Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 13

I called his name twice, but the young master didn't move. Growing anxious, I yelled, "What the hell are you standing there for! If we don't get going soon, this ship will become a submarine!"

The young master was pale and pointed behind me, but still didn't move. When I saw his expression, I sensed that something was wrong. Why wasn't the old man saying anything? I subconsciously turned around and froze.

From the hole in the bottom of the ship behind me, I saw something covered in bone-like scales, resembling a hand or an antenna, slowly moving towards me.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Yellow River Dragon God

At first glance, this thing looks like a black human hand with bones growing out, but obviously the white bone plates on the outside are soft. For a moment, I couldn't really describe what it was. I saw it crawl in like a snake through the hole underwater, and it looked like it had almost no bones.

I was stunned. A series of thoughts flashed through my mind, and I didn't know how to react. Was this the thing in the water? No, the thing in the water was much bigger, and how could it look like this?

The young master shushed me twice from behind. When I didn't react, he ran up, grabbed me, and pulled me backward. Before I could react, he pulled me to the ground.

The thing immediately sensed the vibration of the cargo hold floor as we moved, and suddenly rose up, made a contracting motion, and then abruptly rolled over.

I realized I was in trouble, so I quickly pushed the young master aside, and the two of us rolled to the side, causing the tentacles to miss their target.

I casually grabbed an iron pipe from the bottom of the boat, and the young master also swung his machete. If we were to fight that big guy underwater, we wouldn't even be good enough to be snacks. Look at this thing, it's neither tall nor thicker than me, so why would I be afraid of it?

Just then, we suddenly heard a metallic scraping sound coming from behind us. Turning around, we saw that Lao Cai had already run out of the hold and was forcefully closing the sealed door.

"What are you doing!" the young master shouted in surprise. This kind of door is used to buy time for rescue when there is a hole in the bottom of the ship. It is a sealed rubber ring expansion door. Once it is closed, there is no way to get out inside. If the water rises, we will be trapped to death.

When Lao Cai heard the young master's shout, he was startled and immediately pulled harder on the iron gate, as if he really wanted to lock us inside. We could no longer care about the tentacles and rushed over to grab the crack in the door to prevent it from closing.

We were both stronger than him, and even though our faces were flushed, we managed to slowly open the door. When the old man realized he couldn't hold on any longer, he suddenly went berserk and rammed his head into my hand with tremendous force. His head broke open, and my fingers throbbed with pain, causing me to instinctively loosen my grip.

The young master wasn't in a good position, and when I loosened my grip, he couldn't hold on any longer and let go as well. In that instant, the iron gate slammed shut, and I immediately heard the sound of it being locked from the outside. I cursed loudly and banged on the door with the iron pipe, but before I could finish cursing, the young master suddenly screamed and fell into the water.

Looking back, I saw that the tentacles had wrapped around his waist and were desperately pulling him into a hole in the hull. The young master clung tightly to a rivet joint on a beam, his feet bracing against the hull, preventing him from being pulled into the water. Seeing me standing there dumbfounded, he yelled, "You idiot, I can't hold on anymore! Help!"

I reacted instantly, rushing forward to strike the tentacle hard with the iron rod. A foul, sandy odor quickly emanated from its skin, but the more I struck, the tighter it pulled. The young master yelled at me, "The rod is useless! Quickly, use the crossbow to shoot it!"

I saw the crossbow was still on the young master's back, so I quickly went up to pull it. But the thing seemed to know my intentions, and suddenly released the young master and turned to roll towards me. I rolled to the side, my hand hit the wall, and the iron rod slipped from my hand and fell out.

The young master reacted quickly; as soon as he was freed, he nocked a bow and strung it. In the time it took me to roll over, he fired a wild arrow at the thing. The crossbow was so powerful at such close range that the bamboo arrow almost completely penetrated its body.

The creature was clearly in pain, emitting a strange, indescribable sound. It thrashed around wildly in the hold a few times before almost instantly retreating into the hole in the hull.

We both collapsed into the water. When we looked at our hands, the places where we had touched the thing were covered in yellow liquid, and our bodies reeked of the fishy smell of yellow sand. This thing must have lived in the yellow sand at the bottom of the Mengjiang River.

I pondered for a moment and felt something was amiss. Why did Lao Cai lock us inside? I cautiously walked to the hole at the bottom of the ship and looked inside. Suddenly, I noticed that the metal opening at the hole was curled downwards.

"Damn it," I cursed, "this hull wasn't blown up by our detonators. It looks like it was breached from the inside. It was probably that old geezer's doing."

The young master said, "He's gone mad! This is his own boat, why would he sink it?"

I thought to myself, "How should I know?" and said, "This place is about to flood; we need to find a way out."

Water kept flowing up from the hole below, already past our knees. We quickly ran back to pull on the door, but it was locked tight. We pounded on it, but there was no response. We tried hitting it with iron pipes and prying it with crowbars, but the door was too sturdy and wouldn't budge.

When the young master realized he couldn't open the door, he ran into the cabin to find something to plug the hole. I saw that the boat was already heavily drafted and the current was too strong to plug it, so I said to him, "It's no use! Don't waste your energy!"

"What can we do then? Wait to die?"

I frowned, racked my brains for a moment, and said, "There's only one way. We have to crawl out of the hole! Then we'll swim out along the bottom of the boat and surface!"

"But there are still those things in the water! Crossbows are useless in the water, that's no joke."

"I can't worry about that now!" I said. "It's better than drowning."

The young master thought it made sense. The two of them took off their shirts, tightened their leg tubes and belts, and I took the lead without hesitation, diving into the water and crawling out through the hole in the bottom of the boat.

The current outside was terrifyingly strong, but most of the force was still surging into the hole in the bottom of the boat. I clung tightly to the edge of the hole, trying to hold myself still and prevent myself from being sucked back into the boat.

The young master jumped down as well. I felt his foot touch my head. I pulled him to show that I was there too. Then, I gritted my teeth, let go, and pushed off the edge of the hole in the bottom of the boat. Using the force of the push, I leaped out of the water ripples under the boat.

Everything went smoothly. Even though my eyes were closed, I could still feel myself rising. No matter what his motives were for wanting to kill us, he certainly wouldn't have imagined that we would be so bold as to dive down knowing there was something underwater.

Just as I felt relieved and was about to swim to the surface, I suddenly felt a tightness in my ankle, and a tremendous force pulled me down. I immediately felt my ears bulge, and I don't know how deep I was pulled down.

In the midst of the chaos, I instinctively opened my eyes. I thought I wouldn't be able to see anything in the murky water, but when I opened them, I was surprised to find that the water wasn't as murky as I had imagined; in fact, it was quite clear.

It's probably because of the turbulent water flow here that a lot of sand is swept to the surface, making this section of the Yellow River more turbid than any other part of it, while the water underneath is much clearer.

Even so, naked-eye vision underwater is very limited. In the midst of the chaos, I saw a blurry, huge shadow coiling up from the bottom of the water. It was more than ten meters long, with countless tentacles extending from that shadow, like a giant centipede, or like a giant seaweed.

I looked around and found that there was more than one of these things. Almost all around me were blurry, centipede-like shadows. One end of each of them came from the dark bottom of the water, while the other end kept coiling in the water. I tried hard to see what these things looked like, so I could die knowing the truth, but no matter how hard I tried, I could only see shadows.

"Oh no," I thought to myself. "Where have I gone? Why are all sorts of demons and monsters wandering around? It was a mistake not to check the almanac before going out."

The tentacle pulling me was incredibly strong, dragging me deeper into the water. I felt the oxygen in my lungs rapidly decreasing, and everything in front of me became increasingly blurry. Just as I was in despair, a figure suddenly appeared beside me and grabbed me. When I looked at the silhouette of the figure, I realized it was Wang Ruonan.

I was wondering why she came down there when she pointed down and told me to curl up.

I couldn't understand what she meant at all, and I was about to ask her for the knife when suddenly the entire underwater area rippled, and a large number of bubbles burst out of the water. I felt my ankle loosen, and then an extremely strong water shockwave threw us out.

I immediately realized that it was one of those detonators that had exploded again.

I held onto Wang Ruonan tightly, and suddenly the world spun around me. My head went limp, and I was swept to the surface of the water. Because I rose so fast, I touched my ears and nose and found them covered in blood. I wiped my eyes and saw that I had been swept twenty or thirty meters away from the boat.

Wang Ruonan was right beside me, but she was already unconscious and sinking straight into the water. I quickly lifted her up. Then, holding her, I swung my arm and desperately chased after the boat.

Fortunately, the current was flowing towards the boat, and after a splash, I was already on the side of the boat.

Climbing onto the ship's railing, I disregarded everyone else and put Wang Ruonan down. I discovered she wasn't breathing, and my heart panicked. I quickly unbuttoned her underwear, ignoring all taboos, and pressed down with my large hands to force the water out of her lungs. Then I bent down and blew air into her mouth.

She coughed violently after I blew on her, spitting a stream of foul-smelling liquid onto my face. Then she took a deep breath and resumed breathing.

I breathed a sigh of relief and felt relieved. When I saw that her clothes were open, I thought that she would definitely get slapped if she encountered this situation on TV. I quickly wrapped her clothes up and buttoned them up. As a result, I couldn't remember anything about her figure or how she felt.

Just as he was regretting his actions and wondering whether he should try to untie it again, he heard the sound of a door being kicked open. The old man, covered in blood, fell out of the storeroom. Then the young master came out with a broken pole, grabbed it, and started hitting him, cursing as he did so: "You bastard, trying to harm your grandpa? I'll throw you into the river today!"

The old man retreated while begging for mercy: "Uncle Li, I didn't want to either. If I didn't do this, our village would sacrifice my daughter to the river. Please, spare me."

The young master was known for his arrogant and boastful attitude, so such words had no effect on him. Before the old man could finish speaking, the young master struck him again with his pole, knocking him over. I realized that he would be beaten to death if this continued, so I quickly stopped him.

Only then did the young master notice me. He immediately dropped the pole and ran over, shouting, "Damn it, I thought you two were dead! Are you alright?"

I explained what had happened, saying that everything should be alright, and then asked him, "What happened? How did Ruonan end up in the water?"

The young master said, "When I saw you being swept away by something, I knew something was wrong. When we boarded the boat, that old man was about to attack Ruonan when I kicked him to the ground. When I told her what happened, she jumped overboard without thinking."

When I heard this, I glanced at the woman in front of me whose face was as pale as snow, and suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

The young master touched Ruonan's forehead and said she should be fine, she had probably just drunk a few sips of water. I picked Ruonan up, said goodbye to him, and told him I still had questions for the old man who had been beaten to death. Then I took her into the guest cabin.

Old Cai was dragged in by the young master, tied to the leg of a stool, his face covered in blood. The young master had gone too far; someone like him must have offended too many people during the Cultural Revolution, no wonder he's in such a sorry state now. I put Wang Ruonan down and turned on a heater to warm her. Then I kicked Old Cai and asked him, "What did you just say? You said it was people from your village who did this?"

Old Cai looked at us with disbelief, clearly not understanding how the two of us had survived. When I asked, he quickly nodded, "Yes, yes! I had no choice..."

Before I could finish speaking, the young master swung his pole again, hitting him so hard he groaned. I quickly pulled him back and yelled, "Have you gotten addicted to hitting people? Why didn't we deal with this violent maniac back in 2007 or 2008? It was like letting a tiger return to the mountains!"

The young master said, "Damn it, I only hit him because I was really angry. Do you know why he wanted to kill us? If you did, you would have hit him even harder than I did."

I said, "People like that are either after money or women. What else could it be?"

The young master said, "If that were really the case, I would forgive him. We're all in the same boat when it comes to money and women, so I can understand. But damn it, he wants to sink us and this boat, not for that, but to sacrifice us to the river!! Can you believe how aggrieved that is? I'm a grown man, my mother raised me for thirty years, and you're using me to sacrifice to the river? You're treating us like animals!"

He was about to hit me again when I quickly stopped him, saying, "Alright, so what if we use you as a sacrifice to the river? We were the ones who got chosen, which means our character is pretty good." Then I said to Lao Cai, "What's going on in your village? What kind of era are you living in? Aren't you afraid of getting shot?"

Old Cai, seeing my kind demeanor, assumed I was his savior and immediately fawned over me, saying, "Master Xu, I'm so sorry, I didn't want this either. Look at everyone in this village, they're all like this, I can't help it. Please let me go, I'll take you wherever you want. I don't want the money."

I sneered and said, "Give me a break. Your boat is practically a submarine, and you're still trying to sail it? You'll end up on the Bridge of Helplessness!" I told him, "If you want to live, tell me the whole story from the beginning. Otherwise, it'll be time for you to be sacrificed to the river."

Old Cai immediately said, "I'll tell you, I'll tell you." Then he recounted everything that had happened in the village in detail.

Originally, their village was nothing special. They grew up in the old society but lived in the spring breeze. Apart from being a little poor, the village was relatively peaceful. Like all the villages along the river, they made a living from the ferry crossing. Many people were boatmen, and they followed all the rules for making a living on the water.

Everything was peaceful year after year, but for some reason, things changed starting four years ago. The Shazhen Gorge was already difficult to navigate, and with the floods, for some reason, many boats were involved in accidents. Some people even saw strange, enormous things swimming in the water. Farmers in those days were very superstitious, and they panicked when they heard this. Asking the police was obviously out of the question, as it would be considered spreading feudal superstition. The only option was to consult a feng shui master, but that guy was truly unethical. After a quick calculation, he said that the Yellow River Dragon God had come to our area, probably because he thought our feng shui was good, and that he would stay for a while. He said that if you wanted to cross the Shazhen Gorge, you had to make a sacrifice.

They had thrown a lot of cattle, sheep and pigs into the water, but it didn't help and things still went wrong. Later, they went to ask a feng shui master, who said that the cattle and sheep were useless and that people were needed.

This whole thing was absurd, but at the time, these people's behavior was truly incomprehensible. The village chief actually believed it. Old Cai was the most honest man in the village; no one else would dare commit murder. So the task was pushed onto him, with the threat that if he refused, they would throw him and his daughter into the river. To be honest, Old Cai had killed several people over the years. Being an honest man, he was naive. Seeing that he could kill without consequence, and that the villagers were somewhat afraid of him, and that the foremen no longer dared to bully him, he even felt a sense of smugness.

We thought we could easily kill them this time, but we didn't expect to run into two tough nut to crack.

After hearing this, I cursed inwardly. I thought to myself, "That guy with yellow teeth, how come two outsiders die in this village every year? Damn, his expression was so strange back then, he must be in cahoots with him. When I get back, I'll break all his teeth! And I'll chop up that feng shui master so he won't be left in the world to harm people."

Just then, the boat lurched and began to tilt. I turned my head and looked outside, and I knew something was wrong.

The ship's hold was probably completely filled with water. Although it was still barely afloat, the waterline was extremely high, almost parallel to the gunwale. While it wouldn't sink quickly, it couldn't withstand strong winds and waves; a single wave would soon take it underwater. We had to find a place to dock and leave the ship as soon as possible.

I asked Lao Cai what he planned to do after the ship sank. He said there was a place ahead that led to the mountain, a place he discovered when he was a child, and only he knew about it.

The young master climbed onto the mast of the boat (I don't know what it was, it was just a thing), looked ahead, and shouted at me, "Both sides of the Mengjiang River are cliffs, but on the cliff in front, there is indeed a protruding part."

No matter where it is, as long as it is far from the water, it is perfect for us.

The young master climbed down, immediately started the engine, and drove desperately toward the protruding spot. Because of the direction of the water flow, the boat moved very slowly, and the rocking became more severe after each movement, with water pouring into the boat from the side.

I threw away everything that was dispensable in the boat, but the waterline only rose by about two millimeters. The rest was all our equipment. My hands suddenly felt cold. The young master shouted, "Throw it away! What are you so upset about?"

I thought for a moment and decided to start throwing things away from the least necessary ones. First, the stainless steel threaded tubing—I could use wood instead—I threw that away. Then the rope, I threw that away. The belt, I threw that away too. These things were all brand new, and it really hurt to throw them away. But I quickly realized that throwing things away like that was completely pointless. The water in the boat bucket was soon up to my ankles. The cliff protrusion that the young master had seen was right in front of me. From a distance, it seemed to be as tall as the mast, but up close, it was much taller than the mast.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Pool

The young master yelled at me, "Give me the rope!"

I rushed to find the rope, and as I searched, I remembered what I'd done, and exclaimed to him, "Oh no! I just threw it away!"

The young master's face turned green upon hearing this, and he yelled, "Are you out of your mind? How dare you throw away something so important!"

I was furious: "Didn't you tell me to throw it away? And you're blaming me?"

Seeing that the boat was about to pass through this area, I had a sudden inspiration. I grabbed a fishing pole and threw it to the young master. The young master used the iron hook on the pole to wed the rock, and after a few tugs, he found it to be sturdy. He then leaped up and climbed onto the rock in a few quick movements.

After reaching the protruding cliff, he flipped the pole over, hooked it onto the mast, and pulled the boat to one side with all his might. Then I tossed him the equipment piece by piece, and even cut some rope from the boat to use as a substitute. We went to the cabin, only to find Wang Ruonan already awake, changing her wet clothes. She was halfway through, not even fully buttoning them. Half of her breasts were almost exposed before me.

I was stunned. After my wife left, I had hardly touched a woman. Now, seeing this, I felt a little dizzy.

The girl didn't try to hide it; seeing me staring at her like that, she chuckled and asked, "Is it pretty?"

That's when it dawned on me. I rushed in and yelled, "What's so great about it? The ship's about to sink! What's there to see? Go seduce the Dragon King later!"

I grabbed the maid and ran out of the cabin. The young master was already unable to hold on. His strength alone was no match for the current of the Mengjiang River. As he pulled the boat, the pole just slipped out of his hands.

When he saw us come out, he yelled, "Can't you guys hurry up?!"

I dragged the little girl up onto the mast, and then climbed up myself. The young master turned the pole and released the boat. The weight of the pole and ours pressed down on his hand, and the pole immediately slid down.

I saw that after climbing a few times, I not only failed to go up but also kept going down, which scared me so much that I screamed.

In a moment of quick thinking, the young master jumped back and landed on the other end of the pole. He was heavier than both of us, which immediately helped him regain his balance.

We both climbed up using the pole. We all lay down on the rocks, panting heavily. The girl was genuinely frightened for a moment, repeatedly saying, "Amitabha!"

The boat was carried along by the current for a while, and I watched as it slowly entered the water, quickly disappearing into the yellow, weak water.