Chapter 53

When Chen Lao Da spoke, the surrounding villagers no longer dared to watch the spectacle and only then began to organize the rescue efforts.

Of course, the person had long been dead, so calling it a rescue was more like a body recovery.

To recover the body of Chen Lao Da's daughter-in-law.

However, an unexpected incident occurred during the body recovery.

Since the body was floating straight in the middle of the river, the villagers initially thought that the female corpse was entangled by something underwater, which allowed it to remain upright in the swift current.

However, when the villagers rowed their fishing boat to the center of the river, they were horrified to find that there was nothing underwater at all.

In other words, the female corpse was floating on the water's surface entirely on its own!

This bizarre scene frightened the few villagers who had come to retrieve the body. After all, Hulu Village was in a remote area, and the people's thoughts were relatively superstitious and backward. Upon seeing such a strange sight, they dared not move any further and even rowed the boat back to the shore.

"What the hell are you guys doing? Where's the person? Where's my daughter-in-law? Why the hell are you rowing the boat back!"

Chen Lao Da, standing on the shore, was so angry that he stomped his feet, pointing at the approaching fishing boat and cursing.

The villagers on the boat were also aggrieved. If not for the bizarre nature of the female corpse, they wouldn't have dared to row the boat back, even if they were given the courage.

"Village... Chief, it's too bizarre. There's nothing in the river to hold it down, yet it's floating upright. We... we really don't dare to touch it!"

"Bizarre my ass! You guys are in for it!"

Chen Lao Da was so angry that he wanted to drown the villagers in the river. He warned them fiercely and then began to call for other villagers to help:

"Whoever helps today, I, Chen Lao Da, will owe them a favor, and I will definitely repay it in the future!"

As the saying goes, under the promise of a great reward, there will always be brave men. Hearing Chen Lao Da's promise, some of the more daring and less superstitious villagers jumped into the river one after another and soon reached the center of the river where the female corpse was.

A few villagers struggled to stay afloat, even for those who were good swimmers, it was difficult to stabilize themselves by treading water, let alone a corpse with no support.

Although the situation was indeed bizarre, they had already come this far, and Chen Lao Da had made a promise, so they had no choice but to approach the female corpse with determination.

One was responsible for holding the female corpse's arm, another for holding her waist, and another for holding her leg...

They thought it would take some effort, but to their surprise, they encountered no resistance at all and managed to change the corpse's position from upright to horizontal.

Almost simultaneously, a loud thunderclap echoed through the clear sky.

"Boom—!"

The thunderclap was sudden and incredibly loud, like a bomb had been dropped into the river. Both the people in the river and on the shore were shocked by the sound.

They all covered their ears in shock, their hearts filled with an indescribable fear.

Three minutes later, the villagers finally brought the female corpse to shore.

Seeing the corpse on land, Chen Lao Da immediately ran over and turned it over. Who else could it be but his daughter-in-law, Xiao Li?

However, the face of the corpse was far more terrifying up close than it had been from the shore.

The corpse's face was not pale white but almost gray, or more accurately, grayish-white. Her bloodshot eyes were wide open, and her pupils were nowhere to be seen. For a moment, he thought he saw the corpse's eyes blink!

Chen Lao Da was so frightened that he shuddered, and only when he was sure it was an illusion did his heart calm down.

The corpse's face was severely distorted, with her eyes wide open and her mouth agape, revealing a few white teeth. The slightly open mouth looked as if it was roaring, saying "death" to everyone.

Chen Lao Da couldn't bear to look at the corpse any longer and took several steps back, clutching his chest.

This time, Chen Lao Da had really suffered a setback. Not only had his daughter-in-law died, but she had died in such a bizarre way, and he knew there would be plenty of gossip in the future.

In fact, his family had been in the spotlight for the past year, ever since his daughter-in-law married into the family.

"Go to the village and find people. Have Hu Da Niu bring people to carry the body."

Chen Lao Da ordered the surrounding villagers with a gloomy expression.

...

Since Leng Yue still needed to be in the hospital to reduce her fever, Xia Tianqi had to return to the villa alone. He had bought some ingredients earlier, so he didn't go out after returning.

Today was not a good day for him. Not only did he learn that he had to execute a new mission, but he also found out that Leng Yue was the fourth person who had been missing from the villa.

He had been hoping that the fourth person would be a beautiful woman, but he never expected it to be that bitch, Leng Yue.

Even though Leng Yue hadn't moved in yet, he could already imagine the infatuated look on Nan Gong Yun's face when she saw Leng Yue.

Xia Tianqi found this quite speechless. Leng Yue's character was indeed despicable, being both a warm-hearted good person and a stubborn bastard. He had always prayed that they would have no interaction in real life, at most just collaborating during missions, but it seemed that achieving this would be difficult.

Since Leng Yue was researching his techniques, the "logistics support" was entirely his responsibility.

Although Xia Tianqi cursed incessantly, he didn't really mind. After all, he wasn't the type to be content with being useless or a burden to others.

He turned on his computer and began searching for all the information about Hulu Village online.

However, due to its remote location, there was very little information about Hulu Village on the internet.

It only mentioned that Hulu Village was located south of Zhen Shui Ling, in the western region, and that the economy was very underdeveloped.

The rest was about the transportation issues he had previously found. They would have to take a train and then a bus to reach Zhen Shui Ling, and to get to Hulu Village, they would have to walk.

"What a godforsaken place!"

Xia Tianqi found paper and a pen and began preparing the equipment they would need for the trip. This was the experience he had gained from the previous two "trial missions." After all, it was better to be prepared, even if it wasn't used.

Of course, he planned to seek advice from Nan Gong Yun tomorrow about the formal mission execution. Although Nan Gong Yun wasn't as talented or gifted as him, she had more experience.

He always thought that although he had a proud and arrogant appearance, he had a humble and eager-to-learn heart.

And this combination, he concluded, made him a genius!

(Today is a double update, so give me your recommendations!)

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