Chapter 64: Chapter 64: The Plan
"What’s the matter?" Kuang Hongyi asked anxiously.
Yang Xiao didn’t need to ask. Just one look at Su Tingting told him she was enduring extreme pain. He immediately steered the boat over and jumped onto Su Tingting’s boat.
At this moment, Su Tingting was already lying on the boat, with snot and tears streaming down her face. She moaned vaguely, "My stomach... my stomach..."
Ignoring the propriety of gender separation, Yang Xiao reached out to touch Su Tingting’s abdomen. The next second, Kuang Hongyi saw Yang Xiao, who was half-squatting, tremble and nearly fall back into the water.
"Shit!" Yang Xiao’s face changed drastically, "There’s... there’s something in her stomach!"
Kuang Hongyi was also shocked, "What did you say?!"
"There’s something moving in her stomach!"
Pulling up the hem of Su Tingting’s clothes, and despite being mentally prepared, what appeared next made Yang Xiao’s teeth chatter. On Su Tingting’s belly, a small handprint appeared on each side. The handprints were tiny, undoubtedly those of an infant. They pushed outwards forcefully, and with each pull at her skin, Su Tingting trembled with pain.
By now Kuang Hongyi also saw the handprints and his face turned pale instantly, "What... what the hell is this? A ghost fetus?"
The mention of a ghost fetus by Kuang Hongyi snapped Yang Xiao out of his shock. He realized what the sound of the gong was all about. In some remote villages, there is a custom that when a woman has difficulty giving birth, an elder with high seniority in the village would stand at the door and beat a gong, facing outwards and turning their back to the threshold. It’s said that this can scare away the evil spirits fighting the woman for her child, ensuring her smooth delivery, hence the name Huansheng gong. Damn it, the gong sound just now... it was the Huansheng gong!
But... why was it Su Tingting? Clearly, the Young Lady was still on the Hebo Xi Ship; if anyone was to give birth, it should be the Young Lady!
Fortunately, after the gong sound lasted a while, it gradually disappeared. Only then did Su Tingting seem to come back to life, collapsing on the boat and gasping for air.
Yang Xiao rowed quickly towards the Hebo Xi Ship. As he neared, he called out in a hushed voice, "Shi Dali, something’s happened!"
He called out several times, but there was no response from the ship. By now, Kuang Hongyi had caught up and speculated, "He... he didn’t take the chance to run away, did he?"
It wasn’t impossible. Shi Dali was the most at risk tonight; who knew what he was plotting. Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi turned their boat around, heading for the stern of the large ship. A small wooden boat was tethered to the back of the large ship, rocking back and forth, its bow tied with a thick hemp rope.
Seeing the small boat still there, Kuang Hongyi’s expression improved slightly.
After some thought, Yang Xiao increasingly felt that something was off. The big ship seemed too quiet. He turned and asked, "Did any of you hear any movement from the big ship just now?"
Su Tingting, still clutching her stomach, weakly shook her head, "No."
Kuang Hongyi had a realization too. Logically, the Young Lady should have been the first to react to the sound of the Huansheng gong. It made no sense that Su Tingting was in such pain, yet the Young Lady didn’t make a peep. Even if her mouth was gagged, she wouldn’t be so silent; plus, Shi Dali was on the ship. How could... how could both of them be as silent as the dead now?
With this ominous premonition, Kuang Hongyi felt no need to keep his voice down any longer. He shouted at the top of his lungs to the ship, "Chu brothers, your little boat is drifting away! Come out and pull the boat back!"
The small boat at the stern could be considered Shi Dali’s lifeline. Without it, he would have to swim back. Yet, even so, there was dead silence from the ship.
Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Kuang Hongyi panicked and wanted to shout even louder, but Su Tingting’s cry interrupted him.
Staring behind her, Su Tingting trembled uncontrollably. Yang Xiao immediately turned around and widened his eyes at the sight—quietly emerging from the mist about twenty or thirty meters away were numerous small boats, forming a large circle that encircled them.
"Hiss—" Even the worldly Kuang Hongyi was dumbfounded by this eerie scene. Even more terrifying was that the boats weren’t empty; they each carried a paper doll.
At a rough count, there were at least a hundred paper dolls, both male and female, with pale paper faces, strangely arched eyebrows and eyes, and bright red lips. A gust of night wind swept past, carrying the grey mist beside the paper dolls, as if they were in the underworld.
Forcing himself to calm down—since panic only hastens death—Yang Xiao struggled to swallow, "Don’t... don’t panic, nobody move. These... These paper dolls are new. Take a look at those boats, the boats are new too, not shipwrecks."
Yang Xiao’s own voice trembled with fear as he advised his teammates not to panic, and Kuang Hongyi gradually calmed down, a fierce gleam appearing in his eyes, "Right, damn it, we’ve definitely been set up by Steward Liu again. These paper dolls and boats are all new, not the sunken ships we encountered last time. These things were definitely prepared specially for us."
Although they wanted to observe a bit longer, the boats carrying the paper dolls didn’t give the trio a chance. They started to slowly close in. Despite their slow speed, the pressure and despair were unprecedented.
Su Tingting’s abdomen began to swell again, causing her so much pain that cold sweat ran down her temples, "Something’s off!" Kuang Hongyi turned to look at the Hebo Xi Ship behind him, "Are we... could we have been deceived? Shi Dali and Young Lady might not be on the boat at all!"
Yang Xiao also realized this and quickly recalled the previous scenes in his mind. After a moment, his expression changed, "We’ve been tricked! This is all an act put on by Steward Liu and Shi Dali!"
The whole charade about being forced onto the ship, the conflict between Shi Dali and Steward Liu—it was all for show. Shi Dali never boarded the ship in the first place!
And as for Young Lady, they probably carried her off the ship the moment we left, without changing a thing. Master Feng couldn’t bear to lose the last blood of the Feng Family.
"We are the sacrifices tonight!"
Kuang Hongyi had also realized this and immediately understood where the problem lay, "It was this morning! Master Feng called Shi Dali over alone, and they talked for a long time. They must have set up this plan then!"
"Master Feng just wants Young Lady to survive, while Shi Dali plans to use Master Feng’s hand to get rid of us all!" Kuang Hongyi shook with rage, "That SOB!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The third round of drumming came, interspersed with more piercing gong sounds. Su Tingting suddenly collapsed on the boat, clutching her stomach and convulsing continuously.
Lifting up the hem of her clothes, the face of a baby eerily appeared on Su Tingting’s belly, straining outward as if trying to come out, all while its expression kept changing. At the same time, a faint laughter rang out, filled with malice and resentment.
"Chu, we can’t take care of her anymore, let’s go, we have to go first!"
The paper person boats were drawing nearer, and Kuang Hongyi could even start to make out the faces of the paper dolls hidden in the mist. In such a situation, it was every man for himself—no question about that.
"No, if we abandon her and ignore her, the thing in her belly will definitely come out, and then we won’t be able to live either!" Yang Xiao looked at Su Tingting, his mind unusually clear at this moment.
