The blood-red conch, the size of a baby's fist, had been placed upside down in the cabin. No matter how wildly its flesh writhed, it could not turn itself over and had completely lost its ability to move.
The fisherman produced a folding knife from somewhere. After obtaining Qi Gu's permission, he pinned the conch down with one foot, smoothly traced the blade around beneath its transparent operculum, then plunged the knife into its flesh and pried the entire mass out.
The operculum came loose and fell to the floor. The mass of black-and-white flesh looked entirely human, only without finely sculpted facial features, more like an unfinished human sculpture.
The flesh twisted wildly on the blade, its expression contorted, displaying every reaction a human in pain might have. Pink liquid flowed from the knife wound, making it look as though the conch were bleeding.
[No... I'm eating aaaaaah!]
[Where are the people who said they'd bring their own blowtorches, mustard, and minced garlic? Let me see those hands.]
[Who gets it, guys? I ordered seafood sashimi especially so I could enjoy watching the show today, and it includes sliced conch... Say no more, I'm going to throw up for a bit. Urgh!]
[Help, this is way too terrifying. It really looks so much like a human face. Is this thing's existence even scientifically possible? Any marine biologists here who can take a look?]
A few minutes later, the human head finally stopped struggling and died with what looked like its mouth gaping wide.
The originally transparent operculum also turned a cloudy pale gray after it had died completely.
In those few short minutes, the Man-Faced Conches had climbed several more centimeters. Unless they came up with a way to deal with them, they would soon crawl into the cabin.