41 The 41st day after retiring from the entertainment industry. Boss Sang is here, so you don’t have to worry…
After the sound of a splash into the water, the narrow and thin boat began to tilt wildly. With the arrival of another force, Sang Qiqi, who had barely managed to stabilize her body, staggered forward suddenly. The edge of the boat, which had already touched the horizontal plane, sank again in just two seconds, and the water in the reservoir began to pour in uncontrollably.
Sang Qiqi glanced at the boat that was about to capsize and decisively jumped into the water.
There is an emergency here, and the same is true on Cheng Heyi's side.
Before jumping into the water to search for Yanyan's body, she had prepared herself mentally. This time, the search would likely take a long time. After all, this place was closer to the center of the reservoir than where Zhang Lin's child's body had been found, so the water was naturally deeper. Furthermore, other rescuers had searched for two days without success. It made no sense that Yanyan's body would appear as soon as she arrived.
This is totally against common sense.
But after jumping into the water, this unreasonable thing happened!
Just a hundred meters ahead, Cheng Heyi spotted a corpse, its feet bound by waterweed. The body, only about 1.5 meters tall, floated upright, its tangled hair swaying in the current. Small fish quickly gathered around it, nibbling at the carcass's flesh with their tails wagging and mouths open.
For ordinary people, such a horrifying scene would make them tremble all over and have difficulty breathing, but for Cheng Heyi, he could only feel fortunate.
The body is still there.
She tugged at the black doghair rope tied around her waist and began to dive in the direction of the body. The distance seemed close, but in reality, it was not easy to approach. It took Cheng Heyi a while to finally reach the body. As usual, she quickly pulled out the special hook she carried with her and, struggling in the surging water, hooked it to Yanyan's waistband.
Then, he took out a dagger, dived to Yanyan's feet, and began to cut the water plants that bound her.
This is not an easy task.
Cheng Heyi had discovered this when he had salvaged Zhang Lin's body: the weeds in this reservoir were incredibly resilient. Cutting them with a knife felt like cutting through some thick hemp rope. After a considerable effort, Cheng Heyi exhaled a weary breath and ascended to Yanyan's side. Just as he was about to carry the body back toward the boat, she froze.
...Did Yanyan's eyes open at first?
The moment this question popped into Cheng Heyi's mind, goose bumps covered her entire skin. Her back, wrapped in her diving suit, instantly broke out in a cold sweat. Her entire body froze, her gaze fixed on Yanyan's face.
At that moment, Yanyan's eyelids suddenly twitched, and her dark yet strange eyes slowly blinked under Cheng Heyi's gaze. Then, Yanyan's face, which had been gnawed by fish, suddenly twitched, and her lips, which had turned white due to swelling, gradually curled up.
His lips moved, but there was no sound in his throat. However, Cheng Heyi seemed to hear a very low laugh.
Before she could react, Yanyan suddenly turned her body and ran away at an extremely crazy speed.
Caught off guard, Cheng Heyi, who was at the other end of the special hook, was like a prisoner hanging from the back of a horse, being dragged forward in the water without any ability to fight back.
The rapid speed caused a huge force of water flow, which hit Cheng Heyi's face and body again and again.
Pain surged through her body, and panic leaked from her eyes. She subconsciously tried to struggle and swim in the other direction. But the force was too great, and her resistance was useless. Instead, she could only watch helplessly as the black dog-hair rope tied around her waist suddenly tightened from its loose state at an extremely fast speed.
Then, a reaction force came from her waist, and the huge force almost broke her waist. The weight of the boat above her head was no match for Yanyan's strength. Both Cheng Heyi and the boat were pulled by this force and could not control themselves.
Cheng Heyi didn't know how long she had been dragged along, but she could vaguely sense that the water in front of her seemed to be getting darker and darker, which meant that she was getting further and further away from the surface. As time passed, the oxygen in her oxygen tank gradually decreased. Cheng Heyi calmed herself down and slowed down her breathing, but she knew that this self-rescue measure was actually useless.
After all, when she reaches a certain depth, the water pressure will hinder the expansion of her chest cavity.
She still couldn't breathe.
And now, this feeling has gradually emerged.
Cheng Heyi closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the panic and weakness in them had been masked, and she regained her clarity. She bit the soft flesh in her mouth to keep herself awake, and the knife in her hand, which had been used to cut water plants, continued to cut the hemp rope.
She doesn't want to die yet.
As long as she cut the hemp rope and separated herself from Yanyan's body, she would have a chance to float up and escape from her current predicament.
Yanyan, standing in front, noticed the struggles of the person behind her, but paid no attention. Her swollen body, like a fish, swam nimbly towards the deepest part of the reservoir. Her dark eyes shone with a frightening brilliance. As the depth increased and the struggles of the person behind her weakened, the smile on her face grew wider, until the arc of her grin became particularly exaggerated, a gaping hole covering almost half her face.
But at this moment, her body suddenly stopped moving forward.
Yanyan stared at the person in front of her with her bright black eyes and slowly tilted her head.
Sang Qiqi stared at her expressionlessly, her eyes passing over her and falling on Cheng Heyi who was behind her and could barely hold the dagger. It went without saying that Cheng Heyi had reached his limit.
He curled his lips at Yanyan, and she swam forward without hesitation.
Yanyan was startled and turned around quickly to run in the direction she came from.
She was not stupid and knew that normal humans would have to wear professional diving equipment like Cheng Heyi to dive into such a deep water. But Sang Qiqi was just wearing her slim-fitting brown off-shoulder top and denim shorts. Not only did she not have any diving equipment, her eyes were even bigger than hers, and the danger signal in her eyes was too obvious!
If you don’t run now, you probably won’t be able to run away later!
Yanyan reacted very quickly and fled very quickly, but because she turned around and ran, Cheng Heyi, who was originally dragged behind her, was thrown in front of Sang Qiqi. Seeing this, Sang Qiqi immediately raised her hand and grabbed Cheng Heyi's shoulders, pressing him into her arms. She patted Cheng Heyi's face hard, and seeing that his eyelids seemed to move slightly, she no longer paid attention to Yanyan and swam directly upstream.
Cheng Heyi originally thought he was going to die.
The severe pain in her body and the feeling of lack of oxygen and suffocation tortured her, making her feel as if she was hallucinating.
Through the hazy vision and turbid river water, she saw Sang Qiqi's bright face, but unlike the other party's enthusiasm and excitement when they first met, Sang Qiqi's little face was now very serious and her lips were tightly pursed.
Cheng Heyi hooked his fingers on Sang Qiqi's clothes and struggled slightly.
Sang Qiqi looked down at her, but was suddenly pulled down again by the force.
Her patience finally wore thin. She grabbed the hemp rope holding Yanyan and gave it a sudden push. She heard a startled scream and Yanyan's body flew towards her from a great distance, breaking through the resistance of the water. But she quickly stopped herself from retreating, and without a sound, the rope suddenly broke.
Her figure disappeared in the undercurrent of the reservoir, and Sang Qiqi and Cheng Heyi successfully emerged from the water.
Uncle Jiang, Xiao Hou and others who were waiting by the reservoir for news of Cheng Heyi's body recovery were so frightened when they saw the boat capsize that they started spinning around in confusion.
The surrounding rescuers couldn't help but frown. Though they weren't as experienced as a professional body retriever like Cheng Heyi, they could still guess something had happened underwater. The problem was, Cheng Heyi's entry point was too far from shore, and the water had returned to calm after the boat capsized. No one knew what had happened below.
The rescue team leader thought about it and immediately gave the order: "Well, let's go over and take a look. If there really is an accident, please lend a hand if you can."
The other team members nodded.
But when they arrived at the scene of the shipwreck, they only rescued the captain who was struggling in the water.
"Miss Cheng is nowhere to be seen, and even the assistant she brought with her is missing!" The rescue team leader looked at the soaking wet captain in astonishment. The captain waved his hand and said, "I guess he went to look for Miss Cheng."
Rescue team leader: “?”
What nonsense are you talking about? This is not hide-and-seek. Sang Qiqi hasn’t put on her diving suit yet. How can we find her?
Perhaps the changes in expression on the rescue team's faces were too obvious, so the captain wiped his face and said helplessly, "That girl looked delicate and thin, and even pretended to wear a life jacket, but when the boat capsized, she swam in the water like a fish. I wanted to dive with her to see what was going on, but even I, an experienced person, couldn't hold it in for long, while she moved in and out of the water with ease."
The captain didn't know how to explain Sang Qiqi's uniqueness to the rescue team, so he just said, "I suspect she's not just some assistant. She might be the successor that Miss Cheng has set her sights on."
The successor of the corpse retriever.
Just hearing this description makes you feel that the water element must be very awesome.
The captain's words calmed the anxious hearts of the rescue team. However, the suffering of those underwater was equally intense for those on board. The members of the rescue team periodically checked their watches, and just as they finally gave up and jumped into the water, a huge splash suddenly appeared on the surface of the water a hundred meters away from their boat, and a head popped out from it.
Sang Qiqi hugged Cheng Heyi and came out of the water. She roughly wiped the water off her face, looked around, and saw the captain and several rescue team members. She immediately waved to them.
The boat came to Sang Qiqi's side, and several rescue team members boarded the boat first and then worked together to carry the unconscious Cheng Heyi onto the boat.
The rescue team members were all professionals. They quickly untied Cheng Heyi's gear and gave her plenty of oxygen. Seeing her complexion improve, they turned around and asked Sang Qiqi, "What's going on?"
Sang Qiqi: “…”
She couldn't truthfully say that Cheng Heyi encountered a moving corpse and was dragged down by it.
If this were to be said, the members of the rescue team would probably have to take Cheng Heyi to the psychiatric department for an appointment when they sent her to the hospital.
But Sang Qiqi didn't really understand what was going on in the water, and she didn't know what excuse to use, so she could only vaguely say, "I'm not sure either. It was like this when I met Sister Heyi, and then I brought her up here."
"Then I guess we'll have to wait until Miss Cheng wakes up to find out the details."
When the boat reached the shore, Uncle Jiang and Xiao Hou saw that everyone was there, and their hearts finally settled down. However, Cheng Heyi still needed to be rushed to the hospital, so Uncle Jiang and Xiao Hou immediately asked someone to drive.
In the town hospital above Wuyanzhuang.
After two hours in a coma, Cheng Heyi finally awoke, her chest still aching. But even more than the pain, what caught Cheng Heyi's attention was the memory of Yanyan, who had supposedly drowned, suddenly resurrected and ran with her.
She stared at the ceiling above her head. Before she could completely get rid of the fear, the door of the ward was pushed open and Sang Qiqi walked in carrying some fruits.
Seeing her open her eyes, he let out a sigh: "Sister Heyi, you're awake. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
Cheng Heyi shook his head, his voice a little hoarse: "It's okay, just a little pain in the chest."
But she knew the pain was normal.
She looked at Sang Qiqi and remembered how she had been held by her in her arms while floating up in a daze. Her heart tightened, then suddenly relaxed. She thanked Sang Qiqi earnestly, "Thank you! If it weren't for you, I would have probably fallen to the bottom of the water."
Although Cheng Heyi is still young, he is quite skilled in rescuing people from the water. He has been doing this for several years, but this is the first time he has encountered such a horrific and outrageous thing.
Sang Qiqi waved her hand and walked to the bedside to sit down. "I promised to protect you before, so I must keep my word. But I should have gone into the water with you at that time, so you wouldn't have to suffer like this."
Sang Qiqi really didn't expect that the thing under the water was so bold. It was afraid that others didn't know that there was a problem with the reservoir, and it wanted to kill Cheng Heyi under the noses of so many people.
Moreover, before Cheng Heyi, the rescue team members had gone into the water many times and nothing happened, but Cheng Heyi was the only one who had problems.
It's hard not to think too much about this.
Cheng Heyi stood up and leaned against the headboard. He shook his head when he heard Sang Qiqi's words. "How can I blame you? It's my job to salvage bodies from the water. You're not really my assistant. It would be unreasonable for me to need your help with my work. But I'm really glad I brought you along this time."
Cheng Heyi never thought that his luck could be so good.
Originally, she was supposed to go to Wuyanzhuang alone, after all, Taoist Mingxin was not available. If Sang Qiqi hadn't suddenly joined the Ghost Guild and brought up the matter of the Wuyanzhuang Reservoir, she would have mentioned that she was coming over today, and then Sang Qiqi would have volunteered to come along.
If there had been any problem in any link, her life would have been in the reservoir.
After sighing, Cheng Heyi took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. He then looked at Sang Qiqi and asked hesitantly, "Can you tell me what happened underwater? I saw Yanyan, who was supposed to be dead, suddenly come back to life."
Yanyan's terrifying face had been lingering in Cheng Heyi's mind for a long time.
Sang Qiqi knew she had witnessed Yanyan's entire madness, so there was no need to hide it any further. She said bluntly, "That wasn't Yanyan, it was a water ghost possessing Yanyan's body. I think that water ghost has been living in the reservoir for quite some time, and it carries a lot of resentment and sin. I guess all the people who have drowned over the years were deceived by it."
Water ghost.
Cheng Heyi let out a breath.
As someone in her line of work, she had naturally heard of water ghosts. When she was a child, she even heard her grandfather tell her about how he encountered a water ghost in the river when he was young. However, she always thought that it was just a story made up by her grandfather, and she never thought that one day she would actually experience it herself.
"Is there a solution?" Cheng Heyi asked.
"Of course." Sang Qiqi replied confidently, "When we see it again, we'll just catch it. I just don't know if this water ghost is smart..."
If they were smart, they would have escaped from Wuyanzhuang Reservoir by now.
If not smart, that's fine.
Sang Qiqi can make some money again.
"Are you hungry? Let me buy you some food. The mushroom porridge here seems to be quite famous. Would you like to have some?" Sang Qiqi asked.
"Okay, I'll transfer the money to you then."
"Don't be so polite." Sang Qiqi said as she picked up her phone and walked out the door.
After she left the ward, Cheng Heyi slowly recovered. A moment later, she picked up her phone and searched online for "water ghost." When she realized what was happening, she couldn't help but laugh. How could such a thing be found online? However, the internet wasn't working, so Cheng Heyi had other helpers. She found Taoist Mingxin's WeChat account and sent him a message.
Ming Xin, who received the message, called directly and the first thing he said was, "Is he okay?"
"It's okay, luckily Qiqi came with us, otherwise you would have to bring my urn with you to the next late-night party that Yingjun has."
Hearing that Cheng Heyi was still in the mood to joke, Taoist Mingxin gradually relaxed and said, "I'm glad you're alright."
He then went on to explain the water ghost thing to Cheng Heyi: "Generally speaking, if a ghost who dies an unnatural death and harbors resentment isn't promptly taken away by the ghost messenger and sent to the underworld for reincarnation, then over time their resentment will likely grow and they'll turn into an evil ghost. Those who died in the water are what Boss Sang calls water ghosts. From what you've said, the water ghost dared to take your life in front of so many people. Either it's incredibly powerful and unscrupulous, or it hates you to the point of being blinded."
After a pause, Taoist Mingxin added: "But the fact that Boss Sang was able to rescue you from the hands of that water ghost proves that Boss Sang is also extraordinary."
Cheng Heyi thought for a moment, trying to recall the vague memory of Sang Qiqi, and said, "Qiqi was not wearing any diving equipment when she appeared in the water."
Taoist Master Mingxin said: "We Taoists can also do this. We just need to stick a water-repellent talisman on our bodies. Although people on the Internet speculate that Boss Sang is my colleague, I have a different opinion."
As a Taoist priest at Liuyun Temple in Jiashan Prefecture, Mingxin's master was also the current abbot. His network was significantly stronger than other Taoist priests. After the rumor that Sang Qiqi was a Taoist priest emerged, he had spoken with Taoist priests from other Taoist temples, but none of them had heard of Sang Qiqi's name.
This is unreasonable.
Although there are many Taoist temples and Taoist priests across the country, there are very few who can truly perform the art of fortune-telling, face reading, and talismans. If Sang Qiqi is truly a Taoist priest, her name will surely reach their ears.
But no.
"But it doesn't matter whether Boss Sang is a Taoist priest or not." Mingxin smiled. "With Boss Sang here, you don't have to worry."
"I understand." Cheng Heyi said, "Once this matter is resolved, if Qiqi is willing, we can get together."
Mingxin responded with a "good" response.
Not long after ending her call with Mingxin, Sang Qiqi returned to the ward, her hands full of food. Cheng Heyi watched her lay out everything, paused, and was about to speak when Sang Qiqi pushed her portion of mushroom porridge over and said with a smile, "Sister Heyi, you eat this, and I'll have these."
Malatang, small pot rice noodles, fried rice noodles, fried chicken, all of them are hers.
Cheng Heyi wasn't usually one to indulge in food, and had no interest in spicy hot pot. But today, with Sang Qiqi eating from a bowl in front of her, the aroma of spicy hot pot filled her nose. Besides spicy hot pot, the color of fried rice noodles alone was enough to whet her appetite.
Cheng Heyi: “…”
She pursed her lips and lowered her head to drink her porridge with difficulty.
After staying in the hospital for a day, Cheng Heyi took Sang Qiqi back to Wuyanzhuang.
Seeing her return, Yanyan's father wiped his tears and bowed deeply. Although he didn't know what happened underwater that day, he knew that Cheng Heyi almost died in the water. He thought Cheng Heyi would no longer help rescue Yanyan, but he didn't expect him to return to the reservoir the next day.
Sang Qiqi stood beside Cheng Heyi and said to Yanyan's father, "Uncle, don't worry, Sister Heyi will definitely bring Yanyan back."
"Thank you so much."
Cheng Heyi and Sang Qiqi went into the water together today. Cheng Heyi went to take Yanyan home, while Sang Qiqi went to catch the water ghost. Even if they couldn't catch the water ghost, it would still have a certain deterrent effect. At least Cheng Heyi wouldn't be targeted by the water ghost anymore.
The two changed their clothes and went into the water together at the same place as last time.
As soon as Sang Qiqi entered the water, she took off all the things on her face. Anyway, Cheng Heyi had already seen her moving freely in the water, so it didn't matter whether she put them on or not today.
Cheng Heyi made a gesture to her, Sang Qiqi nodded, looked around, and then waved her hand to indicate that Yanyan was not here.
So the two of them decisively changed places.
After tossing and turning in the water for more than two hours, when they gradually approached the center of the reservoir, Sang Qiqi and Cheng Heyi simultaneously saw Yanyan's body, which was still floating upright with her legs tied.
Sang Qiqi nodded to Cheng Heyi, and the two of them approached quickly.
At that moment, Cheng Heyi felt a terrifying aura coming from behind her. She was on guard and reacted quickly, twisting her body and rolling to the side. Meanwhile, Sang Qiqi narrowed her eyes and chased after the aura.
Looking at Sang Qiqi who disappeared in an instant, Cheng Heyi was silent for a moment, thinking of what she had said before going into the water: "Don't worry about me after you go into the water. If you find Yanyan, take her aboard and wait for me on the shore."
She pursed her lips, and with swift movements hooked the special iron hook onto Yanyan's belt, repeating the action from the day before. She carried Yanyan's body through the undercurrent and returned to a world with light and relatives waiting for her.
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