Chapter 14 Lake Monster

First, Xiuxiu and I took an inflatable raft out onto the lake.

When we arrived at the center, Xiuxiu grabbed a safety line and went down into the water. Several of Qiu Dekao’s boats were also on the lake in the distance. Lights were blazing on one side of the shore and we could hear strange noises that sounded just like Pattaya in Thailand (1). In the distant center of the lake, those noisy, profane sounds were filtered out by the wind and the water, giving off a sense of ethereal tranquility.

This kind of feeling was truly wonderful. Maybe it was because the lake center was quiet and the distant sound was blown to pieces by the wind, wrapping around the ear like an otherworldly whisper.

Under the yellow light of the lantern, the drizzling rain looked like cow hair and the lake water seemed especially dark. The small waves rocked the raft gently as the other boats stayed far away from us, looking like isolated lights floating on the water.

As I watched Xiuxiu’s safety line stretch taut, I kept an eye on the time and enjoyed the strange feeling. If only everyone was safe at this time, then I could thoughtlessly watch beautiful women swim, open a few bottles of beer, and lie on the boat in a daze as I listened to the wind, the rain, and the voices in the distance.

After thinking about it, I rejected my own idea. If things were really that leisurely, I definitely wouldn’t have any idea how to enjoy them and would be craving some excitement. Men were fucking bitches, after all. (2) 

The ringing of the nearby timer suddenly broke through my daze. I looked at the lake and pulled the safety line—Xiuxiu should be coming up.

But after pulling, I found that the safety line was loose. I gave a few hard tugs and was shocked when I didn’t feel any resistance at all. Did her safety line break?

As I was thinking about whether something was wrong with her, I suddenly heard a “hello” from behind.

I quickly turned around and saw Xiuxiu leaning on the side of the raft, looking at me with a smile on her face. The diving equipment was already hanging on the side and her wet hair was sticking to her skin. Her face looked especially white against the black lake water. It was so white, in fact, that I couldn’t seem to look away.

I breathed a sigh of relief and said, “You scared me to death. What happened? How did the safety line break?”

“I came up and saw you in a daze,” she replied. “I just wanted to scare you a little.”

I walked over to pull her up, but she swam away with a splash. She glanced back at me and said slowly, “I don’t want to get on the boat yet. Do you want to come down and swim with me for a while?”

I gave a wry smile, this girl’s character is really strange. “If we don’t go back, they’ll worry,” I answered her. 

“If I were afraid of people, I wouldn’t be here.” Like a mermaid in the water, she leaned against the side of the raft, “Come on, Brother Wu Xie. Swim with me for a while.”

I watched her white skin and slender body stretch in the water and had a sudden impulse to jump down and swim with her. But I wasn’t really in the mood right now. I motioned with my hand, “Then you can swim a little longer. I’ll wait for you here.”

She gave me an exasperated look and then giggled before diving underwater. When she resurfaced, she was far away from the boat. “So boring,” she called out. “You really will become an uncle at this rate.”

I gave another wry smile and then lit a cigarette as I continued to watch her.

Beautiful and lovely girls always made people relaxed and happy, so even I felt a little relieved at this time. But I suddenly noticed that some places on the lake seemed different from before.

One of Qiu Dekao’s boats in the distance had come closer, but none of its lights were on and it was now completely dark in that direction.

Did they return to shore? I was a little surprised but knew that it was impossible. I could see them just fine a few minutes ago.

Maybe the foreigners started messing around on the boat and turned off the lights to keep others from seeing, I said to myself. Those kinds of people are just different. They do whatever they want, wherever they want, and don’t care about anything else. Just as I was thinking this, I suddenly heard a few loud screams come from another one of Qiu Dekao’s boats in the distance.

I stood up and turned to look. Suddenly, the lights on the other side of the raft also went out and a series of screams carried across on the wind. Then, I heard something falling into the water.

Sensing that something was wrong, I immediately shouted at the lake “Xiuxiu, come back.” I turned the raft’s searchlight on, shined it in that direction, and picked up the walkie-talkie to call Xiao Hua who was on the shore.

As I waited for someone to answer, I moved the searchlight so that it was shining on the water. I only saw that there was nothing in the direction of where the other boat had stopped.

“Xiuxiu!” As I gave a loud roar, I suddenly saw a ripple appear on the water’s surface where I was shining the searchlight, as if something huge was floating right underneath.

That thing was still far from my raft, but my back was already prickling. I started looking for the paddles while yelling into the walkie-talkie and calling for Xiuxiu in the lake.

I didn’t know whether it was a psychological effect or something else, but I felt as if I had called for a long time and still didn’t hear her response. I also knew that when swimming underwater, you could only hear the sound of water and nothing else. Just as I was really starting to worry, I suddenly felt the boat sway very strangely, as if something were swimming beneath it.

“Xiuxiu?” I immediately turned around, raised the lantern to look at the water around the raft, and froze.

Other colors had appeared in the dark lake beneath the raft.

There was a huge monster just below the surface.

It was light in color—at least under the searchlight’s illumination—but there were dozens of black spots on it that initially made me feel that it was a huge lotus seed head popping up from the water.

What is it?

I was horrified but felt puzzled at the same time. After diving here so many times, we had never seen anything like this. This wasn’t Loch Ness Lake, after all. Why was there such a big thing in it?

I raised my oars, looked over carefully, and saw that as soon as the color of the thing darkened, it seemed to sink again. My mind was already clouded and I didn’t dare call out anymore. I only saw that the shadow in the water quickly crossed beneath the raft, reached the other side, and came close to the surface again.

I noticed that the black spots on it were bigger and my instincts told me that the lights needed to be turned off now. No matter what happened to Xiuxiu, she couldn’t see the lights and would be better off swimming directly to shore. Otherwise, I was afraid the results wouldn’t be good, no matter who was in the water.

I carefully retreated to the edge of the raft where the searchlight was and touched the switch with shaking hands. The light turned off with a bang, immediately plunging the surrounding water into darkness. I couldn’t see anything except for the raft’s edge, which was illuminated by the lantern’s glow.

Just as I was terrified that I was going to die, the walkie-talkie sounded—Xiuxiu had already reached the shore.

With a lingering sense of fear, I immediately rowed back to shore. I suddenly had a very bad feeling about the waters here.

The next day, I took Xiao Hua and Pan Zi to find the place where Uncle Two had rescued me before.

His men had all withdrawn and I didn’t remember exactly where the place was. I searched the woods according to my memory and soon found the entrance, which someone had camouflaged.

I calmly removed the camouflage and found that the crack was completely different from what I had seen before. It had become so small that only a hand could pass through. Although the inside was bottomless, it was absolutely impossible for a person to pass through.

Xiao Hua took a look and started laughing. “Were you a cockroach before?” He asked me.

“This isn’t funny at all.” I didn’t have time to talk to him. After pulling away all the camouflage, I found that there were no other gaps.

“What’s going on?” I muttered to myself, “Has the crack in this mountain healed?”

“It’s possible but unlikely,” Xiao Hua said. “Maybe it’s the thing in the rock you mentioned before that’s playing tricks.” He grabbed a handful of rubble at the edge of the gap and sniffed it, but he didn’t seem to have any ideas, either.

He took out the Yangshi Lei drawing and compared it to the mountain before saying, “Nevermind. This place is completely different from the entrance marked by the drawing. It seems that the situation in this mountain is very complicated. It’s likely that all the cracks here are openings.” He pointed to the mountain on the other side of the lake, “The main entrance should be over there—shit!”

I was startled by his sudden exclamation and looked down. Xiao Hua’s flashlight was shining in the gap in the rock, where an eye was staring at us.

I nearly fell to the ground as a bloody hand suddenly came out of the gap and grabbed my foot.

I was so scared that I shouted and gave the hand a fierce kick. It started ceaselessly beating against the ground and an extremely vague voice came from the gap.

I was stunned for a few seconds before I suddenly realized that the voice was very familiar. As I looked at the hand and listened to the voice, it suddenly clicked: Fatty! It’s Fatty!

But how did he get stuck here?

I was pleasantly surprised and immediately shouted to those standing nearby, “Somebody, pry open this crevice! This is one of our own people!”

<Chapter 13> <Table of Contents><Chapter 15>

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TN Notes:

(1) Pattaya is a city on Thailand’s eastern Gulf coast. It’s got a reputation as a hub for sex tourism and prostitutes. It’s also got a huge nightlife with lots of clubs and stuff.

(2) Yes, that’s what it translated as and I love it. Cracks me up every time I read it lol.

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Updated 1/10/2021