novelraw Chapter 220: Uniqueness
Chapter 220: Uniqueness
Slimy, repulsive tentacles coiled around a pair of leather boots.
The delicate feelers were a stark contrast to the rugged footwear, looking for all the world like a little girl trying to slip into her father's oversized shoes.
The sight became particularly comical when the rest of its tentacles flared out like a skirt.
The two tendrils serving as legs moved with a clumsy gait, while the skirt-like mass of feelers writhed and swayed as the creature struggled to maintain its balance.
The shadow octopus was a fast learner. Within minutes, it had mastered moving on two "legs" and began to walk, stepping deftly over a nail protruding from the floorboards.
It paced back and forth over the nail several times, showing no signs of discomfort whatsoever.
"Grrr," the shadow octopus rumbled with satisfaction, bobbing its head. Without waiting for Lu Li to ask, it scurried back into the room and soon returned, holding out an object clamped in its tentacles: a jagged piece of metal.
It was shaped like a shark's head.
Lu Li now had the final token.
Token in hand, Lu Li knocked on the shadow shark's door."Grrr!" echoed from within.
Lu Li immediately held the token out, hoping to prevent the shadow shark from lashing out in a fit of emotion and giving him any new injuries.
A shadow blurred past, and the token vanished from Lu Li's grasp.
The shadow shark darted to a metal cabinet and fitted the final yellow piece into the empty slot.
Click.
The moment the sculpture was complete, the metal cabinet creaked open.
The shadow shark yanked the door wide and pulled out a shapeless black bundle, which it clutched to its chest.
Ignoring the other item inside, it drifted over to the porthole. Cradling the bundle, it began to mutter something unintelligible.
"Is that its child?" Lu Li wondered, though he couldn't fathom why a baby would be kept in a metal cabinet.
Knock, knock, knock.
Lu Li rapped on the doorframe.
The shadow shark glanced toward the entrance, grumbled with annoyance, and then gestured with its head toward the metal cabinet, as if to say that whatever was left inside now belonged to him. Then its attention returned completely to the bundle in its arms.
Lu Li entered the cabin and knelt before the open cabinet. Inside lay a black axe.
Its narrow, wicked-looking blade and the grooves running along its surface—designed to channel blood—made it clear this weapon was meant for cleaving flesh, not felling trees.
Lu Li picked it up. The axe was surprisingly heavy.
Its crude, primitive design gave Lu Li an idea; one of the other shadows might appreciate a weapon like this.
...
At the foot of the stairs leading to the upper deck, Lu Li looked up.
The ever-shifting shadow with the bull-horned helmet was there again, standing at the top of the landing.
Lu Li started up the steps, acutely aware of the shadow's unblinking stare.
Just as before, when Lu Li reached the halfway point, the shadow's form began to coalesce into a powerful figure.
Seizing the moment, Lu Li raised the axe high for the entity to see.
"Grrr..." the shadow rumbled, its form squinting.
A tentacle snaked out from its chest and wrapped around the axe. Lu Li felt the weight in his hands lighten as the shadow took the weapon.
"Grrr..." the creature purred with satisfaction. Its form began to shift once more, just as it had before. But this time, while its bull-horned helmet remained constant, so too did the right arm now gripping the axe.
It seemed the shadow had nothing to offer in return, unless...
Lu Li took another step up.
The shadow didn't stir, its form continuing to morph and twist.
Slowly, Lu Li continued his ascent, one deliberate step at a time.
The entity seemed to be ignoring him completely, allowing him to draw closer.
Steeling himself, Lu Li climbed the last few steps and walked right past the shadow.
He had reached the upper deck.
A straight corridor stretched out before him, leading deeper into the ship. The scent of the sea was much stronger here, suggesting he was now very close to the open air.
After taking a few steps, Lu Li saw them again: the eye-covered vines clinging to the walls. Suddenly, dozens of pupils, which had been gazing in every direction, swiveled in unison to fixate on him.
Lu Li froze.
He doubted they would simply let him pass. To proceed any further on the upper deck, he would have to deal with these vines.
He still had the pocket watch, the excrement, and the water.
The excrement...
The water...
The vine-filled basement...
Suddenly, Lu Li knew what he had to do.
...
Back on the lower deck, Lu Li returned to the morgue.
He stepped inside and, out of habit, scanned the rows of refrigerated lockers.
Everything was just as he had left it.
Lu Li took another step inside and stopped dead, his eyes narrowing.
One of the lockers—one he had personally locked—was now merely closed.
It was the one right next to the drawer where he had once been stored.
His sharp gaze swept every corner of the morgue. Gripping the crowbar tightly, he silently approached the first row of lockers.
The iron box was still there. He snatched it up, his eyes never leaving the room, and backed out the door, pulling it shut behind him.
Something unsettling remained behind that door.
Lu Li turned and walked briskly toward the entrance to the basement. He paused for only a moment before starting down the stairs.
A soft rustling.
The faint, scraping sound drifted up from the depths of the basement.
Holding the bottle of water and the iron box in his left hand and the crowbar in his right, Lu Li continued his descent.
The number of vines on the walls grew with every step. They clung haphazardly to the wooden planks and the floor, forcing Lu Li to watch his footing.
A few steps down, he saw them—vertical pupils staring out from the vines. They had seen him, too. All at once, every eye in the corridor swiveled to face him.
The sight was both eerie and unsettling. Lu Li paused for a moment, then opened the iron box. A foul stench wafted out. He continued his descent.
Under the unwavering stare of countless eyes, Lu Li walked calmly down the stairs.
They weren't going to harm him.
He was sure of it now. Though the narrow staircase was choked with the eye-covered vines and the floor was a carpet of them, the tendrils before him were parting, clearing a path.
Their wariness had been replaced by a palpable sense of anticipation.
As he stepped onto the final stair, Lu Li saw the source of the vines: a colossal, dark green plant dominating the center of the basement.
The plant throbbed with a slow, steady pulse, expanding and contracting like a lung. It filled the entire space, its offshoots snaking through cracks in the ceiling to become the very vines he had seen on the upper deck.
Massive roots, like those of an ancient tree, were caked in a black substance, giving them a disturbingly... unhealthy appearance.
Lu Li approached the roots. As he drew nearer, he could feel emotions radiating from the plant—a deep, aching pain and an overwhelming thirst.