Chapter 186
Chapter 186
I smiled faintly and nodded.
“That’s right! In more familiar terms, you could call it a monster.”
Gulp…
Sixth Lu and Ma Dayue both swallowed.
Sixth Lu asked cautiously,
“Young Mr. Wu, how did a monster get into my fishpond? And what kind is it?”
I answered,
“I already have a rough guess, but let’s inspect the fishpond before I say more.”
“Well… do both of us need to come? Should we call more people and have them bring weapons along?”
Ma Dayue appeared rather timid now.
That was only natural.
He might be the village chief, but any ordinary person would be frightened upon hearing the word “monster”–especially when it might have eaten two people already.
I shook my head.
“That won’t be necessary.”
Then I added,
“Don’t worry, Chief Ma. Monsters are different from ghosts and can emerge in broad daylight, but their strength is greatly diminished. Even without me, as long as you keep your fear under control, you could probably put up a decent fight with a hoe or sickle.”
After all, monsters were still animals by nature, and animals could come out at any hour. Unlike ghosts and corpse-fiends, they did not belong exclusively to the night.
But once an animal became a monster, the powers it gained remained yin in nature and could be fully exercised only at night. The heavy yang energy of daytime suppressed those powers to an extremely low level…
Only after hearing my explanation did Ma Dayue barely manage to relax.
And so, Sixth Lu led us to the fishpond.
The sun was still in the sky, and its light retained a trace of warmth against our skin.
It was an uncommonly warm winter day.
I first asked Sixth Lu to show me where he and Wang Qingzhu had struggled with the “red fleshy cord” that night. I wanted to examine the scene…
“Young Mr. Wu, it was right here.”
Sixth Lu pointed to a spot on the bank.
The soil there had been churned up, and some of the weeds lay flattened. Clear signs remained that someone had struggled and fought there not long ago.
“All right.”
I nodded and pulled a large handful of plant ash mixed with cinnabar from my backpack.
Murmuring an incantation, I scattered it over the ridge before me.
The cinnabar-laced ash drifted down.
Ma Dayue and Sixth Lu had been watching my actions in bewilderment. But the instant the ash touched the ground, the transformation made their eyes widen!
Bloodstains that had already dried suddenly emerged from the soil, and every mark left by the struggle that night became distinct…
“Young Mr. Wu truly is an expert!”
Ma Dayue’s voice was filled with wonder.
A flash of excitement crossed Sixth Lu’s eyes.
“Wonderful! My brother will definitely be avenged. Young Mr. Wu’s methods are miraculous!”
I smiled without answering.
This was only the most basic technique: using cinnabar-laced plant ash with an incantation to reveal hidden traces. In essence, it resembled the forensic methods used by police investigators in large cities.
We used mysticism while they used science. The forms differed, but the underlying purpose was the same–different paths leading to the same destination.
I crouched and leaned closer, carefully examining the marks and bloodstains on the ground.
Human blood and monster blood differed greatly. I recognized the distinction at a glance.
I casually picked up a small stick from the ground, dabbed it lightly in the monster’s bloodstain, then raised it beneath my nose and gave it a cautious sniff.
The intense, fishy stench made my stomach churn.
At the same time, it confirmed that the culprit really was what I suspected!
I tossed the stick aside, rose to my feet, and gazed over the fishpond.
Frowning slightly, I sank into thought.
I said nothing, and neither Sixth Lu nor Ma Dayue dared ask.
Only after a long while did I finally speak.
“Uncle Lu, I know what kind of unnatural monster has been causing trouble in your fishpond.”
“What?!”
Sixth Lu started in surprise, then asked excitedly,
“What is it, Young Mr. Wu?”
“A toad. In other words, a warty toad.”
“What?!”
The moment I said that, Sixth Lu and Ma Dayue both sucked in sharp breaths, disbelief spreading across their faces.
Sixth Lu stood stunned for a moment, then hurriedly said,
“It’s not that I don’t believe you, Young Mr. Wu… but this is… hard to imagine. I never saw the creature itself, but judging from the signs, it must be enormous. The waves it made while swimming were the kind you’d expect from a fish weighing over a hundred pounds.”
“And then there was that horrible, scarlet cord of flesh… Wait!”
Midway through his sentence, realization seemed to strike him.
He slapped his forehead.
“I know! That thing was the toad’s tongue!”
Sixth Lu was a farmer born and raised in the countryside. Besides fish, he was naturally familiar with every little creature that lived in the fields.
Of course he knew what a toad was.
As a child, he had even caught them specifically to use as bait for softshell turtles!
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that a toad monster would ruin his life this way.
Sixth Lu muttered to himself,
“No wonder. I’ve been wondering all along. When you said monsters were animals that had transformed, Young Mr. Wu, I started trying to think what kind of animal had that strange red cord of flesh, covered in those horrible backward-pointing barbs. The moment you said it was a toad, I realized that had to be it.”
Beside him, Ma Dayue exclaimed in horror,
“How enormous would that toad have to be? Over a hundred pounds? That’s unbelievable!”
Truthfully, ordinary people had encountered far too few supernatural creatures. Their thinking was often trapped by fixed assumptions.
I smiled faintly and said,
“It’s already a monster, and one capable of eating people at that. Isn’t it only natural for it to grow somewhat larger? This means the toad monster has attained a fairly high level of cultivation.”