Chapter 54: Dead Float

Chapter 54: The Drowned

**[Fourth Dream: Great Chasm Mountain]**

**[Difficulty: C-level]**

**[Sang Xu, welcome to the fourth dream. A gentle reminder: play your role well and do not let them discover you are an outsider.]**

**[May you live until the dream ends.]**

"A'de, remember, we body retrievers have three types of bodies we never retrieve."

The small boat rocked and swayed, parting the water and stirring up ripples. Sang Xu opened his eyes to find himself seated in a narrow wooden vessel.

Everything around him was a verdant green—the sky, the water. Within the dense, shadowy forest, this deep pool resembled an ancient mirror, reflecting the green glow that covered the mountains and the mist shrouding the colossal peaks on all sides. Only the center of the pool was filled with withered yellow lotuses. Long-legged mosquitoes buzzed, and water spiders hopped, their slender legs piercing the water's surface, reflecting sharp, silvery glints.

Beside him sat an elderly man, rowing, his hair streaked with gray, muttering incessantly:

"First, do not retrieve bodies during thunderstorms. Thunder and lightning are dangerous. Second, do not retrieve bodies resting on the bottom of the water. When a person dies, they should float up. If they don’t, it means something is holding them down. Third, do not retrieve upright corpses. They’ve turned malevolent, and they’ll take your life..."

This time, he hadn't woken up in a bed. Sang Xu lowered his head, searching for the ancestor.

The boat held only him and this constantly muttering old man; there was no one else.

Where was the ancestor?

He had carved Han Rao and Shen Zhitang’s names on the Unity Token. He didn’t know if they had entered the dream or where they had landed.

Great Chasm Mountain was where Sang Wannian first set foot in a dream, and it also held the secret manual of the Six Realms Divine Power, making it incredibly valuable. Sang Xu needed reliable allies to work with. Han Rao and Shen Zhitang were trustworthy, though their abilities were a bit lacking. Shen Zhili’s skills were good, but he was too unreliable. Being with him always gave Sang Xu a chill down his spine, as if he might be betrayed at any moment. Unless absolutely necessary, Sang Xu wouldn’t choose him.

The ancestor was Sang Xu’s trump card, but where was he?

Suddenly, he noticed the boat was sitting too low in the water. With only him and this frail old man on board, it shouldn’t be sinking so deeply. Previously, the ancestor had always appeared under the bed. This time, there was no bed—was the ancestor under the boat?

A large, paddle-like hand slapped the back of Sang Xu’s head. The old man scolded irritably, "Daydreaming again. You little brat, you need to internalize these rules." He squinted his triangular eyes, peering into the deep water. "Ah, times are tough. I heard the city is gone now, the fog has sealed the countryside roads, and only this body of water leads out. A'de, tomorrow I’m going to the city to look for my son. If we don’t retrieve Old Xu’s child’s body today, you’ll have to do it tomorrow."

Sang Xu slowly started to piece it together.

It seemed that this time, he was a body retriever.

"Understood, Master," he replied softly.

The old man rowed the boat deeper into the pool. The sunset was fading, and the high mountains blocked the light, casting the pool into darkness as if shrouded in a black curtain, making everything increasingly indistinct. The emerald water turned deep black, and looking down at the surface, Sang Xu could see his own furrowed brow.

"This should be the spot," the old man said, stopping the boat and gazing at the water. "A'de, my old eyes are failing me. I can’t see clearly. See if you spot any drowned bodies."

Drowned bodies?

Did that mean floating corpses? Sang Xu looked around, but all he saw were withered lotus leaves.

"None," he said.

"Ah," the old man sighed, his face full of worry. "We’ll have to go down and look. That foolish child, why couldn’t they just jump into a well? Why come here to kill themselves? Even a hard life beats dying. Being a Golden Vase Lady is better than rotting in the water."

Trouble often arose after dark—this was a rule for outsiders. Seeing the last rays of the sunset about to vanish, Sang Xu was eager to leave.

"Should we head back?" Sang Xu suggested. "I’ll come alone to retrieve it tomorrow."

"Retrieve my ass!" the old man snapped, smacking Sang Xu’s head again. "If we don’t earn some food, how will I leave tomorrow? Live on nothing? The family is struggling to put food on the table, and relying on a good-for-nothing like you is hopeless."

Sang Xu wanted to persuade him further, but the old man shook his head and cut him off.

"I’ve been doing this job for decades. If you take someone’s task, you do it properly. Wait here for me. I’ll go into the water to look. Don’t leave me here, and don’t run off alone."

"I won’t," Sang Xu said.

The old man handed the oar to Sang Xu, took off his shirt, took a deep breath, and dove into the water. The dark water rippled widely as the old man submerged. After a while, he surfaced for air before diving down again. The next time he emerged for air, he was quite a distance from the boat.

"How is it?" Sang Xu called out softly. "Did you find it?"

"I saw it," the old man shouted. "She’s tangled in the weeds."

He pulled out a grass-cutting knife from his back and dove down again. Sang Xu watched as a large ripple spread across the water’s surface before slowly receding and calming. After a long wait, the old man still hadn’t resurfaced. Sang Xu counted the time silently. The last trace of sunlight vanished from the water, leaving the dark surface calm and reeking of a pungent, fishy smell.

Three minutes had passed—almost the limit for holding one’s breath underwater.

The old man must have gotten into trouble. Sang Xu made a quick decision to retreat.

Just as he was about to row away, a dripping wet head emerged in the distance.

Had the old man resurfaced? The night was pitch-dark, and Sang Xu couldn’t see clearly, but he could vaguely make out the old man’s wet hair.

"Master, did you retrieve it?" Sang Xu called out.

He really wanted to leave, but for some reason, he kept thinking about the Sang family members trapped in the octagonal well.

Out of duty and compassion, he shouldn’t abandon this old man.

The old man didn’t respond, merely drifting closer to Sang Xu. His movement was strange—a normal person would paddle with their limbs, but only his head floated above the water, with no ripples indicating movement around him.

A sense of dread slowly rose in Sang Xu’s heart. He moved a bit closer, and finally, he could see the old man’s stiff, pale face. His eyes were completely white, without pupils—already the appearance of a dead man.

This was an upright corpse.

—"Third, do not retrieve upright corpses. They’ve turned malevolent, and they’ll take your life..."

Sang Xu quickly rowed backward, churning up murky water, but the boat moved far slower than the old man. The old man glided through the water like a flying fish. When Sang Xu looked back, the old man, who had been some distance away, was now near the stern—so close that Sang Xu could almost see his murky white eyes.

It wasn’t that Sang Xu couldn’t row well; the boat was simply too heavy.

Even after the old man had gone into the water, the boat still sat too deep.

Was it because of the ancestor?

But no, the ancestor wasn’t that big.

"Zhou Xia, where are you?" he whispered.

No one answered.

He pulled out the Nuo mask from his lower back, put it on, and looked into the water. Suddenly, he saw that, in the reflection, the boat was filled with expressionless ghosts besides himself. The small boat was packed full. Sang Xu felt a chill down his spine. In the reflection, the ghosts seemed to notice Sang Xu’s gaze, staring vacantly in his direction. Sang Xu immediately averted his eyes.

The boat suddenly rocked. Sang Xu turned around and saw the old man’s claw-like, withered hands clutching the stern tightly.

He was attempting to board the boat!

"Jump into the water," Zhou Xia’s voice suddenly whispered in his ear.

Without hesitation, Sang Xu held his breath and leaped into the water.

As soon as he entered the water, he could see the grotesque jagged rocks and dense leftover lotus roots in the distance. Looking back toward the depths of the pool, he saw countless drowned bodies frozen stiff in the water, their faces pale and bloated from soaking. Their turbid, whitish eyes, squeezed into narrow slits by swollen flesh, seemed to be all fixed on Sang Xu.

Some wore simple cloth garments, while others were clad in what appeared to be ancient clothing.

With just that one glance, Sang Xu felt his scalp crawl. He dared not look further and swam forward quickly.

Suddenly, something tightened behind him. Turning, he saw the old man reaching out, gripping Sang Xu's hoodie's hood tightly.

"Ah-de... Ah-de ah..." He thought he heard the old man calling.

Behind them, the drowned bodies started to move. Sang Xu frantically tried to remove his clothing when a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. Looking up, he met Zhou Xia's golden pupils. They shone like lanterns, unwavering even in the silent depths.

Zhou Xia had arrived, yet the old man refused to let go. Zhou Xia drew a dagger, as if to chop the old man's hand off.

Sang Xu grabbed Zhou Xia's wrist, surfaced, and said, "I'll come back for you."

After a tense moment, the old man finally released his grip. Zhou Xia dragged Sang Xu along, swimming away. Sang Xu glanced back to see the old man clinging to the boat, staring fixedly as they retreated.

Zhou Xia pulled Sang Xu onto the shore, and the two sat panting on the bank. In the distance, they could see countless pale heads in the depths of the pool, all watching them. Perhaps afraid of Zhou Xia, they did not approach.

"Did you just call my name?" Zhou Xia narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in his golden pupils.

"No, I called you 'hubby.' Where were you?"

"I woke up in the water, among those zombies. They clung to me; I had to rip through a few to break free." Zhou Xia sniffed his sleeve, reeking of corpse rot, and retched twice.

Sang Xu asked, "What exactly are they?"

"Those who died in the water, never retrieved or buried. They've become spirits, really vicious ones. You little liar, always fooling ghosts—somehow that old man believed your nonsense." Zhou Xia pulled out his phone for light; it was waterproof and still worked despite the long immersion.

Sang Xu stood up and realized his hands were empty. "The bag is still on the boat."

"Forget it." Zhou Xia paused, then asked, "What was in it?"

"Phone, compressed biscuits, various exorcism tools, a dagger, and a tablet with *Empresses in the Palace* downloaded."

Fortunately, Sang Xu had been cautious, keeping the important Heaven-Mending Pill, company keys, and Nuo mask on his person.

Hearing the tablet was lost, Zhou Xia immediately changed his mind and headed back toward the water. "I'll go get the bag."

Seeing him leave, Sang Xu, now alone, said, "Forget it, really."

Zhou Xia chose between the tablet and Sang Xu, and chose the tablet, but Sang Xu clung to his leg, refusing to let him go.

"Why are you so chicken?" Zhou Xia scoffed in disdain.

"Don't leave me behind, ancestor," Sang Xu pleaded.

In the end, Zhou Xia relented, mainly because Sang Xu held on too tightly.

Zhou Xia hoisted Sang Xu up, and the two set off along a narrow path. The night was deep and silent, their faint footsteps the only sound. Ancient banyan trees draped with aerial roots like human hair gave them an eerie feeling. After walking for some time without reaching anywhere, Sang Xu grew puzzled; the path, trodden by people, should have led to a village if one were nearby.

As they walked, they unexpectedly found themselves back at the edge of the pool.

Sang Xu's heart tightened, and he instinctively glanced toward the center of the pool. Whether illusion or not, it seemed even more floating heads had gathered.

Was it a ghost wall?

He turned to Zhou Xia, whose expression was grave.

"What's wrong?" Sang Xu whispered. "Can't you handle it?"

"I told you I'm not all-powerful. It seems the entire water system's drowned are here. With you as dead weight, how can I fight so many?" Zhou Xia said. "We can't keep walking. Let's rest in a tree overnight."

They climbed a tree, and Zhou Xia turned off his phone, signaling Sang Xu to stay silent. The surroundings plunged into utter darkness, sight and sound swallowed by the night. Soon, faint rustling sounds arose below, as if many people were moving about.

Sang Xu immediately thought of the drowned bodies from the water—they had come ashore.

--------------------

The last day of the year.

Looking back, the only feeling is that staying alive is so hard.

I wish I could be as resilient as Sang Xu, but I just can't. Sigh!