Yang Qing had only just opened his eyes when a black shadow flashed before him.
An instant later, something heavy knocked him flat.
It was a monster with a fishlike head and four legs sprouting from its body.
It had leaped out of the sea and pounced on Yang Qing, pinning him to the deck.
The monster's entire weight pressed down on Yang Qing. Its mouth was already open, revealing several rows of fine teeth.
All it had to do was thrust its head forward, and it could tear out Yang Qing's throat in a single bite.
The weight of the monster brought Yang Qing a little closer to his senses.
But all he could see was a sea of fiery red.
That heavy object was merely a roof beam that had burned through and fallen onto him.
The tongues of flame soon swallowed the clothes on Yang Qing's body as well.
The searing pain felt so terribly real.
Before long, the flames consumed his hair too, and a thick, unmistakable smell of burning filled his nostrils.
"Yang Qing, we're family. A family lives together and dies together..."
"Yang Qing, we're all in this sea of fire. You should join us..."
Yang Qing's vision blurred, but the people struggling in the inferno pierced his heart with every cry, every word.
Yes, his family was all in the sea of fire. He could only remain there too.
If they lived, they would live together. If they died, they would die together.
Yang Qing closed his eyes for a moment, but a faint voice kept hammering away inside him, as though trying to remind him of something.
Yet now, Yang Qing could not make out a single word.
The fire burned higher and higher.
Soon, the flames would swallow Yang Qing whole.