Chapter 126: Ghoul

No matter how strong Victor’s recovery ability was, he could not possibly move his body after his head was cut off. Since his head was severed, his brain could no longer command his body’s movements, so he could only watch as his body slowly fell to the ground.

However, because of their super-strong self-healing power, as long as their heads were not completely destroyed, monsters like him could still survive. So Zuo Zhicheng held Victor’s head and said coldly, “Alright, I’m going to ask you some questions now.”

But then he saw Victor opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, only able to make muffled sounds.

Zuo Zhicheng said calmly, “Oh, I forgot, you don’t have a chest now.” Human vocalization requires chest resonance and airflow from the lungs to vibrate the vocal cords; without these, sound cannot travel through the air.

But Zuo Zhicheng didn’t need Victor to speak aloud. He simply pressed two fingers against Victor’s neck, using his extraordinary martial arts skill to transmit the vibrations of Victor’s vocal cords to his own bones, allowing him to ‘hear’ what Victor was saying.

“You bastard, I’m going to kill you!”

Zuo Zhicheng let go of his fingers and shook his head. “It seems you still haven’t realized how bad your situation is. But I will help you understand.”

A few minutes later, Zuo Zhicheng had learned a bit about the true identity of Victor and his kind. They were not ordinary humans but a type of creature known in the West as Ghouls. They survived by eating humans and possessed great strength, speed, and recovery abilities, with almost no weaknesses except for their heads.

The missing ships at sea during this period were also their doing. Besides the four of them, Victor and his companions on the ship acting as insiders, they had a group of partners who would sail over after receiving a signal and tow the entire ship back to their nearby nest.

“Partners? How many more do you have? How strong are they?”

It was unclear what kind of torture he had endured, but Victor’s face was now a bloody mess. He said, “There are several dozen Ghouls, all about as strong as me. We set off a flare on the deck; they will be here soon.”

After giving this information, Victor screamed, “Kill me! Give me a quick death!”

“Where is your base? How long does it take to get there from here?”

“Three hours, on a small island to the east… Kill me now!”

Zuo Zhicheng applied a little pressure with his hands, and the mangled lump of flesh burst with a squelch. Without another thought, he left the cabin. He had never expected there to be dozens of such monsters.

‘If Victor wasn’t lying, then this group of Ghouls is almost powerful enough to overthrow a town like Xinlu Port. Why are they hiding here?’

‘No matter what, fighting so many Ghouls is too dangerous. I must quickly deal with Peter and find a way to sail away.’ Zuo Zhicheng frowned as he thought, ‘But all the crew members are dead. Escaping on such a large ship will be very difficult.’

‘And that Peter is stronger than the previous three. I can’t afford to get entangled with him; I need to think of a way to finish him quickly.’

…

Over ten minutes later, a group of about fifty or sixty people, led by Lin Hongsheng, was heading toward the deck. In front of them lay the chewed-up corpse of a woman. Many people screamed in fear, and several of those in the front couldn’t help but vomit.

A bald man next to Lin Hongsheng said, “Dammit, what kind of monsters are these? I don’t want to see them.”

“Be careful. They are as fast as ghosts and as strong as dragons and elephants; they’re not easy to deal with.” The speaker was a middle-aged man dressed like an official who had clearly seen Charlie in action but had been knocked out.

There were many such people on the ship. These few dozen were all awakened by Lin Hongsheng and his group, wanting to unite and eliminate the monsters.

Some were afraid, while others were angry. “Damn it, these monsters just look scary. If I hadn’t let my guard down before, how could they have ambushed me?”

After all, those willing to follow Lin Hongsheng were brave individuals. Most of them had been knocked down by Charlie or Victor so quickly that they hadn’t truly felt their opponents’ strength. Those who had seen that swords and clubs were useless against Victor and his kind had already hidden away, too frightened to come up.

When Lin Hongsheng and his group saw the men lying near the female corpse, they woke them up as well. These men looked at the body on the ground, their faces filled with horror. Some of the woman’s relatives knelt beside the corpse, crying loudly.

“We heard those monsters went down below. Why haven’t we encountered any along the way?”

“They must have been killed by someone.” Lin Hongsheng thought back to the fight between Zuo Zhicheng and Charlie and said, “Those monsters may look fierce and terrifying, but they’re not that strong in a real fight. There are so many of us now, united together. Let’s not waste time talking; just rush up and chop them to pieces with our blades.”

Lin Hongsheng thought that Charlie’s ability while anesthetized was the monsters’ true strength. He believed the earlier passengers had been killed or knocked out simply because the monsters looked too scary and because they were outnumbered.

But he had learned martial arts at Zizai Hall, and with so many people here, how could they be afraid of just a few monsters?

Humans are easily influenced by the mood around them. After Lin Hongsheng boosted their morale and they saw the woman’s tragic state, especially the big men, they became filled with righteous anger. The woman’s relatives and friends, who had fainted earlier, woke up now with a mix of grief and fury. Taking the clubs handed to them by others, they shouted, “We must kill these monsters for revenge!”

“Kill them all!”

“Burn every last one of them!”

The faces of the crowd were twisted, and their eyes carried a hint of bloodlust. This is why mob violence is the most terrifying. In such an atmosphere, ordinary monsters might have been easily killed by them, but Peter was not an ordinary monster.

When the crowd surged onto the deck, Peter was elegantly placing a man’s little finger into his mouth. Seeing the group pouring out from the cabin, he smiled indifferently and wiped the corner of his mouth.

“Victor and Charlie are truly useless to have let you all come up here.”

The crowd, which had been filled with rage moments before, immediately lost their momentum at the sight of the crew’s corpses scattered across the deck. Some hadn’t really thought about what they were up against; they had just felt brave because of the group and followed along.

Now, seeing all the bodies on the ground, their legs trembled, and they couldn’t help but step backward.

Seeing this, Lin Hongsheng thought to himself that this was bad. These monsters seemed stronger than they had imagined. But with so many people here, as long as they stuck together, couldn’t they take down this one monster?

The most important thing was to keep everyone united and not let them scatter and be picked off one by one.

Thinking this, he fought back the urge to vomit and shouted, “Don’t be afraid, everyone! He’s just one person. With so many of us, one stab each should be enough to kill him. And we all saw what happened to that lady earlier. If we don’t kill them now, we’ll be the ones eaten.

If you’ve got guts and don’t want to die, come with me! Let’s chop him into mincemeat and cook him!”