adminOld Yang said it like that, but we were stuck in water up to our necks; how could we escape quickly? I splashed around a bit and turned to look back, only to see the triangular water mark rushing towards me like lightning, stirring up a murky wave as it passed.
I quickly tied my flashlight to my wrist, pulled out the dagger that was tucked into my belt, and moved my backpack to the front to use it as a shield. I called out to Old Yang for help, only to find that the little rascal had already swum out several meters, looking quite pleased with himself.
I cursed his ancestors in my heart; there was no time to think further. The creature was charging at me like lightning and was suddenly right in front of me. I crouched down, preparing to take a hit from the monster. The triangular water mark was coming in fast; when it was about three feet away, a distorted ripple appeared on the water’s surface, and the water mark vanished.
Before I could even wonder what was happening, a splash erupted before my eyes, and a tremendous force slammed into my chest. It happened so fast that I didn’t even know what was going on; a foul-smelling water rushed into my nose, making me squint from the sting.
The force pushed me underwater, propelling me forward. In an instant, I was pushed out ten meters. I didn’t have time to catch my breath when I entered the water; my air was almost gone, and I was reaching my limit. If I kept being pushed down, I would surely suffocate. So, I gritted my teeth, grabbed the dagger, and swung it wildly. I felt a jolt in my hand, not knowing where the dagger had landed, but the creature let out a pained thrash, suddenly twisting in the water.
It threw me around, and my head slammed against the wall, leaving me dazed. However, at least that stab seemed to have worked; I felt the pressure on my chest ease. I struggled to lift my head above the water, greedily gasping for air. When I touched my backpack, I realized with dismay that half of it had been torn away, and most of its contents had fallen out. Luckily, I had used it to shield my chest; otherwise, I would have been done for. The creature’s bite was far too powerful.
At this moment, the light around me was very dim, and I could only see Old Yang’s flashlight flickering behind me. But that weak light barely illuminated anything, instead reflecting off the water and impairing my vision.
I took a few deep breaths, my mind clearing up a bit. Then I realized my dagger was gone; I didn’t know if it had fallen into the water when I hit the wall or if I had never pulled it out at all. I sighed deeply, now empty-handed. Without the protection of my backpack, if it took another bite, I would probably lose my insides.
I pressed against the stone wall; the space was narrow, so I stayed close to one side. It wouldn’t be so easy for it to bite me now. Earlier, during the struggle, I had a vague sense that it was a large fish, but how could there be fish in this sealed mine, especially one so big? That didn’t make any sense. Even if there were, what would it eat? Rocks?
Old Yang caught up from behind and shouted when he saw me, “Are you okay? You’re not missing any limbs, are you?”
I hurriedly stopped him, urging him to stay close to the wall, and said, “Don’t come over! That thing is still nearby!”
He didn’t hear what I said and asked, “Is everything okay? I was just trying to make some noise to attract his attention, but I didn’t expect he wouldn’t fall for that—” Just as he was speaking, he suddenly tilted to one side and was yanked into the water. Splashes erupted, and a large fish tail slapped the water, splattering green water all over my face.
I thought to myself that this was bad. Lao Yang didn’t know where he had been bitten. If he got bitten on the body, it would be serious—he could end up dead or severely injured. I felt all over myself and found no other weapon; I could only pull out a can opener knife from my pocket. The knife was sharp, made of good steel, but it was too short. Even if I stabbed with it a hundred times, I might not be able to kill someone. But there was no time to be picky. I shouted and jumped into the water, swimming towards Lao Yang’s direction.
That area was in chaos. I couldn’t see anything underwater, so I could only rely on touch. After feeling around a couple of times, I was suddenly struck by a fish tail that slapped my face hard. I was disoriented and spun several times in the water, nearly breaking my neck.
The slap ignited my anger. I gritted my teeth and charged forward again. In the midst of my panic, I grabbed onto something, feeling it was slippery and covered in scales. I thought to myself, “This must be it,” and without knowing which part of the fish it was, I thrust the can opener knife into it.
Although the can opener knife was short, its edge was extremely sharp. When it pierced the creature, it thrashed violently, and I could no longer hold on. I was thrown out of the water, but remembering the lesson from before, I held onto the can opener knife tightly. The hook of the knife got lodged in its body, and as it pulled away with force, it tore a large gash in its flesh.
When I resurfaced, the green water was already stained with bright red blood, the two colors mixing together in a disgusting sight. I lifted my hand out of the water and found that the knife had twisted around, and the edge had cut into my water-soaked, pale fingers. I hadn’t even noticed because I was so focused just now.
Now, there was no time to worry about that. I steadied myself and took a step forward when suddenly a giant fish head burst out of the water, and I saw a mouth full of sharp teeth coming straight for my head. In a moment of panic, I leaned back, and the fish slammed into me, pushing me underwater.
I struggled desperately, trying to grab onto something. At that moment, someone grabbed my hand and yanked me out of the water. I looked up and saw it was Lao Yang, covered in blood, gasping for air.
“How are you?” I quickly asked. “Did it bite you anywhere?”
He pulled half a backpack out of the water and gave a bitter smile. I let out a sigh of relief; it seemed the space here was too narrow, and the fish could only attack us at chest level. That was a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune.
The water was murky, and the big fish, clearly in pain, kept thrashing around and occasionally bumping into the rocky walls. We stayed on guard, but soon it floated up not far away, belly up, its fins still twitching, but it seemed to be done for.
After waiting for a while and confirming it was indeed stiff, I mustered my courage and swam over to it.
The fish was at least two and a half meters long, with a large head and a mouth as big as a washbasin, filled with tiny, backward-facing teeth. Strangely, there were peculiar patterns on its forehead, and a dagger was stuck there without a handle. I couldn’t tell if it was Old Yang who had stuck it there or if I had done it.
At that moment, I realized it was a Chinook salmon, one of the fiercest freshwater fish. If we’re talking about this species, this fish was still considered small. However, how did a fish that only lives in cold waters end up in this place? How did it get in here?
Just as I was pondering this, Old Yang shouted, “Look, there are steps over there!”
After the chaotic fight, I had lost track of where I had brought the fish. It seemed we had already entered the depths of this stone path. I turned to look, and beneath the water, there were several rudimentary steps extending above the surface, leading up to a raised area. The beam of the flashlight revealed some wall paintings.
We were both cold and itchy, desperately needing to rest. After discussing it, we decided to move to a dry area to treat our wounds.
Old Yang was freezing and didn’t say much to me. He grabbed the fish by its gill plates and started dragging it inside. I found it strange and asked him what he wanted to do with the fish. He said, “We need to get our gear out of it; that would be something else. We’re counting on these things to make money, so we have to get them out no matter what.”
I could only shake my head at his stubbornness and helped him push the fish forward. The almost straight steps were easy to climb. At the top was a stone chamber supported by wooden beams, with another stone path leading to other areas, shrouded in darkness. This place was relatively spacious, likely used for temporarily storing the extracted stone and waste. The supporting wood was sparse and rotting, and the surrounding wall paintings were very simple, leaning towards an abstract style. I felt uncomfortable all over and had no desire to examine them closely.
We stripped off all our clothes and piled up some rotten wood in a corner to start a fire, drying our clothes. Old Yang, anxious about his gear, stripped down and began to gut the fish, cutting it open while saying to me, “This fish is so big; it would be a waste to just throw it away. Let’s cut some meat from it and see how it tastes.”
I rummaged through Old Yang’s half of the bag and found some medical supplies. I disinfected my fingers first and then bandaged them, saying, “You can eat it if you want. The water is too dirty, and we don’t even know where this fish came from or what it has been eating. It’s not safe to think about it.”
At that moment, Old Yang had already extracted the fish’s stomach. When he cut open the stomach sac, a foul odor immediately hit me, almost making me faint. My head involuntarily turned to see a mass of mushy contents spilling out from its stomach, and a round object rolled a few times before coming to rest in front of me.
I looked at it and exclaimed, “Oh no!”
It turned out to be a human head.
