After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Dead Fish Facing the Mouth

Jiang Huaiyi turned her head and saw old man Zhang. She wondered why he was in such a mess.

Old man Zhang was a familiar face. He had been a security guard at a nearby elementary school for a few years. He retired recently because he was getting older and his health and energy were not as good as before.

He usually liked to carry a fishing rod and a cooler and go fishing at various ponds nearby.

He was also a very kind person and easy to get along with.

At this moment, he was grabbing Jiang Huaiyi and speaking anxiously, the flesh on his face trembling with fear. “Xiao Yi, your uncle Wu fell into the water. Something seems to have tangled him up under the water. I can’t pull him up alone. Come and help me!”

Jiang Huaiyi heard that someone had fallen into the water and subconsciously let him pull her. Shen Wensi stood beside her without saying a word, pulling her back slightly so she wouldn’t walk so fast.

A cold sensation came from Jiang Huaiyi’s wrist, seeping through her thin jacket and making her shiver.

This was not due to the weather. This coldness came from old man Zhang’s hand. Jiang Huaiyi’s pace involuntarily slowed down.

She walked and asked, “Which pond? Don’t all the ponds around here have warning signs? Did you climb over the fence to fish in the pond?”

Sanguan Temple was in a remote area, and the streetlights were flickering on and off. Jiang Huaiyi could only hear the footsteps of two people echoing on the empty street. When the cold wind blew, the sound seemed to be distorted, entering her ears and sounding especially spooky.

Old man Zhang said without turning his head, “It’s the pond on Huaxiang Road! Hurry, hurry! We’ll lose him if we don’t go now!”

A few wisps of sparse hair on the back of his head were still dripping with water, which soaked into his wet clothes. But old man Zhang didn’t seem to feel it. He kept pulling her forward without any unnecessary movements.

Jiang Huaiyi immediately felt that something was wrong and stopped.

The pond on Huaxiang Road was near Qingyun Temple. Her uncle and senior sister lived not far away. Logically, when someone was found drowning, a normal person’s first thought would be to call for help nearby. It was at least three kilometers from here. By the time they got here, the person would be cold.

“Uncle Zhang, the pond on Huaxiang Road is next to Qingyun Temple. Why would you come all the way here to find someone?” And so coincidentally, he found her.

But old man Zhang seemed to be unaware. His hand was like a pair of pliers, holding her tightly.

Jiang Huaiyi stumbled. She could only hear the footsteps of two people. While she stabilized herself, she wondered why this old man had suddenly become taller.

She subconsciously looked down at the ground and found that old man Zhang’s heels were completely off the ground. Only his toes were scraping the road. His heels were covered in mud and sand.

The water on his body gathered into a small stream, dripping onto the dry road.

The streetlight elongated the shadows of the two of them. In a gust of cold wind, Jiang Huaiyi realized that old man Zhang didn’t have a shadow.

She decisively stopped, realizing that the old security guard in front of her might be a ghost.

Her legs began to tremble. Shen Wensi grabbed her from behind. The three of them were in a stalemate, not moving.

The head that was dripping with water in front of them suddenly turned 180 degrees with a creaking sound. His entire face was no longer as normal as it was just now.

It was bloated with wrinkles from being soaked in water. His facial features were squeezed together by his gray-green skin, and there was a dark red corpse spot in the middle of his face.

Under the dim streetlight, old man Zhang grinned. Dark green pond water mixed with mud and sand constantly gushed out of his mouth.

“Hehe, you found me, Xiao Yi. Come with your uncle. It’s so cold under the water. Come down and keep your uncle company.”

Jiang Huaiyi couldn’t stop trembling. That nauseating feeling surged up from her stomach again.

The ghost in front of her had a pale, smiling face. As if knowing that she was too stiff to break free, the smile at the corner of his mouth grew wider, revealing his white, sharp teeth.

Seeing the girl’s frightened expression, he became even more excited. His body floated forward, and that terrifying face got closer.

Jiang Huaiyi could even smell the fishy stench coming from him.

The neighbors all knew that Jiang Huaiyi was a coward. It was just that they didn’t talk about it openly.

She really didn’t expect that one day this would become a point of threat for a dead ghost.

A cold hand suddenly covered her eyes. Her vision went black. Shen Wensi’s voice rang in her ear: “Don’t be afraid. He can’t do anything to you.”

Shen Wensi was behind her, looking at the little ghost in front of her. It was a newly dead soul, and its appearance was just a little terrifying.

Her eyes were like torches. She mouthed to old man Zhang: “Don’t provoke her.”

Unfortunately, the other person didn’t recognize her identity and smiled even wider.

The girl in front of her had been scared so much that her lips were pale. He could even feel the girl’s soul trembling, as if her soul was about to leave her body and fly into his mouth to become his nourishment in the next second.

Jiang Huaiyi’s body still trembled uncontrollably. Her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her throat.

But her hand trembled as it touched her wrist. She quickly formed a “Single White Crane” hand seal to hold his finger and then used a “Heavenly Official” hand seal to fiercely poke his ghostly acupuncture point on his middle finger.

The strength in his hand loosened. Jiang Huaiyi couldn’t see the scene in front of her, so she cursed at the top of her lungs.

“You old ghost, I’m not afraid of you! If you dare to appear in front of me again today, I’ll destroy you.”

After saying that, she placed a “Thunder” hand seal with an order on the shoe and kicked old man Zhang’s body hard.

Then she quickly turned and ran. Old man Zhang was kicked to the ground with her magic power. The lake water in his mouth gushed out onto the ground.

He covered his stomach and couldn’t get up for a long time. Even the soul body on his body had become a little lighter.

This was completely different from the timid neighbor girl he remembered.

As a “chang-gui” (a ghost who died in an accident and helps the demon that caused it), he raised his head in pain and confusion, looking at Shen Wensi in front of him, who shrugged helplessly and leisurely followed Jiang Huaiyi, who was running wildly in front of her.

She lightly left a sentence: “I told you not to provoke her.”

The ghost that had just scared Jiang Huaiyi so much that she was as pale as a sheet was now lying on the ground in despair, trembling and wailing. What happened to “cowardly as a mouse”?

Jiang Huaiyi ran into Sanguan Temple in one breath. She rubbed her hands at the entrance, waited for Shen Wensi to come in, and then closed the door.

When she looked back, she no longer saw old man Zhang lying on the ground. She secretly let out a sigh of relief, and a sense of smugness welled up in her heart, making the corners of her mouth curl up involuntarily.

This was the first time she had been so brave in front of a ghost other than the Wuchang. Although she didn’t dare to open her eyes to see what the ghost looked like the whole time.

But judging from the ghost’s painful wails, she must have kicked him pretty hard.

Jiang Huaiyi took Shen Wensi to the backyard, which was a route she was familiar with. There was a wing room left for her.

But ever since the old abbot passed away, she never dared to set foot in this sad place again.

The lock on the room hadn’t been changed. She took out a dark yellow copper key from her pocket and opened the door. It seemed to have been cleaned. There was no dust.

She didn’t have to do any spiritual practice here, so the room the old abbot had arranged for her was similar to the one in Qingyun Temple. It didn’t have that rigid feel. It was very cozy, and there was even a large television.

The window in the room was open. A yellow tabby cat with white paws landed with a thud and pounced into Jiang Huaiyi’s arms, rubbing its head affectionately against her.

Jiang Huaiyi picked up the kitten in surprise. She remembered that the old abbot had indeed adopted a kitten before he passed away. But after the old abbot died, she wanted to adopt this cat, but when she came back to look for it, she couldn’t find it anymore.

Its white paws were a very distinct feature. Shen Wensi would never mistake it. She didn’t expect that it would still be alive after so many years.

The little cat, Xiao Die, affectionately rubbed against Jiang Huaiyi for a while. Its pair of green eyes then saw Shen Wensi behind her.

Its golden fur immediately stood on end. It let out a low whimper, and its large round eyes instantly narrowed into a line.

Jiang Huaiyi thought it was scared of the stranger and quickly stroked its soft fur to comfort it.

But the cat in her arms let out a more and more mournful cry, as if it had seen something terrifying. It even hissed at Shen Wensi.

Jiang Huaiyi was a little confused and asked, “Why is it meowing so loudly?”

Shen Wensi put her backpack on the mahogany table and walked step by step toward Xiao Die in Jiang Huaiyi’s arms.

She rolled up the sleeves of her trench coat, revealing a section of her slender white wrist, and reached out with a smile. “Turn on the light. I want to watch TV. Give me the cat.”

Xiao Die’s body was tense. It looked very scared. Just as Jiang Huaiyi was about to refuse, Shen Wensi reached out and pinched Xiao Die’s armpit, holding the entire cat over.

It was strange. When Xiao Die was in her hands, it immediately went silent, as if it were asleep.

But its body was still stiff. Jiang Huaiyi looked at the person and the cat strangely. She walked to the light switch and turned on the light.

The incandescent light flickered twice and then lit up. The furnishings in the room were very cozy and hadn’t changed at all.

Seeing that Xiao Die was no longer meowing, Jiang Huaiyi walked to the window and closed it, and then started fiddling with the television.

Shen Wensi pinched the cat’s arm and lifted Xiao Die up.

Because there was no support below, the cat’s lower body was hanging in mid-air. Because of its round belly and weight, its entire face was squeezed and wrinkled.

Shen Wensi examined it for a while. As the fear in its eyes grew, she smiled with satisfaction.

She gently whispered next to the cat’s ear: “I know you can see my true form, but I advise you not to say anything. Be careful not to lose your life. Do you understand?”

Jiang Huaiyi fiddled with the TV for a while, and the sound of white noise rang out. She felt someone talking behind her. She turned her head and saw Shen Wensi holding Xiao Die with a smile.

The tabby cat looked at her with teary eyes, stretching out its paws, trying to get back into Jiang Huaiyi’s arms.

Jiang Huaiyi: “I thought Xiao Die didn’t like you, but I was wrong. Xiao Die can stretch in your arms so quickly.”

Xiao Die: …

Shen Wensi looked down at the trembling Xiao Die and curled her lips.

The white noise behind her disappeared. The local channel was on the TV, and a familiar dialect came out of the television.

“Breaking news. At 6:10 today, our local police officer received a report from the public. Two drowning incidents occurred on Huaxiang Road. The deceased are two men. Please have the families of the missing persons come to the Huaxiang Road Police Station to identify the bodies. Here are the on-site pictures.”

Jiang Huaiyi turned her head and happened to see the pictures on the TV.

Two bodies that had just been salvaged were lying next to the pond on Huaxiang Road. The pictures were not censored. It was old man Zhang, who had just been pulling her.

The camera switched. A yellow fishing line was hanging from the dense branches of the old locust tree. A fish head with murky eyes was biting the hook tightly.

The body below the fish head was empty, leaving only sharp, spooky bones.

“Dead fish facing the mouth,” which means, pull up your rod and leave. Old man Zhang didn’t leave. He was completely dead.

What she saw just now was not a ghost possession.

Jiang Huaiyi looked at the black handprint on her hand, which was identical to the one on her foot. This handprint remained, and tonight, he would come back to look for her. She let out a bitter laugh: “Do you think it’s still too late for us to leave now?”

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