On the salvage boat, the two men in charge of the operation suddenly felt a weight sink in their hands. They could not help but shout in a low voice, "We've hooked something!"
"With this weight, it should be him!"
"Quick, haul it up!"
Amid wave after wave of startled cries and shouted instructions, the two men immediately began tugging hard on the net...
At the same time, Qi Zixiao, who had been holding on stubbornly, opened her eyes and suddenly realized that she had been covered by a net and was currently being dragged away.
"???"
This world wasn't peaceful either!
She raised an eyebrow.
She had actually been attacked while cultivating underwater?
She had no idea what was happening above. At that moment, she was trapped in a net, so clearly something had attacked her!
"Luckily, the Waterflow Body has barely reached the entry level..."
Although she had been using the Turtle Breath Technique, staying underwater for so long had still left Qi Zixiao terribly uncomfortable. She grabbed the net, gathered all her strength, and abruptly tore it apart.
Bang, bang, bang!
The net's cords snapped one after another. In no time, Qi Zixiao had broken free. She glanced at the net, then grabbed it again and suddenly pulled with all her might!
Was her cultivation speed too fast?
It would have been strange if a max-level account being used to power-level a level-one account were slow.
On the boat...
A tremendous force suddenly came through.
"Holy crap!"
The two "strongmen" handling the salvage felt the weight in their hands sink, their faces filled with shock. "What incredible strength!"
"We're not going to hold on!"
"Ah... let go, quick!"
The two men staggered, almost being dragged into the water. With a cry of alarm, they released their grip at the same time, only then avoiding being pulled in.
Even so, they had exerted themselves too fiercely and promptly fell hard onto their bottoms...
"What happened?"
A police officer questioned them.
The two strongmen's faces had gone pale.
The salvage boat's manager, however, lit a cigarette. After taking a deep drag, he said in a gloomy voice, "I'm afraid... we won't be able to bring this person up."
"What do you mean?" The officers were puzzled.
"Well..." He mulled it over for a moment before saying, "You won't arrest me if I tell you, right? For engaging in feudal superstition or something?"
"If you know it's feudal superstition, why are you still thinking that way?"
The officers had begun to catch on as well.
"It's not that I want to think that way. It's just that people in our line of work have seen too many strange things. We've even seen things stranger than this..."
"This really can't be explained by science!"
The officers exchanged glances, suddenly uncertain themselves.
Although everyone talked about materialism, this incident really was difficult to explain. It was incredibly strange!
The salvage net had clearly caught something. Everything had been calm at first, but halfway through the haul, it had suddenly begun struggling?
They had also seen the two strongmen's reaction just now. They had pulled with every ounce of strength in their bodies, yet they still could not hold on to the net...
So what exactly had the net caught?!
A big fish?
That didn't make sense either. How could a big fish make no movement at first, then suddenly start struggling later?
Could the fish have been sleeping at first?
Besides, to burst out with so much strength inside the net, just how enormous would that fish have to be?!
Could it be...
There really was such a thing?
At that moment, the salvage boat's manager, Old Third Wang, a thin, wiry old man, finally said in an eerie voice, "In my view, it's definitely a water ghost... Forget what just happened. Let's talk about when he jumped into the lake."
"You all said that there hadn't been the slightest movement after he jumped in. Think about it carefully—is that normal?"
"Even if he wanted to kill himself, a person under extreme pain wouldn't be able to control themselves completely. In other words, it was impossible for him not to struggle at all."
"But the surface of the lake hadn't rippled in the slightest. That was enough to prove he hadn't struggled. But why was that?!"
"Obviously! The water ghost in the lake had grabbed hold of him, perhaps even bewitched him. That was why he hadn't struggled or reacted at all..."
A young female police officer could not help taking a step back. "Why does this sound more and more supernatural the more you talk?"
"It is pretty supernatural, but it's also very possible." The manager grinned, sounding rather mysterious. "Still, this is something I happen to be good at."
"It's just that... well... doing this causes a great deal of backlash for me."
The police: "..."
The fishermen watching the spectacle: "..."
"Impressive!"
"This guy's trying to get money from the police!"
"He doesn't just want money from the police. He wants a huge sum from them!"
"Is he crazy? Isn't he afraid of being arrested?"
Just then, the two strongmen on the boat, who had been looking extremely frightened, suddenly cried out, "Something's coming over!"
"Watch out!"
Boom!!!
A muffled crash rang out from the salvage boat. In an instant, cracking sounds came one after another, and then... lake water poured inside!
The bottom of the salvage boat... had sprung a leak!
"Hiss!!!!"
Everyone sucked in a cold breath and looked around the boat.
"Ah, there's someone!"
"It's a human silhouette—it dove back down!"
"Holy crap, there really is a water ghost?"
"Damn!!! Am I seeing a ghost?"
The fishermen's scalps prickled, and they were so frightened that even their tailbones nearly went numb!
So there really was a water ghost in this lake? Not only could it kill people, it could even wreck a boat! And they had actually been fishing here just now?!
Wasn't that like the Old Man of the South Pole eating arsenic—having a death wish?!
The police officers' expressions were terrible as well...
Because of the lack of light, the refraction of the water, and other factors, they could not see what had happened clearly. They could only make out a human silhouette rapidly sinking into the lake near the salvage boat.
Even they, who had not believed in water ghosts, began to feel a chill in their hearts.
The two strongmen had practically been scared into wetting themselves. At that moment, how could they possibly dare continue the salvage operation?
They immediately started the salvage boat, which now had a hole smashed in its bottom, and hurried toward the shore...
What? Why didn't they just jump into the water?
For crying out loud, who would dare jump in under these circumstances?!
Underwater.
Qi Zixiao glanced at the gradually sinking boat, then swam in another direction...
On the shore, the police watched the two panicked strongmen, none of them able to calm down.
Could there really be a water ghost?!
A huge question mark surfaced in all their minds.
Under ordinary circumstances, they naturally would never think this way. But everything they had encountered and personally witnessed today made it impossible for them not to.
Because there was no way to explain it!
Unless they recovered that young man's corpse and found whatever had stolen the net and smashed the salvage boat, no one would be able to explain what had happened. It was terrifying as hell!
"What do we do?"
They exchanged glances, completely at a loss.
Old Third Wang took the opportunity to speak up. "I really have a way. I..."
"Enough!"
The police officer in charge waved a hand. "What era are we living in? And you still believe in ghosts and spirits? I refuse to believe it!"
"Report this to the higher authorities, send divers, mobilize advanced equipment—I refuse to believe we can't haul him up!"
"If all else fails... can't we just pump the water out?!"
Thanks to 'Book Friend 140203190634172,' 'The Smoke Has Faded but the Clouds Remain,' 'Book Friend 20191201152952055,' 'Heart's Whisper丶丶,' and the other friends for your rewards. Thank you all.
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