Chapter Sixty: The Gloomy Underground River

  I could never have imagined that under the coffin was an underground river. I held a flashlight and swung it forward several times, finding that this river was very long and couldn't see the end at all. In my heart, I thought, in this desert, there would actually be such an underground river. Is this river the Iron Plate River they were talking about?

  Along the riverbank, several small boats were moored in a row, with ancient manual oars. On this narrow river surface, only one boat could pass through at a time. If several boats wanted to get across together, they had to line up in a straight line, bow to stern.

  There is no other way out, the only way is to get on a small boat and row towards that unknown waters.

  "Is this the Iron Plate River you were talking about?" I couldn't help but ask the old professor.

  Only the old professor was seen, with his eyes narrowed and shaking his head. His face showed a hint of certainty as he said: "It's not this one, this river doesn't look right. According to Huang Daxian, the Tieban River is a dried-up river, unlike this small river. I think we still have a long way to go."

  The old professor's face sank, a look of worry.

  With a creaking sound, the iron elevator we just made slowly rose upwards.

  The three of us sat in one of the small boats under the command of the old professor, waiting for them.

  As I waited, I shone my flashlight into the water and was startled by what I saw.

  What is that thing?

  "There's something in the water." I stuttered, my voice trembling with fear, wanting to go somewhere else, but this boat was just too small, and I only twisted my body, the whole small boat suddenly shook violently.

  Because I was sitting at the back of the boat, Huang 'Mao' who was sitting in the middle suddenly poked his head out to look at the water surface, and suddenly he lost his balance and fell directly into the water.

  I and the old professor quickly controlled the small boat, and the yellow-haired man who had fallen into the river grabbed the boat with one hand and climbed up. He scowled at me with a dark face and cursed: "You damn it, what's going on? You clearly know this boat is small, but you still came recklessly."

  I whispered, "There was someone in the water just now."

  As soon as I said this, the two of them suddenly changed their faces, Huang Mao stretched out his hand to touch the water droplets on his face, took a deep breath and asked: "What did you see?"

  "I saw a figure, it was too fast, didn't see clearly." I couldn't help but let out a breath and stammered. Just thinking about the figure I saw earlier, it seemed to be swimming under the boat, not making much noise, feeling like that figure was heading towards us, my scalp went numb for a moment.

  How could it be human if it's in an underground river like this?

  "I saw it too." Huang 'Mao' said with a dark face.

  As soon as the words came out, the three of us couldn't help but let out a cold breath, and a chill atmosphere enveloped us. I, along with Huang 'Mao', involuntarily looked towards Professor Lao, hoping he would say something.

  However, the old professor's face was filled with confusion, and he sighed, saying: "I think it can't be a person, who would be in this 'dark' underground river?"

  "Do you think someone is pretending to be a ghost?" I asked in a low voice.

  "How did you know that the one in the water just now was definitely a big living person?" The old professor's expression looked very abnormal: "This is the closest place to Tieban River, and everywhere under the eyes is 'yin' and eerie, it's possible that what we saw earlier was a living ghost."

  "Living ghost?" My mind quickly recalled the scene just now, and a heavy "yin" shadow flashed through my heart.

  "Old professor, I always feel that the shadow in the water just now was a person, unfortunately didn't get to see clearly."

  Although the light is not very clear, a person's figure can be clearly seen from the 'wave' ripples in the water. If it's not human, what could it be?

  The old professor couldn't help but say, "If you were in his place, would you be willing to stay in the water?"

  I thought about it and this sentence is correct. I actually can't stay in the water for three minutes, what I said was that everyone holds their breath underwater, a living person cannot stay at the bottom.

  So, is there a ghost in the river? Water Ghost

  As I thought of this, I felt a chill run down my spine and beads of cold sweat broke out on my forehead. The legend of the water ghost automatically floated into my mind.

  "The Water Ghost" is commonly known as "Water Monkey". People who drown themselves or die accidentally will wander around the place where they drowned, turning into a water ghost. Then, patiently waiting in the water, luring or forcing people to fall into the water and die, to become their substitute ghosts. For thousands of years, water ghosts have been carefree and relied on this method to reincarnate and escape the suffering from hell. However, someone finally found a way to deceive the water ghost, lure it out like fishing, and pull it up. This method is called "Fishing for Water Ghosts".

  Kelpie, a malevolent water spirit in Scottish folklore, typically depicted as a mischievous imp or a handsome lad, sometimes taking the form of a half-man, half-horse creature with two sharp horns on its head. It can also transform into a beautiful white horse that lures humans to ride it, only to run wildly and throw them off into the water to drown, then devour their flesh. Occasionally, this water spirit takes the shape of a handsome young man who entices unsuspecting young women to follow him, leading them to their deaths in the water; however, if one is cautious, they will notice that this "handsome youth" always has dripping wet hair with strands of aquatic plants tangled within it.

  Whether at home or abroad, the legend of the water ghost has never been interrupted.

  They all survive in this world with a mysterious veil, and no one has recorded that appearance. Some are just rumors, and those who have really seen it are already lying in the water tomb.

  The more you understand something, the more at ease you are; the less you understand something, the more fearful you become.

  The more I think about it, the more I get goosebumps. Looking at the old professor, I said: "Professor, you're not kidding..."

  It's just one of those things that happen in life.

  Before long, Yu Gang and the others came down from the iron plate elevator. The old professor arranged the people again, still divided into three batches, sitting in two small boats, with the bow ropes of the boats tied together head to tail to prevent the rear boat from getting lost.

  After everything was ready, everyone set off.

  This stretch of water was long and quiet, with many turns, just like a person's intestines. Fortunately, there were searchlights on the boat, otherwise they would have hit the rocks long ago.

  I don't know what time it is now, nor do I know whether it's daytime or nighttime. I feel that the air here isn't as stiflingly hot as it was on the other side of the desert, probably because we're near a river, and instead, I have a refreshing coolness all over my body.

  Huang 'Mao' pushed the bamboo pole in his hand into the water, and with a joint effort from several people, the small boat slowly changed direction and moved forward towards that unknown body of water.

  All the way, I had a feeling that something was following us from behind. Sometimes it felt like it was hiding in the water, sometimes it seemed to be attached to the stone walls on both sides of the riverbank, and sometimes it seemed to be hovering above our heads, staring at us. I kept shining my flashlight around, but couldn't find anything. As soon as I turned around, I could hear that thing's steady and rhythmic breathing sound again.

  Maybe when people get nervous, they will unconsciously connect some fragmented clues and associate them. At this moment, I couldn't help but think of the face on the coffin again, why can only see a face without a body?

  Two years ago, the old professor also saw such a face, why didn't others see it? Now, only I can see it. What does this mean?

  The figure I saw in the water just now, who is it? There isn't a single living soul here, and whether it's human or ghost, I'm absolutely certain this isn't my hallucination. Moreover, Huang 'Mao' also saw it, is it lurking underwater right now, quietly following us?

  All the way, I turned over these questions and felt more and more terrible, with a chill running down my back.

  At first, the water was relatively calm and peaceful, with no signs of undercurrents. However, as time went on, both Huang Mao and Professor Lao began to struggle, and I felt that the boat was moving forward at a snail's pace. Beneath the surface of the river, there seemed to be an invisible force pushing us backward, like an unseen hand blocking our progress. This was truly sailing against the current.

  "Damn it, this river water can't be crossed by us, push our boat back." Yu Gang, who was sitting in the back of the boat, cursed.

  I felt the boat suddenly move, it wasn't the shock of a wave, but the feeling of being lifted up by something, my heart sank, I quickly stabilized myself, holding tightly onto the wooden board of the small boat to prevent it from capsizing.

  "Is there something in the water? Jin 'Mao', hurry up and fire two shots, or the boat will capsize!" Yu Gang's face turned pale as he shouted towards the front.

  All I saw was that the boat they were sitting on was already swaying back and forth, even our boat was shaking with it, don't know what's in the water.

  Huang 'Mao' listened, and then directly handed the bamboo raft to me, pulled out a gun, and fired several shots into the water with a loud bang.

  However, there was no movement in the water.

  Huang 'Mao' Leng took a deep breath, terrified: "Could it be a ghost?"

  Xiao Bo's smile was cold and sharp: "Hurry up and row..."

  I gazed at the calm river surface, and the fear in my heart grew stronger. The boat that was shaking violently just a second ago suddenly stopped shaking. I didn't understand what caused it.

  Is there really a ghost under the ship?

  Finally, we took turns rowing the boat, gritting our teeth and paddling for half an hour. My face was red from holding my breath, and I couldn't help but throw down the folding shovel in my hand, panting heavily, looking at everyone else, their chests were also heaving violently, guessing that they had consumed a lot of physical strength.

  "It won't work, if we keep going like this, I'm afraid you two will run out of energy, and we'll probably have to go back to where we were just now and dock the boat first." The old professor panted heavily as he spoke.

  Just then Jason shouted out: "There's something ahead."