Chapter 33: Top-Tier Acting

This horrific scene even diluted the joy of having survived a desperate situation; if they had reached out to help the Third Young Master just now, the one sinking to the bottom of the lake would be them.

The ghost in the reflection must be Xi Yao, and the scene just now was exactly a reenactment of Xi Yao's tragedy, only the protagonist had been replaced by Master Feng's precious son.

The Third Young Master is dead; Yang Xiao can be certain of this.

Su Tingting slumped on the ground with her back against the cabin, gasping for air, her fingers gripping the oar still trembling incessantly; everything she had experienced since arriving in this world had completely overturned her understanding—this world has ghosts, and their level of terror far exceeds imagination.

After the red Lantern on the Boxi Boat disappeared, another large red Lantern appeared in the mist in the distance, hanging high and swaying.

The two had no choice but to try to approach; the lake surface under the pervasive mist was completely different from the daytime, appearing as vast as if it were boundless.

Yang Xiao and Su Tingting held their breath and moved bit by bit toward the direction of the red Lantern, the surroundings were vast and white, and only the sound of water could be heard in their ears.

Suddenly, Yang Xiao became vigilant; not far from them, a boat appeared, and as it drew closer, Yang Xiao saw clearly that this was a boat exactly the same as the one under their feet, with no one on board and no sound.

"Did the second team also die here?" Su Tingting was on the verge of a breakdown; on the vast lake, only their team of living people remained now.

After observing carefully, Yang Xiao frowned and interrupted Su Tingting, "This is not our boat; there is no Incense Burner or Lantern at the bow, and the things on the boat are not right either."

This boat was not dilapidated, nor was it leaking water everywhere; on the contrary, it looked better maintained than the one under their feet.

"Not our boat?" Su Tingting looked around with some trepidation, "Could it be that besides us, the Feng Mansion sent other boats out to find the Third Young Master?"

Yang Xiao grabbed the pole and tapped it on the water surface, "Bring the boat over, get a little closer."

Now, Yang Xiao was an absolute authority in Su Tingting's eyes; let alone bringing the boat over, even if he told her to jump onto this boat of unknown origin, she would still consider it.

With the cooperation of Su Tingting's oar, their boat turned a half-circle, but the next second, both of their attentions were simultaneously drawn by the water below, where a thing was floating in the pitch-black lake water.

Taking a closer look, Yang Xiao couldn't help but be stunned; it was actually a corpse, the corpse's back was facing up, the face could not be seen, and there was more than one—there were others in the distance, and these people were wearing the clothes of servants from the mansion.

Seeing that it was not a teammate, Yang Xiao felt slightly relieved; if the teammates were all dead, he would have to face the problems ahead alone.

"Look at this person's head!" Su Tingting reached out and pointed at the floating corpse.

With a "slap," Yang Xiao knocked Su Tingting's hand away, "Don't use your finger; floating corpses have heavy resentment, be careful it grabs you as a substitute."

Just in that instant, Yang Xiao also saw that a tennis-ball-sized tumor was growing diagonally on the back of this corpse's head, which was very conspicuous.

"It's him!"

Yang Xiao recognized the person's identity; this person was the Paper Maker who had sent them into the water not long ago, and the Paper Person in the Feng Mansion came from this person's hands.

He actually died on the lake too...

But what was strange was, why didn't Liu Guanjia tell them that the Paper Maker would also go into the water with them to search?

Connecting these few things, Yang Xiao had a bold speculation: the ones the Feng Mansion truly sent out to find the Third Young Master tonight were not them, but this Paper Maker who had quite a bit of cultivation!

Their three boats were bait, the purpose of which was to attract Xi Yao's attention and buy time for this Paper Maker.

But judging from the result, the Paper Maker's team also ran into trouble, which led to everyone on the whole boat dying an unnatural death.

This place was not a place to stay for long, so Yang Xiao immediately ordered them to leave, and the two continued to move toward the direction of the red Lantern; this time it didn't take long, and as the mist dissipated, they finally caught sight of the shore!

Su Tingting was so excited she almost cried; she would never take a boat again in her life, as this incident left too much of a shadow on her.

"Don't rush, go slowly." Yang Xiao reminded her, signaling Su Tingting to slow down her movements, "Do you know what to say when we go back?"

Su Tingting looked at Yang Xiao in confusion, "What to say?"

"Absolutely do not say that you saw the Paper Maker and these people, and don't mention that Boxi Boat either; just act as if these two things never happened." Yang Xiao lowered his voice, "After we go ashore, don't speak; you must act very scared, the kind that has been scared silly—you are good at this, I will handle the rest."

"Okay." Su Tingting followed Yang Xiao's instructions implicitly.

As they got closer, Yang Xiao could even see Liu Guanjia's dead-faced expression; there were two more boats docked at the shore, one of which was the same as the one under Yang Xiao's feet, presumably the teammates', but the strange thing was the other one—the boat was soaking wet, like a sunken ship that had just been salvaged from the water.

After getting off the boat, Liu Guanjia came up to greet them, his expression strange, "How is it? Did you find any clues about the Third Young Master?"

Yang Xiao told Liu Guanjia the process of meeting the Paper Person Third Young Master from beginning to end, and then encountering the Ghost Ship driven by Sun Amao, from which they had spent a great deal of effort to successfully escape.

As the author of the Script, the twists and turns of the plot after a little polishing went without saying, but it was also handled just right, not enough to deviate from reality.

Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of Yang Xiao, Liu Guanjia turned to Su Tingting on the same boat, but Su Tingting sat blankly on the boat, not moving at all, with a dull expression on her face.

After a servant asked her a few questions without response, he got on the boat to grab her with his hand, but Su Tingting suddenly screamed like she had gone mad, scaring the servant so much he almost fell headfirst into the water.

"Quick, come quickly!" The servant also shouted, "She is possessed, she must be possessed!"

Everyone was in a flurry, and they finally managed to lift the crazed Su Tingting off the boat; Su Tingting twitched her hands and feet from time to time, until Yang Xiao gave her a look that meant 'that's enough,' then Su Tingting tilted her neck and fainted.

This scene, let alone fooling Liu Guanjia and the crowd of servants, even Yang Xiao was almost fooled; if it weren't for Su Tingting receiving the secret signal he sent, he would have even suspected that Su Tingting wasn't acting, but was truly possessed.

"Do female college students have so much drama now? Impressive, impressive."

Liu Guanjia arranged for someone to send Su Tingting back to rest, then led Yang Xiao toward the other side of the shore; after turning a corner, a stone table appeared behind a wall, and a few people were sitting around it.

"Brother Chu!" Kuang Hongyi stood up abruptly.

The other two also stood up; they were Shi Dali and Shi Guanming, respectively.

People had returned from both boats, which was something Yang Xiao hadn't expected; he looked around, confirming that there was no sign of Xu Su, "Where is Sister Xu Su?"

Hearing this, Kuang Hongyi sighed, his expression turning gloomy, "She is dead; we encountered some trouble, and those ghost things got onto our boat."