On the Ark.

"Something's not right?" Lin Ye asked loudly. "How is it not right?"

Before Chanwan could answer, several more monsters slowly approached. Blue Poison fired poison arrows at them; this was the first time Lin Ye had seen Blue Poison use her power. The arrows had very weak penetrating power; even though these monsters didn't seem to have high defense, Blue Poison's arrows couldn't penetrate them, only barely piercing their bodies.

The monsters that were shot only paused briefly before continuing forward. Blue Poison ignored them, not firing a second arrow at any of the hit monsters, but instead searching for other targets. Seeing the monsters, unharmed, walking towards them, Lin Ye grew anxious, but he quickly realized his anxiety was unnecessary.

The monsters that were shot could only take three steps forward at most. After three steps, their entire bodies turned a ghostly blue at a visible speed, and then quickly rotted. The nauseating tumors shrank little by little, and ghostly blue liquid gushed from their bodies. Finally, they collapsed to the ground, having shrunk to about half their original size.

"Wow, what a potent toxin!" Magellan exclaimed in surprise. "It's almost like it's been dissolved. If it were injected into a person..."

Magellan's words were unintentional, but Blue Poison replied seriously: "Don't worry, even if you accidentally come into contact with me, I have an antidote that will keep you safe, so there's no need to be afraid of me."

"Uh, I'm not afraid of you..."

"Really?" Blue Poison said softly. "That's wonderful."

puff.

As they spoke, three more monsters were dissolved by Blue Poison's toxins and collapsed to the ground. Lin Ye looked at the fallen monsters and suddenly noticed something. At that moment, Chūmaru spoke again: "There are humans inside these monsters! There are humans inside these monsters!"

Is there a person inside?!

Seemingly to verify the theory of the worm, the tumors contaminated with toxins were gradually dissolved, revealing the "person" beneath them. To be precise, it was a rotting corpse; apart from the intact skeleton, no part of the body was intact.

Lin Ye realized something and quickly said to Lan Du, "Cover me, I'm going to check it out."

"Ah!?" Blue Poison exclaimed in surprise, "But my poison is there..."

Lin Ye rushed over, squatted down beside the rotting corpse, and watched the toxins that were still dissolving the tumor. He didn't dare to move rashly, but then a thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and he decided to give it a try.

He raised the Maple Leaf and plunged it into the tumor that was being dissolved by the toxin.

Then, he saw [Maple]'s blade gradually turn from fiery red to a ghostly blue, emitting a faint blue glow. Meanwhile, the toxins within the tumor were slowly disappearing, as if being absorbed by [Maple].

"It can even absorb Blue Poison's toxins. No wonder it's called Messiah," Lin Ye thought to himself.

After the toxins were absorbed, Lin Ye removed the "dead" tumor and then examined the corpse in front of him. This corpse did not belong to any of the team members in this joint operation, because he was still wearing clothes, but they were neither Ursus military uniforms nor Lungmen Guard uniforms; they were civilian clothes.

The degree of decomposition of the corpses was different from those they had seen in the underground river a week earlier.

Therefore, Lin Ye guessed that the corpse was the resident of Harlan Town who had disappeared overnight, whom they had been searching for. His guess was quickly confirmed, because he found an identification book in the pocket of the corpse's clothes. Although he didn't know what kind of identification it was, as it was almost soaked and rotten, he could still make out a few words, such as Harlan Town.

Indeed, this is concrete evidence.

Lin Ye put away his ID book. Just then, another monster walked up to him. Without hesitation, he gripped [Maple] tightly and slashed at the monster from bottom to top. However, he deliberately avoided the monster's vital points, leaving only a shallow cut on the tumor.

But that was enough. Blue liquid quickly seeped from the knife wound; the toxin, belonging to Blue Poison, instantly entered through the wound, infiltrated the monster's entire corpse, and then decomposed it in an instant. In less than ten seconds, another human corpse appeared before Lin Ye.

Blue Poison and Magellan caught up at this moment. Looking at the wound on the corpse, Blue Poison was stunned: "This, is this my poison?"

“Yes.” Lin Ye nodded. “It’s a very useful ability, Blue Poison.”

"But how did you do that?" Blue Poison murmured. "Only I can control this poison..."

"Well, there's no time to explain now," Lin Ye shook his head and said, "I've already found the residents of Harlan Town."

Before he finished speaking, Chōmaru also cut a path through the monsters, and Shimoha helped Tenka follow.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Chūmaru exclaimed. "These monsters are all filled with people; they seem to need these human bodies to move."

"It needs a human body to move?" Tianhuo pondered for a moment. "So, this means it's a parasite?"

“Most likely, yes. We need to speed things up,” Lin Ye said. “Nine out of ten of those hypnotized people will be devoured by these monsters. Although I don’t know how long it will take to finish, we must speed things up. These monsters, while numerous, don’t seem aggressive or have any intelligence…”

Before he could finish speaking, a bloated monster approached them.

Lin Ye frowned, and just as he was about to finish it off, he saw the monster stop.

Then it did something that Lin Ye would never forget for the rest of his life.

It pulled out a cell phone from somewhere and pressed a button.

Lin Ye's eyes widened.

Because his phone rang.

……

……

Author's note: I was supposed to update at 3 AM yesterday, but I went to bed earlier to adjust my sleep schedule (I only slept three or four hours a day on average the past two days). I slept enough yesterday, so I'll definitely update at 3 AM today!

Chapter 340 I've seen Skadi's body! She's not Skadi! (3K)

"This, how is this possible?!"

The sudden appearance of the monster pulling out a phone and dialing a number stunned everyone present. They had assumed this tumor was a mindless parasite, acting purely on instinct. But this parasite could perform such a "human-like" action—could it possess intelligence?!

What surprised everyone even more was that Lin Ye's phone rang as if on cue after the monster dialed the number.

Everyone looked at Lin Ye in surprise, noticing that his face was unusually pale.

"Dr. Lin Ye... is it calling your cell phone?" Magellan stammered. "How does it know your cell phone number...?"

At this point, Magellan suddenly realized what was happening and his eyes widened.

Lin Ye slowly took out his phone from his pocket, and everyone saw that the caller ID on the screen was none other than Skadi.

"How...how is that possible? That's Miss Skadi's phone?!" Magellan exclaimed in surprise. "Where did she get it?"

Tianhuo's eyes narrowed slightly: "Why ask where you got it? Isn't the answer obvious?"

Perhaps frightened by the series of bizarre scenes after entering the cave, Magellan's reactions were somewhat slow. But she wasn't stupid; Tianhuo had already made his point, and considering what she was seeing, Magellan couldn't possibly not understand what everyone meant, yet she still refused to believe it.

Blue Poison was also unwilling to believe it.

“Impossible…” Blue Poison looked at the monster covered in fleshy growths in front of him and whispered, “How could Miss Skadi be devoured by something like this? Absolutely impossible.”

Of all those present, Blue Poison knew Skadi's strength best and deeply understood what the title of "strongest deep-sea hunter" represented. Therefore, she refused to believe that Skadi would be devoured by such a parasite.

As someone who doesn't know Skadi's strength and isn't even part of Rhodes Island, Skyfire can make a very objective judgment.

"Although I don't know just how powerful that legendary deep-sea hunter is, I do remember you saying that she's not very good at dealing with mental magic attacks, right?"

Blue Poison turned to look at Skyfire.

Skyfire slowly said, "What we know so far is that the Deep Sea's strongest attack method is mind control, which is hypnosis. Using this method, it quietly hunted down all the residents of Harlan Town overnight, and hypnotized the Ursus soldiers and the Lungmen Guard right under our noses. They are not ordinary people, and they even affected me. If it weren't for Dr. Lin Ye's ability to resist hypnosis and a sword bestowed by a god, we would probably have suffered the same fate as them."

Everyone understood the meaning of the heavenly fire.

Under hypnosis, even a parasite with low offensive capabilities can easily devour a powerful person. After all, there was a living example right in front of them: Silver Sword, the leader of the Ursus squad, was an experienced and powerful soldier, but he too disappeared without a trace, clearly hypnotized, and they didn't even know if he had made it to shore alive.

Skadi is indeed powerful, perhaps even more so than Silver Sword, but if she is not good at dealing with this type of attack, then no matter how powerful she is, it will be useless.

Lin Ye gripped the hilt of the [Maple] sword tightly, his body trembling slightly.

Although he already knew the chances were slim, Lin Ye still held onto hope, believing the call was from Skadi. He reasoned that Skadi was simply temporarily trapped and unable to speak, so she was only calling him for help. He never imagined that the caller would be this monster before him.

Has Skadi already been devoured by it? A week ago… no, two weeks ago?

Even the strongest body couldn't survive for two weeks being devoured by such a parasite, right?

Lin Ye dared not think any further, nor did he want to.

He only had one thing on his mind: if this monster really had devoured Skadi, then he would at least take Skadi's body back. But just as he was about to step forward, Frostleaf, who had been silent for a long time, brought up another possibility.

"Could it be that Miss Skadi is still conscious?"

Lin Ye stopped what he was doing, and everyone turned to look at Shuangye.

“Because the other monsters don’t seem to have any brains.” Frostleaf looked around at the monsters they had already killed and said, “Only this monster is different. Could it be that although this monster devoured Miss Skadi’s body, it failed to destroy her will? Or is it that Miss Skadi can control this monster? But in her current body, she can’t speak, so she can only contact you by phone?”

Lin Ye's eyes widened slightly.

This conjecture doesn't seem impossible; in fact, it's quite likely.

However, he still found it hard to believe that the body of the monstrous tumor in front of him was actually Skadi.

“But no matter what, we need to remove this parasite from Miss Skadi,” Frostleaf continued, “and it’s best not to hurt Miss Skadi.”

"Huh?" Chūmaru tilted his head. "How is it possible to peel off the parasites without harming the people inside?"

Skyfire raised his staff, aiming it at the fleshy monster: "Let me try with fire."

“No need!” Lin Ye immediately said, “Let Blue Poison do it. Blue Poison’s toxins can dissolve the monsters.”

"...Use poison?" Chūmaru was even more incredulous. "Aren't you afraid of dissolving Skadi along with her?"

Lin Ye turned to look at Blue Poison.

Blue Poison gently bit her lower lip, and facing Lin Ye's gaze, she nodded solemnly: "Leave it to me. I will try my best to prevent the poison from affecting Miss Skadi inside. Even if it does, I can detoxify her immediately."

Lin Ye took a deep breath and then nodded: "Thank you for your trouble."

Although Lin Ye knew that using poison was very risky, the bodies of those who had been devoured by the monsters were already almost completely decomposed. So it didn't matter whether they were affected by the poison or not. But this monster in front of him was different. If Skadi was still alive, although the possibility was very small, she would definitely be extremely weak. Once she was affected by the poison, she would likely die on the spot.

But Lin Ye knew they had no other choice; Blue Poison's abilities were the only answer.

No one else could do this. Heavenly Fire might be able to, but in Lin Ye's view, that was a more dangerous approach than Blue Poison. Blue Poison's toxins could be neutralized with an antidote, but once bitten by flames, the trouble would be far greater.

Under the cover of the crowd, Blue Poison adjusted the poison concentration in the poison arrow and then aimed it at Skadi.

Lin Ye roared at the monster, "Skadi, if you can hear me, don't move! We'll get you out of here soon."

Whether it understood Lin Ye's words or simply had no intention of avoiding them, the monster continued to walk straight towards them. This allowed Blue Poison to effortlessly fire two poison arrows at it. Perhaps due to a much smaller dose, this time, the monster did not dissolve into nothingness within three steps like the previous monsters.

It took more than ten steps, almost standing in front of everyone, before the dense, fleshy tumors began to ooze blue venom. Finally, it collapsed to the ground, though there were no flames on its body, it seemed as if it were engulfed in flames, kneeling and struggling in agony. Ultimately, it was completely dissolved by the blue poison, and then a woman kneeling on the ground appeared before everyone.

Seeing this, Lin Ye felt as if his heart was being torn apart. He shouted Skadi's name and rushed to her. The other monsters tried to grab him, but were stopped.

As for "Skadi"... just like those who had fallen and been devoured by the monsters, she was no longer recognizable as human. Apart from being barely recognizable as a woman, she was a completely rotting corpse, still holding a cell phone in her hand.

Before he even reached Skadi, Lin Ye knew she was dead, beyond saving. There were no sorcerers in this world who could bring the dead back to life; even the Messiah couldn't save Skadi. Lin Ye knew this perfectly well, so in the end, he stood before Skadi, looking at her kneeling, feeling as if it were all unreal.

Skadi... is dead? She just died like that?

Lin Ye felt somewhat disoriented, and his vision became blurry.

Skadi's voice echoed in his mind, bringing back memories of his first meeting with her.

...etc., the scene of the first time he met Skadi.

Lin Ye's pupils contracted slightly as he looked at "Skadi" kneeling before him.

"Dr. Lin Ye!" Even though Blue Poison knew that Lin Ye was struggling to accept Skadi's death, and that she herself was also finding it difficult, she still had to suppress her grief and shout to Lin Ye, "Dr. Lin Ye! We can't stop any longer! These monsters are multiplying. If they really devour all the residents of Harlan Town, we'll be trapped by them sooner or later. Since Miss Skadi is no longer here..."

"No!" Lin Ye shouted as if he had been jolted awake, "This isn't Skadi!"