That night, the wind howled furiously through Extinct Village, and the sound of rustling filled the air. From time to time, eerie screams echoed in the darkness.
Owen Bertram heard continuous thumping sounds as if something was relentlessly slamming against the walls and door of the small, dilapidated house.
Gathering his courage, he crawled beneath the window and slowly lifted his head...
Smash!
A fist-sized black shadow had broken through the mulberry paper window, revealing a black beetle with a face-like white pattern. Within moments, the beetle raised its six razor-sharp legs and began to hiss angrily. When it noticed Owen, it froze for a moment before curling up into a ball and rolling towards the door.
Owen was bewildered, feeling as if he had stumbled upon a ghost in the middle of the night.
Inside and outside the village, there were swarms of these insects, flooding towards the large dirt mound behind the village...
...
The night felt incredibly long, and when daylight finally broke, the village was filled with cries of mourning. The damage caused by these strange insects far surpassed that of past monsters.
Owen Bertram sighed quietly, instructed his sister to stay safe, and went out after packing his things.
He went to the tree hole and fed the remaining weapons to Little Loach.
After it had eaten its full, a warm current flowed through Owen again, stronger and more intense than before, with a sensation akin to being inside a furnace.
The sensation seemed to have filled up the area below Owen's belly and moved around his body, finally settling in the position of his left chest.
Owen noticed a faint symbol within the current but it had yet to fully form.
He held Little Loach by its tail and scolded, "Why was there no warm current yesterday? You must have swallowed it for yourself!"
Little Loach drooped its whiskers, looking pitiful.
Owen laughed and threw it back into the water.
As the day before, Owen's soul followed Little Loach as it swam into the Great River. After aimlessly circling twice, it headed straight to where the Fierce Fish had been the day before.
Today, the foreign object in Owen's throat felt even more noticeable.
Owen lurked in the mud for a while, making sure there was no ambush before surfacing to swim over.
He found a stone wall near the bottom of the water. He dove into the silt and quickly discovered a hole in the wall, blocked by a basin-sized stone.
The Fierce Fish lay above the stone, covered in a thick layer of sediment.
However, the stone and the hole were irregular shapes, and between them lay a gap just big enough for Little Loach to squeeze through.
The hole wasn't deep. Upon entering, Owen immediately felt the temperature inside was much warmer than outside. At the bottom of the hole lay a semicircular stone plaque with engraved patterns that Owen couldn't discern underwater.
Little Loach bit onto it and swam back out.
Time was running out, and who knew when the Dominant Ferocious Fish might return?
However, the plaque couldn't pass through the gap at the entrance of the hole.
Little Loach turned and smacked the stone with its tail forcefully.Owen originally wanted to move the stone just enough for him to swim out. But when he turned around, the stone was completely covered with fissures!
It seemed several times more powerful than when he shattered the Fierce Fish last time.
Owen dared not hesitate any longer and wriggled his way out through the now-greater gap, swimming with all his might towards the smaller river.
Suddenly, turbulent currents came from behind. Owen cursed under his breath, realizing that the Dominant Ferocious Fish had returned and found its treasure stolen.
Little Loach swam quickly, like a sharp sword cutting through the water.
However, the turbulent currents behind him grew stronger. Owen cursed silently, wondering if the fish could sense the location of the treasure.
Owen made a snap decision to approach the riverbank and then, with a vigorous swing, tossed the stone plaque out of the water, landing far away in the bushes by the river.
Little Loach surfaced, memorized the location of the stone, and then dove back into the water to sprint a distance before burying itself in the muddy river bottom.
The Dominant Ferocious Fish could not come ashore. It was relentlessly furious, wreaking havoc on this stretch of water, tearing apart seven or eight evil creatures, and scaring pearl divers away not to dare to enter the water.
It was not until dusk that the Dominant Ferocious Fish went away in resentment.
Little Loach crawled out and swam back to the smaller river quickly. Owen tucked Little Loach into the gourd, and felt secretly excited but kept a face of disappointment as he returned to the village empty-handed.
Surprisingly, that night was quite peaceful. The giant monsters did not come, and Owen slept soundly with his sister in his arms.
...
As usual, the sun rose, and Owen ate breakfast and set off.
Four days remained until the Life Saving Tax was due. To make sure his sister had meat to eat, he must find at least one more pearl during these few days, regardless of its size.
Owen took out the small bag from the tree hollow. Little Loach had already eaten up several weapons, leaving only two tokens. One was engraved with three flames and a "prime" (元) character on the back, and the other had intricate black cloud patterns on both sides, with the character "nine" (九) engraved on one corner.
Owen cut both tokens and tossed them to Little Loach.
The two tokens weighed far less than the weapons, so Little Loach wasn't full yet. It twined around Owen, unwilling to go work. With no alternative, Owen said, "I'll find something else for you to eat later."
Only then did Little Loach let it go. However, Owen grabbed its tail, "Don't run, what about my share?"
Little Loach reluctantly sent a warm current into Owen, much weaker than the previous day. After a lap in his body, it settled in his chest.
The symbol within the warm current became clearer by a few degrees.
Owen was very cautious today, finally making it to the bank of the Great River.
However, he found out he had worried too much: since the Dominant Ferocious Fish wreaked heavy havoc yesterday, it had scared off all the pearl divers, and today this stretch of the river was deserted.
Owen found the half piece of stone plaque in the bushes by the riverbank. Without daring to examine it closely, he tucked it away and hurriedly left.
Then, he returned to the smaller river and controlled Little Loach to swim from the smaller river into the Great River.
Owen's luck was good today and by noon, he had found a pearl.
The River Clam had a black body with faint yellow patterns on the edges. If there was an experienced pearl diver from the village, they might have given up upon seeing this kind of River Clam. This species was called a "Gilded Clam," being extremely agile and possessing a very strong shell that was difficult to break even with a large iron hammer.
As Little Loach approached, the Gilded Clam sensed it and quickly closed its shell.
Little Loach got close, and with a skillful flick of its tail, broke the clam shell open. After twisting its body and whipping the shell back and forth in the water a few more times, the shell was completely shattered.
Little Loach darted in, swallowed the clam meat in one bite, and then returned with the pearl in its mouth.