A strange phenomenon was unfolding in the river.
Skeletons kept rushing down the river from upstream. They could even speak, crying out for help.
The current seemed to have changed somehow, too. The people trying to get to shore thrashed in the water, but they couldn't make it to the bank.
Several skeletons collided with Li Yu's cousin. Their hands grabbed his clothes and tugged at him, refusing to let go.
"Help! Guh! Hel—" Li Yu's cousin managed to shout twice before his body suddenly sank beneath the water as he flailed his arms.
The storyteller was closest to him. He glanced over a few times, then screamed in fright and paddled even harder.
I saw Li Yu's cousin being dragged by the skeletons along the riverbed, drifting upstream.
"Drifting" might not have been the right word for that speed. It was more like water rushing down a toilet, gushing away and forming a whirlpool.
Li Yu's cousin spun through the current with several skeletons and vanished in an instant.
Li Yu didn't care about his cousin. He was swimming in the opposite direction.
He was lucky enough not to encounter any skeletons along the way.
The third person with them wasn't far from him, but he was downstream. Suddenly, he screamed and reached out as if asking Li Yu for help.
Li Yu saw a tinge of red in the water around him. Terrified, he swam as fast as he could without even sparing him another glance.
"No..." the man cried out in despair, and his body sank beneath the water.
He surfaced again, a skeleton clinging to him. The bones of its hand had pierced his back.
With a splash, he was dragged underwater again. Like Li Yu's cousin, he was swept away at tremendous speed.
Li Yu