Chapter 56: Siren Head

A crackling, static-like sound reminiscent of a radio searching for a signal echoed through the shadowy woods.

Lin Zhi froze at the noise, her footsteps halting abruptly. Like a startled cat, her abdominal muscles tensed, her back arched ever so slightly, and her head darted around warily. Instantly, she was on high alert.

“What… what’s wrong?” she stammered.

Yeda, trailing behind her and unaware of the situation, became even more flustered. There’s a saying: human fear comes from the unknown. Yet, the moment the ghost reveals itself, it becomes far less frightening.

“That’s Siren Head… it’s the sound of Siren Head!” Lin Zhi’s voice quivered, as if she were recounting something truly dreadful.

“The huge, slender monster?” Yeda recalled the creature he’d seen from a high vantage point—a spindly figure, shadowed like a streetlamp’s cast, but with no head to speak of, only several sirens where a head should be.

The mere sight of the thing was chilling enough, never mind its enormous, intimidating size.

“Yes… exactly,” Lin Zhi replied, her eyes scanning the surroundings. When she failed to locate the source of the sound, she quickened her pace. “That thing usually stays in the central area of the sinkhole. It never comes this close to the edge. Why would it… why would it stray all the way out here today?”

As Yeda hastened to keep up, he asked, “Why do they only prowl around the central area?”

“It’s all about benefit, what else?” Lin Zhi’s answer was tinged with impatience, though it was unclear if it was fear making her talkative, or a genuine desire to educate the newcomer.

She continued, “Just like us, these monsters need energy to survive. They’ll hunt any living thing they can—animals, monsters, humans, anything at all.”

“But not all living creatures are equal. To them, someone like us—Black Iron Warriors—we’re like a bowl of plain rice: edible, but hardly satisfying. It’s barely enough to fill them.”

“And the closer you get to the center, the stronger the life force of every being there, whether human or monster. They’ve all been through countless battles, grown and evolved. That’s why those in the center are the prime targets for these creatures.”

“So what’s Siren Head doing here today, wandering out to a place so barren? What does it want?”

Yeda asked, “If we hide in the village, can we avoid being hunted?”

He wasn’t exactly optimistic about the village’s chances. After all…

He’d already seen from the mountains how Siren Head could raze entire villages, smashing them to pieces. Lin Zhi’s village was nothing more than a tiny outpost on the edge of the sinkhole.

Could such a place really withstand a monster like that?

“No,” Lin Zhi answered, firm and without a shred of hesitation.

Yeda was stunned. “Then… why are we even going back? Won’t we just make ourselves a bigger target?”

“The village offers some concealment,” Lin Zhi replied. “All we can do is hope the monster just passes by.”

Yeda was taken aback by Lin Zhi’s ostrich-like logic. What kind of twisted idea was that?

As they walked, Lin Zhi suddenly veered into a gap beside a massive gray boulder. “This way,” she called.

Following her, Yeda only then noticed someone crouched in a hollow atop the boulder—a figure clothed from head to toe in gray, with a gray scarf and headscarf.

If it weren’t for his two wolf cubs, who suddenly looked up, fur bristling and growling in warning, Yeda might never have spotted the person blending in so seamlessly with the rock.

“Shh! Keep quiet,” the figure hissed.

Startled, Yeda quickly calmed his cubs and turned to Lin Zhi. “Is this the village?”

“Yes, that’s Da Xiong. He’s on lookout,” Lin Zhi explained, nodding to the man above.

Da Xiong grinned. “Those are some remarkable beasts you’ve got. Not many can spot me. I envy you summoners—you never have to fight for yourselves.”

“Summoner?” Yeda hesitated, realizing Da Xiong had mistaken his profession, and promptly clarified, “I’m not a summoner, I’m just a warrior!”

To prove it, he let stone-skin creep over his fist.

Da Xiong was surprised. “You’re a warrior, but you still have summoned beasts?”

“I just found them,” Yeda explained. “Came across a dead she-wolf in the woods, and these two little ones looked so pitiful, I took them in. They chose to follow me.”

“Lucky you,” Da Xiong sighed, glancing at the cubs. “If I’d had that luck, I wouldn’t need to keep watch myself—I’d have my own pets to keep guard.”

“Enough, Da Xiong. Don’t get carried away chatting. Stay alert,” Lin Zhi interrupted, her tone impatient. “I just ran into Siren Head. Be careful!”

“I heard it too. What’s gotten into that thing, suddenly wandering the outskirts?” Da Xiong’s mood turned grim at the mention of the threat. He quickly scrambled to a higher point to keep watch.

“Let’s go,” Lin Zhi beckoned, slipping into the crevice.

Yeda had thought that reaching the lookout meant they’d arrived at the village, but Lin Zhi led him through a labyrinth of twists and turns before they finally emerged from the stone cleft.

The moment they stepped through, Yeda saw a village built right into the rocks. Each dwelling hugged a massive stone, their doorways adorned with lanterns glowing with sun bugs—lining the paths like rows of streetlights, illuminating the entire village.

Even though night had fallen, people still moved freely about, unbound by any curfew or the need to stay indoors after dark.

Perhaps that was the advantage of a place like this.

“Zhi, you’re back? Brought another newcomer?”

“Hey, this one’s a young man. Not bad, not bad—we need more hands in the mines!”

“Lin Zhi, you’re something else, bringing home new people every few days!”

Lin Zhi was clearly popular here. She’d barely set foot in the village before greetings came from all sides. She returned each one in turn.

“You don’t have a stone house yet, so you can’t set up your own place along the cliffs. I’ll take you to the inn for now,” Lin Zhi said. “Do you have any quality materials for room and board? If not, I can lend you some—you can pay me back after you mine.”

“Quality materials are your currency?” Yeda was intrigued that even a small village had developed its own rules and currency.

“Yes. That’s a rule set by our village chief. Every village is a bit different,” Lin Zhi replied, fishing three fine pelts from her pocket. “It’s to keep newcomers from thinking they can hide here and slack off.”

Yeda looked at the pelts in her hand and couldn’t help but smile wryly.

After all—

He had nothing else to his name, but his backpack was stuffed full of quality materials. There were heaps of these shabby pelts back in the cannibals’ cave, but Yeda had thought them too cheap to bother taking.

Who would have guessed that in the world of the sinkhole, these humble things were actually used as currency?