Daomu Biji: Restart

I didn’t know if I was the only one who was blind or if the other two were just like me, but the strong smell… whether they were blind or not, they had to know what I did.

I rubbed my eyes, but everything was still dark when I opened them again. I had experienced this kind of situation before and tried to calm myself down. I stepped back so that I could find something to lean against while I focused all my attention on my ears.

The whole space was very chaotic and Fatty kept telling me to turn on a light, "Light, light, light, Mr. Naïve! Are you deaf?! Turn on a light quickly!"

There seemed to be something wrong with our eyes.

I reached out in the water, but the barnacles on the wooden boards were so sharp that I couldn't lean on them. I decided to hold onto them instead as I shouted, "Fatty, Little Brother, can you see?"

"I’ll be able to see whenever you decide to turn a fucking light on! Who’d be able to see when it’s so dark right now?!” Fatty yelled. "All these glow sticks are fucking duds! If I get back alive, I’m going to write a bad review!"

"I've already turned on a fucking light!" I cried out. "The glow sticks aren’t broken. There’s something wrong with our eyes. Calm the fuck down!”

Fatty gave one last “what the fuck” but quickly quieted down. I reached out to try and feel my way around, but ended up touching his ass. He had good reflexes and immediately grabbed me and threw me into the water.

The water was salty, which meant that it was sea water.

I almost died when Fatty moved to sit on me, but fortunately, Black Glasses had taught me how to resist. Following Fatty's strength, I lifted my lower body, locked my legs around his neck, and immediately pressed him into the water. Just like a seesaw, he entered the water and my head breached the surface. I gulped in a mouthful of air just as a green light suddenly appeared.

Poker-Face had lit the rhinoceros horn candle again and our surroundings were once again illuminated. Fatty and I were naked and twisted together while Poker-Face was clinging to the door.

At this time, I noticed that there was something right beside me. I turned my head and found that it was a “person” with their head lowered.

The candle was immediately extinguished.

I realized that Poker-Face was trying to tell me we weren’t blind, we just couldn’t see ordinary light.

I immediately released Fatty and moved to a different position. Fatty came out of the water cursing, "Be careful, everyone. This fucking zombie will go for your ass and knows how to use ‘scissor feet' (1)."

The candle was lit again and I saw that I hadn’t gotten rid of that “person” at all. They seemed to know what direction I was going in and followed me. Now, they were practically right in front of me.

Before I could shout at Poker-Face to extinguish the light, I saw him turn in this extremely narrow space, prop himself up with one hand, and clamp his knees around that thing’s head. Then, he turned in the air and twisted that thing’s neck sideways.

I had never seen such a speedy attack at such close range before. The crisp sound of cracking bone echoed in my ears and the splashing water from Poker-Face’s movements fell on my face. The thing’s neck had been twisted at a 240-degree angle.

Before he landed, Poker-Face threw the bronze basin to Fatty. As Fatty quickly caught it, Poker-Face whispered, “Knife!”

I threw my Kukri to him just as the immortal door was pushed open. Poker-Face caught the knife, jumped up, and slammed the door shut. He then stuffed my Kukri into the door bolt seam behind him and twisted it until the door bolt was jammed.

The three of us stood back and watched as fingernails slowly started to appear in the door cracks before eventually coming to a stop. Poker-Face’s expression became even more solemn than usual.

"Where the fuck is this?" Fatty asked as he looked around.

Poker-Face moved his fingers before leaning down and starting to grope for something in the water. Fatty and I glanced at each other before squatting down and copying him. After a few moments, Poker-Face seemed to find something and pulled on it. A plank came out of the water and all the water around us rushed towards that area in an instant. The current was so strong that it almost pushed us down.

****

TN Notes:

(1) Per Tiffany: It's when someone wraps their legs around the opponent’s body parts (head/arms….), which is what Wu Xie did to Fatty. When they cross their legs, it looks like scissors. Think along the lines of Black Widow in the Marvel movies.