Chapter 159: “The Drowning Ghost”

Two days later, on a completely different forest path.

After parting ways with the traveling merchant and his group, Gu Ning’an and Mu Sheng continued heading southwest.

The day was sunny and bright, with the snow on either side of the forest path gradually melting under the warm sunlight.

After walking for over ten miles, the sun had begun its descent in the west, and the two found themselves on a main road called Yangqu.

On the right side of the road was a small river, not too wide, with thin sheets of broken ice floating on its surface. Since it was still early winter, the presence of ice hinted that colder days might soon freeze the entire river solid.

Once on the main road, the flat terrain made walking easier, and their pace noticeably quickened.

Gu Ning’an glanced at Mu Sheng, whose face was streaked with black sweat dripping from her forehead, and said with a chuckle, “You know, when you’re traveling with me, there’s really no need to smear so much coal dust on your face.”

Mu Sheng smiled faintly. “Oh, I’m just afraid of causing trouble for you, sir…”

“It’s no big deal, but when you start sweating, your face gets all smudged, like a cat. Anyone who doesn’t know better might think I kidnapped you.”

Mu Sheng froze for a moment before laughing. “Then I’ll wash it off when I get a chance. Keeping this stuff on all the time can get itchy.”

“Mm, wash it off,” Gu Ning’an replied. Suddenly, he noticed a group of more than ten people gathered by the riverbank not far ahead.

Occasionally, he could hear someone shouting, “Let go!” or “Grab hold quickly!”

As they approached the crowd, they saw two men struggling in the river.

One was a stout, older man, while the other was thin and wiry, with a pair of triangular eyes.

At that moment, the triangular-eyed man had his arms wrapped around—or rather, was tightly clinging to—the stout man.

The stout man, his eyes stung by the water, kept flailing his arms and shouting, “Loosen your grip! Loosen up! I’ll pull you up!”

But the triangular-eyed man remained silent, his shadowy eyes full of malicious amusement. He didn’t look like someone drowning; in fact, he seemed to be enjoying watching the stout man flail helplessly in his grip.

The river by the main road wasn’t very wide, but the drop from the bank to the water was at least twice a man’s height. This meant that even if the stout man managed to free himself, he wouldn’t be able to climb out on his own.

The onlookers, however, weren’t just standing idly by. They had brought bamboo poles and ropes, tossing them into the river to try to rescue the two men.

An old man holding a bamboo pole leaned over the riverbank and extended one end toward the stout man, shouting, “Grab on, lad!”

But just as the stout man reached out his hand, the triangular-eyed man swatted the pole away.

This infuriating scene pushed the crowd over the edge.

“You beast! Are you even human? People are trying to save you, and you repay kindness with treachery?”

“A thankless wretch! If you want to die, fine, but don’t drag others down with you!”

“Let go of him now! Or else I’ll use this bamboo pole to deal with you!”

Hearing this, the triangular-eyed man shifted his position in the water, hiding himself behind the stout man, and sneered, “Heaven and earth are my witnesses—I wouldn’t hurt this stout brother here. He jumped in specifically to save me, after all!”

“Right now, I’m holding onto him tightly to make sure he doesn’t sink and drown!”

“And let me remind you all, this is next to the main road. If you hit me and I die here in the river, you’ll all be charged as criminals!”

“When the authorities investigate, each and every one of you will have to face the consequences!”

The triangular-eyed man was undeniably cunning. By positioning himself behind the stout man, he made it nearly impossible for anyone on the riverbank to bypass the stout man to strike him.

To further secure his position, the man with triangular eyes resorted to using the law as a threat, ensuring no one dared to take violent action against him.

This tactic proved effective. The crowd, helpless and frustrated, could only watch as the stout man in the river grew increasingly exhausted.

“Is there anyone here who can swim? Get a couple more people in there, surely you can take down that bastard!” someone in the crowd shouted.

But as soon as the words were spoken, the commotion fell silent.

Even those who could swim hesitated.

The man with triangular eyes now seemed no different from a vengeful water ghost dragging people to their deaths.

Jumping into the freezing river at this point meant not only facing the bone-chilling cold but also confronting the “drowning ghost” intent on taking lives.

People are naturally afraid of death. Seeing the plight of the kind-hearted man who had jumped in to save someone, no one was willing to follow suit.

“I’m so scared!” the man with triangular eyes shouted mockingly. His arms pressed down hard on the stout man’s shoulders, nearly pinning him under his weight.

In just a moment, the stout man completely lost his strength and was forced underwater.

Triumphant, the man with triangular eyes grinned sinisterly at the crowd onshore. “Ha! Even in death, I get someone to go down with me. Totally worth it!”

The onlookers were furious, cursing him with the harshest words they could muster.

But the man, seemingly delighted by their anger, laughed louder. As he began to sink below the surface himself, he yelled, “Keep cursing! Once I become a ghost, I’ll drag every one of you down with me!”

Splash!

A loud noise erupted as a towering column of water shot into the air! Both the stout man and the triangular-eyed man were sent flying high above the river!

The astonishing scene left everyone onshore dumbfounded, their jaws hanging open.

The next moment, the water column split into two. The unconscious stout man, coughing and sputtering from inhaling water, was gently deposited onto the riverbank.

“Quick, pull him up!” the elderly man with the bamboo pole shouted. Confused but eager to act, the crowd worked together to drag the stout man onto the shore, pressing on his stomach to help him expel the water he’d swallowed.

Meanwhile, the other half of the water column collapsed, sending the triangular-eyed man plunging back into the river. Splash!

Surprisingly, he managed to resurface, flailing in panic. His earlier arrogance was gone, replaced with pure desperation.

“Help! Help me! Someone, please save me! I don’t want to die!”

“Glug-glug—”

“I’m sorry! You’re all good people! Please, help me up—I beg you!”

Faced with his pleas, the crowd had mixed reactions. Some stood expressionless, watching him struggle indifferently. Others turned their attention to the stout man, checking to see if the kind-hearted rescuer had regained consciousness. Some even hurled his earlier mocking words back at him as ridicule.

Turning away from the scene, Gu Ning’an patted Mu Sheng on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“Ah… Coming!” Mu Sheng quickly followed, muttering under his breath, “Mr. Gu, how can someone be so wicked? That man jumped in to save him, and he still bit the hand that fed him.”

“In a world with good people, there will naturally be bad people.”

“But now, that good man who saved him might never want to help anyone again, right?”

“Whether to save someone or not is a personal choice. If he didn’t save, would you still see him as a good person?”

“Well… If he didn’t save, it’d only be to protect himself!”

“Exactly. To you, his refusal to help would make sense—he’d be protecting himself because of past betrayals.

“But to those who don’t know his story, they’d likely label him as someone who stood by and let another die.

“You see, concepts like right and wrong, good and evil, aren’t always so clear-cut.

“As for why I acted earlier—it was simply out of respect for the choices of both of them.”