Sudden changes startled both me and YunQingYue. However, while we were stunned, the people on the boat were not. They were obviously well-trained and prepared for this situation.
The monster in the river had just dragged the big man at the bow of the boat into the water when the remaining six people on board quickly took action without panic or mourning their companion's death.
"Fourth brother, fifth brother, cast the net!"
The big man in the middle of the boat stood up first and shouted out loud. At that moment, he pulled out a fist-sized ball from his pocket and threw it with force onto the surface of water.
"Squeak squeak squeak-"
As that ball flew through air with a sharp whistling sound emitting a dazzling white light, it turned into a powerful spotlight attached to surface of water after landing. The light illuminated everything around so brightly that even greenish-yellow colors under river could be seen clearly.
At same time as light came on, "swish swish" sounds could be heard as two men on board gritted their teeth and tightened rope to pull up large net they had previously laid down underwater.
"Boss! Can't lift it anymore!"
But how heavy was that net? Those two men couldn't pull it up after only few attempts.
Seeing this situation unfold before him, commanding officer shouted again: "Third brother! Sixth brother! Hoist sail and raise net!"
"Yes sir!"
Upon hearing those words from commanding officer ,two other big men who had already been standing by mast began pulling hard at ropes but instead of raising sails they helped pull up fishing nets because they tied other end of large net to sail rope beforehand . This way they could use mast to exert more force to lift entire fishing net from bottom of river .
"Younger brother (second-in-command), let's attack together!"
As fishing nets slowly rose higher above water, commanding officer and another big man holding a hunting rifle rushed to bow of boat, both nervously staring at net in water.
"Whoosh whoosh-"
That fishing net was very large, made entirely of nylon rope with many sharp hooks hanging on its surface. To be honest, such a large net could not only catch fish but also trap an entire cow alive.
Those big men were obviously here for that water monster and this huge fishing net was specially prepared for it. They clearly wanted to kill that monster.
"Damn water demon! Come on! I'll make you pay the price for twelve people from Lu's Gully!"
As he watched the fishing nets being pulled up bit by bit, commanding officer tightly grasped a sharp harpoon and couldn't help but shout out loud. At that moment, I noticed that he had only one arm and his leg seemed to be disabled as well.
However, even so, he still stood there gritting his teeth with determination in his eyes while holding onto harpoon with one hand ready to fight against the water monster until death.
"Big brother (commanding officer), it's actually thirteen lives lost including seventh brother who was just dragged down!" reminded someone next to him.
Yes, we must also avenge Lao Qi. You step back and don't let the water wet the gunpowder. When that ghostly thing comes out, aim carefully and shoot hard!" The disabled man spoke as he staggered towards the side of the ship with his harpoon pointed slowly at the large net in the water, ready to attack.
As the net was gradually pulled up, it continued to shake violently. It was obvious that something big had been caught in it and was trying to escape but couldn't because of the iron hooks on the net holding it tightly. It struggled desperately but could not break free from its captivity.
The higher they pulled up the net, the more violent its shaking became until finally, with splashes of water everywhere, they lifted it completely out of sight.
At this point even I and YunQingYue stood up and craned our necks to see what was inside. Unfortunately due to darkness and angle combined with being wrapped in a bundle by nets we couldn't make out what exactly was inside.
"What is this thing?" YunQingYue asked me instinctively as she moved closer beside me.
"Could there really be a monster? Impossible! This is probably just some kind of giant catfish or something like that; monsters are not so easily caught," I replied while walking forward unconsciously.
Just then, however, we saw that disabled man gritting his teeth as he raised his harpoon high above his head before stabbing fiercely into one corner of where all those nets were bundled together.
With a light sound followed by blood spraying everywhere from where he stabbed through flesh with his harpoon tip,the creature trapped within immediately let out a miserable scream before struggling even more frantically than before.
"Second brother! Kill this monster quickly!" Seeing this situation unfold,the disabled man stepped aside for his brother who held onto their hunting rifle already aimed directly at where the nets were. With a loud bang, the bullet shot out and hit the net directly, breaking off a large chunk of it along with bits of white and red flesh flying everywhere.
Jiya--"
A series of screams came from the fishing net. Whatever was inside had clearly been severely injured and was struggling, causing a large lump of intestines to squeeze out through a hole in the net.
The intestines were oily and colorful, looking disgusting and gruesome.
"We did it! Hahaha!"
Seeing this, the disabled man couldn't help but shout excitedly, then called out to the other men: "Quickly, drag the net onto the board. I want to see what this thing looks like and personally cut it into pieces. I will avenge Xiaolian!"
Hearing his words, the others all exerted their strength and pulled the big net onto the board.
As soon as it fell down without being loosened yet, all of them automatically surrounded it with their harpoons and knives ready for any sudden changes.
"Chirp chirp chirp - beep beep beep - ooh ya ya ya-"
However, at that moment suddenly there came a light and melancholic flute sound from above on top of river surface.
The flute sound immediately caught everyone's attention. YunQingYue and I instinctively stretched our necks towards where we heard it coming from.
As a result, upon closer inspection we saw standing by riverside was actually a red-clothed girl who was soaked wet with water droplets dripping off her hair which covered her face so that we could not see her features clearly.
I didn't know how she could stand directly on top of water like that but I knew for sure that this girl wasn't alive anymore.
She floated slowly along the surface until she reached beside where an orb of light drifted around before sinking down slowly while reaching out to grab hold of said orb before throwing it up high into air.