Chapter 165
The submarine moved forward, forward, carrying a warm atmosphere.
They were able to easily pass through South Korea's territorial waters and enter China's, avoiding the surveillance of the navy and coast guard.
"We've arrived."
Passing through fields of eerie seaweed that looked like human heads planted on the seafloor, and carefully avoiding schools of fish, they finally reached their destination.
What they saw upon arrival were dilapidated fishing boats.
The boats looked so old that they seemed like they would split in two if hit by a single large wave.
Peeling paint was the least of it; their hulls were heavily rusted, covered in barnacles that hadn't been properly removed, and some boats even had wooden planks inserted into their surfaces. People who looked as shabby as the boats' exteriors were on board.
But strangely, despite being on fishing boats, they weren't working.
The nets, which looked almost new, were fluffy and dry, and instead of the fishy smell of seafood that should have filled the boats, there was an odor of gunpowder and metal. Moreover, the people who should have been busy were just sitting still, staring blankly at screens and the vast ocean, exuding an eerie atmosphere unlike ordinary civilians.
Clank.
Clank.
The sound of chains binding the fishing boats together, moving with the waves.
Splash.
The splashing sound of waves hitting the boats and the small sound of water spraying.
These two sounds dominated the sea.
And then.
"We've arrived!"
"Good."
With the words of the person looking at the screen, an anomaly occurred in the sea where only rippling waves had been visible.
A small metal pipe-like object suddenly protruded outward. Then, after turning an 'L'-shaped metal pipe with a lens attached back and forth, it finally surfaced completely.
A round metal mass floated on the sea, swaying with the waves while still maintaining its balance, and opened its hatch with a clang.
"Phew!"
As the hatch opened, people began to emerge from the submarine.
The agents who had been crammed into the tiny metal mass, navigating under the sea, hurriedly came out, and after roughly finding their positions outside the hatch, stretched their stiff bodies.
"Shall we call them over?"
"No."
The fishing boats slowly approached the submarine.
They gradually narrowed the distance, moving as if drawing a circle with the submarine at the center, using the clanking sound of the swaying chains as a warning as they slowly, slowly drew closer.
Thus, the submarine became trapped inside a circle with the fishing boats as pillars and the chains as walls.
But the agents, as if accustomed to this, only brightened at their approach.
As if unable to wait for them to approach, they went back into the submarine one by one, stuffed the equipment they had brought into the dark blue combat backpacks in the corners, put them on, and came back out.
"We're finally going back."
"Let's all have a drink when we get back."
"Really?"
"I want to sleep a bit."
"But you should drink before sleeping. Isn't that what a Chinese man does?"
"That's true."
An unusual sight of half-naked men with backpacks.
But they didn't mind and just waited for the fishing boats to come closer, and didn't stop there, even waving their hands towards the boats with welcoming smiles.
But...
"Stay right where you are."
The face of the man who had been welcoming the fishing boats froze at the voice coming from the boats.
The man, whose expectations had been raised, sighed deeply as if tired.
"Hah..."
"Looks like they're going by the book?"
"Oh no."
"What's all this fuss about us just briefly going to those Bangzi bastards' land."
"Right. It's not like we went to a military facility, just to a ruined land."
"This is going to take a long time."
Those who had climbed onto the submarine complained that things had become troublesome.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
But unlike them, who were simply complaining, the faces of the people on the fishing boats were serious.
They hadn't surrounded them just to go through a 'formal procedure'.
Everyone on the fishing boats aimed their firearms at them following the commander's signal.
The machine guns attached to the fishing boats were aimed at the three standing on the submarine, and small cannons popped out from holes in the hulls covered with wooden planks, targeting the submarine. Moreover, they were prepared to scatter mines from under the hulls at any moment, and drones filled the sky with a buzzing sound.
"What's going on..."
As the situation turned out like this, the expressions of the agents who had been complaining about the inconvenience hardened completely.
"What's happening!"
One of the agents shouted loudly towards the fishing boats.
His voice was filled with bewilderment.
But what came in response to the bewildered question was not a human voice, but the sound of metal.
Click.
The sound of loading a bullet into a pistol.
At that sound, the agent froze in that position and rolled his eyes around.
'What's going on?'
He couldn't understand the situation where the unit, superiors, and colleagues who should normally welcome them warmly were now hostile towards them.
He even thought, 'If they're hostile towards us, shouldn't we be running away?'
Questions arose on their faces, and confusion filled their heads.
It was as if the emptiness given by the vast sea had been directly transferred into their minds.
The air sank coldly, and the splashing sounds and the subtle killing intent made their body hair stand on end.
And after this eternal-seeming moment passed.
"You. Tell me your mission."
The commander opened his mouth.
The commander was glaring at them with an aged face, his eyes so fierce they looked like the eyes of a beast piercing through the darkness cast over the sea.
"We cannot disclose the mission."
"Only those who can know an agent's mission are..."
The two agents who were questioned spat out the answers as they had been trained and educated.
Bang!
But their answer was cut off by the sound that burst from the pistol in the commander's hand.
They looked at the commander in shock at the pinging sound of the bullet hitting the submarine's body and ricocheting off.
"Don't give me that crap. Tell me the real mission you received. Forget principles and all that, tell me right now."
"We cannot disclose it. The principle is that missions are only conducted verbally, and all documents must be destroyed."
"Only those in charge can know what belongs to confidential information. This principle applies even to the commander leading the unit."
The commander showed an expression that seemed pleased, or perhaps regretful, at their answer.
Then he sighed and went into the cabin.
"It seems you'll have to come out."
"I thought so."
The commander came out of the cabin with a woman.
The woman walked towards where the commander had been just before, moving as if a celestial maiden were walking on the swaying deck, and stood straight in place, emitting a small light from her body like the moon goddess illuminating the darkness.
"Huh?"
"Lady, Xuannü?"
"Oh. Xuannü, you say?"
The woman called Xuannü flaunted her beauty in the darkness.
She was wearing a strange qipao that looked red or blue as it swayed in the moonlight, showing her white legs, and wore a coat made of fabric as thin as cicada wings. In one hand she held a fan made of bird feathers, and in the other, a mask of a bird's face made of silver and jewels.
Xuannü looked at those on the submarine with a seemingly benevolent face.
But contrary to her benevolent-looking face, her eyes were heavily sunken, and within them dwelled a disgust for something unknown.
She lightly stroked her short hair swaying in the sea breeze and asked them:
"I, the superior who gave the order, have come here. Can you speak now?"
"Yes."
"Please tell us."
At Xuannü's command, the agent began to pour out the mission he had received.
"Lieutenant Zhang Wei. The order was to confirm the strange presence in the old North Korean land and gather information about the evil thing that would visit there. I hereby report that Lieutenant Zhang Wei and two others have completed the mission and returned as of the current time."
"...Is that so?"
Xuannü sighed at Zhang Wei's words.
"It seems there's been some misunderstanding. So I'll ask again."
"Yes!"
"I gave the order, right?"
"Yes!"
"And I gave you the coordinates and told you to go there, right?"
"Yes!"
"And I also told you the details, right?"
"Yes!"
"What did I say?"
Zhang Wei answered the Xuannü's question.
"You said a strange presence was felt in the old North Korean land. You said it was a strange presence that seemed to have been born in the darkness between the twisted celestial bodies, and that an evil visitor would appear after sensing that presence!"
Xuannü listened to Zhang Wei's words, fully opened her fan, and half-covered her face.
Then she let out a small sigh from behind the fan and said to Zhang Wei.
"That's wrong."
She continued speaking with her mouth covered by the fan.
"A strange presence was felt in the old North Korean land. And that presence will leave something in between and spread calamity in all directions, and evil things will move their feet..."
Xuannü glared at Zhang Wei.
"...I think that's what I said?"
"Th-that's right! I'm sorry! I'll accept any punishment for not properly understanding the mission content!"
"No. There's no need for that."
"No! A soldier who hasn't properly carried out their mission deserves punishment!"
"No. When I say there's no need, I don't mean I'm forgiving you."
She glared at Zhang Wei, and at 'them' beside him.
"You all properly understood what I said before you left."
In Xuannü's line of sight, there was something standing apart.
It was exposing its pale body as if trying to match the other agents, but its body was so skeletal that it looked like a corpse dug up from a grave after decades, emaciated to the extreme.
All over its body, dried and twisted skin was attached, and in the midst of flesh that had fallen off here and there, blackened rotten flesh was visible. And even that rotten flesh had holes in various places as if eaten by worms, revealing the white bones inside.
Its attire was also half-naked.
Like the other agents wearing only underwear, it had a worn-out rag covering its central part, but the genitals that should have been there were gone, perhaps rotted away and disappeared, and instead, pieces of rotten intestines protruding from the skin were swaying in the wind, contained within.
It grinned, directly meeting Xuannü's gaze.
The face with only bones and skin left was horrifying, and through the holes punctured in the cheeks where even the skin had peeled off, revealing white bone, teeth were visible. It pulled out a tongue made of pitch-black worms through a hole in its cheek and then pulled it back in.
As if a person were slightly sticking out their tongue to wet their lips.
"Lieutenant."
"Yes!"
"How many people usually carry out a mission?"
"Yes! An agent's mission is basically carried out by 1 person, or a team of 2!"
"What about more than that?"
"It's not done with 3 or 4 people! It's 5 or more!"
"Then..."
Xuannü asked Zhang Wei, who couldn't grasp the situation.
"How many of you are there now?"
"Three people!"
Zhang Wei shouted in response to Xuannü's question, as if it were obvious.
As if he felt no sense of discomfort.
As if this was natural and common sense.
Xuannü got goosebumps looking at Zhang Wei, who was staring at her as if asking what the problem was. Her arms broke out in goosebumps, and she felt as if chills were running through her entire body, the warmth given by the artifact she was wearing completely gone.
[ They've been thoroughly bewitched. ]
The Zhongming Bird enveloping her body clicked its tongue at the sight.
"...Everyone, state your rank and name."
Then those on the submarine began to shout in turn.
"Lieutenant Zhang Wei!"
"Lieutenant Wang Wei!"
"Lieutenant."
The thing that was supposed to state its rank and name last started to speak but stopped, grinned, and then uttered a name.
"Zhang Min."
And at that name, the face of the commander standing next to Xuannü turned pale.
"Wh-what?"
It shouted loudly once more, as if mocking the commander.
"Lieutenant! Zhang Min!"
The commander looked at it in great shock at that sound.
The name it had spoken.
The 'Zhang Min' it claimed as its own.
Was the commander's name.
And it.
That thing, whether human or ghost, wasn't finished, as if to say it wasn't over yet, and continued to state ranks and names.
"Lieutenant Liu Wei! Lieutenant Zhang Wuyi! Lieutenant Hao Yu! Lieutenant Liu Yang! Lieutenant Zhang Li! Lieutenant Zhou Yimou! Lieutenant Zhou Xianxu! Lieutenant Jin Yumeng! Lieutenant Wang Fang! Lieutenant Wang Shuying! Lieutenant Tong Mao! Lieutenant...!"
Names that came out with each action of sticking out its pitch-black tongue and tapping the air while keeping its lips tightly closed.
With each name that followed, the complexions of the people on the fishing boats changed.
And when it finally uttered a woman's name.
"Lieutenant Li Xiao."
Even Xuannü's face hardened.
It looked at Xuannü, who frowned as if displeased that her name had been called, grinned, and then turned its gaze to the two agents who were staring at it with round eyes as if shocked.
Then it parted its tightly closed lips and said:
"Whoops, busted."