kingnovel Chapter 749: Coastline Tracking and Exploring Mysteries
Chapter 749: Coastline Tracking and Exploring Mysteries
As Lin Qiye's military boots rolled across the beach, the tide was rolling in rotten seaweed.
He held a tactical flashlight in his left hand, and the beam swept across the reefs 20 meters offshore—there were seven dark shadows crouching.
Each black shadow has the outline of a human, but is covered with a layer of translucent mucus.
In the moonlight, you can see tiny white worms wriggling in the mucus.
"Wu Hen."
His voice was as low as sandpaper scraping against a gun barrel.
"The third rock on the right, the thing's spine is crooked."
“It’s better to be crooked.”
Wu Hen pulled out an iron rod wrapped in red cloth from his tactical backpack and swung it with his backhand.
"It saves me from finding weaknesses."
When he grinned, the flashlight just happened to sweep across the old scar at the corner of his eye.
"Last time I encountered a Gu corpse in southern Yunnan. Its spine was also crooked. I hit it with a stick--"
"It exploded into maggot soup, didn't it?"
Lin Qiye interrupted him, and the scabbard knocked against his palm.
"I've said it eight hundred times."
The shadow suddenly moved.
The mucus on the far left cracked open with a hiss.
The grayish-blue face was revealed - it was the missing tour guide Lao Zhang from Ningchang County.
There was a hole in the throat, and maggots were crawling out of the hole, giggling as they crawled onto the beach.
“Fuck, we actually know each other.”
Wu Hen picked up the iron rod and rushed over. The red cloth on the iron rod suddenly caught fire.
Sparks splashed on the mucus, making a "sizzling" sound like barbecue.
"Old Zhang, your daughter was crying in the police station yesterday, and you're acting like a traitor now?"
The slime monster's nails scratched Wu Hen's tactical vest, leaving sparks on the Kevlar fiber.
Wu Hen ducked to avoid it, and stabbed the iron rod into its heart - no bones, no internal organs, only writhing white worms.
He cursed it as a "softie" and hit it on the back of the neck with the end of the stick.
The red cloth burned even more fiercely, and the slime emitted green smoke with a hiss, revealing the bronze Gu nails nailed underneath.
"Seven Nights!"
He yelled at the top of his lungs, "This thing has spikes on it! It's the same thing as the Night Watchman's bones that Old Chen mentioned!"
Lin Qiye's sword has been unsheathed.
Instead of swinging his sword as usual, he sheathed it.
The fingertips flicked the hilt of the sword—a clear buzzing sound came from the scabbard.
The slime monster in the middle suddenly froze, and spider-web-like patterns appeared on the surface of the slime.
The densely packed poisonous nails inside were revealed, each of which was engraved with the totem of the Night Watch.
“It’s the Soul-Guiding Nail.”
His voice dropped. "Sacrificed with the blood of the Night's Watch."
Wu Hen's iron rod pierced through the head of another slime monster, and maggots sprayed half of his face.
He wiped his face and grinned, "So these things aren't the Gu King, but his appetizers?"
"almost."
Lin Qiye's sword was unsheathed again, this time with a sharp scream that broke through the air.
He didn't chop at the monster, but at the cracks in the reef where blackened human bones were buried.
There are also soul-guiding nails nailed into the bones.
The knife flashed past, nails flew off with a "ding" sound, and the slime monsters suddenly let out a sharp howl.
The slime collapsed onto the beach like a drained water bag, revealing the bluish-gray corpse underneath.
Wu Hen kicked the corpse on the ground, and Old Zhang's eyeballs rolled out and rolled to Lin Qiye's feet.
Lin Qiye bent down to pick it up, and rubbed his fingertips across the surface of his eyeball - there was a pattern of bloodshot on it.
It fits perfectly with the totem on the bronze box.
"The center of the formation is on the seabed."
He squatted down and used the tip of his knife to pick up the corner of the corpse's clothes. There was a blood-stained yellow talisman sewn inside.
"The bone mound that An Qingyu located should be in this sea area."
“So what are you waiting for?”
Wu Hen put the iron rod on his waist and began to take off his tactical vest.
"I'll go down and explore first—"
"Wait." Lin Qiye grabbed him by the back of the collar and swept the flashlight across the sea.
Under the moonlight, the sea water was an unusually dark blue, with countless black spots floating in the waves.
Looking closer, it turned out to be a dense swarm of poisonous insects, each of which had the shape of a night watchman's bone knife.
“The tide is wrong.”
He took out the talisman from his waist, which was the corpse-suppressing talisman that An Qingyu had drawn overnight.
"The tide will go out in two hours, but now..."
"Fuck his grandma!" Wu Hen suddenly cursed and pointed into the distance.
Black waves surged on the sea surface, and countless slime monsters were wrapped in the waves.
The corpses of Old Zhang were crawling out of the waves, the maggots in their throats forming scarlet words: "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the moon rises above the City God."
Lin Qiye's knife spun in his palm, and the blade reflected the approaching wave wall.
He took out his cell phone and dialed Zuo Qing's number: "Commander Zuo, the mass grave could be a cover."
He stared at the bronze coffin that was vaguely visible in the wave wall.
"The Gu King's lair lies in the sea, the Night Watchman's bones..."
"To suppress the Gu King."
Zuo Qing's voice came from the phone, mixed with the crackling sound of burning talismans.
"Old Chen said that the Night Watchman's bones are locks and the Gu nails are chains.
Now the chain is broken..."
"The lock is about to be opened." After Lin Qiye finished speaking, the wave wall had already hit the beach.
He put the phone into Wu Hen's hand.
"Send the location to An Qingyu and tell her the bone tomb is..."
“In his grandma’s waves!”
Wu Hen picked up the iron rod and rushed into the wave wall, the red cloth burning like a ball of fire.
"Qiye, I'll scout the way for you first!"
Lin Qiye smiled, and the knife light drew a silver arc in the moonlight.
He rushed into the waves and slashed the slime monster with the blade. What splashed was not blood, but green-glowing poison.
The tide reached his knees, and he heard a rumble like thunder from the bottom of the sea, as if some huge creature was breaking free from its chains.
"Wu Hen!"
He roared,
"Remember what Mr. Chen said!"
"Kill the demon that's attached to one of our own people!"
Wu Hen's voice was mixed with the dull sound of the iron rod smashing bones.
"I'm going to chop down both the ghost and the Gu King together!"
The bronze coffin in the wave wall suddenly cracked, and black air overflowed with the sweet and fishy smell of blood.
Lin Qiye's knife chopped on the coffin lid, causing his palm to go numb. The coffin lid was engraved with the totem of the night watchman.
Exactly the same as the one on the bronze box.
"Zuo Qing!"
He yelled into the phone,
"The copper box! Use the copper box!"
The crisp sound of metal colliding could be heard in the distance. Zuo Qing's voice carried the muffled force of a knife cutting through flesh and blood: "Go on!"
A black shadow flew out of the night, brushed past Lin Qiye's ear and crashed into the crack of the bronze coffin.
Under the moonlight, the Night Watchman totem on the bronze box glowed with blood.
The moment it overlapped with the totem on the coffin lid, a heart-wrenching howl came from the bottom of the sea.
Wu Hen's iron rod pierced through the head of the last slime monster, and maggots sprayed all over his face.
He wiped his face and grinned at Lin Qiye: "Did it work?"
Lin Qiye didn't say anything.
He stared at the receding wave wall. The bronze coffin had disappeared and the roar from the seabed gradually subsided.
When the tide receded, piles of white bones of the night watchmen were exposed on the beach, and the poisonous nails on each bone were slowly loosening.
The phone suddenly vibrated, and An Qingyu's voice was filled with tears: "Captain Lin, we've located it!
The bone mound is...under the mass grave in Ningchang County, and is connected to this sea area!
Lin Qiye took out his last cigarette and lit it.
The sparks reflected the bones of the night watchman at his feet, the dark clouds rolling in Ningchang County in the distance, and his clenched jaw.
"Wu Hen."
He pressed the cigarette butt into the sand and sheathed his knife again.
“To the mass grave.”
“Still going?”
Wu Hen kicked the bones on the ground.
"You just spent half an hour in the sea, and now you want to run again?"
"Mr. Chen said so."
Lin Qiye turned and walked towards the shore, the scabbard knocking against the side of his leg making a regular sound.
"The Night's Watch's cruelest blade..."
"Kill the demons that are possessing one of your own people."
Wu Hen picked up the iron rod and followed after him.
"Let's go kill some ghosts."
The sea breeze carried a fishy smell across the beach, and the white bones of the night watchman shone coldly in the moonlight.
Lin Qiye touched the copper box on his waist, which still retained the warmth of Zuo Qing's palm.
He looked up at the sky and saw the moon climbing towards the top of the City God statue, like a coin soaked in blood.
The sounds of waves, wind, and footsteps mixed together, like a taut string, clanging towards the direction of the mass grave on the night of July 14th.
When Lin Qiye's military boots sank into the sand, a fishy tide was blowing towards him, carrying rotten seaweed and fish gills.
The spot of light from his tactical flashlight swept across the reefs 20 meters offshore.
The beam of light breaks into stars on the wave crest - seven dark shadows squat on the reef,
Each black shadow was covered with a layer of translucent mucus, like old human skin that had been soaked.
As the moonlight filtered in, one could see tiny white worms in the mucus wriggling along the blood vessel-like lines, making a tiny rustling sound.
"Wu Hen."
He pressed the flashlight switch with his thumb, and the sound was like sandpaper on a gun barrel.
"The third rock on the right has a crooked spine."
“It’s better to be crooked.”
Wu Hen pulled out an iron rod wrapped in red cloth from his tactical backpack and swung it with his backhand. The red cloth rustled in the wind.
“It saves me from finding weaknesses.
Last time I encountered a Gu corpse in southern Yunnan, its spine was also crooked, I hit it with a stick——"
"Beat it like maggot soup, right?"
Lin Qiye interrupted him, and the scabbard knocked against his palm. The dull sound of metal startled Langtou and made him retreat half a step.
"I've said it eight hundred times."
Before he finished speaking, the sticky mass on the far left cracked with a "hiss".
When the grayish-blue face squeezed out, Wu Hen's knuckles had turned white from clenching the iron rod - it was the missing tour guide Lao Zhang from Ningchang County.
There was a fist-sized hole in the throat, and maggots were crawling out of the hole.
As it crawled over the chin, it fell onto the reef with a "thump", shining oily in the moonlight.
Old Zhang's mouth stretched to his ears, revealing his back teeth stained with green rust.
It giggled and crawled up the beach, dragging its slime on the rocks, leaving a sticky silver thread.
“Fuck, we actually know each other.”
Wu Hen rushed over with his stick, and the red cloth suddenly burst into flames, with sparks splashing on the slime.
It makes a sizzling sound like barbecue.
"Old Zhang, your daughter was crying in the police station yesterday, and you're acting like a traitor now?"
The slime monster's nails scratched Wu Hen's tactical vest, and the Kevlar fiber was scratched and sparks flew.
Wu Hen ducked to avoid it and stabbed the iron rod into its heart - no bones, no internal organs, only writhing white worms, like a ball of living paste.
He cursed him as a "softie" and hit him on the back of the neck with the end of the stick, causing the red cloth to burn even more fiercely.
The mucus hissed and emitted green smoke, revealing the bronze Gu nails underneath. The patterns on the nails flickered in the firelight.
"Seven Nights!"