Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Because a team member had an accident yesterday, the corpse recovery team did not come to participate in the training today. Only Guan Shui was in Qingyang Lake Park.
He called Zheng Yu, the call went through, but no one answered.
After repeating it several times, he hung up the phone with a grim expression: “I can’t contact him. Zheng Yu’s family is not in Jiangcheng, so I can’t find him for the time being.”
Jiang Lan nodded in understanding. Seeing that his eyes were dark blue and his lips were chapped, he handed him the bottle of mineral water he brought with him and said, “First, tell me what happened. Those turtles couldn’t have followed you for no reason.”
Guan Shui took the water, thanked him, unscrewed the cap and drank two gulps before trying to organize his words: “Actually, I can’t really explain what happened. About half a month ago, after we came back from a dive, we started to notice a turtle following us.”
“That turtle was huge. We had never seen such a big wild turtle before. We even joked about catching it and eating it.” He unconsciously turned the mineral water bottle and recalled, “The master then scolded us for not knowing the taboos. Such a big wild turtle must be a spirit. People like us who make a living on the water and deal with the dead are most afraid of getting involved with things in the water. After all, it’s unlucky.”
“Master was afraid that we might have accidentally offended the old turtle, so he asked us to kill a chicken and throw it into the water as an apology. Then the turtle didn’t show up for two days. We thought it was all right, but on the third day, the turtle came again. He didn’t do anything. He just followed us around when we went into the water.” He paused and smiled bitterly, “But even so, it’s scary. A turtle this big, we would not be able to withstand a hit from him even on the shore, let alone in the water. One time I went into the water to retrieve a corpse, and when I floated up with the corpse, I turned around and saw a turtle as big as a millstone looking at me quietly, less than half a meter away from me.”
He gestured, his expression still showing the fear he felt at the time: “From such a close distance, I felt that its eyes had emotions, just like a person’s. It was terrifying.”
“They just followed? They didn’t attack anyone?” Jiang Lan interrupted.
Guan Shui shook his head, “It was like this at the beginning, they just followed the boat. We saw that they were not aggressive, and it was summer and there was a lot of work, so we went into the water as usual. The first time they attacked people was probably a week ago, when Zhang Zi and I went to the river to fish out a floating corpse. The floating corpse was washed down from upstream and had gotten stuck in the cracks of the reef. Zhang Zi went into the water to move it, and I supported him from above. As a result, Zhang Zi stayed down for a long time without any movement, so I got worried and went into the water too, only to find that he was bitten by two turtles and almost dragged to the bottom of the river. In a hurry, I went to pull him up, but then the two turtles actually let go, and I was able to pull Zhang Zi up.”
“It was probably from that time that we discovered that turtles would attack people. Zhang Zi, Zheng Yu, and two or three other team members were all attacked by turtles. Zhang Zi and Zheng Yu were the most seriously injured. Master was worried that something might happen to us, so he didn’t allow us to go into the water recently. The most we could do was use tools to retrieve bodies from the boat.”
Guan Shui sighed, his face showing bitterness: “But we can’t keep going like this. Now the team is in a panic, no one dares to go into the water, and the work we have accepted cannot be completed. The team has no income, and we are losing money day by day.”
Jiang Lan thought for a moment and asked, “Is Zhang Zi still in the hospital?”
Guan Shui: “Yes, the bite wound on his leg was quite severe. We were worried about infection, so we had him temporarily hospitalized.”
“Then let’s go check on him first.” Jiang Lan said, “There is a process to how these turtles followed you and then attacked you, and they are not indiscriminate attacks. It seems that they are targeting a few people.”
Guan Shui pondered for a while, thinking of Zhang Zi and Zheng Yu who were the most seriously injured: “Are you saying that the turtles might just be targeting them?”
“It’s just speculation for now,” Jiang Lan said, “Think about it carefully. When the injured team members are not present, will these turtles still follow you? Or will they hurt anyone?”
Guan Shui recalled carefully and shook his head, “We always work in teams of two or three. They were always absent.” He hesitated, “But to be honest, the other three injured team members were injured when they were working with Zhang Zi and Zheng Yu.”
Jiang Lan showed a thoughtful expression and said: “That turtles are likely targeting the two of them, and the others are just being implicated.”
Guan Shui gritted his teeth, his cheek muscles bulging: “If they are the ones who brought trouble to the corpse recovery team, I will be the first one to not let them go!”
They had no education, but their biggest advantage was that they were strong and could endure hardships. If the master hadn’t set up a salvage company, recruited them, and taught them without reservation, their lives would never be as good as they were now. Although the work was indeed a bit hard, they got a lot of money. If there were no corpse recovery team, they wouldn’t be able to build houses or get married.
Guan Shui was Captain Guan’s apprentice, and because they shared the same surname, they felt even closer to each other. He had no one left at home, so he regarded his master as his only relative, and the corpse recovery team as his home. He had been anxious and angry since the accident and had not had a good rest.
It would be understandable if the disaster happened accidentally, but if someone provoked the turtles and brought disaster to the entire team, he would never let them go.
….
Guan Shui drove a van and Jiang Lan went straight to the hospital with him.
Zhang Zi was still in the ward, his calf wrapped in thick gauze. Captain Guan and a team member were staying beside him.
Guan Shui brought Jiang Lan forward to say hello.
It was the first time for Jiang Lan meeting the captain Guan in the rumors. He had gray hair, dark skin, and many wrinkles on his face and hands. He was less than fifty years old, but judging from his appearance, no one would doubt that he was in his fifties. He looked like an ordinary old man. The only advantage he had was his strong physique.
Guan Shui respected him and was very close to him. He first pulled Captain Guan out of the door and whispered for a while, then found a reason to send the other teammate back. In the end, only four people were left in the ward: Guan Shui, Captain Guan, Jiang Lan, and Zhang Zi on the hospital bed.
Zhang Zi’s original name was Zhang Ze. He was thin and had a smart look. According to Guan Shui, he was very good at swimming.
Perhaps because Jiang Lan had been staring at him, and Guan Shui and Captain Guan were both silent and solemn, Zhang Zi smiled a little uncomfortably: “Brother, what are you doing?”
Although the eldest brother Guan Shui looked a bit fierce, he was actually very protective and generous. He was very caring towards his junior brothers. Thus, Zhang Zi subconsciously asked him for help.
But this time Guan Shui did not protect him. Instead, he asked with a sullen face, “Those turtles are coming for you and Zheng Yu, right?”
He asked suddenly, and Zhang Zi’s face flashed with panic. He managed to keep calm and laughed dryly: “What do you mean? Why would that turtle follow me and Zheng Yu? We didn’t do anything.”
Captain Guan had seen a lot of people, so how could he not see his guilt? He coughed twice in anger and said disapprovingly: “We rely on water for our livelihood. If you offend the things in the water, you will get into big trouble!”
Zhang Zi’s eyes were evasive, but he was still trying to argue: “I, I really don’t know… That turtle didn’t bite only me, so how did it come for me…”
Jiang Lan, who had been silent the whole time, said, “Old turtles hold grudges. If you want to survive, you’d better never go near running water for the rest of your life. Otherwise, one day they will come after you.”
Zhang Zi’s expression froze for a moment, and he argued, “I didn’t do anything that was against the will of heaven… and they were just a few turtles, what’s there to be afraid of…”
“Didn’t Zheng Yu tell you?” Jiang Lan said sarcastically, “It wasn’t just a few turtles, but more than a dozen, or even more. Each one was as big as a millstone, and they could tear off a piece of flesh with one bite…”
Jiang Lan deliberately frightened him: “Last night, Zheng Yu was almost dragged into the Yangtze River, and I was the one who pulled him out. But next time, he may not be so lucky.”
Zhang Zi’s expression gradually became fearful. His hands unconsciously clenched the quilt, and his eyes flickered, as if he was struggling and hesitating.
Others did not urge him but waited quietly.
After a long pause, Zhang Zi said, “We didn’t actually do anything… We just saw a big turtle by the river one day, and Zheng Yu and I got the idea to catch it and sell it to a turtle farmer. We split the tens of thousands of dollars we made.”
He collapsed and said, “We didn’t know that the turtle was a spirit. There must be a lot of people who eat turtles. Why is it that we are being retaliated against just because we caught a turtle on the road?!”
Captain Guan wiped his face and said angrily: “What did I tell you before? Even if you don’t believe it, you should still be respectful, especially to things in the water!”
Zhang Zi wiped away his tears, his face twisted with fear: “Such a big turtle can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars, who wouldn’t be tempted?”
“Where is the turtle you sold?” Captain Guan asked, “Who did you sell it to? I’ll pay for it and buy it back for you!”
Zhang Zi, who had been howling loudly, calmed down and looked a little uneasy: “We asked, but the boss had already sold it… Such a big wild turtle, everyone was scrambling to buy it, and it was stewed into turtle soup after being bought back.”
Captain Guan was stunned. Finally, he sighed and said, “What a sin.”
Guan Shui looked at Jiang Lan for help: “This… Zhang Zi and the others didn’t do it on purpose. Is there any way to save them? We can try to compensate those turtle spirits.”
Who knew that Jiang Lan shook his head, stared at Zhang Zi coldly and said: “If you don’t want to tell the truth, I can’t save you. I can only advise you not to get close to the water.”
After saying that, he turned and left the ward.
Captain Guan and Guan Shui were stunned, and they looked at Zhang Zi in disbelief. Zhang Zi had cried so sincerely just now, that they really believed it.
Guan Shui caught up with Jiang Lan and asked anxiously, “Is there any misunderstanding here?”
Jiang Lan had a good impression of the master and his apprentice, so he stopped and explained, “These old turtles may not be spirits, but they are very smart and understand human nature. The corpse recovery team recovers corpses from rivers and lakes all year round. Have you seen these turtles before?”
“No.” Captain Guan shook his head affirmatively. He had been fishing for decades, but he had never seen such a big turtle.
Jiang Lan asked back: “Captain Guan hasn’t seen one in decades, which means they know to avoid humans and don’t move around where people are. So where did Zhang Zi and Zheng Yu encounter the turtle? Turtles understand human nature and are very strong, so how did the two of them catch it?”
Guan Shui opened his mouth wide. After Jiang Lan asked this, he finally realized the problem.
He was about to say something when his cell phone suddenly rang. He made an apologetic gesture to Jiang Lan and answered the phone.
After the other party said a few words, his face changed. After hanging up the phone, he said in a serious tone: “Zheng Yu is dead.”
The author has something to say:
Movie Emperor Lan: When it comes to acting skills, no one can compare to me.
Longlong: ???
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Today was another show for Lanlan!
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