??Chapter 73: 072. Exploded_1
Chapter 73: 072. Exploded_1
There were many reef caves by the seaside, mostly ford by the relentless erosion of seawater over the years, extrely hidden. These caverns could harbor vast schools of fish, and if one ventured too deep during low tide, they might get drowned by the rising tide that followed, posing a certain risk.
“Thanks, this is for you.”
Lu Ban stuffed two strips of dried fish into the unwilling hands of a kid from Dried Water Town, and after sending him away, he turned his attention back to the reef caves.
The cave wasn’t very deep, but the sun had already risen, making the entrance appear quite dark.
Cui Siter took out his revolver, while Lu Ban directly pulled out a flashlight, ready to illuminate the inside.
“Hold on.”
Cui Siter imdiately stopped Lu Ban.
“I’ll keep watch outside, you go in and check the situation.”
He had just experienced a drop in sanity due to the incident with Ah Yu, and now he was clearly about to inspect the corpse of a non-human entity. If not handled well, he might suffer another wave of ntal fuzziness. Therefore, Cui Siter decided to let Lu Ban test the waters first. If Lu Ban showed no reaction, then he would follow up.
In the Silent Lands, this thod of exploration was very practical during team investigations. After all, when facing those monsters or encountering extrely bizarre scenes, it was better to lose sanity one by one than all together.
Moreover, when sanity dropped to a certain level, one could exhibit various temporary forms of insanity: fainting, hysteria, ntal confusion, cognitive disarray, depression, etc. Cui Siter had nearly decided to shoot himself monts ago to end his misery, which was extrely dangerous.
If only one person were to experience such a condition, at least the other companions could help restrain him.
If everyone went mad at once, they might just be wiped out imdiately.
“No problem.”
Lu Ban, unaware of Cui Siter’s considerations, simply entered the cave with his flashlight.
Soon enough, Lu Ban saw the body.
Click—
Lu Ban felt his heartbeat accelerate a bit.
The body was like that of an ordinary human, only its limbs were longer and thinner, and between the fingers, there seed to be a mbrane-like structure. It was nearly devoid of clothes, and due to decomposition, the body had started to swell, presumably already in the process of rotting internally.
It was the head of the body that was most eye-catching.
The head bore no resemblance to a human’s. In its place were large fish eyes, thick lips, and gills on either side of the head. The connection between the fish head and the human body was sowhat crude, as if it had been forcibly stitched together.
If Lu Ban were soone with steadfast religious beliefs, he might have blurted out so blasphemous remark. But as an ordinary modern individual who had seen many thrilling and horrific monster movies, Lu Ban simply bent down slightly and shone his flashlight directly on the creature’s head.
The fish’s eyes were turbid, and the scales on its head had started to fall off. In the dark cave, only the flashlight’s beam lit up the monstrous and terrifying corpse.
Lu Ban moved a bit closer, trying to find more clues on the body.
He checked the few remaining clothes on the body, which were made of a fine material, unlike the ordinary coarse fabric, more like that which would be worn by a person of high status. There were marks on the body from being cut by the reefs, but they were not fatal wounds.
“How exactly did it die?”
Lu Ban shone the flashlight downward, focusing on the creature’s hands.
He noticed two things.
First, besides the abrasions caused by the reefs, there were no other signs of labor on the hand. As a fisherman, one’s hands would inevitably beco calloused from years of fishing, but this person had none, indicating he didn’t engage in regular labor.
Second, between this person’s fingers, there was a semi-transparent structure like that of fish fins, similar to a frog’s webbing—clearly a feature of a creature adapted to living in water.
Considering the fact that it had appeared by the sea, as well as the information Lu Ban had received for the mission, this implied…
“Is the walking fish referred to this kind of creature?”
Lu Ban muttered to himself while preparing to look further down.
At this mont, from behind Lu Ban, ca a clear snicker.
“Hee hee.”
The crisp female voice made Lu Ban imdiately turn around, flashlight in hand, yet he saw no one.
After scanning the cave and finding nothing more, Lu Ban continued to examine the body, but when his gaze returned to the corpse, he noticed that it seed to twitch.
Moving the flashlight upward, Lu Ban saw that the fish head seed to have changed its position, or perhaps it hadn’t.
He stared at it, only to see so eerie light reflecting in the eyes of the fish.
This was proof of movent!
Lu Ban took a step back, then saw that half-fish, half-human creature seed to be sitting up.
No, that wasn’t it, its abdon began to swell.
Realizing what was about to happen, Lu Ban hastily turned and ran.
Boom——
The explosion erupted from the corpse, splattering rotten, ulcerated, filthy and bloody matter all over the cave, muddying the water.
After a creature dies, microbial activity inside the corpse begins to decompose, releasing vast amounts of gas. When these gases have no way to escape, they accumulate within the body, causing the corpse to swell. When it reaches a critical point or the corpse is disturbed by external factors, it’s likely to break the equilibrium and explode.
In the real world, the death of large creatures like whales or elephants can even result in enormous, dangerous explosions.
The corpse that just exploded was probably due to Lu Ban’s examination, which created an illusion of movent.
“What’s the matter?”
Cui Siter, hearing the loud noise from the cave, quickly called out to ask.
“The body exploded.”
Lu Ban replied succinctly. The air was filled with a foul stench. He shone the flashlight back towards where the body had been, only to see remnants so grotesque they’d need to be blurred out to be viewed.
“But… these organs are almost identical to humans, the lungs… found them.”
Lu Ban barely managed to find sothing that resembled lungs amidst the bloody ss.
Then, he noticed the organ was filled with sludge.
This sludge emitted a stench different from the sll of decay, more like so kind of tal.
“These creatures must be human mutations, it’s just not clear whether this sludge is the cause or result of the mutation.”
Unfortunately, without a suitable container at hand, Lu Ban couldn’t take a sample.
After checking around once more, Lu Ban left the cave.
Exchanging information with Cui Siter and searching the beach, the two returned to the town by evening.
As he entered the inn’s gate, Lu Ban saw that the servant with the pale face from the previous night, resembling a dead man, was waiting there.
“My master would like to invite you both to the estate this evening.”
His face bore a smile, like that of a ceremonial paper effigy.
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