novelraw Chapter 217: Maturity
Chapter 217: Maturity
— Phew...
The gigantic shadow let out two puffs of steam, contentedly fastening the chain with the alarm clock to its wrist. Although the “wristwatch” looked utterly disproportionate on its massive arm, the gesture held a flicker of humanity.
Lu Li’s hair and the hem of his cloak, swept up by the gust of air, slowly settled. He still couldn’t understand what these shadows were. The Contamination Detector ticked monotonously, and contact with the shadows seemed to have no effect on his Mind Level.
As he was pondering, another huge shadow fell over him. Lu Li looked up. The gigantic shadow with the clock on its right arm clenched it into a fist, stopping it less than half a meter from his head.
Lu Li hesitated for a moment, then raised his own fist in response and lightly tapped it against the shadow’s.
— Grrr... — the shadow rumbled contentedly, withdrawing its fist and grabbing its wooden bowl. It tipped the contents into its massive maw.
Unlike the neighboring shark-headed shadow, which was eating eyeballs, the contrast in size for this shadow was even more striking—the bowl looked smaller than a single one of its teeth.
The scene gave Lu Li pause. He felt he was getting closer to solving the mystery.
The octopus shadow, the shark-headed shadow...
He looked up, studying the contours of the gigantic shadow before him.It had four limbs, like a human, but an incredibly massive body. Its head was flat and wide, resembling... a whale.
Lu Li scanned the other shadows.
A hunched shadow with webbed feet and enormous eyes, resembling a frog. Another with a cylindrical body and head, moving awkwardly on two human-like legs, reminiscent of a snake.
All of them bore the traits of sea creatures.
Lu Li felt he was beginning to lift the veil of mystery shrouding the ship.
Slam!
The wooden bowl came down on the table with a crash, making it groan pitifully. For the whale-like shadow, however, this was likely a gentle touch.
Lu Li suddenly reached for his own bowl and slid it toward the giant shadow. He wasn’t sure if such a small portion would satisfy it, but the creature was clearly still hungry.
And as it happened, he had food to spare.
— Grrr! — the shadow rumbled with delight, the sound echoing through the entire dining hall. A few other shadows paused their meals to glance in their direction. They watched as the whale-like shadow raised a massive limb and swung it toward the repairman seated across from it.
But less than half a meter from Lu Li's head, the limb stopped, its momentum halted just short of crushing his skull.
Unable to contain its emotion, the whale-like shadow suddenly emitted a melodic sound, devoid of any gurgle.
The sound was like the song of a whale.
— Grrr... — the shadows in the dining hall whispered among themselves.
When its song finished, the whale-like shadow retrieved something from within its folds and held it out to Lu Li.
It was a pocket watch, resting on the enormous palm like a grain of sand. For Lu Li, however, it was a perfect fit—an object made by human hands.
Perhaps it was payment for fixing the alarm clock, or maybe just a gesture of friendship.
Lu Li took the watch and flipped open the cover. The glass over the dial was coated in some black substance. He wiped it clean and looked at the time.
The hands were frozen at 5:30.
Lu Li tried to wind it, but the mainspring was broken.
The watch didn’t work.
Lu Li gave the whale-like shadow a nod and slipped the watch into his pocket. It might prove useful.
The shadow picked up the bowl Lu Li had offered and emptied its contents into its maw. Even a double portion was merely a drop in the ocean for a creature its size.
It had simply eaten a little more than usual.
Putting the bowl down, the shadow began to speak to Lu Li in a low, rumbling voice.
Lu Li feigned listening, his gaze fixed on the table to his right.
A deformed shadow was slowly lifting an eyeball from its bowl to its mouth. Having no teeth, it struggled to swallow the orb, which ultimately lodged in its throat.
The shadow clutched at its throat, making hoarse, choking sounds, before finally spitting the whole eyeball out. It rolled across the floor and came to rest by Lu Li's feet.
After coughing up the eye, the shadow began searching for it on the floor, but failing to find it, it simply turned back to its bowl.
Lu Li bent down, picked up the rubbery eyeball, and slipped it into his pocket.
This shadow needed something to chew with, like a set of dentures.
And Lu Li knew just where to get them.
Lunchtime was ten minutes long. When the clock on the whale-like shadow's wrist read 11:52, a sharp bell rang out.
Lunch was over.
The shadows began to rise from the tables and head for the exit.
— Grrr... — the whale-like shadow rumbled at Lu Li before heading for the exit. The other shadows parted to let it pass, especially the shark-like one.
Lu Li watched the deformed shadow leave its seat, then followed after it.
The shadows filed out of the dining hall, down a corridor whose walls were covered in eyeball-sprouting vines, and back to their cabins on the lower deck.
Lu Li took note of which rooms the shadows entered, watching as the deformed one turned down an unfamiliar corridor and vanished behind a door. Memorizing the location, he returned to the morgue with the diminished group.
In a way, it was his workspace.
Lu Li went to the row of lockers against the wall, pried a set of dentures loose with his crowbar, and, after a final glance at one of the locked units, left the room.
Knock, knock, knock.
Lu Li knocked on the door where the deformed shadow had disappeared.
A moment later, the door opened to reveal the shadow.
A quick glance inside revealed nothing but a desk. It was impossible to guess what the shadow's purpose was.
— Grrr? — the shadow questioned.
In silence, Lu Li held up the crowbar, the set of dentures perched on its tip.
— Grrr?
Lu Li pointed to the dentures, then to the shadow's mouth, silently demonstrating their purpose.
The shadow took the dentures cautiously. It seemed to recognize the object and, ignoring the black substance clinging to them, immediately fitted them into its mouth.
Lu Li immediately pulled the eyeball from his pocket and offered it to the shadow.
The shadow took the eye with its webbed hand and bit off a piece.
— Grrr! — the shadow cried out in delight, hopping on the spot. Then, remembering Lu Li was still in the doorway, it moved to close the door with its webbed hand.
It seemed it had no intention of giving Lu Li any reward.
Thud!
A fist gripping a crowbar blocked the closing door.
Lu Li held out his other hand toward the shadow.