Or rather, what she saw was the flattened facial features on the human skin in her hand.
As soon as Nan Yue got her hands on the object, she felt something was off; it was soft and delicate, not ordinary cloth.
It felt slick in her hand, almost slipping from her grasp.
But her hand moved faster than her mind, and she had already unfolded the object.
Once unfolded, it revealed a face.
To be precise, it wasn't a face anymore; seeing human facial features on flat skin was incredibly bizarre.
The originally three-dimensional features that gathered on a face now appeared flattened and spread out, not human at all.
What's more, there were no eyes on this human skin, only two empty holes.
The eyeballs were gone.
The mouth was also a black hole; the two lips on the flat surface had turned a dull white from prolonged soaking.
This was Zhao Laoqi's human skin.
He hadn't gotten lost; this was the last place the horse gang had stopped before deciding to return to the village.
He had been with the group all along; only at some point, for reasons unknown, did he turn into this.
The rain was so heavy that everyone was busy struggling through the downpour and mud.
No one would have noticed that their comrade, with whom they spent every day, had suddenly transformed from a living person into a slick sheet of human skin.
“Splosh.”
It fell into the water.
Then it was trampled into the mud by those who followed.
Nan Yue, holding the human skin, shouted to Gu Xiang Kai, “Let’s go back!”
The sickening human skin was taken from her hand by Jiang Siyan, who casually wrapped it up and held it, while his other hand firmly grasped Nan Yue.
“The water level is rising!”
Jiang Siyan shouted. Indeed, as he said, the muddy water already reached their calves, and the current had become somewhat swift, making it very difficult to move upstream.
The iron thorns tied around their waists pulled and tugged without harming them, and the group, supporting each other and struggling against the force for a long time, finally climbed back to the flat ground where the village was located.
Nan Yue looked back; from their vantage point, the rainforest had already transformed into a shallow pond.
A thought suddenly struck Nan Yue.
What if... the rain never stopped.
Would the water grow deeper and deeper, until... it completely submerged the rainforest?
The area beneath the village would turn into a lake, making it impossible for them to leave.
Or, thinking even further ahead.
What if...
The water got even deeper, and deeper.
Overflowing the village, rising to the first floor of the stilt houses, then to the second floor...
Then, as far as their eyes could see, there would be an endless expanse of water.
They would drown in the water.
But Nan Yue felt they wouldn't even have to wait to drown.
Because if the water covered the first floor of the stilt houses, that would mean...
That would mean the water level would be even with the deep pool behind the village.
Which would also mean...
The thing in the pool, the owner of the eyeball Zhu Xi Ning saw, would emerge from the deep pool.
And come to them.
Nan Yue gripped Jiang Siyan's hand. He looked at her with some concern; her face was very pale.
Everyone's faces looked somewhat swollen and pale from being constantly drenched by the rain.
Nan Yue pulled Jiang Siyan, her lips moving.
“Transformation.”
“The core of this mission is transformation.”
...
Nan Yue and her companions successfully returned to the stilt houses, which was undoubtedly a strong reassurance for the other anxious horsemen waiting in the village.
However, there was no joy on the faces of Nan Yue and her companions. They walked directly to Headman Qi and requested a private talk.
Ever since two people were discovered missing, all the horsemen had squeezed into one village building.
It was a bit crowded, but safe.
Headman Qi saw Nan Yue's expression and knew something was wrong. He calmly stood up and asked Manager Wu to come along.
Gu Xiang Kai and Zhu Xi Ning didn't go in. Chi Yu accompanied Zhu Xi Ning to dry her clothes by the fire, while Gu Xiang Kai stripped off his wet outer clothes, revealing his muscular physique, covered in a layer of moisture, glistening under the firelight.
“Old Gu, why does A-Nan look upset?”
“Was Zhao Laoqi found?”
“It’s fine if he wasn’t found, as long as you all came back safely.”
“Yeah, if anything happened to A-Nan and Shaman Zhu, we’d truly be out of options.”
“Ah, that Zhao Laoqi, to fall behind in such an urgent situation.”
“Indeed, once we get out of here, I’ll make sure to build him a tomb and bring two jars of good wine.”
Gu Xiang Kai remained silent, pondering what Nan Yue had told them on the way back.
...
“Transformation?”
Nan Yue wiped the water from her face, saying as she walked back, “Yes, transformation.”
“All the bizarre occurrences in this world right now aren’t direct attacks, and at first glance, they seem unrelated, but they are all for transformation.”
“The rain is to make the water level rise, to bring out that thing in the deep pool.”
Zhu Xi Ning shivered, “Come out?”
Nan Yue nodded, “The thing you saw was also in the water, which means it truly can’t get onto land. And no one with a brain would go near that place, let alone jump in.”
“Why was the death omen you saw in the water? And with that thing?”
Zhu Xi Ning's face went half-white. “Because it’s not us going in; it’s it coming out.”
“Exactly. The rain is to trap us, but more importantly, to make that thing in the deep pool come out, forcing us into the water and putting us at a disadvantage in its space.”
“A-Nan, if it comes out…”
Nan Yue affirmed, “Once it comes out, it will be everyone’s death.”
The four fell silent for a moment, hearing only their footsteps and the sound of the rain.
“Why,” Gu Xiang Kai said, feeling his words were difficult to utter, “why is this rain connected to the thing in the pool?”
The four had already returned to the stilt houses where the horsemen were, and Nan Yue was climbing the stairs.
“I don’t know, but one thing can be proven.”
“This rainwater isn’t ordinary rainwater.”
“You told me that, didn’t you?”
...
Gu Xiang Kai quietly pondered by the fire pit. Yes, this rainwater wasn't ordinary rainwater.
It had an aquatic fishiness.
Exactly like the deep pool, just not as strong.
But for Gu Xiang Kai’s nose, it was enough for him to make a judgment.
The source of this rainwater was indeed connected to the deep pool.
And the water the horsemen had previously drunk from the river with dead fish also came from the same source as the rainwater.
Why was this?
Why did that thing want the horsemen to drink the water from the deep pool?
Nan Yue also said that she couldn't deduce anything more at the moment.
But since the mission was about transformation, drinking this water certainly wasn't meant to poison people or cause hallucinations.
It still had something to do with transformation.
Gu Xiang Kai unconsciously scratched the blisters on his legs, the agonizing itch breaking his train of thought.
He looked down at his legs, where rice-grain-sized blisters were clustered together, quite disgusting.
But his condition was much better than that of the horsemen beside him.
Even Yin Qian and Jiang Haoyu were worse off than him.
Rate on N.U.
