Full-Time Magister: Summoning Agumon at the Start

Chapter 310 Maggots

A sea breeze blew, and a strange smell emanating from the huge skeleton could be faintly smelled, permeating the small harbor.

By this time, the port's wooden pier was already crowded with people. None of them had ever seen such a scene before. In an instant, all sorts of terrible rumors began to brew among these people in their horror, and it was believed that it would not be long before they spread throughout the streets and alleys of the entire city of Tinoaia.

"Old Zhao, just tell me if it's big or not. Have you ever seen it?" Mo Fan asked.

"This—this is really a bit too big, it's too exaggerated. But this isn't a 'ship,' it's the remains of a sea monster!" Zhao Manyan swallowed hard, a look of surprise on his face.

"How could a creature of this level be reduced to this state? Its skeleton is perfectly preserved, but there's not a trace of flesh or blood." Jiang Shaoxu's face was full of doubt.

"Jiang Yu, you're an expert, take a look and see what kind of creature this is," Mo Fan asked earnestly.

"Aren't you making things too difficult for me?" Zhao Manyan exclaimed, speechless.

"This should be a sea mammoth. Its head and upper body resemble an ancient giant elephant, while its lower body is that of a whale. It usually inhabits the open sea and deep sea. Moreover, judging from the remains of this body, this sea mammoth should have been close to the monarch level in life." Jiang Yu did not think much and began to explain directly.

"You actually noticed?" Zhao Manyan was extremely surprised, his jaw almost dropping to the ground.

"That's simple, and this guy has been dead for no more than two days." Jiang Yu continued.

"Let's go, let's squeeze in and take a look." Lin Chen nodded and walked to the front, with everyone following closely behind.

Upon arriving at the carcass of the Sea Mammoth, Jiang Yu examined it and found that the marrow in the carcass had been completely drained, making the entire skeleton extremely light, which was why it could float on the sea.

Upon discovering this phenomenon, Lin Chen and the others immediately became extremely curious and began to investigate the ins and outs of the matter. However, they found no information about the giant corpse, but instead learned about the Drowning Curse from nearby residents.

Upon hearing the news of the Drowning Curse again, Lin Chen realized how the enormous corpse had been formed, as it shared the same cause as the Drowning Curse.

Mu Ningxue and Jiang Shaoxu had heard about the horrors of the Drowning Curse while they were in Tokyo, and they expressed their hope to find a way to resolve this matter.

So Lin Chen immediately contacted Lingling. He remembered that it was Lingling who solved the case, and that the phenomenon was not caused by any terrifying demons, but by a special parasitic creature.

Lingling was extremely excited after learning about the Drowning Curse. Ever since Lin Chen went to the world for training, Lingling had been feeling like she was going to rot in Shanghai. There were no events, no bounties, and no time to use her brain. She felt like she was on the verge of collapse.

Lingling was very proactive. Lin Chen called her in the afternoon, and the next morning Lingling came to Tinoaya to meet up with Lin Chen and the others.

"The Drowning Curse is a global issue. The International Hunter Alliance has already issued a bounty, and now a bounty pool has been formed with 350 million US dollars. I accepted the bounty for you when I came here. If we can complete it, we should both be four-star hunter masters," Lingling said.

"Four-star masters! Holy crap, you two are so awesome, take me with you, let me bask in your glory!" Mo Fan shouted upon hearing this!

"That works. Give me the money, and we'll split the points. You still owe me a lot of money anyway," Lin Chen said. He remembered that this mission involved protecting that parasite, and he still didn't have the ability to fight underwater, so he had to leave that to Mo Fan.

"Okay." Mo Fan nodded.

Lingling glanced at Mo Fan, and seeing that Lin Chen had no objections, she agreed as well. She then continued sharing the information she had on her phone: "One thing is certain: all the deaths occurred in cities near the sea. There were no cases of drowning curses in rivers, lakes, or large rivers. These drowning curses occur in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. Interestingly, they don't occur much in Chinese waters, but are more common in other countries—especially the Portuguese region..."

"That's right. I met an old man yesterday, and he told me that there have been eight drowning incidents caused by the Drowning Curse in this city recently," Mu Ningxue said.

"Eight outbreaks? It seems this place is indeed a disaster area. If nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to find the cause of the problem here," Lingling said.

With a target in mind, Lin Chen and Mo Fan split into two groups, each leading Jiang Shaoxu and Mu Ningxue respectively, to conduct interviews and investigations in the vicinity.

Soon, Lin Chen found Bobby's house, where the drowning incident had occurred three months ago. When they approached Bobby's house, they immediately smelled a foul stench. They rushed in and found that Bobby's brother, Norco, had committed suicide.

What puzzled Lin Chen was that although Noko committed suicide by cutting his wrists, his body was exactly the same as the drowning curse death described by Lingling. At the same time, according to Bobby's description, Noko's behavior before his death was also unusual, and his appetite was much larger than before.

Just in case, Lin Chen specifically called Lingling over.

Soon after, Lingling arrived and carefully examined the suicide scene and Noko's body.

Bobby was immediately instructed to find a skilled craftsman to dissect Norko's body.

In order to find out the cause of death of his two brothers, Bobby did not refuse and immediately contacted a mentor.

After the autopsy was completed, based on the information provided by Lin Chen and others, Lingling seemed to have thought of something, and immediately returned to her room, carrying a basin full of blood.

Lingling found a filter and asked Lin Chen to help her monitor it.

Lin Chen did as she said, taking the filter, and then Lingling poured the basin of blood onto the filter.

Blood kept pouring down, and Lin Chen suddenly noticed something wriggling on the filter screen. This thing looked like a blood clot, but it was also somewhat soft, and it seemed that with a little force, it could be easily squeezed through the filter screen.

"What is this?" Jiang Shaoxu asked in confusion.

"Wait a minute, I'm going to get some water." Lingling jogged away.

Lingling took the water and poured it over the writhing blood clot, washing the blood off its body.

Strangely, as the viscous blood was washed away, the wriggling blood clots seemed to dissolve and simply disappeared from the filter screen.

Lin Chen was wondering how the blood clot had disappeared when he suddenly noticed a completely transparent maggot in the place where the filter had been.

"Could this be the culprit?!" Lin Chen said, pointing to the spot where the maggots were.

"That's right, this creature is called a jellyfish maggot. It's transparent and invisible, but once it grows and enters the seawater, with enough water, it can eventually replace the creature it parasitizes," Lingling said.

"In other words, the so-called drowning curse doesn't mean that a person drowns and dies, but rather that the person is replaced by jellyfish maggots inside their body, who then control the human body to return to the sea," Lin Chen said thoughtfully.

"Very likely, but I'll need to investigate the specifics first—" Lingling said.