Apocalypse Forecast

In the silence, there was only a light sound, like a bouncing ball, as a head impaled with a dagger fell from the air. It tumbled in the pool of blood and finally came to a stop, its dull pupils fixated on a crack in the ceiling.

Beneath countless splattered crimson stains, the walls, the floor, and everything else had become unrecognizable.

Two mutilated corpses fell to the ground with a muffled thud, revealing the dark figure standing between them, soaked in blood.

Huai Shi shook the blood off the axe blade and picked up the weapons from the ground. Then, he quickly walked over to Hela, cutting the ropes binding her hands.

Hela looked at him in astonishment, disbelief in her eyes. "You came to rescue me?"

"No, you need to run yourself."

Huai Shi stuffed a bundle of rope into Hela's hand and pulled her to the opening beneath the ventilation duct. Pointing to the entrance above, he said, "Go left, then down to the corridor. With the rope, you can squeeze through the porthole and then make your way across the deck. If there's anyone around, hide and wait... I'll cause a commotion to draw them away. Once you've escaped to the passenger area, go to room 1011. Here's the key. You can hide there."

That was Yue Jun's room.

Now that Yue Jun was dead, it was unlikely anyone would go there—a perfect hiding place for her.

Hela stared blankly at him, still not fully comprehending what had happened.

Huai Shi shook his head with a sigh. He reached for her hand to help her up, but then he paused, startled... it felt as though he were grasping a handful of mud.

Her hand melted in his palm.

Suddenly, he felt a chill on his back. Looking down, he saw the tip of a blade protruding from his chest.

"What a pity. You saved the wrong person..."

Behind him, 'Hela' laughed mockingly as her face streamed downwards like mud, collapsing to the ground and becoming foul river silt.

From behind the silt, an ugly face covered in ancient wrinkles and spots was revealed.

I've never seen it before.

But as the silt stirred, the foul stench receded. The face slowly mended, as if rejuvenated, masking itself with a layer of powder. It became lively and attractive, hiding the traces of age.

Fountain Demon.

Huai Shi realized. The Witch from Nordic legends, hidden in stagnant waters, a debauched and cruel monster...

"You are..."

Huai Shi watched the world-weary woman in astonishment. "Who are you again?"

At that, the smug face contorted. She violently snatched back her hand, pulling out the dagger and allowing Huai Shi to collapse to the ground. Then she raised her foot and furiously stomped on Huai Shi's face.

"Elinor! Mrs. Elinor! Remember that, you wretch!"

Suppressing her anger, her pretty but false face twisted in rage. "Damn it! I should have been a noble countess... I was supposed to... Damn it! How did I end up on the same boat as you peasants!"

Huai Shi coughed violently as her foot pressed on his face, and he vomited blood.

"I knew it wasn't right! I knew you little bastard were up to no good! I knew it!" The woman claiming to be Mrs. Elinor spat a blob of foul phlegm onto the ground. "I finally caught you! You and that little whore are in cahoots, aren't you?"

She reached out, pulled open the door to the cold storage, and dragged out the girl trembling with cold. She tossed her roughly to the ground, then grabbed her by the hair, twisting her face to make her look at Huai Shi on the ground.

"Look who's here, my little darling."

She laughed shrilly. "I guessed right, didn't I? There's always some fool attracted by your young, pretty face, buzzing around you like a moth to a flame... so proud, so grand! Ah, it feels good to be right, doesn't it?"

Hela's lips were blue with cold. She couldn't speak, only stare at Huai Shi in astonishment.

On the ground, Huai Shi awkwardly managed a smile at her.

"Ah, we meet again."

SLAP!

The Fountain Demon, impatient, bent over and slapped Huai Shi's face. She held Hela's hair, her gaze fixed on the girl's delicate cheek with almost jealousy. "My patience has run out, little whore. If you refuse to talk nicely, then let's be rough..."

"It won't work. You're too old." Hela looked at the Fountain Demon with pity. "Even with my blood, you can't regain your youth..."

"Shut up!"

The Fountain Demon screamed, her expression becoming fierce and twisted. The layer of muck caking her face showed cracks. "Give it to me! Give me your blood! Don't play tricks! Voluntarily offer your blood, darling, and I'll grant your wish, just like in the fairy tales!"

It was a malicious fairy tale that had circulated throughout the world. It told of trades between Witches and naïve Teenage Girls—like the Little Mermaid, or all those other overconfident and oblivious souls who believed they could achieve their wishes merely by acquiring something. The outcome was inevitable: all the naïve traders were devoured skin and bone by the Witches, leaving only Regret.

Ever since King Arthur's tragic death at Camlann, no one believed any longer in the benevolence of women emerging from springs.

After all, who would believe that if a dripping-wet woman handed you a rusty sword, you could become a King?

"What can you give me?"

Hela countered, "Freedom?"

"Oh, dear, I could let you go... if you can manage it."

The Fountain Demon sneered, the knife in her hand aimed at Huai Shi's face. "Or, I could spare his life. What do you say?"

In the silence, Hela remained quiet, just looking at Huai Shi's face.

After a long moment, she lowered her eyes.

"You swear," she said.

"Of course, I swear!" The Fountain Demon laughed excitedly. "I swear upon all living water, I will not kill him... Now, give me the blood! Immediately! All of it!"

She had barely finished speaking when she felt a tug.

It was Huai Shi, lying on the ground.

In the pool of blood, Huai Shi struggled to reach out, grabbing the hem of her skirt. His lips parted, and amid violent coughing, he spat out bloody foam, trying to make a sound.

"What's this now? A final confession? How adorable,"

the Fountain Demon cackled sharply. She bent down to closely examine his wretched state but faintly heard Huai Shi's voice: "Elephant..."

Elephant?

What elephant?

She frowned in confusion, cocked her ear to Listen, and then she heard the man on the ground's hoarse whisper. It was unclear if it was delirium or singing; the tune was bizarre.

"Elephant... Elephant..."

He was softly singing some nonsensical nursery rhyme, and with each note, his voice grew fainter: "Your neck... why is it... so long?"

In that instant, the Fountain Demon looked down in shock. She saw Huai Shi's crimson eyes in the pool of blood and his lips stretching into a grin—revealing four canine teeth slowly growing in.

And so, the melody turned cruel and savage.

It was as if an angry elephant, no longer able to tolerate the incessant nagging of a pesky kid by its side, impatiently lifted a foot and kicked the child to death on the spot, then spitefully spat on the corpse:

"—Damn it! Motherfucker! I'm a giraffe!"

A chill swept over her.

In that moment, Huai Shi sprang up from the ground. His open mouth clamped onto the Fountain Demon's neck, piercing her artery and greedily sucking the fluid that signified life.

You want blood, right?

What a coincidence, I do too...

That indescribable sensation was intoxicating, as if drinking nectar. The foul-smelling blood, at the moment of ingestion, made one feel as blissful as if they had ascended to the Heavenly Kingdom.

But the Fountain Demon let out a pained scream.

The scream, however, was stifled in her throat as her life rapidly ebbed away with it.

As the blood nourished him, the Vampire's Stigma became more active than ever. It quickly repaired Huai Shi's body, even making him stronger and more agile.

It was as if the Yin Soul had been fed with the Liberator; only while drinking this fresh blood could the Vampire's Stigma become truly complete, truly awaken!

Truly possessing that forbidden Power!

Upon the four fangs, runes of pure silver slowly emerged, offering purification to all creatures of darkness, affecting not just the Fountain Demon, but Huai Shi as well.

This was the Demon Hunter Van Essen's strongest weapon.

By relying on the Vampire's trait of consuming life, he bestowed upon the enemy an unavoidable purification, then healed his own body with the drawn blood, maintaining his wholeness.

In just an instant, half of the Fountain Demon's body cracked, her false youth gone, revealing her true, old, and shriveled appearance.

She screamed in agony and fought fiercely, ignoring her torn neck to push Huai Shi away forcefully.

But an enormous gash had already appeared on her neck, blood pouring out relentlessly.

"You... you..."

She glared at Huai Shi in madness, her mouth open in a silent roar, calling for her 'husband'. Then, the door was violently flung open, and the dazed man who stood guard outside rushed in.

With each step forward, his body swelled, until after three steps he had completely transformed into the bloodthirsty, brutal Cyclops of legend.

Then, he noticed the vast void in his own chest.

And the heart that had been taken.

THUMP!

The Giant fell to the ground with a crash.

And the one holding the heart slowly closed the door, preventing the noisy crowd outside from noticing what had transpired in the kitchen.

Huai Shi raised his hand towards the Fountain Demon and beckoned. The Crossbow Arrow on his arm whistled sharply, completely piercing the Fountain Demon's head.

Blowing that pile of muck into oblivion.

To tell the truth, Huai Shi still couldn't remember her name in the end.

But as he turned his head, prepared to face the Giant, he saw the corpse on the ground and Yin Yan leaning against the door.

Tossing the long-rotted heart in his hand, Yin Yan sneered coldly and casually threw it aside, looking at the astonished Huai Shi.

In the very instant the man burst through the door, the long-hidden Yin Yan had erupted, attacking from behind with lethal swiftness and gouging out the heart of the Corpse Giant.

But why him?

"Have you lost your mind?" Huai Shi asked in shock.

Yin Yan glanced at him coldly. "Why don't you ask your magic conch shell?"

"What's the deal?"

Huai Shi asked Ai Qing, hidden in his mind.

The magic conch shell, Ai Qing, suddenly didn't feel much like dealing with him.