The hull surrounding the boarding hall's hatch had already been riddled with cracks by the bear-like creature's earlier onslaught, teetering on the verge of collapse.
With this renewed attack, the creature slammed into it just once, and the hatch and surrounding hull gave way completely, tearing open a gaping hole two meters tall. Fortunately, the breach was jammed tightly with various cabinets, desks, and chairs, holding the beast back for another brief moment.
Seizing this chance, Li Weiyi hurled every explosive Cai Yutong had made straight into the gap, throwing them all at once.
At a time like this, who had the luxury to care about the aftermath?
Boom!
Crash!
The explosions erupted with tremendous force, temporarily driving the bear-like creature back.
The barricade of cabinets, desks, and chairs jammed in the doorway caught fire in the blasts.
The cabin windows of the boarding hall blew out one after another. Frigid wind and swirling snowflakes rushed inside, further fanning the flames.
The shockwaves from the explosions threw back Cai Yutong, the short student, and the members of the security group who had retreated into the dining hall behind the boarding hall. Several collapsed to the floor, knocked unconscious on impact.
Li Weiyi, who had been retreating as well, was also flung through the air. His body slammed hard against the bulkhead, bone-jarring agony tearing through him as though every joint had been shattered.
A searing wave of fire rolled over him, blistering and sweltering.
Before Li Weiyi could even scramble to his feet, the bear-like creature's colossal frame smashed through the debris. Bursting out from the sea of fire, it tore an arm clean off the security team member who had thrown the concentrated acid, sending blood spraying in all directions.
The guard shrieked in agony and fired his stun gun into the creature's belly.
It was utterly useless.
Instead, it only enraged the creature further. Opening its bloody maw, it bit the guard's head clean off in a single crunch. Then, as if devouring strips of jerky, a second bite tore away the man's entire ribcage, grinding bone to pulp and swallowing it down.
Immediately after, it unleashed an earth-shattering roar.
The sonic blast ruptured Li Weiyi's eardrums, sending blood trickling from his ears and leaving his head spinning.
At the same time, he saw the beast toss the guard's mangled torso aside. Its eyes had turned blood-red, and the long fur on its body was aflame. Resembling a fiend out of nightmare, it fixed its furious gaze squarely on him.
A frame as massive as a mountain, blood-red eyes, fangs dripping with gore and bone fragments... Anyone cast into such despair would have felt their knees go weak and their courage drain away, pinned to the floor in sheer terror.
Human strength seemed so trivial before such a ferocious beast.
Their eyes locked for only a fraction of a second.
A sudden shudder ran through him, and Li Weiyi gritted his teeth. Nimble as ever, he rolled to his feet and dashed toward the stairs.
In truth, an ordinary person fleeing for their life would have retreated into the dining hall, using the security group, Cai Yutong, and the short student as meat shields. One didn't need to outrun the beast—one only had to outrun them.
Li Weiyi naturally disdained such selfish, despicable behavior.
Besides, he had a plan of his own.
He believed the creature was not without weaknesses, nor was he entirely without the means to fight back.
Its gigantic size was precisely its weakness.
On the research vessel, the corridors were narrow, leaving the beast with no room to maneuver. The stairwells and lower cabins were even tighter and more cramped; down there, he might find an opening to strike back.
In the dining hall, the others heard the commotion gradually receding into the distance, and the despair clutching their hearts finally eased a little.
Huddled in a corner, the short student stammered with a mixture of relief and dread, "Young Brother Li lured the beast away!"
Cai Yutong hauled herself up from the wreckage. Her ears were still ringing, and her long hair was a disheveled mess. Looking around at the security team, she demanded, "You have weapons in your hands! What are you doing hiding here? Why aren't you going to help him?"
The security members looked at one another, at a loss for words.
They were all elites, yet none of them had ever truly faced life and death. When the shadow of death loomed overhead, what human wouldn't feel terror?
The creature could smash through the ship's alloy plating. What good would it do for them to throw themselves at it?
A single charge, and all of them would be reduced to minced meat and gore.
Xie Jin, unwilling to admit his cowardice, said in a deep voice, "We were preparing an ambush right here in the dining hall. Who would have thought Li Weiyi would lure it elsewhere, throwing all our plans into chaos?"
***
Bang! Bang! Crash!
The creature's strength far exceeded Li Weiyi's estimates. Although the research vessel was filled with obstacles and narrow corridors, before the beast they were as fragile as paper.
It smashed straight through everything, shattering doors and bulkheads into splinters in its wake.
Li Weiyi gripped his sword in one hand and grabbed the stair railing with the other, vaulting down to the lower deck as agile as an ape.
The next instant—
Boom!
The creature ripped the entire stairwell apart, crashing onto the lower deck with such weight that the deck plating caved inward.
It growled low in its throat, searching around.
Concealed atop a cluster of mechanical equipment, Li Weiyi crouched with his sword, holding his breath and calming his mind. He keenly noticed that blood was dripping from the creature's body. Evidently, having taken multiple rifle hits earlier, it had sustained non-trivial injuries.
This was unquestionably good news!
Sharp as the Yellow Dragon Sword was, it was still a cold weapon and might not pierce the beast's armored hide and bone. But those massive eyes could definitely be pierced.
With such a vast disparity in strength and speed, he would have only one chance.
Just as Li Weiyi was about to strike, the beast below suddenly snapped its head up. Having already detected him, it swung its massive claw in a preemptive swipe.
It was the scent.
A bear's sense of smell was two thousand times sharper than a human's.
This bear-like creature's olfactory senses were likely sharper still.
It had long since locked onto Li Weiyi's position through his scent.
Its paw was as broad as a cattail-leaf fan, bearing thousands of jin of force. Never mind taking a direct hit—even a grazing blow would tear away a huge slab of flesh.
Aside from its bulky frame and vulnerable eyes, the third major weakness Li Weiyi had deduced was that its intelligence had not yet evolved to match that of a human.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have relentlessly attacked that single hatch in the boarding hall earlier and would have looked for another entrance.
Taking advantage of this third weakness, the spot Li Weiyi had chosen to crouch on happened to house the research vessel's pumping equipment.
Only by relying on mechanical power and the intellect that set mankind above all other beasts could he hope to contend with this creature.
The instant the claw swept toward him, Li Weiyi pushed hard with both legs and leaped sideways.
Crash!
The massive paw smashed through the pump lines.
At once, high-pressure seawater erupted in a violent jet, striking the creature square in the head.
Hitting the deck, Li Weiyi dropped low, using both feet and one hand to scurry along the floor. As the beast recoiled to avoid the jet of water, before its vision and sense of smell could recover, he thrust his sword forward with unerring precision.
The blade struck like a yellow dragon, swift as lightning.
Squelch!
The sword stabbed into the creature's right eye, and blood spurted out like an arrow.
A roar laced with pain, fury, and savagery echoed through the entire ship, shaking the bulkheads.
Having landed the blow, Li Weiyi broke away immediately.
Yet his speed was still far slower than the beast's.
In its berserk rage, the creature flailed its claws wildly. One claw grazed past Li Weiyi's left arm.
With a sharp rip, the sleeve of his left arm was torn apart, leaving a wound so deep the bone was visible, blood pouring out in a torrent.
The force robbed Li Weiyi of his balance mid-stride, sending him tumbling across the deck toward the stairwell. The entire left half of his body throbbed with numbness from the sheer agony.
Against the creature's terrifying strength, a human being was fragile as a wheat stalk, snapping at the slightest bend.
Slumped against the bulkhead, Li Weiyi gritted his teeth against the pain. Tearing strips of fabric from his shredded shoulder, he quickly bound the wound on his left arm to stem the bleeding.
He retrieved the Yellow Dragon Sword from the floor.
After a chorus of anguished howls while clutching its ruined eye, the creature charged Li Weiyi with murderous frenzy, intent on ripping him to shreds.
Li Weiyi knew he could not outrun it—his speed could never match its own. Supporting himself with the sword in one hand, he pushed himself upright, his gaze cutting toward the beast, cold and unyielding.
Be it a ferocious beast or a demonic fiend, it could not shatter his resolve to fight to the death.
With a fierce roar, he swung the sword with all his might.
Whoosh—
The blood that had spilled onto the deck from his left arm suddenly vaporized, transforming the dim corridor into a pale red mist.
The floor, the bulkheads, the pipes... inch by inch, they rotted and molded over.
Behind him, amidst the vast, hazy crimson mist, a slender figure in an ancient, deep-red wedding dress materialized out of thin air. Tall and graceful, with a slender jade neck and a jade belt at her waist.
The bridal gown was grand and opulent, woven with gold and silver threads into patterns of dragons and phoenixes bringing good fortune. Lotus motifs graced the cuffs and hemline, and the skirt spread wide like the wings of a phoenix.
Yet her head was draped in a red silk bridal veil, with copper coins dangling from its four corners, hiding her ethereal beauty from view.
The entire figure was indistinct, ethereal and illusory, its beauty infused with a spine-chilling eeriness.
How had she appeared?
Why had the surroundings turned grim and desolate, like a realm of ghosts?
This spectral bride seemed both coalesced from Li Weiyi's own blood and like a wedded wife eternally lingering behind him, invisible to all. As Li Weiyi slashed with his sword, her delicate, jade-like hand rose gracefully, sweeping down in unison.
Slash!
Li Weiyi had already prepared himself to die beneath the creature's claws, but this strike sent the beast flying several meters backward.
Blood gushed like a fountain mid-air.
A horrific sword wound over a meter long opened across the creature's neck and chest.
As if drained of all strength, Li Weiyi staggered backward, barely staying on his feet against the wall. He stared in shock at the creature crashing heavily to the deck...
It all felt entirely unreal!
"With my mortal strength, how could I have sent it flying with a single slash? What just happened?" Li Weiyi panted heavily. Blood began to pour from the wound on his left arm once more, and darkness crept into the edges of his vision.
The blood mist, the decay, the ghostly domain, and the bride draped in red silk had all vanished, as if they had never existed at all.
"Roar... Argh..."
The creature struggled back to its feet, its roar no longer as piercing as before, turning into a raspy shudder.
As it closed in on Li Weiyi again, its steps were much slower, brimming with caution.
"Junior Brother!"
Nearly passing out from blood loss and biting pain, Li Weiyi heard the furious roar of his senior brother.
Immediately after came the thundering report of gunfire.
Bang!
Bang!
Zhao Meng was truly enraged, his eyes bloodshot as he gripped a shotgun with both hands, pulling the trigger repeatedly. He pelted the creature until it howled in pain and retreated into the darkness.
"Move, let's get upstairs first."
Zhao Meng reloaded and backed away, hauling Li Weiyi along.
One in front of the other, they fled toward the fourth deck, where the upper deck was located.
The shotgun possessed devastating firepower, but the creature was clearly no ordinary beast. Its defenses and vitality defied scientific comprehension, and its low growls still echoed from behind.
The two fled all the way to the boarding hall, where the hatch had previously been smashed into a gaping hole by the beast.
The raging wind howled through the breach, slicing against their faces like knives.
It was brutally cold!
Compared to earlier when the sun had been out, it was as if they had entered a completely different world.
The blood on Li Weiyi's left shoulder and his soaked clothes seemed on the verge of freezing into ice crystals in an instant.
Zhao Meng carried an olive-green satchel across his chest. It bulged considerably, as though packed with something critical. His piercing tiger eyes looked toward Li Weiyi, filled with a sense of final parting. "I won't be able to look after you anymore. You have to take care of yourself."
Without looking back, Zhao Meng dashed out of the boarding hall.
He sprinted across the deck, vaulted over the ship's railing, and leaped down from the vessel.
Apart from that brief farewell to Li Weiyi, he had not hesitated for a single moment.
"Senior Brother..."
Li Weiyi chased out onto the deck.
Outside, the wind wailed like roaring specters, nearly blowing a person off their feet.
He had no idea why Zhao Meng was doing this, but he knew that if he did not follow, this would be the last time he ever saw his senior brother.
Watching the figure retreat across the ice sheet, Li Weiyi's heart sank. He too hurled himself over the several-meter-high railing, crashing down onto the hard ice below.
Hearing the heavy impact behind him, Zhao Meng skidded to a halt several dozen meters away, turned around, and ran back.
Zhao Meng snapped angrily, "What did you follow me for?"
"After Master died, you're the only family I have left! If we die, we die together; if we live, we live together," Li Weiyi said.
Tears welled in Zhao Meng's eyes, and he looked up at the sky, letting out a helpless, sorrowful sigh.
***
"Roar!"
The creature's roar drifted down from the deck of the research vessel above.
It leaped down from the ship, landing on the ice not far from Li Weiyi and Zhao Meng with a heavy crash, advancing on them step by step.
In the gloom, its fangs gleamed white and razor-sharp, one eye blood-red, the other steadily dripping gore. The meter-long gash stretching from its neck across its belly bled profusely, staining the ice crimson.
It was not immortal; it had suffered grievous wounds. Yet its remaining eye remained locked onto the satchel on Zhao Meng's chest.
"Fine! If we die, we die together today; if we live, we live together."
Zhao Meng raised his shotgun, his expression even fiercer than the beast's.
Li Weiyi gripped the Yellow Dragon Sword tightly, his gaze as razor-sharp as its edge, poised like a drawn bow ready to release.
Suddenly.
The cry of an infant rose from the seabed. Low and muffled, it nevertheless resounded across the entire Arctic, causing the glaciers and snow ridges to quiver.
It sounded like weeping, yet also like laughter.
To be precise, it was not merely one infant's cry, but several, coming from different directions—unsettling and chilling to the bone.
The creature opposite them instantly showed terror. Shivering, it stared past Li Weiyi and Zhao Meng and fell prostrate to the ground, all its former savagery gone.
Li Weiyi and Zhao Meng slowly turned their heads.
There, hanging in mid-air, was an infant's head the size of a house, covered in disheveled black hair. When it laughed, the corners of its mouth split open all the way to its ears.
A dark-red tongue inside stretched several meters long.
The neck supporting this head plunged like a pillar into the freezing sea.
Crash!
The next instant, a second infant head emerged, smashing clean through the research vessel's deck and rising all the way past the tenth deck, as if seeking to reach the heavens.
Splash!
A third infant head burst through the ice shelf ten meters away, surfacing behind Li Weiyi and Zhao Meng, letting out a low, mournful wail.
A fourth, a fifth...
All nine gigantic, house-sized heads of Jiuying emerged from the sea, suspended in the air, grotesque and terrifying. Its long necks wound around the ship like scaly tentacles, constricting until the vessel began to warp and break apart.
Its colossal body beneath the waves shifted, tipping the fracturing research vessel onto its side.
From the ship came continuous shrieks, screams of agony, wails, and the crash of heavy objects tumbling down.
Prior to this, Li Weiyi had no knowledge of Jiuying's existence. Witnessing this scene, he felt as though he had plunged into a desolate world overrun by demons, his mind struck by unprecedented shock.
Seeing all nine pairs of bone-green eyes fixed on him, fear flooded Zhao Meng's heart. He let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh. "To think I could draw the calamity away by carrying the Buddha relic... It was wishful thinking all along. I never should have harbored false hopes."
All of Jiuying's heads let out bizarre, piercing shrieks, darting toward Zhao Meng like nine monstrous serpents.
Flash!
Whether because Li Weiyi's blood had soaked into the Daozu Taiji Fish or for some other reason, the token of the Chan Sect Master hanging at his neck suddenly erupted with brilliant azure radiance.
The azure light surged like the magnificent Arctic aurora, piercing straight into the nine heavens, instantly filling the entire world.
Jiuying's nine mouths screeched simultaneously as the charging beast recoiled in fear, startled back by the azure radiance from the Daozu Taiji Fish.
At the same time—
The satchel strapped across Zhao Meng's chest violently convulsed and burst into flames.
Inside, the gold and silver coffins housing the Buddha relic shattered, and a beam of red light shot out, hurtling straight toward the Daozu Taiji Fish at Li Weiyi's neck.
Chapter 5