Chapter Thirty-One: The Water Monster

“Have you heard? There’s a water monster in the big river to the west.”

“I saw it with my own eyes, I tell you. It was a serpent monster. The husband of Widow Wang from the east end of our village was eaten by it!” A scruffy uncle was squatting by a roadside stall, scratching his foot and burping as he spoke.

“Widow Wang, you say? Can you call her a widow if her husband’s still around?” sneered a cross-eyed man beside him.

“That’s exactly it! She became a widow because her husband was eaten by the serpent!” the scruffy uncle argued, not to be outdone.

“Come on, Brother Li, don’t mind him! Ignore Cross-eye. Tell us about this serpent monster in the water,” said a bespectacled middle-aged man, throwing an arm around Brother Li’s shoulders. A few others who were drinking and skewering meat at the stall gathered round, eager to hear more, flattering Li with their attention.

Brother Li looked smug, gave Cross-eye a thumbs-up, then pointed to himself. He continued, “You can scoff all you want, but whether that serpent monster ate a man or not, I really did see the beast myself!”

Li spoke thickly, reeking of alcohol, but his drinking companions didn’t care in the least.

“That night, I had my battery pack with me—yeah, the one better than the one your kid’s got at home!” Li slapped the balding man next to him on the back.

“Yes, yes, Brother Li’s battery is amazing! Top of the line!” the balding man replied carelessly, giving a thumbs-up.

“That’s why I like you; you speak the truth,” Li said, patting him on the head.

“Now, where was I?” Li squinted, his drunk eyes bleary, his face as red as a monkey’s behind.

“You were saying how great your battery is!” everyone laughed uproariously, more entertained by Li’s antics than the story itself.

“Right, my battery is incredible. That night, I’d had a few drinks and took it out to go electrofishing!” Li seemed to settle in, ready to reminisce.

“It was a bit dark, so I wore a miner’s lamp—the kind you strap to your head. Luck was with me: in less than half an hour, I’d shocked up over half a bucket of fish from the ditches in the fields. I’d just reached the bank of the big river to the west. I thought I’d work my way along the river and then go home. You all know that’s a wild river, not leased by anyone, so I wasn’t stealing fish!” Li turned to look at them.

“That’s right, not stealing,” everyone quickly agreed. Someone tactfully handed Li a cigarette and lit it for him.

Li took a deep, contented drag, savoring it before exhaling a smoke ring. He went on, “I remember looking up and seeing the moon in the sky. It wasn’t white—it was a deep, blood red. I don’t know if it really was a red moon or if I was just drunk!”

“You mean the night the moon was red? I saw it too!” Cross-eye chimed in, as if spotting the red moon was some badge of honor. Others joined in, claiming they’d seen a red moon recently.

“Don’t interrupt, let me finish!” Li seemed a bit annoyed, and everyone quieted, listening intently.

“I’d just caught a big black fish and was about to net it when I heard the cry of a baby. I thought, who could be so heartless as to abandon a child by the river? Well, you all know me—I couldn’t leave a child to starve if I could help it!”

“You can barely feed yourself, let alone a child!” Cross-eye sneered, and everyone burst into laughter.

“You’re one to talk—raising someone else’s kid, don’t think nobody knows about that green hat you wear, after your wife ran off!” Li retorted, a hint of venom in his voice.

“You—!” Cross-eye glared at Li, pointing at him for a long moment before falling silent, retreating into his seat and downing several beers in a row.

Li seemed to realize he’d gone too far. He sighed and said, “Sorry, Frog Brother, I... I’m sorry.” He gave himself a few hard slaps. “Listen to my awful mouth!”

“It’s not your fault. It’s that damn woman’s. I’ll make her regret it,” Cross-eye muttered, his gaze suddenly cold and sharp.

After another round of drinks, the earlier awkwardness gave way to renewed camaraderie, and everyone urged Brother Li to continue his story.

Li cleared his throat and continued, “So I heard the baby crying and decided to check it out. I adjusted my miner’s lamp—it’s bright as daylight, lights up everything ahead. I headed toward the sound. Do you know what I saw?”

“What did you see?” everyone asked in unison.

“It was terrifying. I saw two giant snakes, each as thick as a bridge pillar, twisted together! The crying came from the mouth of one of those monsters!”

“I was drunk, but I swear I saw that snake swallow a baby. So I grabbed my battery and tried to shock it, hoping it’d spit the kid out!” Li gestured with two chopsticks, reenacting the scene.

“Even thinking about it now gives me chills. Those snakes could’ve swallowed me whole! But I still tried to shock them with my battery. Thank heaven for my ancestors—the serpent was terrified of the charge. The moment I hit the water, it took off like lightning. It was so big that the waves it made drenched me, and my battery shorted out. I was numb for ages—nearly died right there on the bank. If I had, I would’ve been the laughingstock of the whole district, the only idiot electrocuted by his own gear!” Li looked both relieved and proud.

“The next morning, once I sobered up, the fear finally hit me. I thought something wasn’t right and called the police! They didn’t find the child, but the police did find Widow Wang’s husband’s body there! Though it’s strange—she’s been a widow for years, yet her husband’s body was only just found. It looked freshly dead, too—people said the body was still soft! The strangest thing was, it had no head...”

“Do you think any of that’s true?” Wu Ming at the next table mumbled around a mouthful of skewered meat, not daring to look up. Across from him, his stunning senior, Ling Mei, was nibbling delicately on a grilled sausage, licking her lips every so often, driving him nearly mad.

“In my humble opinion, perhaps there’s a vengeful ghost in the river to the west,” offered Monk Lokong, who was dressed in a bright red tracksuit and a cap. If he hadn’t swapped his crimson robes for the tracksuit, his shiny bald head and monk’s garb would have drawn every eye. Still, his love for red was obvious; the words “Red Lotus Hellfire” were emblazoned in yellow across his back. Wu Ming considered him the ultimate nonconformist.

“I think it’s two serpent spirits,” Music whispered, her words accompanied by the tinkling of the little gold bells on her wrist.

“No need to guess. We’ll just check it out tonight,” Ling Mei replied lazily.

“Why not during the day?” Wu Ming protested softly; he was the only one without any special abilities and was, unsurprisingly, the most frightened.

“Then come to my room tonight, Headmaster Wu,” Ling Mei teased, giving him a flirtatious wink that sent Wu Ming gulping down a beer to steady his nerves.

“She’s right! Night’s when the monsters come out. No point going during the day,” Wu Ming added hastily, trying to mask his embarrassment.