Chapter 74: Water Ghouls Again

Chapter 74: The Water Ghost Again

Indeed, there was something inside the monster's belly.

But when the crowd hauled that mass, severely corroded by stomach acid, to the shore, Chen Jian felt a twinge of disappointment.

He could not tell what this thing was at all!

A blackish lump, twisted in shape, like some gelatinous substance, yet after rinsing it felt oddly crisp to the touch.

Chen Jian furrowed his brow, glanced at Shen Yue beside him, and ventured:

"I have the feeling this thing is like... plastic??"

"I think so too."

Shen Yue nodded immediately, then added:

"Although it has melted into a single mass, if you pry it open you can still see distinct layers."

"Some parts inside are even undigested—perhaps nothing can digest plastic? Can stomach acid digest plastic?"

"No."

Chen Jian shook his head and replied:

"Common plastics resist acidic or alkaline environments; otherwise we wouldn’t have seen countless wildlife starve to death after ingesting plastic."

"Unable to digest and unable to expel, the end result is starvation, isn’t it?"

"But if this is plastic, where would it get so much of it?"

"No, the question should be: why would it eat plastic?"

"I’d like to know that too."

Shen Yue turned to the waiting Huang Yu and asked:

"What does this monster eat?"

"Mainly fish— the Mechanical God Sect feeds it fish, lots and lots of fish."

"Other than that, I don’t know."

"But before the Mechanical God Sect arrived, it often appeared in the Yangtze, presumably hunting fish?"

"Fishing."

Chen Jian grew more puzzled.

After centuries of human decline, the Yangtze’s ecosystem had fully recovered.

When they had taken the Mechanical God Sect’s steamship to the Han River and encountered the blood‑skull water ghosts, they could simply swim and send schools of fish exploding in panic.

If this monster’s staple diet were fish, it ought not to lack food.

Since food is not scarce, why would it eat plastic?

Chen Jian posed his question; Huang Yu was baffled, while He Shu pondered:

"When food is abundant and an animal still chooses to ingest something it cannot digest, there is only one explanation."

"The plastic was not eaten deliberately; it was ingested together with its food."

"So the fish ate the plastic?"

Shen Yue asked, bewildered, and Chen Jian, both amused and irritated, shot him a glance:

"Why are you sometimes half‑step slow?"

"It ate food wrapped in plastic!"

"And the amount of food should be considerable, still unspoiled. Where exactly is its nest in the Huangzhou ruins?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Yue finally grasped the implication.

"Large quantities of food wrapped in plastic undoubtedly point to disaster‑preparedness supplies."

"Adding to the clues we already have, it’s likely that in recent years the creature consumed a great deal of plastic, which impaired its health, drove it into lethargy, and let the Mechanical God Sect exploit the opening."

"Thus, the place where it found food may still harbor other equipment that hasn’t been severely corroded."

"That must be a vital resource point!"

"Locating that supply cache would be of great significance for present‑day Huangshi City."

The group turned to Huang Yu, who shook his head and said:

"I can’t say for sure, but I can guide you there."

"Can we make it in time?"

He Shu glanced at his watch; it was already six in the afternoon.

Chen Jian frowned, shook his head:

"We’re too late."

"According to the map, the nearest Xishui City is less than thirty kilometers away; even if they move slowly, they could reach Huangshi within a day and launch a raid."

"If we go now, even with searching and resting, it would take over ten hours—this time gap we cannot gamble on." "Furthermore, if the site truly stores supplies as we suspect, we couldn’t possibly haul them back in time."

"Just going for information would yield too little return; we can postpone it."

"For now, we must focus on the immediate crisis."

"Understood."

"Understood."

Everyone responded in turn; Chen Jian waved his hand, summoning the gathered residents back into action, continuing to dissect the monster’s corpse, stripping as much metal plating from its carapace as possible for reuse, and pushing the useless parts into the southern canal of Dahuchi Lake to let the current carry them into the Yangtze.

"This is the cheapest disposal method; before long, the aquatic life active in the Yangtze basin will devour it completely."

"Only, we cannot know whether the fish that consume this monster’s flesh might, for some unknown reason, also mutate into monsters—a matter beyond Chen Jian’s control."

Night deepened; Lei Jie, who had led the team back to 7025 to haul equipment, returned in the late hours.

He brought not only a large quantity of light weapons and ammunition, but also scarce supplies of various materiel.

"Most important among them were bundles of cable, tools, lamps, diesel generators, and fuel."

"After spending over an hour laying wires, the first electric lamp finally lit up in Huangshi City."

"The remaining residents gathered beneath the light like pilgrims, entranced by the object emitting a cold glow."

"This is... an electric lamp."

"Huang Yu shielded his eyes from the glare, tears streaming, then said:"

"The Mechanical God Sect also has such lamps, but they are not this bright."

"It’s too extravagant."

"There’s nothing extravagant about it; it’s merely a lamp."

"Chen Jian waved his hand, signaling Lei Jie to turn off the lamp, and added:"

"Notify everyone: the city must manage its light sources."

“Although Huangshi City is a fixed target, given the enemy's shooting accuracy, as long as we remain concealed, they will find it hard to inflict effective casualties on us.”

“So be careful—they will fire at any bright spot.”

“Understood.”

Rayjie nodded and continued asking:

“What about these guns? Should we distribute them?”

Chen Jian looked at the pile of many 191s, thought for a moment, and replied:

“Set them all to semi‑automatic mode and issue them to the city defense team.”

“Give each person thirty rounds first, and organize target practice tomorrow morning.”

“After the battle starts, give each person sixty rounds and tell them to shoot sparingly!”

“Understood.”

After saying this, Huang Yu, standing to the side, stared dumbfounded.

He looked at Chen Jian in disbelief and asked:

“Sir. Are you going to give us your weapons?”

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

Huang Yu didn’t know how to respond for a moment, merely stammering:

“It’s not wrong, it just seems too generous.”

“This isn’t generosity.”

Chen Jian denied:

“This is merely the most sensible choice.”

“You need weapons, and we have weapons—so be it.”

“I only hope you can make good use of the weapons in your hands and put them to effective use.”

“You should know that your ancestors’ ancestors once said a saying.”

“One bullet, take down one enemy!”

“Good!”

Huang Yu’s emotions surged; he was about to go down immediately to inform them.

But just then, a shout suddenly came from the high watchpost:

“Someone’s coming!”

“It’s the water ghosts!”

(End of chapter)