Chapter 350: Fatty

I didn't know what this thing was. It looked like a giant salamander, which I had eaten before back home, but I had never seen one so big. It looked extremely creepy. As for the flashlight, as soon as I saw it, my temples throbbed—it was exactly the old yellow-skinned flashlight I had used during the free dive earlier.

This must have been brought down by Fatty and the others. Looking at the lines on the salamander, they were definitely tied by human hands. Could it be that Fatty and the others did this?

My mind turned, and I suddenly understood what was going on. No one would do this for no reason. Fatty was probably trying to get others to notice this salamander.

Could it be that they were trapped somewhere and had to use this method to signal for help?

I never would have guessed that the green light was coming from this thing. Damn it! How did the flashlight light turn green?

Suddenly relaxing, I went limp, all tension draining from my body. It seemed my guess was right—they really had an extraordinary encounter underwater. They were likely still alive, just trapped somewhere and forced to signal for help this way. That place probably had air, but was cut off by something.

Although I didn't know what Fatty and Poker-face had experienced underwater or how they got to that place, being able to conclude that they were probably still alive felt wonderful!

Given Fatty's crafty nature, there might be clues about their current situation on the salamander. I had to catch it. But underwater, movement was very inconvenient, and judging by how fast that thing swam, it would be tough.

The salamander was a bully in the water, with a fierce bite. And it was so huge that if it bit me, I might lose my fingers.

Forget it! Even if it's tough, I have to try.

I raised the military spike and slowly swam over, as slowly as possible, but as soon as I got within a little over a meter, swoosh, the thing violently flicked its tail and shot out six or seven meters like lightning, stopping on the other side of the bricks.

Damn! Even with a harpoon on land, you might not hit this thing, let alone catching it by hand underwater. Luckily, it seemed docile and didn't attack.

I still wanted to try, so I continued to approach slowly. This time I was almost next to it, but the moment I reached out, it quickly darted to another spot.

I immediately realized I couldn't catch this thing underwater. The water current formed by its tail movements was very strong, and it wasn't hard to imagine how much explosive power it had. Even if I caught it, my strength probably wouldn't be enough to hold it.

The oxygen lamp was giving off an alarm. I was getting impatient and shone the flashlight around, looking for something I could use as a tool. But there was nothing around. Those iron figures were terribly heavy; even if they were useful, I couldn't lift them.

Then I had another thought—the military spike I had brought down. It could be considered my spiritual support, even though I had never used it. I really didn't want to hurt this salamander; it was a living thing after all. But at this moment, I was extremely anxious and could no longer care about that. Once the evil in human nature surfaces, all compassion becomes empty words.

I swam over again and raised the military spike, intending to pin it down. Even if I couldn't kill it with one strike, at least I could wound it so it couldn't swim so fast anymore.

It stopped at the foot of the iron frame, lying on the blue bricks above. I held my breath and drifted over slowly like a floating corpse, inching closer. When I was only half an arm's length away, I raised the military spike in my hand extremely slowly, like a slow-motion movie, moved it to the right position, and prepared to stab down.

Perhaps the salamander sensed my murderous intent; it suddenly shifted forward a few centimeters. At the same time, I hardened my heart and jabbed the spike, stabbing it in the tail.

That thing had a lot of meat on its tail, and it curled up in pain. Its strength was indeed huge; the spike almost slipped from my hand. I chased after it and grabbed the flashlight on it, but the water resistance was too great, and I didn't get a firm grip. The salamander actually tore off its own tail and swam away like flying for six or seven meters. This time it didn't stop, fleeing toward the other end of the brick chamber.

Without its tail, its speed noticeably slowed down.

I kicked my fins and chased it inside. Several times I almost caught it, but the accuracy of such grabs underwater was too low. It always escaped when I thought I was sure to catch it. After chasing it for several dozen meters like this, and having already been diving for so long, my stamina gave out.

I bit down hard on the regulator and pulled myself along the iron frame for support, barely keeping up. Suddenly the green light turned a corner and disappeared. I rushed over along the disappearing arc and saw a hole in the blue bricks on the wall. I reached in and immediately felt the flashlight, but no matter how I grabbed, I couldn't pull it out.

The salamander must have been gripping the brick wall inside tightly.

I kicked my feet up, bracing them against both sides of the bricks, and pulled back with all my weight. Suddenly my hand loosened, and the flashlight was pulled out. Immediately after, I flipped over backward and crashed into the iron frame behind me.

I finally steadied myself and looked at my hand. The rope binding the flashlight was actually the nylon cord from Fatty's travel bag. It couldn't take the strain and had snapped.

I shone the exploration light into the hole again. The salamander was huddled inside and didn't seem willing to come out. I couldn't be bothered with it anymore. I hurriedly placed the flashlight under the exploration light to see if Fatty had left any other marks. There were indeed a few words carved on it: SOS, follow the siphon tide.

I turned it over. There was another line of small characters on the back, but I couldn't make them out clearly.