"The car is taking on water, driver, master, the car is taking on water!"
Xue Liangliang shouted, but nobody paid attention to him, as if they hadn’t noticed.
"Master, stop the car, the car is taking on water, master! Director, director!"
Still no one responded to him.
Gradually, the water reached his chest, Xue Liangliang began to pull at the car window, but it was pitch black outside and the window wouldn’t budge.
Just then, a figure seemed to flash past him in the darkness, so fast that Xue Liangliang thought he was seeing things.
But soon, the figure appeared again, and their face was pressed against the window.
Lit by the small light inside the car, a groggy face was reflected, indistinguishable between male and female.
But just then, the window suddenly opened, and it was pulled down all the way.
The next moment, the water inside the car seemed to finally find its only outlet, rushing towards him.
Xue Liangliang felt as if he was being squeezed out by the water, he was washed out of the window, falling into darkness, his body uncontrollably drifting.
He didn’t know how long he had drifted, feeling like he was slapped out by the river’s surge, his body suddenly acutely sore below, and he became alert.
He lowered his head and found himself lying on the riverbank, below were rugged stones, and his palms, arms, chest, and thighs were all scraped and bleeding.
No major wounds, but such extensive abrasions were indeed tormenting.
Bearing the pain, Xue Liangliang struggled to stand, his gaze sweeping around, the moonlight above was enveloped in a layer of gray mist, making the environment below also hazy.
But he could roughly make out that this was the riverside, not far from where he had boarded the ship to attend the seminar previously.
But hadn’t he already left Nantong by car earlier, how did he end up back here?
Xue Liangliang felt bewildered, suddenly, he saw a woman appear ahead.
The woman wore a blue skirt, her hair tied in a ponytail, her left hand holding a porcelain vase, her right hand holding up a black umbrella.
Why was she holding an umbrella?
As Xue Liangliang wondered this, he then realized, it was raining from the sky, and heavily, the large raindrops painfully striking him.
Had it been raining this whole time?
Xue Liangliang shouted at the woman.
The woman seemed not to hear him, continuing to walk towards the river while holding the umbrella.
As she came closer, Xue Liangliang could see the woman’s face more clearly, her makeup and features had a hint of world-weariness, yet she was very young.
Mainly because Xue Liangliang had first gone to the hospital after leaving Si Yuan Village then to the riverside, he hadn’t had the chance to check the police notice board, otherwise he would have seen the woman’s photo there, as the police had already issued a warrant for her.
At this moment, seeing the woman still relentlessly walking into the river, Xue Liangliang reached out and grabbed the arm holding the umbrella:
"What are you doing, don’t be foolish, you can’t go any further!"
The woman paid no heed, continuing forward.
Xue Liangliang only felt an incredible force from the woman’s body, which directly caused him to topple over.
Then, he realized his hand was stuck to the woman’s arm as if glued, unable to break free, led by her toward the river.
This position was truly uncomfortable, not only disrupting his balance but also causing his lower body to continuously rub against the pebbles.
It was not until the woman stepped into the river that Xue Liangliang managed to stabilize himself using the buoyancy of the water. However, what followed was a strong choking sensation and a sense of suffocation, which was terrifying.
He struggled fiercely, but to no avail.
The woman continued to move forward, walking along the riverbed in complete darkness, while Xue Liangliang floated upwards, with one hand still stuck to the woman’s arm, and his entire body now positioned above hers.
He tried to shout, but each time he opened his mouth, water rushed in first, completely silencing him.
He had no choice but to grab her hair with his other hand, winding it around his hand before he started exerting force.
The woman’s figure didn’t change at all and continued to move forward along the riverbed. The force exerted by Xue Liangliang, initially directed upwards, turned to a downward pressure, causing his entire body to cling to the woman’s back.
The hair started to grow incredibly long and was extremely resilient; even just a few strands hanging there were impossible for Xue Liangliang to break. The more he tried to break free, the tighter they bound him.
Eventually, he almost ended up in a position as if hugging the woman from behind while she continued to move forward with him on her back.
The sense of desperate suffocation continued, and Xue Liangliang couldn’t even begin to calculate how long it had been since he last breathed. He felt uncomfortable and in pain. Yet, for some reason, he remained lucid.
This was not at all fortunate, as it allowed him to feel the torment more acutely.
Now, he was praying that he could drown faster to be relieved sooner.
After an unknown period, there was light ahead.
How could there be light at the bottom of the Yangtze River?
And under the light, the silhouettes of houses could vaguely be seen.
There was not only light at the riverbed but an actual village.
Suddenly, Xue Liangliang felt the hair that had been binding him disperse, and even the stuck hand was freed.
Instead of floating upward, his whole body landed on the ground.
The woman continued to move forward, guided by the light, towards the faintly visible village.
Xue Liangliang was terrified to find that not only the woman who had dragged him down, but many figures in the dark riverbed, all long-haired and dressed differently, even in various era’s clothing.
They all had dead expressions, moving emotionlessly in the same direction.
The current around him seemed to have a fixed flow direction. Xue Liangliang, sitting paralyzed on the ground, felt his body uncontrollably pulled in that direction.
He instinctively tried to grab anything he could to anchor himself but failed. The stones he grabbed got overturned, and the mud he clung to stirred up only to quickly dilute and disappear.
No matter how much he resisted or how unwilling he was, nothing could change the reality of being forcibly dragged away.
He got closer to the light. From a distance, it was just a spot of light, but upon closer inspection, it was found to be red and white lanterns vaguely merged together.
The shape of the village also became more dimensional and clearer, with houses neatly arrayed, each with a niche at the entrance, where a long-lasting lamp was lit, emitting a faint green glow.
Right in front of him was a tall, ancient archway covered with a lot of moss.
Two rows of hanging lanterns were strung on either side, descending in size from top to bottom.
On the left were red lanterns, symbolizing festivity; on the right were white lanterns, indicating deathly stillness.
Xue Liangliang looked at the center of the archway; it bore three characters.
Read from right to left,