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Chapter 302: Change (First Update, 5.4K—All Support Welcome!)
In the scarlet Great Cloud Marsh, all manner of monsters leaped from the water now and then, letting out waves of shrill cries.
They had once been living creatures. Now they were monsters made of fused flesh.
A creature shaped like a large fish burst from the water. Most of its scales had fallen away, exposing dark-red muscle covered in pustules. Its belly had split open, and countless writhing, blood-colored tendrils flickered within—
There was a waterbird, too, flying unsteadily through the air. Half of one wing was nothing but bone, with a few sparse feathers dangling from the frame. Its head had twisted all the way around, and the sound that came from its open beak was less a birdcall than an infant's wail—
An unknown beast staggered through the water, great patches of fur gone to reveal ulcerated skin. Something writhed beneath it, bulging as though trying to burrow out. Its hind leg had rotted to the bone, leaving a dark-red footprint with every step—
More numerous still were the humanoid masses of fused flesh.
They wandered along the shore, their skin long gone, exposing muscles streaked red and white.
Their eye sockets were hollow, yet tiny buds of flesh squirmed inside.
They opened their mouths, and muddled sounds welled from their throats, like pleas for help or curses—
And once these monsters came within a certain distance of one another, they attacked. None was weak.
High above the Great Cloud Marsh, Qin Fang looked down on it all, his lips pressed together.
He remembered how the marsh had looked before: blue skies and white clouds, a hundred boats racing across the water, young men and women laughing as they toured the marsh. Fish leaped from the