Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Who were they?

I glanced outside.

Faint moonlight shone cold and desolate over the cobblestone path. The stilted houses stood one after another, dim silhouettes crouching in the night. Rainwater had pooled on the ground to about a finger’s depth, giving off a faint silver gleam.

Wait. Rainwater?

I rushed down the stairs and ran out onto the road.

The icy rainwater covered my ankles and poured in through the openings of my shoes. A chill surged up my calves and into my chest, making my skin crawl.

Zenlei Water Village was halfway up the mountain, on high ground. How could rainwater have pooled here?

“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the water?”

Lu Lingzhu followed me out, crouched down, and scooped up a handful of water in her palms.

“What’s wrong with it? I can’t see anything.”

I shook my head.

“The village is on high ground. There shouldn’t be standing water here.”

Lu Lingzhu didn’t think much of it.

“So what? Maybe the village just has bad drainage.”

I explained patiently, “You absolute donkey of an idiot. Does a slope need drainage?”

Water flowed downhill. The village had been built halfway up the mountain, and because the foundation was uneven, the houses could only be built as stilted structures, with posts of different heights supporting them. If water could still pool here, then in all likelihood, something had blocked the road beneath the village.

“Come on. Let’s go check the lowest end of the village.”

The few of us waded through the water and headed downhill.

The village was long and narrow, distributed along a single cobblestone road. On both sides stood stilted houses of varying heights. Before long, we reached the village entrance.

It was still the same gravel road, but the spot where the village sign stood was like a dividing line. Inside the line, the silver surface of the water gleamed brightly, over ten centimeters deep. Outside the line, the stones on the ground were only slick with water, not a single puddle in sight.

It was as if someone had erected an invisible glass barrier there, holding back all the accumulated water inside the village.

“This is seriously unscientific.”

I crouched down to study the dividing line, then reached my hand into it. My fingers passed horizontally out of the water’s surface and touched air.

Lu Lingzhu clicked her tongue in wonder.

“This place really is strange.”

“Young one, you have performed well. Continue scouting and report back-”

“Get lost!”

I slapped Lu Lingzhu’s hand away.

“The villagers all said this isn’t the real Zenlei Water Village, but they refuse to open their doors. Then where is the real Zenlei Water Village?”

“Forget that for now. Qiao Moyu, come say cheese.”

Song Feifei pulled out her phone and took a selfie with the dividing line on the water behind her.

“Click!”

The flash went off. Beaming, Song Feifei lifted her phone and showed us the picture.

“Wow, why does my face look so small?”

Lu Lingzhu said, “Small faces don’t look blessed.”

I stared at the photo on the phone, and my pupils suddenly widened.

In the picture, Song Feifei was flashing a peace sign at the camera, Lu Lingzhu was rolling her eyes, and Xiao Jiang had turned his face sideways, staring in my direction at something unknown.

The bright water reflected our figures.

But in the water, above our heads, were great masses of dark gray storm clouds.

I looked up at the sky.

The night was pitch-black and vast. There were no stars, no moon, and certainly no storm clouds.