A massive creature surfaced.

A black, flattened, disc-like body. A gaping mouth that took up half its face. Long, spine-like fins dangling above the water, swaying back and forth — like a fishing lure, beckoning you closer —

“An anglerfish?” Bai Youwei exclaimed. “…No, that can’t be right — how can an anglerfish be this big?”

Teacher Cheng and Zhu Shu upstairs brought flashlights. The beams played across the water’s surface, giving everyone a much clearer view.

The water monster had the appearance of a deep-sea anglerfish, yet it was as large as a water buffalo. Its wide, jutting lower jaw was lined with razor-sharp fangs. Above its gill slits, its eyes bulged outward — black irises surrounded by a ring of grey-white, as though whatever vision they once held had long since degenerated.

Half its body floated above the water, the other half submerged, and it was clumsily, slowly drifting toward Lu Ang —

Faced with such a monster, Lu Ang’s stocky build suddenly seemed unremarkable.

Without thinking, he took half a step back.

Catching himself being afraid, he set his face and planted his feet, then slowly lowered the model ship into the water.

The wooden ship dipped slightly before bobbing to the surface and floating there.

The water monster was already upon him.

Only the model ship separated the two.

The flashlight beams fell on the man and the fish alike, like the focused gaze of an audience at the moment a performance begins.

Lu Ang stayed alert, staring unblinking at the half-fish-face above the waterline, ready to bolt the instant the creature made any move.

But the fish didn’t move.

The massive creature floated silently. Its gills pumped slowly. In the harsh glare of the flashlights, that hideous, terrifying face showed grey-white, wrinkled skin; the shadows carved deep hollows into its contours; its eyeballs dilated and contracted, making tiny movements.

Lu Ang grew suspicious — why wasn’t it moving?

Yan Qingwen felt uneasy. If the conditions for clearing the level had been met, the visitor should take its item and leave. The fact that it wasn’t moving at all could only mean… they had gotten it wrong.

The thought made his blood run cold. He raised his voice and shouted: “Lu Ang! Get up here!”

Lu Ang turned and ran up the stairs!

At that same instant the water erupted! The massive anglerfish launched itself from the water, snapping its jaw full of fangs and lunging at Lu Ang!

Lu Ang rolled sideways, grabbed the stair railing for momentum, and kept scrambling upward!

Yan Qingwen released the rope in his hand. The furniture that had been propped diagonally on both sides of the staircase dropped in alternating sequence, blocking the stairway passage at the angles he had calculated — but he had not accounted for the buoyancy of the water itself. Once the wooden furniture was lodged in the stairway, it was loosened again by the buoyancy, and it scattered in a single blow from the charging anglerfish monster!

“Aagh!”

The creature’s wide lower jaw snapped open, and with lightning speed it clamped onto Lu Ang’s leg. The murky accumulated water was instantly dyed red — a blood-soaked crimson as far as the eye could see!

In the harsh light, Lu Ang’s face turned a deathly white, twisted with agony.

He fought to pull free, but the monster’s pulling strength was enormous. The hands gripping the railing gave out. His body was dragged backward at terrifying speed — and at the very instant he was about to be hauled into the water, a hand caught him.

Shen Mo.

Shen Mo grabbed Lu Ang with one hand and hurled a fruit knife with the other.

The blade tip drove into the creature’s gill.

The massive deep-sea anglerfish let out a piercing shriek, its jaws fell wide open, and it finally released Lu Ang’s leg. Shen Mo and Yan Qingwen together dragged him up to the second floor.

The anglerfish monster thrashed its tail and tried to lunge again — a crack split the air like a whip! It struck the creature’s fin with a sharp slap!

The monster plunged back into the water.

Su Man wasn’t satisfied. She lashed out again and again, hard.

The water surface cracked and splashed under the blows, spray flying everywhere.

The dim, waterlogged space filled with rain; the creature was nowhere to be seen — perhaps hiding somewhere, perhaps lurking in the shadows waiting for an opening.

Yan Qingwen called for Su Man to come back. She refused, standing on the water-soaked stairs with reddened eyes, wishing she could land one more blow just to feel better.

Yan Qingwen had to tend to Lu Ang and couldn’t spare attention for her. It took Teacher Cheng, Tan Xiao, and Zhu Shu working together to drag the stubborn Su Man back to the second floor —

By then, the water level had risen to swallow the entire staircase.

The first floor was nothing but water.

—