Chapter 100: The Vanished Ones

“@, what the hell is that?”

Sang Chu and Tu You—one girl, one rabbit—stared at the towering structure that had suddenly shot up from the ground.

Tu You crouched nervously on Sang Chu’s shoulder, his voice trembling, “@, @, there’s a powerful force up ahead. I feel really scared.”

Sang Chu nodded slightly; she could feel it too.

Suddenly, behind them, the dream-eating tapirs let out a terrified cry. Sang Chu turned around just in time to see all the tapirs, as if startled by something, shooting into the sky like arrows, fleeing for their lives!

Sang Chu muttered, “Up ahead...”

“Aren’t you looking for the children? They’re all up there. If you want to save them, you’d better hurry~”

Before Sang Chu could finish, a low voice sounded right by her ear, sending chills down her spine and making goosebumps rise all over her body.

“Who are you?”

“Hee hee, you’ll know soon enough~”

The voice echoed again. Tu You watched as Sang Chu’s expression turned dazed, and before he could react, she walked straight into that strange, giant egg-shaped structure.

Tu You hurriedly grabbed her, “Ah Chu, Ah Chu, snap out of it!”

“Ah Chu!!!”

No matter how he called, Sang Chu didn’t respond. All she knew was that the children were inside. She could hear their cries for help, and a voice kept echoing in her mind, drawing her in. She couldn’t resist it, couldn’t control herself, and walked toward the source of the voice.

Z――

After the last thunderclap faded, the giant structure vanished without a trace.

Tu You, who had followed Sang Chu inside, anxiously tugged at her hair, “Ah Chu, wake up! Wake up!!!”

“Hiss—”

Tu You didn’t hold back, yanking out a huge handful of Sang Chu’s hair before she finally woke up from the pain. “Ow! Tu You, what are you doing?!”

Sang Chu turned around, staring wide-eyed at the clump of hair in Tu You’s paw. “You—you actually pulled out that much of my hair!”

Tu You snapped back to herself and quickly tossed the hair back to her, feeling a bit guilty but still justified, “Well, if I hadn’t, you’d still be under control! Look around—do you even know where we are?”

Sang Chu looked around and realized they were already inside that strange giant structure. The interior was unfinished, all bare concrete and cement, with empty platforms everywhere, each about two meters high.

Standing inside, all she could hear were the howls of the tapirs.

Sang Chu walked toward one of the platforms and saw that outside was no longer the village she’d seen before, but a vast stretch of ocean!

Strange sea creatures swam back and forth, some even peering curiously at her from outside, their eyes like lurking predators.

“This isn’t a barrier, is it?”

She reached out and touched the wall—there was no sign of any barrier magic. Tu You hopped onto her hand, sniffed the air near the empty platform, and said, “It’s not a barrier, but it feels like some kind of powerful seal. Very strange. Be careful.”

“Mm, let’s look around.”

Tu You glanced at Sang Chu, suddenly curious. “Ah Chu, I’ve noticed the more dangerous things get, the calmer you become. How do you do it?”

Sang Chu smiled, “What else can I do? When things get dangerous, you have to keep your cool. If you panic, you’re done for. In a crisis, saving yourself is the only way. Waiting for others is a dead end.”

“Okay, so what do we do now?”

Sang Chu carefully moved forward, thinking aloud, “I was just under a spell, and outside is deep ocean. So, I’d guess the creature here is some kind of sea demon. Among sea demons, only sirens and merfolk have voices that can control people’s minds, so it’s probably one of those.”

Tu You said, “Sirens and merfolk are pretty similar, except sirens have more monstrous features, while merfolk are beautiful. But as far as I know, neither of them eats children. Why would this one?”

By now, Sang Chu had reached the second platform.

“Who knows what monsters think? Maybe it’s just a bad one. There are bad people, so it’s normal for there to be bad monsters too.”

As she spoke, Sang Chu looked around. Through a window, she saw that outside was flat land—a village of some sort?

“Tu You, your eyesight is good. Can you see what that is over there?”

“What?”

Tu You followed her gaze and saw some strange banners fluttering above the village. “Those look like demon banners, but they’re all written in Sanskrit. I can’t read them.”

“Demon banners? Like the seals in the demon realm?”

She wasn’t familiar with such things, so Tu You explained, “Pretty much. In the demon realm, these seals are called Demon-Sealing Marks. They work similarly to these banners, but I can’t read Sanskrit, so I don’t know which kind these are.”

“Never mind, I’ll go up and take a look.”

On the second platform, she looked out—though the scenery changed, there was still no way out.

On the third and fourth platforms, there were more of those strange colored banners, similar to the ones she’d seen in the demon realm.

Tu You hopped onto the platform and looked at the writing, then shook his head at Sang Chu. “Can’t read it.”

“Who are you?!”

Suddenly, a shout rang out. Sang Chu turned to see a group of women, each holding some kind of weapon, surrounding her.

One, wearing a flowery dress, glared at Sang Chu and demanded, “Who are you? Why are you here? Why are you messing with the demon banners?”

“Are you in league with that monster?!”

“Are you trying to tear down the demon banners and let the monster out? I’m warning you, get out of here, or don’t blame us for being rude!”

“Yeah, get out!”

As they closed in, Sang Chu quickly raised her hands. “Aunties, I just wandered in by accident. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be here—sorry! I’ll leave right away!”

“Then what’s that thing on your shoulder?”

Sang Chu didn’t panic, patiently explaining, “He’s just a weird rabbit. If you’re worried, you can tie him up or something. Really, I mean no harm!”

The leading auntie eyed Sang Chu, seeming to believe she meant no harm. She muttered something in a dialect Sang Chu didn’t understand to the others.

Then she said to Sang Chu, “Alright, just leave slowly.”

Sang Chu’s mind was full of questions, but she kept her expression calm and walked slowly in the direction they pointed.

Let me know if you need further chapters or more context!"