Even though Feng Tian frequently encountered spirits and ghosts, the sight of countless pairs of blood-red eyes concealed in the shadows, glaring near him, was jarringly conspicuous, causing the hairs on his body to stand on end and a sudden wave of terror to wash over him.

Fortunately, Feng Tian was merely startled, not completely paralyzed by shock. He touched the air bladder hanging from his waist, did a quick calculation, and then pulled out a very small syringe, one reserved for people afflicted by dark influences, which could temporarily incapacitate them upon injection. Having prepared himself, he darted out from the cover of the submerged weeds and swam rapidly toward the area behind Ji Ping.

The rest of the situation was clear to Kuang Feifan as well, yet he couldn't resist grumbling at Feng Tian with lingering dissatisfaction, berating him for not explaining anything and sending him directly to intercept that large group of water monkeys.

Feng Tian chuckled dryly. To be honest, he had no idea what Kuang Feifan’s situation was like underwater at that moment. He deeply admired Kuang Feifan’s readiness to step forward without a second thought. He knew he wasn't even sure if his gestures could be understood by Kuang Feifan, yet despite that uncertainty, Kuang Feifan still charged toward the water monkeys that Feng Tian himself wouldn't dare face, implying that Kuang Feifan had been prepared to die then.

In reality, Kuang Feifan wasn't quite as heroic as Feng Tian imagined. At the time, Kuang Feifan hadn't given it that much thought, and he had managed to guess the meaning of Feng Tian’s hand signals to some extent. Moreover, in that situation, if that massive swarm of water monkeys had rushed forward, Kuang Feifan wouldn't have been able to hold them off for too long. Even if Feng Tian had managed to ascend to the surface first, escape would have been impossible.

Speaking of which, Kuang Feifan suddenly recalled the most pressing question. He turned to Ji Ping and asked, "Could that corpse in the water be the gas station manager surnamed Lu?"

Ji Ping was momentarily stunned. "I’m not entirely sure. What did he look like?"

It turned out that Ji Ping had no memory of anything he experienced underwater; clearly, all his actions then had been controlled by the lingering residual soul attached to him.

"Do you have any photos of him or anything?" Kuang Feifan asked, frowning.

Ji Ping considered it. "How about we go to the station? They'll have his file there. I might be able to arrange to see it for a quick look."

Kuang Feifan and Feng Tian conferred and decided that this was the best approach. After all, the corpse had been soaking in the water so long that its face was distorted beyond recognition; describing its features in words alone would be insufficient.

Feng Tian spun the steering wheel, turning into the fork in the road ahead. Following the route Ji Ping provided, they would take this road, turn again, and continue straight until they reached their traffic police precinct.

Kuang Feifan asked Feng Tian if he had any initial thoughts, suggesting that since their separate experiences could now be pooled, perhaps he, as the professional, could analyze something useful from them.

Feng Tian managed a wry smile. Previously, they had been trapped in such tense and dangerous situations that they hadn't had the time to sort things out properly. But as Kuang Feifan said, compiling the experiences of everyone in the car might genuinely yield some insights.

He frowned, his mind working furiously. Yet, the more he pondered, the more he felt a crucial element was missing: the supposed gas station manager. For some reason, he had always felt this person was suspicious, though he couldn't be certain. Now, it seemed all three people in the car had run into trouble precisely because they were looking for him, suggesting this person’s suspicion level had climbed to around sixty or seventy percent.

However, before Feng Tian could voice his preliminary assessment, something outside the front windshield suddenly caught his attention. He quickly raised a hand, gesturing for Kuang Feifan to pause, then pointed toward the window, indicating for him to look outside as well.

Just then, Ji Ping suddenly spoke up from the back seat with a faint, drawn-out voice: "It’s getting windy outside."

In fact, it wasn't just windy outside; a fog had also begun to rise. A faint white mist was spreading forward from the rear sides of the car, threatening to envelop the entire vehicle. Within this hazy, misty color, the sound of the wind mixed faintly, like a roar echoing from a distant place.

Feng Tian’s face changed instantly, and he blurted out, "Something’s wrong, I think we’ve walked into an ambush."

Kuang Feifan quickly surveyed the surroundings outside the car and realized that the road they had turned onto was lined on both sides by towering walls, with no buildings in sight. It was impossible to tell what lay beyond the walls.

However, the situation along the roadside was clearly no longer the main concern. For right in the middle of the road, illuminated by the car's headlights, stood a distinct human figure, perfectly blocking their forward path. As the car drew closer to the figure, Kuang Feifan’s expression shifted to one of shock and dismay.

The figure blocking the road appeared to be only a child, judging by its height, perhaps around ten years old. But it was clearly not a living person, and its features were impossible to make out, as its head was somehow swollen to an enormous size, easily one and a half times that of a normal adult head. Furthermore, the skin on its face had already turned a terrifying purplish-black, obliterating any sign of facial features. It looked as though this being had suffered unimaginable torment in death, and though the face was indistinct, its features were twisted into an expression of such profound agony that a single glance would leave an indelible impression.

Its body, though hunched over, was also swollen and bulging like its head, the remnants of its clothing stretched nearly to the breaking point. Seeing it, Kuang Feifan couldn't help but recall the image of water-injected pork he had seen before; the resemblance was truly striking.

Abruptly confronted by such a horrifically mangled corpse standing in the middle of the road, Kuang Feifan instinctively turned his head away, unwilling to look a second time. He felt a surge of nausea rise up and involuntarily raised a hand to cover his mouth.

Feng Tian, however, did not turn away. He had received no mental preparation when he first saw it, and his reaction was no different from Kuang Feifan’s. He wondered what a forensic doctor would feel upon seeing such a specimen; in any case, he was entirely unaccustomed to such sights. Feng Tian’s first reaction was to slam down on the brakes.

Jolted by inertia, Feng Tian happened to notice that behind the child figure, several other shadowy figures seemed to be hidden. Because the fog swirled thickly on both sides and the streetlights along the road had somehow gone out, everything outside their immediate headlights was pitch black. Looking closely, one could still make out the vague outlines of scenery.

At that very moment, illuminated by the beams of the car's headlights, Feng Tian saw the child’s corpse appear to sway and take a step forward. Although the movement was slight, even that single step forward revealed the skin of its swollen body trembling as if it were rippling, much like a waterlogged, quivering sponge.

Simultaneously, more shadowy figures began to emerge from the darkness beyond the reach of the lights and into their line of sight. Feng Tian suddenly spotted a familiar silhouette among them and gasped quietly in disbelief, "It's them."