Techniques and Dao

Chapter 85 Strange Beast Gu Diao
Hanamori approached and shouted, "Hey! Get back to the cabin quickly! It's too dangerous here! You'll fall into the sea!"

The two trembling women heard Hana's voice and turned around together.

Seeing them, Hua Sheng felt a chill run down her spine. One woman was supporting another, whose eyes were bleeding. Deep red blood was flowing from the corners of her eyes down her cheeks, dripping onto her clothes and staining her white dress crimson. The scene was particularly eerie and chilling in the darkness of the deck.

"What happened? What's wrong with your eyes?" Hua Sheng asked in utter surprise.

"That thing is on the boat! It gouged out my sister's eyes! Help! Help us!" the woman cried.

What happened to this ship?! Who is gouging out people's eyes?!
"What's on the boat?" Hua Sheng felt as if she were immersed in ice water.

late at night.

The pitch-black sea surface was constantly boiling and churning.

Life is unpredictable. Most people live seemingly ordinary lives, like plain water, but they can never predict what will happen in the next second.

The wheel of fate can throw a person from a peaceful life into a frying pan of boiling oil. People choose paths, but most of the time they don't make choices calmly; instead, they are helplessly whipped and run blindly down the wrong path.

What determines how one chooses is one's innate personality and instincts, as well as the life experience accumulated from those experiences.

Hanamori is now facing such a predicament. These past few days, he should have been lying on a deck chair by the pool, enjoying the sunshine and gazing at the boundless beauty of the sea and sky with his wet hair. Perhaps he would even have a glass of perfectly chilled cola with unmelted ice. But the reality is that he is now sitting on a stormy deck, chilled to the bone, facing a bizarre environment and two helpless sisters.

Just as Hua Sheng's mind was reeling and in complete chaos, he discovered that the cruise ship, which had been filled with people like "ants on a hot pan," had somehow become deathly silent.

There's something on this large ship, and it gouged out a woman's eyes—that's all the information Hanamori has so far. He struggled to control his racing heart and asked, "What's on this ship?"

The girl, who had lost her eyes, said tremblingly, "It's...it's the Gu Diao!"

Hua Sheng, hearing this term for the first time, asked, "What is a Gu Diao? An animal?"

“The Gu Diao is a strange beast. It is inherently cruel and extremely ferocious, and it even eats people,” said another woman with intact eyes.

"How do you know its name?" Hua Sheng asked.

The woman said, "I've loved reading fantasy novels since I was a child, and I know all the picture books by heart. Even though I've never seen them before, I can recognize them at a glance."

"But this ship sailed from a big city, how could there be monsters on board?"

"I don't know, maybe someone brought her onto the ship." The blind girl touched her surroundings. "Xiao Mei, where are you?"

"Sister Xiaoqing, I'm here." It turns out the younger sister's name is Xiaomei, and the blind older sister's name is Xiaoqing.

Xiao Qing said, "We must find a place to hide quickly! We absolutely cannot be found again. It will kill us!"

“My name is Hua Sheng. You come with me, I’ll go and get some more help. It’s safer if there are more people together,” Hua Sheng tried to comfort the two sisters.

Xiaoqing suddenly remembered something and said, "We need to go back to our room first. We have a bag with something very important in it."

"Where is your room? What's the number?" Hua Sheng asked.

“Room 32…3255.” Xiaoqing’s voice was still trembling.

Hua Sheng's spirits lifted upon hearing this. Just as he had suspected, the two sisters were indeed Brother Xu's two younger sisters. He quickly asked, "Are you Brother Xu's sisters? His name is Xu Xiaocheng!"

The sisters were both taken aback. Xiaomei asked, "How did you know?"

“I’m a friend of Brother Xu. I came aboard this ship to find you. He asked me to tell you something,” Hua Sheng said.

Xiao Mei said, "My name is Xu Xiao Mei, and this is my older sister, Xu Xiao Qing. Xu Xiao Cheng is our older brother."

Hua Sheng said, "I understand. Let's go back to the room and talk about it slowly. It's not far ahead."

Xiaoqing groped for Xiaomei with both hands and said in a panic, "Sister, don't leave me, I'm scared..."

"Don't worry, I'll take you all with me." Hua Sheng patted Xiao Qing's hand. "I won't abandon you. Don't be afraid." He had originally wanted to say that they should find a hospital to treat her eyes after leaving here, but then he thought that if her eyeballs were gouged out, there was no way she could ever regain her sight. Thinking of this, and looking at Xiao Qing's pale face and bloodstained eyes, Hua Sheng couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow. This young woman had lost her sight and was now in a precarious situation on the cruise ship, her fate uncertain; it was truly heartbreaking.

If, as they say, there is a monster called Gu Diao on the ship, then Hua Sheng is already in a precarious situation, so how can he protect others?

Xiaomei said, "I was running around on the ship just now, and I was a little disoriented. Where is room 3255?" It seems that Xiaomei's fear has not yet subsided.

Hua Sheng said, "I'll lead the way. It'll only take two or three minutes at most."

The boat rocked and swayed incessantly, and the rain seemed to lessen somewhat. Hua Sheng gripped the pole and walked forward, gazing at the sea. The black creature that had been flying around the boat was nowhere to be found. He wondered if that flying shadow was the "Gu Diao" his sisters had mentioned.
"I just saw something flying around the ship, it was about several tens of meters long. How big is the Gu Diao you mentioned? Is it that creature?"

"The Gu Diao that attacked us was about five meters long," Xiao Mei said. "It moved extremely fast. Its teeth and claws were very sharp; my sister's eye was injured by one of its claws." The creature Hua Sheng saw hovering above was at least several tens of meters long, so it shouldn't be a Gu Diao. But this made things even more alarming; there was definitely more than one type of strange beast. Thinking of this, Hua Sheng slowed his pace. He was with two women; if they encountered a strange beast, their chances of survival would be slim. The most urgent thing was to find more helpers and some weapons for self-defense.

"What are you going back to your room to get?" Hua Sheng asked.

Xiao Qing said, "We need to find a bag. There's something inside that can save lives and should be able to fight the Gu Diao."

"What is it? A weapon?"

“It’s a talisman,” Xiaoqing said. “My brother gave it to us.”

"A talisman? The kind of talisman used by Taoist priests from Maoshan?" Hua Sheng was completely baffled. "Isn't that something shamans use to exorcise ghosts? Does that work?"

"My brother said that you can use talismans to deal with evil spirits," Xiaomei said.

Hua Sheng was increasingly confused: "Given to you by Brother Xu? What's going on?" He suddenly realized that if he hadn't witnessed this strange sight with his own eyes, he would never have believed him when he talked about talismans and Gu carvings. But now he was beginning to waver; not only were there inexplicable things on this ship, but the victims were also right in front of him.

Xiaoqing said, "My brother said this can save my life, so I carry this paper packet with me wherever I go."

"So, is the Gu Diao an animal or a monster?" Hua Sheng asked.

“The strange beast is not an ordinary animal; it should be described as a kind of supernatural creature, so a talisman can be used to suppress it,” Xiao Qing said.

"So that's how it is. The room is just ahead..." Hua Sheng pointed ahead and was about to speak when Xiao Mei suddenly grabbed his hand tightly, her nails almost drawing blood from his arm. Hua Sheng abruptly stopped talking and looked at Xiao Mei.

Xiao Mei's face showed a look of horror.

Hua Sheng turned his head, thinking that Xiao Mei must have seen something. Ahead lay a dimly lit, red corridor under the emergency lights, devoid of any living creature. He rubbed his eyes; the space ahead remained empty.

The only sounds from the swaying cabin were the crashing of seawater against the hull and the clattering of steel twisting and deforming; there were no other unusual noises.

Hua Sheng lowered his voice and asked Xiao Mei, "What?"

"Listen." Xiaomei put her index finger to her lips, gesturing for him to be quiet. Then she immediately covered her mouth with her hand and began to tremble.

Xiaoqing also started trembling, gripping Xiaomei's arm tightly.

A chill ran from Hua Sheng's back to the back of his head. He felt a nameless fear, yet he could see and hear nothing. Just then, he vaguely heard another sound, a sound that appeared and disappeared amidst the sound of the waves and the wind and rain.

He looked at his terrified sisters, then strained his ears. Indeed, something was amiss. Hanamori listened carefully, but it didn't sound like the roar of a wild beast. The sound was very familiar; he heard it occasionally in his daily life.

Yes, it's a baby crying. Hanamori confirmed that it was definitely the cry of a newborn baby.

"A baby crying?" Hua Sheng said. "I have to go see what's going on. How come there's a baby?" Just as he was about to walk forward, Xiao Qing started waving her hands wildly. As soon as she touched his arm, she grabbed him firmly.

Don't go! Absolutely don't go!

Xiao Qing pulled Hua Sheng closer and whispered in his ear, "That's the sound of the Gu Diao!"

Dark night. Torrential rain. Cruise ship.

The cries of a baby echoed in the dimly lit cabin corridor, gradually becoming clearer and more discernible.

It's clearly just a baby!
Hua Sheng felt a chill run down his spine. But then he wavered. If it was a baby, where were the adults? When he came out of room 3255, there were screams and people running for their lives everywhere. But now, less than twenty minutes had passed, how could there not be a single person in sight?
Hua Sheng couldn't contain himself any longer; he had to go and check. What if there really was an unattended baby abandoned on this ship? Wouldn't that be extremely dangerous!
He turned around and said to Xiaoqing and Xiaomei, "You two hide in the corner for now, I'm going to go take a look."

"Don't go!" Xiaoqing said breathlessly, "It's dangerous! Don't leave us, I'm scared!"

"I'll be very careful. You guys hide for now, I'll be right back! Half a minute," Hua Sheng reassured her. "Besides, room 3255 is just ahead. What does that bag you mentioned look like? If it's not a baby, I'll sneak in and get the bag, then we'll leave together."

Hearing this, Xiao Qing calmed down a bit and said, "It's a paper package with the words 'Shudao Academy' written on the outside in calligraphy."

Upon hearing this, Hua Sheng vaguely recalled seeing it before and also remembered the approximate location of the paper package in the room.

"When I looked for you earlier, the door was open. I saw it and know where it is," Hua Sheng said. "You two stay hidden, I'll be back soon!"

The two sisters nodded.

Xiao Mei said, "Be very careful! The Gu Diao's claws and beak are extremely sharp, so be careful not to let it spot you!"

Hua Sheng gently patted the two of them on the shoulder, slowly stood up, and tiptoed toward room 3255.

(End of this chapter)