Chapter 39 Let's set sail, ███! They are all about to embark on a "new era"...
While Xue Chao drew all the monsters' fire, players and navigators used every available tool—rafts, lifeboats, ropes, etc.—to fight, argue, and shove. When they had no tools, they grabbed each other's clothes and flesh as stepping stones to climb the masts that were leaning towards the opposite side. So, while desperately trying to survive, they also had to guard against others pulling them into the water. People who were united by a common goal turned against each other for the same goal. They used all their strength to cross to Giant's Port. Some even took a desperate gamble, sprinting and leaping, as if trying to cross the chasm between life and death.
"Damn it, let go!" Ye Feng pulled the man off the bamboo raft, pushed him aside, and swam down to Giant Harbor. He then climbed up the rope that had been pre-hooked. The rope was full of people, and when he jumped on, it swayed again.
The person who was about to climb onto the boat at the top of the rope was suddenly pulled down by the people below who were accelerating, causing a series of people to fall into the sea. The rope suddenly became easier, and the remaining people did not look back and continued to climb with all their might.
The navigator who had dragged the person to the deck turned around and was about to cut the rope when Ye Feng, who had already climbed to the upper section, saw this and without hesitation pulled out his gun and shot the NPC dead with an arrow.
Having narrowly missed the falling NPC, Lin Feng finally climbed to the top of the rope. He had just exhaled when a shadow loomed over his head.
He looked up warily. His superior was leaning down at him, smiling broadly, and politely extending his hand to him, his crimson eyes seeming to burn with the fire of blood.
Lin Feng felt a chill run through him, his face turning deathly pale: "Master!"
Yan Bocheng had no trouble finding a way across. The mast had been cut down by Zhu Wen with a chainsaw, and he became the first person to climb it. However, he was bulky, and the Giant was constantly rocking as it sank. Crossing it against the gale and howling winds was like clinging to a giant swing without any safety measures, fearing that a single misstep would lead to eternal regret.
Aside from Zhu Wen, who swung to the deck of Giant Harbor with just a few fishing lines, the most exciting and successful was actually Pu Fengchun. She used a water gun to continuously supply water to the bottom of the bamboo raft, focusing intently on her journey, directly "bravely navigating the rapids" from the Giant to Giant Harbor, carving out a dangerous path through the frenzied NPCs and players.
His body felt lighter, but his mind was far from at ease. Pu Fengchun gripped the bamboo raft tightly, glancing in the direction of Xue Chao, who was now completely engulfed by the monster: "He..."
"Ignore him." The AI remained calm. "Hurry up, the more people cross the river, the less convenient it will be for you to land."
Pu Fengchun pursed her lips and nodded. She struggled to open her eyes in the gale, feeling the splashing waves on her body. Her heart pounded as if she were falling through an aerial tube, but her mind remained calm. The bamboo raft just grazed the railing of Giant Harbor, and she grabbed it and tumbled onto the deck.
People kept slipping and falling, tumbling into the gap between the two cruise ships like dumplings being dropped into a pot. Shouts and cries filled the air, creating a grand tragedy. Meanwhile, the opposition in Port Giant did not stop them. They stood on the deck, looking glamorous, and watched the desperate struggles and ugly attempts to survive on the other side.
The ship was very fast, and the time was short. Once it was gone, it was gone forever. By the time the entire giant ship had passed the area of the underwater temple, the people who had fallen had lost the strength to struggle and gradually sank into the sea, leaving only a string of bubbles that would never be heard again.
The voyagers who successfully reached Giant Harbor changed their appearance in an instant. Their previous ugly behavior was nowhere to be seen. Their clothes were disheveled, their hair was unkempt, and they were soaked in seawater, but their posture was upright. Their faces, half of which were rotting, showed the same pride and relaxation as the opposition, as if they had become assimilated into the victors by reaching Giant Harbor.
The “Pioneers” and the “Opposition” ceased to exist in that instant; they were all about to become “people of the new world.”
In the sea, the monsters, like flies attracted to a corpse, swarmed together, piling their prey on top of each other, leaving no trace of humans in sight. The blood continued to spread, muddying the water and emitting a foul stench.
The ship neither arrived at Port Giant nor departed, but instead rang out three long, drawn-out whistles, celebrating the successful passage of the great voyage through its most perilous stage, before leisurely departing into the mist.
The blood in the sea was not Xue Chao's blood, but the blood of a monster. Lamiai kept attacking but was attacked from behind. Finally, they realized that the thief could not be killed directly. They quickly thought of a way to deal with Wang Song, and surrounded him in layers, trying to suffocate him to death.
Suddenly, a few melodious yet sharp whistles rang out from the center of the encirclement, perfectly hidden among the flutes from Giant Harbor. They drifted lightly across the layers of waves, even pushing the muddy waters away and bringing a moment of clarity.
In the distance, a dolphin suddenly leaps out of the water. Even in the moonless night, its smooth, white body shimmers with a beautiful pale purple light. Groups of dolphins rush over, calling out joyfully, like fairytale messengers who have stumbled into a horror movie.
After observing for a moment in an organized and disciplined manner, they realized they couldn't squeeze into Lamia's dense encirclement, so they immediately dived into the water and decided to steal their home from the bottom up. Sure enough, they found a hand sticking out at the very bottom.
The hand seemed to sense its presence and immediately made a fanning gesture. The dolphin cooperated by flicking its tail, instantly striking the wound in his palm. Suddenly, lightning flashed within the monster encirclement, spreading out from the center point in an instant, causing the electric monsters to relax their movements.
Seizing the opportunity, the dolphin snatched Xue Chao away, tossed him onto its back, and sped off.
The other dolphins immediately followed, bouncing Xue Chao around like a ball, switching him from time to time to evade the pursuing Lamia.
These little guys, perhaps used to being mischievous, were more agile than the old monsters who spent their days sleeping in the water or transporting goods at the port. In less than half the distance, they actually managed to shake off the monsters.
The dolphin army split into several groups and scattered in all directions to continue confusing the monsters and disperse them. The dolphin carrying Xue Chao observed for a while, preparing to detour and find an opportunity to return to the surface to chase the mist.
Xue Chao untied the knot in his trench coat; the hole was already as big as his head. "Snow" was still gnawing at the surroundings. Luckily, he blew the conch shell in time, otherwise he would have been stuffed into the monsters' teeth right there.
He gently patted the little guy: "Baby, let's go to the underwater temple."
Just as the dolphin was about to call out in response, it remembered that they were still on the run, so it cutely flicked its tail and nimbly and quickly darted into the seabed.
Behind an overly colorful coral reef, the temple was more like a magnificent, decaying ruin than a temple, dark and rotten, and from a distance, it looked like a cave hidden in the sea, not very noticeable.
But the dolphin behaved strangely; the little guy wandered around the temple for a long time, as if it were lost.
At first, Xue Chao thought the dolphins were afraid of the goddess's power and dared not approach. Later, he discovered that the dolphins might not have even noticed that the temple was right in front of them.
No wonder we didn't encounter any monsters along the way, and the entire temple was eerily quiet, as if it were isolated from the world, enclosing itself in another space.
It turns out that even God's retinue cannot easily detect it.
So Xue Chao went into the water and landed steadily on the seabed. He felt the eye gently moving inside his abdomen, caressing the inner walls of his organs, as if responding to the silent call of the temple and searching for its master.
He looked down at his wound. The brat's stitching technique was leaky everywhere. It could only keep the eye from falling out, but not a drop of blood had flowed out. Instead, it was trapped in his stomach, forming a "container" to nourish the divine eye. He had managed to avoid dying from blood loss.
The peacock-like eye swam among them, and as if sensing his gaze, its pupil lifted from the drafty gap, meeting Xue Chao's gaze as he looked down.
"..."
Xue Chao withdrew his gaze, pulled his trench coat up to block the vision of the divine eye in his stomach, and then entered the temple.
Upon entering, one is greeted by a scene of corpses hanging everywhere, densely packed overhead and on the walls. All of them have been drained of blood, resembling dried-out thin sheets, their facial features wide open, yet completely hollowed out, leaving behind a "fearful" image-like remains.
Even the slightest movement on the seabed will produce a teeth-grinding crackling sound. If they are unlucky enough to collide, they will shatter on the spot into pieces, each containing part of the other.
Xue Chao looked around and found the bodies of the two players who had left on the Destiny, which were among the "freshest" among the wall decorations.
They were all passengers who were sacrificed to the underwater temple at Giant's Port.
The interior of the temple looked completely different from the exterior. The gray rocks shimmered with a dark, iridescent light, like the tail of Ramia, and were inscribed with many ancient and strange characters, splattered with blood that was neither human nor monster.
Xue Chao carefully examined the wall of cryptic writings for two seconds, then immediately abandoned his plan and continued to explore further inside.
The temple was very large, built according to the seabed topography, and its structure was quite "rugged". However, each room only contained the image of a hanged man and words on the walls, making it extremely boring.
The monster's collection of gold and silver jewelry was exquisitely crafted, but his ancestral home was built to a "mortal" standard, almost like the unfinished building near his house.
Extremely indifferent, allowing people to come and go as they please, as if a god has been asleep for many years, with no taboos except for awakening.
Xue Chao stopped, indifferent... Really? Walking through this temple for too long is like being trapped in a maze. There are no more than five paths, and it's impossible to tell which way is which. It's more like an illusion.
He suddenly turned around and tried to return the way he came, but the road had changed, and after wandering around for a long time, he could no longer find his way out.
This dilapidated yet solemn temple is also a repressed pervert.
They summoned the divine eye to lure him in, and he actually came. They then ventured inside, only to be shown useless "copy-and-paste" tricks, silently wearing him down. Feeling bored, he nimbly tried to leave, but the temple disrupted the exit, dawdling and preventing him from leaving.
Tsk, he doesn't take the initiative but won't let go either, what a scumbag.
Xue Chao was used to being decisive and hated stubborn people the most. He sat down on the spot, lifted his trench coat, pulled the fishing line, and directly inserted it into his stomach. He pulled out the divine eye, threw it into his mouth, and was about to chew it.
Lamia was afraid of chewing it up, but he wasn't afraid; only those who have lost an eyeball know.
Shenyan thought he was just threatening him, but unexpectedly the tooth came down mercilessly, with enough force to split him in half. Shenyan was so shocked that his pupils contracted, and the deep red stripes jumped into a frequency diagram. He quickly hid in Xue Chao's throat, causing Xue Chao to vomit and cough incessantly.
With a clang, something gleaming with gold rolled down from afar, like an olive branch being offered in a somewhat ingratiating manner, and came to rest at Xue Chao's feet.
It was a child's severed hand, which was wearing a gold bracelet.
His arms, as withered as the wall of "decorations," seemed to have had their life force drained by the golden light of the bracelets. Xue Chao frowned, pinched his neck, forced out a sharp look, and then gagged again.
He never wants to eat any animal's eyes again in his life.
Xue Chao propped himself up and followed the sound from the direction it came from to the next part of the temple. There were still strange rock walls and people hanging everywhere, but this time they were all children.
These children were not only drained of blood, but their bodies were also covered in teeth marks and bite marks. Their bodies were mutilated, some with half their heads hanging down, some were cut in half at the waist, and their intestines were hanging down to the ground, just like those dead cats that were chewed up for dinner.
When Undine's child went missing, the woman in the purple dress mentioned "especially children," indicating that the monsters preferred to capture children, and the white-handed ghosts on the Destiny were all dead children.
Because children's blood is "purer"? Blood that is pure and free from sin.
In addition, a new mural has been added to the rock face. The mural depicts a man holding a trident riding a golden chariot drawn by a white horse, surrounded by dolphins. He is in love with a woman and they have a beautiful daughter.
Trident, horse, dolphin... these elements seem familiar, is it Poseidon, the god of the sea?
Isn't this Greek mythology?
By the way, Cupid also appears in the oil paintings of Right Harbor, and this instance is a hodgepodge of mythological systems.
There were five paths in this room. Xue Chao explored them one by one, and found that a new mural appeared in the cave behind only one path—the path with the mural was the correct one.
He followed the murals and explored further, gaining a general understanding of the story behind them:
Another god took a liking to the girl's outstanding beauty and took the initiative to befriend her. The girl became the god's mistress, but the god's wife found out. Enraged, the queen of the gods kidnapped and killed all of the girl's children and cursed the heartbroken girl, turning her into a half-human, half-snake monster.
Upon seeing this, Xue Chao was certain: this was Greek mythology, and the god who was prone to lust and whose wives and lovers circled the mythology three times must be Zeus, and the queen of the gods must be Hera.
Aside from the fact that the mistress is different each time, the rest of the characters and the story are a perfect replica of the classic.
And this girl is Lamia, the daughter of Poseidon, the god of the sea.
No wonder the dolphins here are so clever, daring to enter Ramiyai's encirclement and easily shake them off, because the dolphins are not only dolphins, but also more like "messengers of the sea god".
Lamia was under the influence of the curse. Whenever she was heartbroken, she would go mad with thoughts of her son and uncontrollably kill and devour children as revenge.
But Hera wasn't satisfied. To inflict even more pain on Lamia, she cast another spell, preventing Lamia from ever closing her eyes again. As a result, Lamia kept seeing the scene of her children being murdered, and under endless torment, she went on to kill.
At this point, Zeus finally intervened, wanting to compensate Lamia, but not daring to defy Hera's spell. So he granted Lamia the ability to "remove her own eyes in a short time" and to be skilled in divination.
Lamia falls into a deep sleep when her eyes are removed, but when she wakes up, she is still filled with endless pain and resentment.
Removing the eyes and falling into a deep sleep matched up; divination and prophecy matched up.
When Xue Chao reached the end of the temple, his trench coat had been half-corroded by the "snow." The long hem, which had barely trailed on the ground, broke off at his back, with the "snow" hanging on the jagged edges, like a cold snow line cast across his back.
The murals and the hanged figures are gone; only the inscriptions still glow with a strange iridescent light remain on the empty walls, where footsteps echo but no sound is heard.
When he turned back, the entire space suddenly went dark, because all the paths he had come from had completely disappeared, the four passageways had been smoothed out, and no light could penetrate anymore. Only the rocks still shimmered with a dim rainbow light. He felt as if he were trapped in a hollow giant rock, unable to move forward or backward.
Xue Chao sighed: "You're really unlucky to have run into this couple, but there's a reason for every wrong, and it's not right for you to take it out on me. Besides, didn't I bring you my eyes? Where are they?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the ancient and strange characters suddenly came to life, stretching and changing, merging together to become tiny scales. The rocks beneath the scales also became soft, like gently swaying pieces of meat. Xue Chao felt as if he had suddenly returned to the special pipes at the bottom of the cruise ship.
But this place is several times larger than the pipes, it's more like he's shrunk down and is inside the monster's belly.
Something gently brushed against Xue Chao's cheek, tickling him. He grabbed it in his hand, then froze. Hair?
Xue Chao lit the lighter, and the flame leaped up. Looking around, he saw dense strands of hair hanging down from the top of his head, like inverted, slender, pointed cones, and the long, thin strands of lotus root were still getting longer.
He slowly raised his head, tracing the strands of his hair.
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