You Found Me Out
Night, no moon.
A light drizzle fell from the dark sky, disappearing silently into the swirling, gray fog.
At Qingsha Beach, a beam of orange motorcycle headlights pierced through the thick fog, speeding towards the sea.
The car stopped near the dock, and a figure slowly got out.
This is it.
Cheng Sheng took off his helmet, casually hung it on the handlebars of his motorcycle, and squinted as he gazed out along the coastline.
Through the thick, Strange Mist, one could see that the sea surface was covered by a dense layer of black, lifelike material.
They kept surging, yet the entire sea was eerily still; the black substance seemed capable of swallowing even sound.
"This is the Black Tide?..."
Cheng Sheng stared at the black tide for a long time, until the Strange Mist around him almost enveloped him like a cocoon.
His shoulders trembled slightly, and the thick cocoon on his body broke open, but some of the escaping Strange Mist still seeped into his skin through his pores.
Although he has not experienced any physical discomfort so far, Cheng Sheng still frowned slightly.
"It seems this Black Tide might indeed have some connection to the Abyss..."
Last time it was the Hell Plague Fly, which could actively absorb the energy in the Strange Mist.
This time, it wasn't just the Hell Plague Fly; it even began to devour the Strange Mist itself.
Cheng Sheng thought it over and concluded that the reason for this change might be the spell he had just mastered, [Control Shadow].
The warlock's power stems from his unique and noble bloodline; all the magical abilities he acquired from the Abyss are inscribed within his blood.
[Control Shadow] is a minor spell, but it requires a certain amount of shadow demon bloodline as a medium to cast.
While inheriting this spell, he also fused a small portion of the Shadow Demon's blood into his body. Although this bloodline might be so thin as to be almost negligible, to some extent, he could barely be considered an Abyss creature.
"Let's take a closer look..."
This Black Tide wasn't particularly fierce; it stopped rising near the shore.
Cheng Sheng walked along the coast and finally found a pile of rocks exposed after the tide receded. There was a narrow path in the middle of the pile of rocks that was barely passable, leading to a giant reef dozens of meters away from the shore.
Cheng Sheng looked around and saw that it was closer to the Black Tide, which could be considered the boundary between the Black Tide and the Strange Mist.
Although the Strange Mist looks like flowing mist, it feels very dry to the touch, as if it can absorb the moisture from the air.
The rocks on the shore were shrouded in Strange Mist, and their surfaces were not as slippery and wet as they looked. Cheng Sheng stepped on the jagged rocks and easily made his way to the giant reef he was looking for.
A giant reef, about three or four meters in diameter, has been eroded by seawater, leaving a pit in the middle. Seawater that has not yet dried up remains inside, and several finger-length, silvery-white sea fish float belly up on the surface.
Cheng Sheng walked to the outer edge of the reef and looked down.
Here, the Black Tide was less than a meter away, and those eerie black substances were writhing and swirling right under Cheng Sheng's nose.
When viewed up close, the so-called Black Tide looks a lot like oil that has been accidentally spilled on the sea.
Within a few breaths of Cheng Sheng standing on the edge of the reef, some black liquid crossed the "boundary" and quickly climbed up the rock wall.
He took a step back, and more Black Tide surged up, forming a fan shape in front of him.
Cheng Sheng's eyes flashed, and he stretched out his wrists, releasing the dozen or so Plague Fly larvae that were hidden under his skin.
More than twenty pink maggots fell into the Black Tide and instantly transformed into more than twenty black cocoons. The flowing Black Tide stopped expanding and formed many black vortexes around the more than twenty cocoons.
The largest of them was the maggot king that had already "evolved" once before!
Cheng Sheng's primary objective in this exploration of the Black Tide was to conduct further mutation experiments on these successfully bred Plague Fly.
Taking advantage of the moment when the Plague Fly were absorbing the Black Tide, Cheng Sheng squatted down and tried to slowly "grab" a clump of Black Tide with his palm.
Strangely enough, this thing feels dry to the touch, cool to the touch, and has a silky feel.
Cheng Sheng gently rubbed his fingers together, and the Black Tide between his fingers immediately dispersed, leaving a noticeable black patch on his palm that quickly disappeared.
Theoretically speaking, Cheng Sheng himself should also be able to absorb the strange energy in the Black Tide.
However, compared to the Hell Plague Fly, this kind of uncontrollable mutation that happens directly to oneself may not be a good thing.
Moreover, with the meager amount of shadow-type demon bloodline within him, who knows how much Black Tide energy he would need to absorb to achieve the level of mutation he would need?
"Before I could evolve, I might have already mutated into a monster..."
Cheng Sheng hadn't forgotten the various strange and unusual Black Tide creatures he'd encountered before, one of which looked remarkably humanoid.
A cool sea breeze blew from afar, slapping against Cheng Sheng's face. He squinted and gazed into the distance, where all he saw was an impenetrable, dense blackness.
The ocean itself represents endless unknowns and terror, and now, combined with the eerie Kuroshio Black Tide, it becomes even more frightening.
Images involuntarily flashed through Cheng Sheng's mind—the arrival of the Black Tide, terrifying monsters emerging from its dark waters, walking along the beach, step by step into the human city...
"Call--"
Cheng Sheng let out a soft breath, breaking free from his delusions.
He turned to leave, knowing he couldn't stay there indefinitely given the duration of the Black Tide.
Before leaving, Cheng Sheng thought for a moment, then picked up two more black cocoons from the ground, crushed them, and put the Plague Fly inside back into his body.
Next, he planned to continue exploring the Black Tide Strange Mist Zone, keeping two of them with him just in case.
After walking back along the pile of rocks, Cheng Sheng got on his motorcycle and continued along the coast.
Before long, the Primordial Mark in his mind sent a warning that he sensed a wandering Evil Spirit. Cheng Sheng's spirits lifted slightly, he twisted the throttle, and sped off in the direction from which the warning came.
Before long, Cheng Sheng stopped at a beach.
This place was extremely remote, an abandoned little dock, with a dilapidated wooden boardwalk stretching out from beneath his feet, ending at a small wooden hut built by fishermen.
"Bang!--Bang!--Bang!"
Before Cheng Sheng even got close, he heard a series of muffled thuds coming from the direction of the wooden house.
He squinted and slowly walked along the boardwalk toward the wooden house.
The source of the muffled sound gradually overlapped with the Primordial Mark's perception—a burly, inhuman figure, over two meters tall, stood in front of the wooden house, its back to him, holding a fire axe and forcefully hacking at the wooden door in front of it!
"Evil Spirit with a physical form?"
Cheng Sheng stared at the retreating figure, a strange glint in his eyes, and continued walking towards it.
One step, two steps, three steps...
Cheng Sheng deliberately clung to each step, punctuating the muffled thud of the hammering into the door. He drew closer and closer to the burly figure, almost reaching his back...
At this moment, as if sensing something, the latter suddenly turned around.
"Call--"
Cheng Sheng paused, looking at the burly figure in front of him wearing a rusty iron mask, with two cold, red eyes staring intently at him from beneath a head of wet, sticky, seaweed-like hair. An embarrassed and helpless expression immediately appeared on his face.
It's like a child who intended to play a prank, but was caught red-handed.
"Oops!..."
"You actually found out."