novelhk Chapter 68 Shadow Pollution
Chapter 68 Shadow Pollution
Chapter 68 Shadow Pollution
Yu Wang took the item. The spiral-shaped shell didn't feel as hard as rock, but rather like a thick, resilient horn.
He turned the flashlight to its brightest setting and held it close to the casing.
The light struggled to penetrate and illuminate the interior.
Zhang Xinlan also came over, and the two of them carefully observed the strange, curled-up creature inside the egg.
"It was stillborn."
However, as soon as Zhang Xinlan distinguished where the yolk was, Yu Wang made a judgment, but his doubts deepened.
Even if a normal shark embryo is not fully differentiated, it should be streamlined, with the head, torso, and fins clearly defined.
But this thing—
Why does it look like a chrysanthemum?
To resolve his doubts, Yu Wang took out a dagger and cut open the egg.
"Pfft—"
The foul-smelling slime seeped out from the cracks, and the pungent smell, comparable to rotten eggs, penetrated the bubble helmets and forced its way into the noses of the two people.
"Ugh—!" Zhang Xinlan couldn't help but gag, and quickly covered her mouth and nose before backing away.
Yu Wang also felt a churning in his stomach, but he endured the discomfort and rummaged through the fish carcasses inside.
[You have seen the corpse of a strange creature. Your sanity has decreased by 1.]
Now it's much clearer.
Although it largely maintained the spindle shape of a fish, its tail was covered with many proliferating tissues, layered together, making it look like a chrysanthemum.
In addition, its body surface is covered with uneven, spherical bumps!
The bump was covered by a thin layer of skin, underneath which was dark and many closed, slit-like eyelid structures could be seen, which were developing eyes. However, where the eyes should have been on the head, there was only a vertically torn slit. At the edge of the slit, jagged, inwardly curved, sharp protrusions could be seen, which were the beginnings of teeth.
If it weren't for the game's interface, Yu Wang would hardly believe that this was the Longtail Lemon Shark.
[Longtail lemon shark eggs (deceased)]
[Description: Corrupted by an unknown shadowy force, it underwent irreversible malignant mutation. The unfortunate little creature didn't even see the sunlight before perishing in twisting and pain.]
"Shadow Erosion—Distortion—" Yu Wang's gaze swept across the words on the panel, his expression becoming extremely solemn.
Just as the stone statue figurine warned, the shadows are creeping and the tide is rising.
Clearly, night was beginning to fall.
They have already begun to substantially impact the fundamental ecology of this world during the day!
The most vulnerable embryonic life form became the first victim.
However, a new question then arose:
If "Shadow Erosion" can cause biological mutations, why did he never see or hear of any large number of strangely shaped, obviously illogical marine creatures appearing in the three years of his previous life?
He stared at the dead, mutated embryo, his mind racing, analyzing two possibilities:
Alternatively, organisms that are eroded and deformed during the embryonic stage cannot survive to the birth stage and will be eliminated due to developmental abnormalities, making them difficult to find in the outside world.
Adults, on the other hand, have stronger resistance, so the corrosive forces naturally have no effect on them.
Alternatively, this distortion phenomenon is not widespread and only occurs in specific regions.
For example, in this body of water where a massive amount of special "beans" have gathered for unknown reasons!
It may not be a coincidence that the ocean chose to gather beans here; it may be related to suppressing this "shadow erosion."
The organisms were attracted by the energy emitted by the beans and laid their eggs there, but unfortunately their offspring were tainted by the pollution of the shadows.
These survivors, who were teleported there by the game, may have been unwittingly drawn into it.
This conclusion sent chills down Yu Wang's spine.
If that's the case, then wouldn't the survivors' frantic collection of beans, driven by the game, be weakening the ocean's own purification barrier inadvertently?
In the worst-case scenario, the survival game is a trap set by some indescribable supreme being.
But if it were really that simple, why would a survival game equip each survivor with a raft that can provide basic shelter at night?
Why bother going to such lengths to guide everyone to a relatively safe "ancient route"?
What lies at the end of the shipping route?
Yu Wang shook his head, suppressing his chaotic thoughts for the time being.
As the saying goes, even if the sky falls, there's always someone taller to hold it up.
The fact that he was corrupted by the shadows during the day was something that the local, high-ranking gods should worry about, and had nothing to do with him, an outsider who hadn't even reached the level of the extraordinary.
But being used as a tool without knowing why doesn't feel good; he needs to learn more!
Yu Wang made a decisive decision.
He immediately found a bunch of healing beans, strength beans, spirit beans, and rationality beans in the basin and took a bite out of each one.
The powerful restorative energy quickly flowed throughout his body, and the remaining pain, bruises, and even mental fatigue quickly subsided, restoring him to an unprecedented peak condition!
Yu Wang glanced at his own panel:
Qi and blood: 98% (rounded up to 100%, which is not a big problem)
Spirit: 88/100 (Get out of here, you piece of trash! Get out! Get out!)
Rationality: 85/100
Physical strength: 100%
After restoring his status, Yu Wang instructed, "Xinlan, continue transporting the remaining beans back to the ship. I'm taking DuckB to explore deeper into the cave."
"Okay, I'll take care of Douzi. Just be careful! Come back immediately if you notice anything wrong!" Zhang Xinlan nodded solemnly.
There are estimated to be over a thousand beans in the bowl-shaped depression. "I have personally verified that I filled the world with love in my previous life." These beans are enough to secure the top spot.
However, at this moment, in Yu Wang's mind, the game's ranking points seemed to have become less important.
Yu Wang, carrying Duck B, crept toward the dark entrance to the cave that had been revealed after the beans were emptied, leading deeper into the cave.
As usual, Duck B swam ahead to scout the way. Its sharp spines served as excellent armor. If any lurking predator wanted to bite this "hedgehog duck," it would have to think twice.
-
The half-meter-wide opening seemed very cramped for Yu Wang, who was of adult size.
Once inside, your body will inevitably come into frequent contact with the wet, slippery, and cold rock walls all around, and each contact will stir up the fine mud and sand that has been deposited for many years.
Even with headlamps, visibility quickly dropped to almost zero, leaving only a swirling, murky expanse in front of us.
Yu Wang had to rely entirely on his hands to feel his way along the cave walls, while his other hand would occasionally gently pull on Ya B's webbed feet to confirm the direction of their journey, much like a blind man finding his way.
Fortunately, he only needed to change his bubble helmet periodically, instead of wearing a bulky oxygen tank, otherwise he would be in an even more difficult predicament.
Moreover, after clearing the blockages from the beans, the current becomes stronger, and you can feel a noticeable boost while swimming.
The cave is not straight; it has slight curves and undulations. But it generally faces upwards and gets wider as it goes.
Yu Wang guessed that there must be another exit in this cave, otherwise the undercurrent could not flow, and it would be impossible to explain why shark eggs would appear when one entrance was almost blocked by beans.
The surroundings were deathly silent, with only the faint sound of my own heartbeat, the water flowing over my body, and the occasional quacking of the duck to indicate the direction.
The quieter the environment, the more likely people are to let their imaginations run wild.
[You feel a little nervous in this enclosed environment. Reason—1]
Ignoring the game's prompts, Yu Wang adjusted his headlamp and proceeded cautiously.
Along the way, he discovered dozens more similar spiral-shaped eggs, some half-buried in mud and sand, and some stuck in rock crevices.
He checked each item meticulously without getting tired of it.
Every egg marked as "dead" on the game panel has an embryo inside that has undergone severe deformities.
Some resembled multi-legged worms, some looked like fused clumps of flesh, and some split off extra organs, their shapes bizarre and their deaths gruesome.
The eggs that are still alive or developing contain embryos that maintain the normal morphology of shark embryos. Moreover, those that survived the pollution are larger, stronger, and have denser teeth than their dead counterparts!
Sensing an approaching threat from outside its egg, it couldn't wait to hatch and tear the intruder apart!
Absolutely a born hunter!
This confirms some speculations that shadow contamination is not fatal to all embryos, but rather acts as a screening process.
If you can get through this, you will unlock even greater potential.
If you can't get through it, it's distortion and death.
Although more clues were discovered, Yu Wang's doubts only increased.
Just as he began to consider whether he should turn back, the waterway ahead suddenly changed.
The passage began to extend almost vertically upwards, the water temperature began to warm up, sunlight shone through the seawater, and the width of the cave reached three or four meters.
Unbeknownst to them, they had somehow made their way back to the open sea through the other end of the cave!
However, before he could even breathe a sigh of relief at escaping the confined environment, Yu Wang's heart sank suddenly.
Within a radius of several dozen meters, at least twenty slender sharks with grayish-brown skin and yellow spots were swimming in the shadows. The upper part of their tail fins was long, indicating that they were juvenile long-tailed lemon sharks!
Depending on their birth time, they are generally between half a meter and one meter in length, although they are less threatening than two-meter juvenile sharks that are active in the deep sea.
But their numbers are so large, and they are clearly in an active hunting state!
They were swimming in groups, patrolling back and forth around the water, occasionally chasing small schools of fish, and sometimes using their tails to knock some unfortunate fish out of the water.
Wait until the prey is dazed and disoriented before attacking and tearing it apart.
This seems to be their "nursery," where the mother shark lays her eggs. However, some eggs accidentally fall into the almost vertical opening. Even with the undercurrent, the shark eggs cannot be brought out again and have no choice but to stay in the hole to continue incubating.
As beans accumulated at the other side of the hole, the speed of the undercurrent decreased, and this problem became more and more serious.
Yu Wang immediately lowered his body and tried to make as little noise as possible.
He quickly opened the map on the panel and confirmed his current location.
The light spot representing itself is a kilometer away from the light spot representing "Little Yellow Duck"!
There's a rocky island in between, so the "Little Yellow Duck" needs to take a detour to get here!
It's likely that the underground currents in the cave, combined with the mud and sand obscuring his vision, made him think he had only swum a few hundred meters, when in reality he had moved far more than that.
He immediately sent his precise location and a brief message to Zhang Xinlan on the ship via the fleet channel: "I have emerged from the other end of the cave. I'm sending you the coordinates. There are a lot of juvenile sharks nearby. Be careful and prepare to assist."
At this moment, several juvenile lemon sharks that were closest to the water twitched slightly on the sensor holes on both sides of their snouts, capturing the subtle vibrations and changes in scent in the water.