Chapter Ninety-Eight: Fainting

Just as the salmon’s tail rose high, poised to deliver the final blow, and even Katerina closed her eyes in despair to await the end, a lithe figure darted down from directly above the fish.

He descended from the sky and landed squarely on the salmon’s body, planting himself right on its head.

Chang Yu’s eyes were bloodshot; the veins on his forehead bulged violently as rage filled every inch of him, body and soul.

His cheeks were puffed out to bursting, packed with the air he needed to breathe underwater, making him look like an enraged toad with its fur standing on end.

There was a reason for his fury: the instant he arrived, he had seen a monstrous salmon viciously bullying his swan.

Damn it all—wasn’t that just asking for death?

Without another word, he raised his tiny fist and began hammering the salmon’s head with brutal force.

He could not shout underwater, because the moment he opened his mouth, the air inside would escape in a spray of bubbles.

But the inability to make a sound did not mean Chang Yu was silent; at that very moment, he was screaming madly within his own heart.

That beastlike howl and roar echoed over and over inside him, circling and reverberating until they were almost deafening.

He was furious beyond measure, and that fury filled him with strength.

At that moment, his fists moved like pile drivers, punching and retracting, punching and retracting, producing a continuous barrage of thuds and explosions; they moved so fast they left afterimages in the water.

The great fish cried out in pain. Its enormous mouth opened and closed repeatedly as it twisted madly, trying to shake Chang Yu from its head.

The whole stretch of water erupted into chaos. Violent currents and surging spray shot out in all directions as the giant fish writhed.

Waterweed was snapped in half by the flying torrents, and even some of the larger rocks were shattered to fragments. The clear river water was instantly turned murky.

One of the surging currents struck Katerina, and with a sharp crack, the bubble that had been surrounding her finally burst.

She staggered out of the broken bubble and fell, immediately swallowed by the icy river.

The waves around her were violently churned by the giant fish, and her body rocked and swayed with the flow.

It took a long while before she managed, with some difficulty, to steady herself.

Lifting the miniature pistol in her hand, she aimed it at the salmon tangled with Chang Yu and pulled the trigger.

The blue flash she had expected did not appear. Refusing to believe it, Katerina pulled the trigger again, but no bullet was fired from the muzzle.

“No good,” she thought. “Water must have gotten into the barrel. The powder won’t ignite.”

“I have to find a way to help Chang Yu. I can’t let him face that giant fish alone.”

She kicked upward at once and rose to the surface. The moment she broke through, radiant sunlight fell upon her water-soaked face, making the droplets clinging to her shine in dazzling colors.

She gasped for breath, and the fresh air she had not tasted in so long rushed into her lungs, reviving the brain that had been growing faint from lack of oxygen.

Holding the pistol above the water, she slapped it hard, knocking much of the river water out of the body of the gun.

Aiming at an empty patch of water, Katerina tried once more to pull the trigger, but the sidearm answered only with futile clicks; not a single round came out.

“Damn it, it’s damp!” Katerina flung the gun away in anger. It traced a graceful arc before splashing into the river and sinking.

“Now it’s up to Chang Yu,” she sighed helplessly. “In this kind of environment, there’s very little I can do.”

Just as Katerina placed all her hopes on Chang Yu and waited with bated breath for him to defeat the fish, a tremendous crash suddenly rang out from the river not far away. A salmon so enormous it rivaled a whale leaped from the water, and someone was sitting on its head.

“Aaaaaah!”

Chang Yu cried out at the top of his lungs from a height of more than ten meters above the river, looking for all the world like the blue-skinned hero from a film.

In all his years, he had never before ridden a live, thrashing fish and been launched this high out of the water.

Come to think of it, it was rather thrilling. There was something boldly expansive about it, as if the world were vast enough that he could go anywhere he pleased.

Especially that sensation of flying through the air—it made him feel as though he were riding the clouds and mist, becoming an immortal.

Unfortunately, he did not remain lost in that fantasy for long. The weightless plunge that followed snapped him awake at once.

If one were to compare the salmon’s path after breaching the surface to a parabola, then it had already completed the ascent and was now in the descent—at a speed of six hundred miles an hour.

The fierce wind tearing into his face hurt like paper cut across his skin, deforming his features and making even breathing difficult.

“Crap!”

Chang Yu let out a bizarre cry and hastily clamped his legs together. He held on tightly to the salmon’s head, terrified of being thrown off.

In the very next instant, the salmon brought him crashing down onto the river surface.

With a resounding smack, Chang Yu was left thoroughly dazed.

Because he had fallen headfirst, his head took a brutal impact the moment he struck the water.

Being hurled into water from such a height was no different from leaping from the top of a building several stories high and landing on your head.

Never underestimate the hardness of water.

Because the body’s impact with it is so sudden, the surface can feel as hard as concrete. This substance, both rigid and yielding, has left countless people crippled after falls from height.

His hands loosened reflexively, and Chang Yu’s body fell helplessly away from the salmon.

All he could see was darkness, while a sharp ringing filled his ears as though someone were scraping a knife across his skull.

Limp and powerless, he lay spread-eagled on the water’s surface, his body soft as cotton, not a trace of strength left in him.

The aftereffects of the fall from height had now fully emerged.

Like some half-waking nightmare, his mind remained clear, yet his body would not obey him; he could not move at all.

Seeing Chang Yu lose all ability to fight while the salmon still swam about lively and unharmed, Katerina grew frantic beyond measure.

But being anxious changed nothing. She no longer had her gun, and there was no way she could beat that salmon.

It was already good enough that she did not become a burden to Chang Yu. Was she really expected to go and pound its chest with her little fists?

The salmon was vindictive. Knowing full well that Chang Yu had been the one to beat it so brutally just moments ago, it wanted revenge.

So, taking advantage of the moment when he was utterly unable to resist, it surfaced. Its huge dorsal fin burst through the water like a shark’s fin.

It raised its tail toward Chang Yu and brought it down with a vicious slap, launching him straight into the air.

The moment Chang Yu crashed back down with a loud smack, it sent him flying skyward again.

Down, strike, up; down, strike, up...

Like a ball being batted around, the salmon kept slapping Chang Yu into the air again and again, then waiting for him to fall back down.

After a while, it even seemed to be enjoying itself.

Katerina stared in stunned disbelief. Chang Yu was not made of iron—how could he possibly endure this kind of torment?

At this rate, even if he did not get played to death, he would be left half disabled by that fish.

While she was torn and did not know what to do, a speedboat suddenly appeared on the river in the distance.

With a beastlike roar, the speedboat cut through the water, leaving sharp white lines behind it as it sped toward Chang Yu at astonishing speed.

“Chang Yu, don’t be afraid, Daddy’s back to save you!”

Yang Yang’s distinctive childlike voice carried from the boat, soft and babyish as it rang across the water.

“Why is Yang Yang here?” Katerina instantly lost her composure. She shouted, “It’s dangerous here—don’t come any closer!”

She could not understand why Yang Yang was rushing toward the center of the battlefield on a speedboat at such a critical moment, nor why the young soldier had allowed him to do something so reckless.

Wasn’t this just a lamb walking into a tiger’s mouth?

Yang Yang...

Yang Yang was still only a child!

Two minutes earlier...

The young soldier had been driving the speedboat, carrying Yang Yang away at full speed from the middle of the river.

The fierce river wind blew his hair into disarray, but it could not shake his unyielding heart. It swept the sweat from his brow, but it could not scatter his iron will.

He was a soldier with an exceptional sense of duty. Since Katerina and Chang Yu had entrusted him with the task of getting Yang Yang safely away, he would carry out that order from above with absolute conscientiousness.

Even though, from the moment they left by boat, Yang Yang had been pestering him relentlessly and trying every soft and hard tactic he knew, the young soldier’s resolve remained unmoved.

“Hey, you there. Is it really that hard to take me back?” Yang Yang kicked his little legs, craning his neck to look toward where Chang Yu and the others were.

Ever since earlier, that stretch of water had remained in turmoil, with fierce sounds of combat rising from it from time to time.

As a newly born spirit, not yet a week old, Yang Yang’s mischievous nature was tormented by curiosity about everything happening at the river’s center.

“Monster fighting is something adults are supposed to do. You’re a kid, so stop trying to make trouble,” the young soldier said without turning around, continuing to drive the speedboat.

“Staying there will only drag them down. We can’t help at all. Keeping you far away from the battlefield is good for both you and the commanders.”

“How do you know I can’t help? I’m way more impressive than you think.” Yang Yang was unhappy at once. After all, he had cultivated for a thousand years, and being looked down on for no reason left a knot in his heart.

“All right, all right. You’re right about everything.” The young soldier did not believe a word Yang Yang said. Like all adults who refused to believe a child, he merely brushed him off with a few casual words and fell silent.

Suddenly, a sharp explosion rang out over the river, loud enough for both Yang Yang and the young soldier to hear clearly.

“What happened?” the young soldier asked.

He had to focus on driving the speedboat and could not turn to look behind him.

Yang Yang, however, glanced back curiously, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“Holy crap! How did Chang Yu end up in the sky?”

He had just witnessed Chang Yu being slapped away by the salmon, and it felt as though his young heart had been wounded.

“Turn around! Turn around now!” Yang Yang lunged toward the young soldier, grabbing his arm tightly and tugging with all his might. “Chang Yu and the others are in danger! We have to go save them!”

“That’s the meal ticket I personally picked! If anything happens to him, who’s going to feed me?”

When he said this, Yang Yang looked both earnest and anxious.

“My orders from the two commanders are to take you to a safe place. As a soldier, I can’t disobey their command,” the young soldier said through gritted teeth.

“Pah! Stubborn idiot!” Yang Yang spat angrily. “Looks like I have to get rough with you today.”

He clenched his tiny fist and, while the young soldier was not looking, punched him squarely in his high forehead.

“You—”

In an instant, the young soldier was dizzy and dazed, with little stars flashing before his eyes.

He struggled only a moment before rolling his eyes and collapsing unconscious.

“That’s what happens when you cross me!” Yang Yang put his hands on his hips, looking immensely pleased with himself.

Seeing that the speedboat still rushed forward without a driver like a wild horse gone free, Yang Yang leaped into the captain’s seat and firmly stepped on the young soldier beneath his feet.

“Now let me think. How is this thing supposed to be controlled?” Yang Yang murmured in deep thought as he fiddled with the wheel, recalling the young soldier’s earlier movements. “I remember—it should be like this, then this, and then this!”

Sure enough, under his control, the speedboat quickly turned around, tracing a perfect circle across the water before heading back the way they had come.

“I really am a genius!” Yang Yang clapped excitedly. “This thing isn’t actually that hard to operate.”

As he spoke, he stretched out his little stubby leg and pressed the throttle all the way down.

At once, the speedboat surged forward in a burst, racing ahead even faster than before...

The fierce force pressing into Yang Yang’s back made his small body cling tightly to the leather seat. The warmth from the young soldier beneath his feet came up through the soles of his shoes, making it feel as though he were standing on an expensive, soft carpet.

“Chang Yu, don’t be afraid, Daddy’s coming to save you!”

“Woohoo! The feeling of speeding a boat is absolutely amazing!”

Cheering all the way, Yang Yang charged toward Chang Yu and the others with full force, every inch of him brimming with the madness and passion of a road warrior.