Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Enemies
With a sickening RIP and a flash of red light, a meter-long gash instantly appeared on the monster’s left foot.
The blow had nearly severed the creature’s left foot completely.
As a foul-smelling, putrid liquid gushed from the wound, the monster staggered and dropped to one knee.
After several rounds of coordinated attacks, Zhang Wenda and Song Jianguo had already inflicted over a dozen wounds on the monster.
Black liquid flowed from its wound-riddled body, spreading through the library’s waters and contaminating everything.
And yet, the monster could still move. It swayed its tattered body and climbed up from the water again, opening its pitch-black maw to let out a gurgling roar at Zhang Wenda.
Zhang Wenda couldn’t tell if it was just his imagination, but he inexplicably noticed that the creature’s body was now clearly larger than before.
Perched on a nearby bookshelf, Song Jianguo glanced at the Black Cat beside her, which was so exhausted it had started to vomit. She said to Zhang Wenda, "We can’t keep dragging this out. My cat can’t hold on much longer."
Panting with exhaustion, Zhang Wenda also looked down at his flashlight. The red beam of light was flickering more intensely now, as if it would go out at any second.
Glancing at the completely depleted Red Core on his arm, Zhang Wenda took a deep breath. "Let’s try one more time. The last time. This time, give me good cover! I’m going to chop its head off!"
"Damn it! I never should have agreed to come in here with you!"
When the monster charged at Zhang Wenda again, he gritted his teeth and charged right back.
Just as the Cat Shield rapidly formed in front of him to the sound of meows, blocking the creature’s maimed fist...
...Zhang Wenda stepped right onto the shield and leaped onto the monster’s broad arm.
He gripped the flashlight in his hand tightly, running along the rotten arm as he sprinted toward the creature’s head.
Seeing the pitch-black mouth getting closer and closer, Zhang Wenda let out a furious roar and swung his weapon down with all his might.
Finally, with a sickening RIP, the red light from his hand vanished completely at the exact moment he fell backward into the water.
When a panting Zhang Wenda climbed out of the water and looked up, he saw the enormous head falling to the floor with a thunderous crash.
Zhang Wenda turned his head to look at Song Jianguo in the distance and waved. "It’s over! Come on over!"
But then he saw the distant Song Jianguo, looking terrified, flailing her arms and gesturing wildly at something behind him.
Feeling water dripping on his head as if it were raining, Zhang Wenda turned around. He then saw the headless body bend over and pick its own head up out of the water.
Watching this unfold, a deep sense of powerlessness washed over Zhang Wenda. ’This thing is unkillable. How are we supposed to fight this?’
Just as the massive head was being placed back on, Zhang Wenda’s gaze shifted downward from the head and landed again on the child in its abdomen. Its rotten face was twisted in a grimace, and it seemed to be crying even harder than before.
’Could it be...?’ Zhang Wenda charged forward again, grabbing onto a chunk of rotten flesh and leaping directly into the creature’s abdomen.
He didn’t attack or try to pull the child’s corpse out. Instead, he took the piece of soft milk candy Ouyang had given him out of his pocket and stuffed it, wrapper and all, into the child’s mouth.
The moment the candy entered the rotten child’s mouth, the increasingly berserk monster froze in place.
Gasping for breath, Zhang Wenda jumped from its abdomen back into the water. He took a few steps back and watched as the monster’s bloated body gradually collapsed and disintegrated.
Finally, it and the rotten child vanished into the water like so much foam.
"Not bad. How did you do that?" Song Jianguo walked over, looking at the empty surface of the water in surprise as she asked.
Zhang Wenda shook his head. "I don’t know. I just had a feeling."
Song Jianguo rested her chin in her hand, thought for a moment, and then decided not to dwell on such a complicated question. She turned and whistled to the Black Cats nearby.
A continuous stream of meows rose up as the Black Cats linked together, forming a furry, black boat that floated on the water’s surface.
Like a captain, Song Jianguo propped one foot on the bow. "Where to next?"
Zhang Wenda collected his thoughts, braced his hands on the gunwale, and vaulted aboard. "Let’s head back first."
"Back? You’re giving up the search?" Song Jianguo asked in surprise.
"Let’s head back first," Zhang Wenda said again, glancing at his completely drained Red Core.
"We’ve been running around for so long, we’re exhausted. Who knows what else is in this weird place. It’s not safe to stay any longer."
"The library isn’t going anywhere. We’ll come back and explore again once the Red Core has fully recovered and we’ve prepared more candy," he analyzed rationally.
’This place is a little too dangerous. I need to be fully prepared.’
Song Jianguo naturally had no objections to this; she was already sleepy after such a tiring ordeal.
The two of them sat on the cat-boat, which slowly moved toward the exit, propelled by the paddling of hundreds of cat legs underneath.
After all the commotion, they had a rare moment of respite. Song Jianguo pulled off her arm covers and reached over the side of the boat to forcefully wring them out.
"Do you think that was a person? If it was, how could it just dissolve in the water?"
Zhang Wenda watched the mountains of bookcases and books gradually recede on either side. "I don’t know. Maybe it was a lingering obsession from the library."
Just then, he glimpsed a book next to them slowly opening, as if tempting him to read it. He quickly averted his gaze, looking to the other side.
Suddenly, Zhang Wenda noticed something under Song Jianguo’s arm covers. Her visible skin was a light tan, but the skin underneath the covers was as white as snow and seemed to have some black tattoos on it.
Noticing Zhang Wenda’s gaze, Song Jianguo turned her body away and pulled the wrung-out arm covers back on.
"What’s with your arm?"
"None of your business," Song Jianguo’s voice held a strange hint of anger.
Her reaction left Zhang Wenda baffled. ’What’s with her? Why did she suddenly get angry like some kind of psycho?’
Just as Zhang Wenda was about to ask another question, his expression grew serious. He quickly leaned over the side of the boat, staring intently at the perfectly calm surface of the water.
When he saw faint, concentric ripples spreading out again, Zhang Wenda’s brow furrowed. "Something’s not right! We have a problem! Jianguo, make your cats speed up!"
Song Jianguo blew a sharp whistle, and the cat-boat sped up again. But no matter how fast it went, it still wasn’t fast enough to outrun some things.
As that strange, trembling sound rose once more, a tall figure came swaying toward them. It was an "old man"—and then more "old men."
One, two, three... more and more "old men" surrounded them from all sides. Shrouded by their towering bodies, the surrounding light grew much dimmer.
Seeing this, Song Jianguo’s cat ears drooped, pressing flat against her hair.
She swallowed hard and took a couple of small steps back. "Hey, can you handle this many?"
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