Chapter 1 My Life as a Corpse Fisherman

We were halfway across the river when a school of piranhas surrounded us. These small creatures with their sharp teeth were incredibly ferocious, leaping and snapping at us.

Hong Jie, seeing this from the shore, was terrified, her face draining of color. She screamed, "Rongsheng, run! Run!"

Boss Wang and Mr. Liao were also shouting something, but in this critical moment, I couldn't pay attention to what they were saying.

Fortunately, the underground river wasn't too wide, only about a dozen meters across. Mei Shu and I had already swum halfway, with only four or five meters left to reach the shore.

In that critical moment, I felt simultaneous pain in my thighs, buttocks, and waist. I guessed the piranhas had taken a few bites. I took a deep breath and plunged into the deeper part of the river, taking the piranhas with me!

These small fish were used to shallow water. Seeing me dive quickly, they released their grip and abandoned me. I shook off their entanglement and quickly swam towards the shore, surfacing again.

Looking back, I saw Mei Shu behind me, completely surrounded by piranhas.

I didn't rush to rescue him. Instead, I swam quickly to the ancient tree and threw the rope tied around my waist to Mei Shu, shouting, "Uncle! Grab the rope! I'll pull you across!"

Mei Shu was quick-witted and grabbed the lifeline. I pulled with all my strength, dragging Mei Shu out of the river and onto the shore!

Mei Shu's legs and waist were covered with dark red piranhas. These ferocious little creatures were firmly biting onto Mei Shu's body, still thrashing about.

Mei Shu grimaced in pain and cursed, "Ma Mai Pi! That hurts like hell! Damn piranhas, I should just roast you all and eat you!"

I quickly stepped forward, pinching the gills of each piranha one by one, removing them from Mei Shu's body.

Fortunately, the crossing wasn't too far, or Mei Shu and I would have been food for the fish.

After dealing with the piranhas, I tied the rope around my waist to the ancient tree, and then took Mei Shu's rope and tied it to mine. I turned back and waved to Boss Wang on the other side, shouting, "The rope is tied! See how you can get across!"

Boss Wang smiled wryly and pointed to the treacherous underground river. "Damn it, the river is full of piranhas. How are we supposed to get across?"

They had already witnessed the power of the piranhas in the tomb passage.

If they hadn't sacrificed a coolie, Boss Wang and the others wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed.

Now that I think about it, the piranhas in the tomb passage must have come from this underground river. Back then, the entire ancient tomb was flooded, and this area was the piranhas' territory. Later, Boss Wang sent people to drain the water from the tomb, but the tomb passage was low-lying and retained some of the underground water, leaving some piranhas behind.

Now, to cross the underground river, they had to face the piranha swarm again.

Mei Shu and I were skilled swimmers, but we almost didn't make it alive. Let alone Boss Wang and his group of rats.

If they forced their way across, someone would surely die.

Looking at the rushing river, Boss Wang stroked his chin and fell into deep thought. Even the knowledgeable Mr. Liao was silent at this moment.

As time passed, Boss Wang's patience was running out. He was afraid that if he delayed any longer, they would be surrounded by the authorities outside, so he snapped, "There are so many of you! Use your brains! Think of a way to cross the river!"

At this time, Xiao Wu stepped forward and said through gritted teeth, "Boss, in my opinion, if we want to cross the river, we'll have to sacrifice a few brothers. We might as well just go all out and jump into the water together. Let fate decide who lives or dies! You and Mr. Liao are important people. If you go last, you should be able to get across safely."

Boss Wang was very pleased with this and immediately nodded, "Then that's what we'll do!"

But immediately, someone disagreed, pointing at Xiao Wu and cursing:

"Xiao Wu, you're shameless! You only know how to please the boss! You don't treat the lives of us brothers as lives!"

"That's right, Xiao Wu, you bootlicker!"

"Xiao Wu, you're just talking big! If you have the guts, you show us! You go across the river first!"

"..."

Xiao Wu was young and impetuous, and couldn't stand being provoked. He was so riled up by these people that he actually rolled up his sleeves and said, "Okay! Then I'll show you! I'll cross the river first! You follow me! I want to see who's the coward!"

After saying that, he strode towards the underground river, grabbing the rope bridge that Mei Shu and I had set up, and wading into the water to cross the river.

But as soon as he entered the water, the piranhas swarmed over him. In addition, Xiao Wu was a poor swimmer, and couldn't swim at all in the turbulent underground river. Before he had even crossed halfway, he was already screaming in pain from the piranha bites.

At first, he tried to save face and kept pushing forward, but soon he couldn't bear it anymore and turned back to the shore.

His legs and arms were covered with piranhas. If he had really forced his way across the river, he would probably have been gnawed into a skeleton halfway across.

Seeing this, the crowd first mocked him for a while, and then began to worry again.

It seemed that they couldn't cross the underground river.

Mr. Liao also said, "These piranhas are too ferocious. In my opinion, unless we use bait to lure them away, we can't cross this river at all."

At this time, Hong Jie had a flash of inspiration and said to Boss Wang, "Boss, isn't there ready-made bait? Tu Gou died in the tomb passage earlier. He would be perfect..."

As a result, Boss Wang's expression turned very ugly. Hong Jie immediately realized that she had said the wrong thing and quickly closed her mouth.

Using a dead person as bait was certainly not Hong Jie's first idea, but no one had suggested it for so long mainly because Tu Gou and Boss Wang were very close.

Tu Gou had always been Boss Wang's confidant, and Boss Wang treated him like a half-son. Boss Wang might not agree to use Tu Gou's corpse as bait.

Now that Hong Jie had spoken, Boss Wang immediately sneered, "Hehe, Xiao Hong, you're really quick-witted. Tu Gou is already dead, and you're still thinking about his corpse, wanting him to die without a complete body. You're really loyal!"

Hong Jie was terrified when she heard this, and she quickly nodded and bowed to apologize to Boss Wang, otherwise she might be thrown into the river as bait instead of Tu Gou.

"Boss! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't think it through! I was just anxious to get everyone across the river, that's why I came up with this bad idea. Just pretend I farted! Don't take it to heart, I'm really sorry!"

Boss Wang glared at her and didn't say anything more.

But Mr. Liao, who was standing next to them, spoke up righteously, saying in a deep voice, "Boss Wang, I know you and Tu Gou have a deep relationship, and I respect your loyalty, but if we want to cross the river now, this is the only way. I hope Boss Wang will consider it carefully and not delay the matter because of a moment of anger."