Securing the latch and still not feeling reassured, Asarina dragged several bamboo poles over, laying them side by side across the wooden hatch of the lower deck. The ends of the bamboo poles were wedged into the gaps of the iron railing, locked tight!
Along and Aqing weighed down on the bamboo poles with their bodies!
Chewing noises could be heard emanating from beneath the deck, a gnashing, crunching sound, interspersed with occasional thumping, as if two Fish Monsters were fighting over food.
This commotion continued for three to five minutes before the Fish Monsters realized that they were locked up.
They began to struggle.
With their claws, their teeth, their tails! They struggled desperately! But the confined space of the lower deck suppressed their strength. Each time they nearly forced the hatch open, Asarina and the others pushed it back down!
