Book 2: Chapter 17: Ruined My Big Event
The leather figurine women were suspended below the water. They were pulled aside by the current, but not washed away because of the bronze chains around their feet. ck sses dove down, grabbed a bronze chain, and lowered himself towards their feet. As soon as he stopped, the fluorescent substance around him was washed away and his surroundings became dark.
ck sses slowly crawled along the bronze chain and swam under one of the leather figurines.
The corpse had been processed into leather a long time ago, and there appeared to be something inside of it. ck sses didnt know what it was, but the corpse was still in the shape of a human instead of just a lump of leather. He let go and surfaced, but when he dove down again, he couldn''t see the leather figurines anymore.
When I heard this, I figured it was also a project to make leather figurines.
The human hand shellfish had the physiological characteristics of secreting liquid while eating the flesh, and the body fluids could leatherize the corpses skin. So, the South Sea country sank those corpses to the bottom of the river and fed the human hand shellfish, thus obtaining leatherized human skin.
ck sses didnt know how long he floated down the river, but the current gradually began to slow down, the river became wider, and embankments began to appear on both sides. Aftering all this way, he mustve been in a section of the river that was deep underground.
But this wasnt a no-man''snd. On the contrary, there were many boats and fishings on the riverbank.
ck sses swam to shore and climbed up. In the darkness, he could see that there was a very simple altar by the riverbank.
There was a skull on the altar that was covered in gold and jade. The bones were yellow and had been covered in hundreds ofyers of paint, probably to prevent them from weathering. The paint had oxidized in such a way that a thousandyers had formed and lifted up like scales.
ck sses saw that there was a smooth-edged hole on the skulls forehead. He could tell that it had been artificially made when the person was alive, because the bone had regrown. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby and then pulled a fishing over. He cut it with his knife to make a bag, broke off the skull, put it directly into the bag, and then slung it on his back.
If he got out alive, he could take this thing to Wu Erbai.
Then, he found a ce to sit down and rest.
There was only the sound of running water. With so many boats here, this ce had to be like a fishing port during the fishing season. But now it was the rainy season, and since it rained every day, the water level was very high. The big fish in the underground river would definitely end up in this part of the river. When it wasnt the rainy season, the water level would be much lower and the underwater ruins would be exposed to the surface.
"Its only the two of us here now," ck sses said to the thing on his back. "Either you go back by yourself now and we part on good terms, or Ill kill you."
The pressure behind him was still there. <em>This thing is still quite nostalgic for the world</em>, he thought to himself. <em>If Thunder City can alleviate all regrets, then it must be something like a wondend among individuals. Why dont you want to go back?</em>
"Then Ill kill you." ck sses stood up. <em>What did I dost time?</em> He wondered.
At this time, a bright dot of light suddenly appeared in the underground river.
He wasnt wearing sunsses and the light was brighter than the phosphorescent light from earlier, so it looked as dazzling as the sun to him.
He quickly took out his spare sunsses and put them on as a person struggling with a shlight in the underground river quickly passed in front of him.
It was Chuchu. Not only did she not climb back up the cliff, but seemed to have fallen into the underground river.
<em>Just let her rush to the center of the earth</em>, ck sses thought to himself, feeling a headacheing on. But there was no way he could really do that, so he jumped into the underground river and fished her out.
Chuchu, who was shivering from the cold, was lifted up and thrown onto the riverbank.
"You ruined my big event," ck sses said to her.
"Funny Uncle?" Chuchu looked at him and signed shakily. "I finally found you."
"What are you doing looking for me? Shouldn''t children find new ymates and forget the old ones soon enough? ck sses said to her. "Are you going to cry now? Ill knock you out if you cry."
Chuchu looked at Funny Uncle, wanting to cry but not daring to. ck sses took a deep breath and recalled all the tragic situations that had happened whenever he brought children with him in the past.
He didnt know why, but in recent years, he had been having a hard time with these children. He had trouble handling Wu Xie, Li Cu, and Su Wan, and now there was this girl.
"But I missed you so much," Chuchu signed. "Why didnt youe and see me at all?"
"I needed to make a living." ck sses looked at the girl.
"Why arent you old at all?" Chuchu asked. "If you didn''t speak in a different tone, I wouldve recognized you as soon as I saw you."
ck sses couldnt answer her question, so he justughed and stretched out his hand. Chuchu immediately protected her neck and took about a dozen steps back. ck sses followed her, "Be good."
"I wont!" Chuchu shook her head desperately.
ck sses tried to force her to faint, but at this time, he saw a person standing in the water behind her.
This mysterious person was a dark shadow that was just standing there, doing nothing.
"Who?" ck sses rolled, grabbed onto Chuchus shlight, and quickly turned it off. He then took off his sunsses and saw a woman standing in the water behind them.
It was another Chuchu.
He paused and then looked back at the person who was still holding onto the shlight. He saw that Chuchu, who had been crying just now, had somehow be a soaking wet leather figurine.
When he turned his head again, he saw more than a dozen leather figurines standing up in the water on the riverbank. In the dark light, they were all half in and half out of the water.
And they were looking right at him.