Die, Replay, Repeat -
Chapter 64: Black Water
As the light flooded in, the ever-alert Shen Lingxue woke up instantly and she abruptly sat up in her bed.
Her blanket slid off, but she was fully clothed, so there was no awkward exposure. At most, her collar was a bit disheveled from sleep, revealing much of her fair collarbone. It was a pity that Zhao Hao, who was particularly fond of that feature, was asleep and missed it.
"Who's there!"
Shen Lingxue couldn't make out Fang Xiu's face as he shone a flashlight at her.
"It's me," Fang Xiu replied calmly.
"When did you get into my room?" Shen Lingxue seemed quite displeased.
"Look around before you speak."
Fang Xiu waved the flashlight, illuminating the dark river surrounding them.
Realizing where they were, Shen Lingxue's face turned ashen.
"Is this Blackwater River? What the hell happened? Did a Specter appear?"
Her urgent voice woke up Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai, who were sharing the same bed. The two jolted awake and almost fell into the water when they recognized their surroundings.
"What the heck is this place? We were sleeping just fine in bed; how did we end up in a river? This doesn't make any sense!" Liu Shuai was pale as a ghost, clinging onto Zhao Hao like a lifebuoy.
"Liu Shuai, don't move around! With your weight, you'll tip us over!" Zhao Hao was also terrified, holding on to Liu Shuai tightly.
Ignoring the pair's emotional embrace, Fang Xiu calmly surveyed the scene. He noticed that the bed was slowly drifting toward the center of Blackwater River.
Shining his flashlight toward it, he faintly saw a dark whirlpool, like the gaping maw of an abyss, ready to swallow them whole.
Seeing the whirlpool, the rest panicked, thinking of all sorts of dire possibilities.
"That whirlpool's gonna swallow us, let's get out of here!"
"Run? Where to? I can't swim."
"Don't worry, I can."
"What good does that do? The Specter might be underwater. If you go in, you're not coming back up."
Listening to Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai argue back and forth, Shen Lingxue felt like her head was buzzing.
"Shut up, all of you! No one gets in the water. Paddle with your hands!" she ordered.
So Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai started paddling, but not Fang Xiu. He just stood there, observing silently.
In his eyes, paddling was a foolish act. A Specter capable of silently transporting everyone to the Blackwater River wouldn't let them paddle away that easily.
He was pondering, if they had been silently moved by the Specter, or they had actually been residing on Blackwater River all along. Before long, Liu Shuai's panicked voice rang out.
"It's useless! We've been paddling for so long, but we haven't moved an inch! It's as if something under the water is pulling the bed!"
As his words echoed, everyone's expression shifted slightly. Staring at the inky blackness beneath the bed, a nameless fear surged in their hearts, something akin to *thalassophobia.
It was like in the depths of the sea, there was no light, only endless black water everywhere.
"Not only are we not moving, we're actually accelerating towards the whirlpool in the center of the river," Shen Lingxue said gravely.
"We absolutely can't get close to that whirlpool. Once in the water, our combat effectiveness will be severely reduced. This Specter has the ability to control the water, making the river its turf. We'll unquestionably lose. Besides, my powers are flame-based. In water, I'd be highly restricted, only capable of protecting myself."
Shen Lingxue's explanation nearly made Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai wet their pants. Zhao Hao instinctively turned his eyes toward Fang Xiu.
"Xiu, what do we do?" Zhao Hao asked. After all, he only had survived Green Mountain Mental Hospital and become a psychic by following Fang Xiu.
Fang Xiu calmly scanned the increasingly distant shore and finally set his eyes on a fairly robust tree. He opened the backpack on the bed, which was pre-packed with ropes, military shovels, handguns, and other tools. He grabbed a rope and a military shovel, connected them, and hurled it powerfully.
The shovel, trailed by the rope, arced gracefully through the air and landed precisely on the tree trunk, wedging between the branches. Being a psychic, his control had reached an extraordinarily precise level, capable of feats that would require intensive training for ordinary people.
"Everyone, grab onto my bed."
At Fang Xiu's command, their faces lit up. The three hurriedly moved closer to Fang Xiu's bed; thankfully, the distance wasn't great and the rope was there to help. Everyone quickly gathered together.
Fang Xiu then started pulling the rope with force. Under the counterforce, they finally started moving toward the shore.
Shen Lingxue looked at Fang Xiu as he pulled the rope and a flicker of surprise flashed in her eyes.
She realized that not everyone in her team was as useless as Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai, who couldn't help and just screamed. Fang Xiu's composure surprised her. Not everyone could make accurate judgments in a perilous situation; most would panic.
One meter, two meters, three meters... They were getting further and further away from the whirlpool in the center of the river.
Just then, something bizarre happened. The whirlpool began to slowly fade away. Shen Lingxue, who had been vigilantly watching for any surprises, immediately noticed.
"The whirlpool's gone."
_'Gone?'_
Fang Xiu felt a twinge of suspicion. If the whirlpool was conjured by Specter, then its disappearance likely signaled the Specter's location.
But now, the whirlpool was gone, it probably means the Specter was planning something new, maybe coming at them!
Just as this thought crossed his mind, they abruptly felt themselves sinking. To be more precise… the bed was sinking.
Shen Lingxue's face turned ashen. "This Specter is pulling the bed!"
She quickly shone her flashlight into the dark water below, but the abyss seemed to swallow the light itself. Barely visible were strands of hair, darker than the river water, undulating beneath the surface.
Shen Lingxue flipped her hand, and a hot, bright flame appeared. With a forceful toss, the flame hit the water.
SIZZLE!
Steam billowed as the river water boiled. Yet the bed continued to sink, now more than halfway submerged. It seemed that the water was going to swallow them whole.
Shen Lingxue looked increasingly grim. Even above water, she couldn't hurt a finger of this Specter, let alone beneath the surface.
_'Is this where we meet our end?' _she thought to herself.
Shen Lingxue didn't give in, continuously summoning more flames and hurling them into the water. But the elusive Specter dodged with ease, seemingly unafraid of her attacks. All she had done was waste a lot of Spiritual Energy.
Finally, the bed sank completely, and everyone was submerged. The moment they hit the water, a bone-chilling cold spread throughout their bodies. If they weren't psychics, they would have been frozen stiff.
"I can't swim!" Liu Shuai struggled frantically, swallowing gulp after gulp of icy water.
Zhao Hao acted swiftly to save him, but attempting to rescue a drowning person as an amateur could be dangerous, especially when that person was heavyset.
In his panic, Liu Shuai latched onto Zhao Hao, making it impossible for him to stay afloat. Both started to sink, choking on water.
With a chop to the neck, Fang Xiu knocked Liu Shuai unconscious. Only then could Zhao Hao finally break free to the surface.
"Damn it! This fat guy almost killed me," Zhao Hao gasped for air, supporting the unconscious man with one arm.
Shen Lingxue sensed something was off. "Why isn't the Specter attacking?"
Fang Xiu answered her question. "It's waiting."
"Waiting?"
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