The River God Appears

Li Xian's mind raced as he tried to pinpoint the problem. Once he was almost certain there was nothing wrong with the bottom of the well, he reached toward another spot, one that was all too easy to overlook-

The wall of the well.

He had only spent a few seconds thinking, but the villagers were already about to surround them.

His hand brushed over the wall, and he found a slightly loose brick whose surface was much rougher than the others. After trying different angles, Li Xian managed to pull it out.

The ground beneath his feet suddenly caved in, opening a hole.

He looked down through it.

The space beneath the well was packed with Wooden Figurines, each with a name carved into its forehead.

With just a glance, he spotted many names that matched those on the Village Chief's papers.

He grabbed a handful of Wooden Figurines, cradling them in his clothes with one hand while reaching up with the other.

"Pull me up, now!"

A spark of hope returned to the others' lifeless eyes at Li Xian's actions. No longer able to worry about the villagers closing in, they hauled him up as fast as they could under the threat of death.

Li Xian had no time to figure out what the things in his arms were for. Relying solely on instinct, he dumped all the Wooden Figurines carved with names into the river behind him.

The figures sank swiftly to the riverbed. Then bubbles rose to the surface as though the water were boiling, as if something below could no longer wait.

"You!!!"

The Village Chief's eyes widened with fury, his face slowly turning ashen. The villagers at the front skidded to a halt and backed away, trembling, only to be shoved forward by those behind them who had no idea what was happening.

"Stop! Stop!!"

The villagers at the front cried out as though they had seen something utterly terrifying.

"The river... no, he-they're coming out!"

"Village Chief, Village Chief!! You must have a way to stop them, right?"

"Shut up!"

The Village Chief's angry shout frightened everyone into stopping.

A hand reached out from the river and gripped the bank, followed by a second, a third...

The "children" crawled out of the river.

The villagers turned and ran, shouting, "The River God... the children! Those children are coming up!!!"

Unlike what Li Xian had seen on the riverbed, the children crawling out now had flesh and blood. They stared around with wide eyes.

The children varied in age. The oldest looked to be in their teens, while the youngest were mere swaddled infants. Some were covered in bruises, others were unnaturally thin... every one of them looked as though they had suffered inhuman abuse while alive.

They seemed not to understand what had happened. First, they spotted Li Xian, who was closest, and were about to run to him with their bodies dripping wet. Then they turned and saw Shen Xiaomei covered in blood.

Li Xian could no longer bear the agony in his heart either and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

At the sight, the children spun around in panic, unsure what to do. Then their lips puckered-

They cried.

"Waaah-waaah-"

Rain poured down at that moment.

The blood on Shen Xiaomei's body blurred into a spreading stain in the rain. She looked at the drenched Village Chief and flicked her finger.

The water came "alive." Just as everyone had witnessed on their first day, it spread swiftly and burrowed into his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. Before the Village Chief could even beg for mercy, the wrinkles in his skin were stretched smooth. His entire body swelled, and he soon lost his balance, falling to the ground with muffled cries of agony.

The villagers scattering in every direction also fell to the ground, one after another.

They swelled rapidly, writhing on the ground. Once they had fallen completely silent, their bodies gradually shriveled and slackened, lying limply against the earth like flattened fish skins.

Shen Xiaomei seemed to be deliberately controlling the range and speed of her attacks. Although Li Xian and the others were caught in the rain, the slaughter did not touch them at all.

Even so, they moved into the Tile-Roof House.

The rain was growing heavier, and the soybean-sized drops even hurt as they struck their faces.

They sheltered inside, waiting uneasily for the slaughter to end.

Xu Yao wrung out her clothes and asked anxiously, "We're soaked in rainwater now. Are we really going to be all right?"

Qian Xin said, "Didn't Li Hongqiang die because he got caught in the rain...? What if Shen Xiaomei comes to kill us after she finishes with the villagers?"

He seemed frightened by his own words and joined Xu Yao in wringing out his clothes, trying hard to squeeze a little more water off his body.

"If she wanted to kill us, it would probably be easy. Since things are like this, she's probably spared us." Zhao Fengyi was not as worried about that as the other two. Instead, something else concerned him.

"But the completion objective... will Shen Xiaomei get into the Coffin willingly?"

Not daring to poke Li Xian, Qian Xin poked Song Qingzhang instead. "Didn't you spend a night at Shen Xiaomei's mother's house? Do you have any clues?"

Song Qingzhang frowned, looking as though he was thinking hard.

"Shen Xiaomei wasn't lucid before. She attacked almost everyone indiscriminately. After her body was brought up, she looked like she'd regained her senses. If she no longer has any lingering obsession, then it should... probably be fine?"

After finishing this uncertain explanation, he instinctively turned to Li Xian for confirmation.

"Bro..."

Song Qingzhang had barely spoken the word before he abruptly fell silent.

At some point, Li Xian had fallen asleep.

Seeing this, everyone stopped their discussion at once.

"Let him sleep for a while," Zhao Fengyi said quietly.

The room fell silent.

Only when the screams outside began to grow sparse did Song Qingzhang shake Li Xian awake.

Li Xian seemed not to realize he had fallen asleep and paused in surprise.

"How long has it been?"

"About half an hour."

The rain outside had eased considerably, but it was still falling in a fine, steady shower.

"We'll go out once the rain stops."

Soon, the final scream faded from their ears.

The rain gradually lightened until only a few stray drops tapped against the window. Then all fell silent.

The sky was beginning to brighten. Zhao Fengyi walked to the door, and when he reached out, he found that it seemed much heavier. He pushed it open with a heave and discovered several mangled corpses piled in front of it.

Their hands stretched toward the door. Even as they died, they had still been struggling to escape.

The group carefully stepped over the corpses and made their way to Riverside, where they saw Shen Xiaomei leaning against the well.

Her head rested on her bent knees, her posture completely relaxed. She looked like an ordinary woman taking a rest.

The children lay clustered around her feet with tearstains on their faces, looking as though they had fallen asleep.

As though sensing their approach, she turned her head and glanced in their direction.

Even when they reached her, she did not get up.

"I'm tired."

That was what she said.

"Sorry for the trouble. Please see me off."