Time flew fast. It seemed summer had arrived 

in

 just 

the

 blink of an eye. 

Ru Xue took Li Meng and his one-year-old sister Nianchu to her mother’s place. Li Mazi took the chance and persistently asked me out for a walk. 

As I was afraid that he would lose his mind if he kept staying home, I agreed to travel with him. We took the chance to travel to rural areas. Every day, we drove through mountains and fields. When we felt tired, we would find a lodge to stay the night and get something to eat. 

The days were strenuous, but we 

saw

countless beautiful

 sights. We had spent an entire week exploring the countryside. 

When

 there was nothing else to see, we went home. 

“

I’m not satisfied

. I want to travel more!” Li Mazi nagged and insisted. I had to follow him. 

Since we hadn’t brought a lot of money and we had camped outside for a few days in a row, we felt tired. We decided to drive to the nearest town to find a good hotel to rest. We 

had to

 withdraw some money

. Otherwise, we

 would have to 

inhale

 the Northeastern wind to fill our stomachs… 

When we passed by a village, Li Mazi suddenly stopped. He stuck out his tongue like a thirsty, big hound. “Little 

B

rother Zhang, we should visit that village to ask for some water. 

My throat is

 burning.” 

Knowing him

, if I didn’t let him 

have

 the water, he wouldn’t 

stop talking

. Moreover, it was scorching hot today. I couldn’t endure the thirst, either. I nodded in agreement. 

Before we entered the village, a vast 

field

 of green watermelons came to our sights. Li Mazi had tiny stars twinkling in his eyes. He directly 

went over

 and picked a watermelon

. Then, he wolfed 

it down.  

I felt awkward

. I wished 

that people wouldn’t come over and beat him 

for being a

 watermelon thief! 

Fortunately, no one was watching the field. I found shade 

under a

 tree and sat down to take a look 

at this

 village. 

The village was encircled with rows of green trees. To the East, I saw a small river, which aroused my interest. I wanted to go there 

for a

 swim. 

“Little 

B

rother Zhang, come eat watermelon!” Li Mazi quickly finished one watermelon. He took two more and handed me one. 

“Nah, I’m not eating now. You can have more! Afterward, we should go swimming!” 

Then, I went to the riverbank. Li Mazi was interested in 

swimming

 in the river, too. He took 

off his

 shirt and wanted to jump into the river before me.

As a routine, I checked the river first to see how deep it could be. The waters were strangely calm. I didn’t see even a ripple or a small fish swimming there. It looked as though it was a pool of stagnant water. It was strange. Instinctively, I grabbed Li Mazi’s arm before he could jump into the water. 

“Bro, what’s wrong?” 

“Hold on, this river doesn’t look right.” I rubbed my eyes and forcefully opened my Yin and Yang Eyes. Then, I observed the river one more time. 

I gasped at first glance. The river didn’t look deep, but it had a layer of hazy black fog above. 

Usually

, river water under the hot sunlight would evaporate and release steam. However, as I was standing on the riverbank, I could feel the cold air from the depths of the river. 

Li Mazi saw my stern face. 

In a ginger voice, he said, 

“This river sure feels strange now that you 

mention

 it.” 

“

It s

eems we

’ve got 

a new task to do. Let’s get 

to

 the village to ask!” Then, I turned to

ward 

the village. There was something in the river for sure. 

I could have 

ignored

 it

, but

 if I co

uld help these villagers, my karma would improve. 

That

 was 

why I 

couldn’t

just leave

! 

After a few steps, I suddenly heard rapid footsteps. I turned to look. On the opposite side, a man wearing a red vest 

jumped

 into the river. He sank immediately. 

My swimming skills 

weren’t

 good enough. I had to send Li Mazi to take a look. 

He 

didn’t 

reply and 

responded by taking off his shoes

, ready

 to jump in. I hurriedly grabbed him and put some soil into his mouth before letting him jump into the river. 

The water in the river 

had a pure

 Yin attribute, and so was the soil. With the soil in his mouth, Li Mazi could adapt easily to the water. At least, he wouldn’t drown himself with the other man

 if 

he couldn’t save him. 

“Gosh! The water is so cold!” Li Mazi paled as soon as he jumped into the water. 

He noisily complained, then dived

 in

to the area the other man had jumped in. I stood on the riverbank

 and watched. I was 

sweating. 

Fortunately, Li Mazi quickly found the man 

wearing the red

 vest, and he was strong enough to pull 

him

 up. However, it was strange that every time the man

’s head went 

over the water, he soon sank back 

down

. It looked like something 

was

dragging

 him down. 

“What’s going on?” 

“I’m afraid there’s a water ghost!” 

Li Mazi waved his hand. “No, I don’t think so.” He continued to grope around. After a long time, he finally 

lifted

 the man to the riverbank. 

Li Mazi spat the water then cursed, “Holy 

moly

, that guy didn’t want to live anymore. He jumped into the river with a rock! If I 

hadn’t been

 strong enough to take the rock from him, I would have drowned 

too

.” 

I was bewildered

 and looked 

at the unconscious man. I pushed on his chest a few times to make him vomit water. 

We got him as soon as he jumped into the water, so his life wasn’t threatened. After he vomited 

water

, he slowly woke up.  

With a 

confused

 face, his look shifted from the river to us. Then, he stooped and wept.

I couldn’t stand i

t 

when women 

cried,

 let alone an adult man! I turned my head aside in disgust.

Li Mazi 

was panting. He spat and cursed, 

“You are a big man. What burden 

is

 weigh

ing

 your heart? You wanted to kill yourself and now you are crying. If I had known that before, I wouldn’t have saved you…” 

“You thought I wanted to kill myself

?!

” The man 

in the red

 vest tried to suppress his anger when Li Mazi scoffed at him. His voice turned aggressive. 

I knew there 

was

a

 story behind this. My occupational intuition surged. I reacted and 

said

, “Did you encounter 

something

 foul?” 

I 

knew I was 

being hasty

. Before I had time to 

correct

my words

, the man nodded then sobbed louder. 

“I’m Zhang Henshui, and I live in this village. These days, I have been

listless. I 

sleep

 for more than twelve hours a day, but it isn’t enough. At first, I thought I was so worn out because of the farming work. I didn’t pay attention to it. 

T

his morning, I heard a voice in my head. Someone was urging me.

I thought that I had slept 

so

 much that my head 

was

 muddled. I took a shovel and left the house. I wanted to go to work 

on

 my rice paddy fields

 b

ut when I 

went

 there, the voice in my head grew louder. It asked me to go to the riverbank! I followed the voice to the riverbank to see what was there. As soon as I got to the riverbank, I felt a cold wind and lost consciousness afterward.” 

I frowned. 

It seemed 

he

’

d really encountered something foul. “

Is 

anything else 

happening

 in your family these days?” 

“No, everything is fine. There’s only one thing

:

 I always feel so tired after sleeping

, m

ore tired than working in the field. Sometimes, I 

lay

in

 bed but 

feel

 even wearier than walking a hundred kilometers. When I 

get

 up, my entire body 

feels

 so sore that I 

can’t

 even 

get

 off the bed…” Zhang Henshui blurted without thinking. It seemed he had experienced these things for a long time. 

But to me, his situation was more like sleep-walking. I still wasn’t sure if something foul 

was

 pester

ing

 him, so I wanted to ask him if anyone else in his family had the same sleep-walking incidents.

Before I could ask, he

 started telling us

about

 another event!