The cold moonlight scattered across the river's surface, casting countless trembling lights. Floating in the water was a corpse with a face even paler than the moonlight—Xie Sining's face.
Feng Yushu glanced at the downstream body beneath the bridge, then at the screen of her phone; the call showed it had been disconnected.
"If the one in the river is Xie Sining, then who called me just now?" Feng Yushu's voice trembled slightly. The horrifying possibility sent chills down her spine.
"Calm down. Although He Family Village is strange, no genuine supernatural monsters have ever appeared. Maybe Zhang Yangxu used Sining's phone to call you," Ning Zhe comforted her. "Let's head back to the ancestral hall first. You call her back and see what's going on."
Having already violated a taboo today, Ning Zhe, wary of further bad luck, dared not wade into the river to retrieve Xie Sining's body for more confirmation.
The two left the bridgehead and hurried back.
"No answer," Feng Yushu breathed a sigh of relief on the way. "I called Xie Sining three times—no one picked up."
"Try calling Zhang Yangxu?" Ning Zhe suggested as they quickened their pace—he felt unlucky today and didn't want to let go too much.
Feng Yushu tensed again. "I… Okay, I'll try."
Before she could find Zhang Yangxu's number in her contacts, the two passed through a riverside alley and turned a corner onto a relatively wide street.
Under the moonlight, a man and a woman walked slowly side by side. The man was of modest height but had a straight posture, wearing a suit that was a bit loose around a beer belly. The woman, dressed in a full OL uniform and high heels, trailed a step behind, following at his side.
"This…!"
"Quiet." Ning Zhe pressed Feng Yushu against the wall, one arm pinning her neck, his palm covering her mouth.
Once she ceased struggling, Ning Zhe peered from the alley at the two figures receding down the street. The cold moonlight stretched their shadows long and thin. "Zhang Yangxu and Xie Sining? What's happening?"
If Xie Sining was dead, who was walking with Zhang Yangxu? And if Xie Sining was alive, whose corpse floated in the river?
Seeing Feng Yushu calm down, Ning Zhe whispered, "Quiet," then released her, the back of his hand bearing a fiery red lipstick mark.
"Pfft—" Feng Yushu cradled the wall with one hand, panting. "N-Ning Zhe, the people who just passed by were…"
"I know." Ning Zhe's eyes remained fixed on the two shadows. "Call Zhang Yangxu right now."
"Okay." Feng Yushu hurriedly opened her contacts and dialed Zhang Yangxu's number.
Shortly after Feng Yushu connected, the two figures on the street paused, then continued walking. Zhang Yangxu reached into his jacket and retrieved his vibrating phone.
"Feng Yushu?" The caller ID puzzled him, and he answered quickly: "What's up, Madam Bai?"
"Be careful of Xie Sining!" Feng Yushu warned, breathless. "Ning Zhe and I just passed the arch bridge and saw—"
"What did you see? Madam Bai, be clear—what did you see by the river?" Zhang Yangxu's nerves immediately tensed. As he prepared to ask more, the phone screen flashed red: Disconnected.
"What's going on…"
In the alley, Feng Yushu looked at Ning Zhe in confusion. He held her phone; he had yanked it away and disconnected the call, preventing her from warning Zhang Yangxu further.
"Ning Zhe, why did you hang up?" Feng Yushu whispered.
As he operated her phone to end Zhang Yangxu's callback, Ning Zhe said, "I don't want trouble."
"Trouble?" Feng Yushu grew more puzzled.
Ning Zhe drew a deep breath, still shaken by the earlier horror.
"When you called Zhang Yangxu, I also called Xie Sining."
He showed his phone's call log: one 'No answer' from Xie Sining. "When Zhang Yangxu answered your call, Sining didn't answer mine. She just stood there motionless."
Feng Yushu's face went deathly pale. "Xie Sining…"
"In the moment you warned Zhang Yangxu, I saw the Xie Sining we'd been following suddenly turn around. Her unblinking gaze locked onto me like a self-aim, expressionless."
"As you said, 'Ning Zhe and I passed the arch bridge together,' she stared at me and silently smiled."
Feng Yushu's legs weakened; terrified, she nearly collapsed, her face ashen. "How is this possible…"
Ning Zhe steadied his breath. "Xie Sining is dead. The one trailing Zhang Yangxu is something else—some ghost wearing her face. I don't know its intent, and I can't predict what happens if we expose it."
He had no hesitation in grabbing Feng Yushu's phone and hanging up to avoid drawing its attention.
"What do we do now?" Feng Yushu asked urgently.
Seeing her helpless, Ning Zhe realized: Feng Yushu's timid nature made her easy to control.
"There's only one thing left. Aunt, call Ye Miaozhu and Gu Yunqing. Warn them that Xie Sining has been replaced," Ning Zhe said.
"And you?" Feng Yushu asked.
"Tell the two of them not to return to the ancestral hall. We four will go to the river to retrieve Xie Sining's body." Ning Zhe wiped the lipstick mark with his coat corner and whispered, "Hopefully we'll find clues about her death. I think it might relate to how we escape He Family Village."
As for Zhang Yangxu, his fate was his own; Ning Zhe chose to look after himself. Had he not violated a taboo today, he wouldn't have even brought Miaozhu and Yunqing—he'd have gone alone. But luck was against him, and retrieving a body alone was too risky, even though he was a strong swimmer.
After dialing, Feng Yushu followed Ning Zhe out of the alley.
On the distant street, Zhang Yangxu set down his phone—displaying no answer—and silently gazed at the Xie Sining beside him.
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild