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墨書 Inktalez
The message Fatty and I are sending is not about the current predicament, but about the Giant Octopus in Lop Nur. I only told Fatty about this. Jack didn’t know about it, and it was even less likely that Tang Yumo knew about it. But she came out and gave out this information that was impossible to get from others. If this information comes from her ancestors, it seems that this is the only explanation at present. Then what she said earlier has a certain degree of credibility. In fact, the bigger reason for the expression on my face now is that I was shocked by the phrase Tang Yumo. I would rather that everything she said to me was lying to me. If everything she said to me was true to the end, then this matter would be so unbelievable. But for now, the expressions on our faces are in sync, and no one can tell that I'm panicking over a word from Tang Yumo. , Jack shouted: "Go to the shore." Then he turned around and pushed the boat to swim in a certain direction. I gave Tang Yumo a push to bring her back to reality.
"See? Heimanluo is still changing forms."
The excitement did not affect Tang Yumo's gaze; the transforming Heimanluo only made her more thrilled.
"Our disguise has been blown. We need to leave here before it notices us, or it will squash us with its tail. I really don't understand what you're so excited about—getting killed by Heimanluo?"
I continued to pour cold water on Tang Yumo's enthusiasm, trying my best to hide my own unease.
Jack and Fatty quickly adjusted our course; we couldn't go downstream anymore. The right choice was to escape as fast as possible. The current situation was different from before; now, attracting Heimanluo and Piranha's attention was secondary—the real danger was being hit by Heimanluo's tail. Even a casual swipe could easily lead to our demise.
Fatty and Jack pushed the boat to its limits, and it soon began to move. Tang Yumo and I quickly took our positions, and the four of us pushed the overturned boat toward the shore.
In the confined space, our vigorous movements quickly depleted the little oxygen we had left. Before long, the two in front stopped.
"We need to get some oxygen. I'm about to suffocate."
Fatty, being strong but also consuming a lot of energy, was the first to reach his limit. He shot me a glance while trying to signal Jack. Although Jack's boat-flipping trick was effective, it required experience that he lacked. Fatty couldn't bring himself to ask Jack for help, so he nudged me to speak up.
I shook my head at him. "No way, we're too close to Black Giant. If we make any noise and it notices us, just one swipe of its tail and we'll all be done for."
"Are you planning to suffocate yourself?" Fatty said with a scowl.
"Just hold on a bit longer."
"I have a plan."
Jack turned his head and nodded at me, pointing one finger upward.
"Light it up for me."
With that, a splash echoed as he climbed up from the water into the cabin. Jack pulled out a dagger from his belt and began to poke at the bottom of the boat repeatedly. My flashlight followed the movement of his dagger, and I could see that Jack's expression was serious. I didn't want to interrupt him, but I knew the thickness of the boat's bottom; there was no way a dagger could pierce through it.
After a moment, Jack's dagger stopped at a certain spot, and he poked at that area carefully for a while. He marked a cross on that point.
"This is the weakest spot. If we apply some force here, we can make a hole."
Fatty perked up at this. "Step aside; this is my specialty."
As Jack stepped back, Fatty climbed onto the boat's board. With his right hand, he threw a powerful punch.
There was a dull thud.
"Ugh," Fatty hissed through gritted teeth as he took a breath of cool air.
"The wood is a bit charred, but one punch isn't enough."
I noticed Fatty's lips trembling as he spoke; it seemed his fist had met more resistance than he expected, and it must have hurt quite a bit.
"Then keep going," Jack replied coldly.
"Why me? Why don’t you give it a try?" Fatty ’s face turned bright red, stubbornly refusing to back down. However, he didn’t dare to push his luck any further.
"Alright, I'll give it a shot."
Jack pulled a magazine from his backpack and slammed it against the marked spot with two loud thuds. Splinters flew everywhere, revealing a hole the size of a fist.
"Damn," Fatty cursed as he shook his hand.
I looked at Fatty with sympathy. Intelligence was clearly not his strong suit.
The hole in the bottom of the boat no longer let in any light; it seemed the fire outside had gone out. Water couldn’t extinguish White Phosphorus Residue, but White Phosphorus Residue burned quickly, especially when it was dispersed.
When the White Phosphorus Residue burned out, the flames it had ignited could easily be snuffed out. Some of the ignition points even extinguished rapidly once they lost the high-temperature support from the White Phosphorus.
In this way, our flashlight became particularly conspicuous. Even with just a fist-sized hole, the light it emitted was as bright as a torch in this pitch-black environment.
I quickly turned off the flashlight and lowered my voice. "Don't stop, let's get out of here quickly."
No one spoke, but the boat immediately began to move, drifting silently toward the Underground River.
Turning off the flashlight was crucial; as for keeping quiet, that was purely fear playing tricks on us. The roaring waves on the river produced a deafening sound, and the splashing water could reach us around the boat. I estimated that even if we shouted, our voices wouldn't carry over the overwhelming noise outside.
The banks of the Underground River had rocks we could step on, and we easily climbed out from beneath the boat. By this time, the slaughter in the middle of the Underground River had moved out of our sight, but the rumbling sounds continued to echo in our ears.
Once we reached the shore, I felt an intense chill seep into my bones.
While we were in the water, my mind had been highly alert, and the frantic paddling had pushed aside the cold. But now that the greatest threat had passed, the cold became our primary concern.
At this stretch of the Underground River, there were no twigs or debris along the banks to start a fire. The flammable materials we carried were meant for dealing with Heimanluo; we had already used some against the Long-Tailed Monster, and during the capsizing earlier, some had fallen into the river. If we used any more now, we would have nothing left to confront Heimanluo.
"We need to start a fire; otherwise, we'll freeze to death."
Compared to Fatty, Jack and I—being leaner—were less tolerant of the cold. So even though our combustible materials were pitifully few, I still supported Jack's suggestion.
"Alright." Fatty shrugged his shoulders. "You have fish in the river, so I'll go catch one to eat."
I frowned. I knew that with Fatty saying this, our food must have also been thrown into the river. It seemed we first needed to assess our remaining supplies; we couldn't rush into Heimanluo's territory without a plan.
When I checked, I found that I only had a fire stick left at my waist. That was basically a death sentence.
We rested some distance from the shore while Fatty fashioned a simple fishing hook and headed toward the river with a piece of rope.
I lit a torch and set up a few stones to dry our clothes with Jack. Tang Yumo was shivering from the cold; the warmth from the torch was hardly enough to comfort someone in wet clothes.
"Zhang, we need to hurry. Heimanluo has left their old lair, which is a good opportunity for us."
Hearing Jack's words, my eyes lit up. (To Be Continued...)
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