Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Top-Level Acting

The horrific scene even diluted the joy of surviving a desperate situation. If I had reached out to help the Third Young Master just now, it would be myself lying at the bottom of the lake.

The ghost in the reflection must be Xi Yao. The scene just now was a reenactment of Xi Yao’s tragedy, only this time the protagonist was Master Feng’s beloved son.

The Third Young Master was dead, Yang Xiao could be certain of that.

Su Tingting sat collapsed against the cabin, breathing heavily, her fingers clutching the oar still trembling nonstop. Everything she had experienced since coming to this world had completely overturned her understanding; this world had ghosts, and the level of terror was far beyond imagination.

After the red lanterns of the Hebo Xi Ship vanished, another large red lantern appeared in the distant mist, fluttering and hanging high up.

They had no choice but to try approaching it. The fog-covered lake was drastically different from the daytime, seemingly boundless.

Yang Xiao and Su Tingting held their breath, inching toward the direction of the red lantern. All around them was a white expanse, and the only sound they could hear was the sound of water.

Suddenly, Yang Xiao became alert. Not far from them, a boat appeared. As it got closer, Yang Xiao could see clearly—it was a boat exactly like the one beneath their feet, but it was empty and silent.

"Did the second search team also die here?" Su Tingting was close to breaking down. Now, only their team was left alive on this vast lake.

After careful observation, Yang Xiao frowned and interrupted Su Tingting, "This isn’t our boat. There’s no incense burner or lantern at the bow, and the items on the boat are wrong."

This boat was not dilapidated, nor was it leaking everywhere. On the contrary, it looked better maintained than the one they were on.

"Not our boat?" Su Tingting glanced nervously around, "Could it be that aside from us, the Feng Family sent another boat to look for the Third Young Master?"

Yang Xiao grabbed a pole and pushed against the water, "Bring the boat closer. Let’s get nearer."

Now, in Su Tingting’s eyes, Yang Xiao was the ultimate authority. Even if he asked her to jump onto this mysterious boat, she would consider it.

With Su Tingting’s coordination with the oar, their boat made a half-turn, but the next second, something under the water caught both their attention. Something dark floated in the black waters.

Focusing, a shock ran through Yang Xiao—it was a corpse, floating back up, face unseen. Moreover, there wasn’t just one; there were more in the distance. These people wore the clothes of the Feng Mansion’s servants.

Seeing that they weren’t teammates, Yang Xiao’s mind eased a little. If his teammates were all dead, he would have to face any further problems alone.

"Look at the head of this person!" Su Tingting pointed at the floating body.

With a "snap," Yang Xiao knocked down Su Tingting’s hand, "Don’t point with your hand. The grudges of floating corpses are heavy. Be careful they take you as a substitute."

Just in that moment, Yang Xiao also saw that behind this corpse’s head, there was a lump the size of a tennis ball, extremely noticeable.

"It’s him!"

Yang Xiao recognized the man’s identity; it was the Paper Talisman Artisan who had sent them into the water not long ago. The paper figures from the Feng Mansion were made by him.

He too had died on the lake... ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

But what was strange, why hadn’t Steward Liu informed them that the Paper Talisman Artisan would also be joining them in the search in the water?

Linking these events together, Yang Xiao made a daring speculation, the real party dispatched by the Feng Mansion to find the Third Young Master tonight was not them, but the Paper Talisman Artisan with considerable Taoist skills!

Their three ships were decoys, meant to draw Xi Yao’s attention and buy time for the Paper Talisman Artisan.

However, it seemed that the Paper Talisman Artisan’s group also ran into trouble, which led to the death of everyone on board.

It was not safe to stay here any longer. Yang Xiao immediately ordered to leave, and they continued towards the direction of the red lanterns. This time, it didn’t take long before the fog dissipated and they finally saw the shore!

Su Tingting was so emotional she almost cried, she would never set foot on a ship again in her life, the incident had left too deep a shadow on her.

"Don’t rush, take it slow," Yang Xiao reminded, signaling Su Tingting to slow down her movements, "Do you know what to say when we get back?"

Su Tingting looked at Yang Xiao, puzzled, "What to say?"

"Don’t ever mention seeing the Paper Talisman Artisan and his people, nor the Hebo Xi Ship. Act as if these two things never happened," Yang Xiao whispered, "Once we’re ashore, don’t speak. You have to act very scared, as if you’ve been frightened out of your wits. You’re good at that, I’ll handle the rest."

"Alright," Su Tingting complied with Yang Xiao’s instructions.

They were closer now, and Yang Xiao could even make out Steward Liu’s deathly pale face. There were two ships docked on the shore; one was like the one under Yang Xiao’s feet, probably his teammate’s, but the other ship was strange, drenched, as if it had just been salvaged from the water.

After disembarking, Steward Liu greeted them with an odd expression, "How did it go, any clues about the Third Young Master?"

Yang Xiao explained to Steward Liu the whole process of encountering the Paper Man Third Young Master, and then running into the Ghost Ship driven by Sun Amao, which they had great difficulty escaping from.

As a scriptwriter, he embellished the story with ups and downs, but he kept it well-balanced enough to stay within the realm of reality.

Seeing that he couldn’t get much from Yang Xiao, Steward Liu turned to Su Tingting, who was on the same ship, but she sat there motionless, with a blank expression on her face.

A servant asked her a few questions but got no response, so he went aboard to grab her, but Su Tingting suddenly screamed like a madwoman, scaring the servant almost into the water.

"Quick, someone help!" the servant also shouted, "She’s possessed, she must be!"

Everyone was in a commotion, but eventually, they managed to get the frantic Su Tingting off the ship. She twitched her hands and feet from time to time, until she received a "good enough" look from Yang Xiao, then Su Tingting’s head lolled, and she fainted. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

This act could fool Steward Liu and all the servants, and even Yang Xiao nearly fell for it. If Su Tingting hadn’t caught the cue he sent her, he might have doubted whether her possession was an act or the real deal.

"Do female college students nowadays all have so many dramas? Impressive indeed."

Steward Liu arranged for people to take Su Tingting back to rest, then led Yang Xiao to the other side of the shore. Turning a corner, a stone table appeared with several people sitting around it.

"Chu!" Kuang Hongyi suddenly stood up.

The other two also stood up, Shi Dali and Shi Guanming.

People had returned on both ships, something Yang Xiao hadn’t expected. He looked around, making sure there was no sign of Xu Su, "Where’s Ms. Xu Su?"

Hearing this, Kuang Hongyi sighed, and his complexion grew gloomy, "She’s dead. We ran into some trouble, the ghosts got onto our ship."