There are many reef caves on the seashore. Most of these caves were formed by the erosion of sea water over the years and are very hidden. A large number of fish may gather in them. If you go deep into them during low tide, you may be submerged by the subsequent high tide, which is quite dangerous.

"Thank you. This is for you."

Lu Ban stuffed two small dried fishes into the hands of the reluctant child from Ku Shui Town. After sending him away, he looked towards the reef cave.

The cave was not very deep, but the sun had already risen and the entrance looked quite dark.

Trist took out his revolver, and Lu Ban took out his flashlight, ready to illuminate the inside.

"Wait a moment."

Trist immediately stopped Lu Ban.

"I'm on guard outside, go check out the situation first."

His sanity had just been reduced because of A Yu's matter, and now he was obviously going to see the corpse of an inhuman creature. If he didn't handle it properly, he would probably have another wave of confusion. So, Trist decided to let Lu Ban test the waters first. If Lu Ban didn't react, then he would follow up.

In the Silent Land, this kind of exploration method is very practical when conducting team investigations. After all, when you see those monsters or encounter extremely strange scenes, it is better to take turns one by one instead of losing your mind together.

Moreover, when sanity is reduced to a certain level, people will experience various temporary crazy phenomena, such as fainting, hysteria, confusion, confusion of cognition, depression, etc. Just now, Trist almost wanted to shoot himself and end his life. It was very dangerous.

If only one person encounters such a situation, at least other companions can help suppress it.

If everyone goes crazy at the same time, we might be wiped out immediately.

"no problem."

Lu Ban had no idea of ​​Trist's considerations, so he just walked into the cave with a flashlight.

Soon, Lu Ban saw the corpse.

Click——

Lu Ban felt his heartbeat quicken.

The body of the corpse looked like an ordinary human, except that his limbs were more slender, and there seemed to be some kind of mucous membrane-like structure between his fingers. He had almost no clothes on. The corpse had swelled slightly due to decay, and it was estimated that the internal decay process had already begun.

The head of the corpse is the most eye-catching.

The head had no human appearance at all. Instead, it had big fish eyes, thick lips, and gills on both sides of the head. The part where the fish head was connected to the human body looked a little stiff, as if it had been forcibly sewn together.

If Lu Ban was a person with strong religious beliefs, he might have blurted out blasphemous comments at this time, but as an ordinary modern person and a movie lover who has watched many thriller horror monster movies, Lu Ban just leaned down slightly and illuminated its head with a flashlight.

The fish's eyes were very cloudy and the scales on its head had fallen off. In the dark cave, only the light from the flashlight illuminated this hideous corpse.

Lu Ban moved closer, trying to find more clues from the corpse.

He checked the few remaining clothes on the corpse. The fabric of the clothes felt delicate, unlike ordinary coarse cloth. Rather, it seemed like the kind of clothes that only upper-class people could wear. There were traces of reef cuts on the corpse, but they were not fatal.

"How did this person die?"

Lu Ban shone the flashlight downwards, his eyes fixed on the corpse's hands.

He noticed two things.

First of all, apart from the abrasions caused by the reefs, this hand has almost no other signs of labor. Obviously, as a fisherman, there must be calluses on his hands due to years of fishing, but this person does not have any, which means that he does not usually perform routine labor.

Secondly, there is a translucent structure between this person's fingers, like a fish fin, just like a frog's webbed feet. This is obviously a structure that only creatures living in water have.

Considering the fact that it appeared on the seashore and the mission information Lu Ban obtained, this means...

"A walking fish, is this the creature you're talking about?"

Lu Ban muttered to himself as he prepared to check down.

At this moment, a clear sneer came from behind Lu Ban.

"whee."

The clear female voice made Lu Ban turn around immediately. He shone the flashlight but didn't see anyone.

After scanning the cave and finding nothing more, Lu Ban continued to check the corpse. But when his eyes returned to the corpse again, he found that the corpse in front of him seemed to have trembled.

Pointing the flashlight upwards, Lu Ban saw that the fish head seemed to have moved, but also seemed not to have moved.

He looked there, and saw only some strange light reflected in the fish's eyes.

This is move in proof!

Lu Ban took a step back and saw that the half-fish, half-human creature seemed to stand up.

No, it wasn't, its belly began to swell.

Realizing what was going to happen, Lu Ban quickly turned around and ran away.

Bang——

Explosions burst out from the corpses, and those rotten, festering, dirty and bloody things splashed in the cave, making the sea water turbid.

When a living thing dies, the microorganisms inside the corpse begin to decay, releasing large amounts of gas. These gases have no way to escape, so they accumulate inside the organism, causing the corpse to swell. When a critical value is reached, or the corpse is disturbed by external factors, it is very likely to break the balance and explode directly.

In the real world, when huge creatures like whales and elephants die, they can even cause explosions over a huge area, which is quite dangerous.

The corpse just now probably exploded because of Lu Ban's inspection, creating the illusion of movement.

"What's wrong?"

Drizzt heard a loud noise coming from the cave and shouted to inquire.

"The body exploded."

Lu Ban simply replied. The air was filled with a foul stench. He shone the flashlight back to where the body had originally been. Only remains that were so hideous that they had to be blurred out for people to see remained.

"But... these internal organs are similar to those of humans. The lungs... have been found."

Lu Ban barely found something that looked like a lung from the pile of blood and flesh.

Later, he discovered that the organ was full of mud.

The sludge gave off a stench different from that of corruption, more like some kind of metal.

"These creatures should be mutations of humans, but it is unclear whether the silt is the cause of the mutation or the result of the mutation."

Unfortunately, there was no suitable container at hand, so Lu Ban couldn't take some samples.

After another check, Lu Ban left the cave.

After exchanging information with Trist and searching the beach, it was already evening when the two returned to the town.

As he walked into the door of the inn, Lu Ban saw the servant who had a pale face and looked like a dead person from the night before waiting there.

"My master would like to invite you two to the mansion for a chat tonight."

There was a smile on his face, like a paper figurine used for memorial services.