The secret to my family’s wealth was the river running right outside our door. Whenever an outsider came by, my father would fake a drowning, then pull the good Samaritan who tried to save him under the water and drown them instead. He’d call my Uncle Frank to ‘recover the body’ later. Frank would strap the corpse to the boat and demand a hefty reward from the victim's family. It wasn't just the perfect crime; the profits were incredible. Until one day, the body Uncle Frank fished out was my father’s. Just like every person my dad had drowned, his death was ruled an accident. My mother was inconsolable with grief, but Uncle Frank and the others looked strangely tense. Later, Frank told me my dad’s death wasn't right. After Dad died, Frank still received a text message from his phone. 1 After my dad’s funeral, Grandpa called all the men in the family together. That included my Uncle Frank, my two older cousins—Jimmy and Scott—and me, Alex. Frank started by laying out the facts he knew. The police estimated my dad, the youngest son, had died around seven or eight p.m. But Frank didn't receive a text from Dad until after midnight. That’s why he took Jimmy and Scott out on the boat to retrieve the body. Sure enough, they brought one up. But they never expected it to be Dad. Dad definitely didn't drown by accident. It had to be murder. He was an expert swimmer. He could easily drag someone under the water and sneak away. He could even go home, change clothes, and come back to the riverbank to pretend he was helping with the rescue once a crowd gathered. So, the question was, who killed my dad? "It shouldn't be an outsider. Dad, look at the message the youngest sent." He handed his phone, screen lit up, to Grandpa. The three of us cousins leaned in to look. It was a text message: "A little bird has fallen into the water." The sender was my dad, and the time was after midnight, hours after his estimated death. The problem was, this was our code. It meant someone had drowned and it was time to go fish out the body. Frank argued: "Who else besides family would know that code?" Grandpa frowned, turning to look at the three of us. We exchanged glances. That was my own father, and their uncle. How could we possibly do something like that? Even if we could, what was the motive? Grandpa realized it was unlikely and roared at Frank: "What are you saying? Don't talk nonsense!" Frank quickly explained: "No, I'm not saying the boys would do something like that... I want to know if anyone accidentally told our code to an outsider?" The moment he said that, Jimmy, standing next to me, suddenly stiffened. 2 Frank noticed. He instantly exploded with anger and shouted: "You little punk! Spit it out! Was it you?" Jimmy’s face changed dramatically. He stammered: "Dad, I... I didn't mean to. I just... I…" Frank jumped up, raising his hand to strike Jimmy. Scott and I flinched away, scared. Luckily, Grandpa interrupted Frank in time, shouting: "Frank, stop! What's the point of hitting him? You idiot!" Then he beckoned to Jimmy: "Come here, Jimmy. Tell Grandpa… who did you tell?" Jimmy ran trembling to Grandpa and finally confessed: "It was my friend… Old Man Miller's son, Tom Miller, from down the street…" He then explained, near tears: "I didn't mean to. I was just drunk, and I accidentally… I just said it once…" Frank stomped his foot in a fit of rage. But Grandpa reassured him: "He already said it. What's done is done. Let's focus on figuring out what happened…" Since Grandpa had spoken, Frank's outburst was useless. But Grandpa looked specifically at me. I had to say something: "If Tom really did it, I'll kill his whole damn family." After all, it was my dad who died. Though I genuinely had no affection for him, since he had none for me. And having seen countless people die in front of me since childhood, I didn't feel much grief over his death. To me, death was normal. Grandpa’s brow furrowed again. He muttered to himself: "But… Tom doesn't have any beef with our family…" He turned to Frank and instructed: "Frank, tomorrow you go set up a meeting with Tom's dad. I'll talk to him first, test the waters… see if the grudge was just between him and the youngest… or if it's targeted at all of us…" But Frank didn't answer. He had been furious moments ago, but now he was standing completely still, his expression blank. He was looking at his phone. Grandpa got angry again and scolded him: "What are you looking at your phone for! Did you hear me?" Frank finally reacted, quickly turning the screen toward Grandpa: "No, Dad, look at this!" On the screen was a newly received text message. The content was: "A little bird has fallen into the water." Suddenly, even Grandpa fell silent. 3 Finally, it was Jimmy who broke the silence: "That number… that number looks like Tom's!" After saying that, he frantically pulled out his own phone. After checking for a few seconds, he confirmed: "It is! That's his number!" Grandpa’s frown deepened. Frank paused, then carefully asked: "Dad… should we, should we take the boat out to check?" Grandpa pondered for a good while before instructing: "You go, but be careful… whether you find a body or not, no matter whose body you find… don't make a sound, and don't call the police. Come back and we'll discuss it." Frank quickly nodded. Then he motioned for the three of us cousins to get the boat ready. Retrieving bodies has its tricks. The river isn't still water; bodies won't stay in one place. But we were experienced. We knew there were a few spots downstream that were excellent for recovery. Those places were full of rocks and reefs, where bodies usually got snagged. However, there was no bank there; the river was flanked by thorny thickets, so we had to approach by boat. Luckily, we knew the route by heart. Soon, we reached the spot. We couldn't risk the boat hitting the rocks, so we stopped and prepared for manual retrieval. Jimmy and Scott tied on safety ropes, ready to jump in and search the rocks. I looked at the murky, black river water. The searchlight only illuminated a small surface area, and I felt a knot of anxiety. So, I suggested to Frank: "Uncle Frank, I'm not good at retrieval, and my swimming isn't strong enough… maybe I can stay on the boat and assist you with signals?" Frank seemed to sense my fear and waved his hand. "It's fine, you don't have to go in. Your brothers are seasoned pros; let them do it… but you do need to practice your swimming… you'll be taking over your dad's role someday…" I breathed a sigh of relief. Frank didn't go into the water either. Jimmy and Scott, wearing searchlights on their heads, calmly jumped in. Bodies don't float quickly. Even if they're caught on a reef, they're likely snagged underwater. Sure enough, after a short time, someone surfaced and signaled with their searchlight. Frank quickly motored the boat over. Getting closer, we saw it was Jimmy. He shouted: "Found him! Throw down the rope!" Frank quickly threw down the rope from the winch, and Jimmy submerged again to work. Soon, the other end of the rope was tied to a body. Frank started turning the winch. The body slowly rose toward the boat until it was lifted close to the bow… Jimmy shone his light on the body's face and yelled: "Holy crap! It really is Tom!" Frank locked the winch, but his brow furrowed. He looked around, then asked Jimmy, who was still in the water: "Where's your brother?" It hit me too— Scott hadn't surfaced yet. Jimmy froze. "Pull the safety rope! Hurry!" 4 When Scott was pulled up, he was completely unconscious. Luckily, Frank reacted quickly. Otherwise, he would have drowned. Once on the boat, Scott was coughing uncontrollably. Frank immediately cleared the mud, sand, and water weeds from his mouth and nose. Then, using the "head-tilt, chin-lift" technique, he tilted Scott's head back to keep his airway open. Finally, after throwing up a large amount of filthy water, Scott was able to breathe deeply. But he was still disoriented. We quickly rushed Scott home. Aunt Jane was terrified and immediately rushed out to care for him. I didn't dare alarm my mother, as she still hadn't recovered. Grandpa was also surprised. Scott was an excellent swimmer, even better than Jimmy. He had been in that exact spot hundreds of times. How could he possibly drown? Scott was still woozy, but seemed out of danger. Since Aunt Jane was caring for him, Grandpa told us to hurry up and dispose of Tom's body. "The youngest died just two days ago, and now he's dead too… If the police see such frequent deaths, they'll suspect something. Go bury him… hurry…" Frank, Jimmy, and I drove out late that night, found a spot, and buried Tom. When we got back, Scott had recovered significantly. He could at least open his eyes and speak a little. Seeing us return, Grandpa told Aunt Jane to rest. The main goal was for all of us to hear why Scott had almost drowned. When the subject came up, Scott's face was full of terror. He started shaking. His trembling lips could only force out one sentence: "A head… a human head! The eyes… the eyes were glowing…!" 5 Scott stammered through his account for a long time before we understood what happened underwater. He had submerged, searching the rocks for the body as usual. He even checked the patches of water weeds. But for a moment, he thought something other than water weeds had brushed his arm. He swept his searchlight around and discovered— A human head, silently suspended in the shadow of a nearby rock. And what had touched his arm wasn't water weeds. It was the long hair floating off the head. It drifted silently, like dense water weeds, obscuring its face. At that moment, Scott wasn't terrified yet. He had seen too many bodies. This was clearly one, too, though he didn't understand why it was only a head. And since Tom was a man, this long-haired head was clearly a woman's. He reached out, intending to grab the hair and pull the head out. But just then, something strange happened. Scott finally saw the head's face. It was swollen and rotting, the skin peeling away from being waterlogged. There were many signs of having been smashed, and the skin was drifting away from those damaged areas. Most incredibly, the eyes— The deep, massive, rounded eyes suddenly erupted with an eerie blue light. That sight terrified Scott nearly to unconsciousness. Naturally, he forgot to hold his breath and forgot to surface. The salty, foul-smelling river water instantly flooded his mouth, choking him… After hearing Scott's story, everyone was speechless. Even Grandpa frowned, falling into silence. But Frank suddenly erupted in rage, viciously slapping Jimmy across the face! We were all stunned, and even Grandpa looked confused. Until Frank gritted his teeth and roared: "You animal! Why did you tell Tom our code? What kind of dirty business were you two doing together?!"
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