Chapter Three: Sinking into the River

  The two brothers exchanged a glance, their hearts racing wildly. Ye Cheng's face forced out a smile as he accompanied the villagers, saying: "Everyone, what's going on? My nephew just cries a bit more, how could he be an ominous star? Besides, which newborn baby doesn't cry or make a fuss? If we've really offended everyone, my brother and I will apologize..."

  Before he could finish, the man in black scowled and waved his hand to stop him from speaking. "It's not that we want to be villains," he said, "but it's for the sake of the townspeople's lives. Everyone has already discussed this and Eighth Uncle is in charge. Today, we must throw this little scourge who killed his parents into the river, or else he'll continue to harm the villagers. If you two brothers dare to intervene, disregarding everyone's lives, then we'll have no choice but to be unkind!"

  Seeing Ye Cheng's third brother still wanted to distinguish, the black-clothed man showed a hint of impatience on his face and shouted loudly at the people behind him: "Come! Take a good look at these four people, search the house inside and out for me!"

  Several people rushed up from behind and surrounded the four of them in the middle.

  Three brothers lived next door to each other, their family was very poor, how big could the place be? Before long, someone shouted loudly: "Come quickly, it's been found, it's here!"

  The crowd rushed out of the thatched cottage and hurried towards the pigpen in the direction of the sound.

  The little boy was lying on the sow's belly, sucking the pig milk with relish, and one small hand still held another tightly. The four little piglets had already mixed with the little boy for two days, lost their fear, squeezed beside the little boy, shaking their heads and tails, humming while eating happily.

  Everyone was shocked and amazed.

  The sow in the pen seemed to sense something was wrong, shook her body and stood up, with a fierce glint flashing in her two yellow eyes, opening her big mouth and letting out a loud hum towards the crowd! As she moved her body, she almost trampled on the little boy.

  The man in black rushed to the side of several men, made a gesture with his eyes, and they nodded in agreement. One person pulled out the feeding stick placed at the edge of the pigpen, drove away the sow, while two others jumped into the pen and carried out the child.

  Third Aunt was being held down by a group of men, unable to move, and watched as Little Treasure was taken away from the angry mother pig's side. She cried out, "Please, everyone, my child has never had enough to eat since birth, let him have his fill before you take him away!"

  The crowd seemed to be made of iron and stone, no one paid attention to her cries, instead they pointed and ridiculed.

  "Look at this, what is this if not a freak? Even pig's milk is being drunk!"

  "Hmph, I don't know what evil deeds the Ye family did in their past lives, but they actually gave birth to such a demon!"

  "I say, throwing this son who killed his parents into the river is letting him off too easy, he should be burned to death on a big fire!"

  "The Ye family really doesn't know what's good for them! We're trying to save them and they still don't appreciate it, honestly!"

  The crowd was saying all sorts of things, but the little child being held in someone's arms had no idea of any danger. The big round eyes looked around, not afraid at all, and when they heard the pigs oinking and people shouting, they became chaotic, and actually opened their small mouth to giggle.

  The burly man holding the baby looked at the baby's bright smile and heard the pleasant, clear laughter, but was shocked as if bitten by a snake, his face turned pale, and he loosened his hand, causing the baby to fall heavily to the ground. This person had lived for several decades and had never seen a newborn baby laugh so loudly before.

  At this moment, this bright smile like a flower actually made countless people's hearts skip a beat. The crowd was initially silent, followed by a buzzing discussion.

  "Wow!" The little boy who had fallen down let out a loud wail, which rang in the ears of everyone present.

  The man in black pushed through the crowd, picked up the child from the ground and strode forward. After a brief commotion, the crowd followed him to the riverbank.

  The Third Aunt, who had just been released by someone, was about to chase after them when a long sigh came from behind her. A large hand grasped her arm and spun her around. The Third Aunt turned her head back to see the tears welling up in her husband's eyes, and she flung herself into his arms, wailing uncontrollably! How could their weak powers of four people stir up the will of the entire town?

  Although this child is prone to crying and annoying, he is after all his own nephew. Thinking of Second Aunt's seventeen years of suffering, burning incense and praying to gods, seeking medical treatment and asking for medicine, going through hardships, finally giving birth to a son, but not being able to enjoy the joy brought by her son, only to lose her life. Thinking that this child has just arrived in the world, without even having a name yet, is about to be drowned in the river, Third Aunt cries even more sorrowfully.

  A vast crowd surged through the streets, heading towards the riverbank at the southern end of the town.

  The heartbreaking wails of a child echoed persistently through the streets.

  Perhaps it was a guilty conscience, or perhaps it was disgust and fear, but seven men had held the child before, yet not one dared to look directly at its face. Of course, no one noticed that on the child's forehead, in the center, an originally faint, almost invisible, greenish-blue worm-like mark had disappeared.

  The infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, beneath the delicate skin, however, a black light shadow as thin as a small finger wandered around. If someone looked closely, they would surely discover that the shape of the black light shadow was like a small dragon, with claws and scales, vividly lifelike, and from its mouth, threads of black mist were spewing out.

  A faint black fog, slowly floating out of the swaddling clothes of a young child, then crawling along the arm into the bodies of several men who had held the child in turn.

  At the same time, in a dense forest deep in the mountains two or three hundred miles away from the small town, a striped white-browed tiger with a body length of about 6 feet, a giant black python as thick as a bucket, and three blue wolves much larger than ordinary wolves, rushed out of their dens one after another, sniffing restlessly, howling anxiously, and finally running towards Wan'an Town in unison.

  Three or four villagers came out from each street, following the man in black, and more and more gathered. By the time they reached the riverbank, there were three to four thousand people. Men, women, old and young, listened to the child's heart-wrenching cries, unmoved, and many eyes even shone with excitement, as if they thought that killing a innocent child would bring real peace to the whole town!

  As the murky river water churned up, the little boy was swept downstream, and everyone's heart suddenly let out a sigh of relief. The swaddling clothes wrapped around the little boy floated in the river for only an instant before being sucked into a whirlpool, and the little boy's figure vanished in an instant.

  A sudden gust of cold wind blew across the river, and many people couldn't help but shiver.

  Half an hour passed, and as the little boy's figure did not emerge from the water, many people silently turned around and walked towards the town. Others were excitedly discussing it!

  In the river water, a black light slowly emerged from the little boy's body, quickly forming an oval-shaped black light shield around his body, completely enveloping him in the center, not even a drop of river water could seep into the light shield.

  Half a day later, outside the elliptical light cover, a large group of Qing fish over one foot long surrounded it. The Qing fish swung their tails and closely followed the light cover as it swam downstream, as if they were guarding the small children inside the light cover.

  Inside the light cover, the child's eyes were tightly closed, his face was pale, and he didn't move at all, just like a dead person.

  As the sun sets in the west, a small boat with a willow leaf-shaped sail glides across the river. The middle-aged fisherman at the helm is broad-shouldered and dark-skinned, his face etched with deep wrinkles from years of facing the river wind, like the marks left by an axe or knife.

  The fisherman slowly pulled in the net, and just as he was about to lift it, a glimmer of joy suddenly flashed in his eyes. He felt the net getting heavier and heavier, and with a sudden burst of strength, he lifted it up.

  Water splashed everywhere, a live green fish over one foot long jumped in the gradually tightening fishing net, trying to escape but to no avail. The fisherman let out a loud shout and used all his strength to swing the fishing net onto the bow of the boat. The setting sun shone on the scales of the fish, sparkling silver light, amidst which was a faint black glow that flashed by.

  This net pulled up, the fish caught in it were more than a dozen nets before, the fisherman was overjoyed, and couldn't wait to untie the fishing net. The bamboo pole tapped lightly, and the small boat quickly paddled towards the shore, feeling relieved and humming a light tune.

  Not far from there, on another flat boat, a loud male voice rang out: "Li brother, you're humming a little tune, looks like today's harvest is not small!" On this flat boat stood two men, one was short and thin, dressed as a fisherman. The other was eight feet tall, with a sturdy build, wearing a leopard skin cloak slanting across his shoulder, holding in his left hand a black, double-pronged hunting spear seven feet long, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

  It was the small fisherman who spoke up, with a voice that was disproportionately loud compared to his stature.

  The fisherman with the surname Li smiled and glanced at the fish jumping in the boat, saying: "It's not much, just getting by, unlike you, brother, who catches big fish every day!"

  As they spoke, the two boats drew closer and closer.

  The thin little fisherman cast a glance at the pile of green fish in Li's boat, showing a look of envy. Just then, he spotted a dark red cloth peeking out from under the pile of fish and exclaimed: "Hey! It seems like there's something else in this net!"

  Li surname fisherman used the bamboo pole in his hand to stir the pile of fish, and his face suddenly changed. He fiercely spat a mouthful of saliva into the river and said "What bad luck!" His mood had instantly turned extremely bad.

  The thin little fisherman and the big man dressed as a hunter saw at the same time, under the heap of fish, a wet, crimson-colored swaddling cloth, and in it, a small child with its eyes tightly closed.

  According to local customs, if a fisherman accidentally catches a dead body in the river, he must bring it ashore and bury it. If he dares to throw the dead body back into the river to feed the fish, he will inevitably suffer the revenge of the "water ghost" and die violently in the river.

  Even if it was a dead baby.

  Li surname fisherman's face was ashen, he had no mood to chat with the two men, and quickly rowed the small boat towards the shore.

  Two fishermen tied their small boats to the old willow trees on the shore, and Mr. Li lifted his fishing net and swung it ashore with force. Seeing that this net had nearly a hundred kilograms of good-sized carp, but because of the dead infant they couldn't bring them back home, Mr. Li silently cursed in his heart.

  This chapter is over, your support is my greatest motivation!