Chapter 31: High Hanging Red Lanterns

"Everyone on that boat is dead..." Su Tingting did not know whose boat it actually was, but since they were all teammates who had arrived here together, it was hard not to feel a sense of grief for the dead.

There were clear signs of a struggle on that boat. Yang Xiao could not determine what exactly had happened on board; the reason for the team's total annihilation was either that they had picked up the Paper Person Young Master, or that they had blundered into the two ghostly things that were on the boat just now.

However, the top priority now was to get away from here and find the real Third Young Master.

"You... how did you know there was something wrong with that boat?" Su Tingting asked in a low voice.

"Just now, I saw from afar that those two people were standing there foolishly, not holding anything in their hands." Yang Xiao lifted the punting pole in his hand. "In this godforsaken place, who knows what you'll run into the next second? You can't afford to let go of things that save your life."

"So that's how it is." Su Tingting's collection of strange knowledge had increased again.

Before Yang Xiao could make the next arrangement, the sound of water suddenly came from behind. Turning his head, the silhouette of a boat appeared and disappeared in the mist.

This one look instantly made Yang Xiao's scalp tingle. "Damn it, they actually caught up!"

At this point, Yang Xiao stopped pretending. He immediately operated the punting pole, speeding up as much as possible. However, the speed of the boat behind was clearly much faster than before. In the span of two or three minutes, Yang Xiao could already clearly see the dead face of Sun Amao at the bow.

Su Tingting also knew they had reached the final moment. Hardening her heart, she simply grabbed the Short Blade on the floor and discarded the scabbard; the blade shimmered with a cold light in the night.

"If we can't run, we'll fight them to the death!" Su Tingting did not want to be bitten to death alive by these ghostly things—well... if they actually bit people, that is.

"Fight your head!" Putting down the punting pole, Yang Xiao snatched the blade from Su Tingting, then fished a small paper packet from his person. After opening it, it was some dirt.

"Hold this." Yang Xiao grabbed some dirt and handed it to Su Tingting, quickly explaining, "Listen to me now. In a moment, when I say start, you put this dirt into your mouth. Remember, just hold it; absolutely do not swallow it."

Su Tingting's eyes were filled with confusion, and she clearly wanted to ask something else, but Yang Xiao did not give her the chance. "There's no time to explain to you. Just do as I say. And when you are holding this dirt, absolutely do not speak. No matter what happens, do not speak. Do you remember?"

Su Tingting nodded hurriedly.

In the time it took to say those few sentences, that boat had drawn even closer. Sun Amao, standing at the bow, had no pupils in his eye sockets, only murky whites left, and his wet hair hung loose over his face.

Seeing this terrifying scene, Su Tingting, who had just been thinking about fighting to the death, immediately lost her nerve. Her hands and feet went cold, and a chill surged straight to the top of her head.

"Now!"

Yang Xiao and Su Tingting put the dirt into their mouths almost simultaneously, then crouched down on either side of the cabin, not daring to make a single sound.

This was naturally not ordinary dirt; it was grave dirt that Yang Xiao had begged from the coachman.

Not long after, the boat behind caught up and finally sailed side-by-side with theirs. Su Tingting was almost crying. Sun Amao and another drowned ghost—the two corpses stood stiffly at the bow, standing on tiptoe, looking over at their boat. The scene was extremely horrifying.

Time ticked by second by second. Su Tingting, who had gradually calmed down, also figured out the trick. The gazes of these two ghostly things kept shifting but never focused. It felt as if they knew there were living people on the boat, but they could not pinpoint their location.

At this point, even if she thought with her backside, Su Tingting knew that the dirt Yang Xiao gave her had played a role. She looked at Yang Xiao with teary eyes, expressing her gratitude across the space. But this scene took on a different meaning in Yang Xiao's eyes. Seeing Su Tingting crying, he thought some mishap had occurred. His face turned pale in a flash, and he looked around frantically, wanting to find out exactly where the problem was.

But he found no problem, and Su Tingting kept looking at him while crying, her eyes filled with a complex emotion that even Yang Xiao could not parse. Finally, forced into a corner with no other choice, Yang Xiao had to grab a blade, intending to make a desperate last stand.

Fortunately, after a while, that boat slowly slowed down and finally disappeared into the vast mist.

Waiting another 5 minutes to be sure there was no problem, Yang Xiao finally spat out the grave dirt in his mouth and asked in a panic, "You... what did you see just now?"

Su Tingting was wiping her mouth; the taste of the grave dirt was unbearable for her. "Ah? Nothing."

"If nothing, why are you crying?"

At the thought of this, Su Tingting's tears welled up again uncontrollably. With tear-filled eyes, she said, "I just wanted to thank you. We are complete strangers, and you have already saved me twice."

Yang Xiao exploded the moment he heard this. "Damn it, can you stop adding drama for yourself? I almost jumped off the boat just now, damn it!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I just wanted to..."

Yang Xiao waved his hand. He was in no mood to listen to a newcomer's nonsense. His calves were still trembling; Su Tingting's crying just now was scarier than the Paper Person Third Young Master crying.

"By the way, what kind of dirt is this? It's so amazing. Those things acted like they couldn't see us." Su Tingting asked curiously.

"Don't know." Yang Xiao did not give her a pleasant look.

"Then... where are we going next?" Su Tingting now regarded Yang Xiao as a savior, and everything was based on his orders.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Xiao made a decision. "We're not looking anymore. We're going back."

"Going back?" Su Tingting frowned. "But we haven't found the Third Young Master. How are we going to answer to Liu Guanjia?"

"We didn't find him, but someone definitely did. I think that team that was wiped out was also because they picked up a fake Third Young Master."

Yang Xiao's words were not hard to understand. Su Tingting quickly figured it out. The one their team found was fake, and the one the wiped-out team found was also fake. Since two fake Paper Persons had appeared, then the one the third team found was naturally the real Third Young Master.

And since the third team had been delayed in appearing, they must have already set sail back with the Third Young Master.

Su Tingting had had enough of this mist-filled lake. Once she returned to the real world this time, she would never ride a boat again in her life.

After searching for a moment, Yang Xiao spotted a red light point in the mist. The light was positioned very high; it should be the Big Red Lantern set up by Liu Guanjia.

At the thought of returning to land, the movements of Yang Xiao's hands quickened. In less than 10 minutes, they were much closer to that red light point.

"Keep it up, we're almost there!" Su Tingting stood at the bow, keeping watch over the White Lantern and the Incense Burner; this was the task Yang Xiao had given her.

As the distance grew closer, the excitement on Su Tingting's face suddenly froze. She saw the Big Red Lantern floating in the mist, held up by a long wooden pole underneath, and below the long wooden pole was not the shore, but a huge shadow.

A moment later, Yang Xiao saw clearly: it was a boat even larger than theirs, and the long wooden pole he had seen was merely the mast of this ship.

This ship sailed silently out of the mist, and there was not a soul on board.