Chapter 103: The Vanishing Fish Haunt
Fish haunt? Sang Chu glanced at Tu You, but the other party also shook their head, indicating they hadn’t heard of it.
The elder continued, “That lama said this fish haunt is a monster from the deep sea. They are neither fish nor not fish, born from the resentment of the deep sea. They have form but no soul, so they need a large amount of human vitality to incubate their souls. The place where the person who brought it out of the deep sea resides becomes its soul-nurturing ground.”
“What happened then?”
The elder was silent for a long time and continued, “To successfully take that fish away, the women of the village and some sensible children, while the men weren’t paying attention, secretly rushed to make the demon-quelling banners taught by that master. These banners require a pure and kind young boy to draw them. So, the children drew them while everyone else sewed, hoping to finish them as quickly as possible.”
The elder’s expression became somewhat strange as if thinking of something. They slowly said, “Making these banners wasn’t that difficult; at least many could be made. But the difficulty lay in the men who partied every night. Many guarded the mermaid’s house inside and out. There was no other way; we had to drug them to make the men fall asleep.”
The elder’s face grew paler and paler. Sang Chu guessed that something bad had likely happened, so this time, they didn’t rush but just watched the elder, waiting for their emotions to calm down:
“We put in a lot of medicine, and we watched them fall asleep one by one. But, but when we carried that fish out, those men all turned into monsters with fish fins. My old partner was beaten to death trying to stop those frenzied men, and my eyes were completely blinded. Fortunately, the master arrived in time with the demon-quelling banners and saved everyone.”
The elder couldn’t stop trembling as they spoke. In just a few words, they must have been extremely terrified at that time.
Sang Chu: “Grandmother, is that fish sealed in the Bell Tower?”
The elder nodded. “At that time, the village was preparing to build a Bell Tower. It had just been completed, and the cement hadn’t even dried. The master said, since that’s the case, let’s just use that place to seal this fish monster. Moreover, there were so many people who had been poisoned by the fish; they had already mutated and couldn’t be saved.”
Hearing this, Sang Chu’s face changed drastically. This meant there was more than one monster in that building!
“Grandmother, then you…”
The elder: “There was no choice but to put them all inside. The master said that the effect of the demon-quelling banners has a time limit, and they need to be reinforced every ten years. If there’s any deficiency, the seal will have problems. But there was no way. The men in the village turned into monsters, and the children grew up, got married, and had children, and then left. Where would we find young boys to help us draw the demon-quelling banners?”
One could hear the despair in the elder’s voice. However, the timing didn’t match. The elder mentioned children growing up, but her grandson died so young. Therefore, something else must have happened in between, but it’s likely that everyone here was already dead.
Was it because they couldn’t let go that they kept guarding this place?
Thinking of this, Sang Chu had a bold guess: perhaps these demon-quelling banners were never hung up from the beginning?
If that were the case, the so-called master who came to save them might have sealed that mermaid using some method, but subsequent assistance from the demon-quelling banners was needed. However, these women couldn’t do it, and even though they were dead, they were still guarding this place with their lives, trying their best to hang the demon-quelling banners. It’s just that time had passed, so long that the world had changed.
The former sea area had already turned into farmland, yet they still guarded this place.
As soon as she thought her guess might be true, Sang Chu’s heart ached slightly. “Grandmother, what happened next? Were the demon-quelling banners hung up?”
The elder seemed to think of something and was silent for a long time before slowly looking up at Sang Chu. “Little girl, can you… help us?”
Sang Chu was taken aback for a moment. “Elder, to be honest, I came here to handle this matter. It’s just that many clues are fragmented now, and I don’t know if I can do it. I can only say I’ll do my best, but I need you to tell me everything without holding anything back, okay?”
“Yes, what else do you want to know?”
Sang Chu hesitated for a long time before slowly saying, “Elder, I want to examine your grandson’s corpse.”
“Okay.”
The elder’s voice was low, and it was not difficult to hear how conflicted she was internally. But to ensure this matter had a good outcome, she was willing to let Sang Chu examine her grandson’s corpse.
Following the elder to a small hill, Sang Chu looked around and became even more certain of her guess.
The elder stroked a tree and said in a low, helpless voice, “Our village has a custom: when a child dies, their clothes are planted with a locust tree at the doorstep. This is to hope that the child doesn’t get lost and can find their way home, to be reborn into this family again. Planting the locust tree is also to tell the child that Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma are all waiting for him to come home.”
“But why is this tree planted on the mountain?”
The elder: “It’s planted on the mountain so he won’t find his way home. If he can’t find his way home, he won’t go back. My grandson is buried here. You can dig.”
“Then I…”
Before Sang Chu could finish speaking, the elder had disappeared. The tree, which was about the same height as her, had now become a towering ancient tree.
Tu You shivered in the night wind. “A Chu, this place is really strange. What should we do?”
“Since it’s like this, let’s dig. Perhaps we’ll find some clues.”
Tu You’s voice trembled. “Are we… are we really going to dig? Who knows how long it’s been. Even if there is a corpse, it would have rotted by now.”
Sang Chu murmured, “Not necessarily.”
Without further ado, she took out a suitable digging weapon from her Jade Bracelet Space and squatted down to start digging.
After digging about a meter, she saw a straw mat, which seemed to be wrapping something. Tu You didn’t expect Sang Chu to be so bold and ran directly behind Sang Chu, burying his entire rabbit body in her clothes, wanting to unsee it.
Sang Chu ignored him and used the long saber in her hand to lift the straw mat. Inside was not a child, but a fishbone!
This fish had a human face, a very short tail of about a few millimeters, large fins, and another thing: its entire skeleton was shattered.
“A Chu, are… are you done?”
“Little rabbit, do you remember what that detective said?”
“Wh-what?”
Sang Chu looked at the fishbone in front of her and analyzed, “The detective said that every time there was a thunderstorm, children would go missing, and later, even adults started disappearing.”
Tu You: “But what does that have to do with this?”
Sang Chu: “The elder mentioned that the master said this monster is neither fish nor not fish, a monster that takes form by absorbing resentment, having a body but no soul. What do you think, does it resemble a Thunder Ghost Shark?”
Hearing this, Tu You turned pale with fright. “You mean the Yin Yang Twin Sharks? We’re doomed, doomed, doomed!!!”
