Chapter Eighty-Nine: Unprovoked Disaster

Gu Diao and he discovered each other almost at the same moment. The beast at once gaped open its bloodthirsty maw and snapped at Hua Sheng’s head. Just then a flash of lightning split the heavens with a crash of thunder. In that instant, Hua Sheng drove the iron rod with all his strength into the monster’s skull. The tip pierced clean through at once, and Gu Diao rolled its eyes back with a faint groan before toppling over.

Fearing the sound of its fall might alert their companions in the dining hall, Hua Sheng braced himself on the iron rod and, with the movements of a dragon dancer, shouldered the heavy head, lowering it carefully and silently to the deck.

“Thank heaven, thank heaven. A narrow escape!” Hua Sheng thought with relief. Watching the Gu Diao dissolve into a heap of foul mud, he continued to signal Xiao Qing and Xiao Mei to keep low as they made their way toward the pool platform ahead of the cabin.

It was only about a hundred meters, but the deck was slick and every sound had to be avoided. The three of them moved in fits and starts, hearts hammering, and it took them a full five minutes to reach the platform.

On one side of the platform lay the open-air pool, one of the cruise ship’s most popular amusements. Various inflatable boats and life rings floated on its surface, and beyond that there was not a single person in sight.

Around the platform stood huge floodlights, nearly half of them ruined by the battering rainstorm. Their shattered housings spit sparks with sharp crackling sounds, while broken circuits hissed and spat.

The lounge chairs and tables meant for rest had been shoved by the ship’s rocking all the way to the edge of the platform, tossed into a disorderly heap in the corner. Broken glassware littered the floor, along with clothes and electronic devices whose owners were now unknown, enough to imagine what chaos had reigned here earlier.

Hua Sheng had Xiao Qing and Xiao Mei sit under the window ledge of the dining hall. He casually picked up a broken table leg nearby and handed it to Xiao Mei.

“In a moment I’ll set up the formation first. Xiao Mei, when I give the signal, use the stick to knock on the glass door facing the pool, then hide in the deck corridor we passed just now. Kui Qi will be drawn out by the noise for sure. Once I’ve finished the array, I’ll head to the bow to lure it over. If it reaches the bow, it’ll have to step into the formation. By then...” Hua Sheng paused. “We’ll just have to hope that Young Master Lan didn’t trick us.”

Then Hua Sheng crouched down and moved to the edge of the pool platform. Using his hands, he cleared away the floor, opening up a circular space about five meters across.

He took out the diagram from his bag. On it were drawn the mystic arrangement of the formation and all manner of symbols. Hua Sheng could make neither head nor tail of it; he could only copy it as best he could, silently praying he would not make a mistake.

Just as he was about to begin drawing on the floor, he suddenly remembered that if he were going to draw it there, he would at least need chalk or a marker. He had somehow forgotten such a thing, but where could he possibly find any now?

In his trouble, he saw that the bandage wrapped around his hand was soaked through with blood, and thought he might as well use blood instead of ink. With that in mind, Hua Sheng unwound the bandage from his hand, then held the red-stained cloth and carefully traced the formation on the floor according to the diagram.

When the blood ran short, Hua Sheng grit his teeth against the pain and squeezed hard at the wound in his palm, soaking the bandage red again with his own blood. Keeping an eye on the dining hall, he held his breath and completed the pattern.

When it was done, he selected from his talismans, according to the prescribed sequence, two Earth-Cleansing Charms, one Opening-the-Altar Charm, one Banner-Falling Charm, one Nine-Star Divine Charm, and one Cold Hall Charm, placing them at six positions within the formation. Only then did Hua Sheng let out a long breath.

A fierce battle was about to begin. At this point, fear was useless. He could only find a way to destroy Kui Qi first, and think about everything else later.

Hua Sheng raised his head and looked toward Xiao Mei, who stood not far away, both hands gripping a stick and trembling all over. He gave her a signal, took off his backpack, stuffed several talismans into his chest, tightened his grip on the iron rod, and steadied his breathing.

Xiao Mei saw the signal and slowly raised the half table leg to strike the glass door. Before she even reached it, however, a thunderclap shook the world, and a giant bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking straight into the center of the pool.

The explosion was like a grenade detonating in the water. Not only did it send spray everywhere, it also blasted Hua Sheng, who had been lying prone on the floor, violently backward. After he hit the ground, a wave of dizziness struck him. His vision blurred, and in his ears there was only a ringing buzz; he could hear nothing else.

Damn it. Of all times, the ship had been struck by lightning now!

In the haze before his eyes, he saw the two sisters crouched together with their heads covered, and the wooden stick in Xiao Mei’s hand had fallen aside. The outline of the glass door slowly swung open, and the crimson demon Kui Qi stepped out of the dining hall.

Because of its enormous size, Kui Qi forced the entire glass doorway apart as it emerged. The steel frame around it was torn like paper. Behind it, more than a dozen Gu Diao followed out onto the open deck.

My iron rod, my talismans! I have to find the iron rod and the talismans! If these monsters rush us, we’re all finished!

Hua Sheng groped around in a daze and immediately found the iron rod wrapped with talismans only a few meters away. He struggled toward it.

Please, let that Kui Qi not charge at me.

He kept this prayer in his heart and did not dare raise his head, crawling forward as low as he could. Unexpectedly, after Kui Qi emerged from the dining hall, it paid no heed to Hua Sheng at all and strode straight toward the pool. It seemed the thunderbolt had struck the water directly, drawing its attention.

Hua Sheng reached the iron rod and clutched it tightly.

The inflatables floating on the surface of the pool had already burst into fragments from the lightning. Hua Sheng glanced toward the water and noticed something strange.

In the very center of the pool there was actually a small human figure floating.

A thought flashed through his mind. When he had just been drawing the formation by the pool, he had been there at least five minutes, and he clearly remembered that only inflatable toys had been in the water. If there had been a person floating there, he could never have missed it.

He rubbed his eyes. No mistake about it, it was really the back of a child.

Was it a child who had panic-stricken and accidentally drowned in the pool? And after so long, even if the lightning that struck the pool had not killed them by drowning, the tens of thousands of volts from that direct hit would surely have electrocuted them to death!

What a pity. She looked to be only six or seven years old. Hua Sheng was sighing in regret when he suddenly saw the little figure twitch!

He was startled. Could she still be alive?

At that moment Hua Sheng saw Kui Qi and the Gu Diao circling the pool, the beasts apparently having noticed the child as well. Two of the Gu Diao were already slipping into the water, swimming toward her.

Both Gu Diao and Kui Qi were man-eating fiends. If the child fell into their mouths, then even if she remained alive, she would certainly be torn to pieces!

The child in the water moved again. Yes! Though the ringing in his ears had not yet faded, Hua Sheng could see clearly this time: it was a little girl with long black hair, around six or seven years old!

No matter what, he had to save the child first. With that thought, Hua Sheng did not permit himself the slightest hesitation. He rose and sprinted toward the pool.

This obvious move caused Kui Qi and the Gu Diao to spot him at once, and several of the monsters turned their heads together in an instant.

Hua Sheng roared to steady his nerves, charging at one of the Gu Diao and smashing it hard aside with the iron rod. The beast was immediately knocked flying. Hua Sheng vaulted along the edge of the pool, thrust the iron rod straight through the back of a Gu Diao in the water, then swam quickly toward the little girl.

He flailed his arms desperately, swimming as fast as he could with a crawl stroke. Water sprayed everywhere in the pool, bubbles gurgled in his ears, and out of the corner of his eye he saw several Gu Diao leap into the water together.

He feared that the beasts outnumbered him, and even if he himself were not harmed, he could not bear to see the two sisters and this little girl come to ruin. At the same time, he worried that lightning from the storm might strike the pool again, and then both he and the child would be killed instantly.

Thinking this, Hua Sheng swam even more frantically. In a burst of spray, he caught the little girl’s arm with one hand and pulled her hard toward him. Then at once, with the other hand still gripping the iron rod, he flailed toward the nearest shore with all his might.

After a burst of effort, just as his hand was about to touch the pool’s edge, Hua Sheng felt a sudden, searing pain in his left calf. A sharp claw had hooked it in an instant, its talons piercing straight through his leg. The bone-deep agony of torn muscle struck like lightning, nearly blacking him out on the spot, and then he was yanked by the claw and dragged under the water.

Hua Sheng stared helplessly as the distance between him and the pool edge was pulled farther and farther away. He looked down beneath the water and, as expected, found himself hooked by a Gu Diao’s claws. The water around his calf had turned a broad patch of red. Another Gu Diao was swimming nearby, and worse still, several more were racing toward him.

To face so many beasts underwater at once was to stand at death’s door. Ignoring the pain, Hua Sheng bent over and struck the Gu Diao’s claw with the iron rod. Wherever the rod passed, the monster’s arm was severed by the talismans. Taking advantage of the beast’s recoil, Hua Sheng swung the iron rod at another one. Though the water resisted the blow, the monsters became terribly fragile before the talismans, and the second Gu Diao was also knocked away by the rod.

Hua Sheng flipped in the water and, dragging his injured leg, swam furiously back toward the poolside. Fortunately the little girl had not been carried far by the waves. Hua Sheng lifted her with all his strength and set her up onto the ground at the edge of the pool.

What rotten luck this was. Perhaps this really was the so-called Blackberry Day. Covered in wounds, facing a crowd of monsters, with two unarmed girls in tow, and now a little child on top of it all. Could this nightmare of dragging along three others possibly get any worse?

Even now Hua Sheng’s mind was mocking itself. But self-mockery aside, surrendering and waiting to die was absolutely not an option.

He struggled up onto the platform and patted the little girl’s face. Thankfully, she still had some breath left in her; her small face was furrowed in pain as she let out a faint moan.

“Good, she’s still alive! Xiao Mei! Xiao Mei! You’re the only one who can help me now. Hurry, take this little sister and keep her safe!”

Though the child still breathed, Hua Sheng’s exclamation of relief was only an instinctive reaction. Objectively speaking, in this situation she was merely another burden to drag along.

Hua Sheng shouted to Xiao Mei, the only one who could help him for the moment, while pulling the little girl toward her with one hand. With the other hand, he lifted the iron rod and pointed it at Kui Qi, which was staring at him like a tiger eyeing its prey, ready to pounce.

Xiao Mei hurried over behind Hua Sheng, lifted the little girl in both arms, and retreated to Xiao Qing’s side.

Separating the four of them from Kui Qi was the formation Hua Sheng had just laid down. The comforting thing was that if Kui Qi truly wanted to charge, it would have to pass through the formation. Then Hua Sheng would know exactly how much power it possessed.

He glanced at his pierced left calf. Bright red blood was still streaming out without end. Before long, the blood on the floor had gathered into a little pool.

“At this rate I’ll lose too much blood and pass out soon. I need to bind the wound with some piece of cloth, fast!” Hua Sheng shouted to Xiao Mei. “Xiao Mei, I’m sorry, but please tear off a strip from the white dress for me. I’ll tie it up a bit and stop the bleeding!”

“Okay!” Xiao Mei tore a strip from her dress.

Xiao Qing also spoke up. “Hua Sheng, tear mine instead! I’m wearing a white dress, Xiao Mei’s wearing jeans, so hers can’t be torn!”

Hua Sheng was fully focused on the advancing Kui Qi and replied carelessly, “Either is fine, just use Xiao Qing’s!”

But as soon as he said it, he froze. “No, wait. Weren’t you both wearing dresses? Xiao Mei, when did you change clothes?”

For a moment Hua Sheng could not make sense of it. Since the instant he had met the two sisters, they had both been wearing identical white dresses. When they were attacked back then, and after they escaped, they had been running for their lives nonstop; there was simply no time to change clothes. If Xiao Mei had changed into a dress before the Gu Diao attack, then Xiao Qing’s eyes had not yet been injured, and she would naturally not have said anything so contradictory.

“Sis, you remembered wrong! I’ve been wearing a white dress ever since I got on the ship.” Xiao Mei began tearing at her own dress.

“How could sis remember wrong?” Xiao Qing said. “Could it be you changed dresses after coming out of the cabin just now?”

“Yes, yes!” Xiao Mei answered hastily. “We’re in such an emergency right now, our lives are at stake, so sis, don’t get hung up on something so pointless!”

“No, wait!” Hua Sheng shouted, turning back.

Rather than being bothered by Xiao Mei’s clothing, he had suddenly thought of something deeply unsettling. When he first met the two sisters, Xiao Mei had been supporting Xiao Qing, and at that time Xiao Qing could not see anything at all. It was certain that when he met Xiao Mei, she was already wearing a white dress. And after the elder sister had suddenly been attacked by the savage monster and blinded, there was absolutely no time for the two frail women to change clothes and flee. Moreover, even if they had changed, the clothes should have been in the cabin. The first time the sisters returned to their room after leaving the ship’s interior was when he accompanied them back.

In such an eerie situation, Hua Sheng could not help suspecting something was terribly wrong. “What’s going on, Xiao Mei, you...”

Before he could finish, he felt a chill in his abdomen. Looking down, he saw that a blade had somehow appeared in Xiao Mei’s hand, and that knife was already buried deep in his stomach. Hua Sheng shoved Xiao Mei away with all his strength, only to discover in horror that the blade was not being held in Xiao Mei’s hand at all, but had grown together with her arm.

A violent pain tore through his belly. Looking at Xiao Mei’s gentle eyes, Hua Sheng slowly saw cruelty surface within them.

“Xiao Mei? You’re not human?!” Hua Sheng could hardly accept it.

“We were having so much fun together. I was thinking I’d keep pretending a while longer!” Xiao Mei’s voice grew rough, like an old cat with long experience, toying with the mouse it had caught in its paws. “My name isn’t Xiao Mei. I’m Wuwang. Since the mood is so good, why not play another game with me? Ever played that bean-eating game? You be the beans, and we’ll swallow you one by one.”

As she spoke, Xiao Mei’s face began to twist horribly. Her youthful skin wrinkled and dried, until at last it turned into the ghostly face of a mummy-like crone.

Kui Qi silently came to stand beside Xiao Mei, who had become that hag, and glared at Hua Sheng with savage eyes. The crone who called herself Wuwang stroked Kui Qi’s back, as though petting some domesticated beast.

This was truly disastrous. It had somehow become even worse than before. If only he had not said those words just now!

Hua Sheng cast a sidelong glance at Kui Qi. Yet this vicious Wuwang seemed even harder to deal with than Kui Qi.

Could it be that Xiao Mei, who had been with me this whole time, was the real star of ill fortune who descended upon the cruise ship tonight?

The stabbing pain in his abdomen broke off his thoughts. After that strike, his belly was probably pierced through. The bleeding in his leg had not been stopped, and now both front and back of his torso were gaping open as well. Hua Sheng was covered in blood from head to toe.

A nightmare made real. A deck from which no help could come.

For the first time in his life, Hua Sheng thought of death.