Chapter 10: Ghostly Waters

Volume One: Village of Still Waters

When Luo Hengyan opened his eyes again, he found himself... in the middle of a dense forest!

How?

He had been lying in bed just moments ago!

A dangerous realization struck him. Could it be...?

He scrambled to his feet. The endless darkness between the trees seemed to conceal monsters waiting to emerge. A bone-chilling cold gripped him, freezing him in place.

Having only recently moved into the apartment, he lacked experience. He had no idea how to handle this. But why him? There was no reason!

Just then, a voice came from behind: "You... aren’t you that city guy?"

Turning, he saw Liang Renbin.

Not just him—Song Tian, Ge Ling, and Hong Wu were there too.

"You all..." Hengyan quickly understood. "Don’t tell me you also..."

"Woke up here out of nowhere," Hong Wu muttered, scanning the surroundings. "Did you have something to do with this?"

"Don’t be ridiculous!" Hengyan had no energy for arguments. Song Tian and Ge Ling, meanwhile, were visibly terrified. Only Liang Renbin remained calm.

"Let’s head back," Renbin said casually. "The village isn’t far."

Reassured, the group started walking. If the village was nearby, there was nothing to fear. But Hengyan stayed tense, constantly checking his shadow for changes. Thankfully, it remained normal—proof they were still within the apartment’s designated Ghostwater Village boundaries.

"Renbin!" Song Tian suddenly called out. "Has A-Xiu... been acting strange lately?"

"What do you mean?" Renbin frowned.

"I-I..." Song Tian trembled, recalling something horrific, but forced himself to ask, "Is A-Xiu doing something... unnatural?"

Lately, he had begun suspecting A-Xiu of cursing them—perhaps as a sorceress or a jiangshi master. How else could he explain the supernatural occurrences?

"What nonsense!" Renbin snapped. "Are you accusing A-Xiu?"

"Could she be using dark magic? I suspect she can summon spirits. Why else would her curses on Li Bing’s death anniversaries always come true? Look, Uncle Haotian and A-Qin have both vanished..."

"Shut up!"

Renbin lunged, fists clenched, but Hong Wu held him back. "Renbin! Calm down!"

"I think she’s unnatural too!" Ge Ling chimed in. "She’s always so gloomy! Obsessed with revenge for Li Bing—she’d do anything! Maybe she’s a jiangshi master or uses spirit boards!"

Hengyan rubbed his temples.

A jiangshi master? Impossible.

Xia Yuan had made it clear: the apartment’s blood-written directives involved pure supernatural curses, with no human involvement. A-Xiu couldn’t possibly be responsible.

But he couldn’t explain that to them.

Right now, he just wanted to return to A-Xiu’s house. Staying in this damp, shadowy forest was asking for trouble.

Damp...

Li Yin’s warning echoed in his mind: Water is the key.

The grass underfoot was indeed soaked. Hengyan tensed.

As time passed, an eerie wind picked up. "Stop arguing," he urged. "Let’s just go!"

The group fell silent.

But something felt off...

Hengyan couldn’t pinpoint it, but an unnatural sensation gnawed at him.

They pressed on, his nerves fraying. Then—

"Renbin! Has A-Xiu... been acting strange lately?"

Hengyan froze.

That question again—but this time, it came from Ge Ling.

Stranger still, Renbin reacted as if hearing it for the first time. "What do you mean?"

Ge Ling repeated verbatim: "Is A-Xiu doing something... unnatural?"

The entire exchange replayed exactly as before—only the speaker had changed.

Hengyan interrupted, "Why are you repeating the same words?"

But Ge Ling ignored him, continuing the scripted dialogue.

Like a recording on loop, Renbin flew into a rage, Hong Wu intervened—

"Enough!" Hengyan shouted. "Have you all gone mad? Why are you repeating yourselves? What’s wrong with you?"

They stared at him as if he were the insane one.

Hong Wu glared. "What are you talking about?"

"You’re acting bizarre!" Hengyan backed away. "Are you possessed?"

Just as Xia Yuan had warned: the later blood directives defied logic, growing increasingly incomprehensible.

The key was to stay calm and identify the pattern.

But Hengyan’s composure shattered. Unlike Li Yin or Qin Shoutian—let alone Xia Yuan—he wasn’t cut out for this. All he saw were people losing their minds.

Abandoning them, he turned and ran.

Soon, he realized—he was going in circles. The scenery never changed. At first, he dismissed it as the forest’s uniformity.

Now, it was undeniably unnatural.

Footsteps approached from behind. The group had caught up.

And the cycle repeated—

"Renbin..." This time, Hong Wu asked: "Has A-Xiu... been acting strange lately?"

The wrongness intensified.

Renbin, oblivious to having answered this twice already, replied, "What do you mean?"

Hong Wu parroted the same accusations.

Identical. As if possessed by Song Tian and Ge Ling.

Renbin’s fury erupted. He punched Hong Wu—hard. Blood spurted from his nose.

Earlier, Hong Wu had restrained Renbin. Now, he was the victim.

Renbin pinned him down, fists raining on his face.

"Stop...!" Hengyan tried to intervene, but his legs refused to move.

Stop...

Please stop...

The scene twisted into a dark spiral, dragging him deeper.

Meanwhile, Li Yin—searching the village for Hengyan—felt a presence behind him.

He turned.

A-Xiu stood there, smiling.

"Looking for someone? Mr. Luo... is missing?"

"Y-yes..." Li Yin stepped back. "He was sleeping outside, but now..."

"He’ll be fine. Perhaps he went for a walk."

Her calmness terrified him.

"Who... are you?" Li Yin demanded.

Xia Yuan had insisted humans couldn’t interfere with supernatural phenomena.

But...

Was A-Xiu even human?

She ignored the question. "This village, Ghostwater, thrived because of these mountains and waters. My parents and Li Bing’s worked tirelessly to build it. At dawn, we hauled water, dug soil—backbreaking labor. These mountains, these streams... they’re my memories. Li Bing’s too. We believed hard work brought happiness."

"Miss A-Xiu..."

"Now, I wish this village would burn. ‘Hard work brings happiness’? Lies. Li Bing and her mother gave everything—and for what? The villagers judged them, condemned them, killed them!"

Her face twisted with rage.

"Even as a ghost, Li Bing is more beautiful than any of these so-called humans!"

"You don’t understand..." Li Yin retreated, sweat dripping. "You’ve never seen true hell... true horror..."

Back in the forest, Hengyan walked blindly.

Liang Renbin appeared ahead.

"Renbin..." The words left Hengyan’s mouth against his will: "Has A-Xiu... been acting strange lately?"

This time—he was the one asking.

He couldn’t control it.

As he uttered "jiangshi master" and "spirit board," Renbin turned. His eyes gleamed with malice.

He charged, knocking Hengyan down, fists flying.

Then Hengyan realized what felt unnatural.

With each repetition of that dialogue...

One of them disappeared.

First Song Tian. Then Ge Ling. Then Hong Wu...

Now, Hong Wu was gone too. Yet no one noticed—only an uncanny unease remained.

Where had they gone?

The answer came swiftly.

The figure beating him was no longer Renbin.

A towering woman in white loomed over him—her mouth stretching impossibly wide, revealing a churning pool of water.

Inside it, Song Tian, Ge Ling, Hong Wu, and Liang Renbin thrashed, drowning.

The giant’s maw descended toward Hengyan...