Chapter 34: Brothers of One Heart

Liu Guanjia brought them here and then turned to leave, seemingly having more important matters to attend to; one could assume he was waiting for that Paper Maker who would never return.

With Liu Guanjia gone, everyone spoke without reservation. The experience Kuang Hongyi recounted was similar to that of Yang Xiao and the others; not long after they took to the water, they encountered the Paper Person Third Young Master. Once the two of them saw through the ruse, they immediately steered their boat away, rushing toward the direction where the sky lanterns were rising.

Just as Yang Xiao had thought, these two teams had never released any sky lanterns.

And the accident happened at that very moment. On the way, Kuang Hongyi and his group encountered a boat with a White Lantern hanging from its bow. Thinking it was their teammates, they approached, only to see that the person standing on it was none other than the long-dead Sun Amao.

Fortunately, the two reacted in time and managed to avoid a collision at the last moment, but before they could even catch their breath, the other party actually chased them from behind, biting onto their boat tightly.

At this point, Kuang Hongyi and his group dared not run anymore, because in the mist ahead, the shadows of several boats were vaguely emerging, all with people standing on them.

Just like that, the boat of Sun Amao and the others rammed into them from behind, and then Sun Amao, along with another bloated, drowned ghost, climbed onto their boat with strange movements.

Relying on his agility, Kuang Hongyi circled for a moment before finding an opportunity to jump onto Sun Amao's boat. However, Xu Su was not so lucky; she was grabbed by Sun Amao, and then the three figures tangled together and fell into the water.

Kuang Hongyi raised his pole to help, but it was too late. After a struggle in the water, the three figures sank.

Kuang Hongyi sighed with a grave expression, "Later, I saw the large red lanterns rising in the distance, so I steered the boat toward them and finally made it to shore. It's just a pity that Xu Su..."

"Brother Kuang is kind-hearted; you shouldn't blame yourself too much for what happened to Miss Xu Su," Shi Dali consoled him understandingly. "After all, no one wanted to see such a thing happen."

"That's right, that's right, Brother Kuang, you already did your best," Shi Guanming chimed in.

By comparison, the experience of Shi Dali and his companion was much simpler; they hadn't encountered any strange occurrences. Shi Dali explained that he was a boatman and understood many of the ways of the waterways, but he had never seen the custom of placing Incense on the bow of a boat. Therefore, after the boat left the sight of Liu Guanjia and the others, he checked the Incense Burner and, sure enough, discovered the problem.

The top layer of the Incense Burner was indeed Incense ash, but what was buried underneath was white rice soaked in blood. This was not something to ward off evil at all; this thing only attracted evil!

After discovering the problem, Shi Dali decisively threw the Incense Burner into the lake. Afterward, they wanted to find the other two teams on the mist-covered lake to warn them, but they got lost. Having no other choice, they followed the guidance of the red lanterns and returned to the shore.

"If we had met Brother Shi earlier, we wouldn't have suffered so much, and Sister Xu Su wouldn't have died," Yang Xiao said with some emotion.

After observing the surroundings and finding no one eavesdropping, Kuang Hongyi suddenly lowered his voice, "Everything about this Feng Mansion is wrong. This time, they openly asked us to look for the Third Young Master, but in reality, they just sent us to our deaths. Xu Su didn't return, and they didn't even ask about her."

"And that boat I steered back—it was clearly a sunken boat! I fear it had been submerged in the lake for some time. I saw many similar boats in the mist. How could there be so many sunken boats in this lake, and exactly how many people have died?"

Shi Dali nodded, his expression turning serious: "If what you say is true, most of those who died in the lake are servants of the mansion. I suspect that Master Feng is using the lives of his servants to extend his own life, and the death of that Sun Amao was likely orchestrated by them."

Not long after they started chatting, a servant from the mansion ran over in a hurry, saying that Liu Guanjia invited them to return to their rooms to rest, and mysteriously warned them that tonight's events must never be spoken of to outsiders.

Walking up to their room, Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi paused; they saw that a red Lantern had been hung on each side of their door.

Pushing the door open, Yang Xiao saw Su Tingting still lying on the bed, and she appeared to be truly asleep; listening carefully, one could even hear faint snoring.

The servant who brought them back explained that they were worried the Lucky Guest would have a hysterical episode during the night and disturb the two of them, so they begged the doctor to provide a sedative herbal medicine. It had already been decocted and fed to the Lucky Guest, ensuring a sound sleep until dawn.

"Newcomers are truly fortunate; carefree and falling asleep the moment their heads hit the pillow." At this moment, Yang Xiao even felt a bit envious of Su Tingting.

Unexpectedly, just as he turned around, he saw Kuang Hongyi staring at him with a strange look. "Cough, cough, Brother Chu, you are also a newcomer."

Yang Xiao was stunned, and it took a few seconds for him to react. Without realizing it, he had already cast himself in the role of a veteran player. He immediately waved his hand and gave a wry smile, "Perhaps it's because I've been with Brother Kuang for so long that I've progressed too quickly."

Kuang Hongyi did not dwell on this matter. After dismissing the servant, Kuang Hongyi walked over to Su Tingting, confirmed that she was asleep, and then pulled Yang Xiao to sit on the other bed. His entire demeanor changed. He then rolled up his pant leg, revealing a blood-stained cloth wrapped around his lower leg; upon opening it, a wound was revealed.

The wound was fresh and still oozing blood, and the edges were very smooth. Yang Xiao immediately thought of the Short Blade stuck to the side of the boat.

Kuang Hongyi gritted his teeth, a hint of ferocity hidden in his eyes, "That woman Xu Su tried to kill me!"

"What exactly happened?" Yang Xiao pressed.

"I couldn't speak freely in front of Shi Dali and the others, but I trust you, Brother Chu. It's like this: after our boat was caught up to by Sun Amao, I noticed that Xu Su wasn't panicked at all. She wouldn't say a word no matter what I asked her. Moreover, Sun Amao and the other drowned ghost... they seemed to only be able to see me!"

"It's grave soil," Yang Xiao realized immediately. "Xu Su had grave soil in her mouth."

"Exactly," Kuang Hongyi nodded viciously. "I realized it soon after, so I asked her for some. Not only did she refuse to give me any, but she actually drew a blade on me. That woman is rotten to the core; she knew that as long as one of us died, those things would leave."

"Those things only kill one person at a time?" Yang Xiao seemed to have grasped the point.

"Yes, under normal circumstances, that is the case."

Later, Yang Xiao went to look for medicine. There was some left over from when Su Tingting was injured. Kuang Hongyi's method of treating the wound was very professional; he had clearly practiced for such situations.

After re-bandaging the wound with a clean cloth, Kuang Hongyi leaned against the bed and let out a long breath, "Brother Chu, that Shi Dali is no pushover either. He discovered that the Incense Burner on the bow was wrong early on, yet he didn't say anything. You must be on guard against him."

"Don't worry, I have it under control," Yang Xiao patted Kuang Hongyi's arm. "Besides, I have you, Brother Kuang."

"Right, with you and me, brothers of one heart, we will surely be able to break out of here!"