It's late at night.

The night was as black as ink, blending into the lake.

The searchlight couldn't penetrate the water mist, and the unknown ahead made the group even more uneasy.

"You bastard. Didn't that woman say there were lanterns in the lake? We've rowed so far out, and there's nothing to be seen."

Lu Qifa looked around anxiously and couldn't help but swear.

The lake was quiet, and although the small boats were spaced apart, their sounds could still be heard clearly.

Chen Qi's hands were trembling from rowing. "We've been to this lake during the day, it shouldn't be this big, right?"

During the day, the lake looks about the size of a few basketball courts.

But after the small boat had been sailing straight for so long, not only could we not see the lanterns in the lake, but we couldn't even see the shore anymore.

"Is this another case of being trapped in a maze?"

Xia Yao frowned and took the compass out of her pocket.

When he got lost in the rose maze, he used this prop to find the right way out.

But at this moment, the red compass remained motionless.

"How was it? Did it work?"

Zhou Ze'an, standing not far away, looked at Xia Yao, hoping that the prop in his hand would be of some use.

Xia Yao gripped the compass, shook it, and wobbled it.

But the red pointer remained unresponsive, seemingly welded to its original position.

"No, it won't work."

Xia Yao shook her head and sighed.

Fearing the boat would rock and one of the props might fall into the water, he put it back in his pocket first.

"Is it possible that the tool that worked this time is a different one?" Xia Yao asked tentatively.

This also gives everyone an idea: besides their regular clothes, they all have one unique item.

"Mine is a voice recorder, obviously not for use here. What about yours?" Zhou Zean turned to the others.

Lu Qifa had already lit a cigarette and was puffing out smoke as he rowed the oar.

"I had a small bag of cinnabar in my bag, which I brought with me, but I think it was meant to be used to break that formation."

Liu Lili pulled out a stun gun, which crackled and flashed blue light when she pressed it.

"I have a stun gun here."

Chen Qi spoke up timidly, "I have a card here, but I don't know where it was used."

These were clearly not things that could be used during this lake trip. Xia Yao pondered for a moment, then took out the palm-sized silver camera.

"Could it be this thing?"

He tried to start the camera, and after a flash of white light, the image appeared slightly blurry.

The searchlight had a limited range, and the surrounding area was mostly dark.

The camera panned across the area with light, but the scene in the frame appeared normal.

"It's not working. Am I using it wrong?"

I imagined him pressing the shutter and taking a picture.

"Click—"

In the instant the image froze, Xia Yao saw twinkling starlight appear on the dark lake surface in the distance.

His pupils trembled, and when he looked at the camera screen again, there was nothing there.

Even after moving the camera away, the lake remained pitch black.

Xia Yao suddenly realized that the problem lay with the photo.

He pulled up the photos he had taken and, sure enough, saw a different scene.

The white mist is not in the photo; instead, a faint light shines on the distant lake surface.

That should be the location of the lantern.

Xia Yao was still worried, so she took a few more photos of the surrounding area.

Seeing Xia Yao's actions, Zhou Ze'an knew that she had made a discovery.

"What did you photograph?"

"Lanterns, you can see lanterns in the photo."

Xia Yao examined the photos and determined the direction.

"Found it, swipe to the right front."

Zhou Ze'an had no doubts and carefully adjusted the direction, rowing the boat to the right front.

The others seemed to have seen through the fog and hurriedly followed.

Afraid of not seeing it, they kept marking names and went astray.

Xia Yao would take another photo every now and then to confirm the direction.

The other boats then surrounded him, slowly moving towards the center of the lake where the lanterns could no longer be seen.

With a direction, the fog seemed to thin out considerably.

Soon, five small boats arrived at the center of the lake.

However, the surrounding area was still pitch black.

Apart from the searchlight at the bow of the ship, they could not see any light at all.

Lanterns? I didn't see a single one.

"Is this the place? There's nothing here at all!"

Chen Qi looked down at the lake, but she couldn't see anything.

"The photo shows this is the place; there are many lanterns next to the boat."

Xia Yao took another photo of the lake.

Several lanterns floated on his small boat, their dim yellow light reflecting on the dark lake surface.

The lake water rippled gently, like shattered yellow glass.

"Why don't you guys try scooping it out yourselves?"

Xia Yao couldn't check the image in real time either. The moment the photo was taken was too fast. While she was checking the photo, the lantern was floating and its position changed in an instant.

Xia Yao held onto the edge of the boat with one hand and carefully reached into the lake with the other.

He clearly knew from the photo that there was a lantern in that location, but he still couldn't find it by touch.

My hand gently brushed across the water's surface, and a bone-chilling cold traveled from my fingertips, as if I were immersed in ice water.

"Be careful, something seems off here."

The surrounding temperature seemed to have dropped considerably, and a chill crept onto my skin, raising goosebumps.

An inexplicable unease spread, like a seed taking root, sprouting, and growing strong.

The lanterns were floating, and Xia Yao could only reach out and touch them.

Fortunately, his fingertips soon touched something hard.

Xia Yao's eyes lit up, and she eagerly grabbed the outer shell of the thing and picked it up.

The instant the object left the water, a square white lantern appeared in his hand.

"I touched it!"

The faint white light boosted the confidence of the others.

They quickly bent down and began to feel around in the lake.

Xia Yao examined the lanterns closely; the white lampshades were painted with chrysanthemums, but there were no numbers on them.

The wick of the lantern was a fixed white candle, which was now half burned.

The flickering flames made Xia Yao's heart tremble as well.

There's no number 7, this won't do, he has to keep searching.

With a sigh, Xia Yao placed the lantern in the empty space at the bow of the boat and began to search for it again.

But these invisible, floating lanterns aren't so easy to touch.

Lu Qifa reached out and swung his arm across the lake, but he didn't touch anything.

He gave Xia Yao an awkward smile. "Brother, I can't touch anything. Why don't you lend me your camera first?"

Xia Yao did not want to lend it out and lose control of the situation.

He took a picture of Lu Qifa, checked it, and then gave him a reminder.

"Try scooping up to the right; there are more floating lights over there."

"ah--"

Xia Yao had just finished reminding him when a scream rang out.

It was Chen Qi; she was reaching out to grab the lantern.

But suddenly a pale, swollen hand emerged from the lake and dragged her directly into it.

"thump--"

A loud bang was heard, and a large amount of water splashed up.

"Help! Help!"

Chen Qi thrashed about in the water, choking on several mouthfuls of water.

She struggled with her hands and feet, splashing water everywhere and creating ripples.