Ashalina’s brow creased. She handed the helm off to Pan Xiaoxin and stepped out of the cabin.

“What happened?” She walked to A’Qing’s side, grabbed him by the collar, and hauled him to his feet. “What was that thing just now?”

A’Qing looked dazed. “I… didn’t get a clear look.”

A’Long gripped his bamboo pole, equally bewildered. “I only saw a dark shadow. It slammed against the boat and then fell back into the water… it moved really fast.”

Ashalina took A’Long’s bamboo pole and used the knife she always carried to quickly shave the tip two or three times. She then walked to the railing.

The cave was dimly lit. Beyond the patch of deck lit by the ship’s lanterns, everywhere else was pitch black.

She noticed deep claw marks along the edge of the railing, and her frown deepened.

It had gouged through iron plating — which meant the creature’s claws were extremely sharp and hard.

“Let’s post guards around the ship,” Bai Youwei said. “Front, back, left, right — one person to a side.”

Ashalina nodded, and turned to give A’Long and A’Qing their orders — when the ship shuddered again!

She swiftly steadied herself, spun around — and a dark shape came hurtling straight at her!

Ashalina swung her bamboo pole and thrust hard! The creature was knocked off course and slammed down onto the deck with a heavy thud — then let out a hissing shriek, like a lizard!

It was a half-human, half-fish creature!

Its entire body was covered in dark gray scales. Its head was an inverted triangle, with protruding round eyes, a broad, heavy jaw, and a mouth full of jagged, razor-sharp teeth.

Its spine jutted high, sporting a row of dorsal fins like a line of blades.

Sprawled on the deck, furious, it let out a roar at Ashalina — the skin around its neck flaring outward like a frilled collar, just like an enraged lizard!

“A’Long!” Ashalina shouted, and drove the bamboo pole at it again!

A’Long gripped his bamboo pole and thrust it toward the creature as well!

The two of them flanked it — one driving for the belly, the other for the fish tail.

But the creature’s scales were incredibly hard. The bamboo poles couldn’t do it any real harm; they could only push it toward the railing, and even that was as far as they could manage.

The creature shrieked and screamed, the frilled skin at its neck trembling wildly!

Its two webbed-membrane claws seized the bamboo poles in a crushing grip — and snapped them! The poles splintered, shortened by a length!

“Find the spots without scales!” Ashalina shifted her angle and drove at its throat!

But the moment she eased up even slightly, the fish-creature counterattacked!

A’Long couldn’t hold it — he cried out in desperation: “It’s too strong!”

From the other side, A’Qing rushed in and drove his bamboo pole at the creature’s head!

Ashalina seized the opening — she closed in fast, and plunged her knife into the creature’s throat! Then she dragged the blade downward with force, and thick, sticky blood immediately sprayed across her!

A’Long and A’Qing together heaved with all their strength, and the gravely wounded fish-creature was hurled over the side — knocked off the boat!

There was a heavy splash. The creature hit the water, kicked up a torrent of spray — and then vanished without a trace.

The three of them went to the spot where it had gone overboard to check.

The water’s surface was dark and opaque, the state beneath impossible to see. All they could make out was the blood remaining on the hull, trickling downward in streams.

Bai Youwei rolled her wheelchair over and looked down.

The water was calm.

“Is the throat the weak point?” she asked Ashalina.

Ashalina looked down at the knife in her hand. “The scales on the throat are definitely thinner and weaker than on the belly or the back. Still — this creature is enormously strong. Even with the lower half of its body being fish, it’s no less agile for it. It’s not easy to deal with.”

If it was only one of them, they could manage with just the three of them. But two? Three?… Ashalina felt a creeping worry, and looked to Bai Youwei.

Bai Youwei stared at the water’s surface, silent and deep in thought.

At that moment, Pan Xiaoxin poked his head out from the helm: “I think… we’re… we’re about to come out…”

Everyone looked toward the bow.

The fishing boat was slowly passing through a cave mouth, entering an open body of water. And farther ahead — seven identical cave openings.

—