The passengers did not cooperate in leaving, so the police forcibly took everyone away to ensure their safety.
Previously, the passengers who had been clamoring to leave pointed at the red circles on the ground, saying, “We want to leave, but we can’t! Look at this thing.”
Someone had said that these red circles could fend off attacks from the strange fish, but they never mentioned whether people could leave the circles.
The police were silent for a moment before turning around and leaving. The passengers breathed a sigh of relief. Shortly after, the police returned, accompanied by the man who had just helped them draw the red circles.
The passengers instantly became nervous.
Jiu Chao glanced at the passengers and said, “The police boat has arrived. If you want to leave, just step out of the circle. There’s no need to worry about getting hurt.”
The passengers were dumbfounded.
They hadn’t been worried about that in the first place. In fact, they just wanted to use this excuse to stay.
Now, the passengers didn’t know what to do.
In the extreme silence, a woman suddenly spoke, “Can we stay here?”
Jiu Chao looked over. The woman was covered in blood, but the child in her arms was well protected, his innocent face full of confusion.
He didn’t understand what had happened, only instinctively hiding in his mother’s arms, which gave him a sense of security.
Jiu Chao was silent for a moment, then said, “I will draw a formation on that boat, and you will be just as safe.”
The passengers exchanged glances.
Jiu Chao glanced at the woman and the other injured passengers, saying, “You all need treatment as soon as possible. Leaving is the best choice.”
But the previous events had terrified these people. Even with the police on the boat, they couldn’t feel safe.
Seeing this, Xu Dongyou quietly suggested, “How about I escort them back?”
Although his demon power was depleted, he still had some spiritual power, just not enough to fight in the water.
The passengers’ eyes lit up.
Jiu Chao instinctively wanted to refuse but then thought of something and could only nod, “Alright. Contact me when you arrive. I have something to discuss with you.”
Xu Dongyou obediently nodded.
Soon, the passengers were transferred to another police boat under the escort of the police. Just before the boat set off, Jiu Chao suddenly threw something at Xu Dongyou.
Xu Dongyou caught it with a puzzled expression and looked down.
It was a dark green ancient-style money pouch, its contents unknown, feeling light and making a rustling sound when squeezed.
Xu Dongyou opened the pouch and was immediately greeted by a familiar tea fragrance, showing a surprised expression.
Jiu Chao said, “Old Chen asked me to bring this to you. He said you might need it now. You can chew it directly, but only a little bit at a time.”
Xu Dongyou was a bit moved and sniffed.
He wasn’t usually this emotional. However, today was his first time handling an abnormal incident alone and the pressure had been immense.
The police boat quickly started and gradually moved away from the other boat. Once the other boat was completely out of sight, Xu Dongyou found a place to sit down, reactivating his previously closed senses.
After all, if there could be a second strange fish, there might be a third.
The passengers in the cabin stayed obediently within the red circles, each one curiously and reverently stealing glances at Xu Dongyou sitting on the deck.
The trip was boring, and one of the younger passengers took out his phone, only to find that the screen was cracked. Fortunately, it still worked.
He endured his heartache, thinking that surviving was most important, considering the damage a small price to pay.
He first sent a message to his parents, saying he had to return to the city. His parents, unaware of the incident with the boat, simply acknowledged the message.
Then, he opened Weibo and wanted to search for any news about strange fish attacking boats on the lake, only to see several trending topics.
#MysterySurroundsStreamerDeath: Real or Fake Strange Fish?#
#FirstTimeSeeingAFakeDeathEnding: Gained Some Knowledge?[Witty]#
#CultivatorsOrSuperhumans?#
#Brother, Please Take Me To Cultivate!#
Strange fish?
Being highly sensitive to these words, he clicked on the first topic and saw a video of the very incident he had experienced on the boat.
Who had filmed this?
He suddenly remembered the person eaten by the strange fish; that person was a streamer, explaining why the video had circulated online.
He immediately turned to the other passengers, “The strange fish attack on the boat is trending on Weibo!”
Older passengers who weren’t internet-savvy didn’t understand trending topics and asked what he meant. After a brief explanation, they understood.
The passengers all began checking Weibo, and those with broken phones watched videos on others’ devices.
The more they watched, the angrier they became.
How could so many people on Weibo claim it was fake, scripted, with the strange fish attack as special effects?
Even the passengers appearing in the video were thought to be highly skilled actors.
“No, I need to post on Weibo to confirm this is real,” a young man said.
But a girl suddenly remarked, “Whether it’s real or not, isn’t it unwise to speak out? What if this video gets taken down later?”
The young man was stunned and then decided, “Better not then.”
Who knew what the authorities’ stance on this might be? Staying quiet seemed wiser.
Xu Dongyou was also browsing Weibo, carefully watching several videos before finally breathing a quiet sigh of relief.
Although the videos featured scenes of him battling the strange fish, it was too dark to see clearly. Plus, he wore a hood the entire time, showing only his chin. Based on that, no one would recognize him.
His identity was still secure.
However, this brought more questions. Previously, the Bureau seemed to prefer keeping these matters hidden from the public.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have established the Bureau in such a remote location, even though part of the reason was the seal formation’s entrance there, allowing the Bureau to easily draw spiritual power to recharge the formation.
But this also reflected the higher-ups’ attitude.
Now, the leaked videos not only showed the strange fish but also him.
Since Jiu Chao knew about it, Elder Chen must know too. Maybe the Bureau wanted to use this incident to gradually reveal that the world wasn’t as simple as people thought.
Considering his sensitive identity, if Elder Chen and the other demons didn’t agree, the Bureau would undoubtedly delete these videos.
He’d have to wait until he reached the shore to contact Jiu Chao and ask about this.
As the sky grew darker, even though Xu Dongyou had ample spiritual power, constantly keeping his senses active was exhausting. So, he activated his senses every five minutes, then deactivated them after a minute.
He repeated this process.
Time quickly passed. After forty minutes, he could see the faint lights of the shore in the distance.
The passengers finally relaxed, feeling an urgent desire to get ashore.
Five minutes later, the boat slowly docked. Ambulances, already prepared, quickly transported the severely injured passengers to the hospital, while police cars took the less injured for minor treatments.
As everyone was getting ready to leave, someone, unable to contain their anxiety and curiosity, asked a police officer, “Can we talk about the strange fish incident?”
After all, it was already trending.
The police officer replied, “There are no instructions from above regarding this matter.”
The person immediately understood and quickly left.
Xu Dongyou found a small restaurant and messaged Jiu Chao about a meeting place.
Jiu Chao seemed very busy and took ten minutes to reply with just two words: “Got it.”
Xu Dongyou put away his phone. Although he had already eaten, he felt hungry again.
He suspected this might be a unique way for his kind to recover strength, so he called the waiter and specifically ordered some meat to replenish his energy.
After eating, Xu Dongyou took out his phone and checked Weibo’s trending topics again.
At this moment, those topics were still among the top trends, gaining even more attention, but the majority of people were amazed that a live broadcast could have such incredible special effects.
Especially several popular comments below the videos, which were screenshotted and became a new trending topic.
#They were given way too much#
【I can’t understand! Really can’t understand!!! Look at the screenshots from the video I randomly took [image]. Look at the close-up special effects of this monster fish. Aren’t they realistic? And the muscle movements when it swings its tail—there’s not a hint of it being fake.】
【Now look at the scene where the mysterious protagonist uses a water shield. The water flow’s texture—can any special effects team create this during a live broadcast?】
【So I can’t understand, such an amazing team—why don’t they take on movie projects? Why showcase their skills in a live broadcast? And I checked this streamer; they haven’t been popular for years. Why would they do this? The answer is simple, folks.】
【Because they were given way too much!】
This streamer didn’t seem to have much money and must have signed a contract with this company to create such trending topics. It must be said that this move is very effective—the company is now famous and their follower count has doubled.
【But I still want to know which team did this. These special effects are just too awesome; it feels like they’ve set the highest bar for live streaming platforms. Other horror streamers’ broadcasts pale in comparison.】
【I don’t think so. I still believe these videos might be real. Just wait; soon the authorities will delete these videos.】
【No way, the videos will indeed be deleted eventually, but not because they’re real—it’s because they caused too much of a stir and had a negative impact.】
As the arguments grew more intense, suddenly a Weibo user posted a tweet with several photos, seemingly taken in a hospital.
【While my wife was in the hospital giving birth, I wanted to go downstairs to buy some food, but guess what I saw! The photos are a bit blurry since I took them in a hurry, but you can see the faces clearly. Look at these people being rushed from the ambulance to emergency care—do they look familiar to you?】
Comments quickly appeared.
【They do seem familiar, but I can’t recall where I’ve seen them.】
【Coincidentally, I feel the same.】
The blogger soon posted a second tweet:
【I just asked a nurse, and she said these people came straight from a boat and were immediately brought here. Many of them were injured from collisions.】
The comments section exploded.
【Holy crap, could it be what I’m thinking?】
【I watched the video eighteen times and took screenshots of several skillful ‘actors’. Compare these faces—they look very similar!!!】
【Oh my god, oh my god!!】
These people got excited, took more screenshots, and posted them on Weibo. The blogger’s tweet quickly trended again, with countless netizens flooding in to check it out, all exclaiming in shock and feeling a bit overwhelmed.
No way, right?
If it was all staged, they wouldn’t realistically be undergoing surgeries in a hospital. Could this video actually be… real?
Shortly after, the blogger posted a third tweet, this time with more pictures. The images showed over a dozen people getting out of police cars and being taken into the hospital for treatment, and their faces all matched those in the video.
This completely stunned the netizens.
Those who firmly believed the video was fake special effects began to question everything, weakly tweeting:
【The world… is still the one I imagine it to be, right?】
