Rain

At this point, Sun Dashi turned to Master with a solemn expression. "Old Zhao, I saw those tracks outside too. Truth be told, after all these years hauling things out of the Yellow River, I've never seen anything crawl so far from it.

"So there must be something wrong with the way A Qing died. So wrong that even when we tried to send him off in peace, something from the Yellow River still came looking for him."

Then he turned to Xu Feng.

Instead of asking Master, he asked Xu Feng, "What do those tracks look like to you?"

Xu Feng glanced at Master. When Master nodded, he said, "A snake."

"Exactly. A snake. Are there snakes in the Yellow River? No, but along its banks, there are plenty.

"Spotted ones, black ones, white ones. There's even a kind that swims in the Yellow River. If someone sees one of those, their boat might capsize and everyone aboard might die before they know it.

"But you're right. Those tracks outside look like a snake's. Looking like a snake doesn't mean it is one."

At that, a term flashed through Xu Feng's mind.

Dragon Transformation.

It described a snake passing through the Dragon Gate and becoming a flood dragon.

In particular, it was said that at a certain moment, a great snake could ride the waters beneath a bridge and rise into the sky.

Many stories mentioned it.

But what Sun Dashi said next shocked Xu Feng more than any of those tales. Even if someone had hung him from the rafters and flogged him, he would never have guessed the answer.

By the firelight,

Sun Dashi leaned close to the two of them and said quietly, "It might be a person."

"A person?"

This time, Xu Feng's brows knitted tight.

He knew the Yellow River Corpse Collector before him was an expert in such matters.

Even so, he found the claim hard to accept.

Never mind where a person like that could come from.

From what Xu Feng had seen, it would be like pulling most of the bones out of a human body. Everyone knew snakes were chordates: they had spines but no limbs. That was why they looked the way they did—a spine, a skull, a few small bones, and a great deal of muscle.

That made sense for a snake.

But a person?

And that was not all. Xu Feng remembered the enormous mark outside the door. Even if he took another ten thousand steps back and forced himself to accept the idea, how big would that person have been when he still had a human shape? A giant?

And if he took yet another ten thousand steps back,

fine, people could be enormous. But did that mean the smaller Snake-Shaped Patterns in the courtyard were people too?

If they were, wasn't the first far too big and the others far too small?

Xu Feng's thoughts tangled into a mess.

Then he noticed Uncle Sun watching his reaction. Seeing his expression, Uncle Sun seemed quite pleased. "Forget it. It's fine if you don't understand.

"Something like this comes along once in a hundred years, and you happened to run into it. Your Master's plenty capable. It's nothing he can't handle."

Sun Dashi said no more about it.

He turned to Master and asked, "I've told you so much. What did you see while stitching the corpse? Give me something definite, so I'll have an answer for the people of Fisherfolk Village when I go back."

"I saw a breath of harmful qi,"

Master said slowly.

Xu Feng lowered his head and said nothing. He remembered that Master had seen that face too. Either the face was part of the "harmful qi," or Master did not want to speak of it.

Whatever the reason, Master had his own considerations.

All Xu Feng needed to do was follow Master's lead.

In a matter like this, he had to stand with Master.

This was no time to show off how clever he was.

Sun Dashi fell silent at those words.

They drank another two bowls each, nearly emptying the wine gourd they had been sharing.

Only then did Sun Dashi say, "Just a breath of harmful qi? Old Zhao, I'll be honest with you. There's definitely something wrong with the way Daqing died. Of all the people on the Yellow River, Daqing should have been the last to die.

"He still had the River Earl Talisman around his neck when he went.

"That boy followed the rules so strictly it was frightening. He never went near the river without a reason, and he always made an offering before boarding a boat. Truth be told, when I found him, he was caught in a whirlpool.

"The water was turning, so the boy looked as if he were standing in it, with only his face showing!

"As I came over, I saw from a distance that his eyes were open and fixed on me. You know what I mean? He was dead, but he was looking at me.

"I use an inverted hook to snag bodies. I'm not boasting—there hasn't been a corpse I couldn't hook in over twenty years. But this time, when I lowered my hook, that whirlpool wouldn't let him go.

"It wouldn't let my boat go either. If the others hadn't come to help, I might have ended up standing in that whirlpool myself."

Sun Dashi's account was harrowing.

It was frightening just to hear.

Xu Feng had also read about so-called River Drifters in several forensic medicine books.

But clearly, River Drifters here meant more than simply dead people. There was the whirlpool, for instance—a term that sounded like local dialect for an underwater current in the Yellow River.

Yet a current like that would not hold someone upright in the water, rocking back and forth.

Quite the opposite. It would drag a person straight under and drown them. It could not leave a body standing upright in a whirlpool with only the head above water, spinning without end.

As Xu Feng pondered this,

Master suddenly took something from inside his coat.

He handed it to Sun Dashi.

Master's movements were so deft that, from where Xu Feng sat, he could not even make out its shape.

But the moment Sun Dashi saw it, he shot to his feet beside the fire. "Old Zhao, where did you find this?"

Master said slowly, "In Daqing's stomach. At the very end, the boy stuffed it into his mouth and swallowed it. I'm returning it to you now."

At that, Sun Dashi sat back down.

He did not reach for the object, though. Instead, he kept murmuring, "That explains it. That explains it.

"So someone killed the boy? Why else would he swallow this thing? Am I right?"

He asked Master, but Master said nothing about it. Xu Feng lowered his head and drank his soup.

After muttering to himself a little longer,

Sun Dashi looked at Master, then at Xu Feng. "Well, young Zhao, you're a lucky lad. After this, Fisherfolk Village will owe your Master a favor.

"Your Master's made up his mind to teach you his real skills this time!"

Then he said to Master, "I can't take this thing. I'll go to Fisherfolk Village tomorrow. If there's anything to discuss, let them speak to you."

Master nodded. "Very well. Let's sleep, then. Early to bed, early to rise."

This time, there was no room for Xu Feng in the side chamber. Master gave him bedding and told him to sleep in the upper room.

Xu Feng went back to the upper room.

He lay down on the bed.

Before long, he fell asleep.

But in the middle of the night, Xu Feng heard rain falling outside.

A soft, steady patter.

It seemed to be raining.