The monstrous face was almost four or five times larger than my head, and its body was hidden behind the iron door, leaving me clueless about how big it really was. The light coming through the hole in the deck was not very bright, so I couldn’t see its features clearly, and I had no idea whether it was a ghost or some kind of animal. All I felt was that this face was eerily terrifying, exuding an indescribable strangeness.

I stood there, staring at it blankly, my whole body tingling from my scalp to my toes, so scared that I could barely breathe. Damn it, my legs began to betray me again, turning soft like noodles. I struggled to back away a few steps, then remembered that the woman was still lying on the ground. Although she wasn’t a good person, it wasn’t right to just leave her to die.

I turned her over and found that her two withered hands were gone, but that didn’t matter now. If the water rose again, her head would be submerged and she would drown. I slipped my hands under her armpits and slowly began to drag her backward. There had to be a staircase at the other end of the hold that led up to the deck. As long as I could get her up there, I would have options—either jump into the sea or call for help.

I moved backward with trembling legs, repeatedly telling myself in my mind, “Stay calm, stay calm. The more dire the situation, the calmer you must be.” I inched back, my eyes never daring to leave that face.

The monster stared at me, completely still, and for a moment, all I could hear was the sound of water splashing. If it had made any movement, like turning its head or opening its mouth, I might have felt a bit more at ease. But its eyes were fixed on me, making me feel increasingly uneasy. I thought to myself that this was too abnormal. But since it wasn’t moving now, it should just stay that way and not pounce when I was almost at the staircase.

With that in mind, I decided not to look at it anymore and lowered my head to pick up speed. I dragged the woman to the foot of the staircase in just a few moments, but when I looked up, I was stunned—the staircase was so rotten that only a frame remained. I had no idea if I could climb it alone, let alone with a half-dead woman in tow. I saw that a few iron beams were still horizontal across the staircase. I pulled one of the woman’s hands and tried to climb, but as soon as I stepped, it broke, crumbling like mud.

This was quite a predicament. I glanced back and saw that the monster was still patiently waiting, remaining where it was. Now that I was in the shadows, there was a light source (the hole in the deck) between us, so I could only vaguely see its outline. This reassured me a bit. I leaned the woman against the wall, gritted my teeth, and made a strong leap, hoping to climb up first.

Unfortunately, although my hands were long, I had no strength at all. After two failed attempts, not only did I not make it up, but I also hit my mouth and felt pain that brought tears to my eyes. Frustrated, I thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with a solution. Habitually, I turned my head to see if the monster was still there. It was a bad idea; as soon as I turned, I suddenly saw a huge creature that had somehow appeared right behind me, and I almost bumped into its face. Terrified, I screamed uncontrollably.

If you suddenly turn around and see someone silently standing behind you, that’s already terrifying enough. Now, seeing such a grotesque face, that kind of fear is truly beyond words. As I screamed, my body involuntarily recoiled, pressing against the wall of the cabin.

At that moment, I had a clear view of the creature, and a memory flashed through my mind like lightning. When I was a child, a classmate from the coast once told me about a fisherman in his village who caught a strange creature that looked like a person but was covered in scales. When they brought it back to the village, no one knew what it was. Eventually, they called an old man from the village, and when he saw it, he was so frightened that he nearly fainted. He shouted, “Quick, release it! This is a sea monkey! If you don’t, the other sea monkeys will come for revenge, and it will be a big problem!”

But when the fisherman heard how precious this creature was, he got a bad idea. He wanted to keep it and sell it in the city, so he pretended to release it in front of the villagers while actually hiding it in his own home. As a result, the next day, the entire family of the fisherman disappeared. The villagers felt something was wrong and searched for two whole days, finally discovering the body of the fisherman’s wife at the bottom of a cliff by the sea. Her stomach had been cut open, and her intestines were gone.

When the old man saw this, he said it was the other sea monkeys coming for revenge. He called in a feng shui master, set up an altar by the sea, and offered many pig and goat heads. It took several days of rituals before things calmed down.

My classmate even showed me a drawing of the sea monkey. He was very good at drawing such things, and the image was extremely lifelike, which left a huge impact on my young mind. I couldn’t sleep well for several days, and I still have a deep impression of that creature. Now, seeing it again, I immediately recalled everything. I just didn’t expect this so-called sea monkey to be so large.

The memory flashed by, and the monster made no moves, just staring with great interest at the woman leaning against the wall, drooling from its mouth. Fortunately, she didn’t wake up; otherwise, she might have been scared to the point of losing control.

I calmed down a bit and pressed against the wall behind me, which was also made of brittle, decayed wood. At this point, I had a plan. If I leaned back with all my strength, I would definitely be able to break a hole in the wall. This way, if the sea monkey lunged at me, I would have a place to retreat. However, the wall was the stern of the ship, and there should be a lot of machinery inside. I didn’t know if I could find something to use as a weapon.

While I was lost in thought, I suddenly heard a few creaks from the deck, as if someone else had boarded the ship. Just as I was wondering, I saw Zhang Tu jump down from a crack in the deck. As soon as this fool landed, he raised his handgun, cautiously glanced at the iron door, then turned around and screamed, “My God!”

The monster heard the call, turned its head, and suddenly let out a chilling scream as it lunged forward. The bald man reacted quickly, ducking down to avoid the first strike. With a snap, he pulled back the gun’s bolt and fired a shot. The monster let out a muffled grunt, and a wound opened up on its shoulder, causing it to leap against the ship’s wall in pain. The bald man fired a few more shots in a panic, with bullets whizzing past my head, making me shrink my neck in fear.

The sea monkey was very clever; seeing that the gun seemed powerful, it hesitated to charge again, feigning an attack before suddenly darting away in a series of lightning-fast jumps, bypassing the bald man and diving back into the iron door.

The bald man swept his gun after it, shooting a row of bullet holes into the bulkhead, and water began to pour in. The water level rose rapidly. He was filled with murderous intent, blasting away the two hinges of the iron door with two shots, then kicked the door open. I ran over behind him and saw a hole in the bottom of the ship that was continuously taking in water. The monster was desperately trying to squeeze through. I recognized the hole as the breach that had caused the ship to sink all those years ago. Now it was mostly blocked by rust, reduced to the size of a bowl. The monster, with its immense strength, charged forward and broke through a gap large enough for it to fit through, diving headfirst into the water.

The bald man was still unwilling to give up, firing a few more shots into the water. At this point, the entire ship was groaning as if it were about to break apart. I looked down and saw the water had already reached my knees. We could no longer stay here; we had to leave immediately. The bald man rushed back, shook the woman, and called out a few times, “Ning, Ning!” When he got no response, he picked her up, stepping on my back with one foot and nimbly flipping over. His foot nearly made me spit blood, and it felt as if my waist had snapped. The bald man crouched down above me, reached out his hand, and pulled me up.