Next, Uncle Qin twisted his neck before grabbing both his hands under his left and right ears, and then he ferociously tore at them.
Li Zhiyuan heard the sound of flesh ripping apart, and upon closer inspection, he saw five long wounds appear beneath Uncle Qin’s left and right ears.
As these wounds oozed blood, they kept opening and closing.
Like... blood-red gills.
Uncle Qin then started to stretch his body, each movement accompanied by a crackling of bones and sometimes the ripping of flesh.
Soon, many dense stretch marks-like lines appeared on Uncle Qin’s body.
But they were not on his stomach; instead, they were evenly distributed across his arms and legs.
After completing a set of stretches, Uncle Qin stopped, stood still, regulated his breathing, and the bloody wounds beneath his ears opened and closed with the rhythm of his breaths.
Li Zhiyuan felt that Uncle Qin had changed in some way; there was a significant alteration to his physique.
"Keep an eye on our stuff on the shore."
Uncle Qin nodded and then bent over. Under the moonlight, he started running.
He was not running very fast, but his movements were extremely coordinated. He ran to the riverside, leapt with all his might, and upon jumping into the river, he disappeared instantly.
Like a fish returning to the river.
Li Zhiyuan looked at the now-calmed river surface and at Uncle Qin’s clothes left on the shore.
He raised his hand and gently tapped his forehead, only truly realizing what happened afterward:
"Really just... went in like that?"
Initially, Li Zhiyuan was standing. After standing for a while and feeling soreness in his legs, he sat down.
Time slowly passed, and Uncle Qin had been underwater for quite some time. The river surface remained undisturbed, not even a peculiar bubble in sight.
All Li Zhiyuan could do now was wait.
Li Zhiyuan yawned. Looking towards the horizon, the night sky was like a garment that had been washed many times over, its deep color thinning and soon turning pale.
Shaking his head, Li Zhiyuan forced away his sleepiness and, after rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, stood up again to continue watching the river.
This time, he saw some movement.
In the middle of the river, it seemed a figure appeared momentarily, then vanished. Just when Li Zhiyuan thought he might be seeing things, he saw Uncle Qin walking out of the river by the riverside.
His body was covered with ghastly wounds, with many of them dark and oozing pus.
The most terrifying was the gash across his chest, deep enough to nearly reveal the white bones within.
Yet Uncle Qin acted as if nothing was wrong, squatting by the river and starting to wash his wounds with river water.
Li Zhiyuan brought over the clothes; drawing closer, he saw many long fingernails and teeth still embedded in the wounds.
Seeing this, it was even possible to imagine the frenzy with which that group of creatures had pounced on him and savagely bitten him.
At the same time, Li Zhiyuan noticed a distinct anger in Uncle Qin’s eyes.
"Uncle, how did it go?"
"I was close to success." Uncle Qin spoke as he pulled out a long fingernail.
"And then?" Standing behind Uncle Qin, Li Zhiyuan grabbed a finger that had pierced through the back, yanked it out with force, and the finger still moved, seeming like a freshly cut piece of snake, even though it was a part of a human body.
After throwing the finger on the ground, it continued to wriggle towards the direction of the river, its blood-red nail glistening eerily.
"Smash it." Uncle Qin said.
"Okay." Li Zhiyuan picked up a rock and smashed down hard. The finger became deformed but kept wriggling. After smashing it vigorously several times, it finally fell apart and ceased moving.
"Huff, huff..." Li Zhiyuan panted, unwilling to look down at the mushy mess of flesh and blood.
Uncle Qin pulled out another finger and threw it in front of Li Zhiyuan, clearly implying what needed to be done.
Li Zhiyuan could only lift the rock and continue to smash.
If anyone had passed by this scene so early in the morning, they might have thought it was a warm picture of a father and son, from a distance.
Once the dirty things embedded in his body were cleared out, Uncle Qin picked up the clothes to put on.
"Uncle, your wounds..."
"We’ll get your aunt to take care of them back home."
"Oh." Li Zhiyuan nodded and then asked, "Uncle, is the Bai family town right below us?"
"You actually know so much?"
"It’s all told to me by Brother Liangliang."
"Indeed, it’s below."
"So, did you just visit the Bai family town?"
"I did enter, and things were almost settled, but..."
"You’ll find out when we get back to the hospital. Your big friend... he’s really something, a tough character, seriously, too tough."
Li Zhiyuan could tell, Uncle Qin was angry because things hadn’t gone as he planned, and the person who caused this, seemed to be Xue Liangliang.
"Let’s get in the car."
"Uncle, can you still drive?"
"Or do you want to drive?"
Li Zhiyuan obediently got in the car.
When the motorcycle approached a civilian house in the suburb, Uncle Qin stopped, stepped onto the dam to take a coat from the clothesline to wrap around himself, and left his wallet on the rope.
With so many injuries on his body, just wearing a tank top wouldn’t cover them, and he probably wouldn’t be able to enter the hospital.
The vehicle drove into the hospital, and Uncle Qin stopped the bike.
As Li Zhiyuan got off, he asked, "Uncle, will the Bai family town continue to cause trouble?"