Grotesqueries of the Old Domain

Chapter 76 : The Sun

Chapter 76: The Sun

"Planes can swim?" In the past, Zhang Wenda would never have connected those two words, not even in his wildest dreams—but in this grotesque world, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

Just as he had that thought, the sound of water splashing erupted behind them. Suddenly, everything above them dimmed. When Zhang Wenda, Song Jianguo, and all the cat-cats looked up, they saw the gaping, ferocious mouth of the plane looming over them like a cave, half-swallowing them already. Zhang Wenda was so close he could almost touch its sharp teeth.

In that critical moment, with the red core glowing, Zhang Wenda thrust both hands against the fangs and pushed hard. Using the rebound force, he launched the cat boat forward a short distance.

Song Jianguo stared at the spinning propellers of the plane, her face now ashen. "That thing can really swim!!"

However, as Zhang Wenda recovered from the fright, he keenly noticed that the plane wasn’t in good shape. Its massive body had been shattered, with many sunken and deformed sections. The red glow in the cockpit had significantly dimmed.

It was obvious—since it was much larger than them, the impact from the flash flood had hit it even harder. And being swept into the water mid-flight, the plane now looked severely damaged.

It seemed to harbor deep hatred toward Zhang Wenda, Song Jianguo, and the others who had led to its condition. With its grotesque maw agape, it thrashed violently, surging toward them. Zhang Wenda glanced around and then said to Song Jianguo, "Tell your cats to slow down. Let’s get closer to it."

"Are you crazy? You want to die?"

"We can't let it keep chasing us. Who knows how long it can hold on? Didn’t we say we’d avenge Aunt Flo? Let’s kill this bastard."

Soon, the paddling of the cat paws beneath the boat ceased, and the cat boat slowly drifted closer to the grotesque mouth.

The plane seemed eager to swallow them whole, stretching its jaws wider, nearly splitting its head in two.

"Closer, just a bit closer—just a bit—" As the sharp spikes grew larger and larger in his view, Zhang Wenda’s heart began to race uncontrollably.

When they were just a few meters from the plane’s mouth, Zhang Wenda suddenly pulled out the Sunshine Jar and the Flame Jar and hurled them with all his strength into the plane’s mouth.

The glass containers shattered against the sharp metal, and their contents mixed with the river water, rushing into the depths of that abyssal maw.

Zhang Wenda didn’t know what those two items were exactly, but one thing was clear—if people carried them on their person, they had to be weapons.

"Go, go, go! Cats, paddle fast!" urged Zhang Wenda. The cat boat accelerated again, speeding away from the plane in the water.

At first, the plane showed no reaction, but soon, flames and light began to burst from its sealed mouth. Its body seized up, frozen in the water.

Then, a small internal explosion erupted from within the plane, and fire burst out from the cracked glass cockpit.

Zhang Wenda barely caught a glimpse of a figure made of fire, smashing and burning things inside the cockpit.

With a flash of white light, the deafening explosion arrived a second later. The shockwave flipped their boat, throwing them all into the river.

Once they clumsily regrouped, they saw the charred wreckage of the plane drifting downstream.

"That strong? Those two are way more powerful than those Cloud-men!" Song Jianguo eyed the last remaining Rainbow Jar in Zhang Wenda’s hand and reached out to snatch it.

"Hands off." Zhang Wenda swatted her hand away. "We’re broke. That thing could fetch us some cash."

Just then, Zhang Wenda saw they had reached the town. Except for a few tall buildings, the entire town was submerged underwater.

Many giants lay crooked and motionless beneath the surface. It was unclear whether they were dead or something else.

The flash flood had come so suddenly—not only had they been caught off guard, so had these people. Surely, many had drowned. It was likely the whole factory had been utterly destroyed.

He couldn’t help but wonder how Grandpa Niu pulled it off. Didn’t he say it’d take years to break down that dam? How had he done it so fast?

"Come on, let’s go." Zhang Wenda patted the cat boat, signaling it toward the flying saucer water tower.

Once they reached the water tower, the exhausted cat-cats collapsed, panting heavily with their mouths wide open.

"Thanks for the hard work. When we get back, I’ll treat you to some fish."

"I want some too," Song Jianguo raised her eyebrows.

Zhang Wenda rolled up his sleeves, revealing the yellow core. This time, he didn’t refuse—Song Jianguo had indeed been helpful. "There shouldn’t be any danger for now. You stay here and keep watch. I’m going to check out what’s going on in the Adult World."

As he pressed it lightly, the yellow core finally responded. Clearly, it hadn’t worked before due to the plane’s interference.

When everything around him changed, the submerged town transformed into a mountainside concrete building complex—the only difference was the surging floodwater.

Under the force of the flood, all but a few of the taller buildings had been reduced to precarious ruins.

Now, Zhang Wenda stood on the rooftop of one of those unstable buildings, the scene before him like a waterborne Venice.

Looking at the eerily quiet cluster of buildings, Zhang Wenda grew concerned. "That Drone-head guy shouldn’t be affected by the flood, right? I remember he can fly."

But after carefully observing for a while, Zhang Wenda couldn’t find any trace of Drone-head.

It wasn’t just Drone-head—there was no sign of any living being. Not even a shadow of a person, as if he had returned to the Photographic Past World.

After waiting a while without any movement, he picked a direction and jumped into the now-calmer water, swimming toward the next concrete building.

There weren’t many buildings left. After a quick search, Zhang Wenda finally found the place he had previously snuck into. The corridor he had used was now submerged, but he could see a glowing sphere beneath the water—the Sun that had been flooded!

Upon seeing this wondrous material capable of spawning weapons endlessly, an idea sparked in Zhang Wenda’s mind.

"This thing—this thing’s gotta be worth a lot, right? At least three drops of Oil Tyrant, yeah?" With a splash, he dove into the water and swam toward the Sun, reaching out to grab it.

But as soon as his hand touched the Sun suspended in the water, he yelped and let go—it was scorching hot. He had no idea how to handle it.

Surfacing again, Zhang Wenda frowned at the blurred Sun below. He didn’t have anything to contain it.

Looking around, he picked up a discarded canned yellow peach tin, twisted off the lid, and dove back down.

He tried to trap the Sun in the can. It just barely fit, but before he could celebrate, *crack*—the glass jar shattered from the heat.

The Sun burned Zhang Wenda’s hand again, sending him into a fluster. Just then, something triggered. Somehow, Zhang Wenda had activated a switch.

The dazzling Sun gradually dimmed, turning into a silver-glowing sphere.

Right before Zhang Wenda’s eyes, the Sun began its transformation—

It became the Moon.