Mazi was furious when the original owner dared to resist him. In his anger, he pushed her into the water, planning to teach her a lesson.
However, the original owner's body was weak, and in her panic, she drowned.
According to the book, after Mazi realized he had killed the original owner, he was initially panicked but quickly calmed down.
He dragged her body to the bottom of the river, tying it with water plants. While her body was still soft, he even touched it for his own pleasure before swimming back to shore and heading home.
Lucy couldn't help but admire Mazi's strong mental fortitude. What she didn't know was that this wasn't Mazi's first time killing someone.
About five years ago, he had bullied a girl from the neighbor's family. The girl fought back fiercely, and he accidentally strangled her to death. Afterward, he buried her body on the mountain.
The girl's family reported the incident to the police, but after investigating for over a month, they found nothing. In that era, there were no surveillance cameras, and tracking down missing persons was difficult.
Mazi was terrified for a month, but when nothing happened, his courage grew. So, when it came to killing again, he found it much easier than before.
The original owner's body was not discovered until a week later. The police investigated for a few days but found no clues. They concluded that she had accidentally fallen into the river and drowned.
Lucy figured it was about time. In this era, killing was illegal, and it would be troublesome to investigate. But this was the original owner's life, and she didn't want to let it go so easily.
She took out a bottle of clear liquid from her space. This liquid, called "Dumbness Potion," was extracted and researched from mutated animals. It had no particular function.
It only caused mental confusion, memory loss, and cognitive impairment—simply put, it made people mentally slow, like a fool.
The key point was that it made people both foolish and docile, which was quite an interesting effect.
Handling this was not easy. She had the original owner's memories, and she knew that in this era, even if she reported it to the police, even if all the evidence pointed to Mazi, her reputation would be ruined.
Not only in this era, but in her own time as well, many people believed that "flies don't bother an unblemished egg."
Besides, it was still dark when she arrived, which was already unreasonable. Her adoptive mother hated her to the core and would never testify for her. In fact, her adoptive mother might even turn it around and say she was secretly meeting a lover, thus ruining her reputation entirely.
Mazi would never admit to forcing the original owner into the situation. After all, a charge of assault could lead to severe punishment. Between the two evils, he would choose the lesser one.
If Mazi had any sense, he would insist that the original owner was the one who invited him to the river, and he might even claim that she seduced him.
With both her adoptive mother's and Mazi's testimony, even if she were in the right, she wouldn't be able to explain it. Since it couldn't be clarified, then... she would simply not say anything!
Lucy quickly exited her space, passing her hands through Mazi's floating arms and lifting him up with force. The water plants she had wrapped around him weren't enough, and with her pull, they snapped.
Lucy dragged him up to the surface of the water. When his head emerged, she checked his pupils, and indeed, he wasn't dead yet. Perfect timing, she thought, giving herself a mental thumbs-up.
She grabbed Mazi's face and dripped two drops of the potion into his mouth.
This potion was colorless and tasteless, effective quickly with no side effects, and easy to carry around. It was definitely a must-have for home or travel.
She checked Mazi's body and hands again, looking for any of Lucy's hair, pieces of torn clothing, skin fragments, or anything else that could be traced back to her.
Even though she had already examined her clothes inside the space and found no damage, she might have missed some small details.
She had also checked her body. The original host was already covered in injuries. Most were from the foster mother and foster sister. Mazi had also hit her a few times, so checking him made her feel more at ease.
As for the riverbank, she wasn't worried. According to the original host's memories, that part of the shore was mostly grassy, and grass didn't leave footprints.
Even though the Daliu River was remote, many people used the path during the day to take a shortcut to the eastern part of the city. There were plenty of footprints. It was only quiet now because it was barely dawn.
After confirming she had left no evidence on Mazi, she took out a phone from her space and played a pre-recorded male voice calling for help.
She shouted a few times, stopped to listen, then repeated. The place was remote, and the sky was just starting to brighten. No one responded for a while.
About seven or eight minutes later, she finally heard movement in the distance.
Five men, around thirty or forty years old, were walking along the narrow path by the river. They seemed to hear someone calling for help and looked at each other.
People drowned in the Daliu River every year. Since they were in a group, they weren't afraid. One tall and strong man asked, "Did you hear something?"
"Sounded like someone calling for help. Let's go check it out." The five of them spoke while running toward the riverbank. People back then were still kind and willing to help.
The riverbank was covered in reeds and weeds taller than a person. Without the voice calling for help, they wouldn't have noticed anyone had fallen in. After turning past a large patch of reeds, they finally saw the scene in the river.
About ten meters from the shore, a human-shaped figure floated up and down in the water. There was no more shouting. It was clear the person was in trouble.
The strong man was a good swimmer. He jumped into the water to rescue them.
Lucy had already put the phone back into her space the moment she heard movement. When she saw shadows near the riverbank, she sank into the water and entered her space.
Inside, she took off her gloves and wet clothes. That day she wore a dark blue shirt, black pants, and cloth shoes.
She wrung out the clothes, shook them dry, then put them in the dryer along with the shoes.
Suddenly remembering something, she searched her pants pocket and found a food coupon and fifty cents. She stared curiously at the money and coupon from this era.
Madam Ye had given them to the original host that morning. It was likely to avoid suspicion, pretending to send her out to pass a message and pick up breakfast like buns or fried dough.
The foster family's finances were just enough. They occasionally bought food outside as a treat.
After looking for a while, she placed the money and coupon on the dryer.
Once done, she checked outside. Mazi had already been pulled ashore, and the others were performing first aid.
She didn't pay attention to them anymore. She quickly changed into a diving suit from her space, put on an oxygen tank and diving gear, and exited the space.
The surface of the river rippled slightly. The people on shore were too focused to notice. Even if they did, they would assume it was just the wind. She swam upstream, following the original host's memory.