Meanwhile, after the Great Orca was taken back by its mother, it saw the young ones in the pod playing happily.
Their joyful calls echoed far and wide.
The Centipede Monster wanted to leave but dared not relax its body.
Fortunately, its savior arrived as well.
A massive humpback whale, hearing the orcas’ cheerful calls from afar, abandoned its hunt and immediately turned to swim toward them.
There was a long-standing feud between the two species.
In the humpback whale’s heart, nothing brought more joy than ruining the orcas’ fun.
As the ocean’s self-proclaimed “gallant hero” who righted wrongs, the humpback whale stepped up without hesitation to “draw its sword and lend a hand”!
The humpback whale was over ten times larger than the orcas. It quietly approached them, then suddenly charged forward, using its broad, barnacle-covered flipper to deliver a resounding slap that sent the dejected Great Orca flying!
The Great Orca crashed heavily into the water, dazed and disoriented, before being swiftly escorted away by its mother.
Once it regained its senses, it roared in fury, “Mom! I @##￥￥ it @#E#￥%￥…”
The mother orca nudged it along while advising, “A wise man knows when to retreat. Come on, keep swimming and cursing as we go!”
Seeing this, the other orcas—the adults immediately herded the calves away from the humpback whale.
Orcas had almost no natural predators in the ocean, but a single adult humpback whale could stand its ground against nearly ten orcas.
The orcas, however, couldn’t afford to provoke this behemoth. The powerful tail flukes and massive jaws of an adult humpback posed a lethal threat to them, which was why they only targeted the vulnerable newborn humpback calves.
Of course, the humpback whale couldn’t match the speed of these smaller troublemakers, but it still trailed behind them.
It, too, cursed in its own language while driving away these detestable creatures.
As for the rescued party, the Centipede Monster was forgotten by all, sinking dizzily into the water.
Finally done with the questioning and interviews, Zhong Xiwang returned to her room. Without bothering to rinse off the seawater, she immediately grabbed her phone to search.
After she and Paul described the appearances of those monsters to the others, some people exclaimed names like “Multi-finned Sea Snake” and “Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow,” leaving Zhong Xiwang deeply puzzled.
It was fine not to search, but once she did, she was startled.
Both names belonged to monsters from Western urban legends, similar to Japan’s “Kuchisake-onna” (Slit-Mouthed Woman).
Over a decade ago, there were claims of sightings, but no photos existed—only written descriptions.
Based on the text, Zhong Xiwang immediately connected them to the two terrifying creatures she had seen during the day.
The text also mentioned that the Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow had previously been in the forests of a neighboring country, where it liked to abduct and devour children.
As for the Multi-finned Sea Snake, it was spotted in another ocean, only seen by people on fishing boats, with very little known about it.
Without any pictures, everyone assumed these were just fabricated stories—never expecting them to be real!
Moreover, no one knew how they had ended up here.
A chill ran down her spine.
Under normal circumstances, she would have dismissed them as mere tales, but today she had witnessed them firsthand and experienced their terror.
Thinking of her teammates whose bodies couldn’t even be found, Zhong Xiwang felt immensely grateful—truly, heaven had protected her!
She lay on the floor, lost in thought, wondering how she would navigate her life from now on.
She hoped the coast guard searching for the bodies would drive away or kill those monsters, so she could smoothly earn money and return home.
Because of this incident, online reports were everywhere, and people around were all saying there were monsters in the fjord waters. Fishing boats were temporarily not allowed to set sail these past few days.
But the people living by the sea relied on fishing for their livelihood. How could they be kept from going out to sea indefinitely?
Under everyone’s protests, the police eventually only allowed fishing boats to go to the other side, while the multi-island sea area remained restricted.
Zhong Xiwang was badly frightened by this incident and didn’t dare to leave the house for several days in a row, having nightmares every night.
She became utterly dejected and haggard.
Knowing she couldn’t go on like this, as soon as dawn broke, she ran to the local Flower Street and bought many portraits of gods and bodhisattvas to paste all over her room.
That still wasn’t enough. She went to the local authorities and obtained numerous gun purchase permits. Only after placing weapons within easy reach everywhere did she feel a bit of security.
Combining Eastern and Western methods—’medicine’ to cure the illness—she was fully equipped with both physiological and physical transcendence gear.
At night, she rested her head on a powerful shotgun, gripped a dagger, silently recited demon-subduing incantations, and under the gaze of various gods and bodhisattvas, tossed and turned for half the night before finally falling into a deep sleep.
Not long after she fell asleep, a tall and slender figure suddenly appeared in the room.
Its body materialized in the room in the blink of an eye.
Its eerie, featureless head gazed intently at Zhong Xiwang on the bed. Dark circles under her eyes looked like shadows cast by her eyelashes.
Its gaze shifted downward. Wrapped in the blanket, she appeared small and curled up, the tightly clutched corners of the blanket revealing her current lack of security.
After a long while, it slowly turned its head, examining the colorful portraits covering the walls.
Looking at the kind, gentle, and serene figures depicted, Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow tilted its head in confusion.
Then, it slowly approached and, using arms as long as its legs, tore down each of the bright red portraits one by one.
The faint rustling sound of tearing paper echoed in the room but didn’t disturb Zhong Xiwang, who had finally managed to fall asleep.
Next, Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow cradled the stack of portraits in one arm and slowly approached Zhong Xiwang.
In her dream, Zhong Xiwang frowned. She dreamed she was lying in that monster Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow’s nest, the rough branches and hard bones beneath her making her whole body ache.
She tried to escape but fell from the side.
The sensation of falling instantly startled her awake.
Zhong Xiwang opened her eyes, staring blankly at the eerie surroundings before her.
Thinking she was still dreaming, she widened her eyes desperately.
Only when she felt the thing coiled around her waist tighten, pulling her back into the nest, did Zhong Xiwang realize in terror.
She wasn’t dreaming—she had been abducted by this… monster before her and brought back to this grove while she slept.
Her face turned deathly pale as she looked at Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow sitting on the branch opposite her.
Beside it lay the god portraits she had bought specifically to deal with it. And after using its tentacles to bring Zhong Xiwang back, it had actually pasted one of the portraits on its own face.
Its abnormally long arms pressed the portrait against its face, facing Zhong Xiwang.
Zhong Xiwang immediately felt insulted and provoked.
Zhong Xiwang, far from home in a foreign land, thought that if she suddenly went missing, she would likely only be discovered missing like the bones beneath her.
Since it was death either way, Zhong Xiwang’s rage surged from the depths of her heart.
She grabbed an animal skull from beneath her and hurled it at Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow. “How dare you! How dare you be so insolent!”
Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow simply tilted its head slightly to dodge her attack.
Faced with Zhong Xiwang’s sudden outburst of anger, it removed the portrait from its face and quietly stared at her.
Zhong Xiwang could feel a chilling gaze fixed on her face, causing her heart to pound violently.
After a long while, a hoarse yet calm voice emanated from the area of Tall and Thin Ghostly Shadow’s abdomen: “You… dare… how dare… you… be so… insolent…”