Qi Family Gang (7)

Nan Yue spat the contents of her mouth to the side, then took the waterskin from Gu Xiang Kai to rinse.

What rushed into her mouth wasn't cool stream water, but...

A thick, viscous liquid with an aquatic fishiness.

Nan Yue's expression soured. If the water was compromised, they were in trouble.

Fortunately, they still had some stored water from before. After Nan Yue and Zhu Xi Ning finished rinsing, she went to find Headman Qi.

The mountain-traveling horse gang lived off the land; as long as they could fill their bellies, they weren't picky about taste.

So, although some people complained about the strange flavor of the soup, they had already finished drinking it.

"You're saying there's something wrong with the water?"

Headman Qi's hawk-like eyes stared at the person before him.

Nan Yue handed over the waterskin. "The water we carried before was fine. The issue is with that stream."

Headman Qi took it and sniffed. His brow furrowed immediately.

"Stop eating!"

Everyone was startled by the sudden shout. They stood frozen in place, none daring to take another bite of the food in their hands.

"Old Gu, take two brothers and head back to the stream to check it out."

Gu Xiang Kai nodded. Taking Chi Yu and two other horsemen, they headed back to the stream with torches lit.

The two horsemen who had collected the water earlier followed along, feeling bewildered the whole way.

"A-Nan said the water is bad?"

"What could be wrong with it?"

"That stream water was clear as can be."

"But the Nan family has always been Zhan You. Their intuition is incredibly sharp."

Chi Yu and Gu Xiang Kai exchanged a look. This "Zhan You" was likely the title for the strongest warrior in the horse gang.

No wonder Nan Yue carried a silver blade that could suppress a hundred ghosts; it was the symbol of her status.

The stream wasn't far, and the four reached it after a short walk.

"Huh? Where's the stream?"

The four of them circled around. Where the stream had been, there was nothing now. It looked no different from any other part of the forest.

"Could we have taken a wrong turn in the dark?"

"Bullshit. We haven't even gone that far. How could we get lost?"

Gu Xiang Kai sniffed the air. A faint fishy scent was mingled with the smell of vegetation.

He walked toward the source of the scent.

Gu Xiang Kai crouched down and parted the grass, revealing a strange path hidden within the dense growth.

To call it a path wasn't entirely accurate.

It was more like a trail paved with dead fish.

It was impossible to tell where these fish had come from. They had been dead for a long time; their eyes were cloudy and dull, and their pale bodies gave off a faint glimmer in the night.

They were piled one on top of another, stretching out in a long line about the same width as the previous stream, extending like a ribbon into the depths of the forest.

What was this?

Why were there fish in a primeval forest?

And where did the stream go?

"Could the stream have suddenly dried up, leaving these fish to die?"

Chi Yu could only offer a somewhat logical guess for the eerie scene before them.

"Impossible. There was nothing in that stream earlier, let alone fish."

This was exactly what Gu Xiang Kai had been concerned about. There were no fish in the water, yet now that the water was gone, fish were everywhere.

Chi Yu suddenly felt a chill. "Then... what exactly was the water we collected?"

No one could answer her.

The other two horsemen were terrified by the scene. They muttered about how this job was cursed and that they never should have taken it.

They even said the beggar probably wasn't human and that once you encountered him, you were haunted; disaster would strike whether you took the job or not.

Gu Xiang Kai found a withered branch and skewered several dead fish to bring back to Headman Qi.

Headman Qi remained silent after hearing their report. The black horse beside him snorted incessantly, appearing extremely uneasy.

Headman Qi glanced at his old partner. The black horse carried many charms to ward off evil; for it to be this agitated meant the thing in this forest wouldn't be easy to handle.

Headman Qi turned the waterskin upside down. With a splashing sound, a thick, viscous liquid hit the ground.

Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't the stream water they had seen initially.

Zhu Xi Ning frowned. She saw the same white mist on the liquid as she had seen on those five large jars.

The two were definitely connected.

She whispered her discovery to Nan Yue. Nan Yue drew her blade, crouched down, and dabbed a bit of the liquid.

The liquid was transparent with a faint aquatic fishiness. It was stringy, yet still liquid.

Jiang Siyan held a torch closer to her. Nan Yue squinted for a long time before finally seeing that there seemed to be tiny transparent particles in the liquid.

But the particles were far too small and colorless, almost blending perfectly with the liquid. They could only be seen from a specific angle.

Everyone felt a sense of helplessness regarding what Nan Yue had found.

These people had seen plenty of fierce beasts, venomous insects, and bandits.

They had even encountered eerie things before.

But they had never experienced anything like this.

The enemy seemed to be around them at all times, yet they were invisible and untouchable, using methods that were utterly baffling.

Zhu Xi Ning and Nan Yue hadn't swallowed the water, but most of the horsemen had. Their complexions were now quite pale.

"Shaman Zhu, what... what did we eat? What's going to happen to us?"

Zhu Xi Ning looked at the men through her Ant God mask. She couldn't tell much, but she felt the white mist growing thicker, drifting over everyone.

Zhu Xi Ning held her mask and spoke succinctly. "We need to get away from those five jars as soon as possible."

Headman Qi ground his teeth. Although the current situation wasn't life-threatening, it was enough to make one's skin crawl.

But this was their trade, and they had to follow the rules of the industry.

The rules of the horse gang stated that once goods were accepted, they must be delivered. Only after receiving the receipt was the job considered finished.

If everyone died along the way, that was one thing.

But as long as one person remained alive, the rules could not be broken.

Otherwise... the Ancestral Master wouldn't let them off.

Occupations in the greenwood trades were the most particular about these taboos; they survived by these rules.

Some things sounded like decaying feudal superstitions, but they were actually truths verified by the real experiences of countless people.

The Qi Family Gang was a horse gang that followed the rules strictly. Even though everyone was on edge, not a single person suggested the cowardly idea of abandoning the cargo and running for their lives.

"Headman, should we travel through the night?"

Manager Wu's face was paler than it had been in the afternoon. Perhaps singing that tune had drained some of his energy.

Headman Qi patted the black horse. The horse flicked its tail, shook its head, and suddenly let out a long, eerie neigh.

The sound was strangely distorted in the nighttime forest, causing Headman Qi's expression to change instantly.

"We can't leave."

"We can't get away."

Nan Yue and the others, who hadn't deliberately avoided the Bagua mirror atop the black horse's head like the others, saw things through the mirror that were invisible to the naked eye.

In the direction they were supposed to travel, rows of white figures stood densely packed.

At first glance, these figures looked like people, but they were flexible and distorted, blocking their path as if they had no bones.

Their limbs could be seen twisting and swaying from side to side in the Bagua mirror, looking as if they might melt into the air at any moment.