I shed my outer casual clothes, keeping only my thermal underwear, tied my belt, then took off my shoes and socks. Slowly, I descended along the ladder. Wang Shoujie lay down at the crevice, using a rope to secure the rifle body on the ladder as a support. The muzzle pointed downwards, scanning my surroundings, ready to provide cover.
However, I felt his form of cover was more symbolic than practical. Firstly, he might accidentally shoot me. Secondly, even if he missed me, by the time I neared the water's surface, if a monster leaped out from the turbulent water to attack me, he wouldn't have time to fire. Thirdly, judging by the aura of the monsters in the water, they were not small. If they were fish, they would certainly have scales, and a regular rifle's damage to fish scales is limited. Such armor's weakness lies in being pried open by a blade, not in frontal impact.
From the crevice to the water's surface was about fifteen meters, roughly the height of four or five floors. It took me half the day just to climb down. Moreover, some of the rungs were not very sturdy, with loose rivets. I had to tread carefully, testing each one as I descended.
Finally, I felt water spray splash my calves. I looked down and gasped, dizzy!
Recovering myself, I turned and descended two more rungs. Then, I activated my Qi Sensing technique. The spirits and monsters in the water had also discovered me and were slowly gathering from below. Fearing I might be dislodged by a sudden surge, I gripped the ladder with one hand and unbuckled my belt with the other, tying a slipknot to the ladder for security while maintaining flexibility.
Just as I finished tying the knot, I noticed the nearest water spirit had already reached the level below me. Its aura was continuously rising, suggesting there was a ladder beneath the water as well. It was climbing upwards!
Fish don't behave like this. Could it not be a fish?
Before long, I saw a dark shadow emerge from the water. This time, it wasn't from Qi Sensing, but visible to the naked eye. It was a dark, black mass, drifting downwards, resembling long hair on a head. Wang Shoujie above also saw it and rattled the bolt of his rifle as a warning.
I looked up at him, "…Don't shoot me!"
"Don't worry, sir, my aim is excellent!" Wang Shoujie replied with a smile.
I couldn't fathom where he got his confidence.
Instinctively, I moved up one rung to distance myself. The dark shadow continued to ascend and soon broke the surface. If it were any other animal, I wouldn't be scared, but it was a human head!
I was so terrified I got goosebumps all over. Could it be a drowned corpse that had become a spirit?
No, because I saw it look up. Its face was ghastly, like a normal ghost from the underworld. It clearly wasn't a drowned spirit, and it was a fair-looking female spirit. Furthermore, her shoulders were clearly visible, seemingly unclothed.
She looked up at me, her gaze passing through me to Wang Shoujie above. She immediately showed a look of panic and prepared to dive.
"Wait!" I crouched down, shielding her from the line of fire. "Miss, please stay!"
The beauty hesitated but stopped, looking at me with confusion.
"Can you… speak?" I asked. I wasn't asking if she was human, but rather a spirit or monster, because I could see her lower body was shaped like a fish. She was, in essence, a mermaid, a "Jiaoren" of legend. I never expected my first encounter with one to be in the underworld.
"Who… are you?" the Jiaoren asked in a dialect so obscure it took me several moments to decipher that those were the words she spoke.
I pointed downstream, "We are from Wusan City. The city is surrounded by enemies. We plan to store water and then release it to drive them back."
I didn't directly say "flood the enemy army" because, looking at the Jiaoren's gentle and lovely appearance, like a Zhou Dongyu, I was concerned she might have a compassionate nature and not cooperate with our plan.
"Ah, yes, yes," the Jiaoren nodded. At this moment, I noticed more and more Jiaoren peeking out from below, all of them female, of varying ages. It was possible they lived in a matriarchal society.
"Is the mechanism for storing water at the bottom of the water?" I asked, pointing below again. If this was her home, she should know about it. After all, when the dam had administrators, it was operated almost every year. She must have seen it.
Indeed, the Jiaoren nodded and gestured for me to follow her down!