What's the situation? Did those two teams also find the third young master?
Su Tingting's face went pale, and her body trembled. She was terrified by the strange scene in front of her and the angry Yang Xiao. Fear can lead people to do unpredictable things, and Yang Xiao knew he could no longer scare her. He slowly released his grip, and Su Tingting fell to the ground, her lips trembling as she kept apologizing, her eyes red. "I'm sorry... I just wanted to leave here quickly. I didn't know..."
Turning to the reeds, the third young master remained the same ghostly figure, facing away from them and crying strangely.
Yang Xiao took a deep breath, squatted down slowly, and gently hugged Su Tingting as she looked at him with fear. "Don't be afraid. I know you didn't mean it. Please calm down."
Busy minds create chaos, and chaos leads to recklessness. Yang Xiao understood the importance of keeping Su Tingting calm to prevent her from doing something foolish.
Once she stopped shaking, he lifted her chin to meet his gaze. "From now on, you'll listen to me. I'll take you home, okay?"
At the mention of "home," Su Tingting's dark eyes lit up, and she nodded quickly. Compared to the distance she felt from the other teammates, Yang Xiao felt like an angel in that moment.
"Okay, I'll listen to you," she said eagerly. "So what do we do now? We should leave, right?"
Yang Xiao shook his head. "Not yet. Do you remember what Butler Liu said besides the disappearance of the third young master?"
Su Tingting quickly recalled, "There are also two paper-man stand-ins for the third young master."
"Exactly. I think one of the three young masters we encountered among our teams is real, and the other two are just paper figures."
There was no need to elaborate further. If they accidentally came across a paper man on the ship, the situation would surely turn dire.
After a moment's hesitation, Su Tingting asked the crucial question, "So, is this third young master real or not?"
"I don't know. He's turned away from us, making it hard to judge." Yang Xiao gestured toward the lanterns and life-extending incense at the bow of the ship while standing up to steer the boat, hoping to see the third young master's true face.
The sound of the pole splashing in the water didn't seem to attract the third young master's attention, which was strange, but it wasn't enough to conclude he was merely crazy.
After changing direction, Yang Xiao and Su Tingting fell silent. They still couldn't see the third young master's face because his position had changed. He was now half-squatting, his body crooked, one arm stretched out obliquely, the other arm bent, his wide sleeves hanging down and obscuring his face, while an eerie cry escaped from behind the fabric.
The hazy sight of him half-covering his face with his sleeve was not beautiful; rather, it deepened Yang Xiao's fear.
Yang Xiao maneuvered the pole, slowly guiding the boat toward the third young master, which startled Su Tingting. She looked at him in horror.
Yang Xiao gave her a reassuring glance. He could hear his heartbeat loud and clear, but he had to approach. If the third young master turned out to be real, the consequences could be severe, potentially involving the teammates on the other two ships.
When they were only three or four meters from the third young master, Yang Xiao abruptly turned the boat around, moving several times faster than before. Su Tingting couldn't see what he had noticed, but she sensed he had found a clue confirming that the third young master was fake.
As they increased the distance, the figure of the third young master vanished into the fog. Yang Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just then, Su Tingting asked, "Is the third young master fake?"
"Hmm." Yang Xiao nodded.
"How did you know?"
"Just now, when the boat approached, I saw his clothes through the lantern light. They were dry, as was the hem. Think about it: a crazed person sneaking onto a boat at night and into the lake wouldn't be completely dry, right?" Yang Xiao leaned against the cabin, gripping the support bar tightly. "Unless he's one of those things."
Su Tingting suddenly realized, "A paper man?"
"Yes, only paper figures are afraid of water."
In that moment, Su Tingting felt grateful to be partnered with Yang Xiao. "You're so capable; you don't seem like a newcomer at all."
"The gap between newcomers and veterans isn't that wide. You just need to observe and trust your own judgment." It was rare for Yang Xiao to offer Su Tingting advice.
"Huh?" Su Tingting's gaze stopped, and she pointed behind him excitedly. "Look, someone's coming!"
Yang Xiao immediately stood up and turned around. He saw a white light flickering through the fog, approaching them.
It was the white lantern from another ship. Yang Xiao guessed that the other ships must have seen the red light they released and were rushing over, but he didn't know which team it was.
"I hope it's Brother Kwong and Sister Xu Su," Su Tingting said, her face bright with anticipation. On this vast lake, nothing was more exciting than reuniting with teammates.
As the two ships drew closer, Su Tingting began to make out two vague figures standing on the opposite ship. But at that moment, Yang Xiao sensed something was off.
He grabbed the pole and began to steer the boat away, urgently instructing Su Tingting, "Quick, turn off our lanterns!"
Once he finished, the other ship gradually came into focus. First, a large white lantern broke through the mist, followed by a black tent boat almost identical to theirs.
Su Tingting's heart raced as she realized the figures on the boat were not their teammates, but two servants.
Both were soaked, their hair dripping as if they had just emerged from the water. Even more horrifying was the man at the front—Sun Amao, the handyman who had drowned not long ago!
Su Tingting remembered his name well; they had nearly clashed with the servants over his death.
The other figure, obviously long dead, was bloated, with swollen skin and a blurred face.
The two corpses stood motionless on the boat, staring blankly.
Thanks to Yang Xiao's steering, the two ships narrowly avoided each other. They both felt a wave of fear; if they had been even a moment later, they would have collided.
Yang Xiao swallowed hard. In the brief moment they passed each other, he clearly saw that the other ship belonged to his teammates. The bow had incense burners, debris scattered around, and a short knife was embedded diagonally in the edge of the cabin, blood stains still visible.
"A boat full of dead people..." Su Tingting didn't know whose ship it was, but they were all teammates who had come together, which filled her with sadness.
The signs of a struggle were evident. Yang Xiao couldn't determine exactly what had happened—whether their teammates had encountered the paper master or had provoked the ghosts on the ship.
But the priority was clear: they needed to get away and find the real third young master.
"How did you know something was wrong with that ship?" Su Tingting asked quietly.
"Just now, I noticed those two standing there without anything in their hands." Yang Xiao raised the pole, adding, "Who knows what might happen next in this place? I can't let go of this life-saving thing."
"I see." Su Tingting absorbed this new knowledge.
Before Yang Xiao could make his next move, he heard splashing from behind. Turning his head, he saw the outline of another ship emerging from the fog.
His scalp tingled. "Damn, they caught up!"
Yang Xiao dropped any pretense, immediately controlling the pole and accelerating as much as possible. But the ship behind was moving much faster. Within a few minutes, he could see Sun Amao's lifeless face at the bow.
Su Tingting realized the urgency and grabbed the short knife from the ground, discarding the scabbard. The blade glinted in the night.
"If we can't run, we'll fight!" Su Tingting didn't want to be bitten to death by these ghosts—if they could even bite.
"Get ready, you big-headed ghost!" Yang Xiao set down the support pole, snatching the knife from Su Tingting's hand. He then pulled out a small paper bag filled with soil.
"Take this." Yang Xiao handed her some soil, quickly explaining, "When I say, you need to put this in your mouth. Just hold it—don't swallow."
Su Tingting looked puzzled, wanting to ask questions, but Yang Xiao cut her off. "No time for explanations. Just do it, and don't talk with it in your mouth. No matter what happens, don't say anything, understand?"
Su Tingting nodded quickly.
In just a few moments, the other ship drew closer. Sun Amao, standing at the bow, had empty eyes, only murky whites, with wet hair falling across his face.
Seeing this horrifying scene, Su Tingting, who had been trying to stay calm, felt weak. Her hands and feet turned cold, a chill running through her.
"Now!"
Yang Xiao and Su Tingting put the soil in their mouths simultaneously, squatting on either side of the cabin, too scared to make a sound.
This was no ordinary soil; it was grave soil Yang Xiao had gotten from the horseman.
Before long, the ship behind caught up, and Su Tingting almost cried when they sailed side by side. Sun Amao and the other drowned ghost stood at the bow, eerily peering over at them.
As time passed, Su Tingting gradually calmed down and began to notice a pattern. The ghosts' eyes moved but never focused, as if they sensed the presence of the living but couldn't pinpoint their location.
Even now, she knew that it was the soil given to her by Yang Xiao that worked. She looked at him with tears in her eyes, silently expressing her gratitude. But when Yang Xiao noticed her crying, he misinterpreted it as a sign of trouble. His face paled as he quickly scanned for any issues.
But there was nothing wrong. Su Tingting kept crying and looking at him, her eyes full of a complex emotion that even Yang Xiao couldn't decipher. In the end, he grabbed a knife, preparing to fight if necessary.
Fortunately, after a while, the ship began to slow down, eventually disappearing into the fog.
After another five minutes, confirming the coast was clear, Yang Xiao spit out the grave soil and asked urgently, "What did you see just now?"
Su Tingting was wiping her mouth; the smell of the grave soil was overwhelming. "Huh? Nothing."
"Why were you crying then?"
As Su Tingting recalled, tears welled in her eyes. "I just wanted to thank you. We don't know each other, but you've saved me twice."
Yang Xiao exploded. "Seriously? Could you not make it so dramatic? I almost jumped off the boat!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Yang Xiao waved his hand. He wasn't in the mood to listen to her excuses; his legs and stomach were still trembling. Su Tingting's tears had been scarier than the third young master's paper figure.
"By the way, what kind of soil was that? It was amazing. Those things seemed unable to see us."
"I don't know." Yang Xiao's expression darkened.
"Then... where are we going next?" At this point, Su Tingting viewed Yang Xiao as her savior, willing to follow his lead.
After a moment's thought, Yang Xiao made a decision. "Let's not search anymore. Let's go back."
"Go back?" Su Tingting frowned. "But we haven't found the third young master. How can I tell Butler Liu?"
"We didn't find him, but someone must have. I think the team that got destroyed encountered the fake third young master."
Yang Xiao's logic was clear. Su Tingting quickly understood that the one found by their team was fake, as was the one encountered by the destroyed team. That meant the third team must have found the real third young master.
And since the third team hadn't shown up for a while, they likely had already taken him back.
Su Tingting had had enough of this foggy lake. She resolved never to take a boat again in her life.
After searching briefly, Yang Xiao spotted a red light in the fog. It was high up, likely the large red lantern set up by Butler Liu.
With the thought of returning to land, Yang Xiao quickened his pace. Less than ten minutes later, they were much closer to the red light.
"Come on, we're almost there!" Su Tingting stood at the bow, guarding the white lantern and incense burner, fulfilling the task Yang Xiao had assigned her.
As they drew nearer, Su Tingting's excitement suddenly faded. She saw the big red lantern floating in the fog, held aloft by a long wooden pole. But beneath that pole wasn't the shore—it was a massive shadow.
After a moment, Yang Xiao realized it was a ship larger than theirs. The long wooden pole was just the ship's mast.
The ship emerged from the fog in silence, completely empty.