Several kilometers away, atop a mountain.
The gentlemen watched the small town descend into total chaos.
The clothes they wore seemed to catch the scent of blood drifting from the town and grew restless.
Teacher Sman, his enormous belly protruding, had nearly squeezed all the features of his face together.
"If this large-scale forced infection breaks out tonight, it'll be difficult for anyone to hold out until tomorrow afternoon... I suggest moving the end of the assessment up to dawn."
The proposal won the agreement of quite a few gentlemen.
Even the ever-strict white-haired Professor Chamberson tacitly approved.
While most of the gentlemen's gazes were fixed on the town center and the surrounding areas where fierce battles had erupted,
Gurgle~
The owl perched on Chamberson's shoulder let out a cry, drawing his gaze toward the Green Shade Inn on the edge of town.
Two "Sick Ones" with independent consciousness had not joined the town's riot. Instead, they slipped out quietly through the back door,
pushing a wooden cart together, one in front and one behind.
Six "corpses" were piled on top, their bodies wrapped in a layer of "Fish Egg Membrane" and filled with a large amount of mucus.
The "corpse" pressed at the very bottom was the young man the white-haired Chamberson had been watching earlier—the one who had faintly piqued his interest.
Chamberson merely watched in silence, offering no comment.
The wooden cart was pushed to the lakeshore.
The front of the cart was tilted.
Splash! Water sprayed into the air as all six corpses tumbled in.
The brother and sister responsible for transporting them leapt into the lake as well.
Using the adhesive quality of their bodies, they carried the six corpses toward the deepest part of the lakebed.
"This is..."
The pupils of the white-haired Chamberson changed at that moment. It was also the first time he had used his ability since beginning his duties as an examiner.
The whites of his eyes were replaced by blood red.
His round pupils were dyed completely black.
His vision improved several times over, allowing him to see through Green Lake with ease and focus on Yi Chen, who was wrapped in membrane and pretending to be unconscious.
"This fellow actually went this far..."
Chamberson pointed a finger.
The owl on his shoulder immediately spread its wings and flew off. A white shadow flashed across the night sky as it flew toward Green Lake.
Under the lake.
What the siblings carried were not corpses,
but perfectly cultivated infected bodies suitable for "Fish Transformation." They were currently being used as decoys to conceal Yi Chen, the "sixth person."
These Fish Egg Membranes wrapped around the bodies
could effectively isolate the effects of the lake water
while preserving a certain amount of air—enough to last until they reached the lakebed.
In addition,
Yi Chen had made some preparations of his own as insurance.
"Mask Insert."
The throat, nasal cavity, and ear canals were all fitted with a root-woven "Inner Net." Even if he was exposed to the lake water, it would prevent the water from entering his body and effectively filter out Pathogens.
Both eyes tightly shut,
he pretended to be unconscious.
Yet a mouth had quietly opened at the back of his head, containing an eye that secretly surveyed the situation underwater.
Based on his observations of Green Lake,
Upper Lake Section:
It was filled with dense, glowing green parasite eggs and fish eggs that floated everywhere and crowded together.
Lower Lake Section
The tiny eggs were nowhere to be seen. In their place were terrifying "Human Eggs."
Those Fish Scale Infected who had successfully passed Phase One were curled up among the eggs.
A strip of flesh resembling an umbilical cord connected their navels at one end and the lakebed at the other.
Through this method, they underwent "Fish Transformation."
Once their bodies grew enough fish scales, their internal organs finished evolving, and a perfect fish-gill structure formed, they would break free of the eggs and transform into Mermaids.
Of course,
some fully formed fish-men also swam about here, inspecting the Human Eggs and staying alert for intruders.
Slowly,
the siblings drew closer and closer to the deepest part of Green Lake.
That hair-raising sensation of being watched returned. Something was clearly observing them from the deepest part.
That's...!
After slipping past one Human Egg after another and the patrolling Mermaids,
they discovered a Giant Eye beyond all reason, embedded deep in the lakebed. Its enormous green eye kept shifting as it monitored everything on the lakebed and in Green Lake Town.
Super Big Green Grape!
Little Grape became abnormally excited at that moment.
At this instant,
Yi Chen finally understood why Little Grape had been so eager. Perhaps it had known about this all along.
However, one thing puzzled him.
Why would the source be a Giant Eye rather than the Mother Entity?
In Yi Chen's expectations,
the thing responsible for spreading Fish Scale Disease and transforming the townspeople into Mermaids should have been a Parasitic Mother—a huge, crazed insect monster that constantly laid eggs.
Yet the Giant Eye before him seemed completely unrelated to "laying eggs" or "parasites."
Just as Yi Chen was feeling puzzled, Little Grape's voice reached him.
What is illness? Where does disease transformation come from? Almost no one can truly understand these questions. The diversity and variability involved are even less understood.
Perhaps there has never been any Parasitic Mother.
This Giant Eye may merely be a Watcher.
Perhaps it received instructions to bring a "parasite swarm" to this town, monitor and witness the town's disease transformation... It may later take away some high-quality Sick Ones.
Its gaze alone allows it to control the parasites through mental commands.
Regardless, this Super Big Grape is the source... and it's our target.
In a moment, there's only one thing I need William to do: make physical contact with this eyeball.
As long as you touch the surface of the eyeball, I can transfer directly inside it and suck out the grape juice.
After hearing Little Grape's battle plan, Yi Chen replied:
You knew from the beginning that this Giant Eye was hidden at the bottom of the lake, didn't you, Little Grape?
Not from the beginning. I sensed it while we were swimming around the lake, when I stared into the water... We're the same type, after all~ Naturally, there are some subtle reactions.
Yi Chen said nothing more and focused on the scene before him.
After the siblings delivered the "cargo,"
the inn's Boss used mental communication to convey information about the cargo to the Lake Bottom Giant Eye.
Once the message was delivered, she immediately swam upward.
Any unnecessary action might arouse suspicion.
Yi Chen and the other "cargo" hovered about four meters above the Giant Eye.
They were currently in the deep-water region. Closing that distance would not be easy. They had to wait for an opportunity.
Immediately afterward,
an extremely bizarre scene entered his vision.
A circular hole suddenly widened in the center of the Giant Eye's pupil.
Chik-chik-chik~ A strip of flesh resembling an eel drilled out from within—a Flesh Eel, for short.
Its mouth was circular and lined with dense, sharp teeth. Blood-colored threads swayed from it in the water.
This is... something connected to the navel, like an umbilical cord!
The next second,
the Flesh Eel plunged into one of the "cargo" bodies beside Yi Chen.
Its mouthparts connected perfectly with the body's navel.
It dragged the cargo toward an empty spot on the lakebed.
It took root,
incubated,
transformed,
and proceeded in perfect order.
Another Flesh Eel emerged, connecting to the next cargo in front of Yi Chen.
Watching the "corpses" around him being dragged away and packed up one after another, Yi Chen felt a suffocating pressure, as if a hand had seized his heart and forced his pulse to race.
Stay calm!
Yi Chen suppressed his nervousness with all his strength and waited for the best moment.
Perhaps he was lucky.
Perhaps the Giant Eye had sensed Yi Chen's uniqueness.
Or perhaps the inn's Boss had said something to the Giant Eye.
Yi Chen happened to be the last in line... In the depths of the lake, only he and the Giant Eye remained.
Chik-chik-chik~
The last Flesh Eel, paired with Yi Chen, drilled out from the hole in the pupil.
It writhed,
rose upward,
and burrowed through the membrane.
Whoosh... Yi Chen drew a deep breath. He still did not move, continuing to wait for the right moment.
The Flesh Eel pressed against his waist and abdomen as it wriggled toward his navel.
Strands of Mouth Silk Thread used for neural connections scraped over Yi Chen's body, causing unbearable itching.
It circled around to his front.
The Flesh Eel's mouth opened like a flower, revealing an inner wall covered in sharp teeth, and bit toward his navel.
The instant its mouth touched his navel,
Yi Chen's eyes snapped open.
He drew the Silver Axe he had prepared beneath his clothes... Slash!
The Flesh Eel's strip of flesh and the White Egg Membrane covering Yi Chen were cleaved apart together.
His other hand seized the upper half of the Flesh Eel left on his abdomen. Splat! He crushed it with force.
The next moment,
Yi Chen smoothly raised his free arm.
His five fingers pressed against his face.
Chik-chik-chik~
Tender Plant Root Tendrils rapidly wove together.
Perhaps stimulated by the danger, they wove even faster than before. A bark-like structure even appeared across the surface of the roots.
In the blink of an eye, a filtering mask formed over his face, further isolating him from the lake water.
The entire process was completed almost instantaneously.
Before the Giant Eye could fully react,
Yi Chen swam toward the deepest point at full speed...
Four meters,
three meters,
two meters.
When only a little over a meter remained, the mutation occurred!
The Giant Eye's originally dilated pupil instantly narrowed and focused, condensing into a dot the size of a ping-pong ball.
"Damn it!"
Even though Yi Chen shut his eyes at once,
an invisible mental ripple had already pierced through.
It penetrated the mask and his eyelids,
passed through his pupils,
and traveled along his optic nerves straight into his brain.
Buzz!
A powerful ringing filled his ears.
It was as if some mischievous child had stuffed an entire box of firecrackers into his head and then slapped them all at once, setting them off.
"William! Hold on!
Before reaching Big Grape, I can't expose myself!"
At that moment,
Little Grape's voice rang out within his consciousness, giving him encouragement as well as mental support.
Under the infiltration of Mental Power,
Yi Chen felt as though tiny eyeballs had sprouted all over the surface of his brain.
The slightest gap in his consciousness would be infiltrated by those eyeballs.
Hold on, damn it. This is a hard-won chance at rebirth...
Willpower
was a spiritual product honed with "life experience" as its hammer.
Although Yi Chen was only in his twenties, the first half of his "life experience" had been like a gigantic spiked hammer, pounding him every moment.
He had finally managed to escape,
finally obtained the chance to cross over and come to such an interesting world,
and he wanted to survive... to truly live once.
At this moment!
Blood seeped from his eye sockets, staining the plant mask red.
His desperate roar transformed into countless bubbles rising through the lake.
He forcibly broke through the final meter,
turned sideways,
stretched out his arm,
and touched it,
his palm pressing firmly against the moist, smooth surface of the eyeball... right at its center, where the opening containing the Flesh Eel emerged.
The instant he made contact,
the Black Flesh Ball instantly separated from his palm,
followed the opening,
and drilled into the Giant Eye.
At the moment of success,
Yi Chen could no longer hold on. The instant his consciousness relaxed, it was breached!
However,
the mental erosion from the Giant Eye did not destroy his brain.
Instead, it packaged up Yi Chen's Consciousness Body and sent it to some completely unknown domain.
Buzz!
His consciousness trembled.
Yi Chen's Consciousness Body seemed to have been sent to a profound, mysterious cavern that appeared to lie at the bottom of an abyss.
Black fish scales in the shape of perfect hexagons covered the cavern walls like bricks.
A layer of clear water covered the ground, deep enough to reach an ordinary person's knees.
Flesh-colored Pipes connected the various Experimental Tanks to one another.
Suspended between the walls and embedded within them were chambers of varying sizes, used for cultivating life.
This place was just like an Abyss Laboratory.
At the center of the laboratory,
an entity whose form transcended concepts was recording data.
It happened to have its back to Yi Chen's Consciousness Body.
It wore an almost perfect Dark Gold Cylindrical Robe, surrounded by its own force field, and a tail covered in black scales extended from beneath it.
Compared to a fish's tail, it leaned more toward a dragon's tail.
For some unknown reason,
when Yi Chen gazed at the back of this being,
thump, thump, thump—
an epic piece of music filled with layers suddenly rang out within his consciousness.
The cello drifted farther and farther away, accompanied by the crashing of ocean waves,
as though telling the listener that this music came from the depths of the sea, heralding the imminent descent of some terrifying existence.
At the same time the music began,
a frame appeared above the other party's head. It was gilded in gold, had a relief of a fish head at its starting end, and was shaped like the health bars in a game.
The frame was filled with a dark fish oil—or rather, a kind of Ancient Fish Essence.
It surged,
rolled,
and roared.
A title and name were also attached above the frame.
§Fish Source—Nashatar (Nazjatar, The Primitive Arowana)§
Before you continue