Half a Life Lost in the Lake

He approached step by step, emanating a sinister chill.

His voice was hoarse and devoid of emotion, carrying an intensely terrifying presence.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll chop off your other hand too."

I talked tough, but panic churned inside me.

But Zhang Qiang, that Drowned Ghost, didn't care at all.

Instead, he sped up, raised his other ghostly hand, and lunged straight at me.

He was too fast. If I ran, I definitely wouldn't outrun him.

I couldn't dodge him, and I couldn't send him away.

At this point, risking my life was truly my only option.

I gathered my courage and gripped the Dragon-Head Cleaver tightly.

Then I shouted to bolster my own courage.

"Don't you fucking come over!"

I swung again, slashing fiercely at Zhang Qiang.

But this time, he vanished before my eyes like a phantom, and my blade cut through empty air.

When he reappeared, he was already at my side.

He still wore that pale, wooden expression. Together with the huge gash I had cut across his face, he looked especially horrifying.

"Come back with me to see Teacher!"

His voice was still drawn out and unbearably oppressive, making my heart twist into knots.

My expression changed sharply, but I swung my blade backhandedly at him, trying to sever his neck.

Zhang Qiang raised a hand and caught the wrist holding my cleaver, leaving me unable to move.

With my remaining hand, I raised my fist and smashed it hard into his face.

Bang! Bang! Bang! I threw several punches in a row.

But hitting his face was like hitting a block of ice.

He was completely unfazed, while my own fist throbbed with pain.

Then, somehow, the hand I had chopped off had grown back.

He grabbed me again and clamped his hand around my throat.

This time, his grip was stronger, more forceful.

I could feel that he had enough strength to crush my windpipe in a single squeeze.

But he didn't do that.

After seizing my throat, he shoved me straight toward the lake.

Still staring at me with that numb expression, he repeated those words in a vicious tone:

"Come with me on the road. Go back and see Teacher..."

As he spoke, he kept pushing me toward the lake.

I struggled and fought back, but the Dragon-Head Cleaver in my hand was knocked away and fell onto the shore.

Water splashed loudly, and in the blink of an eye, more than half my body had been pushed into the lake.

It was clearly summer, yet the lake water that night felt bone-piercingly cold.

I saw Pavilion Ghost in the distance, still grinning at me eerily.

I knew I was done for. This time, I probably couldn't escape this calamity.

Once the water covered my head, I would become someone else's replacement victim.

I was unwilling to accept it, but there was nothing I could do.

With a glug, my entire body was forced underwater.

In the second before I went under, I heard Zhang Qiang say:

"We need to hurry. Teacher is urging us!"

After saying that, he twisted my neck and pressed me into the water with all his strength.

He wanted to drown me alive...

I struggled like mad, trying to pry open the hand around my throat while repeatedly kicking Zhang Qiang in the stomach.

But he was like a wooden board, as if he felt no pain at all. My attacks did nothing.

Glug. I swallowed a mouthful of water.

The sensation was unbearable, a stabbing pain shooting straight into the back of my head.

Pain and agony coursed through me, and my lips and fingers went numb.

My movements became clumsy and increasingly difficult to control.

I knew I was about to die.

I would suffocate and drown in this lake...

But just as I was about to lose the ability to move, just as I was about to die in the lake—

I suddenly felt the hand around my throat loosen.

Then someone yanked me up hard from behind.

Water splashed, and I was dragged out of the lake.

A middle-aged man's voice rang out:

"Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth. Wherever this wandering soul came from, let it return to the earth."

Then, with a rustling sound, grains of white rice were thrown into the lake one after another.

The shimmering lake water turned as black as ink the moment the rice grains touched it.

I was roughly dragged onto the shore, where I dry-heaved and spat out several mouthfuls of water.

I gulped down air in great heaving breaths.

"Xiao Jiang, Xiao Jiang..."

I narrowed my eyes and finally saw who had come.

It was Uncle Yu.

He had come. At the critical moment, he had pulled me from the lake and saved my life.

"Uncle... Uncle Yu!"

Overwhelmed with emotion, tears welled in my eyes.

I had almost drowned in that lake.

But Uncle Yu stared tensely at the water and said:

"We can't stay here. Come with me, quickly."

After saying that, he picked up the Dragon-Head Cleaver I had dropped on the ground, supported me, and ran toward the exit of the park.

I staggered after him and glanced to the side at the same time.

Zhang Qiang, that Drowned Ghost, was climbing out of the lake again, soaked from head to toe.

He stood by the water, staring at me without immediately giving chase.

He only called in my direction in an icy voice:

"Don't go. Teacher is urging us..."

Watching Zhang Qiang and hearing that chilling voice, my whole body went numb.

I followed Uncle Yu and ran forward with all my strength.

The owl and Old Ghost who had appeared earlier had already vanished.

I had no mood to look for them. I only wanted to leave this damned place.

Only after we ran out of the park did I finally catch my breath.

But Uncle Yu, beside me, wore a grave expression.

"This is beyond what I expected. That thing you ran into is fiercer than I imagined!

Luckily, I came over to take a look. Otherwise, you would've gone with him."

Gasping heavily and drenched in sweat, I said:

"Th-thank you, Uncle Yu. Actually, an Old Ghost ruined things midway through."

Uncle Yu didn't press for details and merely continued:

"Now that things have come to this, we can only avoid the disaster first."

I nodded, then asked:

"Uncle Yu, what... what should I do next?"

Uncle Yu looked at the sky.

"It's too late now. Since he failed to take your life, he'll definitely come after you again.

I'm only a Yin Chef. I don't have much ability.

If I fight him, we'll both lose our lives.

So we can only hide. Once we make it through tonight, we'll figure something out."

"That thing can track me by my scent."

I replied in terror.

Uncle Yu glanced behind us.

"Then we'll make it so he can't smell you.

And find somewhere he doesn't dare go. Come with me..."

With that, Uncle Yu ran toward an electric scooter nearby and motioned for me to follow.

I thought over Uncle Yu's words, then quickly followed him.

As soon as I got on, Uncle Yu handed me a bag of rice and told me to scatter a handful every ten seconds until it was gone.

"Okay!"

I took the rice and agreed at once, without asking why.

But when I touched the grains, I noticed something different about them.

They had all been roasted and smelled more fragrant.

Still, I didn't hesitate for long before I began scattering rice behind us.

The grains pattered onto the ground.

But before we had gone far, I saw dark shadows emerge or crawl out from all around the road, each of them seeming to give off smoke.

Those shadows surrounded the rice on the ground, reaching down to pick it up and eat it.

My heart jolted. Weren't those filthy things?

If we scattered rice all the way, wouldn't ghosts come all the way after us?

Was Uncle Yu using rice to lure ghosts?