“It was not intentional just now.” Qin Chuan thought Xu An thought he had been too presumptuous.
He explained.
Xu An struggled to break free from Qin Chuan’s embrace, a faint blush still on her cheeks.
“It’s alright, thank you.”
However, the octopus monster did not leave them much time for tenderness.
Seeing its attack miss, it then smashed towards their hiding spot again.
Zhou Haimai seized the opportunity to fire several shots at the octopus monster.
While dodging desperately, she watched the other two.
“What do we do now? Why is this octopus monster fixated on us?”
The bullets hit the octopus monster’s tentacles, causing it to wail in pain, its shrill cries echoing across the wilderness.
Immediately, countless tentacles thrashed wildly in the air as if in a frenzy.
Xu An took the chance to shoot at the octopus monster again.
But the bullets fired were like a drop in the ocean, like punching into cotton.
They had no deterrent effect on the octopus monster whatsoever.
Just as everyone was at a loss,
A commotion broke out in the crowd again.
The people from the fishing village, at some unknown point, had descended into chaos. They gathered together, knelt down, and began to pay homage to the octopus monster.
They mumbled prayers, as if devoutly supplicating for something.
Xu An and the others were dumbfounded.
“What are these people doing?” Zhou Haimai’s voice was laced with shocked disbelief.
“Are they saying the monster isn’t eating enough and they’re offering themselves up as food?”
Xu An also shook her head repeatedly, greatly astonished.
Among the three, only Qin Chuan remained calm, as if he had seen this many times before.
“This is an ancient tradition of this fishing village. They believe it is a divine punishment from the sea god, and they are praying to the heavens to appease his wrath.”
After hearing Qin Chuan’s explanation, Xu An became even more perplexed.
“Even if this is due to ignorance, what do they intend to use to appease this monster’s rage?”
Before Qin Chuan could answer, Xu An witnessed the answer she sought.
After the group finished their prostrations, the adults stepped back, revealing the children standing behind them.
Zhou Haimai’s lips trembled.
“It couldn’t be what I’m thinking… Are these people even human? Those are their own children.”
But no one answered Zhou Haimai.
The octopus monster looked at the humans before it, who seemed as insignificant as ants, and for a moment, it was bewildered by their actions.
But soon.
As if it had seen something that excited it,
It saw countless tender, young humans appear before it.
They were timid, and it could even smell the scent of fear emanating from those children.
This scent excited it.
It recalled the child it had failed to catch earlier.
The mere thought of that soft touch sent a jolt of excitement through it. It no longer cared about those bothersome humans.
It only wanted to devour all these little children.
Although Xu An didn’t have much affection for this village,
She couldn’t bear to watch these young children die before her eyes.
With barely a glance, Qin Chuan and Zhou Haimai understood Xu An’s intentions.
With a few simple gestures from Xu An, they quickly devised a plan of action.
They had thought it would be a lone battle for the three of them.
But they never imagined that.
In the face of mortal danger, humanity possessed a great power that could transcend instinct.
That power was maternal love.
Over there, the line that had been quietly offering up their children suddenly erupted into turmoil.
Countless women stepped forward.
Ignoring the men pulling their hair and beating them in a fit of rage,
They rushed towards their children.
“You lunatics, open your damned eyes and look! These are your own children!”
“That thing is a monster! If you won’t run, fine, but how can you push your own children out to die? You’re worse than beasts.”
A man stared at the woman before him with terror in his eyes, wondering why the usually obedient woman, who tolerated his beatings, now dared to defy him.
She dared to resist him.
But looking at the behemoth-like monster not far away, his weak legs trembled.
The woman looked at the man before her, and in the face of life and death, a sense of disdain arose within her.
She, who had been subjugated by such a man.
She, who feared a scumbag capable of sacrificing his own son.
The man, enraged, seemed to overcome his fear.
He fiercely tugged at the woman’s hair.
But the woman refused to back down, gripping the man’s hand tightly and tearing off her own withered hair.
“What else can you do besides torment me?”
The woman sneered. She looked at the octopus monster beside them.
“If you have the guts, save your own son from that monster!”
But the man’s legs seemed rooted to the spot. He stared intently at the woman who usually pleaded and begged for his favor.
With an fearless expression, she walked towards her child.
Just as the woman was about to rush towards the octopus monster to meet her death,
Zhou Haimai leaped out from the side.
“Sister, we have a way to save your child. Don’t be rash and die yet!”
Upon hearing the voice, the woman couldn’t help but be shocked.
She looked at Zhou Haimai, a hint of astonishment in her eyes, “It’s you.”
Now it was Zhou Haimai’s turn to be shocked.
“You know me?”
The woman pulled Zhou Haimai aside to hide and whispered, “I’ve seen you before. Didn’t you go to Sister Chunhua’s house a few days ago? She said a few harsh words to you, and then you left.”
Zhou Haimai naturally remembered that encounter. After she inquired a few questions, the woman began to speak ill of her.
Seeing Zhou Haimai’s look of disgust, the woman whispered in defense.
“Don’t blame Sister Chunhua. She was abducted into this man-eating place when she was only in her teens. Don’t mistake her scolding you for helping you.”
The woman looked at the children tied up with ropes and pushed forward, hearing their innocent childish voices.
At this moment, these children, who usually considered their mothers useless, finally understood who the truly “incapable ones” were.
They finally cried out from the bottom of their hearts.
“Mama…”
“Mama, save me…”
The woman over there showed signs of anxiety. Zhou Haimai naturally noticed her impatience.
However, to prevent the woman from acting rashly and disrupting their plan,
“Although you are anxious now, please don’t rush.”
The woman standing face-to-face with Zhou Haimai looked at Zhou Haimai’s confident demeanor,
As if possessing a calming influence, her agitated heart inexplicably eased.
“The people who came last time, it was those men who made Sister Chunhua stir up trouble. Sister Chunhua herself was not doing well, but what could we do to resist?”
“We ourselves are living in hell.”
“We accidentally overheard people from the outside saying that the world outside is in an apocalypse, and people outside have no food and have started eating each other.”
“We were also planning to escape.”
“But after hearing these words, Sister Chunhua said that we have no idea what the situation is outside. If it is truly as these outsiders say, then running out is also a death sentence. It’s better to stay here. At least we can rely on the sea, and no one will starve to death.”