Walking into the dark sewer, Fei Huang was accosted by an indescribable foul smell, while sludgy water that barely covered his ankles reflected a green and purple sheen in the light at the entrance.
Chen Ke lifted his foot and stepped into the filthy water, causing ripples and splashes to disturb the calm surface. The foul water flooded into Chen Ke's shoes and socks, instantly chilling his feet to the bone.
The drainage system in the Lower District of Opportunity City was part of the Upper City's infrastructure. There was no dedicated sewage treatment in the Lower District; all of the city's wastewater was processed, eventually flowing here, and finally spilling into the Carefree River from the harbor of the Lower District.
The water, carrying who knows what filth's essence, made Chen Ke's toes greasy and uncomfortably slippery. He muttered under his breath and deliberately avoided the garbage floating on the surface while raising his Glock 17, treading deeper into the sewer with uneven steps.
After about ten minutes trekking in the sewage, Chen Ke noticed an unnatural greenish glow coming from the water at a fork in the tunnel, as if there were unknown microorganisms lurking beneath the surface.
This tunnel matched the description the Diner remembered and must have led her, using the green glow like road signs, to the creature with tentacles.
Chen Ke stared at the water glowing green for a while, but no information about the mutated organism popped up in his vision. It seemed that the glow came from a colony of microorganisms.
In a rotting, damp environment, microorganisms tend to flourish, mostly consisting of carrion-eating bacteria or small insects. The glowing carrion-eating insects, gathering in large numbers in one area, indicated a substantial presence of decaying matter.
Chen Ke cautiously continued along the luminescent waterway, the air still permeated with the stench of decay, but different from the earlier fecal odor; the stench in this fork was more akin to the smell of a corpse.
The water level rose steadily, now submerging his knees. Chen Ke felt his foot kick something; he slowly moved around it, and with a few bubbles popping, half a man's face floated up from the glowing water.
Chen Ke retreated a few steps. He wasn't scared, just disgusted. A cool breeze from a distant passageway made the light intensify.
"This is the place," he thought to himself. Chen Ke reached the doorway and found himself at a central sewage collection chamber.
It was a circular plaza, about five or six hundred square meters in size, with eight passageways converging here. The glowing green water lit up the entire space like a lake, with human limbs floating on the surface; the green light stretched upwards into the darkness like an abyss.
At the entrance of one tunnel, a totem made of various rubbish and limbs was placed on either side, both absurd and terrifying. Chen Ke avoided the human debris on the water surface and approached the dark passageway's entrance.
It was very quiet, no sound at all. Chen Ke curiously peered into the pitch-black tunnel, but it was too dark to see anything.
"Kneel down."
Suddenly, a voice that was neither male nor female echoed out from the dark tunnel, swirling up into the darkness after bouncing off the walls of the collection chamber.
Chen Ke looked at the dark entrance, hesitating whether to go in for a closer look.
"Kneel down," the voice repeated, conveying impatience and surprise.
"Kneel your mother," Chen Ke cursed at the darkness.
"Not as my servant, then you're food," the voice said.
The surroundings fell back to silence, but Chen Ke knew that thing was definitely angry and something dangerous was brewing in the tunnel. He slowly backed away, his right hand holding his Glock, aiming into the pitch-black tunnel, alert for whatever might rush out.
"Gurgle…"
Disturbing noises came from the darkness, like a person gargling water while clearing their throat.
"+1 hour"
"+1 hour"
"Life limit reached!"
"+1 hour"
"Life limit reached!"
It's coming!
As information flickered in the upper right corner of Chen Ke's vision, a purplish tentacle covered in lumps, half a meter thick, suddenly shot out of the dark tunnel.
Just as the tentacle was about to snatch Chen Ke, his left arm suddenly flashed with white light, and a round shield appeared!
The tentacle slammed against the shield with tremendous force, flinging Chen Ke into the air while the shield flew out of his left hand, arcing through the air before turning back into a small diamond and plopping into the water with a splash.
"Smack!"
Fei Huang fell into the water, dirty water gushed down his neck through the collar, leaving a sour and rotten taste in his mouth.
"Ptui ptui! Damn!" Fei Huang climbed out of the sewage, groped in the water for a while, and picked up the Glock 17 with a grey finger still hanging on the trigger guard.
He looked around, his shield was nowhere to be found.
"I knew it wouldn't be that simple..." Fei Huang muttered to himself. Using a shield required a strong physique and sturdy arms, as well as professional training, otherwise one would end up like Fei Huang.
His shield had fallen into the dirty water covering an area of several hundred square meters and had reverted to a tiny diamond, nearly impossible to find.
Although it was a hasty and unsuccessful defense, the spikes on the shield had still played a role. The tips of the tentacles oozed purple fluid— if that was blood— before slowly retracting into the darkness.
"Thou art strange, human," that voice said.
"Speak normally," Fei Huang had had enough of this monster's pretentious way of speaking and replied.
A gurgling sound came again from the darkness, Fei Huang tensed up and slightly bent forward.
Waves rippled out from the passage, a large webbed foot stepped out of the darkness first, followed by another, and then Fei Huang saw a massive belly, and finally, a toad's head emerged from the darkness...
This huge toad was at least the height of four adults, purple-gray in color, its skin covered with lumps, and its body wrapped in dirty water, microorganisms, and garbage; its two giant eyes narrowed into slits, and its cheeks kept inflating—deflating—inflating—deflating...
"I've only recently started practicing the ancient language of the Fei Huang People to seem more imposing in front of my servants," the giant toad said, sounding rather proud of itself.
"You can learn the ancient language of the Fei Huang here underneath? How? By reading books?" Fei Huang asked in surprise.
"No no... eat humans and learn... You seem to be one of the Fei Huang People as well, perhaps I'll become more imposing after eating you," the giant toad said with a smirk that was almost a smile. As it slightly opened its mouth, a long, thick tongue shot out at Fei Huang like a bullet.
Here it comes again!
The tentacles were actually the toad's tongue. Fei Huang had always thought the creature's main body was something like an inkfish that liked to dive...
Fei Huang swiftly dodged, plunging into the dirty water and gulping down a large mouthful. But how could a human's reaction match that of a toad's tongue? His ankle was still caught, and he was hoisted into the air, flying rapidly toward the toad's mouth.
Fei Huang raised his gun to shoot, 9mm Flame Bullets poured out, drilling into the toad's mouth. The silencer on it meant the shots didn't sound very loud.
Perhaps sensing the threat, the toad that was about to swallow Fei Huang flung its tongue and tossed him far into the water. However, the bullets had already penetrated its flesh.
Fei Huang crawled out of the dirty water, feeling as if his bones were about to fall apart. He propped himself up with his left hand on the ground but felt something let go. When he looked, it was a diamond.
He looked up at the giant toad, which was surprisingly unscathed and staring back curiously.
"The taste of this bullet is off. You're not a genuine investigator. Are you out here on a private job?" the toad said.
With that, the toad spit out the bullets.
"You're pretty knowledgeable," Fei Huang said as he pulled out his Python and fired six shots at the toad, the large-caliber Flame Magnum Bullets whistling toward it.
Before hearing the gunshots, the toad had seen the revolver in Fei Huang's hand and as the bullets flew out, it clamped its mouth shut, its belly suddenly swelling.
When the Flame Magnum Bullets hit the toad's belly, something unexpected happened to Fei Huang; the spark-emitting bullets were completely absorbed by the belly, leaving nothing behind.
The toad spit out a few bullet heads, its tongue slipped out from the corner of its mouth as if it just tasted a delicacy.
"Too bad, don't think you can defeat me just because you have a gun that shoots flames and a shield. I've eaten many investigators, and although you're different from them, your performance is great," said the toad approvingly.
"Do all you toads like to talk big?" Fei Huang spun open the cylinder of the Colt Python and took out six Magnum bullets from his bag, loading them one by one.
"I know this doesn't make sense to you humans, how can a toad not be afraid of fire? How can a toad talk? Croak croak croak... But you should know, when you face a deity, all the nonsensical becomes part of the norm," the toad said while shaking its head, not bothering to stop Fei Huang from reloading, since the bullets couldn't threaten it.
"I know this doesn't make sense to you toads, how can humans not be afraid of monsters? How can humans defy a god? Blah blah blah... But you should know, in my eyes, you're just a slightly bigger... toad that talks big, and all toads can damn well be killed," Fei Huang said while he cocked the hammer.
"Are you mocking the way I speak?" the toad asked, a bit annoyed.
"Dare you try using your tongue to wrap me up again?" Fei Huang taunted.
Here it comes!