Chapter 104: Hurray for Friendship?
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
Lin Sanjiu, who currently had no idea about her companions’ predicaments, was at the bottom of the ocean and was feeling at a loss as to what to do. Shen Lianqi’s friends were standing right in front of her, and by convention, she should greet them...
Shen Lianqi was in high spirits, he seemed extremely happy to introduce his friends to Lin Sanjiu. On the contrary, Lin Sanjiu could not even bring herself to smile. She held her [Ability Polishing Agent] up in the air, and under the illumination of the silver light, she saw three fully drenched… people and every minute detail of their appearances. Even if Shen Lianqi didn’t notice anything weird before, he should have noticed it by now. But Shen Lianqi seemed unbothered.
In any case, his "friends" shouldn’t be three bloated cadavers, right?
To be accurate, they were not mere cadavers. They no longer had their original body frames, but rather, they were like bloated humanoid sacs. Every movement they made was followed by a pitter-patter sound of dripping water. They had a putrid stench of rotten flesh soaked in water. It was obvious that these three "people" were passengers on the ship and died when the ship sunk during the tsunami. Despite their waterlogged faces, there were still traces of their prominent noses and deep-set eyes so Lin Sanjiu could tell that they were not Asians. The reason why these bloated corpses could still walk, smile, and speak was probably because of the long mouthpart on each of their faces.
[They are aquatic duoluozhongs,] this was the thought that surfaced in Lin Sanjiu’s mind. With a quick gesture, she pulled out her mouthpart weapon with serrated edges, which was even longer and sharper than that on the duoluozhongs' faces, and immediately took a defensive stance.
Shen Lianqi immediately furrowed his brows. "Miss Lin, what are you doing?"
Before Lin Sanjiu could say a word, the obese — perhaps, he might not have been fat, but there was no way of telling his original looks — middle-aged man patted Shen Lianqi’s shoulder and smiled while he comforted, "Hey, it is just a normal reaction. Suddenly seeing us like that, she would definitely be frightened…"
The woman on his left, with only a few sparse maroon hair on her head, spoke, "Hello, Miss Lin. Don’t worry. We come with no ill intentions. Even though we ended up looking like this unsightly monstrosity, our hearts are still the same. We still have a human’s heart."
The woman sounded very gentle as she caressed her own face for a little while. This action made a piece of her rotten skin fall off her face. Lin Sanjiu nearly vomited when she saw that despite the woman’s words.
After their bodies had been soaked in warm water for such a long time, it was no wonder that their bodies were in such a state. The last "person", whose body had decomposed to a state which made it impossible to tell his or her gender, did not say a word; instead, Shen Lianqi stepped forward and said ardently, "Lin Sanjiu, listen to me. In this world, duoluozhongs have horrifying appearances initially, but as they consume more and more people, their bodies will be restored to a better condition. I have seen quite a lot of duoluozhongs who nearly look like any other human on land."
At this point, he pointed to the three duoluozhongs and said earnestly, "But look at them! Whether it is Miss Hannah or my bro Hank, the state of their bodies clearly show that they had never consumed any humans!"
"That’s because there is no one in this goddamned place for them to consume!" Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help yelling out.
"What about me?" Shen Lianqi hit his chest, "I have already been living here for more than a month. They have never tried to attack me!"
This was something that Lin Sanjiu could not refute. Seeing Lin Sanjiu rendered speechless by Shen Lianqi’s argument, the duoluozhong called Hannah sighed. "Miss Lin, I hope you are someone that judges a book by its cover. As time goes by, you’ll discover that we are not like what you think."
"That’s right. Miss Lin, please keep your weapon." Shen Lianqi was also a little troubled by this. He turned around to face the duoluozhong who looked like a giant popsicle and ordered, "Dale, why don’t you haul that prawn up? We can eat dinner and chat. Miss Lin, will that be okay?"
Clearly, he wanted Lin Sanjiu to give his friends a chance.
Dale turned and left, while Hannah and Hank also went their own ways. They disregarded Lin Sanjiu’s aggressive stance and walked away with neutral expressions as if they were returning home. One of them brought a pot and some tableware, and the other sat on the deck trying to make a fire. It was apparent to Lin Sanjiu that they have done these chores countless of times. On the other hand, their actions made Lin Sanjiu seemed a little awkward holding her mouthpart weapon in her hand.
"Miss Lin, don’t worry." Shen Lianqi walked to Lin Sanjiu’s side and assured her softly, "If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to adapt so quickly to a life at the bottom of the ocean… I trust them fully. Besides, Miss Hannah is the gentlest and kindest woman I’ve ever met…"
Lin Sanjiu gave him a sidelong glance. At the same time, the fire was successfully lit and brightened up half the deck. [That blush on his face must be the light from the fire, right?] she thought to herself feeling rather uncertain. After thinking about it, she decided she would just go along with things and continue observing. She nodded and went over to meet the duoluozhongs with Shen Lianqi, sitting down by the fire.
Hank immediately made a happy whistle. If the skin around his mouthpart wasn’t so gloppy, it would have sounded even louder.
Within a few minutes, Dale came back with a large, human-sized, snow-white prawn. He left a muddy black footprint everywhere he walked so the prawn he pulled behind him was basically covered with the same black substance from his body. Shen Lianqi didn’t seem to notice that as he cheered and took a knife to remove the prawn’s shell — this was obviously not the first time he ate such a prawn. Without much effort, he removed the shell cleanly off the prawn, then its innards and cut it into strips before putting the meat in the pot.
He even cut a few large pieces of raw prawn and mixed them with its blood and innards. Then, he served this mixture to the duoluozhongs for their consumption.
This prawn was way more delicious than that dragonfish. However, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t muster any appetite watching the three inhuman faces in front of her. Under this strange atmosphere, she put down her bowl very quickly.
"Do you find it hard to stomach because it is cooked in salt water? Do you want some mineral water?" After she said that, she handed Lin Sanjiu a bottle of mineral water. It was the same type of mineral water as the one she drank previously. It was also taken from the bridge. The ruby red bottle had a very sleek design. Lin Sanjiu felt very conflicted after being treated with such consideration by a duoluozhong. She suppressed the intense feeling of suspicion and twisted opened the cap. The cap opened with a soft "click" proving that no one had opened it before. Sensing that Shen Lianqi was watching her, she slowly drank a mouthful.
[That’s right. Didn’t she find it a little weird just now…] she thought to herself, frowning as she drank the water.
At that moment, the three duoluozhongs and Shen Lianqi were happily chatting away. They began discussing what they might find deeper in the ocean. This gave Lin Sanjiu the opportunity to think. While Lin Sanjiu pondered about her uneasiness, she took out the previous card containing the half-full bottle of water without anyone’s notice. She examined it half-heartedly.
When she saw the words: [Another/Way - A Mermaid Cultivation Drink], a large refreshing gulp of water was sliding down her esophagus and into her body. That was it! When she took a quick glance at the card just now, she felt that the name of the bottle of water was too long! Shocked, Lin Sanjiu coughed violently till her face turned red. She was trying her best to cough out that mouthful of water.
[Does Shen Lianqi know the truth behind this water?]
Hannah, who was beside her, seemed startled by her reaction. The duoluozhong wanted to rush over to pat Lin Sanjiu’s back, but before she touched her, Shen Lianqi held Hannah’s arm. "Don’t touch her!"
Hannah and the other two duoluozhongs were confused by his action. Holding on to Hannah’s wet, rotting swollen arm, Shen Lianqi blushed again before he explained in an affected manner about the [Versu Poison] on Lin Sanjiu’s body, "That… That’s why you will die if you come in direct contact with her skin."
Lin Sanjiu coughed so hard that she couldn’t say a word, but she was silently cursing Shen Lianqi in her heart for being such a loudmouth. Despite the half-peeling, soggy skin on Hannah’s face, Lin Sanjiu could see her expression changing. The duoluozhong stood up, shocked and almost a little dazed.
Lin Sanjiu didn’t know what Hannah was thinking, but Lin Sanjiu had a quick idea. She tried to ignore the itch in her throat and smiled at them, "Yup. You must be careful. Don’t touch me accidentally. [Versu Poison] only take a few seconds to act."
Hank gave her a curt affirmation and kept quiet. Dale couldn’t say a word, perhaps due to the state of decomposition his face was in. Thus, the situation around the fire was suddenly taken over by a subtle silence. The only person who seemed rather indifferent about it was Lian Shenqi. He held his bowl again and laughed, "Today’s prawn taste better than usual." With that, he emptied his bowl, stuffing the prawn meat into his mouth.
Lin Sanjiu eyed the other without saying anything. She waited patiently trying to catch a moment to read the card. She grasped her card tightly, her palms were starting to sweat.
[Should I just make up an excuse to leave?] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.
But at that moment, Hank started to move instead. He went to get another bottle of water and passed it to Shen Lianqi, "Hey, why don’t you drink some water."
Lin Sanjiu’s heart froze for a second, as she instinctively held her hand to block him from passing the water to Shen Lianqi. She smiled at Hank and asked, "Um, why don’t all of you drink some water?"
Three, white rotting face stared at her at the same time. As her heart raced anxiously, Shen Lianqi had already started to gulping down mineral water. After a few large gulps of water, he put down the bottle and laughed, "Hank and the others don’t need water. Isn’t that convenient? They are not like us. Haha! If Hank didn’t help me find for those bottles of water, I would have died of thirst a long time ago…"
The middle-aged obese man turned to Lin Sanjiu and offered, "Miss Lin, why don’t you drink some water. Drink more."
