The Ghost Lake's Rule: No Smiths, No Exceptions - Chapter 7: Chapter 7
You are reading The Ghost Lake's Rule: No Smiths, No Exceptions, Chapter 7: Chapter 7. Read more chapters of The Ghost Lake's Rule: No Smiths, No Exceptions.
"Whether you're named Smith or not, we'll know soon enough."
I grabbed Rachel and dragged her toward the bow.
She struggled desperately: "Let go of me! What are you trying to do?"
"Marcus, tie her up."
Hearing this, Marcus immediately grabbed the rope used to secure life rings and tied Rachel up.
"If we throw her down directly for the female ghost to kill, she'll definitely be angry if this isn't a Smith. But if we throw down a corpse, that's different. Even if it's not a Smith, it's just a dead body—she won't think we're deliberately deceiving her. And if what we throw down happens to be a Smith? She'll spare us."
Hearing this, Rachel's face went deathly pale: "This is murder!"
"When I pushed Dex overboard, that was already murder. Killing you too doesn't matter."
I looked up at everyone around us.
"Besides, no one will expose me—after all, I'm doing this for everyone's lives on this boat. And the cause of death for you two? Simply be accidental drowning."
The blonde guy spoke first: "That's right, the captain is trying to save us. We won't tell anyone!"
Others chimed in: "If she doesn't die, we'll have to. The captain isn't wrong."
Some people couldn't bear to watch and turned their heads away silently, which amounted to tacit agreement.
I snorted and pulled a folding knife from my bag: "This blade's a bit dull—you might not die immediately. Bear with it."
"NO!!!"
I raised the knife and stabbed viciously toward her heart.
But just as I was about to pierce her heart, Rachel somehow found the strength to break free from the ropes and gripped the blade tightly.
Blood immediately poured from her hands, but she seemed to feel no pain.
And her voice becoming deep and rough, just like a man: "You mere mortal think you can kill me?!"
I smiled coldly.
Found you.
Rachel's strength was enormous. She snatched the knife from my hands and stabbed back at me.
I retreated repeatedly, dodging her attacks again and again, never finding a chance to strike back.
Time was running out.
I shouted toward the water—
"Vivian! Come out and help me!"
The next second, a woman suddenly appeared on the dark lake surface.
She leaped up, flying to stand before me and blocking Rachel's attack.
At the same time, Dex was thrown onto the deck by some mysterious force, unconscious.
I moved closer to Vivian, standing side by side with her, and said calmly to Rachel across from us: "Wesley Smith, I've finally been waiting for you."
Only then did Rachel realize: "Today... today was all a setup by you two?"
"One thousand years, Wesley Smith. I've waited for you for a full thousand years, and you've finally appeared!" Tears welled up in Vivian's eyes, her voice filled with resentment and grief.
But Rachel's expression remained unmoved.
She only let out a cold snort: "A thousand years, and you're still here."
"You didn't die—how could I leave first!"
Vivian and Wesley Smith had been an ordinary married couple a thousand years ago.
Wesley was a small-time carpenter, and Vivian was a textile worker.
They should have lived out their lives peacefully and smoothly.
But when Wesley accidentally entered the royal palace one day, the trajectory of fate began to change.
At that time, the king ordered all the carpenters in the nation to do their utmost to craft a carriage.
Wesley happened to be skilled at his craft, and his work was quickly selected by the ministers and brought into the palace along with its maker.
The king fell in love with the carriage at first sight—from its carved flowers to its design, everything pleased him deeply.
However, this exquisite carriage could only be called a treasure if it were unique in the world.
If the small carpenter returned home and was hired by others to make identical carriages, wouldn't the king's dignity be equivalent to there being another copy in the world?!
Thinking of this, the king immediately ordered: "The small carpenter's carriage conceals mechanisms and was an attempt to assassinate the king—death sentence!"
Just like that, Wesley was thrown into prison.
Coincidentally, as a carpenter, he always carried his tools with him.
Taking advantage of the deep night, he secretly pulled out a small hammer and chiseled a hole in the already weak earthen wall big enough for him to pass through.
"Hey! Take me with you!" suddenly came a call from the corner.
Wesley looked over to see a child's face illuminated by moonlight.
"What are you doing here? Did you also commit a capital crime?"
The child pouted: "Yeah, I stole the king's cherry pie."
Wesley felt sorry for the child and rescued him as well.
But this child was no ordinary person.
Under the moonlight, he spoke solemnly to Wesley: "I was originally a little mouse in the palace. Now that you've saved me, I have nothing to hide. As repayment, I'll teach you a method for immortality. How about it?"
A method for immortality?
All people yearn for eternal life, and Wesley was no exception.
Later, following what the child told him, he found Lake Lanier and used the lives of Vivian and the child in her womb to trade with the monster in the lake for immortality.
This was the method of immortality the child had taught him—to sacrifice the lives of one's closest relatives to the monster in exchange for eternal life.
But flesh will always decay; only the soul is immortal.
So from then on, Wesley continued to search among his descendants for bodies to possess, living infinitely under other people's identities.
As long as he continued to have descendants born, he could keep living forever, immortal.
And after Vivian was devoured by the monster, her resentment transformed her into a ghost that hid in this lake.
She swore never to coexist with anyone named Smith.
All people surnamed Smith who passed by Lake Lanier had only one fate—
Death!
I grabbed Rachel and dragged her toward the bow.
She struggled desperately: "Let go of me! What are you trying to do?"
"Marcus, tie her up."
Hearing this, Marcus immediately grabbed the rope used to secure life rings and tied Rachel up.
"If we throw her down directly for the female ghost to kill, she'll definitely be angry if this isn't a Smith. But if we throw down a corpse, that's different. Even if it's not a Smith, it's just a dead body—she won't think we're deliberately deceiving her. And if what we throw down happens to be a Smith? She'll spare us."
Hearing this, Rachel's face went deathly pale: "This is murder!"
"When I pushed Dex overboard, that was already murder. Killing you too doesn't matter."
I looked up at everyone around us.
"Besides, no one will expose me—after all, I'm doing this for everyone's lives on this boat. And the cause of death for you two? Simply be accidental drowning."
The blonde guy spoke first: "That's right, the captain is trying to save us. We won't tell anyone!"
Others chimed in: "If she doesn't die, we'll have to. The captain isn't wrong."
Some people couldn't bear to watch and turned their heads away silently, which amounted to tacit agreement.
I snorted and pulled a folding knife from my bag: "This blade's a bit dull—you might not die immediately. Bear with it."
"NO!!!"
I raised the knife and stabbed viciously toward her heart.
But just as I was about to pierce her heart, Rachel somehow found the strength to break free from the ropes and gripped the blade tightly.
Blood immediately poured from her hands, but she seemed to feel no pain.
And her voice becoming deep and rough, just like a man: "You mere mortal think you can kill me?!"
I smiled coldly.
Found you.
Rachel's strength was enormous. She snatched the knife from my hands and stabbed back at me.
I retreated repeatedly, dodging her attacks again and again, never finding a chance to strike back.
Time was running out.
I shouted toward the water—
"Vivian! Come out and help me!"
The next second, a woman suddenly appeared on the dark lake surface.
She leaped up, flying to stand before me and blocking Rachel's attack.
At the same time, Dex was thrown onto the deck by some mysterious force, unconscious.
I moved closer to Vivian, standing side by side with her, and said calmly to Rachel across from us: "Wesley Smith, I've finally been waiting for you."
Only then did Rachel realize: "Today... today was all a setup by you two?"
"One thousand years, Wesley Smith. I've waited for you for a full thousand years, and you've finally appeared!" Tears welled up in Vivian's eyes, her voice filled with resentment and grief.
But Rachel's expression remained unmoved.
She only let out a cold snort: "A thousand years, and you're still here."
"You didn't die—how could I leave first!"
Vivian and Wesley Smith had been an ordinary married couple a thousand years ago.
Wesley was a small-time carpenter, and Vivian was a textile worker.
They should have lived out their lives peacefully and smoothly.
But when Wesley accidentally entered the royal palace one day, the trajectory of fate began to change.
At that time, the king ordered all the carpenters in the nation to do their utmost to craft a carriage.
Wesley happened to be skilled at his craft, and his work was quickly selected by the ministers and brought into the palace along with its maker.
The king fell in love with the carriage at first sight—from its carved flowers to its design, everything pleased him deeply.
However, this exquisite carriage could only be called a treasure if it were unique in the world.
If the small carpenter returned home and was hired by others to make identical carriages, wouldn't the king's dignity be equivalent to there being another copy in the world?!
Thinking of this, the king immediately ordered: "The small carpenter's carriage conceals mechanisms and was an attempt to assassinate the king—death sentence!"
Just like that, Wesley was thrown into prison.
Coincidentally, as a carpenter, he always carried his tools with him.
Taking advantage of the deep night, he secretly pulled out a small hammer and chiseled a hole in the already weak earthen wall big enough for him to pass through.
"Hey! Take me with you!" suddenly came a call from the corner.
Wesley looked over to see a child's face illuminated by moonlight.
"What are you doing here? Did you also commit a capital crime?"
The child pouted: "Yeah, I stole the king's cherry pie."
Wesley felt sorry for the child and rescued him as well.
But this child was no ordinary person.
Under the moonlight, he spoke solemnly to Wesley: "I was originally a little mouse in the palace. Now that you've saved me, I have nothing to hide. As repayment, I'll teach you a method for immortality. How about it?"
A method for immortality?
All people yearn for eternal life, and Wesley was no exception.
Later, following what the child told him, he found Lake Lanier and used the lives of Vivian and the child in her womb to trade with the monster in the lake for immortality.
This was the method of immortality the child had taught him—to sacrifice the lives of one's closest relatives to the monster in exchange for eternal life.
But flesh will always decay; only the soul is immortal.
So from then on, Wesley continued to search among his descendants for bodies to possess, living infinitely under other people's identities.
As long as he continued to have descendants born, he could keep living forever, immortal.
And after Vivian was devoured by the monster, her resentment transformed her into a ghost that hid in this lake.
She swore never to coexist with anyone named Smith.
All people surnamed Smith who passed by Lake Lanier had only one fate—
Death!
End of The Ghost Lake's Rule: No Smiths, No Exceptions Chapter 7. Continue reading Chapter 8 or return to The Ghost Lake's Rule: No Smiths, No Exceptions book page.