Chapter 12 The Story

Chen Ran's expression was intriguing. He held the wine glass in his hand but didn't drink, merely turning it from time to time, as if his interest in the glass exceeded his interest in the story the blond man was telling.

No one paid attention to Chen Ran. Jiang Cheng was considering the feasibility of the blond man's story, while Fatty was deeply drawn in by the strangeness of the story.

Taking a deep breath, the blond man's emotions eased slightly.

Although so much time had passed, the terrifying, even bizarre and absurd scenes were still vivid in his mind.

"All dead..." Jiang Cheng repeated softly, as if talking to himself.

The blond man paused, turned his head to look at the boundless darkness around the town, and after a long while, said in a cold voice, "If only they were dead... that would be for the best."

Fatty pursed his lips upon hearing this, as if he had anticipated what would happen next.

Jiang Cheng took a sip of the astringent wine, then put down the glass and frowned, "What do you mean?"

"When we tried to approach the stone disc and take away the bodies of those townspeople, the change occurred," the blond man replied. "We were attacked."

"By those... dead people?"

The blond man looked at Jiang Cheng, as if trying to see something in his eyes, but he obviously failed. "That's right," the blond man nodded. "They came back to life in a strange way and then attacked us like madmen."

"Less than a third of us escaped. What's even more terrifying is that they piled the bodies of the townspeople they killed back on the stone disc."

Speaking of this, the blond man's breathing quickened again. "You can't imagine it. Some townspeople had their limbs severed, even their heads. Those resurrected townspeople were incredibly strong, able to tear people apart at the waist with their bare hands."

"And... and those torn corpses, after being placed on the stone disc for a short time, could actually come back to life, their injuries gone, as if nothing had ever happened."

"What does this have to do with the building you constructed?" Chen Ran put down the wine glass he was playing with and looked at the blond man. "I don't understand."

Fatty swallowed and asked in a low voice, "That building can resist... resist those things?"

"No," the blond man shook his head. "That building was built with the help of a man who called himself a pastor. His ship sank nearby, and he was the only survivor. We found him on a piece of wood on the beach."

"He said he was going to the other side of the ocean to preach."

"After we told him about the strange things happening in the forest, he said that it was all destined, that the reason he didn't die in the shipwreck was because he was here to help us, that it was his mission."

"Based on our description, he judged that the stone disc in the forest was an altar, used to worship an unclean entity sleeping in the deep sea, and what's even more terrifying is that he said... it may have already awakened."

"Those resurrected people... are the product of the spreading curse. If this continues, I'm afraid no one will be spared."

"Relying only on him and our strength is not enough to fight it. Only by building a grand structure he needs, and using the power of the church, can we truly contend with it, thereby解除诅咒 (jiechu zhouzu – dispel the curse)."

The church...

Fatty recalled the style of the building. Although he didn't understand, it did have some similarities to the churches he remembered.

"It seems it still failed in the end," Jiang Cheng said bluntly. He looked around, this strange floating city on the sea was probably their last refuge.

And... they didn't see the so-called pastor either.

"We built the building as we wished," the blond man said with a distant look in his eyes. "As long as... as long as we ensure that the guiding light on the lighthouse burns continuously, we can be saved."

"But unexpectedly, on the last day, the very last day! Something happened to the pastor..."

"She was killed by that monster...!" As if recalling the horrific scene at the time, the blond man's eyes were filled with horror. "No, not just killed, eaten! She was eaten!"

Monster...

Fatty's eyes widened. How did he remember that the last time the blond man mentioned this word, he was talking about a child, more precisely, a newborn baby in the town.

"That's not a child, it's a monster!" the blond man roared. "It was it, it ate the pastor! Causing the attempt to break the curse to fail at the last moment!"

"That monster first planned the death of its parents, then the pastor, seeing it was pitiful, adopted it, but it actually took advantage of the pastor during breastfeeding..."

"Wait!"

Almost at the same time, Jiang Cheng and Chen Ran, who had been squinting all along, spoke at the same time.

"The pastor is a woman?"

The blond man was stunned for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth, "Yes, the pastor was a woman. The monster used this to get close to the pastor and finally ate her."

Chen Ran glanced at Jiang Cheng, then turned his head and nodded to the blond man, "Understood, please continue."

After a long while, the blond man finally emerged from his memories. For a moment, this strong man seemed much older. He hunched over, staring at the empty wine glass.

"The pastor died, and the flames on the lighthouse went out. The curse finally erupted, the earth sank, and the sea surged. Our original town was invaded by the curse and turned into a town floating on the ocean."

"Surrounded by eerie black mist all day long, we can no longer see the sunlight. We can only hide in the darkness and dampness, and only when shrouded in black mist can we come ashore."

"Like disgusting sea crawlers!" he said fiercely.

"In other words, you can only see us and come ashore to move around after this space is shrouded in black mist," Jiang Cheng said according to his understanding.

"That's right."

"Then what does daytime look like in your eyes?"

"It's just a cloud of black mist, covering a small area around our town. There's the sea all around, but not the real sea. No one dares to take a boat out to sea, because then both the people and the boat will disappear without a trace. We can only use the most traditional methods, fishing near the shore, or angling for some fish and shrimp, barely maintaining our lives."

Speaking of this, the blond man looked at the fish, shrimp, and crabs on the table, and said with some heartache, "These things are already the best food we can offer."

He looked around, and Jiang Cheng and the others followed his gaze. The tables of the other townspeople didn't have as much food as they did, some even only had a few strangely shaped fish.

It seemed that the lives of the townspeople had become difficult to a certain extent.

"Those in the forest... those..."

Before Fatty could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the blond man, who exhaled a long breath, his tone for the first time carrying a hint of relief, "We still have to thank the pastor for this."