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墨書 Inktalez
I felt a haze clouding my mind, robbing me of my usual bravado. Jack easily saw the fear in my eyes.
He wiped his face, and the green hue that had enveloped him vanished as if by magic. He extended the hand he had just wiped across his face toward me, revealing it transformed into a vibrant green, glistening with a luminous sheen. Drops of this radiant green liquid dripped from the edges of his palm and fell into my gaping mouth.
In that moment, I felt utterly dazed. How could I let Jack drip such a strange substance into my mouth?
A subtle fragrance danced on my taste buds, but there was no other flavor.
In a semi-conscious state, I was dragged by Jack to stand before the Light Barrier. The surface of the stone wall was smooth yet uneven, glowing in places where it slightly protruded—similar to how a mosquito bite raises a small bump above the skin.
We were so close that my nose nearly touched the Light Barrier. I caught a whiff of the fragrance that had just blossomed in my mouth; it was faint yet incredibly pleasant.
Jack stood beside me, his face alight with delight. "I knew there would be something edible here; we won't starve."
Looking at the situation, especially at the hole clearly gnawed out by Jack, I believed that as long as there was something to eat, we could survive here for quite some time.
Seeing that hole made it clear: Jack's face wasn't being swallowed by the glowing stone wall; rather, he had bitten through it to consume whatever lay inside. Standing before this luminous barrier, I realized this wasn't merely a stone wall; at least its surface wasn't made of stone.
I reached out and poked the wall with a finger. It was soft and elastic, feeling like a thin layer of skin stretched over something beneath. With a firm jab, I punctured it, my entire finger sinking in. When I pulled it back out, it was coated in a faintly glowing green juice, and a bit oozed from the hole I had made. The aroma wafting into my nose became more pronounced—a scent reminiscent of fruit but lacking any sweetness. It was enticing, and perhaps due to my hunger, I felt an overwhelming urge to take a bite.
I stared at a glowing patch, somewhat talking to myself. "What is this? A plant? Self-luminous and photosynthetic, it's as incredible as a perpetual motion machine."
Jack grinned slightly. "Who knows what it is? Fungi or lichen, it's hard to link it to plants; at least my knowledge says that's impossible, even though it tastes like fruit.
But in this damn place, I wouldn't be surprised if any Monster showed up; I'd believe it was an animal too."
Jack licked his lips and buried his head into the hole he had gnawed out. Soon enough, I heard the sound of him munching, occasionally accompanied by a crisp noise reminiscent of biting into a juicy pear.
I frowned at Jack. "I think this thing might be toxic, if it's even edible. Something this big would have been devoured by the local wildlife long ago."
I didn't stop Jack because it was unnecessary; he had already made quite a dent. The amount he had eaten was enough to fill a large bowl, so stopping him now would be pointless.
Suddenly, Jack turned his face, dripping with Emerald juice, towards me with a strange and mysterious smile. "That possibility exists. But I think there's another reason, and it's more likely."
At this point, Jack licked the Emerald juice that overflowed from the corner of his mouth. My throat moved involuntarily as I couldn't help but swallow. I had to admit, the faint aroma emanating from this thing was incredibly enticing.
For someone as hungry as I was, it was dangerously tempting.
"This is the territory of some big guy; it's not that the creatures we've seen don't want a piece of the pie, but that they dare not come here. This big guy is the ruler of this place. Remember that pile of dung I stepped in? You think something that can drop such a massive load would have trouble dealing with a few red-eyed monsters? It would be child's play."
I stared at Jack in disbelief. "So why are you still here eating like there's no tomorrow? Waiting for that big guy to come and wipe us out?"
Jack rolled his eyes at me. Turning back to take another bite, he exhaled an enticing aroma along with green bits. "Why are you being so stubborn? We have guns, don't we? Once we're full, we can just wait here. When it comes, we'll have both meat and vegetables."
As soon as I heard that, I almost lost my temper. It seemed this guy was still thinking about eating meat. I worried that if we stayed here too long, the Lao people and Vietnamese might not survive. If an accident delayed our crossing or if we simply couldn't get across, resulting in harm to the Lao people, I wouldn't blame myself too much. But if it was because of a craving for meat that the Lao people lost their lives, that was something I could not tolerate or accept.
"Give up on your fantasy of eating meat. We can wait, but the Lao people and Vietnamese cannot. I don't want to return to the other side of the river to find three cold corpses waiting for us. You don't want that either."
Jack shrugged. "That's true. Actually, this stuff is pretty good; I don't feel like I need to eat meat."
With that, he buried his face back into the pit he had dug out, and the sounds of slurping and munching soon followed. I was really worried he might suffocate; he had his whole face buried in the glowing emerald juice. Didn't he care about choking?
However, my worries were unfounded. After a while of pigging out, Jack lifted his head, breathing heavily and chewing on what was in his mouth.
As he chewed, he turned to look at me and said after swallowing, "This works out well for you too. If this stuff is toxic, it should show symptoms in me pretty quickly. That way, neither of us will end up poisoned."
At that moment, Jack looked like a beggar—one who was a bit slow-witted at that. Yet the aroma wafting from his mouth, warmed and crushed by his saliva, was increasingly enticing. It was nothing like when we usually ate; after chewing and mixing with saliva, food would lose its flavor by the time it reached others nearby.
I looked at Jack. His appearance was indeed disheveled; his face was covered in green juice, especially his long hair and beard which stuck to his face after getting wet with the liquid—his entire face was green. Even his blue eyes had turned green.
But he seemed to be in great condition, showing no signs of poisoning at all; his thoughts appeared clear as well. After giving me a wink, he turned back to devour more food. He really had poor table manners; he must have been starving mad.
I swallowed hard and drew a dagger from my waist, slicing off a piece of the glowing green object in front of me.
I was starving and couldn't hold out any longer. Moreover, judging by Jack's condition, this thing didn't seem toxic at all. We needed to get back to the Underground River and find a way to cross it. Without some food to replenish our strength, we wouldn't be able to manage it.
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