Chapter 163: Going Berserk

The person holding a knife to my throat was actually Tian Xiaoqi! Damn it, I never would have guessed in a million years that the person I just saved was this woman. But how did she get here? Had she been trailing our team the whole time without us noticing?

“What are you doing here?” I blurted out.

Tian Xiaoqi immediately made a shushing gesture. She lowered the knife from my throat and pointed it toward the wardrobe door. Clearly, she had also noticed the viscous, crawling thing outside. I quickly reined in my emotions and switched off my flashlight.

The space inside the wardrobe was incredibly cramped. In an instant, aside from the approaching crawling sounds, all we could hear was each other’s breathing. I held my flashlight in one hand and my short dagger in the other. Tian Xiaoqi’s Nepalese kukri was held horizontally just an inch in front of me; the blade was so sharp I felt like it could slice my entire head off with a flick.

Just as my mind started to wander, the room door suddenly creaked. Something must have pushed it open from the outside, followed by a series of strange footsteps. As my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, I instinctively pulled Tian Xiaoqi back and peered out through the crack in the wardrobe door.

Soon, a pitch-black shadow appeared in my line of sight. Terrified, I jerked my head back. Though I could only catch a blurry glimpse, I was certain this thing was a monster.

It looked like a human that had been stretched out, with long arms and legs. It entered by crawling flat against the floor. It had no facial features, only two nostrils. As it crawled, it occasionally raised its head to sniff the air. I watched its movements with wide eyes. It climbed onto the bed frame, the wood groaning and creaking under the pressure – a sound that felt piercingly loud in the empty, silent environment.

Startled by the sudden noise, Tian Xiaoqi took a step forward and grabbed my arm. Caught off guard, I stumbled under her pull, and the bottom of the wardrobe let out a sharp “clack.” At that exact moment, I saw the creature’s head snap up, staring dead-on in our direction.

I quickly braced my hands against the door panels, cursing inwardly and wondering if this woman was doing this on purpose. The thing outside was too deformed to be a living creature; it looked like a handful to deal with. It was probably some anti-theft “pet” raised inside the tomb.

By the time I snapped back to reality, the thing was already stepping toward the wardrobe. I hurriedly pressed down on Tian Xiaoqi’s hand and pulled my head back, only to find her head bowed and eyes shut. She was trembling, clutching my arm with a death grip, her previous intimidating aura with the knife completely gone.

I steeled my heart. No matter how powerful this thing was, it still moved like a human, which meant there was a high probability it would fear sharp blades.

I grabbed Tian Xiaoqi back, signaling her to be quiet, and carefully pushed her into the deepest corner of the wardrobe. Then, keeping my eyes on the creature outside, I tucked my dagger into my waistband and took the kukri from Tian Xiaoqi’s hand, ready for anything. If the thing outside wanted to play rough, I planned to send it straight to the afterlife with one strike.

The monster sniffed around the base of the wardrobe for a while before leaning against the doors to sniff there. I gripped the knife with a reverse hold and held my breath, watching as the thing pressed itself vertically against the wardrobe door. It was only then that I realized its human-like feet actually had suckers similar to those of marine life, allowing it to cling to walls like a gecko.

A thought flashed through my mind. Could it be that the thing I saw peering through the lattice carvings earlier wasn’t a person? After all, I’d been walking for so long without seeing a soul. Was it this creature?

I looked up, my gaze cold. The thing was currently pressed against the wardrobe door, completely off guard, and my position was perfectly aligned with its neck. No matter how capable it was, if I slashed now, it would definitely die.

This time was different from before. I wasn’t just thinking about it; I truly wanted to kill this thing. Leaving it alive meant we would have to share the same space later, and its existence would ultimately be a massive threat to us.

I took a silent, deep breath and held the knife across my chest. The creature retreated half a step, seemingly sensing our presence. Hardening my heart, I gripped the handle with both hands and, without a moment’s hesitation, drove the blade violently into its neck.

The creature’s shrill scream nearly deafened me. My anger surged to the top of my head. Drawing strength from some unknown source, I kicked the wardrobe door open and actually tackled the thrashing monster sideways onto the floor.

The knife didn’t slip. I used the momentum to slash downward fiercely while quickly wrapping my leg around from behind to lock the thing’s neck. I’d learned this move from Lu Ayao. He said that for human-like creatures, the neck has the narrowest range of rotation; they usually can’t protect the back while facing the front, making the neck quite vulnerable.

Instantly, a fishy stench flooded my nostrils. Blood splattered all over my arm, so disgusting I nearly gagged.

It was just like killing a fish. No matter how its limbs struggled and clawed at my diving suit, I kept the knife pressed down firmly. Soon, my arm was covered in bloody scratches. It hurt, but I didn’t dare let go, because the moment I did, it would surely escape. As it struggled harder, my blade sank deeper, and more black blood sprayed out. Once it had lost enough blood, the thing gradually stopped moving.

After a while, I finally pulled the knife out. My entire arm was aching and sore. I scrambled up from the floor and clicked on my flashlight, only to realize I was sitting in a pool of blood. The monster’s skin was a pale grey, and it had bled out completely.

Tian Xiaoqi was still standing frozen by the wardrobe. As I stepped over the monster’s corpse toward her, she saw the knife still in my hand and backed away a few steps in wary alarm, as if she were looking at a ghost. After a moment of speechless frustration, I reached out and handed the knife back to her.

Turning around, I used the flashlight to inspect the monster’s corpse from head to toe. I poked its skin and found that only the arms and legs had distinct bones; the rest of it was soft and squishy, like some kind of mollusk. “Have you seen one of these before? What is it?”

Tian Xiaoqi snapped out of it. “Before I came here, I visited a few nearby villages. When I went out to sea, some old fishermen said there are Sea Monks in these waters and warned us to be careful while sailing. I don’t know if this is a Sea Monk.”

“What’s a Sea Monk?” I asked.

Tian Xiaoqi thought for a moment. “I’ve heard they’re turtles, but there are also rumors they’re soft-shelled turtles. The most common description is a human head with a turtle shell. They say merchant sailors consider Sea Monks a bad omen because encountering one means a shipwreck is guaranteed.”

“Oh,” I grunted, asking no further questions. I stole a glance at the diving suit Tian Xiaoqi was wearing, then leaned against the bed and used the quilt to wipe the foul-smelling black blood off my body.

After a long silence, Tian Xiaoqi edged closer and asked, “Why… why aren’t you asking anything else? Aren’t you curious why I’m here?”

Because of what happened before, my trust in this woman had dropped to sub-zero. I didn’t want anything to do with her this time, no matter what. Whether she followed our team in or came in alone, I had no intention of asking another word.

“Not curious.” I finished wiping myself down with my head bowed, shouldered my pack, switched on my flashlight, and walked straight out.

Seeing that I wasn’t falling for her tricks anymore, Tian Xiaoqi was clearly bewildered, but she quickly followed. “Wait, aren’t you… aren’t you afraid of running into another one of those things? If the two of us walk together, it’ll be much safer here. Don’t you think?”

“I’m not going with you. You do your business, I’ll do mine. We’ll stay out of each other’s way. Besides, do you even trust me?” I stopped and shone my flashlight at her, smiling. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll see whatever it is you’re here to find?”

Tian Xiaoqi froze in place, caught off guard by my sudden interrogation.

Thinking back on everything that had happened, I took a step toward her, my gaze burning as I pressed her for answers. “Trying to trick me again? You don’t need to play the damsel in distress with me. That Sea Monk back there-you could have handled it on your own, couldn’t you?”

“But it really is too dark here. It’s truly unsafe to walk alone,” Tian Xiaoqi said, falling back on her old tricks.

At this point, my frustration was reaching its breaking point. I turned back, wanting to scream at her, but I gritted my teeth and fought to hold it in.

“There you go again,” I said. “Testing me again. How does your conscience even let you do this? Do I look like an easy target? Do you just pick me to scam because I’m the only one who falls for it?! Ask yourself, when have I ever mistreated you? I carried you to that tower even when my own leg was crippled. When you were unconscious and He Yu was interrogating you, who was the one who stepped in every single time? And in return, you drugged us, dragged He Yu ten meters across the ground, and tried to kill Lu Ayao. That’s my brother, for god’s sake!”

I pointed at my own chest. “Do you have any idea what happened on that bridge? If that guy Qiao’s aim had been just a little bit better, if I hadn’t lunged forward, He Yu would have died right there in the water. You were there, weren’t you? Did it make you happy to see us looking so pathetic? Now I’m telling you to leave and you won’t go. What exactly do you want from me?!”

I rarely lose my temper like this. My chest was heaving. Tian Xiaoqi looked terrified, pressing herself against the wall and not daring to move. I ignored her, turning away in a rage to continue down the pitch-black corridor. A heavy, dark aura surrounded me; if a dog had crossed my path right then, I probably would have kicked it twice just to vent.

I couldn’t understand it. I’d actually saved this woman’s life yet again.