The Snake and the Antidote

According to Qing Chen.

Perhaps even ordinary fish would turn into Red-eyed Strange Fish after being immersed and transformed by the Cold River.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but the Red-eyed Strange Fish that jump onto the deck don't all have the same number or arrangement of eyes. Some are covered in red eyes from head to tail, while others have only a few."

...Who else would be as perverted as you, taking an interest in something like that?

The others exchanged glances, then all shook their heads.

Fang Yue asked, "Does that mean something?"

"It's simple. It means they've been infected for different lengths of time, like the early and late stages of a disease."

"Infected?" Fang Yue furrowed his brow.

"Yeah. There's something in the water of the Cold River, something like a parasite that infects fish. I don't know what the red eyes are connected to. But even if the infected fish don't jump onto the deck, they'll eventually die when the red eyes parasitizing them consume them from within. The same thing is happening to Jing Yan now. And when this parasite infects a human, the process seems to happen even faster."

Jing Yan went deathly pale with fright.

"Th-then what should I do? Qing Chen! Brother Chen! Chen Chen!!"

Qing Chen's face darkened. He replied with some exasperation, "Don't panic. Since it's a parasite without a will of its own, it can have only two goals: first, reproduction. Second, finding its next host.

"It's almost finished reproducing inside you. It's produced far more offspring than it does in fish. If you let it keep reproducing, you won't be able to take much more."

Seeing Qing Chen speak so confidently, Fang Yue felt a little more at ease.

From what he knew of Qing Chen,