On the Ark.

“Then it will realize our weakness and pounce on us.” Lin Ye took a deep breath and said softly, “It’s practically the mindset of a beast.”

“Although these large creatures have extremely high intelligence, they are essentially still ferocious beasts from the deep sea.” Blue Poison looked at Lin Ye. “Doctor Lin Ye, I think we have no other choice.”

Before Lin Ye could speak, Shuangye suddenly raised her hand and pointed to the island.

“If I’m not mistaken,” Frostleaf said slowly, “has it already begun its hunt?”

Everyone looked in the direction that Shuangye pointed.

They finally saw the people who had disappeared overnight emerge from nowhere, stepping into the ocean like marionettes, and slowly walking towards the island.

Magellan said softly, "Now I finally understand how the people of Harlan disappeared?"

……

A week ago, when Lin Ye led his team away from the island, he never imagined that getting back onto it would be so difficult. Although it was only a few hundred meters, in this weather, their boat nearly capsized several times. By the time they finally made it to the island, Lin Ye felt like he was about to throw up his dinner.

"Where...is this place?" At this moment, Tianhuo slowly woke up from his coma.

“This is the island we’ve been talking about,” Lin Ye said. “I’m sorry, Tianhuo. We didn’t dare leave you alone on the shore, so we had to bring you here.”

Tianhuo slowly regained consciousness: "That island? But didn't you say before..."

"It probably didn't feel threatened by us, so it didn't stop its hunting plan." Lin Ye briefly explained Blue Poison's deduction to Tianhuo. When Tianhuo learned that even his most powerful move hadn't made the Deep Sea retreat, he showed a surprised expression.

At this point, Chōmaru said, "Although it's a bit of hindsight now, when I first proposed this plan, it reminded me of a little story from my hometown. A stranger brought a donkey to a mountain where tigers lived, and the tigers had never seen a donkey before..."

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly: "Don't tell stories of running out of ideas at a time like this."

Chūmaru looked at Lin Ye with some surprise: "You actually knew?"

"It's in the elementary school Chinese textbook... never mind, never mind." Lin Ye shook his head.

Blue Poison asked, somewhat puzzled, "What story is that?"

"It's not a good story," Lin Ye said. "At least I don't want to end up like that donkey. Alright, enough of that. What should we do now?"

They came to the island with the missing people. Those missing people didn't know how to row; they simply walked into the sea like puppets and swam all the way to the island. In this weather, swimming is far more dangerous than rowing.

Therefore, only half of the original number of people were able to swim to the island; the rest had drowned in the sea.

“We need to keep up with those people,” Blue Poison said. “No matter what kind of beast it is, it is at its weakest when it is feeding.”

"Now that it knows we've arrived on the island, will it still eat?" Chūmaru asked.

"Then we'll protect these people, won't we?"

Lin Ye was worried about Swire. He didn't know if she had successfully reached the island or had perished at sea. And then there was Skadi. Lin Ye knew very well that tonight was the last chance he might have to find Skadi; ​​if he missed it, he might never see her again.

Of course, if something goes wrong, they probably won't survive and will only be able to go to hell to meet Skadi.

"Let's go." Lin Ye patted his face, which was stiff from the cold, and said softly, "Let me see what the deep sea is really like."

He turned on his phone and sent Skadi a text message with only six words.

"I'm here, wait for me."

……

……

Author's note: Writing at midnight is too tiring... I'll try to finish three chapters before midnight today.

Chapter 338 Methods of Eating

"Seriously, is this island we're standing on really some kind of deep-sea creature? I can't sense anything about it," Chūmaru muttered in complaint.

This was also the thought of everyone present.

The thought that they were standing not on land, but on the body of some large creature filled Lin Ye with unease. It was as if this large creature might turn over at any moment, revealing its ferocious face, and send everyone here into the deep sea.

But that didn't happen; the island remained the same as it had been a week ago, showing no signs of change.

“We can’t be sure that the giant creature is the island itself,” Blue Poison said. “Because I don’t think there would be a giant creature of this form in the deep sea. But even if the island isn’t the giant creature itself, it must have some connection with it, we just don’t know what that connection is yet.”

“All I need to know is that the island itself isn’t a giant creature,” Chūmaru said. “Otherwise, I really wouldn’t know how to deal with it.”

At this moment, the weakened Tianhuo said, "If this island is indeed the giant creature itself, then let me deal with it."

Do you still want to use that spell?

"Ah."

"Come on, I admit your magic is powerful, but the price is too high. If you use it a few more times, you'll probably die here on the spot."

Tianhu wanted to refute Chūmaru, but couldn't find a reason to do so, because she knew Chūmaru was right. "Heavenly Fire," as her most powerful Originium Arts, required her to rest for two to three days after each use. Continuous use, even if she could use it, would likely cost her her life. But she was still somewhat unwilling to accept this.

"Don't worry." Lin Ye saw through Tianhuo's thoughts and said softly, "You've done enough. Leave the rest to us."

Upon reaching the shore, they had already discussed their general plan. Since even a powerful Originium Arts like Skyfire couldn't pose a significant threat to the "Deep Sea," their current strength was clearly insufficient to defeat the yet-to-be-revealed Deep Sea entity. Therefore, they shifted their focus to rescuing as many people as possible from the "Deep Sea's" hypnosis and making one last search for Skadi's whereabouts. Once successful, they would immediately retreat to Harlan and then contact Rhodes Island and the Ursus military.

Such a powerful opponent is beyond their ability to handle.

Although it was a rainy day and they couldn't track down the hypnotized individuals, they knew where to look for them.

Before long, they arrived at the cave they had visited a week earlier, and sure enough, they saw countless messy footprints at the entrance.

Blue Poison examined the footprints and then said, "They haven't been inside for long."

"Then let's hurry," Lin Ye said. "They're not slow."

Everyone nodded and, after a brief preparation, went inside. Leading the way were still Chūmaru and Blue Poison, with Lin Ye and Magellan in the middle, and Frostleaf bringing up the rear. A drone hovered above them—one of Magellan's two remaining drones had been damaged by seawater on the ship, so this was the only one they had available.

As it was the last one, Magellan didn't dare use it to scout ahead, since everyone still needed the weapon system on the drone and couldn't just give it away for free.

Since this wasn't their first time here, and they had a clear objective, they moved much faster than they had a week ago. But even with their increased speed, they didn't let their guard down. They all had a premonition that the dangers they might encounter tonight would be far greater than they had a week ago.

"Speaking of which," Chūmaru, who was walking at the front, asked, "if this island itself is the deep sea, why didn't it cause us any trouble that night? Did it just let us wander around inside its body?"

Magellan thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it's because he sensed the divine power of Physician Lin Ye?"

The power of God... it sounds like a very chuunibyou term, but it made everyone think about it seriously.

“Unlikely,” Blue Poison said. “If the Deep Sea considers Doctor Lin Ye to be of the same level, then Doctor Lin Ye’s arrival here is tantamount to a provocation against the Deep Sea. Faced with such a provocation, the Deep Sea cannot remain inactive; at the very least, it will issue a warning.”

"A warning? Is that what happened to us that night?"

“It shouldn’t be that simple,” Blue Poison said. “What happened to us that night was more like a stress response than a deliberate attack. I think if the deep sea really is this island itself, and there’s only one possibility that it didn’t do anything to us that night… that it was dormant.”

Lin Ye was somewhat puzzled: "Hibernation?"

“Yes, or rather, digestion,” Blue Poison explained to Lin Ye. “Even a creature of this size needs time to digest after consuming the entire population of Harlan Town. During this time, it can do very little, and may even enter a dormant state. Unless it faces a life-threatening situation, it will not wake up from its dormancy.”

Before Lin Ye could speak, Chanmaru, who was walking at the front, said, "So they woke up and started moving around tonight after eating and drinking their fill."

"You could say that..."

“You can’t say that anymore,” Chūmaru said. “It’s already right in front of us.”

Everyone was stunned for a moment before realizing that Chūmaru had stopped, gripped his sword tightly, and was staring ahead.

Standing directly in front of them was a pale-faced "creature," a miniature version of the monster that had been crushed to death by the "meteor" from the heavens, except it lacked that terrifying eye. Its body was covered in fleshy growths, which writhed slightly in the light of the searchlight.

"What is this?" Magellan's face turned pale. "What a disgusting thing!"

"You guys said before that the giant creature might be this island itself, so could we be inside its esophagus right now?" Chōmaru tilted his head. "So this little thing is a parasite in its esophagus?"

Lin Ye also found the monster before him utterly disgusting; just one glance sent shivers down his spine. He immediately drew [Maple], but Chanmaru moved first. After saying those words, she charged straight at the monster.

“But this is good too.” A hint of excitement shone in Chōmaru’s eyes. “We’ve been here for so long, and we’ve finally found someone to slash. If we don’t get some exercise, my sword will rust.”

This was the first time Lin Ye had seen Chūmaru in action. The large sword that looked so inconvenient was incredibly light in her hands.

The monster didn't move when it saw Chūmaru charging towards it; it just stood there blankly.

puff.

With a swift movement, Chūmaru cleaved the monster's body in two.

Then red blood spurted out.

Chūmaru let out a soft "Huh?": "Why does it feel like human blood?"

"Human blood?" Lin Ye was shocked and immediately wanted to go forward to check the situation, but Magellan stopped him. He turned his head and looked at Magellan with some doubt, "What's wrong?"

Magellan's face was horribly pale: "Dr. Lin Ye, look up..."

Lin Ye was stunned for a moment, then slowly raised his head.

Then he saw countless human-shaped tumors, gently wriggling under the light.

He was stunned.

……

……

Author's comment: Holy crap, this gave me goosebumps.

Chapter 339 [Maple Leaf and Blue Poison]

The scene Lin Ye witnessed at that moment made him realize that being blind might not be so bad.

The impact was so great that he felt his stomach churning, almost vomiting, especially since the writhing tumor was constantly oozing scarlet blood. As the blood dripped down, an even more unbearable stench of decay filled the air.

"Ugh..." Even the thick-skinned Chūmaru couldn't help but cover his mouth after raising his head, his face looking very unpleasant. "What are all these things! So many! Are we really in a monster's esophagus? Why didn't we see them last time we came? When did they appear?"

Maybe they were already there, but were hypnotized last time, or maybe they just never looked up and these guys weren't awakened. But whatever the case, these guys are already in front of them, and they obviously can't move forward without dealing with them.

puff.

As if to verify Lin Ye's idea, the fleshy tumors on his head began to split, splitting into human figures, which then detached from the wall and fell to the ground. He then shakily stood up and walked towards the crowd, leaving a trail of bloody footprints on the ground.

Lin Ye gripped [Maple] tightly, but before he could even swing it, Magellan, standing beside him, couldn't resist any longer and began controlling the drone. The drone hovering above them lowered its altitude and then deployed its weapon system. Two seconds later, a miniature missile was launched, accurately hitting the monster closest to them.

Then, with a bang, the monster was blown to pieces, but the nauseating stench that filled the air became even stronger.

Sensing the power of the missile, Lin Ye immediately turned to Magellan and shouted, "Don't use missiles here! If you blow up the cave, none of us will be able to get out!"

Magellan then came to his senses and stammered, "I, I, I forgot."

Lin Ye shook his head, not blaming Magellan. After all, the scene before them could easily cause a simple-minded researcher like Magellan to lose his composure. As long as no major mistakes had been made, it was fine. He told Magellan to stay with him and not to intervene. Although he himself wasn't very willing to use [Maple] to cut down these disgusting things, he had no choice.

"Hey!" Chūmaru's voice came from ahead again, "I feel like there's something wrong with these monsters!"