Under the Ice Wall
The first thing I felt was my face, and then the bone-chilled sea water gradually penetrated through the extremely thick clothes and seeped into my body.
Ding Can opened his eyes with difficulty in the water, and saw a completely different scene.
Layers of nemerteans lay before my eyes, swimming freely in the water like ribbons fluttering in the wind. I had already felt there were so many of them when I was on the deck.
But now I realize that what once appeared before my eyes was only a small part.
They hid at the bottom of the ship and could not be found even though the sea water was clear. Now it seems that it is completely impossible to drive away all the nemerteans with tools alone.
Ding Can noticed that a small part of the sea water in front of him turned pink. It was the remains of the nemertean that he had just cut off, which fell into the water after the boat capsized.
The bloody smell emanating from the sea water attracted the nearby nemerteans, which swam over quickly. They didn't care whether they were the same species or not, and just went over to bite them.
New wounds continued to appear on the dead nemerteans, and some tiny pieces of flesh floated in the sea water and were then quickly eaten.
Fortunately, I had no wounds on my body, otherwise if I got entangled in the sea water, it would not be easy to escape.
But it seems that they are not far from the imagined situation now.
The remaining oxygen in his body was almost gone. Xia Jialian grabbed the rope and swam to his side. He raised his finger, indicating that he wanted to go up first.
The weight of the clothes soaked with water cannot be ignored, and it is impossible to swim out of the water by one person.
Xia Jialian decided to lift Ding Can up first, and then the others would pull him up.
The moment her mouth and nose emerged from the water, she took a few deep breaths, and was then pulled into the cabin by Gao Wenwen and Yin Jiu. She shrank in place, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
Xia Jialian was rescued shortly afterwards, with a nemertean worm stuck on her ankle.
"No,... throw them out." Seeing Yin Jiu raising the tools, Ding Can stopped him and barely squeezed out a few words.
"Why?" Yin Jiu was very confused, but still stopped what he was doing.
After drinking a few sips of hot water, Ding Can barely recovered. His whole body was dripping with water, and small patches of water had gathered under his feet.
She explained slowly, "There are a lot of nemerteans on the bottom of the body. The flesh and blood of these nemerteans can divert their attention. I'm afraid we'll need more."
It was chilly in the cabin, so the two men changed into dry clothes and returned to the deck.
It is inconvenient to light a fire directly on the wooden boat, so they burn the stored wood in an iron barrel. Sitting next to it, you can really feel the heat blowing on your face.
Ding Can was wrapped in a thick blanket, and he felt that the coldness that had just penetrated his body was just beginning to show signs of recovery.
Shi Yan pinched her palm and pressed several acupuncture points on it: "I've seen the medicines on the ship, and there's nothing particularly effective for treating colds. I can only rely on myself to get through it."
She looked unhappy when she said this.
If you just catch a cold, that's the least of your worries. The biggest concern is that you might develop a fever later. Once you have a high fever, it's actually very dangerous if you don't take antipyretics to relieve it.
Especially in the marine environment to which the human body is not adapted, the immune system is already at a low level, making recovery even more difficult.
Gao Wenwen also imitated Shi Yan's method and rubbed Xia Jialian's palms to warm them up.
The body can be dried, but the hair is not so easy. When I came out of the water just now, a thin layer of ice quickly formed on it. Now I can only rely on the fire bucket to dry it as soon as possible.
Yin Jiu came over with a small pot from a distance: "I boiled some ginger water, you two should drink more, and try to rest as much as possible in the next period of time."
Ding Can nodded, told everyone what he had just seen underwater, and also put forward his own opinions.
"We can try to throw some of the flesh and blood of the nemerteans farther away. That way, the other nemerteans will smell the blood and leave the ship. It takes time for them to digest it. If we speed up, we might be able to leave them behind."
Otherwise, the best we can do now is to solve the problem on the side of the cabin. The nemerteans will still follow the side of the ship, and the problem is not fundamentally solved.
The nemerteans were brought on deck and cut into many small pieces that were easy to throw.
Everyone stood at the stern and tried their best to throw the pieces of meat as far as possible.
After more than ten seconds, I began to see through the sea water the shapes of many nemerteans swimming backwards, and the long white lines suddenly stretched far away.
Yin Jiu's eyes widened in surprise: "Sure enough, there are so many hidden under the boat."
Just imagining the scene made him feel a little chilling.
The clan leader said with a stern face, "Go down there and catch a few more insects. Keep doing this until all the nemerteans are gone."
The tribesmen moved quickly. Thanks to the clear sea surface, they could see clearly what was happening nearly ten meters underwater, making it very easy to identify the movement trajectory of the nemerteans.
On the bow deck, Ding Can leaned half of his body on Shi Yan and began to feel drowsy, perhaps because the fire was too warm.
"It's cold underwater."
Meng Qi arrived and stood behind them at some point. Her eyes reflected the color of the sea, brown with a hint of gray-blue.
It was an affirmative statement, not a question to them, but rather it seemed like he was just trying to find a topic to chat with them.
Come to think of it, it seems that she has never appeared since the nemertean incident happened.
Xia Jialian propped herself up and sat up straight: "Why did the High Priest come down?"
I thought that unless there was a crisis, he would still be praying in the small room.
Meng Qi lowered her eyes, seemingly unaware of the teasing in his tone. "Seeing the nematodes hadn't dispersed yet, I came down to take a look, but it seems there's no major problem."
Ding Can took over the conversation: "I hope the rest of the voyage will be peaceful."
She waited for Meng Qi to continue speaking. After all, to check the condition of the nemerteans, one should go to the stern of the ship, and there was no need to go around to the front of them.
Besides, I had heard from Yin Jiu before that after this aunt became a priest, she would not come over to ask about the well-being of the tribe members, as that would seem too close.
Sure enough, Meng Qi's voice was heard again: "The day before we passed the Holy Gate, I heard a divine warning in my dream, saying that this migration would not go smoothly."
Shi Yan frowned, confused: "Then why didn't you tell me in advance?"
Just watching everyone anxiously set off in a hurry when they saw the Holy Gate closed early, which later resulted in injuries.
If we had been informed in advance and been more vigilant, perhaps the outcome at the ice wall would have been different.
"The divine revelation wasn't clear, and I couldn't speak rashly and worry my people. However, I received additional information in that dream."
When Meng Qi reached this point, he paused, his eyes quickly swept over several people, and then continued with the second half of the sentence.
"The gods mentioned that there would be other beings who would help the Bingxi tribe overcome the upcoming difficulties, but their success depends entirely on these beings."
"So?" Ding Can asked eagerly, "Did you discover anything along the way?"
Meng Qi shook his head: "It seems that no one or anything has appeared to help us, but I feel that you four children are a little different from before."
Probably in the dungeon setting, these NPCs were implanted with certain memories, and they would think that the four of them were members of the same tribe who had existed before and lived together.
So Meng Qi keenly discovered that they were behaving differently from the system's established settings.
Ding Can rolled his eyes and tentatively asked, "Really? Perhaps when faced with adversity, different energies are always stimulated."
She intuitively felt that Meng Qi had discovered more unreasonable things, so he chose to appear now when everyone else was gathered at the stern and only the four of them were there, because he wanted to explore more.
"It might be hard for you to imagine, but after becoming a priest, I can see more colors in people. No, that's not the right description either. I should say I can perceive these different colors."
This is one of the special abilities that Meng Qi obtained from the priest inheritance.
You can see the different colors on each person, and under normal circumstances, the colors surrounding the tribesmen are all gray-brown, which is closer to the earth.
Only when there are mood swings will there be occasional changes towards red or some other color.
Meng Qi thought that this was probably a way to sense the emotions of the tribe members, so that he could choose a better way to channel them in certain major events.
Her expression suddenly sharpened. "But at the Holy Gate at night, I realized I couldn't see the colors on your bodies."
It's like four matte people suddenly appear among a group of brightly lit moving objects. It's hard not to notice them.
At that time, Meng Qi was thinking that he had inherited the priestly legacy of the Bingxi tribe, and the abilities he had acquired were probably only effective on the Bingxi people.
Does this indicate to some extent that these four people no longer belong to the Bingxi tribe?
When Gao Wenwen heard this, he subconsciously looked at himself. There was nothing different. This priest really had super powers.
At this moment, Xia Jialian finally understood what Meng Qi meant by the vague look he gave them when he came to check on the injured people at the ice wall.
It turned out that the identities of several people had been exposed without their knowledge a long time ago, and it was fortunate that she waited until now to come and find out.
Meng Qi continued, "So I was wondering if you could decide the fate of the entire Bingxi tribe. Now it seems there is indeed evidence to support this."
At least the decision to expel the nemerteans was made by them.
Ding Can gathered the blanket around him, still feeling dizzy and nauseous. He sniffed twice and asked, "Then, Master Priest, what are you going to do?"
Of course, it is impossible to make excuses after being caught. Moreover, for Meng Qi, he should be able to accept the fact that several members of his tribe have been replaced internally.
"If my guess is correct, I have no right to interfere with your activities. Of course, if I don't find you to be threatening, there's no need to do anything extra."
Meng Qi obviously did not intend to tell other tribesmen about this fantastic thing. The reason he came here was more like he hoped to get along with each other honestly.
It seems that after confirming that they are the people who can help the Bingxi tribe as shown by the gods, they can feel more at ease.
Ding Can glanced at the stern of the ship. The activity of dispersing the nemerteans was still in progress and would most likely continue for some time.
So they still have a lot of time to spend together privately.
"Your doubts have been resolved. Can I also ask a question?" Ding Can blinked.
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