Little Pink Starfish

Pei Qing grabbed Su Wanting, who had fallen to the ground, with one hand and picked up the bone on the ground with the other.

Because it had just rained, the river had risen, and the bone had been washed onto the shore. The water had cleaned it until it was pale white. Pei Qing shone his flashlight on the bone, studying it.

Su Wanting had fallen hard, her whole side covered in mud and water. Seeing Pei Qing acting like this, her face looked bad. She shook off Pei Qing’s arm that was supporting her.

“Are you okay?” Pei Qing finally came back to his senses and asked.

Su Wanting glared at Pei Qing, limping toward the car.

Pei Qing frowned slightly.

“How is it?” Zhang Qiu saw that Pei Qing’s expression wasn’t right. “Is there something wrong with the bone? Is it human?”

Pei Qing shook his head. “Doesn’t look human.”

For a moment, Zhang Qiu didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or relieved. Disappointed that they still hadn’t found the right place, relieved that there weren’t any human remains here.

Guangtou came over, snatched the bone from Pei Qing’s hand, and examined it for a while. “This is the right place.”

He had come here seven years ago and had deliberately left a mark. But after so much time, with the land disturbed and it being nighttime, they had almost missed it.

“This is one of the sacrificial animals buried in the tomb.” Guangtou finished speaking, his face dark as he looked toward the dirt mound on the other side of the river. “Something must have happened.”

“Doesn’t matter, let’s go inside first and check.” Ping Quan finished speaking, and the Liu brothers swiftly retrieved an inflatable rubber boat from the car. They glanced at Zhang Qiu. “You guys have one in your trunk too.”

Zhang Qiu thought to himself that these people really were experienced professionals, fully prepared and working quickly.

He and Li Shu started inflating the rubber boat while Xiapi Huiwang and Pei Qing checked their bags. They divided their supplies into four small essential packs, each person carrying one. Once everything was ready, Guangtou shone his flashlight as a signal. “Let’s go.”

The river was very calm, and the air was fresh after the rain.

The closer they got to the dirt mound, the more uneasy Zhang Qiu felt. His heart pounded wildly.

Li Shu held Zhang Qiu’s hand. “Cold?”

“No, I just have a bad feeling.” Zhang Qiu couldn’t quite describe it.

The little Jiangshi poked its head out of Zhang Qiu’s pocket, looking freshly woken up. Its tiny hand covered its mouth as it yawned. Its sleepy eyes still carried faint dark circles. But when it saw the distance ahead, it suddenly chirped excitedly, making two happy noises. It babbled something, sounding very cheerful.

Zhang Qiu was momentarily distracted by the little Jiangshi’s behavior, and his unease lessened slightly.

The lead rubber boat took a slight turn. As Zhang Qiu’s boat followed closely, they discovered that there was something hidden—a narrow gap along the dirt mound, just wide enough for their boat to pass through.

“There’s something underwater. Be careful,” Guangtou’s voice called from the lead boat.

Zhang Qiu thought that this guy looked fierce but was actually a decent person—always taking the lead and warning them of dangers.

The further they went in, the stranger the smell became. There was a mix of fishy rot and a sickly-sweet fragrance.

“Do you guys smell something sweet?” Zhang Qiu’s head felt heavy. He turned his head and—

His heart nearly stopped.

A dried, blackened Jiangshi was clinging to the edge of the boat.

From the water, a shriveled black hand gripped the boat’s side.

Li Shu and the others were gone.

Zhang Qiu opened his mouth and shouted, “Li Shu! Li Shu!”

The shriveled Jiangshi lunged at him. Zhang Qiu punched it and instinctively pulled a dagger from his waist—

“Zhang Qiu, get down here now!”

A voice called from behind.

Zhang Qiu turned his head to see that Li Shu, Xiapi Huiwang, and Pei Qing had somehow ended up in the water. Li Shu’s expression was urgent as he waved at Zhang Qiu. “What are you waiting for? Get in the water! Are you just going to sit there and let the Jiangshi eat you?!”

“Jump, Zhang Qiu!”

“Get down here!”

The voices kept echoing in his head.

The single blackened Jiangshi in front of him suddenly became three.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Qiu leapt into the water—

But the Jiangshi behind him grabbed him.

Its hollow black eyes were filled with malicious intent, as if it really wanted to eat him. Without thinking, Zhang Qiu stabbed at it with his dagger.

Clang!

His dagger was snatched away.

Zhang Qiu was scared to death. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his neck. His vision blurred—

Seconds later, he heard voices.

“Coward.”

“Ba-ba.”

He opened his eyes.

Where were the blackened Jiangshi?

Right in front of him was Li Shu.

His neck still stung. Zhang Qiu turned his head and found the little Jiangshi perched on his shoulder, its tiny tiger fangs still stained with blood.

Zhang Qiu was completely confused. “What… happened to me?”

A loud thump sounded ahead—someone had fallen into the water.

Zhang Qiu turned and saw Su Wanting sinking. Just as he was about to call for help, a dark figure dove in after her—it was Pei Qing.

“There’s something wrong with the air here,” Li Shu said.

As soon as he finished speaking, Big Liu also jumped into the water.

Little Liu, gripping a dagger, lunged at Ping Quan.

Zhang Qiu broke into a cold sweat. He had just stabbed a Jiangshi in his hallucination. He quickly grabbed Li Shu in alarm.

“You’re fine,” Li Shu reassured him. “You were holding a flashlight, not a dagger.”

Zhang Qiu checked his hands—no dagger, only a flashlight. He had hallucinated everything.

Meanwhile, the lead boat had overturned. Ping Quan and the Liu brothers were fighting each other fiercely, their faces twisted with aggression. They were clearly in a state of hallucination, mistaking each other for Jiangshi.

“Little Jiang, watch your dad.”

With that, Li Shu dove into the water.

Zhang Qiu barely had time to shout, “Be careful!” before realizing that, except for himself and the little Jiangshi, everyone was now in the water.

Guangtou, Su Wanting, and Pei Qing were nowhere to be seen.

In the river, Li Shu and Xiapi Huiwang knocked out the Liu brothers and Ping Quan, dragged them to the overturned boat, and tossed them onto it.

Pei Qing was still missing.

Just as Zhang Qiu was about to panic, Pei Qing surfaced, dragging Su Wanting with him. Moments later, Guangtou also emerged, his face covered in deep claw marks. His skin, soaked in water, looked ghastly pale. But he didn’t seem to care, merely wiping his face before shooting Pei Qing a dark glare and climbing onto the boat.

“Let’s get out of here first,” Li Shu said, jumping back onto the boat.

Zhang Qiu reached out to pull the others aboard. When he got to Pei Qing, Pei Qing handed him Su Wanting first.

“Take her first.”

Zhang Qiu always felt that Pei Qing was being too good to Su Wanting.

They had only met a few times, yet Pei Qing risked his life to save her?

But after thinking about it, Pei Qing was a soldier, and soldiers had that humanitarian spirit of helping others. It wasn’t strange.

“We’ve arrived,” Guangtou called out roughly from the front.

Zhang Qiu shone his flashlight around.

There was no exit—only a sealed dirt wall. On both sides were some narrow stone platforms, barely wide enough for a single person to stand on.

Guangtou roughly slapped the faces of the unconscious men. Zhang Qiu winced just listening to the sound—he was really using force. But it was effective. The few of them groggily woke up, looked at each other, and immediately realized that the strange sweet scent in the water had caused them to hallucinate.

Ping Quan and Big Liu were injured badly. Their boat had overturned, and all their supplies had fallen into the water. Guangtou had managed to fish out two items, but there was no first-aid kit among them.

Zhang Qiu threw his own over.

Guangtou looked at him for a moment before saying, “Thanks.”

Once the injuries were tended to, everyone rested in their boats for a while.

Su Wanting also woke up. She sat on the opposite side of the water, glaring at Guangtou and cursing at him. Pei Qing blocked her, but she still gave him a fierce look and muttered something. Zhang Qiu didn’t hear what she said.

Li Shu’s gaze lingered on the two of them for a few seconds before he looked away.

Zhang Qiu leaned in and whispered, “What’s wrong?”

“Are you hungry? Eat some biscuits.” Li Shu pulled out some compressed biscuits and a bottle of water.

Zhang Qiu thought Li Shu had discovered something unusual, but it turned out he was just asking about food. He felt a little disappointed but still started eating.

He split a biscuit in half and put a piece into his pocket for the little Jiangshi. Soon, he heard a crunching sound from inside. Zhang Qiu suddenly felt hungry too and joined in, chewing along.

On the lead boat, Ping Quan was asking Guangtou about what had just happened. “Was it like this seven years ago?”

“Seven years ago, things went relatively smoothly. When we came in, there was no scent, just a rotten stench. It wasn’t until we took the box from the pit that the Jiangshi suddenly revived. It had something in its mouth, and I didn’t dodge in time, so I got this scar.” Guangtou tapped his head.

So, that was left by the squire Jiangshi.

Guangtou didn’t seem to be making it up.

Zhang Qiu finished his biscuit. The others had also rested enough. Guangtou shone his flashlight into the water. “From here, it’ll take about two to three minutes underwater to reach the next part. We won’t need oxygen tanks. But that was seven years ago—I can’t say for sure now.”

“I’ll go first,” Pei Qing volunteered.

Li Shu glanced at Xiapi Huiwang and said, “I’ll go with you.”

Pei Qing had no objections. Guangtou was also preparing to dive. In the end, the three of them went down first.

On the boat, Xiapi Huiwang quietly glanced at Su Wanting. He then shifted closer to Zhang Qiu.

Just before diving, Li Shu had exchanged a look with him. They both understood—Su Wanting wasn’t right.

Xiapi Huiwang stayed behind to protect Zhang Qiu.

Zhang Qiu didn’t notice this silent exchange. He was busy timing how long they’d been underwater. Just over five minutes had passed when he heard the sound of water splashing.

“Li Shu?”

With a rush of water, Li Shu surfaced. “It takes a little over five minutes. You can come down.”

Su Wanting was the first to jump in. She was a strong swimmer and disappeared quickly.

Zhang Qiu pulled the little Jiangshi out of his pocket. The tiny thing’s face was covered in biscuit crumbs. It chirped happily, “Ba-ba!”

Zhang Qiu asked Li Shu, “Can Xiao Jiang swim?”

Li Shu nodded.

Feeling reassured, Zhang Qiu prepared to jump in.

Just then, Li Shu calmly added, “Anyway, I’ve never seen a Jiangshi drown.”

Zhang Qiu: …

That was just throwing his son into the deep end!

Zhang Qiu fished out his little Jiangshi again. The tiny creature’s damp curls clung to its little head, and it looked excited to play in the water. It really seemed fine. Zhang Qiu relaxed and said, “When we go down, hold onto Dad’s clothes tightly, okay? Don’t get washed away.”

“Ji-da!” The little Jiangshi nodded its tiny head.

Xiapi Huiwang chuckled lightly. “You really are a mother hen.” Then he jumped into the water.

Zhang Qiu fumed and followed after him.

Lately, his “Second Sister-in-law” had gotten too good at teasing him—he couldn’t win in verbal sparring anymore. QAQ

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Once underwater, Li Shu held onto Zhang Qiu and guided him.

The deeper they went, the more Zhang Qiu’s ears hurt. His breath was running out.

Just as he felt he couldn’t take it anymore, his feet hit the stone floor of the tomb passage.

The door was open.

Inside, only Xiapi Huiwang was waiting for them. The others were gone.

Zhang Qiu pulled out the little Jiangshi, who was still smiling—so everything must be fine.

The passage sloped upward. After walking 20 or 30 meters, the water only reached their calves.

In the distance, the sounds of fighting and shouting could be heard.

“You b*tch, don’t think I won’t hit you just because of your father!” Guangtou’s voice rang out. “Try messing around in secret again, and I’ll take your life!”

“Guangtou, forget it. We took the money, just do the job and say less.” Ping Quan tried to mediate.

“Hmph, just you?” Su Wanting sneered.

When Zhang Qiu entered, he saw Su Wanting smoothly tucking an elegant, small handgun back into her waistband. The motion was practiced and skilled.

She was clearly trained.

And her combat skills must be decent too—otherwise, she wouldn’t dare provoke Guangtou and then have the confidence to talk back.

Pei Qing stood in front of Su Wanting. Hearing the approaching footsteps, he quickly walked toward them.

Zhang Qiu now viewed Pei Qing with a bit of wariness.

Pei Qing was a friend of Lu Feng. When they attended the auction together, Pei Qing had never mentioned knowing Su Wanting.

Yet, throughout this journey, Pei Qing had constantly protected her.

If he claimed to have fallen for her at first sight, it didn’t quite seem like that either. But at the same time, he appeared openly protective—making things feel even more suspicious.

“What happened?” Zhang Qiu asked.

“Nothing serious.”

Pei Qing was smoothing things over again.

It seemed like he knew something but wasn’t telling them.

Su Wanting, Guangtou, and Pei Qing—these three seemed to be a team.

Or more accurately, Guangtou and Su Wanting were working together but had conflicts between them, likely due to money.

Meanwhile, Pei Qing was genuinely helping Su Wanting.

It was all getting stranger and stranger.

Zhang Qiu couldn’t figure it out, so he decided not to dwell on it.

Looking around, this seemed to be a secondary burial chamber.

Su Wanting’s father, Su Zhichai, wanted the servant’s dried corpse, which should have been here.

But now, the coffin was wide open, and there was no corpse inside.

“Did it run away?” Zhang Qiu asked.

That sounded ridiculous—even to himself.

According to Guangtou, when he had opened the coffin seven years ago, the servant was a dried corpse. It had never shown any signs of reviving.

The only one that had become a Jiangshi was the squire.

“Wait,” Li Shu suddenly spoke. “Listen.”

Guangtou, impatient, said, “Listen to wha—”

Before he could finish, a thud, thud, thud echoed from inside the coffin.

The knocking grew louder.

Something inside was trying to come out.

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Pinky says: Yikes, I didn’t pay enough attention and posted ChatGPT’s sudden ‘creativity’.