Chapter 1 The news that I was going into the water made Xiao Liang stop me immediately. "Chen Rongsheng, are you crazy? We didn't even bring diving equipment, and you're just going down like that?"

I said with a smile, "What's the tension? Isn't this just a small pond? It couldn't be more dangerous than the Tuo River or the Ya River, could it?"

But Xiao Liang said worriedly, "Didn't you hear Lao Huang say yesterday that this pond is very strange, with undercurrents surging underneath? Many people who are good swimmers have gone down to swim, but none have come back alive."

I said with a chuckle, "Xiao Liang, it's not that I don't respect Lao Huang, but I really think there's some exaggeration in what he says. He even said there's an evil dragon in the pond. Do you believe him?"

"This…" Xiao Liang was speechless and could only turn to Jiang Yongguang and Uncle Mei for help.

But these two were on my side. They also felt that the pond was too small and that nothing would go wrong. With my swimming skills, there was no danger in diving down.

Xiao Liang, being in the minority, had to agree.

I took off my top, took out my phone, keys, and other personal belongings, took off my socks and shoes, and plunged into the dead man's pit.

As soon as I entered the water, two middle-aged women ran over and shouted, "Oh no! You can't do that! You can't swim here! Isn't it clearly written on the sign?"

Jiang Yongguang was in charge of the negotiation. He quickly walked over, showed his credentials, and said, "That's right, we're here to investigate some things, not to play in the water."

Seeing that Jiang Yongguang was a government official, the two women's attitudes softened.

One of the women, with permed hair, said enthusiastically, "Even if you're here to investigate, you can't just go down into this dead man's pit. Don't think the water looks calm now, it's very dangerous inside! A few years ago, one or two people drowned every few days, so they put up this 'No Swimming' sign!"

"Really?"

When we heard this, we realized that Lao Huang had told some truths after all.

We thought he was exaggerating too much, but this woman said the same thing as him.

Xiao Liang quickly asked, "Is this pond really so evil?"

"Of course, otherwise why do you think it's called the dead man's pit?" the woman asked rhetorically.

Now Uncle Mei and Jiang Yongguang were also worried. Uncle Mei quickly came over and said to me, "Rongsheng, why don't you come up first? Next time, we'll bring diving equipment and go down again."

Jiang Yongguang also said, "Yes, it seems that this pond is indeed a bit dangerous."

I thought to myself that I was already in the water, and I was anxious to find Sister Xiao Mei. Maybe that woman in white was already digging up tombs with Sister Xiao Mei in the ancient tomb below, and I didn't have time to delay any longer.

I shook my head at them and said, "I'm already down here. I'll just take a look and come back up."

After saying that, I turned around and plunged into the water, diving towards the deeper part.

Because this pond had flowing water, the water was very clear and there was no fishy smell.

I dived down and saw that although the pond was small, it was very deep, about six or seven meters. This kind of deep water could easily drown people. If you cramped up in the water, you would probably die.

But what I was most curious about was another source of water under the water. Since there were often whirlpools here, it meant that there must be another inlet at the bottom of the pond, which might lead to the ancient tomb. It was probably a grave robber's tunnel or something.

I searched around the pond, occasionally surfacing to catch my breath. Although I didn't find any grave robber's tunnels in the end, I found something even stranger in the southeast corner of the pond.

It was a well, a water well built at the bottom of the pond.

Judging from the style, it should be an ancient well, probably built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In any case, there are no wells of this style in modern times.

I thought it was very strange at the time—building an ancient well in a pond, wasn't that just ridiculous?

Because I found it strange, I went straight to the ancient well.

When I got to the ancient well, I was even more surprised.

I saw that there was also a stone pillar next to the ancient well. The stone pillar was very thick, about the thickness of an adult man's embrace. On this stone pillar, there was an iron chain, and this iron chain extended into the depths of the well.

I looked left and right, up and down, and I couldn't understand what the stone pillar and the iron chain were for, let alone what the well was for.

Out of curiosity, I couldn't help but grab the iron chain with both hands and pull it up, trying to pull the iron chain out of the ancient well to see what was tied to the other end.

But at this moment, the iron chain suddenly trembled violently, as if there was a living thing tied to the other end!

I shivered in fright and quickly let go of the iron chain.

The next second!

Something even weirder happened!

I saw the well starting to gurgle and bubble, and the sound was very loud. At this moment, I suddenly realized that this well was the second source of water for this pond!

Seeing more and more water gushing out of the well, I knew the situation was not good and quickly floated to the surface.

Once this current disturbed the water in the pond, it would be difficult to float to the surface again. Many people died in this dead man's pit, probably for this reason.

After a while, I came out of the water safely, and before I could explain to Jiang Yongguang and Uncle Mei, I struggled to swim to the shore.

Seeing this scene, they guessed that something had happened in the water. Xiao Liang quickly ran to the shore, grabbed my hands, and pulled me out of the pond.

"Chen Rongsheng, what's wrong? What happened inside?" Xiao Liang asked nervously.

Uncle Mei and Jiang Yongguang also came over and stood next to me, waiting for me to speak.

I took two breaths, and then pointed to the water and said, "Under this pond, there's an ancient well. The ancient well can produce water. This is the second source of water for the dead man's pit."

As soon as I finished speaking, I saw waves rising on the water, and a small whirlpool gradually formed!

The two middle-aged women watching from a distance immediately exclaimed when they saw this, "The evil dragon is causing trouble! The evil dragon is causing trouble!"

We looked at each other and couldn't help but whisper, "Lao Huang didn't lie to us. The people in this area all think there's an evil dragon in this pond."

At this time, Jiang Yongguang asked me, "Xiao Chen, can you tell me what the ancient well under this pond looks like?"

I said, "This well looks like an ancient building. It definitely wasn't built in modern times. The wellhead is an octagon, shaped like a bagua (eight trigrams). There's also a stone pillar more than two meters high next to the ancient well, about as thick as a person can hug. There's an iron chain tied to the stone pillar, and the other end of the iron chain is in the ancient well…"

Before I could finish speaking, I saw Jiang Yongguang's expression change.

Xiao Liang quickly asked, "What's wrong? Officer Jiang, do you know what this well is for?"

Jiang Yongguang nodded. He said seriously, "That's right, this kind of well was very popular in the Ming Dynasty. It was built all over the country—this is a lock dragon well."