The Mysterious Man
Under the extreme strain of the tug-of-war, Fang Yue's arms suddenly cracked.
Only then did the two realize that, in their efforts to restrain him, they had pulled their companion's arms backward into grotesque angles. Shards of bone jutted out from the edges of his clothes.
Their faces went pale, and they instinctively loosened their grips.
With Wang Ningshui alone holding him, there was no stopping Fang Yue. With a rip, the scalp in Wang Ningshui's hand tore away from Fang Yue's head. Bits of flesh and blood pattered down, exposing raw, scarlet flesh.
Fang Yue, however, felt no pain at all. He even looked almost happy. Once free, he lunged forward with explosive strength. Wang Ningshui reacted quickly and grabbed his clothes again, and both men tumbled toward the pool!
"Captain!"
"Fang Yue!"
At the critical moment, Wang Ningshui hastily eased his pull and lowered his center of gravity. His head struck the edge of the pool hard, and his vision went black, but Fang Yue plunged straight into the water!
A tremendous spray came crashing down, soaking Wang Ningshui from head to toe. He instinctively flinched, but kept a death grip on Fang Yue's right leg, nearly being dragged into the pool himself.
The other three snapped out of their daze and rushed forward. One grabbed Wang Ningshui, while another helped pull Fang Yue's other leg.
As soon as Tao Yu came close, she saw that only Fang Yue's two legs remained above the water. Everything submerged had dissolved completely, without so much as a drop of blood left behind.
She retched silently and said in a trembling voice, "...It's already too late."
Their faces filled with grief, the others let go and watched in a daze as the legs gradually sank beneath the water. After helping Wang Ningshui steady himself, they retreated, their eyes reddened.
"Fang Yue..."
Wang Ningshui wiped his face hard, clearing away the drops of water splashed in front of his eyes. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a long saber sweep past them with a sharp rush of wind.
Whoosh—
The saber was about two meters long, its blade gleaming coldly. A small peachwood sword for warding off evil hung from the hilt, swaying gently in the swirling air amid an eerie, chilling aura.
As everyone stared in astonishment, the tip of the long saber struck the water hard!
The instant the saber entered the pool, it cleaved the water apart to either side. A massive wave rose high over their heads!
Crash—
The water split in two, the blow cutting almost all the way to the bottom. A shriek pierced the air from beneath the water. The four immediately covered their ears as visions flooded their sight!
An intensely rich aroma seemed to reach Tao Yu's nose. Though she repeatedly told herself it was an illusion, she still began to salivate, her eyes fixed on the water.
It smells so good... I'm so hungry... Eat it...
If I eat it, I'll become stronger. It was mine to begin with; it should become one with me!
Tao Yu took a step forward, but quickly forced herself back to her senses. She swallowed in a daze, her mind filled with confused thoughts of how delicious it was and how she mustn't eat it. She abruptly shut her eyes and banged her head against the ground. A loud thud rang out, and all those muddled thoughts scattered.
The water cleaved apart by the saber had yet to close. The water ghost beneath the surface seemed enraged, shrieking incessantly at an unbearable pitch.
With a large bump on her head, Tao Yu instinctively followed the saber with her eyes and looked down into the pool through her muddled haze. There she saw Fang Yue, his bloodshot eyes wide and his face covered in blood, with torn flesh from his scalp hanging by his ear as he desperately pleaded for help!
Their teammate wasn't dead after all?
She quickly glanced at her other three teammates, still lost in their daze, and slapped each of them without mercy.
"Fang Yue is still alive!"
Her actions jolted the other three awake. As though they had heard some overriding command, they immediately forced themselves out of the hallucinations that had half consumed them.
Without thinking, Wang Ningshui braced himself against the pool railing with one hand and reached for Fang Yue with the other. The other two reacted quickly as well, and together the three hauled him out of the water!
Clang!
The saber swept around the water and flashed back into its sheath like a silver line. The clamor in their ears vanished abruptly, and the fragrance lingering at their noses faded as the water settled.
They all sprang to their feet.
In the dim light, they saw a figure standing in the shadows after sheathing the saber. He was dressed entirely in black, with only a string of silver bells hanging at his waist. They swayed alongside the small peachwood sword, occasionally chiming pleasantly as they knocked together.
"Who are you?"
He doesn't look human... Is he a new uncanny entity?
As he spoke, Wang Ningshui glanced unobtrusively at the recorder still running behind them and silently made a hand signal.
Fang Yue, pulled from the water, was coughing his lungs out, the pain from his broken arms leaving him numb. But he forced himself to bear it and spoke quickly. "This isn't an instant-death-type domain uncanny entity. You don't dissolve when you enter the water. That was all an illusion!"
Tao Yu and the others frowned, but they weren't particularly surprised. It was normal not to understand an uncanny entity's rules for killing, and mistaken rules were nothing new. They were here to test them by trial and error.
"It might be a mental-type uncanny entity," Tao Yu said. "It uses illusions to incapacitate us and lure people into danger of their own accord, then conceals the disturbance underwater and lets them drown."
These were all old tricks for uncanny entities.
Yet the way they looked as though they were facing a formidable enemy suddenly made the young man in black laugh aloud.
Laughter?
Was he human? Not an uncanny entity?
Their backs, hunched with tension, relaxed slightly. It was good that he was human; at least they could communicate.
Tao Yu took a deep breath and suppressed her fear. Smiling, she said, "Thank you for saving our friend just now. We're surveyors from Team 5. Which team are you from?"
The young man in black took a step forward.
The faint light refracted through the water, casting dim shadows. Everyone else was now far from the pool; he alone remained by its edge. The reflected light barely allowed them to make out his distinctive, emerald-green eyes.
They were as sinister as a venomous snake's in the dark, and a chill ran through Wang Ningshui.
He was clearly human, yet standing there, he had an aura like an uncanny entity's.
He doesn't look like a good person...
The wary looks on their faces were truly amusing. The young man curled his lips, pointed the tip of his saber at them with sinister intent, and gave them an eerie smile.
"Die."
"Aaaah, run!"
Seeing them drag their teammate along in a frantic attempt to flee, he was about to take another step forward to frighten them when a languid voice sounded in his heart.
"That's enough. Stop scaring the kids. We have important business to attend to."
The chill in the young man's eyes vanished at once. In a few strides, he caught up with the group, who couldn't run very fast with someone in tow. He kept pace easily and greeted them in a gentle voice, being deliberately nasty. "Hi."
Tao Yu turned her head. "What the f— Huh?"
They skidded to a halt and let go of Fang Yue, whom they had nearly pulled out of shape. Meeting the young man's smiling gaze, they froze.
The young man's green eyes flicked toward the recorder behind them. He slowly turned his gaze back to the group, who had stopped in their tracks. "Why did you stop? Leave as quickly as you can. The water ghost is about to wake up."
They exchanged glances, their hearts still pounding from the fright. They had almost thought they'd run into a humanoid uncanny entity...
It's good that he's human.
They walked a few more steps, but heard no footsteps behind them. Wang Ningshui looked back and saw that the young man was still standing where he had been, with no intention of leaving.