The hull appeared to be covered by a white, velvety blanket, filled with countless repulsive parasites. They clung tightly to the hull, creating a dense and eerie sight.

Xu Anran lay quietly on the bed, her face as pale as a sheet of paper, her body so weak she could barely move. At this moment, she resembled the ailing person who had boarded this ship.

However, unlike that person, Xu Anran never ate anything indiscriminately; she always ate food from her spatial storage.

Suddenly, Xu Anran felt a strange wriggling sensation in her calf. At first, she thought it was just her imagination, but when she stared at that area, she was surprised to find that there seemed to be something slowly moving under her skin.

Luo Xi and the others who were taking care of her also noticed this unusual phenomenon, and everyone looked terrified.

Without hesitation, Xu Anran drew a sharp dagger from her side and slashed a deep gash into the strange spot on her leg. As blood gushed out, the sight before them made everyone gasp – the place that should have been filled with fresh flesh and blood was now completely empty, replaced by countless tiny insects that filled the entire wound!

In a panic, Xu Anran hurriedly called for others to make way for her and quickly grabbed a bottle of insecticide, spraying it at the insects that were constantly falling from her wounds. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't have any effect on the insects.

Just when everyone was at a loss, Xiaoyue had a bright idea. She took out a lighter and tried to use fire to drive away these terrible insects.

The moment the flames touched the swarm of insects, those seemingly indestructible creatures seemed to have their life force drained away, instantly shriveling and withering like dehydrated corpses, eventually dying one after another. Looking at the charred remains scattered on the ground, everyone felt a lingering fear, and at the same time, felt utterly bewildered and terrified by this sudden disaster…

Seeing that her calves were covered in worms, Xu Anran didn't care anymore. She took out a rope and tied it around her thigh, then asked Luo Xi to chop off her calves with an axe. Luo Xi didn't hesitate either. She decisively raised the axe and chopped off her calves. She saw that the entire calves were covered in worms, which had eaten all the flesh and blood, leaving only skin and bones.

Xiao Feng and Xiao Yue stood to the side, their expressions tense and focused as they gripped their flamethrowers tightly. They took a deep breath and then, without hesitation, aimed the guns at the dense, terrifying swarm of insects in front of them.

In the firelight, you could clearly see the insects struggling painfully in the flames, and they soon withered and died.

At this moment, Xu Anran noticed that several insects were still hiding on the remaining part of her thigh. Her eyes widened, and a surge of fear and determination welled up inside her. She gritted her teeth, turned to Luo Xi beside her, and shouted, "Quick! Cut off my thigh too!" Her voice revealed unwavering resolve and courage.

Although Luo Xi looked hesitant, she obeyed Xu Anran's order. She raised the sharp axe and chopped down with all her might on Xu Anran's thigh. With a muffled thud, the thigh hit the ground, blood splattering everywhere. Immediately, everyone gathered around to check, and only after confirming that no more insects remained at the severed limb did they breathe a sigh of relief.

However, after experiencing such a thrilling scene, Xu Anran finally couldn't hold on any longer and fainted.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself lying in a room. Her wounds had been carefully bandaged, and although the pain had lessened, she was still weak and had intermittent high fever. Fortunately, however, she was otherwise unharmed.

The situation outside is now extremely dire. Those who were first infected have been completely disfigured, devoured by the greedy insects until only a thin layer of skin and a pale skeleton remain.

Many survivors like Xu Anran, whose only limbs were infected, had to painfully cut off the parasitized parts in order to save their lives.

For some time now, Luo Xi has devoted herself to in-depth research on insects. Through observation and analysis, she has gradually come to understand some of the characteristics of these insects.

She discovered that if these worms were left in a waterless environment for too long, they would dry out due to extreme dehydration and eventually die. However, the situation was completely different when these worms successfully parasitized the human body. Because of the ample blood supply within the human body, these worms were able to survive.

Through several experiments, she also discovered that these insects can burrow into human flesh and use it as a parasite. Furthermore, their bodies seem to possess a special ability to release a substance that paralyzes human nerve perception, preventing the parasitized person from feeling any pain or discomfort.

And so, without anyone noticing, these insects silently devoured human bodies.

However, these insects have a fatal weakness—they are extremely sensitive to and afraid of flames or high temperatures. Specifically, when the ambient temperature rises to about 45 degrees Celsius, these insects begin to show obvious restlessness, as if they sense a great threat, but the heat at this point is not enough to completely kill them; when the temperature continues to rise to 50 degrees Celsius, their bodies will rapidly shrivel and shrink, and all physiological functions will be lost, leading to death; the most effective method is to burn them directly with fire, as soon as they come into contact with a fire source, these insects will almost instantly turn to ashes.

At first, the group managed to cope with their predicament and tried to use the fire to ward off the parasites. However, as time went on, the situation became increasingly dire—the number of these horrifying parasites continued to increase, spreading as if they were endless.

Even worse, the entire world is almost completely submerged, which means that the ubiquitous water sources have become a breeding ground for parasites.

Like ghosts, they were everywhere, easily breaching the carefully constructed defenses and infiltrating every ship. Initially, people hoped to drive away or even destroy these vile creatures with raging fire, but they quickly discovered that the fires were difficult to control. A slight miscalculation could easily cause the entire ship to burn, with unimaginable consequences!

The parasites were so rampant and numerous that even the slightest oversight could turn a ship into a host. Ultimately, none of the ships escaped, all becoming infested with swarms of parasites.

Even Xu Anran and others could not escape their fate, suffering the same merciless parasitic invasion.

And so, they all tragically perished on the ship...