It's time to become an evil god.

A cold wind swept across the river, pressing down on the reeds along the bank. Bai Ge gazed at the misty river and turned to say, "Of course, we'll use a spirit medium to lure and catch fish, randomly selecting a few lucky water ghosts to be free boatmen."

Both of them were stunned.

Ouija board... you can play it like this?

Seeing the conflicted and frustrated expressions on their faces, Bai Ge explained, "Why are you looking at me like that? It's almost the end of the year, isn't this how all the Taoist priests at Longhu Mountain conduct their KPI performance reviews?"

"I have a question."

Wen Liang raised his hand and asked weakly, "Who exactly are you?"

"me?"

Bai Ge smiled and said, "I'm just a fisherman who enjoys fishing."

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Seven Warlords of the Sea

The river was shrouded in mist and fog, with only the sound of rushing water to be heard. The heavy moisture soaked everyone's clothes. Bai Ge was not idle either; he found an abandoned old boat and sat down on the ground.

The three of them grabbed a calligraphy brush and suspended it in mid-air. Bai Ge closed his eyes and muttered incantations.

Previously, Xi Zeliang had heard that the Fishing Bar was full of hidden talents and that its ability to pool ideas was even better than that of the Idiot Bar and Arkham Asylum. Suddenly, he had an idea: in the future, the Special Affairs Department should send people to stake out the area and recruit members of the excavation organization.

A cold wind blew by, and there were splashing sounds on the river, as if something was approaching them from the misty surface.

The surrounding air grew cold and damp; white breath began to escape from my mouth, and the sound of dripping water filled my ears. I could vaguely make out figures moving about within the white mist.

Those who drown are believed to have their souls and resentment trapped in the murky water, unable to be reincarnated, and their vengeance will be overwhelming after death. Since ancient times, there has been a belief that the resentful ghosts of drowned people will drag others into the water to take their place. Playing Ouija board games near rivers where accidents are frequent has an even greater chance of attracting wandering ghosts.

Lately, life hasn't been easy for the drowned water ghosts either. With more people drowning in the river, the ghosts have become increasingly competitive. Previously, everyone had a clear division of labor and fixed territories, and after a few years, they would eventually get a chance to be reincarnated. Now, the prime reincarnation spots on the Han River have almost become bathhouses, with a group of drowned ghosts waiting there, anxiously hoping for a substitute to drown themselves, for over a decade now.

I might as well go work in Innsmouth!

They sensed someone calling them from the riverbank, and the wet, filthy things lingering on the river slowly gathered around. They saw someone playing a game of summoning spirits with a Ouija board on a boat.

The lingering drowned ghost finally couldn't resist the soft call in its ear and slowly approached. A series of wet footprints appeared out of thin air on the boat, and it stretched out its pale, swollen hand to grasp the pen, ready to answer the call.

However, in the next instant, his wrist suddenly felt heavy.

The iron grip on his wrist was so tight that he couldn't move.

The drowned water ghost with water plants on its head raised its head and found that the three people playing the Ouija board were staring at it with malicious eyes.

He suddenly recalled a terrifying urban legend circulating in the ghost and spirit circles a few days ago: recently, a group of living people of unknown origin have been impersonating Taoist priests from Longhu Mountain, specializing in catching and exorcising demons and monsters. Their methods are ruthless, and they even travel to other places to commit crimes. Wherever they go, they exterminate all the local mountain spirits, monsters, and wandering ghosts.

These workaholics even have a year-round attendance policy; even the orthodox Taoist sect of Longhu Mountain isn't as diligent as them.

Could it be that this group of people today...?

Bai Ge pulled two kitchen knives from his inventory and slammed them hard against the ship's side with a loud crack, reassuring the other person, "Don't be afraid, we're not bad people."

"..."

Bai Ge smiled and looped a fishing line around the other person's neck. He then took out a torpedo and placed it on the boat, saying, "We need a few water ghosts to be boatmen. Can you help me lure the other water ghosts over here? Oh, no, call them over, okay? Don't be scared. We always win people over with virtue and guarantee that we will not be the first to use weapons of mass destruction."

Suddenly, a white arm stretched out from the river and grabbed the gunwale. Without saying a word, Bai Ge grabbed a kitchen knife and slapped the arm across the hand.

With a soft thud, Bai Sensen's arm instantly retracted, leaving only a few wrinkled fingers, soaked in the river water, on the deck. Bai Ge turned around and said sincerely, "I'm sorry, this was an accident. You have to believe us, we're really good people."

The water ghost was so frightened that it broke out in a cold sweat and nodded hurriedly.

"..."

The water ghost, its life in the hands of the enemy, dared not resist and could only coax and drag its buddy over. According to the water ghost's logic, even with one more buddy, it probably still wouldn't be able to defeat these three, but at least one would accompany it on its journey to the underworld, right?

The two water ghosts obediently pulled the small boat forward, and at their current speed, they would reach Laohuai Village in no time.

A white mist shrouded the river, making it seem as if they were the only boat navigating the water. As they approached the village, Xize Liang suddenly stood up, squinting as he looked ahead.

"What is that?"

Bai Ge looked in the direction Xize Liang was pointing. A dark shadow drifted in from the thick white fog. As it slowly approached, it became clear that it was the outline of a ship. Even from a distance, one could still vaguely see the figure standing on the ship.

Nishizawa Ryo gave Bai Ge and Wen Liang a wink, and the two immediately assumed a guarded posture.

What drifts across the treacherous river may not even be a living person.

As the small boat drew nearer, all three of them widened their eyes in unison.

Four people stood on the small boat that drifted ashore, but all four of them had lost their heads, as if they had been gnawed off by something. Half of their white spines were exposed, and the entire boat was covered in sticky blood, with a large swarm of buzzing green-headed flies sucking the putrid blood.

Only the lower half of the body, which had been eaten, remained standing on the boat.

Wen Liang frowned, a nauseating feeling rising in his stomach, and bit his lip as he asked, "What the hell is this?"

Isn't that obvious?

Bai Ge gazed at the dark, cold river water and slowly said, "It's like the River God forgot to pack up his buffet meal."

After hearing this, Nishizawa Ryo wanted to complain: the point isn't whether or not you can take leftovers from a buffet!

"Look! It's a boat! That's great! It must be Ye Chengping and the others swimming back! They're all safe and sound!"

"We found him! Go tell the village chief, we've found his son."

A gasp from the riverbank interrupted Bai Ge's thoughts. The three of them turned to look and saw several torches that had appeared on the misty river surface, like a lighthouse guiding their way.

Several boats then launched, and the sound of oars churning echoed in the darkness as they headed towards Bai Ge's direction.

As the boat drew closer, the villagers' voices grew increasingly excited. "Ye Chengping? Is that you? Answer us quickly, you scared us to death!"

On the boat that was drifting closer and closer, there was no response; it was deathly silent.

Why is no one responding?

As the villagers went into the water, puzzled, they turned on their flashlights and shone them over, finally seeing the terrifying headless corpse on the boat, as well as three mysterious figures with cold expressions standing on the dead boat.

The blade at his waist gleamed with a sharp, cold light.

Some villagers were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground, screaming hysterically, "Someone's dead! Someone's dead!"

The slightly bolder villagers swallowed hard, then mustered their courage and asked timidly, "Who...who are you all?"

Something underwater kept bumping against the hull. The mysterious figure shrouded in white mist was neither human nor ghost, appearing eerie and terrifying, like an evil spirit lingering on the river.

"us?"

Bai Ge licked his lips and coldly replied, "One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Secret of Old Locust Village

The villagers, flashlight in hand, stared at the three mysterious figures with fear and caution, as if they were looking at evil spirits in the water. Old Huai Village has a long-standing legend of paper boats made of water ghosts that take people's place in their deaths. It is said that if you see an unidentified boat on the Han River in the middle of the night, you must never board it, or you will be trapped in the River of the Dead for eternity.

One of the villagers, who didn't believe in superstition, shone a flashlight over and mustered his courage to question, "The seven Calabash Brothers all have eight members, so why do you, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, only have three? Don't try to fool us."

"Sigh, there's nothing I can do, they still found out."

Bai Ge slowly narrowed his eyes, as if the villagers in front of him were fish on a chopping board, his indifferent gaze as cold as the icy river water.

"I'm not pretending anymore."

He gave a cold laugh and said, "Actually, we are water monkeys."

If the current situation weren't unsuitable for infighting, Wen Liang would love to hold Bai Ge and pull the pin on the bomb so he could be sent back to Africa as soon as possible.

Taking advantage of the white mist surrounding the river, making it impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face, Bai Ge turned around, grabbed the water ghost carrying the small boat, and gestured to threaten it to quickly call out all its good brothers from underwater to support it. If it dared not obey, he would not tolerate it and would immediately use the pump to block the flow, to see how these drowned water ghosts would be reincarnated.

The water ghost nodded repeatedly in fright and disappeared into the water.

Under the dark night sky, a large group of people quickly gathered at the riverbank, and the riverbank was filled with the chaotic beams of flashlights.

What should we do now?

Xi Zeliang frowned. As a front-line member of the Special Affairs Bureau, he naturally couldn't lay a hand on the villagers. Besides, the mission was located in Dahuai Village, and he might need to get clues from them.

However, things became complicated once the villagers mistook him for the murderer.

"Leave it to me."

Nishizawa Ryo glanced at his seemingly unreliable teammate and asked in a low voice, "Can you handle this?"

"Don't worry, I used to help my aunt, who works for the Women's Federation, mediate family conflicts and even helped women who were victims of domestic violence form a Women's Violence Alliance."

"..."

Xi Zeliang glanced at Wen Liang beside him and muttered, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Bai Ge stepped forward and leaped onto the nearest boat, startling everyone else who retreated in fear and stammered.

"What exactly do you want to do?"

"Shhh."

Bai Ge put her finger to her lips, closed her eyes, and said, "Listen."

What are you listening to?

Yea.

A pale, wrinkled arm reached out from under the water and clung to the gunwale. Then, a swollen, white dead head slowly emerged from the water. A pair of murky, swollen, pale heads suddenly popped out of the water, startling the residents on the boat who cried out in fright. Their flashlights fell with a clatter into the cold river water.

More and more densely packed fingers clung to the gunwale, their resentful eyes, covered in seaweed, staring intently at them, like soul-reaping messengers from the abyss, about to drag the living sacrifices they wore into the River Styx and the underworld.

The ghostly figures underwater continued to gather, and the entire boat swayed precariously. The villagers were so frightened that they knelt in the cabin and kowtowed desperately.

"We were blind to the great immortal water monkey. We beg the great immortal to have mercy on us."

Bai Ge quietly turned her head and winked at Xize Liang.

The latter was dumbfounded.

Does this work too?

"You guys know what's good for you."

Bai Ge waved his hand, and the coerced water ghosts slowly sank into the water, making a quick getaway and avoiding being put on the water pump.

"Take me into the village."

The villagers hurriedly dragged the dead boat and rowed it toward the shore. A group of people were waiting anxiously. As the wooden boat approached, the noise gradually subsided.

The honest and law-abiding farmers living by the river would never witness a murder in their entire lives. When they saw the headless corpse on the boat, they were so frightened that it caused a riot.

Among the crowd, a middle-aged man wearing glasses and a suit frowned. He whispered a few words to the gloomy village chief, who then ordered some of the braver young men to go into the water and drag the dead man's boat ashore.