You Seem Delicious
Chapter 57: Baiting Fish
You Huo squatted down and brought the fire closer to the ice.
The ice here had accumulated over time and had become shockingly thick. In some places that were clearer, you could see the dark reefs buried deep down at the bottom. The others were covered in non-transparent, white web-like cracks.
Under a certain area of ice that was covered with cracks, a man’s pale face looked out. His pupils were so dilated, it occupied the majority of his eyes.
He quietly looked at You Huo.
“After all that searching, turns out it was hiding here?”
Qin Jiu’s voice sounded from above his head. He straightforwardly gave that face a greeting: “Good evening.”
His ‘good evening’ was like bait thrown into a fishpond. More than a dozen more faces appeared.
They all looked up at the same angle. Together, dozens of eyes stared at You Huo.
You Huo: “…………”
Qin Jiu’s lips began to move.
“You shut up.” You Huo said.
Qin Jiu squinted his eyes and obediently kept his mouth shut.
You Huo: “……..”
His expression began to turn strange.
But before he could think about it, Qin Jiu again pointed to the ground to motion for him to look down.
As soon as You Huo lowered his gaze, his expression fell.
His words “you shut up” were like newly thrown out fish bait. An even larger group of faces appeared.
It really was a group…….
Wherever the light from the fire torch illuminated, it was all faces.
It was practically like what you would see at a big concert.
Qin Jiu wasn’t able to hold himself back. Glancing around, he commented: “Pretty popular. The response is good.”
You Huo internally cursed: Your damn grandfather’s response is good.
He looked at Qin Jiu coldly.
Qin Jiu again obediently shut his mouth. He even gestured with his index finger “shhh”.
You Huo’s expression turned even more strange.
That’s right, Qin Jiu had also teased him before.
Things like the ridiculous nicknames “Mr. Humph” and “Top student” and his teasing tone gave others the mistaken impression that they were “close teammates”.
It was like a lion who had eaten its fill and was lazing around for the moment. Using the tip of its claws, it would occasionally poke you, and then poke you again. Although it was a little sharp, it didn’t hurt.
That act of his was too confusing.
It would make people forget about the lion’s aggressiveness, lower their vigilance and gradually grow accustomed to it……
You Huo was a classic example of this.
But he felt that he was probably standing at the midpoint between vigilance and becoming used to him. A certain balance was maintained.
But now the other party had suddenly withdrawn their claws, leaving only the meat pad……….
Did he take the wrong medicine? Or did he have some other intentions?
Standing above those human faces, You Huo fell into thought.
He just had a small concern……..
If it went on like this, when Qin Jiu finds out who he had been teasing, would he hang himself in front of him with his leather rope?
***
“Hey! They’re here, I found them!” A shout rang in the distance. “HEEEEYYYY———–”
You Huo quickly returned to his senses.
Raising his eyes, he saw Qin Jiu looking away. It was as if he had just retracted his gaze from him.
In the distance, someone was still shouting.
Perhaps because he felt that it was impolite to shout “hey”, he changed his words: “BROTHER YOU———–BROTHER QIN——- WAIT FOR US. WE’RE COMING OVER NOW!”
Based on the voice, it was probably Di Li.
Behind him was a group of people all carrying fire torches. He had probably called out all the examinees inside the cave.
This grey-haired classmate was quite good a projecting his voice. His shouts echoed throughout the deserted island.
The name “Brother Qin” for a moment reminded Qin Jiu of Zhao Wentu.
He was stunned for a moment. He then said to the grey-haired boy who was bounding over: “Don’t come here, and don’t make a sound.”
Di Li shouted: “WHAAATT?———-THE WIND IS TOO STRONG——I CAN’T HEAR——”
Qin Jiu: “…………”
It was probably too late to shut up now.
The eyes of the human faces under the eyes suddenly moved. They changed directions and swarmed towards Di Li.
If it was just one or two faces, those quiet movements could easily be overlooked.
But with such a large group, it was unavoidable. Di Li saw a large piece of white cloud-like mass float over and stop below his feet.
He looked down……….
“Mummy——”
He yelped and slipped. His butt crashed onto the ice floor.
Right below him was the white, cloud-like mass.
“Fuck……..”
He scrambled frantically over towards the two tall figures and was finally lifted up.
“What the fuck was mnmm——–”
Classmate Di Li who had just managed to recover from the shock was in the middle of expressing his heartfelt feelings when two hands reached over the same time.
“…………”
One covered his mouth and nose while the other covered his eyes and nose.
“………..”
Di Li who was struck twice was almost about to die from suffocation.
As it turns out, being too agile wasn’t always a good thing.
This was especially the case when it comes to people who have the same reaction speeds……
You Huo covered Di Li while half of Qin Jiu’s hand was pressed onto the back of his hand and the other half covered Di Li.
Both froze.
You Huo’s hand that was pressed down moved slightly.
Qin Jiu glanced at him before lowering his head and saying to the grey-haired classmate: “If you don’t want to be chased by them, shut your mouth and don’t make a noise.”
Under them, a large mass of faces were waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Qin Jiu thought a bit more and added: “It might also be better not to open your eyes for the time being.”
Several seconds passed after he said that. You Huo then felt the heat on the back of his hand disappear.
Qin Jiu had removed his hand.
***
With one of the two hands removed, Di Li took a few deep breaths and obediently kept his eyes shut.
He knew that those things were currently right underneath him.
During moments like this, it was worse for those with vivid imaginations.
Uncontrollable images constantly appeared in his mind…..
In his mind, all those human faces managed to get through the ice. Slowly starting at his toes, they would gradually chew all the way up.
Chewing his calf, chewing his thigh, chewing his……..
Ahem………
You Huo gestured something at Qin Jiu and bent over to melt some of the ice using his fire torch.
When he looked back, he saw the ace student silently guarding his groin.
You Huo: “…………..”
What is this kid thinking……….?
“That brat’s sense of danger is pretty sharp.” Qin Jiu broke off small pieces of ice and stone from the area melted by You Huo.
Di Li endured for a moment but was unable to hold himself back. Using a voice as small as a mosquito, he asked: “Why can you guys talk?”
Qin Jiu: “Because we’re not scared.”
Di Li again whispered: “What are you guys doing now?”
“With more than thirty examinees all on their way here———-” Qin Jiu glanced at the oncoming crowd, “In order to avoid having someone cry or wail, or even wet themselves, we’re just preparing something small.”
Alright then.
Wasn’t it just human faces? Who hasn’t seen them before? It’s everywhere on the streets.
Di Li mentally prepared himself, took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
The first thing he heard were sounds of something cracking. He realised that those faces below him were trying to break through the ice.
“………..”
He instantly jumped away. When he turned around, he saw You Huo kick off a rock about the size of a head and reach out to pick it up.
“………….”
Di Li felt that he appeared to have misunderstood what they meant by “something small”.
Although it was not what he had expected. Di Li quickly adapted.
He followed You Huo and Qin Jiu. Making the most of the time before the rest of the examinees arrived, he proceeded to gather rocks both large and small.
As expected, as soon as those examinees arrived, there were screams one after another.
You Huo stood up: “Be quiet!”
The examinees reflexively stopped and stared at him wide-eyed.
You Huo: “Turn around.”
They obediently did as they were directed.
This time, they didn’t need to wait for You Huo’s instructions. They instinctively ran back towards the cave.
The faces pressed against the ice floor were frozen for a moment. They then moved to chase after them.
You Huo threw out a large stone in the opposite direction.
Thuuuuud———
That stone smashed against the reef, emitting a loud sound before landing on the frozen floor.
It rolled along the ice for a few more metres.
The noise created by this was much louder than the examinee’s slippery footsteps. The human faces quickly stepped on their brakes and turned around to chase after the rock.
The three of them stepped back slightly. They slowly moved closer to the rest of the examinees.
Seeing that those faces were about to return, Qin Jiu also threw out a rock.
Thuuuuuud————
It was another loud sound. Those faces all chased after the source of the sound.
Di Li internally wondered if this was okay.
He then threw out a small rock himself.
Although the rock was small, it still made a loud sound when it made contact with the hard, icy surface.
Unsurprisingly, those faces went after that sound.
As they slowly made their way back to the cave, they threw stones in the opposite direction.
Di Li watched the pale faces rush over to the east and then rush over to the west. He suddenly felt that he could now appreciate what it was like to bait a group of fish.
***
During the rest of the night, the atmosphere inside the cave had completely changed.
Except for the two great masters You Huo and Qin Jiu who probably didn’t even have the word “scared” in their dictionaries, the other examinees were vigilant and nervous. Not a single one of them were able to sleep.
They not only didn’t sleep; they also didn’t dare make any noise. Even the mouths of the two snoring crew members were covered.
They picked up a few twigs and roasted them using the fire. If they wanted to say something, they would use the burnt end of the twig to write on the ground.
Because the cave was quiet and the temperature was just right, You Huo slept very well. When he opened his eyes again, the sun had already risen.
As soon as he sat back up, he was met with a bunch of scrawls on the ground. He almost thought he had interrupted a demon summoning session.
As for the examinees, they were all staring unblinkingly at him. Seeing how stiff they were, they had probably stared at him the entire night.
You Huo: “……….”
He ruffled his hair. Just as he was going to ask them what they were doing, he heard someone cough a few times followed by footsteps and rustling sounds.
To make so much noise as soon as they woke up, it was clearly not an examinee.
It was a crew member from the merchant ship. While yawning and stretching, he gave them his greetings.
Except for a few simple vocabularies that were poorly pronounced, the language the crew member spoke with was all nonsense. None of the examinees understood. This persisted until the first officer appeared.
The examinees quickly called him over and said quietly: “First officer, tell your crew to speak more quietly.”
The first officer was confused: “Why?”
“Shhhhh———-” Di Li immediately gestured.
He quietly recounted everything that happened late last night.
The first officer who heard this fell silent for a moment. He then said: “We have stayed here for eight months but we haven’t seen anything like that.”
“I don’t know about that, but it appeared last night.” Di Li said.
As they spoke, a low voice that spoke in a different language interrupted.
When they turned around and looked, they saw that it was the captain.
The captain was both sick and injured. From the beginning until the end, he had constantly been in a state of unconsciousness and semi-consciousness. The strongest impression left by the captain was his various sleeping positions.
Thanks to Wu Li’s bandaging and treatment, and also with last night’s filling dinner, the captain called Barentz was finally able to recover some of his energy.
He stretched his limbs. While he tied his long hair behind his back, he nodded at the examinees.
Then, he blew a whistle at the first officer.
First office: “……….”
“I have something to tell you.” The first officer said.
The captain muttered a single word. “What?……….”
The first officer used their language to explain.
From the looks of it, he was probably recounting Di Li’s words.
But for some reason, upon hearing this news the captain was a little……….happy?
After a long time probing, everyone finally understood why the captain was happy. It was because of a legend.
KK has something to say:
OHHH A legend~
