Chapter 102: Strange and Curious Tales

Zhang Qinglin lay stretched out in the middle of the cart, with Wu Cheng’an sitting beside him. Director Fan and the old man driving the cart were chatting casually at the front.

Wu Cheng’an said that Cheng Che and the others had followed the previous group to the hospital for examinations; the remaining toxins had basically been cleared, and they were now likely still receiving IV drips at the hospital.

As for Zhang Qinglin, any movement caused relentless vomiting, so he dared not move. After Director Fan’s younger brother returned, Director Fan took his own car to the county hospital, bringing Zhang Qinglin and Wu Cheng’an along.

“Have they found out who poisoned us?” Zhang Qinglin asked.

Wu Cheng’an glanced toward the front of the cart, then back at Zhang Qinglin, his eyes flickering left and right, but he did not answer.

Zhang Qinglin seemed to sense something and didn’t press further. Instead, his gaze shifted subtly toward the front of the cart, wondering inwardly—could it be connected to Director Fan?

Looking up at the sky, Zhang Qinglin overheard the old man talking with Director Fan about the supernatural incidents in Chapu Township.

The old man said, “On the north bank of the Huanghe River in Chapu Township, some years ago, a strange thing happened. There’s a man named Lu Zhang, surnamed Lu, from Chapu Township. He was part of the river corpse retrieval team. Usually, he didn’t dive into the river to retrieve bodies but waited by the rocky shore to assist. Then one day, two of the usual five who regularly dove into the river to retrieve corpses didn’t come—said they were sick.

“But that day, there was a job—a girl in her teens had slipped and drowned. The family came looking for the retrieval team to recover the girl’s body, so Lu Zhang went into the river that day.

“At first, the team took their boat down the river. The family said the girl had fallen in upstream. The team checked: no rising tide, no rain those days, so they started searching upstream.

“They thought it would be an easy job—the girl was young, and since she had drowned for two or three days, her body would be bloated and floating on the surface. The retrieval team just needed to spot a floating corpse to recover it, and it would almost certainly be her.

“But they never saw a floating body from upstream to downstream. So they began probing with their hooks, moving downstream until they finally snagged something.

“Lu Zhang was handling the hook. One of the team members dove down and confirmed it was a body—but said it wasn’t just one.

“By the team’s rules, they only retrieved named bodies, not unidentified ones—they only needed to bring up the girl’s body.

“But that man said there were two girls, and he couldn’t tell which one was the girl. So they had no choice but to bring both up.

“Lu Zhang dove down. Soon, he saw a huge rock with a sharp point sticking out. The two bodies were tangled on it. The two swimmers reached the spot where the hook was caught and saw the bodies—both young girls with long hair. Though bloated and distorted by soaking, it was clear they had been beauties in life.

“The problem was that the bodies were not impaled on the rock point but were covered by fishing nets, almost enveloping the entire boulder. They had to first untangle the nets to free the bodies.

“Lu Zhang signaled the other man, and they started to untangle the nets separately. After the man swam away, Lu Zhang prepared to return to his position below.

“At that moment, one of the female corpses inside the net suddenly opened her eyes, staring straight at Lu Zhang. At first, Lu Zhang didn’t notice and swam under the rock, quickly tearing the net apart.

“But just as he reached the bodies, only one remained—the other was gone!

“Lu Zhang saw the net was still intact. He looked around but saw no sign of his companion. At first, he thought the man had surfaced, but the undisturbed net made his heart pound wildly.

“Lu Zhang wanted to hurry and get the remaining body up. Flustered, he removed the net from the corpse, ready to haul it up.

“Suddenly, a large mass of black hair surged up behind the corpse, startling Lu Zhang. Looking closely, he saw his companion’s profile beside the hair, holding the other body. The posture was unsettling—they feared close contact with corpses above all.

“Lu Zhang was furious but had no time to dwell. He gestured for his companion to hurry up. He tied a rope around the girl’s waist and just as he was about to pull, his companion and the corpse turned to face him.

“Lu Zhang gestured again, but his companion suddenly swam rapidly toward him, mouth open as if to bite.

“Terrified beyond words, Lu Zhang ignored everything else, pulling on the rope as he kicked fiercely to fend off the attacking companion. With all his strength, he finally broke the surface.

“Climbing onto the boat, gasping, ready to curse, he heard a voice from above: ‘Old Lu, what’s wrong? Hurry up, we’re leaving.’

“‘Get that girl’s body up!’

“He looked up and was so shocked he nearly wet himself: the one speaking was the companion who had just tried to attack him.

“Rubbing his eyes, Lu Zhang realized he had encountered a ghost. The others helped him onto the boat and said, ‘The girl’s body is up now. Hurry, looks like rain’s coming.’

“Lu Zhang stared at the bloated corpse in the boat. Its expression was strange—a faint smile on its lips, and the swollen eyeballs stared directly behind him. When Lu Zhang turned around, his hair stood on end.

“On the water’s surface was a corpse—it was his companion.

“From that day, Lu Zhang never returned to the retrieval team. It was said he had gone mad, spending nights biting his own chickens to death. Soon after, he disappeared.

“Later, people said he had gone to Mount Xia, running around naked. The monks at the Xia Temple took him in and locked him in a wooden hut, where he stayed quietly for some years.

“But recently, chickens have been found dead again in the village, causing panic. Some say Lu Zhang is behind it and plan to organize a group to go up the mountain and confront him.

“These folks really are amusing—going after a madman. It’s just asking for trouble.”

The old man spoke as he urged his black donkey forward.

Director Fan nodded with a smile. “Chickens you’ve raised with care, suddenly bitten to death—anyone would be upset.”

“Well, I’m not joining that mess. Hold tight, there’s a pit ahead.”