From the faintly discernible sound on the flower bed, it can be judged that the distance from the ground is not very far.
If all the missing persons were at the bottom of the lake, their voices would probably not reach the surface.
Yu Yao held her breath, dived into the lake, and swam quickly towards the direction of the sound.
The lake was dark and the vision was turbid. Yu Yao could only try her best to grope for the source of the sound before she had difficulty breathing.
A few bubbles that could not be held back floated up with a gurgling sound. The cold lake water tightly wrapped Yu Yao's thin body. She searched in the cold and dim lake water, and gradually approached the place where the loud noise came from.
In the dim lake water, she couldn't tell where she was swimming to. She could only vaguely touch a cold thick iron plate with her fingers, and the countless voices came from behind this iron plate. The crying sounds were so dense that they passed through the water and reached Yu Yao's ears, making her feel indescribable panic.
What kind of board is this?
She felt around, following the shape of the thick iron plate, searching along the edge. Something like this built at the bottom of the lake must have a switch.
The lake water was still icy that day. Yu Yao felt cold all over after soaking in it for a while, and her fingers were shaking. She felt numb when she touched the iron plate in the lake water, and her breath was almost reaching its limit. If she didn't open the thick iron plate quickly, she would have to go up to breathe and then come down again.
Bai Fang pressed Miss Wu on the ground on the shore and looked at the lake nervously.
As long as Yu Yao didn't come up, she felt uneasy. She was alert to Miss Wu's actions and paid attention to the movements on the lake, her nerves were very tense.
"You seem to care a lot about that girl?" Miss Wu was pressed to the ground, her hands clamped by Bai Fang. She could not move and could only observe Bai Fang and say a few words.
She really didn't expect that this seemingly gentle and docile woman would react so quickly and act so ruthlessly, which was completely unlike her profession of being honest and gentle.
"Shut up." Bai Fang had a cold face. He had no time to listen to the woman's nonsense. His whole mind was on Yu Yao in the lake.
"I didn't expect she was actually that curious about where those people went. Could she have foolishly run to the bottom of the lake and found them?" Miss Wu let out a muffled laugh. "Although the lake isn't deep, diving in and not being able to come out could be fatal."
Every word Miss Wu said hit Bai Fang's worries. She raised her hand impatiently, intending to knock the man unconscious. As soon as her hand was raised, the person below suddenly laughed, as if he had found an opportunity. He struggled hard with both hands, twisted his upper body quickly, and broke free from Bai Fang's hand.
The hand quickly reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out.
Bai Fang stepped back suddenly, almost dodging subconsciously, but the distance was too close. Miss Wu reacted quickly and swung the thing towards Bai Fang's closest arm. A sharp pillow pierced into Bai Fang's skin, and blood flowed out while the potion was also infused into it.
"Hiss--" Bai Fang took a breath. He didn't know where the needle had been inserted. It hurt a lot.
After Miss Wu was injected with the needle, she did not hesitate at all. She quickly got up and ran towards the secret entrance of the park.
Bai Fang frowned and removed the bent needle from his arm, leaving a small hole from which blood was oozing.
She stared at the direction where Miss Wu escaped with an unhappy look on her face. She looked back at the lake, but there was still no sign of Yu Yao showing up.
I guess it won’t come up for a while.
Bai Fang slowly lowered his eyes, took out his cell phone from his pocket, sent a text message, then stumbled to his feet and chased after Miss Wu.
Miss Wu escaped from Bai Fang's hands and had no intention of turning back to fight back. She was very clear that this was a prey that she could not kill. Instead of fighting hard, it was better to escape first. When hunting, you have to choose the prey you can swallow.
But she never expected that the moment she crawled out of the hidden cave, she was greeted by dozens of thugs with weapons, staring at her with their eyes. They surrounded the place tightly, leaving no room for escape.
She frowned. She really didn't expect that they had called someone over. Before arriving here, she specially checked the surroundings. She guessed that they arrived later. The timing was really a coincidence.
"The boss told us to wait here because he wanted to see this woman." The leader glanced at the disheveled woman in front of him in confusion. "She's wearing a mask and gloves. She looks really suspicious. I wonder where she came from."
"The boss told us to block the traffic, so we have to. We are stuck here, but what should we do next?"
"The boss didn't say anything, he just said to block it first."
Dozens of eyes were staring at the woman, making her feel a little scared. She swallowed hard, tried to soften her voice and begged, "I just happened to pass by here. I don't know your boss, and I don't know what happened here. Can you please let me leave?"
"I advise you to stop trying to do this. It's useless. If you didn't make the boss angry, it would be fine. But if you did make the boss angry, you might as well beg the boss instead of us."
As she was speaking, Bai Fang came out of the hole behind Miss Wu. She looked a little tired. She stood up, covering her arm and taking deep breaths, as if trying to adjust her state.
"Boss? What's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?" Someone nearby who noticed that she was not in good condition asked with concern.
Bai Fang shook her head. She didn't know what medicine was in Miss Wu's syringe. It was probably something that could make people sleepy. Now her head was dizzy and she felt a little heavy, but she couldn't fall down like this.
Seeing Bai Fang coming out, Miss Wu glared at him with gritted teeth, put her hand into her pocket vigilantly, and stared at Bai Fang without blinking.
"Did you do that to those missing people in Yelai River?" Bai Fang adjusted her breathing and calmed down a little. She raised her eyes and met Miss Wu's gaze and asked calmly.
Miss Wu sneered, "So what if I did it?"
"Purpose?"
"What's my purpose? I don't even know any of them. What could my purpose be?" Miss Wu's cloudy eyes flashed with a sticky murderous intent. "I just want to kill them."
"Everyone is so happy, always smiling in front of me. The whole world is doing well, but I am the only one living like a rat in the gutter. It's disgusting. I feel sick when I see them. I can't control my hands and want to tear their faces apart with my own hands."
Bai Fang remained silent, his extremely calm eyes observing her.
Miss Wu let out a muffled smile beneath her mask. "You didn't see it firsthand. Witnessing the expressions on those people's faces, from terror to fear, and then to despair, was truly spectacular."
"The painful expression on someone's face before dying also makes me very happy. There is nothing in the world that makes me happier than this."
She burst into a low laugh, her emotions were particularly high, her voice was excited and high-pitched, as if she was giving an inspiring speech, but the content could not help but make people frown.
Bai Fang stared at her in thought.
Yu Yao was right. This man was a pleasure criminal, an indiscriminate murderer who wanted to kill anyone.
The problem lies in her own abnormal thoughts, and it is very likely that such a person will never be able to correct them in her lifetime.
Bai Fang sighed deeply. As a psychological counselor, she had no sympathy for such a terminally ill person. She silently rolled up her sleeves and slowly walked over.
"By the way, there's also Miss Yu from before." She suddenly changed the subject and mentioned Yu Yao.
Bai Fang suddenly paused and looked at the woman opposite him silently.
Miss Wu's eyes, curved in a smile, were filled with malice. "Honestly, she's the type of person I hate the most. I feel sick just seeing her. Her smile is so annoying, and when she speaks, I can't help but feel the urge to kill her."
"But the expressions of these people before their painful death are the most interesting."
"Her body looked very fragile. Whether she was drowned, strangled, or injected with drugs, she could easily die."
"She must have been in agony before she died. Crying and begging for mercy at the same time suited her best, hahahaha." She burst into laughter. As she described the scene in detail, her eyes were filled with uncontrollable excitement. However, when she turned to look at Bai Fang, her expression turned to hatred. "If you hadn't interrupted me, I would have drowned her in the lake long ago!"
Bai Fang stared at her intently without saying a word. The curve of his lips was clearly visible, and the air around him dropped a few degrees in temperature.
The thugs nearby all took a few steps back, not daring to breathe, and no one dared to speak.
"You look very angry?" Miss Wu narrowed her eyes. "Because I want to kill that girl?"
"I really want to kill her. How can someone stare at someone with eyes that light up, like they're full of hope for everything? I feel sick all over when I see someone like that. I really want to dig her eyes out."
"Look at her empty eyes, what hope can she still hold?"
Facing Miss Wu's mumbling, Bai Fang took a step forward silently. She immediately tightened the things in her pocket vigilantly, narrowed her eyes, and waited for the other party's move.
"Do you want to dig out her eyes?" Bai Fang asked in a calm voice.
"I want to dig, what's wrong? Are you still——"
The voice with a mocking smile hadn't finished speaking when it suddenly stopped in panic.
Bai Fang's figure quickly stepped forward. Miss Wu reacted very quickly and took out a sharp knife from her pocket, but before she could even hold it tightly, her arm was shaken violently and her whole body was quickly pressed to the ground. Her head hit the ground with a bang, and she felt dizzy.
What was even more difficult for Miss Wu to ignore than the headache at the back of her head was the shadow that suddenly fell in front of her eyes.
Bai Fang grabbed her neck with one hand, not using much force, but still making her dare not move at all.
The person in front of her was completely different from the calm, gentle, and even non-threatening aura she had displayed during their conversation just now. Now, those eyes, immersed in the shadows, were cold and dangerous, staring down at her like a snake. The chill of fear instantly enveloped her entire body, sweeping over her like an overwhelming force, spreading to every nerve in her body.
Miss Wu trembled and her breathing became a little disordered.
"You want to dig out her eyes?" Bai Fang repeated in a low voice. His voice was very low, slow and light, dragging leisurely, making people's nerves tense.
Her hand slowly reached out to the knife that had been shaken out of Miss Wu's hand and held it in her palm.
"What do you want to do?" Miss Wu became alert instantly and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Have you dug out other people's eyes? Do you remember their expressions at the time? How painful they looked?" Bai Fang narrowed his eyes slightly, with a hint of a smile in his eyes, but they were cold and terrifying. "Remember this carefully, otherwise you won't be able to bear it later."
Miss Wu swallowed with a gulp, her pupils widened, her throat was held by Bai Fang, and Bai Fang could clearly grasp every nervous swallow and the ups and downs of her throat.
"You look scared?" Bai Fang stared at the slightly trembling figure beneath him and shook his head. "That won't do. How can a hunter be afraid of his prey?"
The hand that was pinching her throat slowly moved upwards to Miss Wu's face, covering one of her eyes.
Her left eye was pitch black, but her right eye left her with a glimpse of sight through the gaps between her slightly opened fingers. In that sight was Bai Fang's cold gaze and the blade slowly raised above her eyeball.
"I heard that when a blade is inserted into the eyeball, the vision will first turn red, and then slowly turn dark as the eyeball becomes blind."
"The eyeball is very close to the brain, and it's said to be very painful and can affect the nerves."
"Your eyes are intact. You may have suffered other injuries, but your eyes have definitely not been injured, right?"
Bai Fang lowered his eyes and met her gaze.
"Want to try it?"
In the narrow gap of her vision, the sharp blade was pressing against her eyeball, hanging in the air, and she didn't know when it would fall and pierce her eye. This fear was infinitely magnified in her heart, eroding all her thoughts.
"No, no... no!" She struggled violently, flapping her hands in the air, trying feebly to break free from Bai Fang's control.
But her body was held down tightly, with one hand holding her head, so that she could not get up at all. A trembling voice rang out in the center of the crowd, but all she got in response was dead silence.
"You're scared already? You're really useless." Bai Fang sneered sarcastically and slowly raised the blade in his hand.
Miss Wu opened her eyes wide in horror, watching the sharp blade slowly rise, then suddenly fall towards her eyeball and pierce deep down.
The extremely tense rationality suddenly broke like a thin string at the moment when fear reached its peak.
Bai Fang withdrew his hand in time, and the blade stopped steadily above her eyes. The distance was very close, and the people around trembled and their nervous hearts almost jumped out. The person who was frightened was already in a trance by this.
She just lay on the ground with her eyes wide open, motionless.
"It's been a while since I've seen the boss this fierce." A small voice came from the side, "It seems the boss is really angry."
"I used all the intimidation tactics I used when I was a gangster."
"But no matter when you look at it, it's quite scary. Even though the boss is a woman, her aura and ferocity are so strong that no one dared to mess with her before. If I were that woman on the ground, I'd be frightened to death right now."
"Shh, stop talking."
Bai Fang stood up, stared at the person on the ground, took a deep breath, and handed the knife in his hand to the side. Someone immediately took it.
"Keep an eye on her and don't let her run away. I'll go back and guard this place." She said this and turned around to go back to the park.
"Yes!" The response was unanimous.
Bai Fang went back into the park, shakily brushed off the dust on his clothes and hurried to the lake.
When she returned to the lake, she still didn't see Yu Yao show up, and she felt a little nervous unconsciously.
It's impossible for him to not come up for so long, unless he has already taken a breath and then dived again, or...
Thinking of the latter, Bai Fang frowned, with worry and fear mixed together. She walked to the shore and prepared to go into the water to take a look.
Before she even put her feet in, the lake surface suddenly rippled with water. Yu Yao emerged from the water, all wet. Her face was pale from the cold, but she hurriedly climbed out of the lake using her hands and feet, as if something terrible was chasing her from behind.
"Are you okay?" Bai Fang quickly took off his coat and wrapped it around Yu Yao.
She shook her head with a pale face, her pupils trembling slightly, and leaned tightly in Bai Fang's arms.
"I said... the bottom of the artificial lake has a waterproof layer. No matter how hidden the body is, it will be found immediately." She took a breath, her voice trembling, and began to mutter.
"Even if it's a legacy of river engineering, it can't be left at the bottom of the lake, otherwise it would be impossible to lay a waterproof layer."
"As for the lake...what could be left behind from the river project that wouldn't interfere with the construction of the artificial lake and could be integrated into it?"
"That's the water diversion project, responsible for replacing the water in the lake."
"But the river project is not as deep as the artificial lake. Its water exchange project must be closer to the ground. After the development, the temporary project will be changed to a deeper artificial lake. It will be necessary to dig down and build another set of artificial lake water exchange projects at the bottom."
"The original river system was located too high, and then the new artificial lake system was built, so the river system is basically unusable."
Yu Yao paused, wrapping her white coat tightly around her. "So, the only abandoned water pipes in this lake are those used for the river project."
Bai Fang was stunned for a moment. When she came up, she saw Yu Yao shivering, wet all over, and pale-faced, mumbling to herself for a long time. But she still listened carefully and judged the final result.
"The body is hidden in that abandoned aqueduct?"
Yu Yao nodded silently, leaning closer to Bai Fang. Her voice was low and trembling, "I followed the sound and found the cover. It must have been a project from decades ago. The pipe still has the old-fashioned cover, and there's a huge, heavy valve next to it."
"I came up twice to change my air, then dived down and opened it with great effort."
"Then……"
Her voice paused here, and she slowly stretched out her hand, pointing towards the Yelai River behind her, "Maybe... they've all floated up now?"
Bai Fang was stunned and slowly looked up at Ye Laihe.
The lake, which had been peaceful, calm and beautiful before, was now filled with a large number of corpses floating near the shore. The bodies, dressed in all kinds of clothes, were swollen from being soaked and were floating on the water, illuminated by the bright sunshine. It was an unimaginable scene.
Yu Yao in his arms shrank again, her head buried in Bai Fang's arms, her body shaking.
"They're so noisy."
"There are so many... so many voices."
Bai Fang reached out and covered Yu Yao's ears, whispering soothingly, "It's okay, let's leave here first and call the police immediately. Let them handle it. Don't worry about it for now."
She pulled her coat over Yu Yao's head and took her out.
As soon as we left the park, a group of hooligans outside immediately surrounded us, their faces full of surprise.
"What's wrong with you, sister-in-law? You're so wet?"
"Boss, are you taking my sister-in-law to the hospital? The car is over there." One of the gangsters pointed to the road where many motorcycles were parked.
"Don't go to the hospital." Yu Yao reached out and grabbed Bai Fang, "There are more in the hospital..."
Bai Fang nodded, "Then I'll take you back and change your clothes first."
She raised her chin, looked at Miss Wu lying on the ground, and pointed toward the park. "Call the police and tell them to come over. Tell them the body has been found. They'll handle the rest of the case, and have them come to me to record their statements. Don't get too involved."
"Okay!" A group of people nodded.
Yu Yao was soaked all over, with water dripping from the ends of her hair. Her face was very pale, and it was unclear whether it was because of the cold or fear.
"Take off your coat." Bai Fang pointed at the gangster next to him.
"Coat?" The gangster looked confused, but still honestly took off his coat and handed it to Bai Fang.
Bai Fang took it, wrapped up the coat, hurriedly wiped the water off Yu Yao's hair, and then handed the coat over.
"I'm leaving, you guys hurry up and deal with it." As she said that, she took Yu Yao in her arms and walked towards the car, leaving the gangster holding the wet coat, at a loss.
The person next to him patted his shoulder with a serious look on his face. "It can't be helped. After all, she's my sister-in-law. And your coat looks the cleanest. Is it new?"
The gangster pursed his lips, looking like he wanted to cry but had no tears.
Bai Fang brought Yu Yao to the back seat of the motorcycle, wrapped her in his coat and pulled it tight, staring at Yu Yao's pale face, feeling indescribable discomfort. He could only reach out and rub her head, giving her a little comfort, and put a helmet on her.
She got back in the car and rode her motorcycle towards Yu Yao's home.
Yu Yao sat quietly in the back seat, pressed tightly against Bai Fang's back.
When she was almost halfway through the ride, she seemed to have recovered.
Her light voice came from the back seat, carried in the wind, so ethereal.
"When I opened the valve in the lake, they probably had a lot of resentment, so they all rushed towards me."
"It was underwater, and I swam very fast, so I was caught immediately."
Bai Fang paused, made no response, and listened quietly to her continue.
"I felt like they wanted to possess me. A bunch of souls were trying to occupy my body. I felt dizzy at the time."
"Then……"
Yu Yao closed her eyes, reached out and hugged Bai Fang, as if wanting to gain a sense of security from her.
"Then I saw the female ghost I saw in the lake last time, the one who had lived in the Yelai River for decades."
"She saved me, but at the same time...she also made a request of me."
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