Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Water Ghost

It was a hot summer, at the edge of the White River, there was a line of shallow pebbles on the riverbed, and the white riverbed did not erode here.The water here is clear, and the water just reaches the waist of an adult. Every evening, people like to take a bath here. People with good water quality swim from the shallow water of the pebbles to the deep. As usual, this evening, people were swimming and bathing near the shore of the Baihe River, and there was the smell of cooking smoke from the shore. A child swam towards the deep water, and no one paid attention to his movements—the child who grew up by the Baihe River has been a good swimmer since he was a child.

A few minutes later, people heard the child's deformed cry, and the water splashed not far from the shore. The child's frightened face struggled in the center of the water: "Help! Someone is pulling me!" Several men swam over quickly, and Mu Hua rushed to the front. The child's face disappeared from the river, leaving only a strand of hair floating. Mu Hua caught that lock of hair in time, he grabbed it and pulled it up. The hair was torn off by the roots, but the child continued to sink. Mu Hua clearly felt that there was some force underneath that was against him, and the child was brought down by that force.

Before he had time to think about it, he dived into the water and grabbed the child's armpit with both hands. The water of the White River was so clear that nothing obstructed his vision.Mu Hua saw that the child's body was rising with his own strength, but that force was still pushing downward. Is it waterweed that entangles the child's feet?Although everyone knew that there were no aquatic plants in the Baihe River, Mu Hua still subconsciously cast her gaze on the child's ankle. what is that? hand! A pair of small, baby-like hands stretched out from the river bed of Baihe, firmly grasping the child's ankles.

water ghost! This word flashed through Mu Hua's mind, panic quickly covered his body, he pulled the child out of the hand with frenzied force, and handed it over to other rescuers. He looked back, and there were countless pairs of small hands protruding from the white river bed, with five fingers spread out vigorously, fishing in the water, not knowing what they wanted to catch. He quickly surfaced and shouted: "Go, there are water ghosts underneath!" People swam towards the shore with all their strength, and people near the shore scrambled and climbed onto the shore. On the shore, they looked at the child's ankle and found a purple palm print, very small, like the palm of a baby.

From that day on, no one dared to swim in the Baihe River. "Did you really see a pair of baby's hands?" Mu Jie asked in a low voice. Mu Hua nodded. They turned their attention to Huaying, the woman who lost her child. She seemed to hear the word "baby" vaguely, and the expression on her face suddenly became tense and concentrated. Is it their child—those hands? Mu Jie and Mu Hua didn't dare to talk about it at home, they walked out of the house silently, walked along the path covered by the rapidly growing weeds in summer, and before they knew it, they came to the Baihe River again.

With no fish or people, the Baihe River has become extremely desolate, and the sound of flowing water tells of loneliness. The Mu brothers untied the boat tied to the river, each with a paddle, and slowly rowed towards the middle of the river. The crystal clear river water splashes under the wooden oars, the river water is transparent and blank, and there is nothing on the snow-white river bed. Usually, the shadows of fish pass by the river bed, and the shadows of people are reflected in the water. Today, the sun shines through The empty river water directly shines on the river bed, Mu Hua saw the shadows of himself and his brother at the bottom of the water, the two stood upside down in the water, looking very lonely.Afternoon?book club?

"What you said is true?" In the middle of the river, Mu Jie asked again the unfinished question at home. Before Mu Hua could answer, they heard the sound of splashing water. Following the direction of the sound, they turned their heads.Both of them saw that under the transparent water, not far from the boat, there was a group of black shadows splashing in the water. When the water splashed down, they saw a baby's face, with chubby little hands sticking out of the water, scratching at the air. , as if calling for help. Mu Hua was taken aback for a moment, before he could speak, Mu Jie had already jumped into the water.

"Brother!" Mu Hua stood up nervously. "I'm going to save people!" Mu Jie emerged from the water, said a word, and swam forward again. He was getting closer and closer to the child. Mu Hua stood blankly on the boat, looking at the baby floating in the water, he felt a strong strange feeling in his heart. Mu Jie approached the child. Mu Hua finally came back to his senses, his face suddenly turned pale - it was a baby's face, but what kind of smile appeared on that face?The child opened his mouth and smiled, with a row of sharp shark-like teeth in his mouth. It stretched out its chubby little hand towards Mu Jie. inches long.

No, it's not a baby! "Brother, come back quickly!" Mu Hua's hair stood on end, and he roared hoarsely, "That's a water ghost!" But Mu Jie didn't hear it. He buried his head in the water and couldn't hear anything. His hands had caught the baby. The baby grabbed his wrist violently. Mu Hua jumped into the water and swam towards Mu Jie quickly. He saw Mu Jie being entangled by the baby and dragged down, Mu Jie tried hard to break free from the baby's grasp, the baby opened its dark white teeth, and bit towards Mu Jie's hand. A ray of red emerged from Mu Jie's wrist.

Bubbles bubbled from the white river bed, and several round baby heads popped out. They stretched out their clawed hands, grabbed Mu Jie and dragged him down. Mu Jie struggled and was led into the river bed by them. His body sank in the river bed, half in the river water, half in the river bed, half existing, half disappearing, bubbles kept coming out of his wide-open mouth, Mu Hua had never seen his brother so terrified and desperate. He swam with all his might. But it was still too late, Mu Jie was completely dragged under the river bed, the river water turned turbid milky white, and it was impossible to distinguish the boundary between the river bed and the river water.

Mu Hua desperately continued to go downstream, reaching out his hand to catch his brother. As he approached the riverbed, the feeling on his fingertips suddenly changed. It seems to have touched a more viscous substance. Then, he found his hands submerged in the river bed. Before he could react, his upper body had already entered the riverbed. ah? This is not a river bed! It's still river water, only thicker.Surrounded by fog-like whiteness, nothing can be seen, the sun cannot penetrate this layer of whiteness—there is a snow-white river hidden under the clear river water, this is the first time Mu Hua knows this secret.He tried to escape from this second river, but lost his way. The sound of splashing water came from all around, and he felt some creatures approaching him. Deprived of oxygen by fear, he danced. Countless sharp claws and sharp teeth swiped at him. Soft and sharp little hands grabbed him. He continued dancing. But more and more small hands, more and more sharp teeth. Are you going to die?His eyes widened in despair—white, seeing nothing but white. Suddenly, his body tightened, and his whole body was wrapped. In the next second, he was lifted out of the water by a force. The sunlight made his eyes hurt, and he was thrown into the cabin.He suddenly opened his eyes and saw several blurred figures, someone exclaimed: "Isn't this Mu Hua?" "It's me!" He squinted his eyes and shouted, "Where's my brother? Where's my brother?" "What about your brother?" the man asked. "My brother is still down there, hurry up!" Mu Hua rolled over and sat up, his whole body felt a sharp pain, and only then did he realize that his whole body was covered with wounds, and the blood flowed all over the boat.He blinked, and saw clearly the people who rescued him—it turned out to be Chen Pi and Wang Xiaoshan from the village.He didn't care to say more, endured the pain, picked up the fishing net, turned around and leaned against the side of the boat, intending to fish his brother out. Both hands put on his shoulders at the same time, pulling him back. Beside the ship's side, the water of the White River was no longer clear, the turbid milky white was rolling, streams of blood came up, the bubbles were churning, and occasionally some fragmentary pieces of meat could be seen floating up. In pain, Mu Hua rushed to the side of the boat and shouted for his brother, while Chen Pi and Wang Xiaoshan held him tight. "It's late," Chen Pi said loudly. "When we came, we saw blood coming out of here, and saw a shadow of a person. We guessed that there was a strange fish biting you, so we picked you up with a net... He took a breath and said with lingering fear, "I fished it with you, and there was a child, but he bit through the fishing net and fell in mid-air, and now he is probably eaten by a strange fish—what kind of strange fish is this?" ? I have grown up by the White River for so many years, and I have never heard of any cannibalism here!" "It's not a strange fish." Mu Hua stared at the river and murmured.The river slowly regained its calm, the bubbles disappeared, the whirlpool disappeared, and the bloody and milky white water slowly settled. "That child is a monster that eats people." Mu Hua said. "What?" Chen Pi's eyes widened. The river water has completely recovered its clear and transparent appearance, the sun is shining golden on the water surface, and the snow-white river bed is still so quiet, it looks no different from other river beds.Who would have thought that this riverbed turned out to be another river under the water?Who would have thought that there were cannibal babies hidden in the white river?Now, Mu Hua himself didn't really believe what he saw, he was stunned for a while, picked up the penny he was wearing, and plunged it straight into the water.Wang Xiaoshan and Chen Pi didn't know what he was going to do, they just stared at him blankly. The penny is more than two meters long, and it encountered no resistance when inserted into the water.Mu Hua stirred slightly while inserting the penny.At first, nothing changed. When the penny was still two inches long, the penny stirred up milky white, and the liquid near the "river bed" became cloudy. "Is it the end?" Wang Xiaoshan asked suspiciously, "The Baihe River can't be so shallow..." "There is no end." Mu Hua smiled wryly, "The clear water of the White River is only two meters deep, and further down, there is snow-white river water." The two people were stunned by this news, and they wanted to ask again, but Mu Hua saw a pair of small hands protruding from the part where the penny was inserted into the white river, and a round head protruded out of it. Wang Xiaoshan and Chen Pi also saw it! The child looked up, staring at the three of them with pitch-black eyes, Mu Hua couldn't help shivering. He seems to have seen the child climb up along the penny, and bite his neck with his teeth...