On the Ark.

……

Author's Note: Recently, some readers have been saying I've been skipping chapters. I didn't want to say anything initially; I genuinely don't care if people joke around or call me a "chapter-skipping dog," but I don't understand why some people are actually cursing me for this (not joking, but really harsh words). As you can see, the recent plot is an unprecedented attempt for this book, completely different from the previous 700,000 words. Unlike the lighthearted, episodic chapters of the past, the recent chapters are interconnected. This means that unless I update 30,000 to 40,000 words a day to tell the whole story at once, it's impossible to avoid interruptions. And I haven't been updating much these past few days, over 6,000 words a day; I can't go any further. If you can't accept this, you can wait and see; there's no need to go like this.

I might have been complaining a bit too long. But there are some things I really wanted to say. At the end of the last volume, I mentioned that I would write the Skadi arc seriously and bring everyone a different experience. To be honest, I was quite nervous before writing it, afraid that everyone wouldn't like it. But now, although the number of subscriptions has dropped a bit, the response seems to be surprisingly good? This makes me quite happy. I know that the more people criticize the incomplete chapters, the more it shows that everyone approves of this part of the plot, but I still hope that everyone will refrain from using profanity, as it really affects the mood. As for the style after this volume, it will definitely still be mainly the same as before, after all, the tone of this book is to be lighter. That's about it. There will be another update tonight.

Chapters 323 [Maple's Dogmatic Stance] (3K)

"I swear, this is absolutely the stinkiest and dirtiest river I've ever seen in my life," Chōmaru complained after walking less than ten steps in the underground river. "It's even more disgusting than the stinky ditch in front of my house. My stinky ditch is full of animal and kid excrement, and it's unbearable in the summer. I thought that was the worst, but I never expected to encounter something even worse."

Lin Ye deeply agreed with Chanmaru's words.

The feeling of nausea was already unbearable just being by the river, but it was amplified several times over once he got into the water. Every time he looked down through the searchlight at the rotting flesh and broken bones floating on the surface, and felt the resistance from the corpses with every step, Lin Ye felt his SAN value plummeting.

He used to have a habit of taking deep breaths when he was nervous, but standing in this river, he had to force himself to suppress it, otherwise his SAN value would drop even faster.

"Chánmàn, be careful, don't stray too far from me." Even so, Lin Ye still had to suppress his nausea as he said to Chánmàn, who was walking ahead of him, "If you stray too far, I won't be able to help you if something happens."

Chōmaru didn't seem to care much about Lin Ye's warning: "What could possibly happen? And if something does happen, what can you do to help me? Don't underestimate me. I'm the combatant, not you."

"What I mean is, if you slip, I can help you up."

After a moment of silence, Chūmaru realized the logic in the words and slowed his pace.

Lin Ye had already stuffed the Vector back into his bag. He had originally thought that in this kind of environment, the Guardian Gun would be much more useful than cold weapons, but now he understood that guns could only fight against things that science could explain. To fight against things that science could not explain, one could only use something equally unscientific, such as a divine weapon.

Therefore, Lin Ye held onto Maple tightly, while also wearing Nightingale's white amulet on his waist to deal with any possible accidents.

“Dr. Lin Ye,” Magellan’s voice came through the headset, “I have hovered one of the drones directly above where Miss Skadi was just now. You just need to go there. It’s not far. According to the survey, it’s only 56 meters away from your current position. But be careful, because my drone can’t see underwater.”

Lin Ye took a deep breath: "Understood."

Then he immediately covered his nose.

That's a really bad habit.

Chanwan walked in front of Lin Ye, with Lan Du following behind. The three of them kept a distance of less than two meters from each other to ensure that they could get support from others immediately in case of an emergency.

Fifty-six meters is a distance that even Lin Ye, in his middle school days, could cover in ten seconds on flat ground. But in the current environment, every step is nerve-wracking. The seemingly close drone beacon also seems incredibly far away, which is quite unsettling.

“Seriously,” Chūmaru, who was walking at the front, spoke again, “where did all these corpses come from?”

Lin Ye said, "They're probably residents of Harlan town. Judging from the degree of decomposition, they don't seem to have been dead for a particularly long time, at least not quite."

"How did they get here?" Chūmaru said. "I really can't imagine what kind of creature could silently take away more than a thousand people from a small town overnight, bring them here, and then kill them. It's unbelievable."

Lin Ye obviously couldn't answer Chan Wan's question, so in the end, only Lan Du could explain it. But even Lan Du, who had the most experience in the room, could only give an explanation that wasn't really an explanation: "You can never imagine what kind of monsters are in the depths of the ocean. To be honest, I'm not surprised at all what incredible things they can do."

Chūmaru pursed his lips and didn't delve any deeper into the matter.

Then, the three of them fell silent for twenty seconds. After that, Lin Ye felt that it was better for someone to talk, even if it was just nonsense, than the monotonous sound of flowing water. So, Lin Ye cleared his throat, wanting to say something to break the strange atmosphere. Even though Skadi was still his biggest concern, he had to say something.

Before he could even speak, Chūmaru said, "I always feel like there's something alive in the water, grabbing my feet."

Lin Ye's expression immediately froze. He would rather the three of them remain silent than have Chanwan say such a thing.

"Really? What is it?" He became nervous.

"I don't know either." Chūmaru stopped and tried to draw lines underwater with his sword, but nothing came out. "Could it be my imagination?"

Blue Poison was also quite wary: "It's best to be careful and not to attribute any feelings to illusions at times like this."

"Understood, I'll be more careful from now on."

Even though Chūmaru said that, Lin Ye still said to Magellan through the communication system: "Magellan, make the drone fly lower."

The drone beside Chūmaru slowly descended and finally stopped less than 20 centimeters from the water's surface. Although it still couldn't penetrate the water, it reassured everyone a lot.

It took the three of them a full ten minutes to walk the fifty-six-meter distance.

The further you go into the middle of the river, the faster the current becomes, and the deeper the water gets. Before, the water was only ankle-deep, but when you reach the location marked by the drone, the water is almost waist-deep. Fortunately, this is the deepest part.

"Hey, Skadi?" Chin stood under the drone and called out, "Can you hear me? I'm Chin from Rhodes Island. I'm here to save you. If you can hear me, climb out of the water."

Lin Ye stepped out from behind Chanmaru and said in an annoyed tone, "Stop acting cute, okay?"

"What are you selling?" Chūmaru didn't hear him clearly.

Lin Ye was too lazy to explain to Chanwan, that clown; his heart was in his throat.

Was the woman I just saw Skadi? If so, has she already drowned? If not, then who is she? Wait, what is that thing?

Chōmaru handed his large sword to Lin Ye.

Lin Ye was taken aback: "What?"

"Hold this for me," Chūmaru rolled his eyes. "Otherwise, how am I supposed to get them out?"

"...Let me do it."

"Forget it," Chūmaru said. "I heard Skadi is no small feat. You didn't manage to pull anyone else up, and you got dragged down yourself."

...I was underestimated.

Lin Ye felt a little helpless, but he didn't explain anything. He simply took the sword from Chūmaru. Although it was somewhat heavy, it wasn't much to him at the moment.

“Alright, I’ll do it.” Chūmaru rolled up his sleeves. “Let me tell you, I don’t like doing this kind of thing. You’ll have to treat me to dinner when we get back.”

Before Lin Ye could answer, Chanmaru had already put his hand into the river.

"How is it?" Lin Ye asked anxiously immediately.

"Don't rush... let me feel it first." Chūmaru's voice gradually became doubtful. "Huh, that's strange, are you sure it's this spot?"

"This is the location marked by the drone, there can't be any mistake, right?"

“But there’s nothing down there,” Chūmaru said. “There isn’t even a corpse. I only felt stones and mud… I don’t know if they are stones and mud, but that’s the feel of them. I don’t want to take them out and disgust myself, but there is definitely no corpse.”

At this moment, Blue Poison also came up and said, "Maybe it was washed away?"

“Absolutely impossible.” Lin Ye immediately denied Blue Poison’s guess. “With this level of water flow, it can’t even wash away slightly larger rocks, how could it possibly wash away Skadi?”

“I think so too.” Chūmaru straightened up. “Why don’t we look around here?”

“That’s all we can do.” Lin Ye said as he reconnected to the communication channel and said to Magellan, “Magellan, we can’t find Skadi or any similar corpses. Please have the drone follow us and provide us with lighting.”

Magellan did not respond.

The drone didn't move; it just hovered in the air.

Lin Ye was stunned for a moment, a strong sense of unease welling up in his heart. He quickly turned around and looked towards the shore.

Then they discovered that there was no one on the shore.

"Damn it!" Lin Ye finally couldn't hold back and cursed, "What's going on now?!"

Blue Poison sensed something was wrong, but before she could speak, she heard Chūmaru shout, "Hey, who are you?"

They were stunned for a moment, then immediately turned around and saw a "person" standing in the river ten meters away.

Judging from its shape, it was the "Skadi" they had just seen. However, this time, it could not escape the light. The moment Chūmaru shouted, three searchlights shone on it.

It wasn't Skadi at all; it was just a woman's withered corpse, standing abruptly in the middle of the river. When everyone looked over, its head moved slightly, and only half of its eyeballs remained, rapidly rotating in their sockets.

"What is this thing again?" Chūmaru exclaimed.

cheated!

The moment Lin Ye saw the zombie, he had this feeling. Although being deceived by a corpse was unbelievable, they had already encountered enough unbelievable things tonight; what was one more?!

Skadi is definitely gone; the trail has gone cold. Now, their priority is to immediately return to shore and find Magellan and Frostleaf.

But just as he had this thought, the river suddenly began to surge violently.

Then, pairs of withered hands emerged from the river.

"Those corpses have come back to life!" Chūmaru exclaimed. "How is this possible?"

Lin Ye clenched his teeth tightly.

He's had enough.

There's no time left. The longer they linger here, the greater the chance of Magellan and Frostleaf getting into trouble. Skadi is already missing, and if the two of them disappear right under his nose, Lin Ye will never forgive himself.

What he needs now is something that will make the final decision!

All demons and monsters must disappear!

Lin Ye unbuttoned his shirt, took out a black talisman from his inner pocket, and then threw it into the air.

As the black talisman slowly descended, Lin Ye swung his sword, cleaving the talisman in two mid-air.

The next second, the maple leaf-colored blade was covered in black fire.

The flames illuminated Lin Ye's pupils.

Then, Lin Ye plunged Feng into the river, and a black shield enveloped the three of them.

"What is this?" Chūmaru exclaimed in surprise.

Blue Poison's face was also filled with disbelief.

Lin Ye did not answer, but simply turned the hilt of the knife.

Black flames ignited on the black shield, which then rapidly expanded, like an invisible force that pushed aside the river water, the skeletons in the water, and the standing undead. At the same time, the undead caught in the shield's influence were "bitten" by the black flames, which burned their bones and devoured their rotting flesh until they turned to ashes.

【Maple's Dogmatic Stance】

……

……

Author's note: Ah, I played NieR: Automata all day and was completely charmed by 2B, so the update is late. I've posted 6,000 words today, still owed 32 more chapters.

Chapter 324 Failure

When Lin Ye used [Maple] to unleash Shining's "Dogmatic Stance," the situation was immediately reversed.

Those that had already poked their heads out, and those that hadn't yet, were quickly consumed by the black fire along with the river, barely getting a chance to appear. At that moment, they seemed to truly be alive, emitting piercing, shrill cries that sent chills down one's spine, but they vanished just as quickly.

The “dogmatic stance” didn’t last long, only about ten seconds. But in that short time, two-thirds of the underground river, littered with bones and rotting flesh, was cut off, and not a single living corpse could be seen in sight. Even the sound of the flowing water seemed to have been cut off.

Standing beside Lin Ye, Chanwan and Landu, who had witnessed everything, had very interesting expressions on their faces.

"This...this power is too exaggerated," Blue Poison murmured. "It's unbelievable."