Baiting the Spot

The mention of fishing seemed to perk He Qi right up.

His face lit with excitement.

Fang Xian was pleased to see it.

If people put romance first, boys and girls alike would miss out on things they genuinely loved.

Unfortunately, Sun Heng didn't see it that way. "The guesthouse is right there. Let's hurry!"

"He Qi, help carry their luggage."

He Qi seemed to remember himself and agreed.

Xiao Jiu watched them curiously, licking her lollipop without any idea what they were doing.

Well, only they know whether it makes them happy.

Fang Xian never corrected other people.

He carried his backpack, feeling the Fire Axe and lollipop tucked inside an inner compartment.

He hung back a few paces behind the four of them.

From there, he studied the guesthouse at the end of the road.

The place was nicely decorated, at least. It looked fairly new.

Against the dark night, it glowed brightly.

Colored lights, tables, chairs, and flowering plants stood outside.

Neither the Urban Legend Compendium nor Xiao Jiu reacted.

For now, it seemed safe.

Fang Xian was being especially cautious this time.

The mission was only rated [Lingering Fear], but after seeing Xiao Jiu's terrifying abilities, he knew humans had no way to defend themselves against urban legends.

Obsession-type urban legends had no physical form.

He would have to rely on Xiao Jiu to fight, but could this little Pikachu really handle it?

That remained to be seen.

The five of them entered the garden-like Lakeflower Guesthouse.

The owner was a stubbly middle-aged man. As he helped carry their bags to their rooms, he said, "We serve breakfast here. If you want some, let me know in advance."

"You can come to me for other meals too, but they cost extra. And I'm not much of a cook. I'd recommend the little town on the other side of the reservoir. There's a famous farmhouse restaurant there."

The owner had a lively way of talking. As they walked, he went on, "The silver carp in the reservoir are huge and delicious. That restaurant's specialty is wild fish head with chopped chilies."

Sun Heng struck up a conversation with him, and the group sorted out their rooms.

The two boys shared one room, and the two girls shared another.

As for Fang Xian,

his room was on the second floor.

"It's fine. Just give me the key card. I can find it myself."

Fang Xian smiled. "By the way, is there anywhere around here to go at night?"

The owner paused to think. "I suppose... most places are fine."

"But I'd recommend going during the day."

"It's not very safe at night."

Oh?

Fang Xian took a cigarette from his pocket and offered it to the owner.

"Oh, come on, you're students. I shouldn't smoke around you," the owner said politely.

He took the cigarette anyway.

After Sun Heng and the others said goodbye to Fang Xian and went to their rooms, the owner lowered his voice. "Business hasn't been good lately, young man. You five are the only guests we've had in days. There's a reason for that."

Fang Xian lit his cigarette. "Oh? I'm all ears. You've got me a little scared now."

The owner took a drag and looked blissful. Leaning closer, he asked, "Have you been on Tremble lately?"

Fang Xian thought, I have. I even saw a video of myself with my face blurred out.

He answered honestly, "A little, but I mostly watch the big news, at home and abroad."

The owner pointed at the glass fish tank on the front desk.

Inside, a few goldfish swam about.

Their movement stirred ripples across the water.

The owner got straight to the point.

"A month ago, an item came up for sale at the Jiangzhou Auction House."

"It was a fish."

"An arowana?" Fang Xian said. "I get it. Those things are expensive."

The owner wagged a finger. "No. It was... a fish with a human face."

A human face... on a fish?

Fang Xian remembered the notification he had seen on the road.

The owner's expression turned strange. "Yes. I saw a clip of it on Tremble, just a few seconds long. A few hours later, the video was taken down. It was weird. Gave me the creeps."

"But rich people like that sort of thing. The point wasn't the human face so much as owning something nobody else had."

"I heard plenty of Jiangzhou's big shots were planning to bid on that fish."

"But nobody expected..."

The owner drew out the words.

He knows how to tell a story, I'll give him that.

Fang Xian played along. "What happened next?"

The owner took another drag. "The fish was stolen."

"Then someone heard that the Human-Faced Fish had appeared around Thousand-Mountain Lake. At first, lots of people went looking for it. But then they all stopped. Why?"

"Because... someone died."

Fang Xian's eyes turned cold.

Even Xiao Jiu, perched on his shoulder, flinched.

"That auction house seems to have hidden something important: the fish is vicious."

"About as dangerous as a shark, from the sound of it."

"I heard it crushed a local fisherman's skull with its teeth."

"But nothing came of that. People are still looking for it over there. They even hired a professional dive team, though I don't know how that's going."

[Have you heard of the Human-Faced Fish? It's a highly intelligent species. Perhaps you could catch one and keep it in a glass tank.]

The Human-Faced Fish... So it really is an urban legend.

"That doesn't sound so scary," Fang Xian said. "I'm going for a walk, not swimming in the lake. If that Human-Faced Fish walked around on two legs, then I'd be scared. Otherwise, it's just a dangerous animal stuck in the water."

Fang Xian puffed out his chest.

The owner smiled. "That's only one part of it."

"A lot has happened around here lately. I wouldn't tell you any of this if you didn't seem like a sharp kid."

Fang Xian's mind raced. "Oh?"

"There's something worse?"

The owner narrowed his eyes. "There is. Of course there is."

"This happened after the Human-Faced Fish was released into the wild."

"The auction house offered a huge reward back then. Anglers came from all over, and business was booming."

The owner reminisced about the bustling days of the previous month, then tapped ash from his cigarette.

"You know what matters most when you're fishing?"

"Baiting the spot."

"One night, a man was baiting a spot by the lake, hoping to catch the fish. He said he saw someone else there."

"It was probably very dark, and the other person was a fair distance away, maybe ten or fifteen meters. So the angler called out to chat."

"The other person called back from a distance."

"The angler replied that he hoped they'd both land a big catch that night and neither would go home empty-handed."

"They hit it off."

"The angler figured that if he caught the Human-Faced Fish, maybe he'd share some of the reward with the guy."

"So he went over to say hello. But as he got closer, he realized something was wrong."

"There was no other angler there."

"Among the weeds, there was nothing but a battered—"

"Paper Figure."