Chapter Sixty-Seven: Flowing Water

“Get up, get up.”
The voice of the one in the black cloak reached my ears, and I opened my eyes.
Perhaps from sheer exhaustion, I had fallen asleep in that brief moment.
“We’re about to set off. Wake yourself up,” the black cloak said, patting my back.
I nodded. Wrapped in despair as I was, her touch brought a fleeting warmth to my heart. Yet, remembering Mengya was at my side, I suppressed my gratitude.
With a click, Ghost-faced Zhang switched on the searchlight at the bow. As his light came on, the other two boats followed suit.
The boatmen gently maneuvered their oars. Due to the enormous stalactites and quartz columns, our progress was slow.
We drifted steadily for about five minutes, when the black cloak suddenly stood and walked over to Ghost-faced Zhang. “Master Zhang, this water…”
Ghost-faced Zhang, stationed at the bow, listened and nodded. “The current has sped up quite a bit.” He waved his hand, signaling the boatmen to halt.
The oars were lifted, but the boat continued moving. Clearly, there was a pulling force at the source of the water, though not a strong one.
Having confirmed the suction in the water, Ghost-faced Zhang nodded, indicating the boatmen to stop rowing. They only needed to steer to avoid crashing into the columns, and the boats would drift on the current.
“No good, the speed’s picking up,” Ghost-faced Zhang said gravely.
Watching the current accelerate, I could see the changes in the water surface with the naked eye. I thought, this isn’t good—if the flow is visibly rapid, it must be quite turbulent. Even the most experienced boatmen might not avoid hitting the stone pillars.
Just then, chaos broke out on the second boat behind us. Turning to look, I saw it was the Kaleidoscope.
He was a man in his fifties or sixties, fussing and complaining, though it was unclear whom he was addressing. “I told you, you should’ve scouted ahead before coming in. Now look at this—being battered by the boat is worse than being hacked to death!”
Ghost-faced Zhang was about to lose his temper again, but the black cloak stopped him with her hand.
“This isn’t the time for infighting. Let’s focus on what to do next.”
Ghost-faced Zhang’s expression grew heavy, as though he realized his decision had been arrogant. If his rashness led to the deaths of the Nine Gates brothers who had come to the Heavenly Pool, how could he face his elder brothers? The thought twisted his guts and cut his heart like a knife.

But at that moment, the water suddenly ceased its suction, and our boat instantly settled atop the surface, the lingering waves rocking the rubber raft until it gradually came to a halt.
The abrupt end of the suction made Ghost-faced Zhang gasp, his eyes fixed intently on the now-still lake.
“What happened?” the black cloak asked softly.
She had barely finished speaking when something unexpected occurred.
The water shifted, changing from suction to a force pushing outward, like the surf zone in a swimming pool, waves rolling toward us in layers. Fortunately, the waves were relatively gentle.
“Quick, wedge the steel rods into the stalactites and secure the boat. Hurry!” Ghost-faced Zhang shouted, taking threaded steel pipes from the box. The boatmen were quick, hammering the pipes into the stalactites. In no time, the boats were encircled within a frame of steel rods, firmly fixed in place.
As we were secured within this iron frame, the waves grew fierce. Had we not been anchored, we would have been swept out of the cave and stranded at the entrance.
“What now? Are we just going to sit here and wait to die?” The Kaleidoscope was anxious, glaring at Ghost-faced Zhang with evident resentment.
Ghost-faced Zhang, aware of his own mistake, lowered his head in silence, his brows furrowed as he stared at the turbulent water.
“There is a way. From what I see, the flow of the water is intermittent,” the black cloak said. “For now, we’re safe, so let’s wait until it changes again before moving forward.”
“And who do you think you are? A woman from outside, what right do you have to speak?” the Kaleidoscope sneered at the black cloak.
She snorted coldly. “Well, Sixth Master, let’s hear your brilliant ideas.”
“Uh…” The Kaleidoscope was caught off guard, unable to offer a better suggestion; he’d only spoken for the sake of speaking.
Ghost-faced Zhang waved his hand. “Sitting here and waiting isn’t wise.” He took out a cigarette, lit it, and fell into deep thought.
I wondered if his pockets were full of cigarettes—the way he smoked, they never seemed to run out.
“Here’s what we’ll do. When the water changes direction again, we’ll pick two boatmen to go down with pinhole cameras and check the situation,” Ghost-faced Zhang said.
The boatmen exchanged nervous glances, none eager to go. It was as if the water below was the boundary between life and death.
Dragon King called out several times, but still, no one volunteered. He looked awkwardly at Ghost-faced Zhang and shook his head.
I glanced over and noticed Fat Lin and Iron Crutch Liu on the third boat whispering conspiratorially. After a while, Fat Lin grinned, nodded, climbed onto the second boat, and pointed at the two boatmen there and the remaining boatman on our boat. “You three will go down together.”
The three boatmen looked at each other in fear and hesitation, then shook their heads.

Fat Lin, seeing this, flashed a sinister smile. “Fine, you won’t go, is that it?” He pulled something from his pocket and held it up.
I was startled—he had produced a box cannon.
Fat Lin waved it menacingly. “No problem if you won’t go. I’ll give you a quick end right now.”
No wonder he and Iron Crutch Liu had been whispering—they were both cut from the same cloth, using the boatmen as cannon fodder, ready to threaten them with violence if they didn’t obey.
Fat Lin advanced step by step toward the two boatmen, a ferocious smile on his face, scaring them pale.
Bang!
Suddenly, Fat Lin cried out in pain, his pistol falling from his hand. Ghost-faced Zhang had, at some unknown moment, thrown a stone the size of a ping-pong ball, striking Fat Lin’s wrist and causing him to drop the box cannon.
Fat Lin bent to pick it up, but before he could, Ghost-faced Zhang walked over and stomped on his hand with a boot studded with nails. The pain drove Fat Lin to scream like a slaughtered pig, his knees buckling as he knelt.
Ghost-faced Zhang smiled, grinding his heel, sweat dripping from Fat Lin’s head like beans.
“Master Zhang, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me!” Fat Lin pleaded.
Ghost-faced Zhang glanced at him, then kicked Fat Lin’s chin. With a muffled groan, Fat Lin fell back onto the deck.
“Seventh Brother Sha, is this how your Green Dragon Society treats its own?”
Dragon King, hearing this, felt ashamed, realizing Ghost-faced Zhang’s lesson was for him. He nodded quickly. “Master Zhang is right.”
Ghost-faced Zhang said nothing, walking over to the two boatmen. “You see our predicament. If you don’t go down to investigate, we’ll all be trapped here. Of course, I have no right to decide your fate…”
Before he could finish, one of the boatmen interrupted.
“Master Zhang, we’re willing to go.”
Ghost-faced Zhang nodded. The once proud, untouchable leader actually bowed to the two boatmen, as if apologizing for his error in judgment.