Chapter 54: Into the Water

I didn’t even have the heart to complain anymore. Holding the yellowed slip of paper and my phone, which I had already sealed in a waterproof pouch, I started frantically searching for a signal under the massive waterfall. But in a godforsaken place like this, cell service was even rarer than the scenery.

After walking all over the area and coming up empty, I could only find a shaded rock to sit down on. Glancing at the yellowed paper in my hand, I felt like crying. All I could do now was pull out my phone and save the numbers from the paper into my contacts, one by one.

“Young Master Gan, what are you looking for?” Hou Jinshan had somehow sneaked up behind me.

I quickly shoved the phone and paper into my pocket, brushed the dust off my hands, adjusted my posture, and pretended I hadn’t heard his question. “How’s Boss Li doing? Is it what you expected down there? When do we move?”

Hou Jinshan squatted on the rock where I was sitting, took a drag from his cigarette, and nodded. “There’s a massive fissure beneath the waterfall that should lead straight to the river channel of the ruins. There might be other paths, but we won’t know for sure until we get down there.”

“As for that guy Li, he probably won’t be making it out of here this time.”

His sudden remark caught me off guard. “If he’s seriously injured,” I said, “we can leave him up top.”

“You think he’d agree to that?” Hou Jinshan countered, giving me a sidelong glance. “You’d better worry about yourself first.”

With that, he went off to find Lai Qi. Lai Qi was sharp-featured and monkey-faced with sticky fingers; back in normal society, he was the classic petty thief type.

But according to Hou Jinshan, Lai Qi didn’t have the stomach for big jobs and was destined to be a low-level henchman his whole life. Still, he had one virtue: he was an exceptionally good swimmer.

I stood up from the rock and estimated the depth of the water. The area closest to the rocky shore was only about a meter deep, but taking just a few steps toward the center revealed a steep slope that plunged into a bottomless depth within a few meters.

The pool stretched all the way to the end of the cavern, which was shrouded by the white spray from the waterfall. There was no telling how deep the cave went. If geological activity had altered the landscape here, the river channel they were looking for might be completely submerged.

We were only carrying light diving equipment. When Hou Jinshan made his plans, he hadn’t anticipated such major geological shifts. Aside from everyone having mediocre diving experience, relying on our current gear to force our way through would be far too reckless.

If the river channel really was below the pool, or even deeper down, we would have to figure out another way.

Li Wanchou had Lai Qi put on a wetsuit and dive in alone to take a preliminary look. I shaded my eyes from the blinding sunlight and checked the time on my phone. Ten minutes had passed since he went under, and everything remained completely calm.

As the sun shifted, I decided to move into the shade. Looking up, I spotted a head breaking the surface of the water in the distance. The sudden splash startled our whole group. Since I was closest, I quickly jumped off the rock and rushed over to pull Lai Qi ashore.

He grabbed my hand with such force that he nearly dragged me into the water with him. He scrambled out in a frantic rush, ripped off his breathing tube, and collapsed over the rocks, coughing up water. He had clearly swallowed a lot. The way he gasped and trembled made it look like he was running from something.

Hou Jinshan hurried over and slapped him hard on the back a few times. “Well? Is it deep in there? Did you see the River Channel?”

Lai Qi coughed until his eyes were bloodshot. He nodded frantically, then started shaking his head just as wildly, looking completely out of his mind. Li Wanchou came over as well. I straightened up slightly and stepped aside. Watching Lai Qi, I felt a chill creeping down my spine.

“You bastard! What’s with the nodding and shaking? Did you see it or not? Speak!” Hou Jinshan suddenly snapped, grabbing Lai Qi by the collar and forcing him to his feet.

Terrified, Lai Qi stammered for a long moment before blurting out, “I… I saw it. There’s a section of the River Channel in there, but we can’t get any deeper.”

Being able to see a man-made River Channel meant there was a bank. A bank proved we wouldn’t need to dive deep into the water; we could simply swim a short distance and then walk along the bank. According to Hou Jinshan’s research, the River Channel was a crucial part of the entire ruins, serving as the main drainage hub. Once we reached the channel, we could enter the central area.

Lai Qi had only taken a glance at the outermost perimeter. Why was he so certain we couldn’t get inside?

“Why? Why do you say that?” I couldn’t help asking.

Lai Qi turned his head slowly to look at me. I saw overwhelming terror in his eyes. Shaking all over, he said, “It’s… it’s full of people in there.”

Full of people?

The moment those words came out, everyone present fell dead silent. A cold draft slipped down the back of my neck. What kind of sick joke was this? There wasn’t even a single bird in this place. People? Full of people? And so many that we couldn’t even get in?

The sky turned overcast. I swallowed hard and instinctively took a step back. Lai Qi’s words dumped a bucket of cold water over everyone’s feverish excitement. Li Wanchou called us together to crouch in a circle for a meeting.

A group of grown men huddled by the water’s edge. Li Wanchou spoke first. “What do we do? This is a complete no-man’s-land. How could there be people inside that waterfall?”

“Could he have seen… water ghosts^[1]?”

The speaker was squatting beside me. He was one of Lai Qi’s underlings, named Chou Zai. I figured his nickname probably had something to do with the large burn scar on his face.

Hou Jinshan raised his hand and slapped him. “Quit your damn nonsense! Water ghosts? I’ve been in this trade for years. What haven’t I seen? Besides, this place is desolate, surrounded by mountains and waters, completely peaceful in all directions. Even if there were ghosts, they could never amount to anything! It’s probably just that kid Lai getting spooked and seeing things, and now you’re all throwing yourselves into a panic!”

Hearing this, Li Wanchou followed up by asking, “Then what do you suggest we do next, Master Hou?”

Hou Jinshan stroked the small tuft of beard on his chin in a show of thoughtfulness, putting on a profound air. “Either way, since there’s a river channel, there must be an entrance. Who cares whether it’s people or ghosts down there? Let’s go down and take a look first!”

This time, I surprisingly found myself agreeing with Hou Jinshan. After all, hearing is one thing, but seeing is believing. In a place like this, Lai Qi’s claim that it was “full of people” did sound unreliable. If we wanted to know what was really happening inside, we had to go in and see for ourselves.

So everyone began gearing up. I had never gone diving before and had zero experience, so after putting on my gear, I had Xiao Wu take me through a few practice runs in the shallow water. I needed to make sure I could swim with a steady breathing rhythm once we went inside, to avoid choking on water.

Once all the preparations were done, Lai Qi had more or less pulled himself together too. He was terrible at stringing words together, and even after calming down, he still stammered, unable to describe what he had seen. In the end, we didn’t press him any further.

We gathered our emergency supplies, strapped on our fins, and slowly moved from the rocks nearest the waterfall toward its center. The rushing torrent slammed into my face, blurring my vision. By the time I wiped the water away, Lai Qi had already dived headfirst into the water.

I adjusted my breathing. Xiao Wu patted my shoulder and made a few hand signals, letting me know he was right behind me and telling me to stick close to the team ahead.

I nodded, then plunged into the water right behind Hou Jinshan.