Chapter 32 - Stuffed barrel

A gentle rock accompanied by loud creaking sounds filled his senses. His face lay on the cold surface, making his whole face two shades paler, like the dead. The only indication that he was alive was his bated breath, which created small ripples in the blood that pooled all around him.

The carriage rocked violently, throwing him off the ground. Startled, Kui opened his eyes in a hurry only to see the bright lights of the gallery. They were blurry and twisted, and soon the light changed into that of a man's pale face.

Kui blankly looked at the man. His eyes were dull gray, his mouth was wide open, and his face pallid gray as if he did not have any blood left in his body. He… he looked dead…

Gasping, he quickly snapped out of his dazed state. The man was dead. He had been staring intently into the eyes of the dead! Kui scrambled away from him, only to hit a cold soft body behind him.

Gasping, he looked back at another body coldly looking at him unblinkingly. "Fuck." Kui shot up and ran but only ended up toppling on the restraint around his leg and falling on another cold corpse. This time face down on a pair of unclothed breasts.

"Oh my god..." he quickly rolled away and lay on the cold hard ground panting. The ground was rocking softly because currently, he was not on the ground but in some sort of carriage with a pair of creaky wheels.

'My purse got snatched and… they hit me… I guess they kidnapped me…' he looked around. In that dark room, he was able to make out ten or so corpses all around him shaking to the movement of the carriage.

"I need to get out of here…" he sat up with difficulty. Both his arms and legs were tied up tightly, restricting his movement. Kui looked around hurriedly. The only sharp thing in that carriage was a corpse's hair accessory that was loosely attached to the person's head.

To get to that hair accessory, he needed to at least crawl over three corpses. Kui gulped loudly. He slowly sat up and started to wiggle in the way. When he reached a corpse he quickly used his arms that were tied behind his back to support himself and did a small jump to the other side.

Like that, he was able to get to the hair accessory. Kui stuffed the little shiny golden clip in his hands and started to saw at the thick hemp rope. 'Who are those people… they seem to be targeting Mers.'

The corpses all around him were Mers. Their tails were cut off and hung on the ceiling of the carriage, dripping blood little by little. 'Shit… I'm scared they might want to do the same to me…'

These kidnappers clearly knew that he was a hybrid and kidnapped him. But since he was new to the world, he did not know what kind of benefit he would serve. Gritting his teeth, he quickly untied the binding around his hands.

In about ten minutes he sawed through it with difficulty. He glanced at his blood-soaked hands with a grin. He had been lying on his right arm making it sore. Other than that, he was energetic as a horse.

'Even so, I won't be able to fight off the ten men… what should I do…' while thinking he started to work on his leg bindings. Kui gulped dryly. His throat was parched, and his stomach was empty. He did not even have breakfast before they had set out to the town. Along the way, they had a small dried fish as a snack that's all. He had to walk a day without food.

"Now I'm kidnapped again without any food. I really should have kept with the group... shit… why did I run after that kid. that paintbrush was useless anyway," he had been in this world for a few days. Every day he would use it to write his wish, but it never worked.

'It will never work... I risked my life for something that will not work.' he held his aching head tightly in despair. Suddenly he heard a small sound of sloshing water.

"I guess I won't be thirsty after all." He stood up, holding the side of the carriage, and moved toward the barrel in the corner. The cover was removed and water was sloshing every time the carriage rocked side to side.

Kui held the rim and lowered his right to cup some water. Instead of water, he touched a soft head inside. "Shit!" he pulled away hurriedly. "Did they stuff a corpse here too? Are they fucking kidding me... why did they stuff it inside water..." he shouted in a whisper.

His will to drink the water left the chat. He was thirsty, but he was not willing to drink dead person's water. A small but very subtle wheezing sound was heard nearby.

Kui froze. 'That was close…. Where did that come from... is someone alive…' The half-chopped corpses on the ground were definitely dead. 'Then…' His eyes focused on the dark barrel.

'The one in this is alive!' He hesitantly put his hand inside and touched the soft hair again. This time, he bravely touched the person's face.

The person's face was smaller than his palm and was breathing with difficulty. 'a child!' His hand touched the gills that were exposed above the water's surface. 'a Mer child!! Oh my god!' he quickly touched the kid's face again "Hey... you, okay? Can you breathe?"

The child moved his mouth against his arm, but he was not able to speak. His breath came out in wheezes. 'Did he get something stuck in his throat...' he put his fingers inside the kid's mouth to check.

Strangely, the child was not breathing through his nose. The sounds were coming from his gills. "You're unable to breathe… why?" he cupped the water and sipped it. It was indeed salt water. "Then why…"

Then it hit him. It was the water level. The child was not completely submerged. He quickly touched the top of his head. "Don't panic. I'm going to push you down further so you can breathe okay," saying so in a whisper he gently pushed the child down. The wheezing sound suddenly turned into small bubbles.

The child let out an audible gasp and fell unconscious. "Hello are you dead?" Kui panicked. Thankfully, the small Mer child was alive and well. Sighing, he gazed around the carriage. "I need to leave... but looks like I can't escape out of here alone... this child... he might face a worse fate if I leave him."