Chapter 29: Ten Star Ferocious Fish

  I and Liangzi saw that everyone had gone into the water, so we started to play wildly, two people shouting and splashing each other with water, for a time this small lake became extraordinarily lively.

  Everyone felt cooler after going crazy for a while, and when they were tired, they all leaned against the shore where the water was calmer to rest. I saw Captain Black Face still standing on the shore with an expressionless face looking at us, neither feeling hot nor seeming to want to get in the water.

  Go see Zhou Huan again, back to us sitting under a big tree, body twisting, one hand constantly fanning himself, obviously also very uncomfortable, just because of gender can't come down and be with us together.

  I felt a bit better, so I found a towel to wet it, put on a piece of clothing and walked over to squat beside her, stretched out my hand to pass it to Zhou Huan saying: "Wipe yourself clean, you must be overheated!"

  Zhou Huan may not have thought I would come, and after being stunned for a moment, he took the towel from me. He was probably really hot, so in front of me, he started wiping his neck with the towel.

  In the green mountains and clear waters, I gaze at a stunning beauty in front of me, slowly wiping away the sparkling sweat from her neck with a towel. The scene is so breathtakingly beautiful that I start to indulge in wild fancies once again.

  Zhou Huan wiped his neck and was about to wipe his body when he suddenly found me staring at him with my mouth agape. He slapped me on the face, saying angrily: "Have you had enough of looking? Do you want me to give you a good look?"

  "Oh oh oh, hahaha, got away with it......" Behind him came Liangzi's voice, gloating over his misfortune.

  I reflected on it and felt very out of place, I don't know why recently it's like I'm possessed or something, always having improper thoughts about this woman.

  Embarrassed, she smiled and blushed, saying to Zhou Huan in a very proper manner: "I just can't understand why you, as a girl, would do this kind of work. Wouldn't it be better to find a man and live a steady life?"

  Just as Zhou Huan was about to say something to me, a shout came from behind, and the two of us got up to take a look. We saw that the people in the water were running towards the shore with terrified faces.

  "Something's wrong!" Zhou Huan didn't care about the difference between men and women, immediately taking the lead to run towards the riverbank, I closely followed behind.

  After arriving at the scene, everyone in the water rushed up, and Liang Zi stood aside panting heavily. Several team members sat on the ground, crying and kicking their legs frantically.

  I don't know what happened either, so I quickly asked Liang Zidao: "What's going on? What's wrong with them?"

  "Look, look at your feet..."

  "What's wrong with your feet? What kind of feet are those...?" When I saw the feet of those team members, I felt a wave of nausea and my whole body felt extremely uncomfortable.

  There were four team members who were frantically kicking and shouting, their feet were all covered with numerous small fish that looked like large earthworms, these fish had very soft bodies, their heads had already been embedded in the flesh, and the remaining bodies outside the water were still wriggling restlessly.

  "My god, this is so freaking bizarre." I was completely stunned. I've only heard of leeches burrowing into people's bodies to suck blood, how does this fish have the same hobby?

  Zhou Huan and Hei Lian's captain were also somewhat flustered, and in their haste, they didn't care about much anymore. They went up and stretched out their hands to pull out those strange fish, but as soon as they pulled, the screams of that team member became even more heart-wrenching. At this time, I saw with my own eyes that the pulled-out fish had burrowed deeper into the flesh.

  At this time, no one dared to move again. The black-faced captain drew out his dagger and gestured for half a day but didn't know where to start.

  "Don't move, ah, don't make any sudden movements!" a shout came from behind.

  I turned around to see a Xianzu old man rushing over, swaying from side to side. I hadn't seen him earlier, probably because he had gone to find a secluded spot to relieve himself.

  He ran up front and after pushing away the crowd, he squatted in front of a team member who had been bitten, looked up at us and shouted: "Hold his legs, hurry...hurry..."

  I and Liangzi, including the rest of us, quickly went to hold down the legs that were kicking and crying on the ground. Then we saw Old Lao stretch out one hand, with his thumb and middle finger pinched together, using a force similar to popping a pimple to pop those strange fish.

  After a dozen or so struggles, the fish fell from his foot to the ground and wriggled its body for a while before seemingly dying.

  Everyone saw that this trick was effective, and they quickly learned to imitate the old man's gesture of stretching out his hand to pick it up. I saw that every time a fish came out, a stream of black blood flowed out immediately, making me break out in cold sweat all over my body.

  After messing around for half a day, I finally managed to get the weird fish off the four people's feet. The old man sat on the ground with a thud, his body heaving as he panted heavily.

  A slightly older team member brought over a first aid kit and immediately began treating the injured person's wounds. The team members who were bitten seemed to be in extreme pain, wailing non-stop.

  Zhou Huan saw that nothing was wrong, stood up and circled around the crowd, then suddenly changed his face and shouted loudly: "Thirteen, where is thirteen? Who has seen him..."

  I thought: Is this girl crazy? What's wrong with her at thirteen or fourteen?

  Then Liangzi suddenly exclaimed: "Look quickly, look quickly, there's something in the water."

  (Note: If you are a reader with claustrophobia, please ignore the following content, otherwise, you will be responsible for your own consequences.)

  Everyone looked towards the water following the sound and saw some pieces of cloth, like remnants of clothing, slowly floating up from the bottom of the water.

  Before I could understand what was happening, a dark shadow flashed underwater, and then the water splashed everywhere. A completely naked man stood up from the water.

  "Ugh... uggghhh... *retch*..." I only lasted a few seconds before turning around and vomiting.

  It wasn't just me, I also heard several other vomiting sounds at the same time. I really can't explain or describe what I saw.

  I think that should be a person, precisely speaking it should be the team member called Thirteen, but at this time standing in the water he really looks too terrifying.

  His body was densely covered with those strange little fish, almost every part of his body had no escape, eyes, nose, including mouth everywhere, those strange fish were twisting their bodies wildly, some of them hadn't been stuck firmly and fell into the water with a plop.

  It was as if you saw ten thousand snakes entwined together, it was really unbearable. The thirteen stood still in the water, allowing those strange fish to twist and turn on their bodies.

  Everyone on our shore was completely stunned at this time, first of all, no one dared to jump into the water to rescue people, and secondly, even if they were rescued, it would be impossible for this person to survive.

  At this time, I saw that the man's mouth slowly opened, and after a few strange fish fell out, I heard a strange voice shouting: "Fire, fire... gun..."

  I think Zhou Huan has also lost her composure at this time, although she had always been very calm and natural in the face of death, but after all, she is a girl, and it's hard not to reveal her feminine nature when encountering such a situation. She trembled slightly and said to Hei Lian: "Give him a quick death..."

  As soon as the words fell, he saw Hei Lian raise his arm and flick his wrist, a dagger flying out and hitting the thirteenth person's forehead. Looking again at the thirteenth person's body, it stood upright before falling backwards into the water.

  Right after that, a red surge burst out of the water, and those thirteen became the lunch of this group of strange fish...

  None of us had thought that such a thing would happen, everyone was sitting on the ground resting in a state of shock, I just felt that I shouldn't have come here, having only just entered the mountain and already losing one team member, I don't know how many more strange things are waiting for me.

  Zhou Huan calmed down for a moment before asking Old Man Cui what kind of fish this was and what was going on.

  The old man was scared to death, probably he had never seen such a thing in his life living in the mountains, and stuttered to tell us briefly.

  He said that this fish is a local specialty, with five black spots on each side of the body, so locals call it Ten Star Fish, also known as Ten Star Son.

  The fish tastes extremely delicious, so it's very valuable. Every year during this season, villagers will go to the river to catch them and then sell them in the city for money.

  But all along, he had never heard of this fish attacking humans, and he didn't know what the reason was, it's almost impossible.

  I listened to him finish and felt a wave of nausea again, but the taste was delicious, even if you gave me a lot of money, I wouldn't eat a single bite.

  At this moment, Zhou Huan rushed to Liang Zi's face, and a loud slap was slapped on his face. Liang Zi was unprepared, and the corner of his mouth was bleeding from the slap. Then he heard Zhou Huan scolding angrily: "This time such a big accident happened, it's all your responsibility! I warn you, if you dare to mess around again, don't blame me for being impolite!"

  Liangzi was stunned by her words, and just as he was about to open his mouth to scold me, I immediately stopped him. I thought to myself: what Zhou Huan said is also right, if it wasn't for Liangzi and me taking the lead in going into the water, such a big thing wouldn't have happened, and no one would have died. In any case, the responsibility must be ours.

  I quickly went to apologize to Zhou Huan and promised that I would take good care of Liangzi from now on and absolutely wouldn't cause any more trouble.

  Liang Zi listened to me and although he was very angry with Zhou Huan, he also felt a bit guilty towards the deceased team member. He appeared tough on the surface but had a kind heart. Without saying a word, he stood up, found a knife and went to chop branches from a nearby tree.

  I didn't bother with him either, and after saying a lot of good things to Zhou Huan, he finally calmed down and said to me: "Qiu Ye, don't think that death is a small matter in our line of work. If I didn't need you... I would have gotten rid of you..."

  She stopped halfway through what she was saying, for some reason didn't finish, turned back and threw me aside to go check on the wounded again.

  I wasn't qualified to get angry, so I followed her to help with a smile. The four team members who were attacked by the fish had their feet bandaged, but it was clear that they would not be able to walk normally for a short time. This is a very serious problem, which means that if Zhou Huan wants to continue moving forward, she must leave these four people behind.

  I saw him go over and confer with Black Face for a while, then walk up to Old Man Chui and ask him something. Only after that did he turn around and say to the four team members: "Your foot injuries are definitely not suitable for continuing on, I've decided to have two people escort you back with Old Man Chui, wait for us in the village, Old Man Chui said that as long as we follow the river, we can reach the bottom of the mountain and won't need a guide. You all go back and take care of your injuries, be more careful."