The moment I saw the smile, I let out a low exhale, quickly took two steps back, and stumbled and fell to the ground.
Du Xiaolan turned her head and chuckled, "Mingyang, why are you in such a hurry?"
"It's smiling at me!" I pointed at the reservoir, continuously shouting at Du Xiaolan.
She turned to look at the reservoir, puzzled, and said, "No, it's gone."
"Gone?" I exclaimed, suddenly getting up from the ground and standing next to Du Xiaolan, looking at the reservoir. The drowned ghost had indeed disappeared.
I kept thinking about that extremely eerie smile in my mind, and I didn't want to stay in this place any longer. We went to the other side of the reservoir, bought some fish from the fisherman, as we hadn't eaten anything for lunch. We quickly grilled five fish and devoured them.
Uncle Bi had been standing at the door for a while. Seeing us sweating, he came to the living room and turned on the air conditioning, asking, "Mr. Yin, did you find it?"
I shook my head. "Not yet."
"No hurry, no hurry," Uncle Bi's joyful face showed a hint of disappointment.
Sometimes I admire my acting skills, but Du Xiaolan is a typical unreliable partner. Otherwise, the two of us would be a perfect team.
After looking at the time, Uncle Bi said he would prepare some food for us. We had already tried his 'dark cuisine' at lunch, so I quickly declined, saying we had already eaten outside and weren't very hungry.
By now, it was getting late. I called the owner of the paper mill, Ning Junhao, to ask him to pick us up, but he said he still had things to take care of. He had already told Uncle Bi to let us stay at his house for the night.
With no other choice, I had to compromise. Besides, Uncle Bi's villa had many rooms, and we could easily have one each for me and Du Xiaolan.
Although only Uncle Bi lived in the villa, it was decorated very upscale.
The rooms were fully equipped, each with its own bathroom.
Back in our respective rooms, I lay on the bed, listening to the chatter of the villagers outside the window. This kind of life is quite enjoyable.
I picked up my phone to check the news, but there was no signal in the room. I threw the phone on the bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower and sleep.
Halfway through the shower, I faintly felt like someone was breathing heavily in the bathroom. At first, I thought it was an illusion and didn't think much of it, but the more I washed, the stronger the feeling became. However, after looking around, I didn't find anything.
But this eerie feeling had enveloped me like an invisible fog, and the more I felt this way, the more creeped out I became. I quickly wrapped a towel around me and prepared to walk outside.
As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, I felt a sharp pain in one foot, as if someone had grabbed it tightly with their hand.
Surprised, I turned and looked down, only to see something that made me shout in terror.
In the bathroom, I saw a person who had appeared out of nowhere, now on the floor, gripping my ankle tightly. He lifted his head and revealed an extremely eerie smile.
The drowned ghost!
This is the man walking upright in the reservoir.
The scream only lasted for less than a second, and I quickly calmed down.
I've lived for so long, I haven't seen anything strange, and I've even dealt with the most difficult situations. Not to mention this drowned ghost. I quickly freed my foot from its grip, lifted the other foot, ready to kick it hard, but before it could land, it suddenly retracted its eerie smile and flowed into the drain with the water.
I was stunned to see this scene. Although this guy is a ghost, the way it ran into the drain under my nose like a rat is a bit hard for me to take.
A hurried knock on the door was heard outside. When I opened it, I saw Du Xiaolan looking at me with a troubled expression. "What just happened?"
Seeing Uncle Bi did not follow, I gestured for her to come in.
When we got to the room, I quietly recounted everything that had just happened. Du Xiaolan rubbed her arms nervously and said, "Could it be a haunting?"
"Yes, it is a haunting," I nodded in agreement. "But it doesn't seem to be haunting this villa, it's the drowned ghost from the reservoir that followed us here."
"This can't be possible," Du Xiaolan said in disbelief.
"Nothing is impossible," I scolded her. "Even ghosts exist in the world, so what else is impossible?"
Du Xiaolan nodded, "That's true, but it's hard to believe that the ghost came from the reservoir to here."
I squinted, indeed it was hard to believe, but the drowned ghost did not walk in here arrogantly, it flowed in with the water.
Thinking of a possible explanation, I voiced my speculation, making Du Xiaolan even more distressed, she said, "How could this be possible?"
To confirm my speculation, I walked out of the room and went downstairs.
Uncle Bi was sitting at the door chatting with some neighbors. When he saw me in the living room, he got up and walked over.
After thinking for a moment, I asked, "Uncle Bi, where does the water in the house come from?"
Without hesitation, Uncle Bi replied, "Drinking water is from the water company, and the water for bathing comes from the reservoir over there."
"The reservoir?" I frowned, it seemed that my speculation was correct.
Uncle Bi nodded, "There is a water treatment plant next to the reservoir. After treating the water from the reservoir, it is then distributed to each household."
I nodded and said that there was nothing else, then returned to the room.
When Du Xiaolan saw me coming in, she quickly stood up from the bed and asked if it was true. I vigorously nodded, and her face turned pale, saying that it was impossible, she hadn't even taken a bath yet. If the drowned ghost appeared next to her while she was washing, she would be so embarrassed.
I laughed and said, "Let me watch you take a bath, so that even if that drowned ghost appears, I can help you chase him away." Du Xiaolan rolled her eyes at me and called me a pervert, saying that I always had nothing but inappropriate thoughts on my mind.
Before I could explain, she slammed the door and left. When everything quieted down, I lay on the bed.
As I suspected, that drowned ghost did indeed come into the room through the drainage pipe. From its behavior just now, it didn't seem to be in a hurry to kill me, but being alone in a room with a drowned ghost, and a male at that, made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
I went to the bathroom, cleaned up the water stains on the floor, made sure the faucet wasn't dripping, and then I felt relieved.