside. When she reached the Land Rover, she broke down in tears. "My son, you died so tragically! Where are you? You lot standing around, what are you doing? I’m paying you to work! Hurry up and dive back in to recover my son's body! Go now!"
The surrounding recovery workers exchanged glances. The pay for this job was indeed substantial—five thousand yuan each—but seeing so many catfish carcasses made many of them reluctant to continue.
Recovering bodies is actually more terrifying than working at a crematorium. At a crematorium, all you do is burn the dead; at worst, you might wash and apply makeup to them. But recovering bodies means working in the river, where one misstep could lead to being dragged down by vengeful spirits.
Now, the river was filled with floating catfish corpses, and before long, a foul stench began to rise from them, coating the surface of the water with a greasy layer and a wave of decay.
"I’m done. You need to have a life to spend money," a Body Recovery Worker said as he took off his leather suit and walked towards the bridge, followed by several other recovery workers who also left.
"Don't go! You all stop right there! Fine, ten thousand! Fifty thousand! If you recover my son’s body, each of you will get fifty thousand, and the one who finds him will get a hundred thousand!" Wei Qiang's mother shouted anxiously.
Sure enough, the three recovery workers who stayed were tempted. They replied, "Alright, but the police comrade is right there; we need a witness. If we find the body, you better not go back on your word."
The woman huffed, "You all hurry up and get in the water! I don’t care about this little money."
The three recovery workers donned their diving suits and went back into the river.
"Song Fei, you’re here too," a voice came from beside me. I turned to see it was Chen Shan.
I greeted Chen Shan and deliberately asked, "Captain Chen, what’s going on here?"
Chen Shan shook his head. "We don’t know yet. It seems that Wei Qiang got drunk last night and drove into the river. However, I asked some of Wei Qiang's friends, and they said he only had two bottles of beer and sang a bit before going home. He was quite sober. There are no skid marks on the road, so we’ll need a technician to check the brake system of the Land Rover later."
After chatting with Chen Shan for a bit, I realized that with Wei Qiang dead, it was a good opportunity to pay respects to Wang Shao. I asked Chen Shan for Wang Shao's address.
Chen Shan didn’t suspect anything and agreed to find it for me.
Not long after, two splashes erupted from the river, and then two recovery workers swam desperately towards the boat. Once on board, they shouted loudly, "Hurry! Yang the Third is trapped at the bottom of the river! Quick, save him!"
Everyone around was startled; however, these were professional recovery workers—experts in water rescue—and if they couldn’t save him, no one else could.
At that moment, firefighters arrived with professional diving equipment. They pulled Yang the Third from the riverbed using ropes. By then, Yang the Third was already rolling his eyes—dead beyond saving.
I exchanged a glance with Liu Yiyi. "Let's head back, Song Fei. I feel really cold."
"Alright, it does feel a bit eerie here." As Liu Yiyi and I left, I glanced back at the Rainbow Bridge, my mind swirling with chaos. The sight of that truckload of dead Catfish and the absence of Wei Qiang's body, along with the lifeless corpse recovery worker and the large-headed ghostly figure lurking beneath the water, filled me with a deep sense of dread.
Fortunately, Yang Gou Dan was still around; I felt I had some support, even though this brat was completely unreliable, sitting there playing games.
Later that evening, Chen Shan sent me Wang Shao's address.
I took a look: Beisheng Village, Anyun County, Hubei Province. I searched for it on my phone and found it to be quite remote, so I casually bought a train ticket at 106.
Lying in bed, I thought about that truckload of enormous dead Catfish—over a thousand of them. It was terrifying. Wei Qiang's body was still unaccounted for. And whether that ghostly figure was indeed Wei Qiang remained uncertain.
Suddenly, I sat up and wiped the cold sweat from my forehead. I had a nagging feeling that things wouldn't end so simply.
After some contemplation, I decided to take precautions. Since I didn't have any Talismans on hand, I planned to get some Black Dog Blood and Rooster Blood tomorrow. Additionally, I would buy a good Peach Wood Sword to carry with me; that would be safer.
Early the next morning, I went to the market and bought some Rooster Blood and Black Dog Blood to store in bottles. Then I purchased a Peach Wood Sword and a Rooster Comb. Finally, I could toss away that shabby Peach Wood Stick from my backpack.
With these items in my bag, I felt somewhat reassured.
I needed to fulfill Wang Shao's dream message first.
As the departure time approached, I hurried to the train station. On the way, I sent Liu Yiyi a text reminding her to stay alert and to call Chi Xiang immediately if anything happened so that Chi Xiang could bring Yang Gou Dan to protect her.
Anyun County was a poor area without High-Speed Rail access; only two green trains passed through. Although it would be quite a journey for me, the thought of earning one hundred thousand yuan made all the hardship bearable.
By the time I arrived at Anyun County station, it was already past eight in the evening, and the buses were definitely no longer running.
I shouldered my bag and stepped out of the train station, only to be immediately surrounded by a group of elderly men and women. They asked, "Need a place to stay? Ten yuan a night, do you need accommodation?"
I gritted my teeth and pushed through the crowd.
Just then, another group of middle-aged people approached. "Need a taxi?"
"The car to Anqun Town leaves in five minutes, are you going or not?"
"Hey buddy, where are you headed? Take my minivan."
The train station in our county was just like this five years ago, so I remained calm. "I'm going to Beisheng Village. Is anyone else going?"
As soon as they heard I was heading to Beisheng Village, more than half of them dispersed, leaving only three Brothers Wang looking at me. One of them said, "What are you going to Beisheng Village for at this hour? You might as well go in the morning."
"Are you going or not?" I asked.
"How much will you pay?" Brother Wang inquired.
"How much do you want?" I replied, unsure of the distance, and these Brothers Wang didn't use meters, which left me feeling helpless.
Brother Wang held up three fingers.
"Thirty? Alright, let's go."
"Are you kidding me, brother? It's three hundred. If you can't accept that price, go find someone else," Brother Wang said, showing no intention of bargaining. The other two Brothers Wang added, "This price is indeed not expensive. Let's wait for other customers."
I felt frustrated. "You must be robbing me! With three hundred bucks, I could get to another county!"
Brother Wang, a man in his twenties, chuckled. "Brother, I'm not trying to deceive you at all. Unless you want to take the bus for a cheaper fare, otherwise to get to Beisheng Village, Big White won't charge less than two hundred. It's not about the distance; it's about how difficult the road is. This place is in the mountains. If my car weren't on the verge of being scrapped, I honestly wouldn't want to make this trip!"
Hearing this, I thought he was quite straightforward. After glancing at the situation, I sighed and said, "Alright then, three hundred it is." Naturally, I felt a pang of regret over spending that amount, but considering that I would soon have a hundred thousand in hand, it didn't sting as much.
Brother Wang led me to a roadside area where an old Santana taxi was parked. I realized that model had long been discontinued; no wonder it was about to be scrapped.
Once inside the car, Brother Wang started the engine and drove towards Beisheng Village. The old Santana wheezed along the way; it seemed like the engine's axle was worn down with numerous bumps.
About forty minutes later, the road began to deteriorate significantly—potholes everywhere—and those roads were built winding around the mountains. This battered Santana had no shock absorbers; I felt like I was going to throw up from all the jolting.
Thinking about how Wang Shao used to live in such a remote place made me understand why she would go to great lengths to earn money. Once she left this place, she would surely never want to return.
"Are you alright, brother? With roads like this, only I dare drive this fast. Those taxi drivers wouldn't even think of taking this route," Brother Wang muttered, one hand on the steering wheel while he reached for a cigarette with the other.
I quickly urged him, "Slow down! Can you focus on driving instead of smoking?"
"It's fine. Back in my army days, I drove on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway! We're almost there. When we get out, leave me a business card. Call me when you're ready to leave and I'll take you to the train station for two hundred sixty," Brother Wang said as he puffed on his cigarette and expertly maneuvered the steering wheel.
I was so jostled that my stomach felt like it was about to turn inside out; stars danced before my eyes. As we approached a dirt road ahead, I looked up and saw a wedding procession coming towards us.
"What the hell! A wedding at this hour? Slow down! Don't crash!" I shouted loudly.
Brother Wang looked displeased. "What nonsense are you talking about at this hour? What car are we going to crash into?"
"There’s a wedding procession ahead! Slow down! Pull over!" I was frantic; we were just a few dozen meters away from a collision, and Brother Wang still wasn't reducing speed.
Brother Wang was startled. "What wedding procession? Are you blind or something?"
"Right in front of us! Can't you see?" I shouted, pointing ahead. "Step on the brakes! We're going to crash!"
"Screech!" The taxi driver slammed on the brakes, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He glanced around and then looked at me. "My brother, I can see you're a decent person, but... you can't scare me like this. It's late at night, and we taxi drivers are afraid of encountering anything strange. The most I can do is give you a twenty-dollar discount, but please, don’t scare me."
At that moment, I finally realized something was wrong. Brother Wang hadn't seen the wedding procession at all. What the hell! It was just five meters ahead, and he couldn't see it. The first BYD car in the procession was about to crash into us. I looked closely, my heart pounding wildly. Sure enough, the wheels of the wedding procession were not turning; they were completely gliding towards us!
"Stop the car, turn off the engine, and close the windows! Hurry!" I commanded urgently.
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