Nightmare’s Call

A wireless signal—piggybacking on the ship’s wireless communication frequency—was sent out undetected.

“I’ve checked; those relatives of Lin Sheng, whom you’re looking for are on my ship. The box will continue to emit a location signal for the next three hours. I’ve done my job, so I hope you’ll keep your promise and pay,” the man said softly into the box.

“No worries,” a voice was heard answering from inside the box, which was a satellite phone in disguise. “Once we determine that the information you’ve provided is real, your reward will call you at once,” the voice in the box said.

“Alright.” The man nodded, getting to his feet and hanging the ring on his neck with a string. He then put on a diving suit as well as a scuba mask, and he topped off the look with a black sweater on the outside. After that, he took out his mobile phone to make a call. The phone rang three times before the call was hung up.

The man got the message and walked out of the room toward the stern of the ship empty-handed. It was the perfect opportunity to flee since Khadula and Chen Minjia were chatting at the bow. His steps were light, and he did not forget to greet the people that he saw—be it the sailors, the crew, and even strangers. He was composed and had a constant smile on his face.

Soon, he came before a metal hatch at the end of the corridor, which led to the stern outside. The man could not hold back his smile, turning the valve on the hatch. As the valve turned, the hatch swung outward.

There was no one on the outside, and he could feel the bitter wind rushing in. The man covered his eyes and darted out of the hatch toward the taffrail at the stern. Closing the visor on his mask, he took out a metal wire catapult and fastened one end on the taffrail while the other on his diving suit. He deftly jumped over the taffrail and descended using the wire. Halfway through his descent, the wire suddenly got stuck. He gave it a harder pull, but it refused to budge.

“Do you need help?” a little girl with white hair who was floating on his right asked.

“Umm…” The man rubbed his head and smile. “No, it’s just a little glitch.” He pulled the wire again, and it was finally released. He breathed a sigh of relief and continued the descent. Soon, he descended past another little girl on his left, then another on his right, and another on his left, so on and so forth. The man froze. He was in shock. He slowly turned his head to his right, and the little on his right also turned to smile at him.

…

Lin Sheng woke up from his stupor as the ticking sound of the clock gradually faded away. He had returned to the magic research lab in Blackfeather City. The flames on the blades of the double swords in his hands had been dim as if they were about to die down soon. However, when Lin Sheng regained consciousness, the swords began to burn at a higher intensity with sparks spurting out from the flames.

He rose to his feet and glanced at the metal discs on the ground; they were still there. Holding the swords in his hands, he slowly walked to the second door on his right and tossed a sword at the door. Electric current, flames, and smoke instantly broke out just like magnesium powder used in flash photography during the old days. Immediately after, the smell of burnt leather drifted into his nostrils.

The burning sword dropped to the ground, and when the flames on the sword died down, the blade appeared rusty as if some corrosive substance had eaten into its surface.

Using another sword, Lin Sheng pushed the door inward. It creaked loudly from what sounded like metal grinding. It seemed that something was stuck behind the door, which could only create a small gap. Lin Sheng frowned, raising his guard. There was squeaking inside the room again, as though children were playing swings in the playground. The living room was basically quiet with only the audible sound of the squeaking.

Lin Sheng took a step back before he forcibly struck the door with his sword. A loud bang later, the door split in half and fell inward.

At that moment, a dark one-eyed humanoid monster lunged out from the pitch-dark room like a leopard. Hearing a loud gust of air rushing out, Lin Sheng took another step back and struck his Flaming Sword forward with all his strength. The monster exploded at once, and its body parts flew in all directions. Unable to dodge in time, Lin Sheng’s face was pasted with the disgusting body tissues. He wiped the monster’s flesh and blood off his face before he slowly walked into the dark room. Now, the flame on his sword was bright enough to illuminate the entire room as he had injected his sacred power into it.

Unlike the other rooms, this one had a children’s bed, a metal swing, and a black leather ball. There were also a few metal chains hanging on the wall, and each chain was as thick as the arm of a child.

Lin Sheng took a few steps forward, came before the bed, and glanced around. Dirty children’s clothes that seemed to be red and stained with blood were strewn around the bed. When he saw a metal disc next to a dress, he focused his sacred power in his hand to protect himself against any poisons before he took it. Once he was out of the room, he raised the disc and examined it.

“I am hungry. Is there anyone outside?

“Have I been forgotten?

“Something is approaching!

“Here they are. They are coming again!”

Streaks of blood marks were seen at the bottom as if someone had scratched the surface with bloody nails.

“It looks like the diary of a prisoner.” Lin Sheng put the disc down. “And the people in the research lab went away, leaving behind these things that they did not manage to bring.”

He headed down to the rest of the doors, and like before, he opened them one by one. There was either a monster with four horns wielding a flaming sword or a single-eyed humanoid in the rooms. Very quickly, Lin Sheng collected all of the discs related to the sacred power font. He had found many empty cupboards and boxes in the last room, but aside from the few monsters and the discs, there was nothing else in the research lab.

With the help of the Flaming Sword’s light, Lin Sheng brought the discs and returned to the round platform at the tunnel entrance. He put the discs together and carefully studied them. With the help of a diagram, Lin Sheng quickly discovered something strange.

“This… is the map of Blackfeather City?” He traced his memories of the places he had visited. “These nodes should be the key clampdown zones, which means that there are powerful non-human monsters there.” Those living creatures were so powerful that even the Steel Lord had to use a magic circle to contain them. Lin Sheng figured that Blackfeather City was akin to a massive tomb, on which there were four nodes. The node in the middle was the Steel Lord’s location while the rest of the nodes were scattered around the city.