Read the excerpt below from “the colomber” by dino buzzati and answer the question that follows.

so, the idea of that hostile creature waiting for him day and night became a secret obsession for stefano. and even in the distant city it cropped up to wake him with worry in the middle of the night. he was safe, of course; hundreds of kilometers separated him from the colomber. and yet he knew that beyond the mountains, beyond the forests and the plains, the shark was waiting for him. he might have moved even to the most remote continent, and still the colomber would have appeared in the mirror of the nearest sea, with the inexorable obstinacy of a fatal instrument.

what is the primary conflict in this passage?

a. internal

b. external

c. friendly

d. ironic