His expression was one of extreme fright. It was as if he had just seen something terrifying.

  His body trembled as he stood up. He wanted to run away. However, his body did not cooperate with him. He fell to the ground with a thump.

  Was there poison?

  He was conscious, but his body felt soft and powerless. Even moving his fingers was hard.

  Creak! The door opened. Miao Qingfeng walked in from the outside with a smile on his face.

  “Congratulations, the chief has made a decision. Go to the Burial of Gods Lake. It is almost time. Prepare to enjoy the scenery of the lake.”


  The night was quiet and calm. It was even more so in this seemingly paradise-like place.

  Next to the stockade, there was a large lake. At night, it looked quiet and calm without any ripples.

  On the lakeshore, there were several torches and people. In the water, there was a small bamboo raft. A man was lying on it.

  Mmph!

  His eyes were opened wide, and his mouth made whining sounds.

  “Go.” Miao Xihe said. With a hard push by two people, the bamboo raft drifted into the lake. There was a lit torch at the head of the raft.

  Whoosh! The flames were floating.

  This bamboo raft magically headed for the center of the lake.

  Whoosh! there was a noise in the water. Upon a closer look, it was a group of small fish. They had gathered under the bamboo raft for unknown reasons. They kept swimming, urging the bamboo raft to float toward the center of the lake.

  No, no, no!

  The man shouted in his heart. He opened his mouth, but he could only make whimpering sounds. He could hear the whooshing noises the bamboo raft under him was making. His face was drained of blood, and his eyes were wide. His body was full of fear, but he could not even tremble.

  At the side of the lake, the people quietly stood there. They watched the bamboo raft as it drifted further away.

  With a whoosh, the calm water in the lake was broken by something. A huge figure flashed under the lake.

  After hearing the sound, the man on the raft felt his heart skip a beat. His entire mind suddenly went blank. The thing he had been the most worried about had begun. The sound was not loud, but he knew that it was something coming to claim his life. It was similar to a man holding a bright knife and constantly waving it in front of one’s eyes, slowly moving it towards one’s neck and chest. One knew that it would eventually be thrust into one’s body.

  Sometimes knowing death was approaching was worse than dying. The fear before death was excruciating.

  No one could avoid death. The key was how one died.

  The undoubtedly happiest way to die was of old age, passing away in one’s sleep without any sickness or disaster.

  Struggling in fear and dying in agony was undoubtedly the most tragic way to die.

  Whoosh! The water made another sound.

  The fish that had gathered under the bamboo raft disappeared. The quietly floating raft had almost reached the center of the lake.

  Badum. Badum.

  The man heard his heart beating.

  Whoosh……

  A huge figure appeared under the bamboo raft.

  Wooo!

  A sharp sound rang out from the shore.

  Whoosh! The surface water broke. Water was splashing everywhere as a huge figure protruded its head from beneath the surface. Crack……

  Fresh blood spattered everywhere. The bamboo raft was bitten into pieces. The person on the raft had been bitten into two. One part was floating in the water. The blood dyed the lake red. The other part had gone somewhere unknown.

  The pain was short-lived. The middle-aged man died instantly.

  Whoosh! The huge figure reappeared, swallowing the rest of the body.

  The water soon calmed, but the pool of blood showed that something terrible had just happened.

  Whoosh! A group of fish reappeared. They went toward the blood. They kept shuttling about. They seemed very excited.

  On the bank, Miao Xihe quietly watched what had happened without saying a word.

  The bamboo raft was shattered, and the person was dead.

  After a while, he quietly turned around and left.

  “Well, done,” Miao Qingfeng said.

  After stretching his body for a while, he followed suit and left.

  Several other people slowly followed.

  It was as if nothing had happened.

  The stockade was still the same.

  In the morning, the sun pierced through the darkness as the sky lit up.

  In He County, hundreds of miles away……

  Guo Zhenghe, who had just come to the office, was staring blankly at an envelope on his desk.

  “Again?”


  He looked around and checked that the windows were closed. The things around were still in their original positions. Everything seemed normal.

  He went to his desk and looked at the envelope. As he thought about it, he took out a pair of gloves from the desk drawer. He put them on and gently touched the envelope, which was very thin. There seemed to be several pieces of hard paper inside it.

  When he opened it, he found several photos.

  One was a picture of people standing by the lake with torches.

  Wait!

  A corner of the picture was circled in red.

  It was a man lying on a bamboo raft.

  In the next photo, the bamboo raft drifted toward the lake.

  The next one was the same.

  What are these?

  When he saw the next one, Guo Zhenghe was stunned.

  There was a black shadow in the lake. It was very big.

  Although it was at night, the equipment used to take the photos was very advanced. Everything could be clearly seen.

  It was a fish. Using the bamboo raft as a reference, he guessed that the fish was more than 32 feet long.

  He continued to look at the photos and saw a bloody scene. The ferocious beast had leaped out of the water, opened its big bloody mouth, and tore the bamboo raft and person into two pieces. Blood was flying everywhere.

  Guo Zhenghe carefully looked over the picture several times.

  Where is this place?

  The first place he thought about was the Valley of Thousands of Medicine. He once heard Xu Xinyuan mention that there seemed to be a lake there.

  He took a deep breath.

  There was another meeting in the morning. After the meeting, he went out and met Xu Xinyuan to show him the pictures.

  “What are these?”


  Xu Xinyuan looked over the pictures. When he saw the big fish, he was stunned.

  “The Valley of Thousands of Medicine! This is the Valley of Thousands of Medicine!” Xu Xinyuan exclaimed.

  “Uncle Xu, are you sure?”


  “I am sure. I have been there. This lake left a very strong impression on me. I didn’t expect that there would be such a monster in the lake!” He was very surprised.

  “Sir, who gave you these pictures?”


  “I don’t know,” Guo Zhenghe said. “When I got to the office this morning, they were on my desk. It was left there without a trace. There was nothing else unusual in the room.”


  He was disgusted by this silent approach. What did it mean that a person could enter his office without a trace? His office building should have been one of the most tightly guarded places in the county. If the person could enter without a trace, could that person also enter his home while he was sleeping? The individual could quietly come to his bed and watch him as he soundly slept. At that time, he wouldn’t be able to do anything if the person decided to take his life.

  Thinking about those things, Guo Zhenghe became afraid.

  People that powerful could exist in He County, but the premise was that he would control such people, such as Xu Xinyuan, who was sitting opposite him. As for others, he could not tolerate that.

  “Who did it, and what was their purpose?”


  “Their purpose is clear. They are aiming for the Valley of Thousands of Medicine,” Guo Zhenghe said.

  “Why give it to you? Do they think that you have a feud with the Valley of Thousands of Medicine?”


  Guo Zhenghe did not speak. He picked up the photos and looked at them again.

  “Do you think the man on the bamboo raft was alive or dead?”


  “Well, I can’t tell from the photos,” Xu Xinyuan said. “The person was quite far away while taking the pictures. As far as I can guess, the odds are that this man was still alive.”


  “What is the name of the lake?”


  “It’s called the Burial of Gods Lake.”


  “Burial of Gods Lake? What a strange name,” Guo Zhenghe replied.

  “This is likely a special ceremony.” Xu Xinyuan looked at the pictures again. “Wait!”


  He seemed to have found something. He took out a magnifying glass from his pocket and looked at it carefully.

  “What did you find?”


  “I can be sure the man was alive on the raft.”


  “Oh?”


  “Take a closer look at these photos. His arm moved. His body was probably anesthetized and in a weak state when he was on the bamboo raft.”


  “You just said it was a ceremony. What ceremony?”


  “This lake is called Burial of Gods lake. I don’t think it’s a common name. A monster like that doesn’t grow to so huge in a day. I think people in this stockade bring sacrifices to this lake regularly. The sacrificial items used for this monster might include humans.”