After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Little Hand at the Bottom of the Lake

She had almost forgotten that her senior sister and uncle didn’t know her now.

Jiang Huaiyi lowered her head and moved to the side, trying not to turn her gaze.

Shen Wensi looked at her without a change in expression. She just stood there, her lips slightly pursed in a wronged manner. One could even see a flash of tears in her eyes.

The two people in front of them came closer and called her again when Shen Wensi didn’t move.

“Why aren’t you talking, kid? Have you eaten?”

Jiang Jiling patted her shoulder. Shen Wensi resisted the urge to brush her hand away and pulled the sad Jiang Huaiyi to her side.

“I have a friend I’m meeting recently, so I won’t be eating at home.”

Jiang Huaiyi was almost completely standing in front of her, but because Shen Wensi was a head taller than her, she looked a little small and pitiful.

The two of them raised their eyebrows and said happily, “It’s not easy. You made a friend. Bring them home to eat with us?”

It was something Jiang Jiling would say. Her uncle was a little flighty. When she and her senior sister made friends when they were young, she would always chat with them.

She was very easygoing and was known for her good temper.

Her senior sister was like her. She wanted to hug Jiang Huaiyi’s shoulder and lead her into the temple.

For some reason, she felt very fond of Jiang Huaiyi. Although it was the first time she had met her today, she felt a sense of closeness.

The master and disciple looked at each other and instantly understood the same meaning in each other’s eyes.

Jiang Huaiyi saw her movement and bowed, making her hug empty air.

“Hello, Sister and Auntie. I’m Shen Wensi’s friend.”

She naturally couldn’t follow these two back to the temple. After all, she still had things to do today.

The two of them looked at them with a questioning expression: “Have you two eaten?”

Shen Wensi shook her head first. Jiang Huaiyi didn’t even have time to stop her.

The master and disciple were the kind of people who wouldn’t give up until they had brought someone home. Sure enough, seeing her shake her head, the two of them pulled her along.

Jiang Huaiyi took a step back and frantically used her eyes to signal: “Think of something quickly!”

Shen Wensi raised an eyebrow and whispered in her ear: “Anything?”

Jiang Huaiyi nodded her head like a garlic masher. She heard Shen Wensi clear her throat.

She pulled back Jiang Huaiyi’s hand that was being held and said, “It’s a little inconvenient right now. You have to give us some time for ourselves, right?”

Jiang Huaiyi: ?

The two of them’s eyes widened when they heard that. They looked at the two of them with disbelief.

Jiang Huaiyi was about to explain when she heard Shen Wensi say: “Just go along with it. We don’t have much time.”

The sky was already getting dark. The people watching the show were also going home to eat.

If they continued to be in a stalemate, they would definitely be taken away.

Jiang Huaiyi looked at their suspicious faces and showed a smile.

“It’s exactly what you think.”

After saying that, she even took Shen Wensi’s hand. She had figured out that the other person didn’t like to be touched.

Sure enough, as soon as their hands touched, she felt Shen Wensi’s entire body stiffen.

She tried hard to pull her hand out of Jiang Huaiyi’s. Jiang Huaiyi simply held her arm, making her unable to move, and smiled as she greeted the two people in front of her.

“We have something to do, so we’ll be leaving now.”

The two of them were shocked and then gave them a teasing look. Although they had many questions, they didn’t want to disturb them.

Her uncle and senior sister had always been very tolerant of her in this regard, so they didn’t stop them.

Jiang Huaiyi led her away like leading a donkey. The two of them hid in the locust tree forest outside and looked inside.

They saw the two of them pick up the incense array they had just burned under the locust tree. Their expressions became serious. After explaining a few things to Officer Ren, they left.

Jiang Huaiyi saw it clearly. One of the incense sticks had burned into a “Life-Urging Incense,” which was two long and one short.

The other one had burned into a “Mourning Clothes Incense.” One represented the family, and the other represented the pond.

Two people had already died, and the “Life-Urging” incense meant that more people would die.

Jiang Huaiyi’s heart was beating a little fast. She couldn’t help but wonder if she would be the next one to die.

Her hand was tightly clutching the tree bark. She felt a chilly wind blowing on her neck.

She heard a cat meow at her feet. She looked down and saw a ball of golden tabby cat squatting on the ground, looking up at her with innocent big eyes.

Jiang Huaiyi said “oh” and squatted down. She had forgotten to bring Xiao Die back yesterday. She didn’t know how it got here.

Jiang Huaiyi picked up Xiao Die. It consciously climbed onto Jiang Huaiyi’s bag and found a comfortable position to lie down.

Its pair of emerald eyes stared at Shen Wensi without moving.

They waited outside for a while. After the people there were all gone, the two of them appeared under the distant streetlight.

They took out the fine silk cloth and started studying the map drawn with thin lines on it.

These golden lines had appeared suddenly. The topographic map on it looked very much like the area near the pond. There were no text annotations. It looked like a pure map.

A large scroll was marked at the bottom of the pond. It seemed that this was the goal of this mission.

There was an entrance passage next to it, with many small stitches sewn on it.

The location seemed to be in a part of the pond where there was no path.

That area of the locust tree forest had no streetlights and was pitch black. Jiang Huaiyi put away the fine silk paper and put it in her pocket. She nervously swallowed as she looked at the thick, unresolvable darkness in the distance.

The path by the pond was only a short section. The two of them had to lift the police tape and crawl through the gap below.

Xiao Die on her back jumped down and didn’t follow them in. Jiang Huaiyi said softly to the outside, “Xiao Die, I’ll take you home when I get back.”

After saying that, she carefully stepped on the muddy edge of the pond. The locust trees here were planted very densely, and it was difficult for the two of them to find a place to step.

The water by the pond seemed to be alive, rising and falling. The wet soil felt like it was going to swallow a person’s entire foot when they stepped on it.

Jiang Huaiyi tightly held onto the tree trunk, trying not to step on the places where there was no grass.

After walking like this for half an hour, the two of them finally reached the depths of the dense forest. The low-lying vegetation by the pond became dense. In the low, dark green bushes, there was a slanted door. After decades of wind and sun, it was half broken.

There was no light here at all. The moonlight from the sky was completely blocked by the dense branches above. The other half of the empty space looked spooky and deep in the shadows where the flashlight couldn’t reach.

It made people feel a natural sense of fear, a fear of the unknown path ahead.

If it weren’t for the fact that this door was so conspicuous, they might not have even seen it.

The two of them stood far away. Jiang Huaiyi stepped into the mud next to her. Before she could get out, she pointed with Shen Wensi’s flashlight: “Is that it?”

Shen Wensi obviously saw it, too. The empty, dark passage next to the half of the door that was already rusty.

Jiang Huaiyi rubbed her muddy shoes on the trunk of a nearby tree. Her heart was beating fast. It seemed that there really was an air-raid shelter here. She wondered if the legend of the older generation was true.

Shen Wensi walked forward two steps with an agile gait, without any fear.

Jiang Huaiyi felt goosebumps rise on her body as soon as she moved away. She absolutely did not want to be alone in this ghostly place.

Just as she was about to lift her leg to go forward, she felt a pulling sensation at her ankle.

Shen Wensi in front had already walked to the side of the door. The flashlight was a little far away. She was checking the area below. Seeing that Jiang Huaiyi hadn’t followed for a long time, she couldn’t help but turn her head and shine the flashlight over.

“Why aren’t you coming?”

The white light shone on her pale face. Jiang Huaiyi’s eyes were filled with tears, and she replied with a trembling voice, “Something seems to be holding me.”

She couldn’t move at all. She could only see Shen Wensi’s flashlight shining down at her feet. She subconsciously looked down.

She only saw a small green hand tightly gripping her black boot.

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