Chapter 28: Blood for the Blood God

With one explosion, all the water-ghouls on the small boat plunged into the water.
With two explosions, the water-ghouls in the water turned belly-up.

The Mechanicus crew on the steamship stood dumbfounded, and the Holy Blood warriors, who had been mid-slay, were left speechless. Lei Jie, who had dropped the grenades, stood innocently at the ship's rail, still holding one with the pin unpulled.

"Throw them into the water!" a crew member shouted at him. Lei Jie paused for a moment before tossing the unpinned grenade onto the small boat anyway.

"BOOM!"

Another deafening blast rang out. The few remaining water-ghouls were so terrified that they scrambled frantically, leaping off the steamship back into the water at any cost before diving deep to flee.

In a fleeting glimpse, Chen Jian caught sight of the webbing between their fingers and the faintly visible, scale-like skin bursting open on their bodies.

The previously fierce battle ended with incredible speed. The bewildered crew turned their gazes toward Lei Jie, seemingly unsure of how to treat him.

*Damn it, we were in the middle of a fight, and you just come in and drop two grenades? And you threw them right next to the ship? Where did this idiot come from? Aren't you afraid of sinking the ship?*

Still, one had to admit, the water-ghouls had been driven off, and he had indeed acted out of good intentions. It was just... reckless, wasn't it?

A man with a hollow ship's wheel hanging around his neck and a wasteland-style single-shot rifle in his hand—evidently the captain—walked up to Lei Jie, eyes bulging as he roared, "How could you do that?! You nearly sank our ship! By the Holy Trinity, can you not be so reckless?!"

Lei Jie turned to look at Chen Jian, who merely shrugged without speaking. Left with no choice, Lei Jie offered a perfunctory reply: "I didn't have time to think; I was terrified."

"You don't look like you were terrified! You look like a moron! A moron!" The captain waved his rifle in exasperation. Lei Jie stepped back, fearing the weapon might discharge.

"Now get back to your cabin! And you, Xu Lie! Keep a leash on your friends! Dealing with monsters is our job; tell them to stay out of the way!"

"...They only meant well." Xu Lie coughed and stepped forward, shielding Lei Jie. "Alright, alright, Big Anchor, let it go. I'll make sure to teach them a lesson. Just keep the ship moving. We need to put some distance between us and those water-ghouls; they might come back..."

"They won't come back!" The captain, called Big Anchor, spat crudely into the water. "That’s not your concern! We’ll inspect the ship for damage once we dock! If the Machine Spirit of the Holy Steam is displeased by this, you’ll be paying for the sacrifice!"

"Don't worry, don't worry, my friends are reasonable people..."

As he spoke, Xu Lie pulled Lei Jie away. He signaled to Chen Jian, who followed closely behind them back into the cabin.

Once the cabin door was shut, Xu Lie said, half-amused and half-helpless: "Chosen Ones, I know you have your own style of combat. But as I said, you really should leave some room for caution. Didn't you notice? This ship is made of wood. If a grenade blows a hole in the hull, we’ll be swimming back..."

Chen Jian chuckled, "Don't worry, the grenades we use won't damage the bulkheads; they only affect living targets."

"Won't damage the bulkheads? That sounds like some kind of... ridiculous magic of the Mechanicus." Xu Lie frowned, asking curiously, "Why wouldn't they?"

"A truth gifted by the gods, that's all," Chen Jian replied casually. He had no intention of explaining the physics of thermobaric grenades to Xu Lie. Even if he could articulate the "knowledge from the gods," the other man might not understand. Instead of wasting time, he decided to ask about these so-called water-ghouls.

"So, where do these water-ghouls come from? Why do they attack transport ships? Based on the level of intelligence they've shown, I don't think there's anything here of value to them."

"You are as sharp as ever." Xu Lie sighed with feeling. "Clearly, this is your first time seeing water-ghouls, yet after only a ten-minute encounter, you've already grasped the essence of this attack. That, I suppose, is the true 'truth gifted by the gods'..."

After a pause, Xu Lie continued: "Indeed, as you saw, these attacks aren't for resources. They are born purely from a perverse, instinctual desire. They are obsessed with slaughter, gore, violence, and abuse. Every moving thing is a target. And among those targets, the ones most similar to themselves satisfy their desires the most. Humans are always at the top of their list... though, of course, they will also kill each other. In fact, their sworn enemies are the monsters known as Terror-Fiends that roam the shores. Near the Han River, their conflict has raged for decades. Sometimes I don't understand why they haven't gone extinct from their own infighting..."

"Terror-Fiends?" Chen Jian noted the new term and pressed, "What are those?"

"The same as water-ghouls, just that water-ghouls live in the water, and Terror-Fiends live on land. Both are products of the same mutation—you might have noticed the skull-like scar on the water-ghouls' chests. That is their mark."

"I did see it." Chen Jian nodded slowly, then asked, puzzled, "But that doesn't make sense. If they have formed a group-recognized totem, why do they act so... stupidly?"

"Because it’s not an artificially branded totem." Xu Lie explained patiently. "Whether it's water-ghouls, Terror-Fiends, or the 'Ghouls' that wander most of this continent, they share a common name: Blood Skulls."

"The name comes from the skull pattern on their chests. It’s a mutation; when a Blood Skull is born, it is covered in blisters that form on the chest. The blisters are bright red, hence the name. As they grow, the blisters fade, eventually forming that skull-like scar. That is their origin."

It sounded remarkably logical. The so-called Blood Skulls were likely some kind of... genetic disease?

Chen Jian mentally filed away the information about water-ghouls and Blood Skulls. Just as he was about to take out his PDA to update the data, a crew member’s shout came from outside the cabin.

"The Han River is here! We're docking!"

Chen Jian perked up and followed Xu Lie back out of the cabin. The prosperous Han River district of his memory was still worlds away, but the landmarks—the Baishazhou and the Jiayu Bridge—were right before them.

Only, the bridge had collapsed.

Chen Jian stared intently at the broken bridge deck. As the steamship drew closer, he noticed something moving on the ruins. He calmly took out his binoculars, shielding them from the view of the Mechanicus crew, and observed the bridge.

It was a group of people. Or rather, a group of Blood Skulls.

They were hoisting a mangled but still-living body onto the broken steel frame. The person being hoisted struggled frantically, but the iron hooks driven through her wrists and ankles locked her firmly to the structure. Blood gushed out, and the Blood Skulls swarmed forward, licking the blood from the ground. Then, one of them took a rusted piece of sheet metal and began to scrape away her skin.

Flesh turned to pulp instantly, as if the creature were scraping fruit puree...

Chen Jian frowned, forcing himself to watch. It wasn't until the steamship passed the bridge that the torture ended. The woman’s body had been torn apart, and her head had been carefully severed and placed neatly upon a stone pedestal. Her face still held a look of terrified agony from her final moments.

Xu Lie, standing beside him, had seen it too. His hand gripped the pistol at his waist as he muttered:

"This is the ritual of the Blood Skulls."

"Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne!"