Chapter 19
Chapter 19
“Then he’ll bite you first, Mr. Mysterious.” Lin Yinxi did not lift her head. Her retort came fast.
Chen Fei and Chu Yanran slowly opened their eyes, their fingers tightly interlaced.
Seeing the water blue again, Chen Fei collapsed onto the floor and gulped air. “Baby, sit and rest a bit too. That nearly made me piss myself.”
Chu Yanran did not move. Her body rigid, she tugged him, her voice shaking. “Don’t sit… Over there. Someone’s dead.”
Chen Fei paused, followed her gaze, and went deathly pale.
Ba Hu lay motionless on the metal floor nearby.
His eyes were wide open, their former whites swallowed by pure black. An eerie, rigid, upward-stretched smile still lingered at the corners of his mouth.
Xu Haitang took a deep breath and strode over.
Ignoring Ba Hu’s corpse, she watched Lin Yinxi warily as she put the cleaning spray back into her crossbody bag. “Miss Lin, did you use some special taboo artifact just now? Or were you hiding your strength before entering the scenario?”
Lin Yinxi looked up, dim blue light from the water reflecting on her fair face.
She nodded with a slight smile. “I did use a taboo artifact, but I can’t tell you exactly what it does. That’s a trade secret.”
You could let people see your martial arts skills.
But you couldn’t casually reveal the secret techniques behind them.
Besides, whether her phone really was a taboo artifact was another question entirely.
Xu Haitang studied her, then nodded. “I understand. But taboo artifacts usually have very serious side effects. Tell me if you feel unwell.”
Then she turned and sternly warned the still-trembling young couple. “Listen, you two newcomers. High-ranking taboo artifacts recognize their owners.
Unless the original owner dies, stealing or taking the artifact by force will trigger a backlash.
Don’t get any crooked ideas here.”
Chen Fei immediately raised three fingers and swore in halting Mandarin, “Don’t worry, Haitang! We may be cowards, but our hearts are in the right place. We’d never steal or do anything shady!”
“Enough joking.” Chu Yanran pulled his arm and looked fearfully toward the end of the corridor. “Let’s go. This place is too creepy…”
With the rumble of wheels, several expressionless employees in deep blue uniforms came out from the tunnel’s depths.
Pushing a metal cart, they acted as though Lin Yinxi and the others were invisible. With practiced movements, they tossed Ba Hu’s corpse onto it like rubbish, covered it with a black cloth, and wheeled it away.
The group continued forward. Their companion’s death left everyone anxious, and no one spoke along the way.
Yang Shu still walked slowly at the rear, hands in his pockets. From time to time, his bloodshot eye, half-hidden by his fringe, swept across Lin Yinxi’s back.
Beyond the underwater tunnel, they reached the jellyfish viewing area.
The lighting here became a dreamlike rainbow. Thousands upon thousands of transparent jellyfish floated up and down in enormous cylindrical tanks, exquisitely beautiful.
Quite a few visitors had stopped to watch.
Xu Haitang gathered everyone and lowered her voice. “There are plenty of visitors here. Split up and ask them for information.
Ask when it closes, whether we can stay overnight, and where to find food.
Remember, don’t anger them. They may not be human.”
Already frail, Lin Yinxi simply found a viewing bench and sat down, choosing visitors seated nearby to talk to.
Their answers sounded normal, yet in this setting they carried a dissonance that grew more disturbing the longer she thought about it.
“What? You’re asking when the aquarium closes? Eight in the evening. My babies and I will go home.” A middle-aged woman holding a balloon sat beside her and spoke woodenly.
Another visitor who looked like a student and carried a bag leaned nearby and joined in, constantly scratching her neck. “Home’s too far away. You can rent a tent and stay overnight in the underwater tunnel. The tents are a little expensive, though.”
A little girl sucking a lollipop giggled. “The employees stay at night to look after the fish in the tanks.
My older sister works here. But she seems to have got fatter lately. She keeps soaking in the water and won’t come out.”
…
Lin Yinxi rubbed her aching calves.
After asking several people, she learned that closing time was eight p.m. Visitors who did not leave had to rent tents.
Employees patrolled the aquarium at night. If they found visitors lingering without rented tents, they took them away.
No one knew what happened in the aquarium after dark. After all, none of these fish looked easy to deal with.
Lin Yinxi thought her temporary employee status might give her another route.
“I’m so hungry…” Chu Yanran clutched her stomach nearby. “Feifei, I think my stomach trouble’s flaring up. It hurts terribly.”
“Baby, hold on. It’s too dangerous here. There’s nowhere to eat.” Chen Fei, sweating heavily, tried to comfort her. He was helpless too.
Just then, a black figure suddenly appeared, standing quietly at the corner ahead.
It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Facing away from them, it bent over an iron bucket and fiddled with it.
“An aquarium employee?” Xu Haitang approached with her gun gripped tightly, nerves taut. “The rules say we can ask staff in blue for help if we have a problem.”
Lin Yinxi said nothing. She stood and fixed her gaze on that back.
Her eyelid twitched. She had an ominous feeling.
The figure seemed to hear them and slowly straightened and turned. Though she could not see its face, Lin Yinxi could feel its gaze.
As it slowly emerged from the dark corner into the jellyfish area’s rainbow lights, Lin Yinxi’s breath caught along with everyone else’s.
It was the entity in a red raincoat from the rules.
Thick red water dripped from the hem of its raincoat. Its face was completely hidden in the hood’s shadow, like a pitch-black abyss.
Staring continuously at Red Raincoat’s face caused pronounced dizziness.
Rule three of the Deep Blue Aquarium Visitor Guidelines: If an employee in a red raincoat offers you any item, do not accept it. Report the employee immediately to a member of staff in blue.
“Red Raincoat… Come here, quick. Get behind me!” Xu Haitang planted her heels hard against the floor and forced down the urge to retreat and run.
Her gun was a taboo artifact that could attack entities. The price was her own blood, turned into bullets.
Red Raincoat did not charge at them like a frenzied monster.
Carrying the iron bucket, he limped toward them with an extremely stiff, eerie gait.
Lin Yinxi stood beside Xu Haitang instead of hiding behind her.
“Esteemed visitors, you must be hungry after touring for so long…” His harsh, hoarse voice sounded. “The aquarium has prepared complimentary special snacks for you. Please try them.”