"So, trying to cross the gaps riddled with Man-Eating Stygian Worms in a skin-tight suit to reach the Sea of the Damned is another impossibility, then!" Xiaoshu said quietly.

"I actually don't think we need this skin-tight suit. Before, we were wearing ordinary clothes, and after getting covered in the Stygian Worms, didn't taking them off solve the problem?" Realizing the skin-tight suit path was a dead end, I felt a pang of regret, yet I summoned my courage, thinking we could risk it.

"This skin-tight suit is a treasure; it not only prevents the Stygian Worms from burrowing into the skin but also protects the body from the bite of the Wraith Fish," Xiaoshu countered, insisting the suit remained crucial.

I had experienced that protection firsthand. When the schools of fish from the Sea of the Damned attacked us, any fish that pecked at the suit swiftly recoiled. Without the suit, we'd likely have been devoured by those sharp-toothed creatures. But this was the first time I’d heard them called Wraith Fish. Driven by curiosity, I asked, "How do you know these fish exist? I've felt their power, but I didn't know they were called Wraith Fish."

Xiaoshu replied, "It's written in the books. People eaten by these fish have no chance of reincarnation; their souls merge into the Sea of the Damned, staying with those spirits whose fates have run their course."

Sighing, I wished desperately that I hadn't discarded that treasure. I blamed myself endlessly for my carelessness. After returning home with Wang Jue, I had changed into clean clothes and tossed the two filthy skin-tight suits into the trash pile. If I went back now, they would surely be gone, perhaps already incinerated into ash in the furnace.

Just as I was thinking this, a sudden, searing pain ripped through my abdomen. My stomach churned as if in a tempest, a nauseating urge that wouldn't resolve, as if a colossal worm were wriggling inside me, jarring my viscera painfully. I involuntarily clutched my belly, bending over, utterly overcome by agony.

"What's wrong with you?" Seeing my face shift, Xiaoshu sensed something was amiss and scrambled up, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"My stomach hurts terribly, like a worm is swimming nonstop inside my organs, churning everything up," I ground out through clenched teeth, beads of sweat rolling down my forehead.

"How could this happen? What did you drink just now?" Xiaoshu picked up the crystal glass bottle I had set on the floor and sniffed the remaining water.

"D-don't... know... The bottle... was... by... the... door," I articulated slowly, each word a struggle, feeling my breath becoming labored.

"Who brought that water? There was nothing by the door when we came in. Besides you, who else has gone in or out of this room?" Xiaoshu fired off questions like a rapid-fire cannon, making it even harder for me. Unable to speak, I could only shake my head faintly.

Just as Xiaoshu was fidgeting anxiously like an ant on a hot plate, there was a deafening crash as the door to the library fell inward from the outside. A cloud of dust billowed up the instant the heavy panel hit the floor. Before Xiaoshu and I could process what had happened, a peal of maniacal laughter echoed from the corridor.

We turned our heads toward the broken doorway to see a hunched old crone dragging two figures, moving slowly, deliberately, from outside.

"Hua Gu, A'Mang..." Xiaoshu gasped, her voice choked.

I took a deep breath, pressing a hand to my abdomen, feeling a slight abatement of the pain. I saw that Hua Gu and A'Mang, for some unknown reason, were unconscious, their long legs dangling limply as they half-slumped on the ground. The stooped woman held one arm of each man, dragging them with visible effort from the hallway into the library.

Once inside, she released her grip on the two figures. Hua Gu and A'Mang slumped like corpses, their heads and shoulders striking the floor first, their upper bodies crashing down heavily onto the ground.