IWOL Chapter 89: Domingo

Cui Zuojing immediately rolled away, but the axe did not fall as expected.

An arrowhead emerged from its chest. Blood dripped from the arrowhead and down along the bloody shaft.

The sharp axe dropped. The creature looked down in disbelief at the arrow that had pierced it from behind. A few muffled sounds came from its chest, then it burst into black mist and dissipated.

Cui Zuojing got up from the ground and saw the blond-hair and gray-eyed man standing opposite him, holding a crossbow leveled, his face indifferent.

Cui Zuojing and Domingo looked at each other. Then, the other man drew another arrow from his waist, inserted it, turned his crossbow sideways, raised his hand, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

The metal arrow shot forward like a stream of light. With a “swish” sound, it accurately pierced the cathead creature that had just jumped onto the upper part of the pipe and was intending to rush down to bite the leader’s neck.

The monster died on the spot.

Dong Zheng, who was in the middle of raising his stick to smash it away, was stupefied.

Domingo slowly retracted his hand. His gray eyes were like the deepening night sky. He was tall, his posture firm and erect, and his whole person was like a tall cedar in the snow and ice of Northern Europe. As if, even if the sky fell, it wouldn’t damage his cold and lonely breath.

Dong Zheng frowned.

He stood beside Cui Zuojing. Unable to stop himself, he whispered to the youth, “I could have killed it right away.”

Cui Zuojing waved his hand dismissively. Dong Zheng had no ability increase and no suitable weapon. His current performance was already very good. “Are you injured?”

Dong Zheng showed Cui Zuojing the bloodied scratch on the back of his right hand. “Just a scratch.”

Cui Zuojing sighed. “Idiot.”

Domingo hung the crossbow around his waist, walked over, and squatted down beside the cathead and dog body creature. He touched the thick hair around the creature’s neck and said, “This is the legendary Scandinavian monster called Gulon. In Latin, Gulon means gluttony.”

“They are greedy by nature. When they find food, they will eat until they can’t eat anymore. Then, they will move their body between narrow branches and squeeze their abdomen until all the food inside it becomes excrement. Afterward, they would continue to eat until there were only bones left on the prey.”

“When hunting, they are used to hiding on high branches and would suddenly jump down and attack.”

When he heard this, Cui Zuojing also remembered it. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and cut off one of the Gulon’s front paws. After wrapping it, he tucked it into Dong Zheng’s pocket. “Putting this thing’s paw on the head can treat dizziness and tinnitus. It should be useful to you.”

Dong Zheng silently accepted it. He stared at Domingo and put his hand on Cui Zuojing’s shoulder.

As if to declare something.

Dong Zheng didn’t have a good feeling about Domingo. To be precise, he gave him a strong sense of crisis.

Domingo knew more than him, could fight better than him, and managed to save Cui Zuojing in a moment of crisis.

“Thank you very much for saving me,” Cui Zuojing said. “But why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be with Dong Linhai?”

Domingo said concisely, “I got lost.”

Nonsense. Cui Zuojing internally rolled his eyes. The central garden was on the deck. How could he get lost all the way to the engine room?

People with eyesight could see that Domingo was lying, but since the person concerned didn’t want to say more, it wouldn’t be good to continue asking. After all, he’d just saved him.

“Mmn, I couldn’t tell that you’re directionally-challenged.” Cui Zuojing smiled. No matter how many thoughts he’d hidden, or how bad the water in his stomach, he smiled like a simple youth. After all, young humans and animals were considered harmless, and so it was easier to make people relax.

“What was it that attacked me just now? Since you’re very knowledgeable, you should also know this.”

“Ibris, or Iblis, is created from smokeless flame. He refused to kneel to the first human, Adam, because he did not want to bow down to a human made out of black mud. As a result, he was sentenced and sent to hell after his trial. In vengeance, he vowed to do everything possible to lead all human beings from the right path.”

The three crew members were relieved. They didn’t expect that the guests who’d volunteer to join the search were so powerful. The protector became the protected.

“These were the stowaways? Weren’t they monsters from myths and legends? How can they really exist?”

Cui Zuojing shrugged. He couldn’t explain to the crew that this wasn’t the real world and so he could only remain silent.

During this time, the other teams received the search leader’s signal and rushed over. When they saw the two monsters on the ground, they couldn’t help exclaiming.

The Gulon who was knocked down by Cui Zuojing was still alive. The crew had to tie the creature and its companion on a stick, similar to how pigs were tied and carried in ancient times. Afterward, they carried these two creatures back to report to the captain.

Cui Zuojing originally planned to leave. Based on the amount of food eaten, there should only be three stowaways, two Gulons and one Ibris.

But Domingo turned his head and looked in a certain direction, frowning slightly.

This successfully stopped Cui Zuojing.

Upon seeing this, Dong Zheng also followed Domingo’s gaze. Suddenly, there was a trace of abnormal fluctuations in his program kernel, which had remained calm since entering the box. Until now.

It had discerned a completely chaotic and disorderly wave.

‘What’s wrong?” Cui Zuojing asked in a low voice.

“It seems like there’s something over there,” Dong Zheng replied. “Let’s go and see.”

Cui Zuojing and Dong Zheng sneaked away while the crew were studying the Gulons in confusion. Dong Zheng could only vaguely perceive the general position, which indicated that it was coming from the engine room. The layout was very complicated. He took Cui Zuojing around and finally approached the source of the fluctuation.

Domingo silently followed behind them, not asking nor saying a word.

They found a small box in a very secretive nook that was almost completely surrounded by pipes. The box was palm-sized and was closed on all sides. Dong Zheng looked at it carefully several times, but he couldn’t figure out how to open it.

The chaotic energy fluctuation was coming from the box.

On the small piece of ground where the box was placed was a black six-pointed star.

Dong Zheng said, “The Seal of Solomon?”

The Seal of Solomon, also known as the six-pointed star, the Star of David, was a symbol from the Jewish culture and was placed on Israel’s national flag.

It was rumored that King Solomon had a magic ring with a six-pointed star in which the ring derived its power from. Inside the star was the sealed Asmodeus, King of Demons. This allowed King Solomon to “conquer emperors and command princes” and to make other demons work for him.

“Is this box a seal?” Cui Zuojing lightly flicked the box. He could only guess what was inside, but he couldn’t determine anything concrete.

Judging from the two monsters that had appeared earlier, Dusk Island seemed to have a relationship with the mystics and demons. Unfortunately, Cui Zuojing didn’t know much about these things.

If Fu Zhe was here, given his breadth of knowledge, everything would definitely go smoothly.

But….Domingo seemed to know a lot? He even knew about Ibris, a Jewish legend.

Cui Zuojing had some doubts. If Dong Zheng could feel the six-pointed stars because, as a brain developer, his ability belonged to the spiritual realm, then what about Domingo?

He’d discovered it even earlier than Dong Zheng. If it weren’t for him, he and Dong Zheng wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

He turned his head and looked at Domingo. The man stood behind them. The silver-white crossbow hung around his waist. The pattern was complicated and the structure was smooth and firm. It glowed with a cold, silver light.

When Cui Zuojing first saw it, he thought that it was an excellent weapon. It was so good that it made him feel a little envious.

Domingo’s lips twitched, as if he wanted to smile at him. But, he quickly suppressed the urge and said, “You can do whatever you want with it. Don’t worry about me.”

This sentence happened to speak to Cui Zuojing’s heart. He was afraid that Domingo would compete with him and Dong Zheng over the ownership of the box. After all, this must be an important customs clearance item.

“Then we’ll be impolite.” Since there was no unnecessary dispute, Cui Zuojing was quite satisfied. He didn’t forget to say, “Thank you, brother.”

Domingo said, “It’s fine.”

Dong Zheng: …….

He felt more and more uneasy.

As they were leaving the engine room, this time with Domingo in front, Cui Zuojing looked at his back thoughtfully.

Had he met this person before? He always felt…a bit familiar?

Domingo led them using the simplest route. Cui Zuojing didn’t know that he was so familiar with the layout of the engine room.

As they were walking along the plank path, their feet falling on iron plates, Cui Zuojing glanced down and suddenly stopped.

“What’s that?” He grabbed the cuff of Dong Zheng’s sleeve and asked, pointing at the row of pipes below.

Dong Zheng followed the direction of his finger. Thick bones were scattered on the pipe below. The hollow structure of the ribs clearly belonged to a person.

“Was anyone else eaten?” Dong Zheng muttered.

Indeed, nearly 50 hours had passed since the food became strictly regulated. The previous crew member was only partially eaten, which probably wasn’t enough to satisfy three monsters.

According to the Gulon’s hunting style, this was probably something they’d done.

Domingo seemed to have thought of something. He frowned, displaying a rare expression on his face.

Dong Zheng said, “Let’s go and tell the captain first. If this person has been missing long enough, it’s impossible that no one knew about it.”

They went to the deck, where all the search teams had gathered. There were two Gulons at the captain’s feet. The one that had lost consciousness was now awake and howling.

Both the crew and the program team hid in fear. Only the pilgrims remained indifferent.

The captain asked to borrow the program team’s microphone and said loudly, “Ladies and Gentlemen, as you can see, these two monsters are the stowaways who killed out two compatriots and made everyone panic. Now, they’ve been caught, and there is no longer any danger. Please, be rest assured.”

“Please bring it here. I want everyone to witness that, from today onward, these creatures will no longer be able to run about the boat and disturb us.”

Four strong crew members stepped forward, lifted the two Gulons, and tossed them into the sea under everyone’s gaze.

The vast sea instantly swallowed these two creatures, and the splash of water quickly calmed.

The people cheered and clapped. Cui Zuojing and Dong Zheng stood at the back of the crowd and clapped symbolically.

It was unknown where Domingo went. This man was like a ghost, and his trail was a mystery.

Cui Zuojing looked around but quickly gave up looking for him.

It had nothing to do with him anyway.