Crow's Mouth

Feng Ling knew nothing about what was happening on the lake's surface.

Underwater was another world.

At first, she encountered a group of Contaminants. The Contaminants were in a dazed state, as if they had only just woken up, attacking the intruder on instinct.

Feng Ling wiped them all out without much effort.

She continued diving. The light grew darker and darker, and the sounds from the shore faded further and further away.

A strange warm current lay across the deep lakebed, like Amniotic Fluid wrapping around a fetus, cutting off the sounds of the outside world. Feng Ling could hear only an extremely faint gurgling, like bubbles driven by breathing. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle...

In the dim light, she saw the Contaminants sleeping on the lakebed.

They came in all shapes and forms, packed tightly together, their enormous bodies sunk deep into the White Feathery Threads. The threads swayed slowly, making the entire lakebed seem like a huge plush cradle. The occasional bubbles proved that the lives in the cradle were still alive.

It was just that the sparse energy in the Amniotic Fluid was not enough to wake them.

The ones capable of waking had already died at Feng Ling's hands.

When Feng Ling thought of this, she was surprised to discover she was no longer in pain.

She did not know whether too much killing had left her numb, or whether the environment here had made her peaceful, but her heart was quieter than it had ever been before.

How strange. All along the way, she had been affected by the Hive's summons, her heartbeat disordered, her emotions frantic. Yet when she truly reached the end, she was this calm...

Soaking in the water, Feng Ling thought it over carefully and finally understood where this calm came from.