What are you, a human or a monster?"
Looking at the blood-red gills of that person, I was a little scared and couldn't help but frown and ask.
"Monster?" He smiled bitterly, pressed the crushed herbs onto his leg wound, which immediately caused him to gasp in pain and hiss. "In our place, we don't usually call them monsters, but water spirits," he said through gritted teeth as he found a piece of cloth from the pile of rocks and tore it into strips to bandage his wound. Then he looked at me and said: "You're the first person who has hurt me in so many years."
"You seem to have a good mentality. Do you know that you've killed innocent people? You're crazy! You're a murderer! Do you know that?" I stared coldly at him.
"I know, of course I do. I'm not stupid," he struggled to move his legs back against the rock wall with both hands while taking deep breaths before looking at me again: "But all those people I killed were evil; they were more wicked than me - more sinister and disgusting - they deserved to die!"
"Are you insane? They were honest villagers; what's so evil or sinister about them? Who gave you the right to kill them?" My anger rose as I felt this guy might be some kind of psychopathic killer; instinctively reaching for my folding knife.
"Don't forget what you promised me earlier. Let him finish speaking," YunQingYue suddenly appeared beside me just then stopping my action.
Hearing her words while watching her expression towards Fish Gills Man made it clear enough for me what she had guessed; causing an involuntary sigh from within myself before putting away my knife while staring coldly at Fish Gills Man saying: "So tell us why did you do it? If your reasons are good enough, I might spare your life."
"Before I tell you about myself, can you introduce yourself first? Who are you? Why did you come here? How much money did those villagers pay you to deal with me? Can we make a deal too? You tell me how much they paid and I'll give double or triple or even ten times that amount. See these stones; they're all crystals and jade - very valuable gems. Take them all if it means not helping those bastards again," Fish Gills Man said as he threw a gemstone from behind onto the ground in front of me.
The light shone on the dazzling gemstones; even an idiot could see that they were genuine. These gems were definitely worth a lot of money but at this moment, they couldn't buy my conscience because justice was more important than wealth.
"My name is Liu YiHeng; I'm an exorcist who has also studied some Taoism. This time, I stumbled upon this incident by chance and acted righteously," I replied.
While I was speaking, I squatted down and picked up a sparkling crystal. I examined it under the light before turning to the fish-gill man and saying, 'Now it's your turn.'
'My name is An Yesu,' he said to me. 'I'm not from around here. I came here by chance.'
'Where are you from? How did you get here?' I continued playing with the crystal as I asked.
'The stone in your hand belongs to me,' he said, looking at the chicken egg luminous stone in my hand. 'The reason why I came here is because of that stone.'
'I didn't expect this chicken egg luminous stone to be yours,' I replied.
'I used to live on the sea. My tribe has been fishing for generations and we spend our entire lives on boats. We're naturally immune to seasickness - not only do we not get seasick, but we've even grown accustomed to life on board ships. So when we leave our boats or water behind, we feel uncomfortable; we become dizzy like how you would feel if you were seasick. Everyone in our tribe has excellent swimming skills; even ordinary people can hold their breath underwater for more than ten minutes.' An Yesu looked at me as he spoke.
'Does everyone in your tribe have gills like you?' As soon as those words left my mouth, I pointed at my own cheeks.
'No, everyone else in my tribe is normal except for me. Water spirits don't appear easily; sometimes hundreds of years pass without one appearing.' An Yesu told me.
'So does that mean that within your tribe, you're highly regarded?' Puzzled by his story so far, I asked him how he ended up where he was now.
'It's a long story,' An Yesu sighed bitterly before continuing: 'You're right - within my tribe, they treat me like a star. I've been given special treatment since birth because of my gills; everyone treats me like a god. They gave me the best education and sent me to school so that I could learn how to read and write. They hoped that I would grow up to be an intelligent leader who could lead them towards light and happiness.'
'But wouldn't it be inconvenient for you to go to school looking like this?' I asked, still puzzled.
'It's easy enough to hide my gills,' An Yesu replied confidently. 'As long as I fold them back and put on some plaster, no one can tell they're there. If necessary, I just let my hair grow long so that it covers my cheeks - hardly anyone notices then. Besides, in our tribe, if people see my gills, they only worship me; they don't feel afraid.'
'I understand what you mean now,' I nodded before urging him on: 'Please continue with your story.'
The later events were very ironic. Because I received special care since childhood, not only could I study and go to school, but I also had the opportunity to visit the mainland. When I saw those tall buildings and bustling cities, my heart was moved. I didn't want to go back to the ship anymore. However, I couldn't help it because my tribe had arranged for me to take over as chief at the age of 18. Once becoming a chief, it's difficult to have personal time or pursue one's own happiness in life. You can only work hard for your tribe and forever wander on the sea until you die." An Yesu said to me.
Hearing this, I became quiet and after a long while asked him: "So you ran away?"
"Yes, that's right. At that time, I was too panicked and didn't have much time so all I could do was take one of the three sacred artifacts symbolizing the honor of being a tribal leader - Night Light Stone - with me when escaping. Knowing that it was valuable and could be sold for a lot of money helped me survive on land," An Yesu looked at me with some self-deprecating bitterness before continuing: "Unfortunately, little did I know how dangerous society is out there; instead of helping me survive on land like what it should've done, Night Light Stone ended up causing my downfall.