Chapter 1 Jin Liang is Not Dead?

"Jin Liang, he's not dead?" The fat man took a few seconds to digest the news, then seemed a bit disappointed. "Doctor, it seems this Chen Hao is much worse than you. You killed Zhou Qing, but Chen Hao couldn't even handle this rich guy."

"Not necessarily." Jiang Cheng's voice was calm. "Don't underestimate Jin Liang. How could he be an ordinary character if he could gather people like Yu Chengmu and A Biao to work for him?"

"Also, Chen Hao was able to survive in Yu Chengmu's hands, which shows he's a clever guy too." Jiang Cheng turned his gaze back to the fat man. "Fat man, you weren't wrong with what you said before."

The fat man widened his eyes and asked suspiciously, "Which sentence?"

"This is a high-level game. We need to be mentally prepared." Jiang Cheng took a deep breath. "What I'm most worried about now isn't Yu Chengmu and Jin Liang's gang, but the background of this task. Our progress is too slow."

Hearing this, the fat man nodded thoughtfully. "That's right. Two of us have already died, but we haven't even figured out the basic background of the task. If this continues, I'm afraid it will be a disaster."

"We can't delay any longer. When we meet the others, we must make it clear to them," Jiang Cheng said firmly. "The village chief will be a breakthrough point. We need to find out what happened in the Wu family mansion as soon as possible, especially the background story of the Wu family's eldest daughter. There must be something to it."

The fat man looked suspicious and lowered his voice. "Doctor, do you suspect that the Wu family's eldest daughter was kidnapped and forced to be offered to the River God?"

Jiang Cheng shook his head. "If that's the case, things would be simple. It would just be resentment that's hard to dissipate, coming back for revenge. But I don't think that's the case. I suspect what the village chief said is true."

"The Wu family's eldest daughter… voluntarily became the Great River Goddess?" the fat man asked tentatively. He couldn't get involved in these brain-intensive things, so he could only express his suspicions. "But… why? Her family is so wealthy, and we've seen the statue in the temple. She's beautiful. Why would someone like that be so despondent and willing to drown herself in the river?"

"Yes, what could make such a wealthy young lady, who doesn't have to worry about food and clothing, so despondent that she would take this dead end?" Jiang Cheng looked at the fat man, his tone slightly strange.

The fat man understood that the doctor was reminding him. Soon, he seemed to suddenly remember something. "It's… that love letter. That love letter was written to the Wu family's eldest daughter. The scholar who wrote the letter was the Wu family's eldest daughter's lover."

"That's possible," Jiang Cheng nodded gently. "We'll go find Chen Hao after dawn. He might have some new clues."

Speaking of that love letter, the fat man's thoughts slowly drifted away, especially what Du Moyu said, about the paper doll stitched with corpse thread with the three characters Lu Jianli… that actually had the doctor's face.

"Lanterns like daylight, only lovesickness has no end, short is several months, long is a year of cold, when the gold list is inscribed, dressed in finery and riding home at night, dare not fail the kindness of the sovereign."

By the time the fat man came back to his senses, Jiang Cheng was already standing behind the door, his back to him, softly chanting. At that moment, the fat man was worried he would attract the Great River Goddess.

The sky was completely bright. When the fat man walked out the door and saw Jin Liang, he was not well. Jin Liang's left arm was wrapped in layers of cloth, and blood could still be seen seeping out. His left hand was gone. The wound was wrapped like a zongzi. Seeing the fat man staring at his wound, Jin Liang, who was pale, smiled as if nothing had happened. "I misjudged things last night, making Brother Fugui laugh. It's my own fault, my own fault…"

"It's good that you came back alive," Chen Hao said, pretending to comfort him. "Being alive is better than anything."

Lei Mingyu didn't have such a good temper. He curled his lips, crossed his arms, and mocked mercilessly, "I say, Boss, you have to be careful next time. People's luck is limited."

"Brother Mingyu is right," Jin Liang squinted, with a smile on his lips. "If Brother Xiaofeng had my luck, he wouldn't have died so miserably."

"Hopefully, the boss's luck will be good next," Du Caoyu stared at him and sneered.

Jiang Cheng wouldn't participate in the verbal sparring between these two groups. After all, Yu Chengmu and Zhang Junyu also had an attitude of not caring about what was happening, but judging from Jin Liang's injuries, Jiang Cheng could guess the danger of last night. Jin Liang suffered a big loss in Chen Hao's hands, but it was a pity he didn't kill him.

Next, Yu Chengmu took the lead and talked about last night's experience in a serious manner. Two things aroused Jiang Cheng's interest. The first thing was that Yu Chengmu pointed out that the corpse staying in the fourth room had a story. This corpse was not an ordinary corpse, but the corpse of a corpse stitcher. He didn't say how he recognized it, and no one asked. The second thing was that he broke a taboo last night, which led to that thing. That thing destroyed more than a dozen coffins in the Yizhuang (mortuary) hall, blew off the coffin lids, and touched the corpses inside.

"That thing came out of the Great River," Chen Hao lowered his voice. Even now, when he recalled the scene at that time, he still felt nervous. "That ghost is a woman, wearing a pair of red shoes, with a bell tied to her feet." After a pause, Chen Hao added, "Very scary."

"It's… the Great River Goddess!" Zhang Junyu's face changed slightly.

Chen Hao glanced at him and nodded. "It should be. Her oppressive force is very strong. Last night, I almost died in her hands."

Hearing this, a look of resentment flashed in Jin Liang's eyes. He hated why the Great River Goddess didn't kill this damned Chen Hao, otherwise he wouldn't have ended up in such a mess, needing to cut off his hand to survive.

"At that time, a row of wet footprints were left on the ground. The Great River Goddess came out of the river. From this point of view, the Wu family's eldest daughter being drowned can be confirmed." Speaking of this, Yu Chengmu paused and raised his head. "Moreover, her body is still at the bottom of the Du River."

Obviously, Yu Chengmu was implying to them that in this copy, their identity as corpse捞尸人 (laoshi ren, corpse捞尸人) wasn't added for no reason. Perhaps at the end of the task, they would still need to go into the river to salvage the body of the Great River Goddess. This would undoubtedly be the most terrifying and fatal level.

"The most Yin and evil thing is the corpse沉尸 (chenshi) drowned in the water. Once entangled, not only will life not be guaranteed, but after death, it will turn into a water ghost, continuing to lure others into the water, finding a substitute to die." Yu Chengmu's face also turned gloomy when he mentioned the Great River Goddess.

"We can't delay any longer. We must speed up. Our progress is too slow. At this rate, I'm afraid we'll all die before we figure out the background of this world," Jiang Cheng said bluntly. "Even if we have to bear some risks, I think it's necessary."