Xu Muchan arrived at Yundong Airport in the early hours of Friday morning.
It was raining outside when he came out of the airport, so Xu Muchan checked directly into a hotel nearby. Around seven-thirty in the morning, Jiang Fang finally arrived with three other people.
Clearly, none of the four had gotten much rest, and all of them had enormous dark circles under their eyes. Jiang Fang was fairly familiar with Xu Muchan, so he skipped the unnecessary pleasantries and got straight to the point.
“We drove here. Should we head straight to Mount Guiyi?”
Xu Muchan looked at the four exhausted faces and hesitated. “Since you’re already here, there’s no need to rush. Do you want to rest for a while first?”
“Rest? Things are already a complete mess outside. If we can catch the Ouyang family this time, we’ll take them back to the capital overnight, and then we’ll have to hurry off to other places to provide support.”
Xu Muchan frowned. Although there had been a constant stream of news online recently, judging from Jiang Fang and the others’ condition, the situation was clearly far more urgent than he had expected.
“Something happened again?”
“We’ll talk about it on the way. Let me make some coffee here first.”
Jiang Fang pulled instant coffee packets and a thermos from his backpack, boiled a pot of water, and hurriedly made some coffee. He turned to Xu Muchan and asked, “Want some?”
Xu Muchan shook his head. Jiang Fang divided the coffee among himself and his three teammates, one cup each, before heading to the hotel parking lot with Xu Muchan.
It would take several hours to drive from Yundong Airport to Mount Guiyi. For safety, the four took turns driving. Whenever the others weren’t driving, they roughly filled Xu Muchan in on the current situation.
“It isn’t just Jiangcheng’s water sources that have been contaminated by the Black Taisui. The water sources in several other cities have been contaminated too. Some of these contaminated water sources entered urban areas through water treatment plants. Quite a few ordinary people were affected after coming into contact with the water. Some lost control of their emotions and suffered episodes of hysteria, while others suddenly became able to see ghosts and evil entities… Anyway, all kinds of symptoms are possible…”
“That’s not all. It may be because the Black Taisui has become active, but there are also more ghosts and evil entities appearing in the cities. In some places, there have even been serious incidents where powerful ghosts attacked and injured large numbers of people.”
“The authorities are still doing their best to suppress the news to prevent widespread panic. I heard the cybersecurity departments are going crazy. They’re practically living in the server rooms twenty-four hours a day, blocking trending posts and preventing things from spreading.”
“Everyone who can be mobilized has already been sent out. The research institute, the Religious Association, and several other departments dealing with supernatural matters are all out there putting out fires, trying to reduce the casualties caused by the sudden increase in evil entities… The four of us have only slept a total of…”
The person speaking counted on his fingers before saying, “…a little over twenty hours this entire week. We’re surviving entirely on coffee.”
“I don’t even know when this is going to end. Sister He went to the capital for a meeting, and apparently the higher-ups are arguing fiercely too. There’s still no comprehensive plan for dealing with this. And after all this time, we’ve tried all kinds of methods, but we still haven’t found the source of the water contamination. These Black Taisui are practically appearing in the rivers out of thin air…”
Xu Muchan instinctively touched the Mountain God plaques on his chest, but what came to mind was the scene he had witnessed beside the scenic river beneath the elevated highway that night.
The Black Taisui in the rivers had not appeared out of thin air. Rather, after the Black River had briefly appeared, countless evil entities drawn to it had stepped into the river and merged with it… Even after the Black River left, those rivers had probably been contaminated as well.
The Black River’s whereabouts were unpredictable, so naturally, there was no way to locate the source of the contamination.
Xu Muchan thought again of the fragmentary images he had accidentally seen that night when he came into contact with the Black River. Besides Mount Guiyi, there had been several other inexplicable fragments.
Masses of piled-up corpses, a huge and deathly pale moon, and a black river flowing quietly.
Xu Muchan tried to connect these images together, but they were like pieces of a puzzle with a crucial section missing. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t piece together any useful information.
The feeling was unpleasant. Xu Muchan secretly sighed and turned to look out the window.
A light drizzle was falling outside. The person who had just been sighing and worrying about the future of humanity gradually leaned against his seat and fell into an exhausted sleep.
The SUV became extremely quiet, leaving only the sound of steady breathing.
Four hours later, the SUV stopped at the foot of Mount Guiyi. Jiang Fang sounded more energetic as he woke the others.
“We’re here.”
The three drowsy people immediately opened their eyes and took raincoats and equipment from the back seat.
Xu Muchan was also given a raincoat. He put on the black raincoat and looked up at the mountains, which appeared gloomy after being drenched by the rain.
The rolling mountain ranges stood beneath the overcast clouds. They were nothing like the desolate, lifeless scene he had seen before, and naturally there was no monster resembling a gigantic slug covering the entire mountain.
Jiang Fang drained the last of his cold coffee, tossed the thermos back into the car, and asked Xu Muchan, “The Ouyang family really is here?”
Xu Muchan nodded firmly. “I left a little something on Ouyang Mu. The others might not be here, but he’s definitely on the mountain.”
After hearing this, the others wiped the cold rainwater across their faces to wake themselves up, then cautiously began making their way up the mountain.
When they reached the mountainside, they passed the familiar Leigong Village.
Just as Jiang Fang had said, the surviving villagers of Leigong Village had long since moved away. The original buildings were still standing where they had been, but after being uninhabited for so long, the houses were covered in climbing vines.
“The floodwaters have been gone for so long, but this place is still creepy.”
Jiang Fang lowered his voice. “Everyone, be careful. Search everywhere. This place is easy to hide in.”
The group was just about to split up and search the interiors of the houses when Xu Muchan spoke.
“They’re not here. Over there.”
Xu Muchan pointed toward the Mountain God Cave and quickened his pace.
Jiang Fang and the others followed closely behind. It wasn’t until they reached the vicinity of the Mountain God Cave that Xu Muchan stopped.
“Look over there.”
In the woods behind the Mountain God Cave, several indistinct human figures could vaguely be seen.
The figures had not noticed Xu Muchan and the others. They knelt motionlessly in the rain, the strange fabric draped over their bodies fluttering in the wind.
“Let’s take a look.”
Jiang Fang drew his issued firearm and loaded it, signaling for Xu Muchan to stay behind while he cautiously took the lead.
They had originally expected to encounter some kind of resistance or confrontation, but strangely, even after the group reached the figures from behind, they still showed no reaction at all, remaining rigidly kneeling in place as though they hadn’t heard a thing.
The wide white robes completely concealed the figures’ appearances and forms. Jiang Fang exchanged a glance with his teammates. The others stayed behind on guard while he cautiously advanced with his gun.
When he saw what the figures looked like, his pupils widened in shock. He then took a deep breath and lowered his gun.
“It’s fine.”
The others, puzzled, came around to take a look.
They saw that the skin of the people kneeling on the ground had all turned a strange black, while their facial features and limbs had already become extremely blurred.
The reason they were kneeling motionlessly was because their limbs and torsos had fused together like melting candles, leaving behind only vague dividing lines that could barely be used to distinguish the approximate locations of their limbs.
Jiang Fang crouched down and searched their bodies, finding the identification documents they carried.
“They’re all members of the Ouyang family.”
“Ouyang Zhen, Ouyang Mu, Shang Wen, Ouyang Fangfang, and Ouyang Yu are all here. The entire direct line of the Ouyang family is accounted for, except Ouyang Yuping.”
Jiang Fang said this as he checked the identities.
Ouyang Zhen and Shang Wen were Ouyang Mu’s parents, while Ouyang Fangfang was Ouyang Zhen’s younger sister. After being widowed, she raised her son Ouyang Yu alone.
When He Yunyi had come looking for them back then, the Ouyang family had already disappeared without a trace. Although an internal wanted notice had been issued, the Black Taisui water-contamination incidents subsequently erupted in various places, so naturally, there had been no time to continue pursuing this family.
They had originally assumed that the family might have already fled the country and gone off to enjoy a carefree life somewhere.
They never expected them to be hiding on Mount Guiyi—and to have become like this.
“They don’t seem to be dead yet.”
Xu Muchan placed a finger beneath Ouyang Mu’s nose and felt a faint current of air.
“They’re still breathing.”
“They’ve become like this and they’re still alive?”
The others couldn’t believe it. They followed his example and checked for breathing themselves, and sure enough, they felt the faint movement of air.
Everyone’s expressions immediately became complicated. Looking at their current condition, it was difficult to say whether being alive was actually better than being dead.
Jiang Fang said, “I’ve contacted the local police and asked them to help transport these people down the mountain. Let’s also look for Ouyang Yuping. With the entire Ouyang family here, there’s no reason for him not to be.”
Xu Muchan pulled the fine strand of hair back out of Ouyang Mu’s body and turned to look deep into the woods.
If he remembered correctly, there was a small path there leading to the mountaintop.
At the summit of Mount Guiyi was a deep pool, and Xu Muchan was quite familiar with it.
He had a feeling that Ouyang Yuping was very likely there.
“I have a pretty good idea where Ouyang Yuping is.”
As Xu Muchan spoke, he had already started walking toward the summit, his feet stepping carefully over the slippery mud.
The rain never stopped. The muddy mountain path was extremely difficult to traverse. When the group finally reached the summit, they saw the black pool of water churning in the distance, and their breathing stopped for an instant.
“It’s the Black River.”
Jiang Fang’s voice was hoarse with suppressed tension, carrying a trace of fear at suddenly coming face-to-face with the Black River.
The people at the Black River Research Institute could not exactly be called unfamiliar with the Black River, but their knowledge existed only at the level of theoretical research. Among everyone at the institute who had truly come face-to-face with the Black River, none had ever returned.
Instinctive fear caused Jiang Fang and the others to subconsciously stop in their tracks.
Only Xu Muchan continued forward.
As he walked, his pupils transformed into a black-and-red color, and his long hair hung down behind him.
“It’s not the Black River. It’s Ouyang Yuping.”
As he spoke, the strands of long hair wandering in every direction seemed to have found their prey. They eagerly plunged into the “black pool of water.”
The “pool of water,” which had originally only been churning within a small area, began to surge violently. Large amounts of black liquid seeped out through the cracks around the edges, staining the surrounding muddy ground black as well.
Only then did the stunned Jiang Fang and the others finally recover from their shock and realize that something was wrong.
This black substance filling the entire deep pool was indeed not the Black River.
Because although it looked like a liquid, it was actually a solid with an extremely high degree of fluidity.
It was a single entity.
Jiang Fang stepped forward first, staring incredulously at the enormous object before him. “This is really Ouyang Yuping? How did he become like this?”
Xu Muchan’s hair was still stirring around inside it. The enormous creature seemed to have finally felt the stimulation and began churning even more violently. Its gigantic slug-like body struggled to roll over, revealing Ouyang Yuping’s aged, distorted face embedded directly beneath the slug-like body.
“Who are you people? How dare you fail to kneel and worship after seeing a divine being?”
His voice was nowhere near as sinister and terrifying as his appearance. If one ignored his looks, it could even be described as majestic, completely fitting the image ordinary people had of a deity.
But at this moment, as Jiang Fang and the others looked at his deformed body and twisted, aged face, it was difficult to associate him with a divine being.
Jiang Fang had already taken out his equipment to record everything. Although they had confirmed that the other party was Ouyang Yuping, he still verified his identity once more.
“Ouyang Yuping?”
The enormous slug-like body shifted slightly. Ouyang Yuping’s aged, cloudy eyes turned toward him, filled with obvious displeasure.
“Who permitted you to address a divine being by name?”
Jiang Fang’s expression became even more incredulous. Fortunately, he had a fairly good temperament. After a brief silence, he continued asking questions according to procedure.
Unexpectedly, Ouyang Yuping was quite cooperative—or perhaps he was simply extremely pleased with his own plan. Rather than answering Jiang Fang’s questions, it was more like he was showing off.
It would be meaningless to wear fine clothes without returning home to show them off; one might as well be wearing them in the dark. This was an apt description of Ouyang Yuping.
After Jiang Fang finished questioning him according to procedure, Xu Muchan, who had been standing beside them, finally spoke.
He studied Ouyang Yuping’s deformed body and asked, “You successfully ascended to immortality.”
Ouyang Yuping’s cloudy eyes instantly turned toward him. After letting out several strange chuckles, he said, “You know about ascending to immortality too?”
Xu Muchan said, “I also know that you were imitating the eldest son of the Wei family when you attempted to ascend. But looking at you now, you seem far inferior to Young Master Wei.”
Those words had clearly struck a sore spot with Ouyang Yuping. After all, he had personally witnessed the eldest son of the Wei family ascend to immortality.
Ouyang Yuping remained silent for a long time before saying bitterly, “That boy from the Wei family had the right time, the right place, and the right people all on his side. I spent so many years and exhausted so much manpower and resources searching, yet I could never find a tributary of the Black River. But fortunately, I finally found one at the very last moment. Who would have thought that a tributary would be hidden in the deep pool of Mount Guiyi… My plan was correct. The flood tides can draw out the tributary. It’s just a pity that I discovered it too late…”
“Too late. If only it had been earlier, just a little earlier…”
Ouyang Yuping was clearly unwilling to accept it, muttering to himself as though possessed.
Yet Xu Muchan keenly caught the key point in his fragmented words.
“The flood tides can draw out the tributaries… So the sudden flood tides that appeared several times last year were caused by you, all so you could search for a tributary of the Black River?”
Ouyang Yuping’s eyes rolled around in their sockets as he gave a strange cackling laugh.
“You’re quite clever. That boy from the Wei family was born into good fortune. His ancestors left a tributary for him, so naturally he didn’t need to expend any effort searching for one. I didn’t have such good luck. I don’t know how much time and effort I wasted searching for a tributary of the Black River…”
“You caused the flood tide in Shuínan City?” Jiang Fang stared at him in disbelief.
At first, he had been completely lost, but by this point he finally understood. For the sake of his ridiculous attempt to ascend to immortality, Ouyang Yuping had needed to find a tributary of the Black River, and he had actually devised a way to bring about the flood tides.
“Not just Shuínan City.”
Xu Muchan stared steadily at Ouyang Yuping.
“Cui Tong was one of your people, wasn’t he? The flood tide at Leigong Village was related to you too. And Immortal Village was the place you used for your experiments.”
Ouyang Yuping continued to cackle strangely, neither admitting nor denying it.
Xu Muchan quickly went over all the incidents in his mind, then suddenly remembered one he had overlooked.
“The flood tide at Huangshi Town was caused by you too.”
Ouyang Yuping stopped laughing this time. He defended himself in a calm yet puzzled tone.
“I merely left behind a trigger. The flood tide was brought about by the evil in people’s hearts. Those wicked people died to pave the way for me, so in a sense, I was eliminating evil on behalf of the people and accumulating merit.”
“If that weren’t the case, how could I have found a tributary of the Black River at the last moment and successfully ascended to immortality?”
Ouyang Yuping clearly genuinely believed this. After calmly finishing his explanation, his enormous slug-like body rose high into the air, and like a divine being delivering a divine decree, he announced:
“Enough. I’ve answered all your questions. Now it is your turn to depart this world.”
Jiang Fang and the others all drew their guns and aimed them at him.
Xu Muchan, however, raised a hand to stop them.
“Don’t waste your strength. Guns are useless against him.”
Ouyang Yuping laughed.
“At least you have some understanding.”
Jiang Fang looked at Xu Muchan in confusion, only to see Xu Muchan point toward a spot not far ahead. He raised his head and asked Ouyang Yuping:
“Do you really think ascending to immortality is a good thing?”
Ouyang Yuping stared at him coldly.
“What are you trying to say?”
Xu Muchan said, “Look. The Black River is here.”
Jiang Fang and the others followed the direction of his finger and, sure enough, saw the river connected to the deep pool gradually turning black. Black water slowly flowed into the deep pool where Ouyang Yuping had taken up residence.
Ouyang Yuping did not understand what was happening. His body was simply too enormous and inflexible, so it took him a long time to turn around.
Then he saw the Black River continuously surging toward him.
Confusion first appeared on his aged face. Then his eyes, which still retained traces of human emotion, suddenly became fixed.
They switched into a kind of indescribable fanaticism.
His enormous body, which had been standing upright, slowly sank into the deep pool. His soft, slug-like body gradually transformed into an even softer stream of water, merging with the endless black current flowing toward him.
Xu Muchan and the others watched the entire process.
Ouyang Yuping, who moments earlier had proclaimed himself a divine being and lorded over them arrogantly, had turned into a pool of black water in the blink of an eye.
Only his aged facial skin remained floating on the surface, his face filled with a strange fanaticism.
It wasn’t until even that piece of skin drifted away with the current and disappeared that Jiang Fang spoke again.
“The thing just now… was really the Black River?”
The others also instinctively looked toward Xu Muchan.
After speaking with Ouyang Yuping, the others had clearly realized one thing—Xu Muchan knew far more about the Black River than they did.
“Yes.”
“The Black River… isn’t quite what I imagined. Why did Ouyang Yuping…”
He was so shocked that his question became somewhat incoherent.
Xu Muchan slowly exhaled. His voice was heavy as he said, “Because so-called divine beings were originally born from the Black River. And now, the Black River is calling them…”
And divine beings—or evil entities, as they could perhaps more accurately be called—that were born from the Black River like Ouyang Yuping were incapable of resisting its call. That was why they would fanatically merge themselves into the Black River.
Jiang Fang and the others still couldn’t understand.
“Ouyang Yuping really was a divine being? That appearance of his… he really succeeded in ascending to immortality?”
His deformed and terrifying appearance was completely different from the divine beings of legend. Calling him an evil entity seemed much more appropriate.
Xu Muchan’s black-and-red, inhuman pupils turned toward the four people who were still in shock.
“Gods and evil entities are simply definitions created by humans. To the Black River, there may be no difference between them at all. And you’ve overlooked one important point: the Black River doesn’t summon them for no reason…”
“Perhaps the real flood tide is about to arrive.”
After Ouyang Yuping completed the missing piece of the puzzle, Xu Muchan finally connected all the clues he knew and vaguely understood the Black River’s intentions.
Because of their preconceived notions, they had always defined the flood tide as “destruction” and “annihilation.”
But what if they looked at it from another perspective?
Someone as greedy as Ouyang Yuping had caused countless deaths for his own selfish desires. Above the countless piled-up corpses were aggrieved souls unable to rest in peace. They wailed day and night, unable to escape their suffering.
Then the flood tide came and erased all their pain.
The indescribable sorrow Xu Muchan had felt when he connected with the Black River earlier seemed to have an explanation now.
That was the Black River’s emotion.
Perhaps it had not come for the sake of destruction and devastation.
Just as gods and evil entities were no different to the Black River, perhaps humans were likewise nothing special in its eyes.
Perhaps the Black River had simply sensed the gathering yin energy and resentment, and that was why it appeared.
But by erasing all suffering and merging the pain of all the dead souls together, it was nevertheless no different from a catastrophe that would wipe out human civilization.
Ignoring the shocked expressions of Jiang Fang and the others, Xu Muchan said slowly, “I think I know the source of the Black Taisui contamination. When you return to the capital, I’ll go with you.”
The group retraced their route.
Jiang Fang and the others removed their raincoats and carefully wrapped up the members of the Ouyang family. After the local police arrived, they transported the people to the city, then prepared to hurry to the capital overnight.
However, while they were waiting at the airport, Jiang Fang suddenly received a message instructing them to detour to Jiangcheng first to provide support.
After hanging up, Jiang Fang said, “Something happened in Jiangcheng. Dongyang District was hit by a flood tide. Fortunately, the system predicted it in advance and evacuated most of the people, but there were still some people… Too many people were affected this time, and the news is already becoming difficult to suppress. The authorities have decided to make the disaster public and have everyone enter wartime readiness.”
“The flight route has been temporarily adjusted. Come back to Jiangcheng with us first. Once we reach Jiangcheng, there’ll be a plane waiting to take you to the capital.”
The sudden bad news cast a heavy expression over everyone’s faces.
Xu Muchan opened WeChat and, sure enough, found that his messages had already exploded.
Judging from the group chats, Jiangcheng had already largely suspended work and classes. The authorities had issued a notice urging everyone to remain at home for the time being and avoid going outside whenever possible. The small group chat with the four of them was filled with forwarded posts and news reports.
His private messages were all people checking whether he was safe and whether he had enough supplies at home.
Wei Yao had also called him twice via voice call, but the signal had been poor on the mountain, so Xu Muchan hadn’t answered. In the end, Wei Yao sent him a text message telling Xu Muchan to go directly to his place if he saw the message, saying that the supermarkets had already been completely cleared out of food and drinking water.
Xu Muchan replied to the messages one by one. Only after confirming that everyone was safe did he finally feel a little more at ease.
A short while later, the temporarily requisitioned plane carried Xu Muchan and the others, along with the five members of the Ouyang family, through the skies over Yundong and toward Jiangcheng.