On the Ark.

"What?" Blue Poison was stunned.

"This isn't Skadi! Absolutely not!"

"What are you talking about?" Chūmaru shouted. "The corpse is already like this, and you can still tell she's not Skadi?! Dr. Lin Ye, this is no longer..."

"I can tell!" Lin Ye interrupted Chanmaru, shouting excitedly, "No one knows Skadi's body better than me! I've seen it with my own eyes, more than once! This woman is definitely not Skadi!"

……

……

Author's note: There should be another update tonight, but it might be quite late, so please don't wait up.

Chapter 341 Speculation

The woman devoured by the monster was not Skadi.

This is actually quite obvious; anyone who has seen Skadi or knows even a little about her can see it. The woman devoured by the monster is significantly shorter than Skadi, and their body types are worlds apart. However, Lin Ye had initially been prejudiced, assuming that the person holding Skadi's phone must be Skadi. When he discovered "Skadi" was dead, he was overwhelmed by grief and couldn't focus on observing her closely.

It wasn't until he recalled the scene of his first meeting with Skadi that he suddenly realized how different the corpse in front of him was from Skadi's body.

The dead woman was not Skadi!

Upon confirming this fact, Lin Ye was overjoyed. This rollercoaster of emotions, from initial sorrow to sudden happiness, made him incredibly excited. So much so that when he tried to relay the message to his teammates, his words were practically thoughtless. He meant to say, "This isn't Skadi's body, because I've seen Skadi; ​​her body wasn't this small," but what came out was, "No one knows Skadi's body better than me."

Therefore, he couldn't quite understand why his teammates' expressions weren't joyful, but rather strange, when he shared such good news with them.

Yeah, I guess I've been influenced by these monsters. Even if I'm happy inside, I can't show it on my face.

So Lin Ye bent down, took the real Skadi's phone from the fake Skadi's corpse, and then quickly returned to the group.

When Blue Poison saw Lin Ye return, she immediately asked, "Isn't that Miss Skadi?"

"No." Lin Ye shook his head repeatedly. "That's not Skadi's body at all. Skadi isn't that small. Isn't that obvious? Didn't you guys notice?"

“Well…” Magellan chuckled awkwardly, “I really didn’t see that coming.”

Chūmaru was quite surprised: "Even after it's become like this, you can still tell the size?"

"Why not?" Lin Ye was puzzled. Bones don't shrink after a person dies, so shouldn't it be obvious at a glance? However, Lin Ye remembered that Chūmaru had only seen Skadi once, and only from a distance, and even then, only from behind. So he patted Chūmaru on the shoulder and said, "You must have been too far away to see clearly. I've been in close contact with Skadi many times, and I know her (bones) size better than anyone. I'm certain that it's definitely not Skadi."

“Alright, fine.” Chūmaru shrugged. “From this perspective, you are indeed a gifted and extraordinary man.”

The more innocent Blue Poison didn't think too much about it, and simply breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "It's good that it wasn't Miss Skadi. It seems I was right. Miss Skadi would never be devoured by something so low-level. Even if Miss Skadi isn't very adaptable to Originium Arts, her brilliant hunting record wasn't built on luck."

"But we still haven't found Miss Skadi!" Skyfire shouted. "Gentlemen, isn't our chat time over?! If we don't leave here soon, we'll really never get out!"

As they talked, more monsters swarmed around. There were over a thousand people in Harlan town, and roughly a thousand monsters were associated with that. Even if these monsters themselves weren't particularly aggressive, as the saying goes, many ants can kill an elephant. Tianhuo didn't want to mess things up in this place, so while speaking, he raised his staff, and scorching flames instantly filled half the cave, burning more than ten monsters alive.

"Hey, don't use fire in a place like this!" Lin Ye exclaimed in shock. "Are you trying to suffocate us?!"

"Don't worry, I can sense that there are plenty of ventilation shafts here," Tianhuo sneered. "Besides, I'd rather be burned to death than be eaten by these guys. Sitting and waiting to die is just too stupid."

Lin Ye could understand Tianhuo. No girl would like the appearance of such a monster, let alone be devoured by it; that would be the last thing she wanted to die. Even Lin Ye thought so, and when he learned that the female corpse wasn't Skadi, he felt even more motivated.

The likelihood that Skadi is still alive has greatly increased, and if she is alive, she will inevitably remain on the island.

Lin Ye put Skadi's phone away and then instructed, "Let's keep going in and not waste any more time."

"Roger that!" Chūmaru took the lead. "Now that we know those who were devoured are all dead, there's no need to show any mercy. I'll clear the way, you all must keep up!"

As she spoke, she brandished her greatsword and charged into the horde of monsters. The weak monsters were no match for her. With her clearing the way, the others only needed to follow.

"Doctor Lin Ye!" As they were running away, Lan Du suddenly patted Lin Ye on the shoulder. "Look over there."

Lin Ye looked in the direction Lan Du pointed and saw another monster. The monster stopped when it saw them, then slowly raised its hand and made a gesture similar to "making a phone call".

Upon seeing this, Lin Ye's pupils narrowed slightly.

Soon, he saw similar gestures on other monsters, all resembling phone calls, even though they had nothing in their hands. They were all making the same pose as the monster holding Skadi's phone.

"Why, why is this happening?" Lin Ye exclaimed in surprise. "They can all make phone calls?"

“I think it’s probably imitation,” Blue Poison said. “They may not have very high intelligence, but they’re not brainless. They might imitate some actions they’ve never seen before.”

"...For example, making a phone call?"

“Yes. They probably saw what Miss Skadi was doing with her phone.” Blue Poison nodded. “So after getting Miss Skadi’s phone, they did something similar and called your phone.”

Lin Ye thought about it and felt that this possibility was indeed quite high.

“If that’s the case,” Lin Ye murmured, “maybe they know where Skadi is.”

Shuangye turned to look at him: "Do you really want to communicate with these guys?"

"It's not about communication," Lin Ye shook his head, "but perhaps we can make use of it."

As they talked, they saw a light coming from ahead. Soon, they returned to the underground river they had visited a week earlier, and the scene before them was completely different.

……

……

Author's Note: Twenty-six chapters still owed. Actually, I'm only a few hundred words short of eight thousand words. I was planning to write two chapters in one go, and I was in pretty good shape today. But my family suddenly started messaging me on WeChat, giving me another lecture about my interpersonal relationships and marriage. My mental state immediately collapsed. To be honest, I'm quite annoyed. I don't know what I'm in such a rush to turn twenty-three in December. Shouldn't I be averse to blind dates at this age? It's really frustrating. (Sorry for spreading some negative energy. I've already had a lot of worries lately, and I finally recovered before this happened. Sigh.)

Chapter 342 Escape (Part 1)

They returned to the underground river that Lin Ye had almost destroyed a week earlier, but the scene before them was completely different from what they had seen a week ago. The scene that Lin Ye and the others witnessed would likely be one they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

Those who had gone missing were here, standing in the center of the underground river. A week ago, the nearly dried-up riverbed had been refilled with water, and not just water, but also those brown lumps. The lumps swam swiftly and agilely in the water, but when they got close to the humans standing on the surface, they would leap out from beneath the water, pounce on the humans, and then spread out little by little.

"Ugh..." This time Magellan couldn't hold it in and actually vomited.

The others didn't look too good either; apart from Blue Poison, she seemed to have expected it.

"What is this?" Chūmaru asked.

“This is where those parasites choose their hosts and feed,” Blue Poison said. “They choose their hosts here, then devour the host’s nerves and flesh, eventually turning the host into a puppet that can support their actions. That is, the monsters we just saw.”

"This is disgusting," Chūmaru said. "We can't just stand by and watch, can we?"

"Of course not, otherwise we wouldn't have come to the island." Lin Ye said as he searched for Swire in the river, and he actually found her. Perhaps because they arrived late, Swire hadn't been targeted by the tumor yet; she was just standing in the river with her eyes closed, as if she were asleep.

Tianhuo said, "We need to hurry, those monsters are catching up. Ugh, unbearable, they're disgusting."

As she spoke, she turned around and pointed her staff back the way they had come. The area was now almost completely filled with fleshy monsters with hosts. She whispered two incantations, and the next second, an explosion occurred among the monsters, instantly blasting several to pieces. At the same time, the flames from the explosion spread rapidly. It must be said that the fleshy monsters were indeed highly flammable; even a tiny spark could easily set them ablaze.

Seeing this, Frostleaf asked Skyfire, "Are you trying to destroy our escape route?"

"Do you think we can retreat like this?" Tianhuo sneered. "We might as well just burn it all down. After burning for a few tens of minutes, a path will appear."

While Tianhuo's method was somewhat crude and simplistic, it was undeniably effective. Once the monsters reached this area, the vast space would cause considerable trouble for everyone. And as Tianhuo had said, it would be very difficult for them to return the way they came.

"Let's get moving," Lin Ye said. "Tianhuo will cover the rear here and prevent those monsters with hosts from breaking in. I, Chanmaru, and Landu will go rescue people. Magellan, you use the drones to scout and see if there are any other ways out. I remember you said there are many paths in here that connect to the outside."

“Okay, okay.” Magellan immediately took control of the drone. “I’ll get on it right away.”

"And while you're at it, help me find Skadi." Lin Ye patted Magellan on the shoulder. "Please."

After saying that, he ran towards Swire.

When he went into the water, he was a little worried that the tumors might choose him as their host and attack him. But to his surprise, as soon as he entered the water, the surrounding tumors swam away quickly, as if they were fleeing from a predator. Lin Ye didn't know exactly what happened, but he had a vague feeling that it might be related to [Maple].

Of course, it's also possible that the tumorous monster sensed Lin Ye wasn't hypnotized. As parasites, their own combat power is extremely weak. They need a host to launch even simple attacks, and to seize a host's body, they must do so when the host is hypnotized and completely unable to fight back—making them utterly useless.

However, as he approached Swire, another question came to mind.

What exactly are these parasites? What is their relationship with the "Deep Sea Main Body" that has yet to appear? Are they servants, puppets, or...? Lin Ye couldn't figure it out. He only knew that the power that "hypnotized" the residents of Harlan Town and the members of the joint team was probably the "Deep Sea Main Body," but the ones responsible for devouring these people were these low-powered fleshy parasites.

Throughout this process, the "deep-sea body" never appeared. So how did it obtain energy?

Lin Ye couldn't figure it out for the time being, but since he had already reached Swire's side, he temporarily abandoned those thoughts. After he got close to Swire, the several fleshy monsters that had been eyeing her body quickly swam away, allowing Lin Ye to easily reach her side and then vigorously shake her shoulders.

"Swire! Swire, wake up!" he shouted.

Swire did not respond, as if he were fast asleep.

How did that happen?

Lin Ye was a little confused. If he was being hypnotized, shouldn't he have just used his hand to stimulate him a little?

Is it not exciting enough?

Lin Ye thought for a moment and decided he should give it a try. So he grabbed Swire's chin with one hand, lifted her face up, and slapped her face hard with the other.

With a snap.

Swire's face immediately swelled up and her eyes opened.

"Ouch...what's going on? That hurts." She covered her face, looking somewhat bewildered. "Hey, you rascal, what are you doing here?"

Lin Ye breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness. Enough with the small talk, I'll explain later. Now come with me."

"Hey, what are you talking about? Wait, where am I?" Swire looked around and then saw the fleshy monsters wriggling beneath the water's surface. Her expression changed drastically. "What the hell are those things?!"

“You don’t want to know what that thing is,” Lin Ye said. “Hurry up and get me to shore first, then Magellan will explain it to you, or you can come with me to rescue the others…”

Although she had absolutely no idea why she woke up not in a warm sleeping bag, surrounded by familiar Guardian agents, but in a river that looked nauseating, surrounded by grotesque, tumor-like monsters that made her want to vomit at first glance, Swire, as a high-ranking superintendent in Lungmen, wasn't one to sit idly by. Since Lin Ye had already said so, she didn't ask any further questions, but followed him ashore, swearing in Lungmen as they went. It was as if they weren't in the deep sea, but in Lungmen's commercial district.

As Lin Ye brought Swire ashore, Chūmaru also helped another person ashore—Youmeng, the oceanographer from the Lungmen Guard Bureau. Youmeng had also woken up, but his complexion was terrible, and unlike Swire, he wasn't as lucky; he had many wounds on his body. They were probably from being eaten by those fleshy monsters, so he could barely stand, but thankfully he was still alive.

"Yumu?!" Swire noticed her subordinate and immediately went over to him, taking over Chūmaru's place. "How are you?!"

Youmeng shook her head with a wry smile: "I have no idea what happened."

"Let Magellan tell you what exactly happened," Lin Ye asked Magellan. "Have you found a new exit?"

Magellan replied, "We have found three roads, but we do not know which one leads to the outside."

“I see. Then you should discuss it with Youmeng.” Lin Ye looked at Youmeng. “Although I know you’re not in a good state right now, we need your brain and knowledge in order for us to leave alive.”

“Although I don’t know what happened,” Youmeng took a deep breath, “I will try my best.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you. Let’s continue the rescue.” Lin Ye then looked at Swire, “Superintendent Swire, why don’t you stay on the shore and listen in? Once you know what’s going on, come help us immediately. We haven’t found the Ursus people yet.”

"People from Ursus?" Swire was quite surprised. "Could it be that they are also..."

Before Swire could finish speaking, Lin Ye made a pause gesture.

"what happened?"

Lin Ye didn't speak, but turned around and looked at the opposite bank of the river.

There seems to be something terrifying there.