Ch42 - Where the hell are you now?!

Wei Fuyuan’s thoughts were vacant and he completely blanked out for a minute.

He immediately wanted to get rid of the bloated body floating in front of him, but no matter how hard Wei Fuyuan tried, the corpse couldn’t be pushed away.

The floating corpse was so severely swollen and distorted that it was difficult to tell whether it was a man or a woman. It weighed the same as if it were filled with lead. Not only could it not be moved, but it also pressed directly on Wei Fuyuan as the water pounded. Wei Fuyuan and the floating body were so close during the struggle that they seemed practically intertwined.

Young Master Wei had never felt so irritated in his entire life. 

He merely had the feeling that the body’s distended and greased face was simply structured to stick to his face. His breath was thick, stifling with the damp, rotten odor. It was so sickening that he nearly passed out.

What was more terrible was that the floating corpse was like a sack full of stones, pressed against Wei Fuyuan, no matter how much he pushed and shoved it, he couldn’t get it away. On the contrary, it hampered his diving action and made him fatigued as he progressively sank into the water.

——What the fuck!!

Wei Fuyuan’s face was sweating with anxiety.

The more he wanted to get rid of the despicable corpse, the more he couldn’t do it, it was as if this dead body was hellbent on dragging him to the Yellow Spring together.

Wei Fuyuan didn’t want to drown in this river for such a ridiculous reason.

He pushed his feet downwards against the water many times, desperately trying to break through the surface of the water and after a few tries, Wei Fuyuan was eventually able to break through the surface of the river, and this time Wei Fuyuan pushed the floating body an arm’s reach away.

At the same moment, he felt a pull on his sleeve. 

Wei Fuyuan was taken aback. When he looked down, he noticed that one of the floating corpse’s hands had been grabbed around his sleeve fabric at some point. At first glance, the body appeared to have securely gripped him!

Which begged the question, how could a body that has been visibly deceased for a long time suddenly grab his clothes?

Wei Fuyuan tried to convince himself with logic.

But he’d seen too many ghosts recently, so much so that he’d abandoned the materialistic worldview he’d held for the several past years. 

There was no sense in thinking about whether a floating corpse would purposefully pull people into the river at this point; the priority here was to figure out how to get rid of this horrendous corpse!

After grappling underwater for so long, Wei Fuyuan was beginning to feel exhausted.

But the heavy floating body continued to draw him down, sinking him little by little.

——Bei Quan! 

Wei Fuyuan attempted to rip off the sleeves ‘caught’ by the corpse, but his clothes were all high-end brands. They were made of an abrasive material. They had also immersed in water for a while, making them even heavier, and sheer force could not tear them.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

——Shit!

Tbecu Zjrafg Qfl mtbxfv bc kjafg.

——Didn’t you want me to go out safely!? 

Lf gfoerfv ab ulnf eq, atgjrtlcu vfrqfgjafis jcv ja atf rjwf alwf, tbiifglcu Dfl Hejc’r cjwf lc tlr tfjga.

——So where the hell are you now!?

Aera ktfc Qfl Mesejc ofia tf kjr jybea ab vgbkc, jcbatfg obgmf wjafgljilhfv bea bo cbktfgf jcv rflhfv tlr jgw.

Tbecu Zjrafg Qfl ktlqqfv tlr tfjv jcv obecv atja la kjr jmaejiis j ubivfc glyybc, jiwbra ilxf j gbqf kgjqqfv jgbecv tlr jgw, jcv atf batfg fcv bo atf ‘gbqf’—— 

His eyes followed the path of the rope string. Wei Fuyuan saw Bei Quan standing on the bank of the river, holding a brush with one hand and dragging the ‘rope’ with the other.

Bei Quan was utterly drenched, and the white robe he had just put on was loosely attached to him. His half-length chestnut hair was entangled into a mess of locks.

But at this moment, in Wei Fuyuan’s eyes, Bei Quan was like a god falling from the sky, with holy light shimmering all over his body.

“Help me— oof!” 

Wei Fuyuan eagerly waved his movable arm to ask Bei Quan for help, but as soon as he spoke, he was engulfed by the water.

Fortunately, Bei Quan did not let him down.

The golden ribbon that had ensnared Wei Fuyuan tightened and drew him towards the riverbank.

At the same time, his opposite arm felt a strong tug from the floating corpse. 

“Release!”

Bei Quan on the bank gave a loud command. With a wave of the light tilting from Qingguang Vientiane Brush in his hand towards one person and one corpse in the water, a touch of red light swept over and accurately hit the hand that the floating corpse ‘grabbed’ Wei Fuyuan’s sleeve with.

The floating corpse’s grip on Wei Fuyuan’s sleeve loosened, and Wei Fuyuan took advantage of this chance to raise his legs and kick the body away from him.

The corpse who was clothed in white flipped around, and reverted to its original position of facing down. Quietly, it floated away along with the flow of the river as if nothing had occured in the first place. 

“Aha——”

Bei Quan pulled Wei Fuyuan to the shore.

He crawled up the shore using his hands and feet, and his body instantly went slack as he collapsed on his back.

“What’s the deal with that floating corpse?” 

Wei Fuyuan hesitantly raised his head, seeing the white-clothed floating corpse that had nearly killed him just moments before, drifting down the river, farther and farther downstream.

“How, how can you grab my arm?”

Bei Quan placed the Qingguang Vientiane Brush aside and moved Wei Fuyuan’s unruly hair away from his face.

“The body should belong to one of the missing teachers and students”. Bei Quan replied, “He either died abruptly or drowned in an agonizing manner. After his death, he felt deeply resentful. Because he was in a fragmented space, his soul could not be separated from the body. As a result, he became this kind of a resentful water ghost, trying to catch the living people instead.” 

He duly explained and gave a brief crash course on the scientific popularization of the water ghost to his assistant, who had absolutely no metaphysical understanding whatsoever.

“If you had simply taken a close look, you would have noticed that the feet of the floating body soaking in the water were erect, as if they were standing over the water out of thin air— this is a very important characteristic of vengeful ghosts who have died by drowning.”

Bei Quan made a walking’ movement by moving two fingers alternately.

“Sometimes, a string of footprints will emerge in the silt at the river’s bottom where the flow of water tends to be shallow, as though someone walked on it. These are the footprints left by drowning spirits, which itself serves as a terrible warning.” 

Then Bei Quan pointed to Wei Fuyuan, “The next time you encounter floating corpses with upright feet, remember to hide right away. They can’t be handled by laymen like you.”

His little assistant possessed the power of golden merits to defend his body. Ordinary malevolent spirits would have a difficult time hurting him. However, if he encountered a formidable ghost, Wei Fuyuan, who possessed the power of merit but didn’t know how to use it, would suffer a significant loss. He might even lose his life.

When Bei Quan turned to look at this Wei Fuyuan, who was wild, foolish and brazen, he felt weird and unexpectedly irritated.

The fact that this foolish kid, who didn’t wish to die, would swim over without thinking after seeing a man drowning in the river out of nowhere. 

——If something were to happen to this kid, Zhu Ling would probably butcher me.

He held out his hand to Wei Fuyuan.

“Can you get up? Let’s get out of here first.”

Wei Fuyuan had struggled in the water for a long time and narrowly escaped a painful death. He had inevitably lost a good amount of his strength. By now he had calmed down and steadily regained some energy at this point. 

His ears were a little warm, as he stretched out to take Bei Quan’s hand and stood up.

Only then did Wei Fuyuan have the chance to thoroughly observe his surroundings.

Before being dragged inside the bottom of the river, they had been in Xuanmen village in the early morning, but at this time, although it wasn’t possible to determine the time by looking at the color of the sky but from the height of the sun, it was approximately 7 or 8 a.m. In the distance, they could see scattered about like stars in the sky courtyards. The houses were intact with white walls and green tiles, smoke could be seen curling up from kitchen chimneys, which indicated that the village was inhabited.

“So we’re in the fragmented space right now?” Wei Fuyuan asked. 

Bei Quan nodded.

“Come on, let’s go to the village.”

Their first task now was to find the group of missing teachers and students, and determine how to save them.

As for the ghost—— 

Bei Quan smiled silently.

——No matter who the ghost had attached itself to, the host would be either dead or alive. At any rate, in such a closed space, where can it hide?

Unlike the abandoned village seen by Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan, the Xuanmen Village in this fragmented space was a little rustic and not at all depressing.

Barely after a few steps, they came upon four middle-aged ladies dressed like rural women. Each of them was holding a laundry basket and a washboard under their arm. They appeared to be going to wash clothes by the river. 

Wei Fuyuan’s hair sprang up all over his body like a hedgehog in danger and he entered a defensive position.

However, seeing the two wet strangers standing in front of them, the village women did not show any signs of terror or dread.

They immediately gathered around like typical, enthusiastic aunts and said, “Oh, distinguished guests, did you happen to accidentally fall into the river?”

“It’s not the time for the festival yet. Why do you both seem so anxious?” 

“Fortunately, nothing happened. Don’t go running around again!”

……

These village women used the Henan dialect which came with a strong accent. Wei Fuyuan had to listen carefully to understand what they were saying.

Bei Quan conversed as if he truly considered himself to be a guest in the village and proceeded to grasp the information he wanted, all the while soothing the women’s worries. 

“Forgive me, I am in a hurry.”

When Bei Quan opened his mouth, he enunciated the accent of Henan dialect, “I wanted to take a look around before the festival starts.”

“Aiya, don’t worry, don’t worry.”

A village woman smiled, “There is still a whole hour before the ceremony commences. You should change your clothes first and have some breakfast.” 

Bei Quan smiled and nodded.

“By the way, where are the others?” He asked, “I mean, have the other guests got up yet?”

Wei Fuyuan understood the underlying meaning in this sentence and immediately pricked up his ears.

“Hey, they’re asking about the guests who came with you.” 

Another village woman replied, “When I passed by Amin’s yard just now, the gate was still closed. They probably haven’t got up yet!”

Bei Quan’s heart began to beat steadily. The missing teachers and students did not appear to have died yet. Finally, they might just be able to save some of them.

He didn’t inquire about the guests any further. Instead, he bid goodbye to the four village women under the guise of returning to wash and change clothes, then took Wei Fuyuan’s arm and directly proceeded to go inside the village.

“Aren’t we going to look for the teachers and students of the photography department?” 

Wei Fuyuan looked at the large and small courtyards scattered ahead and was very confused, “Why didn’t you ask them where they live?”

Bei Quan glanced back at his assistant, “I didn’t expect you to be such a dumbass!”