Yi Sa carefully tried to identify the source and direction of this sound, then slowly backed away.
She dared not rush out – according to Zong Hang, though Yi Xiao had become ugly in appearance, communication with him wasn’t a problem. But Jiang Jun’s condition was uncertain, especially since her calling him “Brother Jiang” had been fake – she had no real relationship with him…
Better to observe secretly first, then act when the time is right.
Yi Sa held her breath as she rounded the edge of a honeycomb panel, and when she peered out, saw the end of the chain disappearing around the other side.
This meant they were now on opposite ends of one honeycomb panel, moving in opposite directions. To track Jiang Jun, she would need to get to the other side first.
Yi Sa moved as quietly as possible, quickening her pace. When she reached the other end, she pressed her back against the cells to steady herself, then took a deep breath and peered out again.
She still only saw the chain’s end, turning a corner into the corridor between two honeycomb panels.
Yi Sa’s heart was pounding heavily, but at this point, there was no turning back. She took two quick steps, slipped to the end of one of the panels, gripped her dagger tightly, and carefully peered out again…
It wasn’t a person walking!
It was the glowing earth again, dragging a corpse that was wearing only a pair of shorts with a long chain attached at the waist.
This matched Jiang Jun’s attire.
So after Jiang Xiaoguang, had Jiang Jun died too?
Yi Sa’s heart jumped. Since no one was walking around, she lost her hesitation and moved forward to look closer. After just a few steps, she suddenly stopped.
Something was wrong – she remembered Jiang Jun’s current body should be very distinctive, with an enormous head and shrunken body. Though she couldn’t see this corpse’s face, the body proportions alone didn’t match.
A chill ran through Yi Sa’s heart.
If this wasn’t him, who had changed this corpse into shorts and wrapped it in chains?
Where was the real Jiang Jun?
After freezing for several seconds, Yi Sa’s scalp began to grow hot.
This wasn’t good – like Yi Yunqiao and Jiang Xiaoguang, she sometimes had physical warning signs when in danger. Yi Yunqiao’s hair would stand up, Jiang Xiaoguang’s shoulder blades would rise, and her skin would grow hot in the direction of danger…
The top of her head?
Yi Sa looked up.
She saw Jiang Jun dozens of meters up the honeycomb panel like a tiger ready to pounce downhill, his limbs gripping the glowing earth, head down and feet up, glaring at her with a ferocious expression. His head was already large, to begin with, and from this angle it almost completely obscured his body, his eyes like two points of light giving off a terrifying gleam.
Yi Sa met his gaze for a second or two, the muscles in her face twitching, unsure what expression to make. Just as she was about to say something to establish rapport, Jiang Jun suddenly charged down.
The honeycomb panel was completely vertical – after just two steps, gravity would cause the body to flip over, though the edges of the cells could be grabbed for support. But from Yi Sa’s perspective, Jiang Jun was rapidly descending, his body repeatedly flipping and grabbing, leaving a trail of glowing earth dust…
This murderous stance clearly showed no interest in friendly conversation. Yi Sa’s blood ran cold as she turned and ran. After just a few steps, there was a loud boom behind her – Jiang Jun had landed.
She couldn’t outrun him – simply running forward would only get her caught. Yi Sa kept moving, and hearing a change in the wind behind her head, she ducked and rolled forward. As her back hit the ground, she used the force to spin like a top, changing direction and kicking off against a nearby cell, using the momentum to slide diagonally away.
Jiang Jun was lunging straight forward. As his body leaped up, she slid back along the ground, barely managing to cross paths without collision.
Just this one move left Yi Sa breathing heavily, partly from physical exhaustion and partly from fear.
Seeing Jiang Jun gathering himself to attack again, she shouted: “Jiang Jun!”
Jiang Jun paused, his eyes flickering with gleaming light.
It seemed he could communicate. Yi Sa slowly backed away: “What are you doing? We’re all from the three families, our families have always been close, you and my sister are good friends too – can’t we talk this through…”
She watched his eyes carefully.
It was useless – though he could clearly understand speech, his eyes showed no reaction. Words like “three families,” “close relationship,” and “sister” seemed to mean nothing to him.
Yi Sa knew this was bad. Seeing the glowing earth about to turn a corner with the corpse, the chain dragging limply behind, an idea suddenly struck her.
Watching for when Jiang Jun was off guard, she spun around and sprinted away. When close enough, she grabbed the end of the chain and began climbing up the honeycomb panel using both hands and feet. She had only climbed a few meters when her ankle was grabbed by Jiang Jun, who quickly followed her up.
This was exactly what she’d been waiting for!
Yi Sa released her grip on the cell with one hand, kicked off the panel with her free foot, and flipped backward through the air, simultaneously swinging the chain to form loops, wrapping it twice around Jiang Jun’s neck. As she landed, she rolled to the side and pulled hard, yanking Jiang Jun to the ground.
The original plan was to use this chance to tie a knot in the chain, to bind or restrain Jiang Jun, but his strength was extraordinary – he grabbed the chain and flung it violently, throwing her entire body clear.
Actually, as a water ghost, Yi Sa’s strength already far exceeded normal humans. The problem was that Jiang Jun was also a water ghost with supernatural abilities, and even stronger than her…
Yi Sa slammed into the honeycomb panel. Though the glowing earth wasn’t as hard as rock walls, it was far from soft. The impact made her see stars, and then she fell to the ground in a daze, her dagger flying from her hand. As she struggled to reach for it, Jiang Jun threw off the chain, strode over, and bent down toward her.
As his shadow loomed over her, Yi Sa’s face turned deathly pale. If he had simply snapped her neck that would have been one thing, but instead his deformed face drew incredibly close, almost touching hers. In her panic, Yi Sa thought he had some evil intention and was preparing to fight to the death when suddenly his protruding forehead pressed against hers.
Yi Sa’s vision went dark, her mind feeling like it had been electrified. Her consciousness instantly exploded into floating cotton wisps, scattering in endless space before converging again.
She felt suspended in an endless void, while simultaneously appearing and disappearing through countless unfamiliar scenes.
—She saw a vertical wall in minimalist concrete gray, hanging a yin-yang taiji disk with a head and tail connected. But it couldn’t be an antique, as it had a modern design with clean, flowing lines. Listening carefully, she could hear ticking – it was a clock, with the S-shaped curve dividing yin and yang moving like a hand, advancing tick by tick;
—She found herself in modern high-tech office buildings and conference rooms, where men and women sat around tables – both Chinese and blue-eyed Westerners, perfectly groomed and properly dressed, their expressions either grave or anxious. Some pounded fists on the table, others sighed deeply, leaning back in their chairs and running hands through their hair;
—Then she saw a laboratory, where fully protected scientists intently observed glass containers that held nothing but ordinary soil samples;
…
All the scenes suddenly scattered like flying stars and clouds. Through the haze, Yi Sa heard Zong Hang and Ding Yudie’s voices—
“Don’t move! Hands on your head!”
“Move again and I’ll shoot!”
What was going on? Had she time-traveled?
As her body fell to the ground, Yi Sa weakly opened her eyes. Perhaps affected by her recent mental experience, her vision was momentarily strange as if normally she could only see surfaces, but now she could see the essence of things—
The cave ceiling appeared bright red, like molecules in violent motion, countless particles colliding intensely, flowing and sweeping like surging clouds.
The honeycomb panels on either side appeared orange, their particles moving more steadily in uniform flow.
…
Hurried footsteps stopped beside her, followed by Zong Hang’s anxious voice: “Yi Sa? Yi Sa?”
Zong Hang? Yi Sa looked at the person before her: like an X-ray, she could see the skeleton and what appeared to be flowing blood…
She shook her head.
Her vision finally returned to normal, though still slightly blurry. It was indeed Zong Hang, and in his arms was… a rifle?
Ding Yudie’s voice came through, pitched high with anxiety: “Hurry, hurry! If she can’t walk then carry her… what are you waiting for… Don’t move! I said don’t move!”
Yi Sa felt her body lighten as she was slung over Zong Hang’s shoulder like a sack, but with her head hanging down, blood rushed to her brain, making her mind even hazier.
When Yi Sa regained consciousness, she was in a cabin with the door on the floor. The furniture was scattered about, and Ding Yudie and Zong Hang were crouching in a corner with a pile of golden peanuts beside them.
The peanuts were exquisitely crafted, with even the shell textures perfectly detailed.
Ding Yudie was arranging the peanuts to spell words – first “SOS,” then “Death.” Suddenly he raised an old Type 38 rifle, pressing the muzzle against Zong Hang’s abdomen, shouting: “Tell me, why aren’t these peanuts real, tell me!”
Yi Sa was startled.
Zong Hang pushed the gun barrel away and answered matter-of-factly: “Even when the Japanese devils stole things from China, they wouldn’t have stolen real peanuts.”
Ding Yudie collapsed to the ground, wailing: “I’m starving to death, my mouth is completely dry, my lips are cracking.”
Yi Sa sat up, thinking: If he still has the energy to wail, he can’t be that hungry yet.
Planning ahead, unless necessary, she decided not to speak. She felt that each word spoken would consume energy worth a grain of rice.
Hearing movement, Zong Hang turned around, both surprised and delighted: “Yi Sa, you’re awake!”
Yi Sa made a sound of acknowledgment and looked out the window above.
The “day” had brightened again.
Ding Yudie’s experience was relatively simple.
In his words: Inexplicably, while lying in ambush at the lake bottom, enjoying a full-body mud mask while eagerly observing the “spectacle” of breaking into the treasure vault, everything suddenly went black and he lost consciousness.
When he woke up, he was in the ship graveyard on a rotting deck of a wrecked ship. More terrifying was that he opened his eyes to a murder scene.
Jiang Xiaoguang was killed by Jiang Jun.
The reason Ding Yudie knew it was Jiang Jun was because even when gravely wounded, Jiang Xiaoguang hadn’t fought back with full force, instead hoarsely called out Jiang Jun’s name repeatedly, giving the impression that Jiang Xiaoguang believed Jiang Jun had only lost his mind and could be “called” back if he shouted enough times.
Though he couldn’t understand how Jiang Jun, who had died underwater days ago, could come back to life and become like this, Ding Yudie still prepared to help. Unfortunately, he was too late – by the time he rushed over clutching a rusty fishing spear, Jiang Jun had grabbed Jiang Xiaoguang’s neck and thrown him away.
Ding Yudie had never seen such strength – throwing a body weighing 150-160 jin as easily as tossing a stone. Jiang Xiaoguang’s flying corpse was caught on a slanting mast, swaying a few times before stopping, looking like seaweed hung out to dry.
He was probably beyond saving.
Before this thought could finish forming, Jiang Jun was already upon him. Everything happened so fast that Ding Yudie couldn’t remember how many moves they exchanged: “Anyway, I was thrown flying too, lucky there was a ship’s plank in the way, though the plank cracked from the impact.”
As he struggled to get up, wanting to climb over the ship’s rail to the ground, fate smiled on him – someone “saved” him.
“I tried to climb but couldn’t make it, thought I was done for, but then Jiang Jun suddenly stopped, reached both hands under the deck, and pulled up a long-haired woman…”
Yi Sa’s heart pounded as she listened: That woman must have been Yi Xiao. It seemed she had woken up around the same time as Ding Yudie, but she had been cleverer – seeing the danger, she had hidden under the deck through a crack, probably hoping to avoid detection.
Ding Yudie couldn’t understand where this woman had come from: “I thought it was you at first, but seeing the long hair, obviously not, so I quickly slipped away…”
At this point, he shuddered.
As he climbed down, he glanced back.
He saw Jiang Jun grab the woman’s shoulders with both hands, lifting her entire body. The woman struggled desperately in mid-air, shouting: “Jiang Jun, it’s me, don’t you recognize me?”
He thought the woman would be torn apart alive.
But escape was paramount, and he really couldn’t worry about anything else. Fortunately, this place was a shipwreck ruin with plenty of debris and hiding places. He found a spot to hide, not daring to even breathe. At first, there were sounds outside, like Jiang Jun searching for him, but then it went quiet.
Ding Yudie hid for an entire night before sneaking out. He had assumed Jiang Jun was still in the ship graveyard and feared he might be lying in wait, so he didn’t dare return to where Jiang Xiaoguang had died. Instead, he searched for an exit while trying to reach the remote edges of the ship graveyard. He eventually settled on the Kobe Maru because it was a large steel ship, more secure, and being upended made it difficult to climb, with many cabins good for hiding and moving around.
Yi Sa had been to the Kobe Maru before while searching for an exit, but she had been cautious, keeping her voice low when talking with Zong Hang. Plus, with the distance between the bottom and the top, Ding Yudie hadn’t noticed them.
It wasn’t until darkness fell again and the glowing earth dragged Jiang Xiaoguang’s corpse into the ship, followed by Yi Sa and Zong Hang climbing up with their clanging noises, that Ding Yudie was alerted. He had panicked, thinking Jiang Jun had returned to kill, and lifted the door crack to peek – only to see Yi Sa pass by.
In the darkness he couldn’t see clearly, only making out that it was a woman. Ding Yudie thought it was the woman Jiang Jun had caught earlier, so he remained hidden – until Zong Hang climbed up, discovered the wall sprouting strings of night pearls, and called Yi Sa’s name while patting the wall.
Ding Yudie recognized Ah Pa’s voice and was overjoyed, feeling like he was carrying New Year’s gifts as he ran down to find him. They barely exchanged greetings before Zong Hang explained about the glowing earth called “xi rang,” how fire could get them through, and that Yi Sa was trapped on the other side and they needed to hurry to find her.
It was amazing – he had nearly nested in this ship but never knew about the mysteries behind the rock wall, especially something like xi rang that seemed straight out of ancient mythology.
To be safe, while Zong Hang was making fire, Ding Yudie searched all the rooms and collected several Japanese rifles. None of them worked – either broken or jammed – but he still hung one on Zong Hang and equipped himself with two. In his words: “Jiang Jun wouldn’t know these guns didn’t work, so they could still scare people.”
Sure enough, thinking back now, Ding Yudie couldn’t help feeling smug: “You should have seen Jiang Jun’s face, frozen still with fear. Thanks to these guns, we couldn’t have saved you…”
Yi Sa interrupted him: “Did he chase after us?”
“No, he followed a few steps but didn’t dare come close. His eyes looked very unwilling as he watched us enter the tunnel.”
Yi Sa sighed, pressing her painfully empty stomach: “Aren’t you being stupid? He doesn’t need to chase – how long can you last without food or water? I guess earlier he wanted to finish you off since you were right there, but when he couldn’t find you, he gave up – after all, in another day or two, he can just come to collect our corpses. This ship graveyard is like a jar, and we’ve crawled in like turtles.”
Ding Yudie stopped smiling.
After a pause, he suddenly burst out: “What kind of place is this anyway? How do we get out? What’s Jiang Jun doing here? Acting like he’s in charge, jumping all around – how come he’s not hungry?”
Yi Sa said: “Save your anger, preserve your strength for escape.”
Ding Yudie replied irritably: “Escape how? Do you know where the exit is?”
Yi Sa answered: “I might… be close to knowing.”