It turns out I'm a second-generation demon.

Chapter 82 Folk Monsters (Part Two)

ghost?

It's probably not as simple as just a ghost.

Li Xianyu nodded: "I believe you."

Huang Yicong was taken aback: "You actually believe that?"

"Of course I believe it. I've dealt with plenty of vengeful spirits. I just dealt with one in a restaurant..." Li Xianyu thought to himself, but smiled on his face. "Just because you haven't seen something doesn't mean it exists, but why should you say it doesn't exist? So arguing about whether ghosts exist is unnecessary, since none of us have ever seen one."

Huang Yicong suddenly realized and nodded, "Actually, I don't know if that thing is a ghost... My hometown is Chongming, which is the last stop where the Yangtze River flows into the sea. There are very few tributaries of the Yangtze River in Chongming, and there just happens to be a river that passes by the village where I live."

It was a summer night, the sky still twinkling with stars, the pale moonlight shining on the field ridges, among the weeds, and in the dense forest. Every child who grows up in the countryside, years later, will cherish the memory of those quiet, peaceful country nights filled with the chirping of insects.

But Huang Yicong was unwilling to recall his childhood in the countryside. One night, he and his companions went out to fish for eels. For some reason, they had a very poor harvest that day. They shone their flashlights for a long time but found no eels, and there weren't even any water snakes in the fields.

"Why don't we go to the river and take a look?" his companion said.

"There are water ghosts by the river, so you can't go there at night." Huang Yicong was quite timid when he was a child and didn't dare to go.

"That's all the adults lying to us," the companion said. "Last time, my dad and I were guarding the melon field, and it was so hot at night that I slept on the graves next to the melon field."

If we don't catch any eels tonight, there won't be any fragrant braised eels tomorrow. Men have a special fondness for eels, and boys are no exception. Huang Yicong couldn't resist the temptation of the eels and followed his companions across the paddy field to the riverbank.

Back then, the tributaries of the Yangtze River were much clearer than they are now. The river was not wide, and the current was gentle. The moonlight shone on the calm river surface, making it deep and quiet, with a kind of eeriness that a child could not understand.

They searched back and forth along the riverbank for a long time, but the eels, which usually held their heads high, seemed unusually listless today—not a single one was to be found, which was quite illogical. Back then, the river was free from industrial pollution, and in the sweltering summer, eels would surely be proudly raising their heads.

But for some reason today, not only were there no eels to be seen, the river was so calm that there wasn't even a ripple of fish moving around.

"How about we look for a cage?" After scratching his head, his companion came up with a terrible idea.

During the day, villagers would throw shrimp traps and fishing nets into the river, and come to collect them the next morning. They could always catch something, enough to make a few dishes of river delicacies.

Stealing other people's fishing nets and shrimp traps is not immoral at all; it's basic practice, and everyone does it.

You steal from me today, I'll steal from you tomorrow.

The only challenge is that you need to have sharp eyes to find where people hide their fishing lines. The river connects to the Yangtze River upstream and the sea downstream, so finding a fishing net or shrimp trap is really not easy.

After searching for a long time without finding anything, Huang Yicong instinctively felt afraid of the atmosphere by the river and urged his companions to go back.

To prevent children from swimming in the river without permission, adults often scare them by saying that there are water monkeys or water ghosts in the river.

"Found it!" Suddenly, his companion cheered, finding a fishing line tied to a rock in the grass by the river and pulling hard on the line towards the bank: "You help too."

Huang Yicong was quite happy. Finding the fishing net meant that he wouldn't come away empty-handed today. He just hoped that there would be some good stuff inside.

The fishing net was pulled up, and it was empty.

"Hey, the net is torn." His companion spread out the fishing net, squatted down to examine it, and found that the net looked like it had been bitten by something, and there wasn't a single fish in it.

"I... let's go." Huang Yicong swallowed hard. He was a little scared. The fishing net was neither new nor old, but it was very sturdy. This was freshwater, not the sea. Freshwater creatures could never beat saltwater creatures. What could possibly tear the fishing net?

The river is unusually quiet today; even the eels don't dare to raise their heads. Does that mean there's something scary in the river?

"No, let me look again. I didn't bring anything back today, and Dad will scold me," his companion said.

"I'm going to poop over there, you find it yourself," Huang Yicong said.

"Don't sneak back," his companion shouted after him.

After Huang Yicong finished defecating, he returned to find his companion nowhere to be seen. Finally, he found his companion a few dozen meters away. At that time, he had already stepped into the river, and the water was up to his knees. On the opposite side of his companion, there seemed to be a figure.

A figure emerged halfway out of the water, seemingly engaged in conversation.

Huang Yicong was terrified when he saw this. The river was very deep, and the shadow was probably several meters deep. How tall would someone be standing in the water?

By the bright moonlight, Huang Yicong could make out the figure. It was clearly different from a human, with a bald head edged with hair. It seemed to be handing something to its companion, its hand emerging from the water—a huge palm with thick webbed fingers.

Huang Yicong screamed in fright, and the creature panicked and dived into the water.

"That thing must have been a water monkey," Huang Yicong said. Even after so many years, he still feels lingering fear when he recalls what happened back then.

"What happened next?" Li Xianyu pressed. There must be more to the story. If it were just this, it wouldn't be possible to remember it so well after so many years. Moreover, based on the current situation, it seems that the thing came back to find Huang Yicong.

"I pulled my friend out of the water. His face was blank, his eyes were empty, as if he had lost his soul. He followed me home in a daze. The next day, the news of his soul leaving his body spread throughout the village. His parents took him to see a doctor and invited a fortune teller to their home to summon his soul, but nothing worked. Everyone in the village said that his soul had been taken away by the water ghost in the river."

"On the third night, I was sleeping at home when I suddenly heard someone calling my name by the window. I opened the window and saw him standing outside, smiling at me."

"I asked him why he came to my house so late, and he said he had something to give me... He seemed normal at the time, his psychiatric disorder seemed to have subsided. After giving me the thing, he left." At this point, Huang Yicong turned his head, his face ashen white: "In the morning, I heard the news of his death. He died a gruesome death, his chest was ripped open by something, his internal organs were eaten, and the bed was covered in blood. Strangely, his parents didn't hear any noise that night, nor did they hear any of his screams. The police found a viscous liquid near his bed with a pungent, fishy smell, but they couldn't identify it. The case is still unsolved."

Li Xianyu lit a cigarette, his brows furrowed. "Do you remember what that thing looked like?"

Huang Yicong recalled carefully: "It looked very short, and its shape was similar to a human's. Its head was bald, with hair around it. It was dark at the time, so I couldn't see very clearly. I only remember that its skin seemed to be black... Its eyes, its eyes were red, and they seemed to glow."

Huang Yicong's face turned grim: "This is a water monkey, and it looks very much like the water monkey that everyone describes."

Demon blood boils!

For some reason, Li Xianyu thought of this word. After his resurrection, he secretly asked the Thunder King to show him the video of his great-grandmother's rampage.

In the video, the great-grandmother floats in mid-air, her eyes flashing with a scarlet light, like a witch descending to earth.

The Thunder King told him that it was an abnormal phenomenon caused by the boiling of genes within the bloodline, known as the boiling of demonic blood.

Such abnormalities can occur in two situations for blood descendants.

1. Be prepared to risk your life.

For example, after taking the "Five-Second True Man" potion, the demon blood will boil.

Second: Blood descendants who are bloodthirsty.

These kinds of monsters have been devouring flesh and blood for a long time, and their bodily functions are always in a hunting state, with their demonic blood constantly boiling.

From this, we can infer that the creature resembling a water monkey is definitely not a benevolent being.

"What did your friend give you?" Li Xianyu asked.

"It's a ring," Huang Yicong said, taking off the ring he always wore from his neck, or more accurately, a jade thumb ring.

So that's what it was...

Li Xianyu was familiar with it. Huang Yicong had always worn it since the beginning of the school year. They had lived together for nearly three years and knew Dingding's size very well, let alone a thumb ring.

This thumb ring is of ordinary quality; it looks like something you'd find at a street stall. Even if it were jade, it wouldn't be worth much.

Without this story, Li Xianyu would never have paid attention to it.

"So, did you guess it too?" Li Xianyu took the ring and examined it carefully, "It came back to ask you for something."

"My friend died probably because he didn't keep the ring safe. It couldn't find its own thing, so it devoured my friend." Huang Yicong lowered his head, his fingers stroking the jade ring. "I've always worn it. It's a keepsake my friend left me. I haven't told anyone about this, and no one would believe me anyway."

But why would it give the ring to your friend for safekeeping?

Li Xianyu didn't ask the question. Instead, she looked worriedly at her roommate, whose face was haggard and eyes were vacant, and said in a deep voice, "What happened to you these past few days?"

"I don't know if it was a hallucination or a dream, but someone was speaking in my ear, telling me to return the things to him. When I woke up the next day, I was perfectly fine."

What's so great about you? You look exactly like that friend of yours from back then.

"When did this happen?"

"It's been two days already."

"..." Li Xianyu looked at him silently: "If I remember correctly, your friend died on the third day."

Huang Yicong was shaken, and all the color drained from his face.

I recommend a great book, "My Uncle Was Reborn." The title alone is very appealing, isn't it?

This chapter was a bit difficult to write. I wanted to capture the absurd folk tales of my childhood, something relatable and down-to-earth. So please allow me a few hours' delay; I'll still update 10,000 words during the day. And, I won't tell you that I had a sore throat and was coughing all day. Humph.

(End of this chapter)