Bizarre Survival: I Can Devour Thousands of Talents

Chapter 144, Section 143: The Story of the Homecoming (Background, can be skipped, settlement tomorrow)

The two sides surprisingly made peace.

Before arriving, Ling Xiao had already arranged a strategy of fighting at the slightest provocation.

As it turns out, Captain Klein, who is the final boss, doesn't seem to have any hostility.

Of course, the battle-hardened individuals did not let their guard down, but firmly occupied the entrance, a strategically advantageous position that allowed them to advance or retreat as needed.

Then Ling Xiao represented the entire team in negotiations with them.

Having experienced both the [Source of Calamity] and [Mysterious Realm] dungeons, Ling Xiao had a general understanding of their differences.

The former only requires fighting and killing.

The latter not only needs to be physically strong, but also mentally sharp!

If there are solutions other than force, it's best to try them.

To avoid rushing in only to find out that the other side is just as overpowered as the boss lady.

"Klein...senior,"

Ling Xiao changed to a more polite way of saying it.

"I didn't sense any murderous intent from you, does that mean we can have a proper talk?"

"Oh... I couldn't ask for more..."

Klein's flickering dark green light swayed for a moment, then he revealed a bitter smile.

"I've actually been wanting to have a proper talk with you all, um..."

"It's not just you young people, but also before, before that, a long, long time ago..."

Ye Zhanqing and the others, who were hiding behind Ling Xiao, looked at each other in bewilderment. They had a feeling that this strange captain seemed to be a little mentally unstable.

Qi Heng's吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical) spirit burned brightly, but he ultimately kept his mouth shut.

There were no startling remarks that would disturb this being.

This could lead to unpredictable changes in the situation.

Ling Xiao naturally noticed the unusual nature of Klein's words.

Take the essence and discard the dross.

Let's extract the key information—before?

Captain Klein, had he seen other outsiders like himself before?

Has the Homecoming Ship already received many groups of survivors who came to adventure?

Combining what the landlady had said in "City of Desire," Ling Xiao vaguely felt that he had grasped some incredible clue!

Before he could ponder further, Klein continued in a somber tone, "But they're dead... all of them are dead..."

Ling Xiao quickly asked, "Who are they?"

Klein didn't even look up, only muttering to himself, "Like you, I'll die here, on the Homecoming."

"Senior, what you're saying sounds really weird!"

Ling Xiao smiled helplessly, "So they didn't talk to you at all? Or is it that you didn't want to talk to them?"

Upon hearing this, Klein finally broke free from his gloomy state.

His hazy eyes finally focused as he looked at Ling Xiao and the people behind him.

"You guys are very strong, probably the strongest group so far."

"Those people before, all died at the hands of the monsters. I never expected that, with the Homecoming Ship becoming increasingly mutated, you guys would fight your way up here..."

That's all.

He gathered his sluggish thoughts and then began to recount the story of what happened on the Homecoming ship back then.

Through Klein's weathered words, a journey filled with laughter and fine wine, a tale of overcoming adversity, seemed to slowly unfold before everyone's eyes...

……

When Captain Klein was alive, he was a member of the North Sea Fleet of the Kingdom of Bain.

It was a glorious and powerful nation, with a territory that spanned the continent and reached the four seas.

In that era, the kingdom's most powerful mage and the papacy's most prominent pope jointly deduced the "flat Earth theory."

Thus, the saying that "the end of the sea belongs to the Kingdom of God" spread rapidly throughout the continent with the secret encouragement of the empire and the church.

Countless adventurers dreaming of getting rich quick, devout and fanatical believers, and expedition teams composed of elite troops drawn from the empire set sail on sailing ships under various temptations!

It ushered in the Age of Exploration!

The Return Home Express wasn't originally called the Return Home Express.

It shares the same origin as Klein, both being members of the Imperial Navy drawn from the North Sea Fleet.

The sailing ship, originally named "Greyhound," did indeed have a smooth start.

Under Klein's leadership, the crew members, who were originally soldiers, did not develop the bad habits that pirates used to vent their frustrations on voyages far from land.

This adherence to naval regulations was an achievement that Klein was very proud of.

But no one would have expected it.

The pent-up desires were not eliminated; instead, they collapsed completely one day, dragging the Homecoming into an abyss of no return.

It all started when they left the empire's explored waters and sailed into completely unfamiliar waters.

The weather was fine with clear skies during the day, but suddenly there was thunder and lightning after nightfall.

What terrified many naval crew members the most was the lightning, which was as terrifying as blood-red thunder!

The Greyhound not only had a ship's doctor, but also a priest.

But as Klein roared at the crew to speed up their work, he inadvertently overheard the pale-faced priest praying in terror.

The wind howled and the rain poured down; the waves surged and roared!

In the midst of the chaos, he only managed to catch two passages repeatedly recited by the pastor:

"An unclean calamity!?"

"Praise be to the blazing sun! Lord! Please do not let me fall into endless darkness, into..."

I don't know what the former is.

However, the latter is a prayer from the Radiant Church.

The pastor added some name at the end, but Klein's hearing was drowned out by the roar of the surging waves.

After battling the wind and waves all night, the crew members were exhausted, but they were extremely lucky to all survive.

In the past, it would have been considered lucky if no ships or people had perished in a storm of this magnitude.

It's normal to have a few unlucky ones.

But the Greyhound was lucky; none of its crew members were lost.

And there was one more person than expected.

It was this storm, and these extra people, that started the nightmare that haunted Klein's entire life.

The sailors inspecting the damage to the ship were astonished and called Klein over, pointing out to him an unidentified body near the railing at the stern.

Klein thought that some guys were asking for trouble again, daring to make fun of their unfortunate comrade who had died!

The reason is very simple.

How could an unfamiliar corpse appear in the vast ocean?!

Even after soaking in the turbulent sea all night, their faces were so swollen and torn that they were unrecognizable.

But everyone had spent several months together.

A simple headcount or a check of the body's belongings could reveal the identities of the victims.

But what happened next silenced Klein and his previously jovial crew.

They initially thought there had been a mistake during the earlier roll call on deck, which explained why some people were missing without their knowledge.

This time, not only did Klein go through the roster one by one, but they themselves were also recognizing their familiar partners.

The result was that no one on the Greyhound perished.

Who is this extra corpse...?

There was some uneasy commotion among the crew, but it was quickly quelled by Klein's reprimand.

After all, they were all from the navy before.

As the empire's elite, their minds are stronger than those of ordinary adventurers.

After a brief moment of thought, Klein concluded that "it drifted here after a nearby shipwreck."

This is indeed the most reasonable answer.

After everyone sighed in dismay.

The body then had to return to the embrace of the sea.

There are unspoken rules when going to sea: if a crew member dies, letting them sink to the bottom of the sea is the only way to "settle the score".

Dying at sea means that their lives were chosen by the sea.

A ship carrying corpses will incur the wrath of the sea.

But there is one more step to do before that.

That is to "baptize" the corpse.

This should have been the priest's job.

When Klein saw that anxious look on his old friend's face again, he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands and quickly had the body pushed into the sea.

The number of people on the Greyhound returned to normal.

To preserve the deceased's dignity, their clothes were not removed.

However, one thing was left behind.

It was a human-shaped ivory sculpture with a very peculiar shape that was difficult to describe in detail.

Not too big, not too small.

It bulged in his pocket.

Even those escaping shipwrecks would take this with them, so it must be very valuable.

While several crew members were handling the rare statue, Klein overheard something that made him slightly uneasy from the crew member in charge of disposing of the body.

The limp corpse floated in the air as if it were diving, and then smoothly fell into the sea.

Most importantly, it seemed to peek upwards from beneath the sea surface, revealing an indescribable, eerie smile.

Then, it thrashed about like a swimmer, disappearing into the waves at the stern of the boat and swimming away into deeper waters.

After listening, Klein severely reprimanded the crew members.

A dead person opening their eyes?

Swimming towards the seabed?

What kind of fantastical novel plot is this?!

They are the Empire's most elite navy, how could they have such a ridiculous misconception!?

However, what happened next only intensified Klein's unease...

Perhaps the long periods away from land inevitably caused psychological problems for the crew members; or perhaps the high-intensity work led to some negative emotions amidst their exhaustion...

The sailors who came into contact with the statue were the first to experience difficulty falling asleep.

They looked haggard and dared not sleep, claiming that some strange thing in their dreams kept getting closer to them.

After the pastor comforted her, she felt better.

The latest novel is first published here!

But Klein later realized that it was completely useless.

Because the pastor had also been in contact with the statue, and was himself the one most deeply "infected" by it!

Unaware of the truth, an invisible plague spread and proliferated among the crew.

As an experienced captain, Klein keenly noticed the crew's problems.

But he never imagined that the pastor, who was responsible for helping people resolve their mental health issues, would actually be a dangerous catalyst!

By the time he realized the seriousness of the situation, several people had already gone mad.

They were all crew members responsible for disposing of the bodies at the time.

Their eyes bulged out, and their teeth snapped erratically, drawing blood from their lips and tongues, which then splattered everywhere with saliva.

That illogical voice was incredibly irritating.

Moreover, listening to it too often feels like a film of water covering your ears, like a monotonous, repetitive murmur.

After receiving a regretful reply from the ship's doctor and the priest, Klein decisively dealt with them.

In cases where a cure is impossible, cutting losses promptly is the best course of action.

But Klein was wrong.

Things have escalated to the point of no return.

After that, the Greyhound seemed to return to calm.

Knowing that his order to kill would severely damage morale and the troops' spirit, Klein understood that the exploration had to be stopped, so he ordered a return to base.

The Greyhound was renamed Homecoming.

Peaceful days.

But the peaceful days that Klein thought he had lived through didn't last long.

The riot that had been brewing in secret ignited one night.

The crazed crew shouted incoherent slogans and brandished weapons, smashing and destroying the facilities on the Homecoming.

Klein, who was awakened from his sleep, could only take the ship's doctor and priest, who were still somewhat rational, with him after his attempts to persuade them failed.

Use ruthless methods to wipe out all these crazed crew members!

This was a choice we had to make!

He wanted to live, and even more so, he wanted to live to go home!

The ship that returns home is their only support in the vast ocean!

Finally, exhausted, Klein gave up in despair.

The ship's masts, steering gear, and other navigational equipment had been destroyed in the crew's riot.

Moreover, with only three people left, there was no way they could steer the boat back...

They can't go back...

But the pastor didn't seem as desperate as he and the ship's doctor.

His old friend of many years whispered a prayer in a language that Klein couldn't understand.

During those days when he could only drift, the pastor fell into a state of dementia, spending his time either praying or doing nothing else.

The ship's doctor initially managed to help Klein, but later joined in on this strange behavior.

Klein, whose mind was already on the verge of collapse, had no interest in caring about them anymore.

He futilely repaired the damaged parts of the Homecoming.

Then, as I struggled to fall asleep each night, I heard those increasingly clear murmurs.

After an unknown amount of time, Klein became increasingly confused and disoriented.

He knew something was wrong.

The whole ship.

Do not!

From the moment they sailed into this unknown sea.

Something's wrong with the whole sea!

It seems... there's a touch more of a deep, dark green...

It seems... there are far fewer of the usual schools of fish and seabirds...

But he realized it too late.

The pastor and the ship's doctor stood stiffly before his bed, the dim light making their strange smiles appear even more bizarre.

"Can you hear that? They're calling! Let's go see that person first..."

This longtime friend placed the statue next to Klein's pillow before leaving.

Oh, and there's also the Radiant Emblem he always carries with him.

This sacred object, rumored to have been blessed by the Pope, somehow failed to help the priest stay conscious.

But it is indeed what Klein has relied on to survive until now.

The latter's remaining rationality was no longer sufficient to control his body to knock down the culprit's statue.

That night.

He dreamed of a temple, and of crew members whose bodies grew scales and whose skin gradually changed color, making them look more and more like monsters.

The pastor's figure also glanced back at him before resolutely disappearing into the light and shadow of that majestic, mountain-like form.

……

The details differ from Ling Xiao's understanding, but the core structure is largely the same.

It was nothing more than the work of the Deep Ones, who sacrificed all the crew members who had intruded into their territorial waters to the evil god.

Those qualified to serve as sacrifices were sent to the temple, while those that could be assimilated into the alien species were corrupted.

In the end, only Klein, the remnant soul of the dead, remained, clinging to life under the protection of the Radiant Emblem.

As for whether the story is true or false.

The perfect golden light that appeared in the taskbar is naturally proof.

This is the end.

The long-forgotten past of the Return Home ship has been largely sorted out by everyone.

"Then... Captain Klein,"

Ling Xiao sighed and looked intently at the pitiful yet great captain.

"The Homecoming's final destination is definitely not here. What can we do for you, for the Homecoming?"

Upon hearing this, Klein, having finished his story, smiled with relief.

His gaze lingered on the captain's cabin, where he had spent countless years, and he pleaded softly:

"Please, please, just destroy this ship completely..."

"Now that the Homecoming Ship has been contaminated, it must never return to port! It must not bring this terrible disaster back to my, our homeland!"

"My crew members have all disappeared at sea. As the captain, I should be no exception. I should have joined them long ago..."

The middle-aged man, who looked tired, had a look of excitement and pride on his face, just like when he joined the army in his youth and answered the call to arms!

"Homecoming? No homecoming! Since I'm going to die here, I'll be buried here!"

"Where can't the waves find their final resting place?!"

Those interested in this story can read Cthulhu: The Temple, it's very interesting. My attempt at imitation is less than one ten-thousandth of its essence.

[LV20: Extradimensional Explorer [Owl]]

【Talent: Gluttony [Innate] (Ember Radiance, Bloodline Refinement, Blazing Sun, Enchanted Life, Soul Control, King's Bloodline, Blazing Domain, Azure Wave Domain, Shadow of the Night, Endless Fury, Carnival of Slaughter, Execution Declaration, Painful Pleasure, Water's Protection, Calm Waves, Earth Tremor, Magical Potion Prodigy, Northern Star Blade, Shadow of Fighting Spirit, Harmless Transformation), Spatial Perception, Grinding Teeth and Sucking Blood (Excellent)】

【Occupation: [Otherworld Explorer], Hidden ([Monster Hunter], [Dragon Slayer Beowulf])】

[Titles: Seven Deadly Sins (Excellent), Fortress Guardian, Fearless Vanguard, King Killer (Good), Aquatic Killer (Good), Excellent Swimmer, Competent Survivor (Normal)]

[Status: Legacy, Duchess Emilia's Dream Curse, Tracing the Origins (Deep Royal Family), Sinner, Strange Balance, Comical Tricks, Magical Hands and Feet, Unyielding Will, Fire Affinity, Danger Reflection]

【Attribute: Free attribute points (0)】

【肉体[力量19/敏捷18/体质30]——体力值[670/670]】

【魂灵[灵性18/感知18/精神28]——灵力值[640/640]】

[Skill: Whirlwind Shadow...]

[Equipment: Emilia's Oath Ring, Deep Sea Ritual Book, Morning Dew, Iron Heart Blade...]

(End of this chapter)