Heaven and earth destroy those who do not look out for themselves

After spending the entire night at it, the three finally cobbled together a crude raft.

The raft did not look particularly reliable, but it gave Fang Zelin some comfort, at least. He felt he could use it to leave this place.

After just one night of work, Fang Zelin was already somewhat exhausted, and he had barely eaten anything either.

That feeling gave Fang Zelin a rough idea that his stamina was nearing its limit.

After resting for a while, Fang Zelin decided to cross the river after all.

The three stood by the river, looking at the raft before them. They exchanged glances and nodded, then boarded the raft together.

The sun was just beginning to rise, and the morning sunlight spilled across the river, making it glitter gold.

Taking a breath now, they could even smell a hint of dew. That scent of mountain wilds and fields was especially distinct at this moment.

"This game is far too real. Could it actually be another world?"

Fang Zelin breathed in this world's air, free of the slightest pollution, unsure whether he was imagining things.

He felt that breathing the air here did feel a little different.

Fang Zelin slowly worked the paddle, carefully making his way toward the opposite bank.

Beside him, however, Zhang Weichu wore a somewhat complicated expression. He looked at Fang Zelin, and after some thought, he could not help asking.

"Brother, do you know there are water ghosts here?"

"Hm?"

At the question, Fang Zelin paused and turned to look at Zhang Weichu, some confusion in his expression. "Water ghosts?"

He had only just entered the game. How would he know anything about water ghosts?

Besides, did things like water ghosts actually exist in this world?

The information provided on the official website was scant indeed. Players were left to figure everything out themselves.

Thinking of the water ghosts the other man had mentioned, Fang Zelin could not help feeling a jolt of alarm.

"It seems you do not know."

Seeing Fang Zelin's reaction, Zhang Weichu took it to mean that he did not know there were water ghosts here, and spoke with a sigh.

"Those who fall into the water here all become substitutes for water ghosts. Those substitutes then become the water ghosts here, waiting for someone else to fall in and take their place before they can be freed. All the while, they suffer the agony of drowning in the water, over and over again."

At this point, Zhang Weichu looked at Fang Zelin beside him, something strange in his eyes.

"Do you think a ghost in the water is wrong to seek a substitute to escape its suffering?"

Hearing this, the child beside them immediately shook his head helplessly.

This fellow really had read himself stupid.

He felt guilty about making the other man a substitute for no reason, so now he was asking him in hopes of gaining his understanding and soothing his own conscience.

At first, Fang Zelin had not felt there was anything wrong with what the other man was saying.

But as his gaze swept over the man's body, he immediately noticed something amiss.

Earlier, he had been busy until nightfall, and Fang Zelin had not noticed that the other man's clothes had been wet the whole time.

Now that the sun had risen, he could see the man's current state perfectly clearly.

Although the man had fallen into the water earlier, an entire night had passed. His clothes should not still have been dripping like this.

In particular, he could still see thin streams of water trickling constantly down from the hair at his temples.

A water ghost. Could this fellow be a water ghost, trying to drag me down as his substitute?

At that thought, an inexplicable chill rose in Fang Zelin's heart.

He was more or less certain now that this world might very well be real.

According to what the forums said, anyone who died here had to wait half a month before logging in again.

There were no other penalties besides that.

But now Fang Zelin felt that perhaps there were already some unknown penalties involved. For instance, why did they have to wait half a month before logging in again?

On top of that, Fang Zelin now had a vague feeling that this was a real world.

At that thought, Fang Zelin felt his hair stand on end.

No. Even if I don't know what the penalties are, I can't let someone drag me off to become a substitute without even knowing what's happening.

Just as Fang Zelin was about to say something, the child beside him spoke with a touch of feeling as well.

"Speaking of that, it reminds me of something too. There was once a river child in this river, a spirit of the waters that lived on the incense offerings of the common people. But after losing those offerings, the river child's divine power gradually faded, and it fed on humans to keep itself from perishing. What do you think of that?"

He Chenyi's words gave Fang Zelin a jolt. A river child?

He knew that in folklore, river children were also called water tigers. They were indeed river spirits, not the sort of kappa found on that island.

Looking at the child beside him now, was this another case of "I have a friend"?

Fang Zelin was no fool. Listening to their conversation and giving it a little thought, he sensed that something was wrong.

Sweat was beginning to seep out of him now. What kind of situation is this?

He had only wanted to leave this place, yet there was a water ghost and a river child on this one raft. From the looks of it, both were particularly hungry for his body.

When he had read other players' accounts of their experiences on the official website, none of them had encountered anything like this.

At that thought, Fang Zelin broke out in a cold sweat.

He remained silent for a long while, but when he raised his head, he found both of them watching him with eerie gazes.

Looking at the raft's current position, he saw that they had already reached the middle of the river. He looked down into water too deep to see the bottom. It was certainly a fine place to sink a corpse.

At the sight, Fang Zelin could not help sighing.

"Ah, heaven and earth destroy those who do not look out for themselves."

"Hm? Sir, you too consider this only human nature?"

Hearing Fang Zelin's words, Zhang Weichu immediately perked up and spoke with renewed spirits.

He was a scholar, after all. Even after spending so long drowned in the water, he still felt this was not the way of a gentleman.

If even Fang Zelin approved of what he was doing, he could feel at ease dragging Fang Zelin down and making him his substitute.

Beside him, the river child He Chenyi narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Fang Zelin. He, too, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and was also repeating Fang Zelin's words.

"Heaven and earth destroy those who do not look out for themselves. If that is so, then for me to keep myself from dissipating between heaven and earth, this method is reasonable, and I need feel no shame before heaven and earth."

At that moment, the river child murmured those words to himself in his heart as well.

Seeing that Zhang Weichu had misunderstood, Fang Zelin did not know whether to laugh or cry. How could those words be interpreted that way?

Seeing that both seemed to have misunderstood, Fang Zelin hurriedly explained, "No, that is not it. What those words mean is that if a person does not cultivate his own virtue, then heaven's laws will not tolerate him."

"Without virtue or good conduct, how can one exist between heaven and earth?"

To get these two to spare him, Fang Zelin could no longer afford to worry about much else.