Chapter 150: Kill the VIP (5)

Chapter 150: Killing the VIP (Part Five)

Bang!

Zhu Ning grabbed Liu Niannian's arm and kicked the human-headed fish in the face. The face was harder than she expected, not like a human’s but more like that of some strange creature.

The moment Zhu Ning's kick connected, it felt as if she had hit a rock, her calf tingling with numbness.

What is this thing so hard?

With a thud, the human-headed fish crashed into the water. Other human-headed fish were eager to attack. This was the first time Zhu Ning realized what it was like to be without weapons, guns, or psychic abilities.

Was she really going to have to fight these human-headed fish barehanded? First, it was mermaids, then human-headed fish; why did she always end up fighting creatures related to fish?

"Captain." Zhu Ning called out to Xu Meng.

Xu Meng had already smashed through the glass door of a shop on the street. "Come over."

Liu Niannian didn't need Zhu Ning to urge her; she followed Xu Meng into the shop immediately. Zhu Ning kicked away two more fish and quickly joined them inside.

The shop was slightly elevated, and the current water level wasn’t high enough for the dozens of human-headed fish to reach the entrance steps. They pressed their faces against each other, their fish bodies writhing and roaring.

These things looked both human and fish. The small fish she had seen earlier were too tiny to discern clearly, but now she could see them more closely. They had expressions.

Some were angry, some excited, some had the grim face of an old man, some the face of a young girl, and some even wore lipstick.

It was truly bizarre. After staring at them for a while, Zhu Ning found it hard to distinguish between human and animal. What kind of twisted mind did Bao Ruiming have?

"Find weapons." Xu Meng's voice brought Zhu Ning back to reality.

They needed something to defend themselves.

This was a fruit shop, filled with tropical fruits. Liu Niannian found a large knife on the fruit stand, unsure whether it was for cutting watermelons or something else, but it was as long as someone's forearm.

Liu Niannian handed the knife to Zhu Ning. It was too thuggish for her; she might accidentally hurt herself with it.

Zhu Ning gripped the handle and weighed it, finding a comfortable stance.

On the other side, Xu Meng had already scavenged knives from the shop. She made a simple cloth bag, arranging the tools in size order before tying it to her body, ready for use without hesitation.

Indeed, she was a professional. Zhu Ning estimated it would take her several more years to match Xu Meng's combat skills.

Liu Niannian knew her limits and carried a small fruit knife for self-defense.

The rain grew heavier, and there was already water accumulating in the fruit shop. The human-headed fish seemed to have finished coming, and outside, it was just a violent storm.

There was no time to look for diving suits, and even if they had them, swimming with so many human-headed fish would be no different from suicide.

In one of Liu Niannian's visions, she dug out her own brain in a church, which was indeed quite peculiar.

Normal people would avoid such places, but Zhu Ning and her team were looking for Bao Ruiming, so they headed straight for the strange locations.

They had to arrive at the church when it opened.

Exiting through the main door was impossible, so they decided to go upstairs and check the roof.

The shop had a small attic, a common setup where the ground floor was used for business and the second floor for living quarters. Xu Meng led the way, searching for a path to the roof, while Zhu Ning covered the rear.

While keeping an eye out for any human-headed fish entering, Zhu Ning suddenly heard a scream from above.

Facing her was Liu Niannian. She thought Xu Meng, who was leading the way, had encountered some hidden monster in the attic. Then she saw Xu Meng struggling with someone, ending the fight unilaterally in ten seconds.

Xu Meng held a small knife to a middle-aged man's throat. His hair was partly white, and he had gills on the sides of his ears, which flared open in fear.

A local.

Zhu Ning concluded that in this world, he was just an ordinary person.

Zhu Ning turned on the attic light, revealing a pale-faced man trembling uncontrollably.

Zhu Ning: "Sorry, we're just hiding here."

The man nodded frantically, his eyes fixed on the knives in their hands. To him, these three women were sudden intruders.

Xu Meng, seeing that the man was not a monster, released him and put away her knife.

Man: "Money, money is in the cabinet."

Zhu Ning: "We don't want money, just a place to hide."

The man sighed in relief. "Y-You’re in danger out there."

From his tone, Zhu Ning sensed that he was genuinely concerned. The people on this island seemed very friendly, as if they had never experienced hardship, exuding a strange sense of simplicity. Zhu Ning asked, "Why are you here?"

Man: "I-I-I, I couldn’t make it home in time."

Without being pressured, the man began to explain himself: "I woke up around eight, and I couldn’t get back, so I locked the door."

His words were disjointed, but Zhu Ning understood after a moment. He had been hiding here.

Everyone had to be home by eight. The residents' homes were likely on higher ground, so those on the beach started evacuating as soon as it got dark. Wang Shengli also left after a brief conversation with them.

The locals knew about the rain and the fish rain.

Zhu Ning: "What happens after eight?"

Man: "A-At eight, it’s their feeding time."

When mentioning the human-headed fish, the man seemed less afraid of them and more afraid of the women.

Zhu Ning: "You feed them?"

The man caught his breath, "What else can I do? Bad luck, I guess. I eat fish too."

Huh?

The locals were truly peculiar. The man’s tone made it seem as if being eaten was no big deal.

Zhu Ning glanced around. On the second floor of the fruit shop, which was temporarily closed, a simple wooden bed was set up, and on the table beside it, bowls and chopsticks that hadn’t been put away. Zhu Ning’s sharp eyes spotted a pile of fish bones.

The fish bones were piled up like a mountain.

Zhu Ning began to feel confused. The man in front of her had gills like a human, while the human-headed fish outside had human faces. And there were fish bones on the table.

What did this mean? A food chain?

Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp. Zhu Ning felt as if she was watching a bizarre performance at an oceanarium.

Recalling the relaxed demeanor of the islanders, their natural smiles, and the man’s mention of being eaten, Zhu Ning realized that if this world were understood as an ocean, the small fish lived contentedly and comfortably every day.

They might only feel fear when alone or about to die, or perhaps not even then. Zhu Ning had watched nature documentaries since childhood; it was hard to tell if the fish were afraid.

Imagine a world where everyone thinks they are alive, born with gills, eating fish caught from the sea, but all adhering to a certain custom, returning home before eight o'clock at night, not lingering outside, those who lingered would be assumed to become food for the human-headed fish.

This world was a bit... twisted.

Was Bao Ruiming's inner world like this?

Zhu Ning was certain they were part of this food chain too. If she weren’t aware she was an infiltrating “virus,” she might have checked her ears for gills.

The man asked, "Where are you going?"

Zhu Ning: "To the church."

The man muttered, "Only lunatics like to go to church."

While Zhu Ning talked to the man, Liu Niannian searched the fruit shop, finding no diving gear but three black raincoats.

After all this time, the water was almost reaching the second floor, and the human-headed fish were banging against the wooden stairs, making a loud racket.

Zhu Ning had already touched the stairs, and before leaving, she asked, "Aren't you coming?"

Although the man was just an NPC, Liu Niannian had said they believed they were alive. Shouldn’t living beings have an instinct to escape?

The man stared into the darkness, locking eyes with one of the human-headed fish, "I’m not going."

The man knew his fate; he would become food.

Bao Ruiming had created a strange yet harmonious world where all creatures in the food chain were at peace, and the boundaries between humans and fish were completely blurred.

Was Bao Ruiming continuing his experiments here? If so, where was he?

What role did he play in this food chain?

With a bang—

Xu Meng pushed open the iron door on the roof. As soon as it opened, a fierce storm hit them, nearly knocking them off their feet.

They had prepared below, knowing there might be human-headed fish on the roof.

Sure enough, when they opened the door, the human-headed fish saw them and opened their mouths to bite. Liu Niannian, seeing the human-headed fish, was terrified, her hand trembling as she held the knife.

Xu Meng held the knife in front of her chest. In the moment the human-headed fish leaped, she struck swiftly, a flash of cold light.

With a snap—

The human-headed fish was severed at the neck, its head and body separated. The fish tail twitched reflexively, and the head rolled down the roof like a melon.

Xu Meng was skilled with a knife, her cuts clean and precise, turning an ordinary kitchen knife into a century-old blade.

Xu Meng was basically in a state of indiscriminate killing. It was Zhu Ning’s first time experiencing a reliable teammate leading the charge, allowing her to follow behind and save a lot of effort.

From here, they could see half of the church’s spire. Zhu Ning’s data analysis kicked in, quickly planning the shortest route.

Without diving suits and with the rain still pouring, they needed to reach their destination before the water flooded over the roofs, so they only had to deal with the monsters on the roofs.

Zhu Ning and Xu Meng had worked well together at the Mechanical Oceanarium, and this time their coordination was even better.

From an outsider’s perspective, all that could be seen were three women in black raincoats moving across the rooftops.

They seemed trained, like three executioners in the rainy night.

Xu Meng led the charge, quickly dispatching the monsters, Liu Niannian tried not to lag behind, and Zhu Ning dealt with any remaining human-headed fish.

As they moved forward, the path was littered with blood and severed limbs, the heads of the human-headed fish split apart.

This was definitely strange and might soon attract the attention of the inspection team.

Time was running out.

The roofs were connected, and the route Zhu Ning planned was effective. They reached the end, with the church’s spire in sight.

In the stormy night, the barnacles on the church walls looked like raised goosebumps or the skin of a toad.

On the church’s spire, several human-headed fish corpses lay, blood dripping down the eaves mixed with the rain.

The doors and windows emitted a faint glow, like the golden pupils of a sleeping nightmare opening.

Liu Niannian's face turned pale the moment she saw the church, her lips trembling slightly as she heard something calling to her.

Her head throbbed with pain, and she felt like she was losing control.

Xu Meng also sensed something amiss; felines have an instinct for self-preservation, and the warning signals buried in her blood were alerting her to danger.

Run!

Leave this place immediately.

After fighting their way through, Xu Meng was already exhausted. Without psychic abilities or weapons, in this strange world of consciousness, she could even feel her energy draining away—a bad omen indeed.

Under the raincoat that Zhu Ning couldn't see, Xu Meng's left leg was injured, bitten by a human-headed fish.

Zhu Ning silently stared at the church, her mental state unaffected. Instead, she had a strong intuition that Bao Ruiming must be inside.

In the world he created, there was a food chain where fish and human genes were intertwined. As the creator, Bao Ruiming should be in the position of a deity.

The clock on the church showed it was 10:13 PM, the time when the doors were open.

If this weren't a world of consciousness, they could have let Xu Meng or Liu Niannian wait outside, but now they had no escape.

They were trapped in Bao Ruiming's mind.

Xu Meng had already jumped off the roof. The area around the church was higher, with little standing water, but there were still many human-headed fish lying on the grass, breathing heavily.

It wouldn't be long before the church itself was flooded.

They approached the entrance of the church, all three of them drenched, their foreheads matted with wet hair, their bodies soaked through with cold rain.

Zhu Ning noticed Xu Meng's face was pale and guessed she might be injured. Xu Meng had fought her way here without protective gear, so she must have been hurt.

Leaders are often like this; they don't tell their subordinates about their injuries to avoid affecting the team.

So Zhu Ning didn't ask her in front of everyone.

This time, Zhu Ning took the lead. She silently positioned Xu Meng behind her and knocked on the church door.

"Hello," Zhu Ning deliberately made her voice sound more frightened, like tourists who had come to the island and sought help after encountering human-headed fish, "Can we come in and take shelter?"

No one replied.

Zhu Ning exchanged a glance with Xu Meng, hiding the machete under her black raincoat, and carefully pushed the door open.

Creak—

The church door opened, revealing the interior. Rows of chairs were filled with people.

They wore red robes, their heads covered by wide hoods with prominent points.

Their hands were clasped together, sitting densely packed like some kind of underwater creature. Zhu Ning's voice did not disturb them; they remained in their original positions, not a single one turning to look at the unusual sight at the door.

Only Zhu Ning had spoken, so her voice echoed throughout the church.

"Hello, can we come in and take shelter?"

"Hello, can we, come in and take shelter?"

"Hello…"

At first, it sounded like an echo, but after a while, it became clear that it was different. It was Zhu Ning's voice, repeating the same phrase over and over.

She used different tones, becoming increasingly terrified and helpless, like a small animal's desperate cry for help.

"Can we take shelter?"

Zhu Ning heard her own voice, but the problem was that she hadn't spoken a word.

Boom—

Another thunderclap echoed outside, a flash of white lightning illuminating the entire church, casting shadows on every face.