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墨書 Inktalez
Looking at the continuous flow of water in Water Xi, which comes in from the upper entrance and flows out from the lower outlet, Li Hao and Lin Ruoqiao leaned against the wall in a daze, while Bai Yujing looked into the well.
"How is it? Is the water out yet?" Lin Ruoqiao asked Bai Yujing, staring at the scorching sun.
Bai Yujing turned around awkwardly and replied, "It seems not. This place must be connected to the sea; I can't just drain the ocean. We'll have to wait until tomorrow when the underwater detection equipment arrives. I'll close this mechanism first."
By this time, it was already afternoon, the hottest part of the day. The days were getting shorter, and soon the sun would set. After Bai Yujing closed the door to the water outlet, Li Hao began his own actions.
"Xiao Zhang, carry that big package from outside the village inside!" Li Hao instructed. Xiao Zhang was an employee of his father's company here and had brought over some tools and a Drone that Bai Yujing needed. However, the underwater detection equipment and professional divers were more complicated and wouldn't arrive until tomorrow.
"Okay, Mr. Li, just a moment!"
Xiao Zhang was a sturdy man with a slightly dark complexion, looking rather simple and not very talkative. Upon hearing that Li Hao said he was his father's hotel security, he quickly dashed outside the village and carried down a large package from a business vehicle, holding it steadily with one hand.
After finishing up at the water outlet, Bai Yujing asked, "What kind of hotel does your family run, Little Li? It seems quite large?"
Li Hao glared at Bai Yujing: "Don't learn from Lin Ruoqiao, calling me like I'm some eunuch. Our hotel is called Mountain Water International Hotel."
Bai Yujing immediately asked, "Is it the one from Mountain Water Real Estate?"
Li Hao raised his head: "You know about it?"
Bai Yujing nodded and looked into the distance, speaking in a tone filled with nostalgia: "I checked out your family's property back then; it was so damn expensive that my best friend's savings combined wouldn't even be enough to buy a bathroom."
Li Hao had nothing to say: "Let's hurry up and install the cameras!"
Three people, along with Xiao Zhang, started working together, bumping into cameras in various corners of the village. This was also Li Hao's suggestion, wanting to see what changes occurred in Shuiyuan Village at night.
The group quickly set up cameras in some main pathways and corners while it was still bright outside. As the afternoon heat began to fade and the sun started to descend, Li Hao was testing connection issues on his computer.
After typing a few commands on his laptop, he immediately saw two or three dozen video feeds rapidly opening on the screen. After some adjustments, the monitoring positions and scenes from each camera were displayed.
"There are some issues with camera positions thirteen and eighteen; I'll go check them out," Li Hao said after taking a look. He put down his computer and spent nearly half an hour troubleshooting before finishing.
"That's about it; let's hurry and leave."
The group quickly exited the village but stopped just outside the treeline at the village entrance. Due to unknown reasons—perhaps magnetic fields—the signal interference was quite strong in this area. Once they moved further away, they couldn't receive anything at all. Therefore, Bai Yujing and Li Hao decided to rest in the car tonight while keeping an eye on the situation inside the village.
"Xiao Zhang, go into the village and bring back some food. Here's some money; buy extra, and don't forget drinks!" Li Hao said as he took out his wallet.
At that moment, Lin Ruoqiao also got out of the car. "I'll go back with you."
Bai Yujing immediately replied, "You can rest in the village tonight; it's enough for me, Li Hao, and Xiao Zhang to stay here!"
"Isn't that a bit ungrateful?" Lin Ruoqiao retorted.
This rebellious girl thought they were going to fight outside, leaving her and Li Hao behind as backup? "It's just a night watch; it's not like we're going to war. There's nothing to worry about here; just go back!"
The seats in the business vehicle can be reclined and connected to the back seat, making it feel like a large bed. Xiao Zhang went to rest inside Bai Yujing's Range Rover, while Li Hao set up his computer in the front as a monitor.
Bai Yujing and Li Hao waited until nearly ten o'clock, but still saw no signs of activity. At this point, both of them were feeling drowsy, lying on the seats and nearly dozing off.
"Zzzz!"
"Zzzz!"
"Zz!"
When the first two sounds occurred, Bai Yujing and Li Hao had not yet noticed. However, the third sound suddenly grew louder. Bai Yujing and Li Hao were not deeply asleep; they remained vigilant in this place. The sound was not very loud, but it startled both of them awake.
"What’s going on?"
"Screen, screen!"
"Is there movement?"
The two of them scrambled to get up and rushed to the computer, staring intently at the display. At that moment, the screen was flickering continuously, with snowflakes appearing intermittently. Most of the twenty or so segments failed to show any images.
"What’s happening? Is your receiver not set up properly? Go check!" Bai Yujing pointed at Li Hao, who had previously installed a Signal Receiver on the roof of the vehicle.
Li Hao immediately got out of the car. "That shouldn't be! I clearly set it up correctly!"
Li Hao went down to check and found no issues. He immediately poked his head in and said, "What's going on? There was clearly no problem during the day!"
When Li Hao leaned in, he happened to see Bai Yujing's somewhat pale face. He quickly turned his gaze towards her and noticed the monitor, which had completely turned into a field of snowflakes that were continuously spinning and twisting.
Strange sounds were emanating from it: "La la la! La la la, la la la la la..."
Suddenly, the screen changed dramatically, and the snowflake display began to show an image, transforming into a woman's face made of snowflakes. "Come find me, I won't hurt you, I won't..."
"Come on, hurry... I'm almost... quickly..."
"Don't be afraid..."
Before the words were finished, the snowflakes on the screen disappeared entirely, reverting to the original surveillance feed as if nothing had changed.
Li Hao and Bai Yujing felt cold sweat all over their bodies. They initially thought they were far enough away that nothing would happen, but who knew they would encounter such a situation here.
"Hey, what happened?" Xiao Zhang, who had noticed their movements, climbed out of the car and looked over.
Li Hao immediately turned back and said, "It's nothing!"
Xiao Zhang glanced a couple of times and confirmed there was no issue before returning to the car to continue resting. However, Li Hao and Bai Yujing remained unsettled for a long time. Li Hao kept checking the computer: "It seems we just received a very strange signal; what we saw wasn't an illusion."
Bai Yujing was pondering something else: "What does she want to tell us? How did she contact us? Is there still a living mermaid underground in Shuiyuan Village?"
Li Hao immediately said, "Isn't it obvious? Have you ever played those cliché TV dramas and games? Demons and devils use this kind of method to lure their prey in and then devour them."
Bai Yujing nodded, agreeing with Li Hao's possibility: "It was mentioned on the previous oil paper that mermaids can control human hearts. I thought this was just a metaphor referring to the beauty of mermaids and their sweet words, adept at seducing others. But now that I think about it, it might not mean that."
"Are you saying they have special powers?" Li Hao asked.
Bai Yujing looked at Li Hao in surprise: "You finally get it, huh? Don't doubt it; it might really be like that. I suspect mermaids can emit a kind of magnetic field that controls the thoughts of humans and other animals. The illusions we experienced before, and the signals just received by the computer, might all be related to this. Think about why the signal is so poor here; once we entered Shuiyuan Village, our phones couldn't make calls."
Li Hao immediately said, "Hearing you say that makes me even more reluctant to go in. This thing is too bizarre."
Bai Yujing pulled out a blanket from behind him, saying, "I’m not asking you to go down; you can just watch from above tomorrow. I'll go down with those professional divers we hired. You stay back; if anything happens, you’re strong and have money—remember to spend it to get us out."
Li Hao quickly replied, "Let those professionals go down first; you don’t go down yet. Besides, we have the Underwater Detector; it's the age of technology."
"Alright, we'll talk about it tomorrow. For now, let's rest and recharge!"
Bai Yujing closed his eyes, but his mind kept spinning. What did that mermaid want to tell him? It seemed like a plea for help—could it be? The people of Shuiyuan Village are certainly not friends of the mermaids; they kill them for their flesh and Shark Pearls, using cruel and bloody methods. In such a situation, how could a mermaid possibly have any goodwill towards humans?
So it’s a trap? But it doesn’t quite seem like one. This kind of mind control is troublesome; is there any way to defend against it? Bai Yujing thought about many things. Right! Last time when he was under an illusion, Li Hao seemed to be less affected; most of it was due to Li Hao panicking and losing his composure. The only one truly controlled was himself.
As Bai Yujing pondered this, he didn’t even realize when he fell asleep!
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