Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Mysterious Menace in Zhensha River

The meal lasted for more than half an hour, and the table was left in a complete mess; it was obvious who was responsible for that—Jia Ying, of course.

“Ah, I’m full! Cousin, let’s go for a walk!” she declared.

To be honest, I was at a loss when it came to this gluttonous cousin of mine. All I could do was nod and reply, “Alright,” then go pay the bill. Once I returned, Jia Ying linked her arm through mine, and we headed toward the city park.

Strolling along the park path, I asked Jia Ying how long she’d been at the academy, why she hadn’t thought to look me up before, and how she had managed to find me.

She pouted at my string of questions and replied, “I just transferred to the Archaeology Academy, and I’m only a freshman now. When I first came in, I heard there was a genius senior named Hu Xiaodong, but I was afraid I’d mistake someone else for you, so I didn’t dare approach. You were so dumb as a kid—who knew you’d become such a good student?” She glanced at me slyly as she finished.

Jia Ying wasn’t wrong. As a child, I lagged behind her in everything; my stupidity could be called legendary. If I hadn’t met the Demon Ancestor Jiang Chen, I’d probably still be that foolish boy, with little hope for the future.

We walked through the park, which bordered a vast river called Zhen Sha River (also known as Zhen Sha River), leading out to the Eastern Sea. Spanning the river was a grand, ancient stone arch bridge, adorned with intricate carvings of ferocious mythical creatures, their expressions vivid and lifelike. The river branched into many tributaries, most flowing underground or to desolate areas outside the city.

There weren’t many people here today—a quick scan revealed only a few dozen. On weekends, the crowd would easily swell to five or six hundred.

The water by the riverbank was crystal clear, but I couldn’t understand why, just five or six meters from the shore, the water seemed shallow yet the riverbed was invisible.

Chatting with Jia Ying, we wandered onto the bridge and watched the river flow beneath us. I estimated that while the water near the bank was about two meters deep, here it must be anywhere from twenty to fifty meters. If someone fell in, their chances of survival were slim.

What puzzled me most was how the ancients managed to build such a bridge over these deep waters; it was truly baffling.

“Cousin, there are so many people over there!” Jia Ying exclaimed, pointing to the far end of the bridge by the riverbank, about a hundred meters away.

Following her gaze, I saw a crowd gathered around something. I took Jia Ying’s arm and said, “Let’s go see what’s happening!”

Jia Ying, always full of curiosity, didn’t hesitate and followed me toward the commotion.

Good heavens—there was a dead body here. The crowd was clustered around what appeared to be a drowned young man, discussing heatedly. Some had already called for emergency services and the police.

“Someone fell into the river!” a voice shouted, and most of the crowd surged toward the source. Jia Ying pulled me along with the tide, while an elderly man in sunglasses trailed behind me.

The voice belonged to a middle-aged woman, who was shouting near the unguarded riverbank, pointing at a spot five or six meters out in the water.

Most of the people gathered were elderly; aside from myself and Jia Ying, the youngest must have been over fifty. Since it wasn’t a weekend, young people rarely visited.

I edged closer, listening to their worried discussions about the person in the river, but none dared to jump in.

Behind me, the annoying old man kept nudging against me, pushing me closer and closer to the riverbank, until he was about to shove me into the river itself. I didn’t want to scold him, but he kept pressing his advantage, and suddenly I found myself tumbling down toward Zhen Sha River.

The bank here was more than two meters above the water; if I fell in, I’d have to swim a hundred meters to reach the nearest steps.

At last, the wretched old man managed to sneakily push me in. With the crowd so thick, no one noticed his actions. The instant I fell, I heard him shout, “Look, look! This young man is brave!”

Damn it, I was pushed in by you, not by my own choice!

But as the people on shore echoed his words, praising my courage, I had no choice. At this point, if I didn’t try to rescue the person, it would be hard to explain. So I struggled toward the one in the water.

Jia Ying, frantic, cried out from the shore, “Cousin, you weren’t good at swimming when you were a kid—be careful, please!” Her voice quavered, and she began to cry.

But now, I was the Demon Corpse King; breathing was almost irrelevant to me. Even if I stayed underwater for ten years, I’d be fine.

I turned to reassure Jia Ying, “Don’t worry, cousin—these days I’m a great swimmer. It’ll be alright!” Then I swam toward the center of the vast Zhen Sha River.

Though people called this place a park, it had none of the features of one. Just the enormous river alone proved it was nothing of the sort—what park has a river this grand, leading out to the sea?

Carefully, I swam toward the struggling person in the river, a distance of at least a dozen meters from the shore. I wondered how they managed to get this far.

From the moment I jumped in, I hadn’t felt the riverbed beneath my feet, a testament to the river’s depth.

After about two minutes, I caught sight of the person—a woman, quite pretty, around twenty years old, with long black hair. I couldn’t see what she was wearing, perhaps because the water was so murky.

“Miss, can you still breathe?” I asked, grasping her arm. She was clearly weak, having struggled so long in the water; it was a miracle she hadn’t sunk.

“There’s something... something unknown underwater, pulling at my leg!” she gasped feebly.

Hearing her words, I dove beneath the surface, feeling my way down her leg. By chance, I touched something slippery, wrapped around her ankle, squirming. I had no idea what it was, but it was certainly unlike anything I’d encountered before.

Zhen Sha River’s waters came from distant western snow-capped mountains, so it was a fast-flowing river, unlikely to harbor aquatic plants, and even animal life was rare. Nothing should be able to entangle a person’s ankle, so whatever it was, it must be some unknown creature.

I surfaced, saw more people gathering on the shore—police and emergency vehicles had arrived. I signaled for them to wait, indicating it would soon be dealt with, then dove again to try and untangle whatever was wrapped around the woman’s leg.

...

(Is what lies beneath the river a creature of nature, or something unknown and undocumented? That’s where we’ll end this chapter. If you wish to know what happens next, stay tuned for further analysis. I am the Fated One, and as for my location—I am here.)