Chapter 220 Veronica’s Fainting Spell
He waved his hand once again to signal to Veronica not to step forward as he intended to face the danger by himself.
“Maybe… we should just give up looking. What if there’s something that could harm both of us?” Veronica hesitated for quite some time as she was concerned that curiosity would kill the cat. Well, we’re the cats in this case.
“We’re stuck in a chamber right now and if there are any dangers lurking around that we don’t know of, then that would be even more dangerous.”
They were still unable to exit the chamber even at this moment.
Inside the chamber, they had discovered more than a set of skeletal remains. Although it was quite likely that these people had died from starvation or dehydration due to the lack of food and water here, they could not exactly rule out the possibility that other external factors were involved too.
If there was indeed some living creature in the jar that could potentially harm them, it would be better for them to know their enemies first before building a defense system.
“You’re right.” Veronica nodded and stood still in her original spot.
Matthew took a few steps forward toward the jar before he took a large bowl from the side. On the bottom of the bowl were three white circles, which gave off an aura of an antique porcelain bowl.
He placed two bowls on the table and he tilted his head slightly while holding onto the jar; subsequently, he put it down after slowly pouring the water out into the bowls.
The water in the two bowls bobbed slightly under the flickering candlelight before reverting to a calm state.
The water was as clear as crystal with some sparking bits seen in the water under the candlelight. The patterns at the bottom of the bowl were evidently seen and without any impurities.
Veronica tilted her head and stared intently at the two bowls from a distance, but nothing happened at all. At that point, her brows were tightly knitted. “What the heck. This is so strange! The water’s too clear and it doesn’t make sense at all. More importantly, there is nothing in the water, so what was it that made such a huge commotion earlier?”
As the situation created more mysteries and looser threads, the air was starting to feel eerie as chills ran down their spines.
Matthew approached the bowls gradually, but he continued to maintain a fair distance as he studied the water intently. However, nothing seemed weird or out of place. As the water barely moved, it felt that danger had completely dissipated.
As for Veronica, she was no longer as frightened as before; she walked forward to stand next to Matthew while muttering under her breath and staring at the two bowls of water. “They look like two regular bowls of water. The only strange thing is that the water is crystal clear with no impurities, seeing how it’s been here for such a long time.”
As she spoke, she took away the little knife in Matthew’s hand and stirred the water with the tip of the blade.
“Ahhh!”
Suddenly, she screamed and threw the knife aside. Her left hand was rubbing the back of her right hand, which was holding onto the knife earlier, as if there was something stuck on her hand.
“Roni, what’s wrong?”
Matthew instantly grabbed her and pulled her backward while keeping a tight grip onto her wrist. Immediately, he held her wrist up to study her right hand, only to then witness a terrifying sight. Unknown, pinkie-sized creatures were bulging out from the back of her hand and moving inside it!
“The knife! Knife! Matthew, hurry up and hand me the knife!” Veronica reacted almost instantaneously with the intent to pierce her skin open to remove the creatures within her.
“Okay!”
She turned around and quickly grabbed the knife by the side.
“Give me your hand,” Matthew spoke while holding on to her hand. Just as he was about to pierce her skin open to remove the creatures, the back of her hand suddenly returned to its usual state and there was nothing protruding on the back of her hand anymore.
Everything happened so quickly that it felt like a dream they just woke up from.
Veronica was dumbfounded as she remained stunned in place for quite some time. She reached out to touch the bulge from earlier but she no longer felt anything out of ordinary.
“Hey… M-Matthew… Am I… about to die?” She pursed her lips as she was about to go hysterical. “What is that thing—Ahh… It hurts—”
Before she could even finish her sentence, she suddenly reached out and clutched her head tightly. “It hurts! My head…. My head hurts so badly, Matthew! I’m in so much pain…”
All of a sudden, the pain hit her whole body and her head felt as if it was about to break from the pain. She felt quite weak as she fell to the ground and curled up in pain. Initially, she clutched at her head with both hands but subsequently, she started to slap her head repetitively with both hands.
“It hurts… Help me… It hurts so much… Ugh… It’s painful…”
Veronica, who usually had a strong level of tolerance for everything, suddenly rolled on the floor in agony. The splitting pain in her head was unbearable for her; she ended up taking the drastic measure of banging her head onto the ground. Thud, thud, thud…
It felt as if eternity had gone by but in fact, this had merely occurred moments ago.
As Matthew saw her banging her head against the ground continuously, he instantly pulled her into his arms. “Roni, what’s wrong? Stop doing that. Here, you can bite on me!”
Intense pain could numb the brain and it was easy for one to accidentally bite on their tongue or, perhaps, injure themselves too.
An anxious Matthew was at a loss while watching everything unfolding so quickly and horribly before him. Without thinking much, he stuck his hand in front of Veronica’s mouth to let her bite on it to guarantee her safety.
“It hurts… Ugh… Ugh…” She could not stop the tears from rolling off her eyes. Within split seconds, her eyes reddened while her face looked no different to a possessed soul. It was horrific yet excruciating to watch.
Her legs thrashed uncontrollably as she continued to bang her head with one hand while holding Matthew’s hand with the other; the pain did not seem to subside even when she was biting him.
“Ouch!” The ripping pain spread to his arms and legs as Matthew clenched his teeth in pain, but he continued to stifle the pain and comforted her. “You can bite on my hand. It’s alright… Just… don’t… harm yourself…”
Judging from the way Veronica bit his hand so forcefully that his skin nearly ripped off, it was definite to say that she was in tremendous agony and pain that no one could ever imagine.
Although Veronica was in great torture, she had yet to completely lose her senses.
As soon as a metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, her brain—previously completely befuddled from the pain—was instantly reset, causing her to immediately release Matthew’s hand and push him aside. “Get away from me, now…”
Before Matthew could even get a word in edgewise, he realized that the body of the woman in his arms had gone limp as she collapsed subsequently. “Roni? Roni?”
The sudden situation shocked Matthew badly. Though he was normally composed and calm when faced with any situation, it was understandable that this time, he had lost his way of functioning; anxiety, torment and terror had completely taken over him.
At that moment, he reached out his finger under her nostrils before touching her neck to make sure her heart was still beating. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief after getting a positive response.
He helped her into a supine position on the ground before heading in the direction of the jar to figure out the situation. He stood in front of the table and hesitated for a moment as his cold eyes scanned his bloody hands—his thenar muscles were badly bitten and there were two distinct rows of bite marks, allowing his raw flesh to expose.
Matthew could no longer resist his trembling hand as he stared at the blood trickling down endlessly. He lifted his hand and let droplets of blood drip into the two bowls. If you freaking creatures can hide under crystal-clear conditions, then I’m sure you’ll show up in no time when I contaminate it.
His blood trickled bit by bit into the bowl.
The water that had remained still earlier suddenly moved as it sputtered and splashed vigorously everywhere. It felt as if there were fishes in the bowls struggling for their life.
However, the situation did not only apply to the water in the bowls, but the water in the jar too! With that being said, the splashes did not feel the same as the splash of boiling water.
Matthew could not help but gasp as he turned around to look at Veronica lying on the ground. He remained silent for a moment before stretching his hand out to the bowls. If it’s the water that hurt my Roni this way, then I have no choice but to figure out what’s in it.
