Chapter 109: The Sea Monster’s True Form?
Although Drake was shocked by the truth Li Nuowei confessed, he also recognized the current situation. Hearing the increasingly urgent footsteps from behind the door, he said to Li Nuowei, “Alright, I believe you. Since you have such an ability, then for the next actions, I will listen to you.”
“Then leave it to me,” Li Nuowei nodded cheerfully, and then led Drake deeper into this dark room.
There was light in the depths of the room, a dim green, as if substances like fluorite were embedded around the walls. They connected the cracks in the walls, forming irregular patterns, like developed plant roots stretching to another underground spiral staircase.
Drake was a little curious and wanted to get closer, but Li Nuowei grabbed his arm and said, “Don’t stare at that light for too long. That light is life, and it’s very sensitive to the sight of living beings. It will parasitize in your eyes and then slowly drain the nutrients from your brain.”
“The light is actually life?” Drake was stunned, suddenly feeling that his imagination and vision were somewhat inadequate.
“You have died at the hands of these things three times,” Li Nuowei stated the terrifying fact calmly. Drake’s expression froze for a moment, and then he no longer dared to try to look.
Not encountering any out-of-control and terrifying dangers, Drake gradually relaxed. As he descended the stairs, he continued to pursue the previous topic: “Since you have experienced so many of these things, have you never had a single experience of surviving head-on?”
“Yes, many times,” Li Nuowei led the way, constantly observing their surroundings, and said, “But those were never the endings I wanted to see. I could survive alone until the end, but the ending was never perfect.”
Hearing Li Nuowei’s words, Drake was silent for a moment and asked, “What would be considered perfect for you?”
“Everything I want to achieve can be done, and everyone I want to protect can live. That’s what I consider perfection,” Li Nuowei said with great determination, without any confusion.
Drake didn’t know why Li Nuowei was so fixated on his idea of a perfect ending. He simply stated his own view: “Life is full of dissatisfaction, about eight or nine times out of ten, because no one is perfect, and naturally, they cannot accomplish perfect things.”
“I believe it can be done, with my ability,” Li Nuowei said in a deep voice. “Although it is not an easy task, this was my original intention when I bought this ability from the small dwelling. And I am slowly getting better and better at it, just a little bit away from success.”
“Aren’t you tired?” Drake asked.
Li Nuowei’s steps paused, and he turned to look at Drake. Drake said earnestly, “Frequent deaths and reincarnations must have made you lose something. I think anyone can see that your mental state is very abnormal.”
“There’s always a price to pay,” Li Nuowei vaguely avoided the question and changed the subject, saying, “Do you know what the thing beneath this air-raid shelter is?”
“The true form of that big fish?” Drake looked at him deeply but still followed Li Nuowei’s topic and made a guess.
Li Nuowei shook his head: “No, but it’s equally dangerous.”
After hearing this, Drake pondered for a few seconds, frowned, and a wild thought crossed his mind. He tentatively asked, “Could it be that sea monster beast?”
He remembered that in the copybook of ancient texts seen at the Liuhua Street Museum, it was mentioned that the Sea God of Anhai, who allegedly descended to Earth from outer space, had defeated an unknown sea monster beast that was causing trouble in the coastal areas at the time.
The information recorded in that “history book” could not be fully believed. After all, that unknown sea monster was a being of a similar type to the Sea God of Anhai. According to the agent’s knowledge base, both could be classified as abnormal god class. The life form of abnormal gods has long surpassed human understanding and cognition of life. Death, as defined by us humans, might not be the same for abnormal gods.
“Bingo（ Correct）!” Li Nuowei nodded. “That sea monster did not truly die. To be precise, the sea monster was just one of the incarnations of that abnormal god.”
“It was just an incarnation? Then is what’s underground the true form of that abnormal god?” Drake shuddered.
“I’m not sure if that’s the true form; I’ve never even had the chance to glimpse its full form,” Li Nuowei recalled his repeated deaths with great pain, pinching his brow. He described it as: “It’s a gray muddy swamp, but upon closer inspection, the swamp is not an entity. It’s a kind of energetic fluid that cannot be defined by current human science. It’s just that those energies overlap, and the color is deep, making it look like an entity.”
Inside the swamp are faces of all sorts of creatures, human faces, beast faces, and I’ve even seen the faces of countless anomaly creatures. They are twisted and piled together, seeming to be alive and conscious, and they emit pleas for help and wails to those who see them.
I think those are dead souls, bound, devoured, and fused by the swamp, becoming part of it, and living with the swamp forever… and… and…”
Li Nuowei felt dizzy. Just recalling it seemed to cost him half his life, and cold sweat drenched his entire body like a tide.
“Enough, enough, I don’t need to know such detailed things.” Drake, just from Li Nuowei’s brief description and his limited imagination, had already conjured terrifying images. He quickly stopped Li Nuowei’s recollection and supported the swaying man.
“We die at its hands almost every time, and we can’t find a way to deal with it,” Li Nuowei gently stroked his forehead, wiped away the cold sweat with the back of his hand, and said.
Hearing how dangerous it was, even Drake, who loved adventure, quietly began to consider retreating. However, this timidity was quickly overcome by his rationality and kindness.
Anyway, with Mermaid Disease, he couldn’t live much longer. Why not explore the truth? Perhaps he could even save a few humans who had been captured here.
Li Nuowei also seemed to sense Drake’s fleeting thought and said, “We actually have another reason we must go down. That is, down here, there is something that might cure your Mermaid Disease, but it is being well guarded by the swamp.”
“Once, I observed that the developing Mermaid features on your body showed a significant regression after being illuminated by the light emitted from a gemstone. Unfortunately, that was the only time I noticed it. I haven’t had the chance to see it again since, so my impression of that gemstone isn’t very clear. I only know that its color is the same as the light from the walls, but it’s more dazzling and intense.”
“I can be cured?” Drake was stunned, and ecstasy surged in his heart.
“I speculate… well, it’s a deduction made by a version of you from one of the death lines who received the information I gave and was also attacked by the swamp,” Li Nuowei originally wanted to brag a bit, but then he changed his mind and became honest, saying, “The big fish, that is, the Sea God of Anhai, targeted the sea monster back then not only for territorial and food disputes but possibly because the sea monster’s true form or another incarnation, that is, the swamp, possessed the ability to resist and specifically target Him.”
The mermen who were chasing us before were likely sent by the Sea God of Anhai to guard and watch over the swamp, with the purpose of preventing the swamp from leaking out and preventing the outside world from perceiving its existence. If anyone was found to have intruded here, the mermen would kill the intruders. Of course, even if they weren’t killed by the mermen, those who intruded here would eventually be devoured by the swamp.
Because the swamp has always been guarded by mermen and the Sea God of Anhai, it is very hungry. Although it cannot go out itself, and may not even have much consciousness, its instinct to feed will still cause it to engage in predatory behavior, such as luring humans into the tunnels below to its hunting grounds.
Drake listened to Li Nuowei’s repeated analysis and said with genuine confidence, “As expected of me, to have figured out so much information.”
Li Nuowei chuckled wryly and said, “If you had also experienced that terrifying ordeal, I believe you would be able to reach the same conclusion.”
As they spoke, they unknowingly neared the end of the spiral staircase. They saw the fluorescent green light ahead becoming increasingly dazzling, as if the “Green Light Gemstone” that Li Nuowei mentioned was not far away.
Remembering Li Nuowei’s description of the swamp, Drake advanced with trepidation. No matter how disgusted and terrified he was by the true form of the twisted and deformed monster, or how astonishingly beautiful the swamp’s disguise as a charming girl was, Drake’s sole motivation at present was to find the “Green Light Gemstone” that could help him escape the corrosive curse of Mermaid Disease.
Compared to the cautious Drake, Li Nuowei clearly relied on his ability to rewind time countless times, acting “recklessly and boldly.”
Feeling they had reached the limit of the staircase, Li Nuowei leaned forward to observe the scene below. He saw a stone platform made of piled souls standing in a marsh. Around the platform were drawn strange symbols formed by the combination of human eyes and fish bodies, tightly packed and perfectly fitted. A luminous green irregular object was suspended above the stone platform.
I originally wanted to write a long chapter, but I couldn’t resist the sleepiness. I’ll owe this chapter and make it up to you on the weekend. Monday is always the most tiring day for an office worker…
