Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

People had an instinctive fear of human-shaped figures when they couldn’t see clearly. In addition, Zhang Haiyan could clearly tell that the postures of these shadows were different from those of living people.

All the shadows were standing upright with their heads down, and any human would know that it was very difficult for a living person to maintain that kind of posture. Plus, these shadows were almost as motionless as zombies.

“Haixia, are you still here?” Zhang Haiyan shouted into the thick fog.

At the moment when the thick fog had come up, there was a faint worry in his heart. If ghosts were really behind this, it wouldn’t matter that Zhang Haixia was the number one lethal weapon in the South Sea.

“I’m here.” Zhang Haixia’s calm voice came from within the thick fog.

Zhang Haiyan breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “What do you think?”

“The smell of corpses is everywhere.” Zhang Haixia said. “They really don't seem to be alive.”

“Should we meet up first or something?”

“Are you scared?”

“No. Can you stop arguing with me?” Zhang Haiyan looked around. Those figures weren’t close to him, but it was getting darker and darker, and the dense shadows were creepy. He raised the lantern. As the light split the fog, he unhesitatingly walked straight to the nearest figure.

After getting closer, the figure gradually became clearer, and he found that it really was a person standing there. But this person’s posture was very strange.

Zhang Haiyan had seen many processed corpses in the South Sea before. Since the degree of muscle rigidity in corpses was different during such a process, it was common to see weird postures, such as the wrists turning out, the head slumping against the chest, or the upper and lower body distorting excessively. It appeared this was the case with the corpse here. Its mouth was opened so wide that it seemed to be dislocated, and its whole body was covered in crusty white salt.

“It’s been cured (1).” Zhang Haiyan shouted. “This is a big lump of ham.” Fuck, he thought to himself. Is it possible that someone’s been having fun curing people on the reef for more than ten years?

He was suddenly taken aback and felt like something was wrong with the corpse. He moved the lantern closer and immediately found that the corpse standing in front of him was actually Chen Libiao.

He was only frozen for half a second before he realized something. No! The boat!

Chen Libiao had been on the boat just now, which should have already anchored some distance away. But now he had suddenly appeared on the reef covered in salt, which indicated that something must have happened to their boat.

“Shrimp (2), something is wrong with our boat.”

They both knew what it meant to lose a boat on an isolated island.

“It's ok. People are the only ones who can do things like blocking the way back. Since it’s not haunted, it means that humans are behind this and there must be another ship nearby.” Zhang Haixia said from within the thick fog. He leisurely walked out of the fog, passed through the ghosts, and returned to Zhang Haiyan’s side without even lighting a lantern.

“I'm a little worried about the boatswain. He has parents and children to look after.”

“And looking at this situation, it seems like they want to scare us so we’ll continue spreading stories that this place is haunted. That means they must have a way for us to get back.” Zhang Haixia said.

“Come out!” Zhang Haiyan shouted into the dense fog.

No answer.

Zhang Haixia stared at the dense fog and found that it was getting thicker and thicker. The shadows of the corpses also became more erratic and kept flickering in and out of sight.

Zhang Haiyan continued, “I am Zhang Haiyan, the South Sea Maritime Affairs Supervisor. If you keep this up, I will punish all of you. If you surrender within three minutes, we will only arrest the leader. Once three minutes have passed, all of you will be arrested.”

After speaking, Zhang Haiyan looked at his watch and began to unbutton his collar.

Zhang Haixia also stretched his neck.

After three seconds had passed, Zhang Haiyan put down the lantern and started walking forward. Zhang Haixia said, “It hasn’t even been three minutes yet?”

Zhang Haiyan straightened his military cap, completely baffled by the question, “I can’t believe you’d trust a word I say. Hurry up. Let’s attack while they’re thinking it over.”

The two quickly entered the dense fog and crouched low, walking on tiptoes. Zhang Haiyan sighed when they saw the boatswain’s body, but didn’t bother approaching. It was clear to see that all the corpses had been cured with salt, and some were extremely dehydrated.

Zhang Haiyan quietly muttered to Haixi, “They seem to be the passengers who disappeared ten years ago, but now they’ve become bacon.” But before he finished speaking, both men suddenly felt like something was wrong.

They turned their heads and found that something was actually moving in the dense fog. Without a second’s thought, Zhang Haiyan rolled his tongue and spit out three objects that glinted in the light. At the exact moment those things shot out, he had already bent down and rushed over.

****

TN Notes:

(1) He means like cured meat. You know, to help keep it from spoiling. Packing meat in salt is a way to preserve it by drawing out the moisture from the meat, preventing the meat from spoiling due to bacteria growth.

(2) Remember, the “xia” in Zhang Haixia’s name means “shrimp”.