In a remote mountain village of a county in Anhui Province.
Old Man Xu was originally an ordinary old farmer in the countryside at the foot of the mountain. He ploughed the fields all his life. As he did not graduate from primary school, he could not even speak Mandarin fluently. His son had a promising future as he finished high school, and worked hard with his wife in Zhejiang Province, leaving the little grandson to him and his old companion to take care of.
His little grandson was very lovely, and was clever and sensible. His eyes were big and bright and he was very cheerful. In addition to ploughing the fields, Old Man Xu had two hobbies: drinking and fishing. The wine he drank was home-brewed rice wine. He had to have alcohol together with his three meals everyday.
As for fishing, there were a lot of ponds outside the village. However, Old Man Xu didn’t have ponds. The villagers kept mussels and raise fish. They waited for the fish to grow fat next year so they could sell them for a good price. The most abhorrent was fishermen who fished stealthily. Old Man Xu thought this was disdainful and was too upright to do so.
Fortunately, there was a reservoir in the mountains, which was owned by the government and is a public property. When Old Man Xu was young, he also took part in the excavation of the reservoir, which was dug up by villagers in several nearby villages. Over the years, many acres of crops have been watered by the water flowing out of the reservoir.
Old Man Xu brought his grandson into the mountain to fish in the reservoir. The reservoir was large, and the fish were wild and difficult to catch. In addition, the mountain road was not easy to walk on so ordinary people will not come. However, Old Man Xu was a fishing expert, so whenever he entered the mountain, he could always bring a few delicious fishes home with him.
But not long ago, Old Man Xu took his little grandson into the mountain to fish. In an accident, his little grandson fell into the reservoir and drowned. Old Man Xu was also driven out of the house and lived alone in the mountains.
“Such a lovely little child is gone just like that. Old Man Xu likes to drink, and he went to work without water. His bottle is always filled with wine. We all know he must have been drunk and didn’t take care of his grandson, causing him to drown.”
At the countryside village at the foot of the mountain, a little shop on the side of the road, a plump auntie chattered with Li Xianyu.
Great-Grandma was a badass lady who said she wanted to bring him to level up. The next day, she asked for a mission from Lightning King. Considering Li Xianyu’s physique, Lightning King was worried that he might be involved in matters involving the major demon descendant families or some large-scale events.
That was why he made a list of tasks, in which there were suspected incidents involving demon descendants, or had been determined to be caused by demon descendants. There were big fish and small fish, which were considered Baoze’s difficult and complicated targets, and threw it to him. It was just in line with what Li Xianyu wanted, and he was happy to get growth.
The first stop was this small mountain village in Anhui Province. Li Xianyu bought a cigarette by the side of the road at the mouth of the village, smoking cigarettes and chatting with the auntie. Auntie also liked to chat with a handsome young man
“Tsk, no matter what, it was an accident. It’s too much to drive the old man out of the house,” Li Xianyu said.
“You are still young and have not been a father, of course you do not understand the pain of losing your son.” Auntie was obviously not on Old Man Xu’s side.
“But I’m a son,” Li Xianyu retorted.
“If this is all it was, he could admit he was wrong and may not be driven out of the house. However, Old Man Xu was stubborn, saying that his grandson was eaten by a monster, not that he was drunk and caused his grandson to drown out of negligence. He even wanted everyone to go up the mountain to avenge his grandson. Where did the monster come from? Others have also gone up to fish, why did the monster only eat his grandson?”
Monster… Li Xianyu pretended to be curious and ask, “Was the child found? If he drowned or was eaten, it would be clear if his body was found.”
“Oddly enough, many people in the village went into the reservoir to look for him. However, they didn’t find it, and the reservoir was also big. He might have been tangled up by water and grass. The police came for a while and couldn’t find it. And then it just came to an abrupt end,” the auntie said.
After thinking about it, Li Xianyu asked tentatively, “That’s interesting. Auntie, do you have any folklore in your village, involving monsters, ghosts and so on?”
Ninety percent of folklore was fake, but ten percent was true. Those really came from foreign species descendants. There was a lot of similar information in the company.
For example, farmers on the mountain found that their chickens and ducks were often missing and the number was decreasing every day. They suspected that thieves were stealing chickens and ducks, so they patrolled the farm with hounds in the middle of the night. As a result, they heard the sound of rustling coming from the reeds, like the noise of something crawling, but it was too loud to be an animal. It was obvious that it could not be an animal. In the moonlight, they saw a python swim into the water, with cold scales and amber vertical pupils gleaming like large lanterns. There was a chicken in his mouth, and the sound was made by it going through the reeds. Such stories would not be believed if it was spread, so it gradually became local folklore.
The Northeast he had been to had even more of these stories, and the legends of the five immortals were everywhere.
Auntie thought about it and said yes. She said that there was a waterfall under the reservoir. It was said that there were dragons sleeping in it. There was also the mountain temple at the back of the mountain, and those who guarded the mountain in the middle of the night saw the mountain goddess came alive and walked out of the temple.
All these stories sounded like absurd fiction. It was possible for massive snakes to exist, but to say that dragons exist was too much. If there were dragons in the world, then my family will have a phoenix, Li Xianyu thought.
Li Xianyu hurriedly stopped her. “What about the reservoir? Are there any stories?”
“There aren’t any stories about the reservoir. It was dug decades ago and is still a junior. It’s not yet qualified to have its own legend,” the auntie said with a smile.
These days, legends also depend on seniority. After they asked about the direction of the reservoir and understood more about the situation, Li Xianyu flicked the cigarette butt on the ground, trampling it out. “Great-… Let’s go.”
Great-Grandma crouched in front of the store, watching a three-or-four-year-old sit on a toy, with happy music playing: “Dad’s father is called Grandpa…” She looked up and smiled brightly. “I want to sit here, too.”
“We’ll play next time, play next time.” Li Xianyu could not afford to lose face and forcibly dragged her away.
As the old saying goes, things that looks near might actually be really far. They saw that it was obviously right behind the village, but it took them half an hour to walk into the mountain, and then along the overgrown weeds. It was a mountain road that the villagers created step by step into the mountain.
Lu Xun once said that there was no road in the world to begin with, and when there were many people walking, it became a road. It was a wise saying.
The mountains in Anhui Province were not high or steep, but deep. There were many overlapping mountains, and hills were stacked next to the hills. It was summer and had a lot of verdant vegetation. Li Xianyu trudged along the stream in the mountains, and they came across a pear garden along the way. Yellow pears hung on the branches.
Li Xianyu plucked one and wiped it on his chest. He bit down and juice splashed everywhere. He picked two more and put them in his pocket. After Great-Grandma tasted it, the fruit was so sweet that her eyes turned into crescent eyes and she picked six or seven, cradling them in her arms. Her fair and tender stomach was revealed and Li Xianyu glanced at her belly button but forced himself to look away.
“The countryside is better. It’s free to eat stuff.” Great-Grandma was so happy. “I just saw a plot of melons at the foot of the mountain. Let’s steal it at night.”
“Even you know that’s stealing?” Li Xianyu said exasperatedly.
“The plot of land with melons is so big and it’s full of watermelons. It doesn’t matter if one is gone. We’ll get half each and eat it with a spoon,” Great-Grandma said in a crisp voice.
“Well, that makes sense. We’ll steal one tonight.” Li Xianyu changed his stand without sticking to his principles.
Li Xianyu grew up in the city and only saw the scenery in the countryside on TV. As soon as he entered the mountain, he could not tell the difference between the southeast and the northwest. Fortunately, there was a stream pointing the way, which flowed out of the reservoir.
After turning around a mountain depression, he saw the high embankment that was thirty or forty meters high. After going up the steps and climbing to the top, his eyes were bright.
The blue sky looked clear as if it was washed, the green mountains were lush, and the reservoir was like a huge green ribbon, quietly lying between the mountains.
This should be the head of the reservoir, and the other end could not be seen, as the green mountains blocked the line of sight.
Li Xianyu looked around and saw a dilapidated house in the forest on the left. According to the auntie, Old Man Xu lived there after he was driven out of the house.
They approached the house, and there was no one in it, but there were traces of someone living in the house. There were a lot of wood piled up outside, as well as tools for cutting and sawing wood. There were also some items that were seemingly fishing nets, but were stronger and thicker than ordinary fishing nets.
“He should be out. He’s not at home.” Great-Grandma came out of the house, holding half a watermelon and gently breaking it open, gnawing as happily as a pig.
“Hey, that’s not nice,” he said. “If you don’t ask permission and take it, it’s stealing.”
“It’s so sweet. Try it.”
“…Wow, it’s really sweet, is there more?”
“There’s more in the house.”
Both of them sat on the threshold gnawing at the watermelon. The sun was shining high, and cool wind blew from the reservoir, making people feel relaxed and happy. If this place was used for summer vacation, it would be a good place.
“Someone’s coming.” Great-Grandma spat out the watermelon seeds and looked in the direction of the reservoir.
A small boat rowed from the intersection of the two mountains, as a sparkling light gleamed in the rippes. The man on board was an old man wearing a straw hat. When the boat reached the shore, the old man tied the rope used to secure the boat to the stake on the shore and came to the hut.
He was surprised to see a young man and woman sitting on his threshold eating watermelons. “Who are you guys?”
This was an old man who was older than 50 years old. He had gray hair, but he looked rather healthy. He was very thin, and had suntanned skin from years of labor work. His hands were covered with calluses.
He looked at the two young people who had fair skin. The young man was handsome and the little lady was as beautiful as a deity. They didn’t look like villains, so he did not show hostility.
“Are you Xu Guojun? Can you speak Mandarin?” Li Xianyu stared at him.
The old man nodded and replied in stilted Mandarin, “Who are you?”
Li Xianyu took out his police ID from his pocket and said, “We are policemen. We are here to investigate your grandson’s case. More than a month ago, he died in a reservoir, but the body was never found.”
Xu Guojun looked bleak, and stood frozen for a moment. “You police said he drowned, so he was drowned. Why are you here?”
Li Xianyu took out a gun as if he was performing magic. “But you told the police that your grandson was taken away by a monster. We are here for that monster, if it does exist.”
Xu Guojun looked at the gun and suddenly looked agitated.
“Do you believe me? I thought you cops said I was talking nonsense. I asked you to avenge my grandson. You don’t believe me. No one believes me…” He was so agitated that when he talked about his grandson, he burst into tears.
“Can you tell me in detail what happened at that time? I can judge if you’re telling the truth or not,” Li Xianyu said.
In a remote mountain village of a county in Anhui Province.
Old Man Xu was originally an ordinary old farmer in the countryside at the foot of the mountain. He ploughed the fields all his life. As he did not graduate from primary school, he could not even speak Mandarin fluently. His son had a promising future as he finished high school, and worked hard with his wife in Zhejiang Province, leaving the little grandson to him and his old companion to take care of.
His little grandson was very lovely, and was clever and sensible. His eyes were big and bright and he was very cheerful. In addition to ploughing the fields, Old Man Xu had two hobbies: drinking and fishing. The wine he drank was home-brewed rice wine. He had to have alcohol together with his three meals everyday.
As for fishing, there were a lot of ponds outside the village. However, Old Man Xu didn’t have ponds. The villagers kept mussels and raise fish. They waited for the fish to grow fat next year so they could sell them for a good price. The most abhorrent was fishermen who fished stealthily. Old Man Xu thought this was disdainful and was too upright to do so.
Fortunately, there was a reservoir in the mountains, which was owned by the government and is a public property. When Old Man Xu was young, he also took part in the excavation of the reservoir, which was dug up by villagers in several nearby villages. Over the years, many acres of crops have been watered by the water flowing out of the reservoir.
Old Man Xu brought his grandson into the mountain to fish in the reservoir. The reservoir was large, and the fish were wild and difficult to catch. In addition, the mountain road was not easy to walk on so ordinary people will not come. However, Old Man Xu was a fishing expert, so whenever he entered the mountain, he could always bring a few delicious fishes home with him.
But not long ago, Old Man Xu took his little grandson into the mountain to fish. In an accident, his little grandson fell into the reservoir and drowned. Old Man Xu was also driven out of the house and lived alone in the mountains.
“Such a lovely little child is gone just like that. Old Man Xu likes to drink, and he went to work without water. His bottle is always filled with wine. We all know he must have been drunk and didn’t take care of his grandson, causing him to drown.”
At the countryside village at the foot of the mountain, a little shop on the side of the road, a plump auntie chattered with Li Xianyu.
Great-Grandma was a badass lady who said she wanted to bring him to level up. The next day, she asked for a mission from Lightning King. Considering Li Xianyu’s physique, Lightning King was worried that he might be involved in matters involving the major demon descendant families or some large-scale events.
That was why he made a list of tasks, in which there were suspected incidents involving demon descendants, or had been determined to be caused by demon descendants. There were big fish and small fish, which were considered Baoze’s difficult and complicated targets, and threw it to him. It was just in line with what Li Xianyu wanted, and he was happy to get growth.
The first stop was this small mountain village in Anhui Province. Li Xianyu bought a cigarette by the side of the road at the mouth of the village, smoking cigarettes and chatting with the auntie. Auntie also liked to chat with a handsome young man
“Tsk, no matter what, it was an accident. It’s too much to drive the old man out of the house,” Li Xianyu said.
“You are still young and have not been a father, of course you do not understand the pain of losing your son.” Auntie was obviously not on Old Man Xu’s side.
“But I’m a son,” Li Xianyu retorted.
“If this is all it was, he could admit he was wrong and may not be driven out of the house. However, Old Man Xu was stubborn, saying that his grandson was eaten by a monster, not that he was drunk and caused his grandson to drown out of negligence. He even wanted everyone to go up the mountain to avenge his grandson. Where did the monster come from? Others have also gone up to fish, why did the monster only eat his grandson?”
Monster… Li Xianyu pretended to be curious and ask, “Was the child found? If he drowned or was eaten, it would be clear if his body was found.”
“Oddly enough, many people in the village went into the reservoir to look for him. However, they didn’t find it, and the reservoir was also big. He might have been tangled up by water and grass. The police came for a while and couldn’t find it. And then it just came to an abrupt end,” the auntie said.
After thinking about it, Li Xianyu asked tentatively, “That’s interesting. Auntie, do you have any folklore in your village, involving monsters, ghosts and so on?”
Ninety percent of folklore was fake, but ten percent was true. Those really came from foreign species descendants. There was a lot of similar information in the company.
For example, farmers on the mountain found that their chickens and ducks were often missing and the number was decreasing every day. They suspected that thieves were stealing chickens and ducks, so they patrolled the farm with hounds in the middle of the night. As a result, they heard the sound of rustling coming from the reeds, like the noise of something crawling, but it was too loud to be an animal. It was obvious that it could not be an animal. In the moonlight, they saw a python swim into the water, with cold scales and amber vertical pupils gleaming like large lanterns. There was a chicken in his mouth, and the sound was made by it going through the reeds. Such stories would not be believed if it was spread, so it gradually became local folklore.
The Northeast he had been to had even more of these stories, and the legends of the five immortals were everywhere.
Auntie thought about it and said yes. She said that there was a waterfall under the reservoir. It was said that there were dragons sleeping in it. There was also the mountain temple at the back of the mountain, and those who guarded the mountain in the middle of the night saw the mountain goddess came alive and walked out of the temple.
All these stories sounded like absurd fiction. It was possible for massive snakes to exist, but to say that dragons exist was too much. If there were dragons in the world, then my family will have a phoenix, Li Xianyu thought.
Li Xianyu hurriedly stopped her. “What about the reservoir? Are there any stories?”
“There aren’t any stories about the reservoir. It was dug decades ago and is still a junior. It’s not yet qualified to have its own legend,” the auntie said with a smile.
These days, legends also depend on seniority. After they asked about the direction of the reservoir and understood more about the situation, Li Xianyu flicked the cigarette butt on the ground, trampling it out. “Great-… Let’s go.”
Great-Grandma crouched in front of the store, watching a three-or-four-year-old sit on a toy, with happy music playing: “Dad’s father is called Grandpa…” She looked up and smiled brightly. “I want to sit here, too.”
“We’ll play next time, play next time.” Li Xianyu could not afford to lose face and forcibly dragged her away.
As the old saying goes, things that looks near might actually be really far. They saw that it was obviously right behind the village, but it took them half an hour to walk into the mountain, and then along the overgrown weeds. It was a mountain road that the villagers created step by step into the mountain.
Lu Xun once said that there was no road in the world to begin with, and when there were many people walking, it became a road. It was a wise saying.
The mountains in Anhui Province were not high or steep, but deep. There were many overlapping mountains, and hills were stacked next to the hills. It was summer and had a lot of verdant vegetation. Li Xianyu trudged along the stream in the mountains, and they came across a pear garden along the way. Yellow pears hung on the branches.
Li Xianyu plucked one and wiped it on his chest. He bit down and juice splashed everywhere. He picked two more and put them in his pocket. After Great-Grandma tasted it, the fruit was so sweet that her eyes turned into crescent eyes and she picked six or seven, cradling them in her arms. Her fair and tender stomach was revealed and Li Xianyu glanced at her belly button but forced himself to look away.
“The countryside is better. It’s free to eat stuff.” Great-Grandma was so happy. “I just saw a plot of melons at the foot of the mountain. Let’s steal it at night.”
“Even you know that’s stealing?” Li Xianyu said exasperatedly.
“The plot of land with melons is so big and it’s full of watermelons. It doesn’t matter if one is gone. We’ll get half each and eat it with a spoon,” Great-Grandma said in a crisp voice.
“Well, that makes sense. We’ll steal one tonight.” Li Xianyu changed his stand without sticking to his principles.
Li Xianyu grew up in the city and only saw the scenery in the countryside on TV. As soon as he entered the mountain, he could not tell the difference between the southeast and the northwest. Fortunately, there was a stream pointing the way, which flowed out of the reservoir.
After turning around a mountain depression, he saw the high embankment that was thirty or forty meters high. After going up the steps and climbing to the top, his eyes were bright.
The blue sky looked clear as if it was washed, the green mountains were lush, and the reservoir was like a huge green ribbon, quietly lying between the mountains.
This should be the head of the reservoir, and the other end could not be seen, as the green mountains blocked the line of sight.
Li Xianyu looked around and saw a dilapidated house in the forest on the left. According to the auntie, Old Man Xu lived there after he was driven out of the house.
They approached the house, and there was no one in it, but there were traces of someone living in the house. There were a lot of wood piled up outside, as well as tools for cutting and sawing wood. There were also some items that were seemingly fishing nets, but were stronger and thicker than ordinary fishing nets.
“He should be out. He’s not at home.” Great-Grandma came out of the house, holding half a watermelon and gently breaking it open, gnawing as happily as a pig.
“Hey, that’s not nice,” he said. “If you don’t ask permission and take it, it’s stealing.”
“It’s so sweet. Try it.”
“…Wow, it’s really sweet, is there more?”
“There’s more in the house.”
Both of them sat on the threshold gnawing at the watermelon. The sun was shining high, and cool wind blew from the reservoir, making people feel relaxed and happy. If this place was used for summer vacation, it would be a good place.
“Someone’s coming.” Great-Grandma spat out the watermelon seeds and looked in the direction of the reservoir.
A small boat rowed from the intersection of the two mountains, as a sparkling light gleamed in the rippes. The man on board was an old man wearing a straw hat. When the boat reached the shore, the old man tied the rope used to secure the boat to the stake on the shore and came to the hut.
He was surprised to see a young man and woman sitting on his threshold eating watermelons. “Who are you guys?”
This was an old man who was older than 50 years old. He had gray hair, but he looked rather healthy. He was very thin, and had suntanned skin from years of labor work. His hands were covered with calluses.
He looked at the two young people who had fair skin. The young man was handsome and the little lady was as beautiful as a deity. They didn’t look like villains, so he did not show hostility.
“Are you Xu Guojun? Can you speak Mandarin?” Li Xianyu stared at him.
The old man nodded and replied in stilted Mandarin, “Who are you?”
Li Xianyu took out his police ID from his pocket and said, “We are policemen. We are here to investigate your grandson’s case. More than a month ago, he died in a reservoir, but the body was never found.”
Xu Guojun looked bleak, and stood frozen for a moment. “You police said he drowned, so he was drowned. Why are you here?”
Li Xianyu took out a gun as if he was performing magic. “But you told the police that your grandson was taken away by a monster. We are here for that monster, if it does exist.”
Xu Guojun looked at the gun and suddenly looked agitated.
“Do you believe me? I thought you cops said I was talking nonsense. I asked you to avenge my grandson. You don’t believe me. No one believes me…” He was so agitated that when he talked about his grandson, he burst into tears.
“Can you tell me in detail what happened at that time? I can judge if you’re telling the truth or not,” Li Xianyu said.
