Chapter 30: A Kind of Despair Called All Small Accounts
After Hu Wenxu and Gao Xiaowen dealt with all the Deep One's hybrids, they did not see Lu Li. Upon searching, they only found a Deep One hybrid bound by a fishing net, with no sign of Lu Li. Left with no other choice, they decided to interrogate the captive and learned the location of the Deep One's altar, which they both proceeded to.
Going back a bit, Lu Li once again blended into the darkness, appearing behind a hybrid, swiftly breaking his neck. He retreated into the shadows as several hybrids, armed with fish spears, approached. Lu Li began to understand the rhythm of fighting in a group. When faced with being ganged up on, if your strength isn't overwhelming, you must use movement and the environment to create a relatively fair situation.
In TV shows, heroes often face a crowd of minor characters, defeating one after another. We often see many minor characters standing around with weapons. This isn't realistic; in reality, heroes use positioning and terrain to separate the enemies, turning a many-versus-one fight into a series of one-on-one duels. Of course, we must ignore the unrealistic endurance and invincibility of heroes in these scenarios.
Back to Lu Li, if he were surrounded by several hybrids with spears, he wouldn't fare well. So, he chose to use the terrain to divide the battlefield, jumping through a window into a room to create an advantage in the confined space. His shadow hid beneath the window, ready to ambush any hybrids trying to follow.
"Where is this?" Lu Li's night vision allowed him to see the dim room, where an altar stood in the center, adorned with rune-engraved fish spears and several human heads, including the old woman who had hosted them, her head now horribly disfigured.
Deep One's hybrids gradually develop the ability to live underwater as their bloodline awakens. Unawakened hybrids are similar to humans and can only survive on land. Only after awakening do their organs mutate to allow survival in shallow water, and only complete transformation into true Deep One enables them to live in the deep sea. However, hybrids need to perform rituals, so some unawakened hybrids set up an altar here. In the shallow sea, hybrids also have another altar, and Gao Xiaowen mentioned a support point for the Deep Ones in that area.
Lu Li walked to the altar, taking down the old woman's head. He was still wearing the clothes she gave him. He found his previous white floral dress, given by the mermaid princess, among the belongings. The hybrids had kept it as a valuable item after killing the old woman. Now back in his possession, Lu Li wrapped the old woman's head in it. "You gave me clothes, so I'll return them to you. You got a good deal; the mermaid princess's clothes aren't cheap."
"What's with these hybrids? Not coming in yet, have they given up on catching me?" Lu Li waited for a while but saw no hybrids entering, so he began to examine the altar. After moving aside the spears and heads, he squatted by the altar, studying the runes. Although he couldn't fully understand them, he memorized most of them. As he traced the runes with his hand, they began to glow, and the altar started to rotate slowly.
Lu Li stepped back, watching the altar transform, draining his shadow magic. He memorized the runes as best as he could until the altar turned into a circular hole. Looking inside, Lu Li smiled. "Unexpected gain..."
Without notifying Hu Wenxu or Gao Xiaowen, Lu Li jumped into the hole. After he entered, the entrance closed, reverting to an altar.
The tunnel was dark and damp, roughly excavated into a circular shape. Judging by the tracks, hybrids frequently used this passage. It sloped slightly downward, leading Lu Li to realize he was already under the sea.
"Hmm, someone's coming..." Lu Li pressed against the wall as faint firelight approached. Several hybrids with Deep Ones traits carried torches, moving towards him. True Deep Ones have night vision like Lu Li and dislike warm firelight, preferring cold and damp environments. Newly transformed hybrids still need torches, as their dark vision hasn't fully developed.
If Hu Wenxu were here, he would recognize the leader carrying the torch as the one who killed the old woman and chased them. These hybrids had performed a day's ritual underwater but needed to rest on land due to their incomplete transformation.
As the torchlight drew closer, Lu Li waited silently, blending into the shadows. When the light flickered, he moved, covered in shadow, slipping behind the hybrids. Some felt nothing, while others dismissed it as a trick of the light.
Matching his steps to the rearmost hybrid, Lu Li silently followed the group. Every so often, a hybrid would quietly fall, until only the leader with the torch remained. Lu Li kept changing his voice, mimicking the dead hybrids. There's a kind of despair when you think many people are talking to you, but it's all just me. [TL: I am in the Shadows]
**End of Chapter**