Chapter 31: Chapter 31: High-Hanging Red Lanterns
"Everyone on the ship is dead..." Su Tingting didn’t know whose ship it was, but these were her teammates who had come here together, after all, and she couldn’t help feeling a sense of sorrow for their loss.
It was clear there had been a fight on that ship. Yang Xiao couldn’t tell what exactly happened, what led to the team’s annihilation—whether it was because they had picked up Paper Man Young Master, or because they had accidentally encountered the two ghosts from earlier on the ship.
But the urgent matter at hand was to get away from there and find the real Third Young Master.
"You... how did you know there was something wrong with that ship?" Su Tingting asked softly.
"I saw those two people standing there like idiots from afar, they weren’t holding anything," Yang Xiao lifted the pole he was holding, "In this damned place, you never know what’s going to happen next—can’t afford to let go of this lifesaver."
"So that’s why," Su Tingting’s list of odd knowledge grew.
Before Yang Xiao could make further arrangements, the sound of water suddenly came from behind them. Twisting around, the silhouette of a ship was faintly visible in the mist.
That single glance sent a chill down Yang Xiao’s spine, "Fuck, it’s actually catching up!"
Yang Xiao didn’t bother hiding his fear anymore, immediately operating the pole, trying to speed up as much as possible. However, the ship behind them was undoubtedly faster than before. Within a matter of two or three minutes, he could clearly see the dead-faced Sun Amao at the bow of the ship.
Su Tingting also knew it was crunch time; she steeled her heart, grabbed a short knife from the ground, discarded the sheath, its blade flashing a cold light in the night.
"If we can’t run, we’ll fight them!" Su Tingting certainly didn’t want to be bitten to death by these ghosts, erm... if they actually bit people, that is.
"Fight your big head, Ghost!" Putting down the pole, Yang Xiao snatched Su Tingting’s knife, then took out a small paper packet from his body, which contained some soil.
"Hold on to this." Yang Xiao grabbed some soil and handed it to Su Tingting, explaining quickly, "Now listen to me, when I say ’start’, put this soil in your mouth, remember, just hold it there, don’t swallow it."
Su Tingting looked confused, clearly wanting to ask more, but Yang Xiao didn’t give her the chance, "There’s no time to explain, just do as I say, and remember, when you have this soil in your mouth, don’t speak a word, no matter what happens, got it?"
Su Tingting nodded her head quickly.
In the few seconds it took to exchange these words, the other ship drew even closer. Sun Amao at the bow had no pupils in his eyes, only muddy white sclera with wet hair draped across his face.
Seeing this terrifying scene, Su Tingting, who had just been thinking about fighting fiercely, immediately went limp, her hands and feet ice-cold, a chill rushing straight to her crown.
"Now!"
Yang Xiao and Su Tingting almost simultaneously put the soil in their mouths and then squatted down by the cabin on either side, not daring to make a sound.
This was naturally not ordinary soil—it was grave soil that Yang Xiao had requested from the Coachman.
It didn’t take long for the ship behind them to catch up, eventually running abreast of theirs. Su Tingting was nearly in tears. Sun Amao, along with another Drowned Ghost, both corpses standing stiffly at the bow, tiptoeing, looking towards their ship, the scene was horrifying.
As seconds ticked by, Su Tingting, gradually regaining her calm, also figured out what was happening. The two Ghost creatures kept moving their gaze, but never focused, as if they knew there were living people on the ship but couldn’t pinpoint their location.
By now, even if she used her backside to think, Su Tingting knew it was the soil Yang Xiao had given her that was working. She looked at Yang Xiao with tearful eyes, silently expressing her gratitude across the chasm, but in Yang Xiao’s eyes, the meaning changed. Seeing Su Tingting in tears, he thought something terrible had happened, his face turned pale instantly as he frantically scanned around, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
But he couldn’t spot the trouble, and there was Su Tingting, still crying while looking at him, conveying a complex emotion through her eyes that Yang Xiao couldn’t decipher. Left with no other choice, Yang Xiao grabbed a knife, readying himself for a last-ditch struggle.
Fortunately, after a while, the ship slowly decelerated and eventually disappeared in the vast fog.
After waiting another 5 minutes to be certain there was no problem, Yang Xiao spat out the grave soil from his mouth and hurriedly asked, "What... what did you just see?"
Su Tingting was wiping her mouth, unable to stand the taste of the grave soil, "Huh? Nothing."
"Then why were you crying?"
Thinking about it made Su Tingting’s tears come out uncontrollably again, her eyes blurry with tears, "I just wanted to thank you. We are strangers, yet you’ve saved me twice already."
On hearing this, Yang Xiao blew up, "Fuck, can you not make up your own drama? I damn near jumped off the boat just now!"
"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I just wanted to..."
Yang Xiao waved his hand dismissively; he wasn’t in the mood to listen to a newbie’s nonsense. His calves were still shaking, and Su Tingting’s crying just now was scarier than Paper Man Third Young Master’s.
"By the way, what kind of soil is this? It’s amazing, those things seemed like they couldn’t see us at all." Su Tingting asked curiously.
"Don’t know," Yang Xiao responded without enthusiasm.
"So... where do we go next?" At this moment, Su Tingting already regarded Yang Xiao as her savior, following his every command.
After some thought, Yang Xiao made a decision, "We’re not looking anymore, we’re heading back."
"Going back?" Su Tingting frowned, "But we haven’t found the Third Young Master. How are we going to explain to Steward Liu?"
"We didn’t find him, but someone definitely did. The squad that got wiped out, I think, also received a fake Third Young Master."
Yang Xiao’s words weren’t hard to understand. Su Tingting quickly figured it out; their team found a fake one, and so did the team that got annihilated. If two fake Paper Men had appeared, then naturally, the third team must have found the real Third Young Master.
Moreover, since the third squad hadn’t appeared yet, they must have already set sail back with the Third Young Master.
Having had enough of this foggy lake, Su Tingting thought that once she returned to the real world this time, she would never get on a boat again in her life.
Searching for a while, Yang Xiao caught sight of a red light in the fog. The light was high up, probably Steward Liu’s large red lantern.
Thinking of returning to land made Yang Xiao quicken his actions. In less than 10 minutes, they had significantly closed the distance to the red light.
"Put in some effort, we’re almost there!" Su Tingting stood at the bow, guarding the White Lantern and incense burner, tasks assigned by Yang Xiao.
As they drew nearer, Su Tingting’s excited expression suddenly froze on her face. She saw the big red lantern wavering in the fog, hung on a long wooden pole, but below the pole was not the shore but a huge shadow.
After a moment, Yang Xiao made out what it was; it was a ship larger than theirs, its mast was the ’long wooden pole’.
The ship silently emerged from the fog, completely deserted.
