novelraw Chapter 838: Found
Chapter 838: Found
Swirling dark clouds formed a funnel, descending toward the spiraling high tower at the center of the distorted longhouses.
Paph's escape hadn't affected Lu Li's plans; they began to question the now-calm whirlpool inhabitants.
The communication barrier was inevitable. After several attempts, they realized that the more "growth rings" a creature possessed, the more difficult it was to communicate with; even Elder Sister couldn't manage it.
Only the inhabitants with fewer internal spiral layers could vaguely make out coherent sounds.
"Have you seen any people who look like us?"
Lu Li questioned a whirlpool creature that had only four internal spiral rings; one could still faintly make out the cross-section of teeth, scattered facial features, and thin, elongated limbs on its form.
"I don't know..."
A distorted noise echoed, like the sound of brains being stirred, and Katerina clutched her forehead again. She even felt that listening for too long would shorten the duration of the pendant's effect.
As they moved along the spiraling longhouses, the end of the first circle appeared in the distance. They had neither been attacked nor gathered any information.
This was not a good sign.They were short on time; once night fell, continuing the search would be impossible.
If they couldn't find any trace of Saintess Helena by tomorrow morning, they would have to leave the Place of the Whirlpool.
Entering the second circle, they found themselves surrounded by cramped, labyrinthine longhouses, with distorted corridors stretching out before them.
The pressure from the constricted view intensified. Katerina followed quietly behind Lu Li as he surveyed their surroundings.
The structure of the longhouses was reminiscent of those near the detective agency in the former sailor's quarter, only more primitive. Through the gaps between the wooden planks, they could faintly discern shadows moving within.
They didn't have to traverse each circle in sequence to reach the center; some longhouses lacked walls, allowing them to cut straight through.
In addition to the longhouses, ponds were situated every few meters between the connected buildings. These ponds were used to cultivate food for the whirlpool-people—snail-people, whose spiraling process had failed.
With outer shells formed from accumulated, hardened skin, and heads whose faces had been consumed by whirlpools, they dragged their heavy shells, writhing together in the densely packed pond.
When the whirlpool-people grew hungry, they would pluck the snail-people from the water and devour them, shell and all.
Katerina considered it cannibalism, and she was repulsed by both the whirlpool-people and the snail-people. Only Lu Li noticed a few details.
From the vegetation to the dark clouds, the longhouses, the spiraling tower, and the whirlpool-people themselves—everything in the Place of the Whirlpool spun clockwise.
The snail-people, those whose spiraling had failed, spun counter-clockwise.
Although there was little outward difference, to the whirlpool-people, they were something else entirely—a different species, or perhaps even heretics.
"This isn't working. We can't understand a thing they're saying."
Katerina finally interjected after Lu Li stopped another four-ringed inhabitant to question it.
The simplest inhabitants they encountered had at least three internal spiral rings, and their speech was still indistinct and difficult to comprehend.
"Elder Sister, can you really not make anything out?"
"Hmph!"
Elder Sister proudly lifted her head; she paid no mind to anyone but Lu Li.
Katerina looked at Lu Li, and Lu Li repeated the question:
"You can't understand either?"
"Mhm..."
Elder Sister, nestled in his cloak, nodded.
"Their language is distorted by the power here."
"Do you have an idea?"
Lu Li looked at Katerina.
Katerina thought for a moment, then pulled the pendant out from beneath her leather armor. It was still warm from her body.
"The pendant is more concrete than our questions have been."
Their method of questioning changed. In addition to asking, "Have you seen people who look like us?" they now also presented the pendant and asked if the creatures had seen it.
Their route changed as well; they no longer wasted time following the spiraling corridors. Instead, they cut through the longhouses, asking questions in each new section they entered.
From noon until evening, they found nothing.
"Did we miss them, or are we just unlucky?"
Katerina stood on the roof of a longhouse, gazing out at the concentric spirals stretching into the distance.
They had searched nearly half the whirlpool city and had found nothing.
"Or is that Saintess already dead?"
The placid whirlpool-people ignored the three figures on the roof. After some time, Lu Li and Katerina realized that these creatures were slow and sluggish by nature, like tortoises, and that even their most unusual actions drew little attention.
"The Distorted Figure wouldn't have us search for someone who doesn't exist," Lu Li said.
"But the pendant could have been stolen, right?"
A light breeze, twisting into tiny vortices, stirred the ends of Katerina's hair. After getting their bearings, they returned to the street below and continued their questioning.
Perhaps Katerina's complaints had some effect, because after they questioned the seventh or eighth inhabitant, its reaction was different from all the whirlpool-people before it.
It rotated its body clockwise, pointing in a specific direction.
"You saw it?"
Katerina realized the question was useless—they wouldn't understand its reply—and rephrased:
"Can you take us there?"
The whirlpool creature muttered something unintelligible and set off in the direction it had pointed.
Lu Li and Katerina exchanged a look and followed the creature.
The twisting whirlpool creature led them through the seventh and sixth circles to the fifth outer circle, stopping at the door of a longhouse. It muttered something in its distorted voice and departed.
Lu Li approached the door and knocked.
Knock, knock, knock—
A moment later, the wooden door opened, revealing a horrifying whirlpool creature with a dozen internal spiral rings.
"We're looking for the person with this pendant," Lu Li said, holding it out directly.
The whirlpool creature fell still, as if observing or contemplating.
After more than ten seconds, it stepped aside, gesturing for them to enter.
Lu Li and Katerina entered the house, Katerina averting her eyes. They saw another whirlpool creature sitting at a round dining table. Its body possessed only three spiral rings, and a diamond-shaped pendant hung from its elongated neck.
It was identical to the pendants worn by Lu Li and Katerina.
"Are you Helena?"
"...Yes... looking for... you...!"
The pendant confirmed her identity.
They had found Saintess Helena.
But it was too late. Helena had already been contaminated by the distorting power and was transforming into a whirlpool creature.
"What do we do?" Katerina asked.
"Take her with us."
The Distorted Figure had only asked them to bring Helena back, and that was what they would do.
Whether the entity could restore Helena to her normal state was not their concern.
There was still some time before dark, enough for them to make it back to the edge of the Place of the Whirlpool before nightfall.
Helena suddenly let out a hoarse cry, her indistinct, distorted voice made unintelligible by her distress.
The dozen-ringed whirlpool creature whispered something softly as it approached the three-ringed Helena. The disparity in their rings was so great it was like a mother to her child.
It seemed they were arguing. Helena cried out hoarsely, while the other creature responded in a low, gentle voice, a tenderness they could perceive despite the distortion.
Katerina remained on alert, ready to grab the creature speaking with Helena at a moment's notice.
In the end, Helena left its side and walked over to Lu Li.
The whirlpool creature had convinced Helena to go with them.
"Let's go," Lu Li said, leading a reluctant Helena out of the house.
Their figures grew smaller as they walked down the curving corridor toward the outskirts of the whirlpool city.
The whirlpool creature remained at the doorway, its form seeming to hold a sad expression as it watched them go.