Chapter 6 The Coffin Ship

Under everyone's watchful eyes, a boat a whole circle larger than the one they were on slowly emerged from the mist.

The expressions on the faces of the four people changed to varying degrees the moment they saw the boat clearly.

This boat resembled an old-fashioned awning boat, with a square cabin on top. But what truly frightened them was that the entire boat, from top to bottom, was painted bright red, which was extremely glaring.

Floating in the mist, it didn't look like a boat, but more like a blood-red coffin.

It seemed this was their second boat.

Also the one belonging to An Xuan and Xia Meng.

Although not explicitly stated, everyone present had the same thought in their minds: this blood-red boat must be used to hold corpses, which meant the "bride" they were about to retrieve.

Without hesitation, An Xuan slowly exerted force, bringing the boat slightly closer. Then, when the two boats were about a meter apart, he took a deep breath and jumped onto the blood-red boat.

There was nothing unusual on the boat. Subsequently, Xia Meng also jumped over. As they inspected the boat, they discovered that the boat hidden in the mist was not as new as they had imagined, but rather very old.

The blood-red color on it wasn't blood, but rather paint. From a distance it looked alright, but up close it was mottled and peeling in many places, revealing the original wooden color underneath.

The entire boat seemed to have been soaked in water for a long time, with very heavy moisture. Some places were already rotten. With a little force, a piece of decayed wood could be torn off from the handle for opening and closing the cabin.

Water was constantly dripping down from the cabin.

"This boat doesn't seem like it belongs on the lake normally," An Xuan said, squatting in front of the cabin door and staring inside. "It looks like a sunken ship that was salvaged."

Xia Meng was silent for a long while before she spoke, "We can't worry about that much. Let them go into the water first."

Time was limited. According to the rules, they had to find the female ghost's body before the second drum beat.

After throwing the rope over, Fatty and Chen Qiang tied the rope around their waists, and then helped each other check to make sure it was secure. Looking at the pitch-black lake water, Fatty's heart trembled.

But there was no choice. Going down might lead to death, but not going down was certain death.

Chen Qiang also seemed very afraid, but he still encouraged Fatty, saying, "Fat Brother, if you encounter any danger down there, just signal me, and I'll come to help you."

"Thank you." Fatty nodded to Chen Qiang. "You too, signal me if you're in danger."

Fatty had a pretty good impression of Chen Qiang as a person. He didn't seem like the scheming type. He even let Fatty choose his costume first earlier.

If it was within his ability, Fatty thought he would give him a hand.

"Are you ready?" Xia Meng stood at the bow of the boat and urged, "If you're ready, hurry up and take advantage of the time."

Fatty leaned over and looked at the black lake water, then swallowed his saliva. "Are we going down here? Is the corpse… the bride... underwater near here?"

He raised his head and said, "But how do I remember Shi Liaozhi saying that it should be near the shore?"

"Look behind you," An Xuan interjected.

Turning his head, Fatty discovered that the mist behind them had dissipated somewhat. Not far away was the shore, with a stone-built embankment faintly visible, exactly the location Shi Liaozhi had pointed to during the day.

"After you go down, we'll communicate through the rope." An Xuan tugged on the rope connected to their waists. Fatty and Chen Qiang could clearly feel the force transmitted through the rope. "One pull means you need to surface for air. Two quick pulls mean you're in danger, and we'll pull you up immediately. Three pulls means you've found the body."

"It's very dark underwater. After you go down, try to stay within each other's range." An Xuan added with concern, "Definitely don't separate."

"Plop!"

"Bang!!"

The two entered the water one after the other. Chen Qiang seemed to have some diving experience, and his movements were relatively agile. However, it was tough for Fatty. He completely held a large breath and then followed.

But to their relief, the water wasn't as deep as they had thought, and there was also a little bit of light. It was difficult for untrained people to open their eyes underwater, but at that moment, both of them managed to do it.

Fatty puffed out his cheeks, and his chubby hands groped very cautiously underwater.

It was a very terrifying and strange feeling. He both hoped to touch something and hoped not to touch anything.

Chen Qiang was behind him.

The two of them had agreed before going into the water to try to stay back-to-back, relying on each other.

Contrary to what they had thought, the bottom of the lake was very clean and didn't have many miscellaneous obstacles. Fatty even grabbed a handful of fine sand.

Chen Qiang also had the same doubt. They both had a feeling that couldn't be called a feeling. It seemed... this place didn't seem like it had a corpse.

Holding one's breath underwater was different from holding one's breath on land. Soon, Fatty couldn't take it anymore. He poked Chen Qiang behind him. The two looked at each other and began to pull the rope to surface.

To their relief, the people above received the message and immediately began to pull the rope. Because Chen Qiang was better at swimming, he also exerted force himself, so he was faster.

In comparison, Fatty's movements were much clumsier. He struggled to swing his legs, trying his best to shoot upwards. The outline of the boat was already vaguely visible above.

"Thud!"

Not getting a good grip, his head slammed heavily against the bottom of the boat.

The collision made Fatty dizzy. He clenched the rope with one hand and tried to swing the other, subconsciously hoping to grab the edge of the boat, or something else, and leave the water as soon as possible.

Finally, in his panic, he grabbed a hand. Just as he was delighted and looked in the direction of the hand through the muddy lake water, he suddenly shivered.

Half a second later, a feeling ten times colder than the lake water quickly ran through his entire body.

He saw an bloated corpse quietly stuck to the bottom of the boat. The corpse was wearing a large red opera costume, almost blending in with the blood-red bottom of the boat. The limbs, rotten from being soaked in water, floated up and down with the current, like water plants churned up by a knife.

And what made Fatty break down the most was that his right hand... was grabbing onto the corpse's seemingly boneless, unusually cold and slippery hand.

A current of water came over, and the corpse's rotten, bluish-green face shook and turned towards him. The next second, Fatty seemed to suddenly realize something. He couldn't hold back any longer, and his eyes, which were already about to close, suddenly widened...

...

"Something's happened!" Zuo Jing in the room couldn't hold back any longer and sat up.

Just now, they had all heard the third drum beat.

According to the rules, the four people who had gone out earlier should have brought back the retrieved "bride" before the third drum beat.

Something must have happened...

His throat rolled heavily. You Qi looked towards the door, unable to hide the fear in his eyes. "Why... why hasn't anyone returned? What exactly did they encounter?"