Sensing the gaze behind me, I deliberately slowed down my pace, keeping a close eye on the surroundings.
Passing by the front door of this wooden house for the second time, I touched the worn and shiny doorknob, deciding to take another round before going in.
The cold gaze was making me uneasy. No matter which side of the wall I walked, I could feel that I was constantly being watched.
To make me feel this way, it had to be either the person following my every step on the perimeter, or the hidden figures lurking in the darkness—more than one!
-----------------
Although this wooden house stood out, it was similar to other shanty areas on Tuna Star, densely packed with one building after another, all constructed on large natural sponge-like structures. Of course, there were neighbors around.
However, since I entered District 6, I haven't seen a single resident. When I arrived here, I couldn't even hear a trace of a living creature's voice. It seemed as if even the ocean surging beneath my feet had calmed down, afraid to make the slightest sound.I walked quietly, trying to keep my body straight, with my gaze fixed on the wooden walls.
"I want to see who you are!" When I turned the corner of the house, I suddenly turned back, swiftly retracting my steps on the way I came!
Finally!
I caught you!
I had expected to see a Tuna Star creature with a big green head, waving its dozen or so thick tentacles, clinging to the shanty.
But what I saw in my line of sight was a human being!
A human just like me!
A large felt hat was rolled up from three directions, casting a shadow over the face. The figure was wrapped in a tattered but sturdy black garment, made of some kind of hairless animal or sharkskin material. The left shoulder was wearing armor, and the arm was pressed behind with something held in it. The right arm was completely mechanized, coated in non-reflective black paint, with only the fingertip shining white, replaced by four long steel blades instead of a palm, with the blades intersecting and reaching the length of the ankles.
The waist, the legs, the thin-soled high leather boots—all outlined the figure that was half bent, about to move swiftly, clean and agile, yet filled with a menacing aura, like a ghost!
-----------------
Seeing me suddenly turn the tables and meet him face to face, just as he had emerged from his hiding place, he was also taken aback.
But his surprise was obviously much shorter than mine. He only slightly hesitated before moving again.
This time, he didn't conceal his figure anymore. He swiftly stepped forward, followed by a knee bend, and he leaped into the air with a gust of wind. His right hand twisted the four steel blades into a flurry of attacks, and in an instant, he was already in front of me!
Although I am a coroner and have trained in combat and grappling to work in the Extraordinary Affairs Investigation Bureau, facing the bodies every day has made me less afraid of death. When it comes to dealing with three or five ruffians who are used to doing evil, I can handle it without a second thought, without even moving my neck or eyebrows when a knife is pressed against my throat.
But this guy in front of me was not just some street thug looking for trouble. His attacking moves were a mix of ground and aerial combat techniques. Most importantly, his knives weren't just one threatening my neck, the other three were aimed at my eyes, heart, and intestines!
This motherfacker is an assassin!!"It's over, it's over. I haven't even seen the dead person inside, and now I'm going to turn the ground beneath my feet into a crime scene!"
I had never seen such a posture before. The only reaction I could make was to brace myself, close my eyes, and recall my life while imagining the next life.
Oh, there is no next life. In this unfortunate era, there's no way to be born again.
"I hurried all the way here, clearly rushing to my own death!"
-----------------This black-clothed man's knives must be extremely sharp. I didn't even feel any pain. I plunged into darkness, completely unable to sense the presence of my own body."So this is what it feels like... to be beheaded..."
The sensation of feeling nothing at all.
-----------------
After an unknown period of time, I wearily opened my eyes.
"Ugh... My head hurts..."
Surrounding me was dense and profound darkness. A flickering bonfire a few steps away provided some comfort.
"Oh... Right, I was killed by that guy with the knife..." I shook my head, gradually regaining my memory. "So, this is... the afterlife? It looks so boring."
I stretched out my hands and looked at them.
"Great, my body came along too."
I had always thought that as a ghost who had been beheaded, I would be reduced to just a head.
But what was this sticky mess under my feet, neither green nor purple, emitting a foul stench?
I grabbed my legs with both hands and struggled to pull my feet out of this rotten, muddy green clay. However, it was in vain. The result of doing so was simply pulling my feet out of the mud and stepping back into it, going back and forth in the mud for a while.
"Huh? It seems like there's no mud next to the bonfire."
As I discovered this new land, I felt energized.
After dying, shouldn't I at least find a dry place to stay?
-----------------
Moving into this knee-deep rotten mud was not an easy task. Just a few steps, and I slipped, falling flat on my back!
The green and purple mud engulfed me, no matter how hard I tried to dodge. It penetrated my eye sockets, ears, nose, and mouth, its sticky, gelatinous liquid overpowering me...
"Cough, cough, cough! Ugh! Blech!"
The stench was overwhelming.
The surroundings were unnaturally slippery, with nowhere to find leverage. After a considerable effort, I finally struggled to stand up, vomiting uncontrollably, making a complete mess. I wanted to turn my stomach inside out and scrape it from top to bottom.
This was the smell of a corpse!
The smell of a corpse, a scent I was all too familiar with. Why didn't I think of it earlier?
Interestingly enough, in the entire galaxy with so many planets and different species, the smell of a corpse remained the same across species.
"This green mud... Is it a corpse?!" My brain was spinning rapidly. Indeed, this putrid green mud was the semi-dissolved decomposing corpse of a Tuna alien!
Judging by the degree of decomposition, it had been dead for at least a couple of weeks.
"So, what happened just now... Ugh... Blech!"
-----------------
This time, I kept vomiting until I felt dizzy, my liver trembling, and my muscles starved of oxygen. I was left gasping for air.
Suddenly, the flames of the bonfire leaped up.
Someone was adding firewood to it!
I was startled, and somehow found the strength to scramble away, clawing and scratching. In a few steps, I sprinted towards the bonfire.
Crash!
A loud noise accompanied my landing, resonating heavily as if it were shaking my pupils into a blur of colors.
"Is this... glass..." I murmured, looking at my palm pressed against it. The heat from my hand produced a white mist in the shape of my five fingers. I was utterly bewildered.
-----------------
"Oh... I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have kept you trapped in that bottle..."
A voice drifted out from the darkness behind the bonfire.
"Who are you?!"
I covered my forehead with both hands, stood up straight, and assumed a defensive posture facing the direction of the bonfire.
"You're making a mess in there—it's really disgusting!"
The voice pierced through the bonfire, heading straight for me.
Along with the voice came a pallid face—a woman's face!
Four long steel knives were clattering back and forth next to her empty, lifeless eye sockets, producing a chilling sound that could freeze one's spine!
"Do you want to know who I am? Hahaha—"
"I am... a friend!"