What It's Like Being a Vampire

But no matter when, even if the ship lost its power, it would still drift on the ocean, it wouldn’t be still.

Yet now, the water around the ship was streaklessly still, without a ripple, the surrounding water like it has turned into ice, completely smooth and frozen, with the whole ship appearing like an object embedded in the ice, fixed solidly.

However, when the people aboard the ship looked far away, they realized that the only place where abnormalities were happening was where their ship was located.

All the Burmese crew members who originally drove the ship, lay on the deck, pressing their foreheads to the ground, continuously murmuring something, clearly attributing the current situation to a realm beyond human power—There’s no way to resist, they could only pray.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?”

“Move the ship forward! Why is the ship not moving?”

“Which part has broken down?”

Brother Kui, Scar face, and the others were still thinking about “solving the problem.” They either leaned over the guardrail to observe the sea or dragged the Burmese crew members to the engine room for inspection.

Scar face even threw a wrench into the water, but mysteriously, when the wrench hit the water, there weren’t any splashes, it was like it fell into a thick muddy swamp, directly “swallowed” by the sea.

This scene caused Brother Kui and the others to shudder in horror, with chills down their spines, realizing how bizarre their current situation was.

“Brother Kui, I can’t figure out what’s going on with the engine, the electricity is all cut off now, our ship… just can’t move now, what should we do?” A tall young man returned in a sweaty panic after checking the engine room with the Burmese crew members and reported to “Brother Kui”.

Standing on the deck, there was no wind at all.

Though it was the hottest time of the day in the afternoon, with the blazing sun above them, and the weather was good, the temperature was extremely high.

However, everyone on the deck felt as if they had been plunged into an ice cave.

The air sucked in was hot, but the gas brought a chill to the body.

None of the people on the ship, whether they were Burmese or Chinese, had ever encountered such a situation, let alone heard of it.

The ship they were on and the sea area they were in seemed to have been suddenly incorporated into another world.

Just as “Brother Kui” gritted his teeth, preparing to say something to encourage everyone to keep moving, something else abnormal happened.

The sun was still hanging high above their heads and there were no clouds blocking it, but the surrounding light suddenly dimmed.

Then, a huge figure climbed up from the water onto the stern of the ship.

“Brother Kui” looked up, his eyes wide, his mouth slowly opened, watching that figure slowly emerge from above the helm.

It was a “human-like” monster over five meters tall with eight arms and eight eyes. Its body was covered with a large amount of algae and shellfish-like rocks from the seabed. As it emerged from the water, it brought up a large amount of seawater, and one could even see a few fish hanging on it, jumping, struggling and falling off.

After the huge monster got on the ship, the ship, which had been motionless since it had stopped, was pressed up slightly by the monster’s enormous weight.

Now, not only were the Burmese crew members lying on the deck, dare not raise their heads, even Brother Kui’s men including Scar face, also kneel on their ground, screaming words they themselves can’t understand.

Only “Brother Kui” was still looking up at the monster, motionless, his mouth wide open.

But it wasn’t that he was more courageous. He found that he couldn’t exert any strength in his body, and he couldn’t move as he leaned softly against the railing of the ship.

The eight-armed, eight-eyed sea monster slowly approached him, slowly opened its mouth. Although there were no sharp fangs, long tongue, or other horrifying things in its mouth, only a deep blackness, with blood occasionally oozing from it, trickling down its mouth and dripping onto the deck, but in “Brother Kui’s” eyes, just staring at that mouth he kept thinking about being swallowed into it, slowly ground into bloody fragments.

The sea monster finally reached him, stooped down, its giant head facing him, the originally black eyeballs in its eight eyes suddenly changed, transforming into eight faces struggling to escape.

Then the sea monster opened its mouth wide, swallowed towards “Brother Kui”, and from the blackness inside its mouth, came faint, yet familiar, screams.

Several unknown skulls rolled out from the monster’s bottomlessly deep throat and were mixed up with his head.

…

The sky was a clear blue in his eyes, and the sound of waves crashing against the ship could be heard in his ears, along with the faint humming of the engine.

“Brother Kui” was startled for a moment, and suddenly found that, he didn’t know when, he was lying on the deck.

He sat up from the deck, looked around, and saw no sign of the horrifying eight-armed, eight-eyed sea monster. Some of the Burmese crew members were still lying on the ground, while others, like him, were lying down looking up. His men were also in a state of shock, sitting or lying on the deck.

However, at least it seems that no one is missing, and no one was injured.

The light seemed to have returned to normal, they seemed to have traveled from fog or darkness.

“Brother Kui” didn’t know when the eight-armed, eight-eyed sea monster disappeared, he also had no idea how much time passed from when the sea monster appeared until it disappeared.

But looking at the sun’s position, it shouldn’t have been long.

He checked himself over, and found that other than being soaked in sweat, like he had just been fished out of the water, he had not been hurt in any other way.

It seemed that he had been sprayed with blood from the monster’s mouth just now, but after a careful examination, he didn’t find any blood stains.

He propped up his still somewhat weak body and stood up, then called Scar face and his men over to check the position where the sea monster had boarded the ship.

At first, they were shaky and uneasy, after all, the sea monster was indeed terrifying.

But after a few steps, they both noticed something strange. When the sea monster rose, it brought up a lot of seawater that splashed down, along with various algae, shellfish, fish, dropping a shipful.

Yet now as they walked along, the deck was clean. Not a bit of algae, fish, or even water could be seen.

“It’s an illusion, definitely an illusion, I must be going mad!” Scar face muttered to himself, although he sounded a bit relaxed. He felt every detail of the monster was indescribably real. He could vividly recall the fetid scent of the monster up to now.

Brother Kui knitted his eyebrows and carefully inspected every corner of the stern.

However, he found the stern had no traces of the creature. It couldn’t be possible for such a towering monster, five to six meters high, to crawl from the seabed onto the ship, causing the hull to lift, all without leaving a trace.

The only explanation… it was an illusion! It was fake!

But… it felt too real, and the hull lifting was a fact too. Was it all an illusion, even the transformation of the ship?

He recalled an odd moment when their ship came to a standstill and all the machinery and equipment had stopped working, even the water around the ship became calm.

Could it be… everything he experienced was just an illusion?

“Pa!” Brother Kui couldn’t help but slap himself hard.

Scar face was startled by this and withdrew clumsily, almost crashing into the guardrail and falling into the sea.

“If that was a hallucination just now, it was all too damn real.” Brother Kui licked his lip, which he had accidentally bitten, and shook his head.”

They began to compare descriptions of the Eight-armed, Eight-eyed sea monster they had seen, they found that although they both noticed eight arms and eyes, as well as seaweeds and shellfishes clinging to its body, there were many differences. Brother Kui’s monster had no teeth and its mouth was a deep hole of darkness, while Scar face’s monster had a mouth full of sharp teeth, and was home to more than a dozen “tongues” that looked like octopus tentacles.

This discrepancy led them to more strongly believe in the “illusion.”

But if it was an illusion why did they see the same Eight-armed, Eight-eyed feature? They just couldn’t understand.

When they got back to the foredeck, they found several Burmese crew members quarreling with Brother Kui’s crew.

“What the hell?!” Scar face yelled as he rushed over, kicking a small, dark Burmese crew member to the ground. He then glared fiercely at the other two: “What’s all this noise about? Want to die, eh?”

“Brother Kui, they’re not willing to continue, they want to go back.” One of Brother Kui’s men reported with a frown.

“Go back?” Brother Kui’s face turned cold: “How will they go back? Are they going to swim?”

“This ship is ours! We’re not working anymore, we want to go back!” The Burmese crew member who was kicked by Scar face got up and yelled at Brother Kui in unstandardized Chinese.

Another Burmese sailor followed, shouting in a mixture of Burmese and Chinese: “It’s the Sea God’s warning! We have angered the Sea God with our sinful deeds!”

“It’s the Sea God giving us this opportunity, we want to go back!” The remaining Burmese sailor yelled.

“Once you take the money, you’ve got to finish the job. When we get to the place, there will be plenty of benefits for you. ” Brother Kui coldly said, toying with his revolver: “If you want to go back now, swim back yourself!”

Actually, these Burmese sailors were the original owners of the ship. They knew what Brother Kui and his men were there for. They knew the big guy, who was bound and locked in the cabin, was a kidnapped rich man. They were not law-abiding either, they were ruthless if there was any benefit they could get. They initially took Brother Kui’s “payment for the ship,” and sailed with him. It was just that the sea monster had frightened them.

“What we just saw, it was just an illusion. Like the mirage caused by the storm. Do you understand?” Brother Kui raised his voice and shook the revolver in his hand: “Illusions can’t kill you, but this can!”

After temporarily suppressing the Burmese crew members, Brother Kui and Scar face proceeded into the cabin, one in front and the other behind.

Suddenly, an image of Scar face, unrestrainedly snarling, menacing behind him and stabbing his back with a dagger, flashed in Brother Kui’s mind. His heart skipped a beat and he quickly spun around, raising his gun and pointing at Scar face.

Suddenly being pointed at with a gun by the boss ahead, Scar face looked completely at a loss. No fear, or perhaps he was beyond the point of it, and only responded confusedly: “Brother Kui, what…?”

“You…” Brother Kui was also stunned, as Scar face’s expression did not at all resemble the image that had just flashed in his mind, and he wasn’t holding any weapon either.

Brother Kui forced a grin, put away his revolver, and said, “I was just joking. You, dude, got some balls.”

Scar face also laughed: “I knew Brother Kui, you wouldn’t kill me!”

But then, Brother Kui came up with an excuse to have Scar face go ahead, while he himself stayed behind.

They went straight to the control room. Brother Kui wanted to check their current position and contact the Indonesian side via satellite phone to confirm some matters.

However, just as they arrived, another tall, thin subordinate followed in.

“Why have you come too? Didn’t I ask you to keep an eye on those guys with Ah Shui?” Brother Kui asked, frowning.

“Brother Kui, I think… maybe we should just go back to China. I’ve heard stories about fugitives abroad. If they can turn themselves in voluntarily, they can get lenient treatment, possibly even a reduced sentence… I’ve only committed minor crimes. If I go back and get a reduced sentence, I might get out in two or three years… My dad is getting older, and my brother injured his leg the year before last, so I think… Ah! ——”

The tall and thin guy didn’t finish his sentence when he was hit in the head with the butt of Brother Kui’s revolver. Brother Kui choked his neck with his left hand and held the revolver to his temple with a grimacing face, yelling, “Turn yourself in? Lenient? You committed minor crimes? So you can report the rest of us in exchange for a reduced sentence?”

The tall and thin guy dared not say another word. After a few more beatings from Brother Kui, with much persuading from Scar face, Brother Kui finally put away his gun.

Brother Kui sat down in the control room holding his revolver, panting. He wasn’t sure why, but a sense of tension lingered, as if something bad was about to happen. It felt like the people around him all held sinister intentions. Even Scar face, who had always followed him and taken a knife for him, seemed to be hiding something.

Scar face said with a hint of concern: “Brother Kui, Xiao Wu is just dumb, don’t get angry at him. I have talked to him and he understands now. We brothers share blessings and hardships together… But tonight, we’re supposed to go back for ‘Leather Jacket’ and the others. I’m worried about those Burmese sailors, do you think…”

Brother Kui replied coldly: “We’ll talk to them again later. If they don’t listen, we’ll kill them and replace them with others that night, we never intended to spare these ungrateful louts in the first place.”

Suddenly, the ship’s broadcast system turned on, Brother Kui’s voice being interruptedly transmitted through the speakers: “Later… just kill directly… those ungrateful louts… we never originally intended to spare their lives.”

Initially, Brother Kui’s crew had four members and there were only three Burmese sailors. Plus, all of Brother Kui’s men were tall and strong, not to mention that Brother Kui himself always carried a revolver; they easily overpowered the others.

But now, Brother Kui, Scar face, and the tall thin guy named Xiao Wu were all in the control room. Only one of their own outside with the three Burmese sailors.

The conflict erupted suddenly, a mix of shouting, screaming, the sound of metal clashing and even gunfire.

What none of the people on board knew was that a bald man had silently emerged from the water, gently landing on the deck after scaling the handrails at the stern, the spot Brother Kui and Scar face had just inspected.