Chapter 380: Deep in the cargo hold
Lin Ye had many entities he could pray to, but in the end, he decided to pray to that young girl from Ward 419 in the asylum... because she seemed pretty idle.
The mental purification technique was used very successfully, but Lin Ye vaguely sensed that this action was not without cost;
there might be some trouble in the future.
The Active Aberration was a parasitic bio-weapon. Relying on flesh and blood rune fragments and parasitic runes, Lin Ye could control the Active Aberration's movements within a certain range.
"You three, bring up the rear. I'll walk ahead with the Active Aberration. It might not be safe behind us, so be careful yourselves."
Lin Ye really didn't want to turn around and find that not a single person was left behind him.
"Okay, you be careful too."
Ayla was very reassured by Lin Ye.
Lin Ye controlled the Active Aberration to venture deeper into the ship's interior. As the Active Aberration passed by, those glowing spheres shattered one after another. Amidst the blinding yellow light, all those milky white fluid monsters surged into the Aberration monster's body.
The Aberration monster's mind contained only complex parasitic programs;
it was utterly incapable of thinking about anything related to faith.
Lin Ye controlled the Aberration monster to descend all the way down. The path was unobstructed, and the Aberration monster visibly swelled up. "Won't that monster burst?"
Kama asked worriedly from behind.
"No, it inherently has the function of absorbing nutrients."
Lin Ye planned to try replicating similar parasitic creatures after returning;
they seemed quite useful.
As the four of them gradually ventured deeper into the ship's interior, the glowing spheres within the walls became more numerous, and the Aberration monster grew increasingly swollen.
While passing through a passageway, Lin Ye suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
Kama poked her head out from behind.
"There are some differently colored glowing spheres here."
Among the large number of bright yellow glowing spheres were mixed several dark red ones. Lin Ye wasn't sure what would happen if they got close.
"Should I try attacking them?"
Kama raised her staff;
she could accurately strike those few dark red spheres.
"Don't rush. Let's still have it test it out."
Lin Ye controlled the now milky-white Aberration monster to enter the passage. Those glowing spheres shattered one after another, including the few dark red ones.
Red light flickered. The dark red spheres spewed out large amounts of flesh and blood. This flesh and blood mixed with the milky white fluid, forming some kind of deformed mutated monster.
The mutated monster continuously sprayed milky white fluid in all directions. Lin Ye hurriedly hid behind the wall. Kama swung her staff, and several sharp spiritual energy swords flashed by, blowing up the mutated monster's body.
The Aberration monster absorbed the mutated monster's remains and, under Lin Ye's control, continued moving forward.
Along the way, the dark red spheres gradually increased in number. Those mutated monsters would be blown up by Kama and the other two as soon as they appeared. The spiritual energy equipment they carried was the highest quality among the Empire's low-tier spiritual energy items, equivalent to level 29 legendary gear in some game. Dealing with these crude mutated monsters was a complete curb-stomp.
Lin Ye very leisurely watched the battle from the side, casually absorbing some of the dispersed spiritual energy.
"This seems to be the crew quarters."
The four passed through several narrow passageways and entered a corridor lined with doors on both sides.
"Do crew members live this deep inside?"
This was Ayla's first time inside such a cruise ship. Unlike the upper decks, she felt this place was excessively narrow and gloomy. It was hard to imagine what it would feel like to live in such a place long-term.
"Probably. I also rarely travel by ship."
Lin Ye controlled the Aberration monster to enter the corridor. The glowing spheres in the corridor shattered, but the doors remained unchanged.
Under Lin Ye's control, the Aberration monster opened one of the doors. The room inside was packed with deformed mutated monsters.
Those monsters rushed out of the room, attempting to spew white fluid onto Lin Ye and the others.
Kama swung her staff, easily dispatching these mutated monsters.
"...Did they get smarter?"
Previously, these monsters only sprayed white fluid around them, but now they knew to aim at targets.
"Perhaps it's because we are getting closer to the source of the contamination."
Lin Ye controlled the Aberration monster to open the other doors. If they didn't deal with these rooms, when they passed by, these monsters would definitely rush out from inside and spew white fluid onto them.
Not long after, they had cleared out all the rooms in the corridor, and the Aberration monster had devoured all the corpses on the floor.
After passing through the crew quarters, the four continued moving downward. Not long after, they successfully reached the deepest part of the cruise ship: the cargo hold.
The cargo hold was a large space, piled high with various large pieces of cargo. It seemed this cruise ship also took on some private freight delivery jobs.
The entire cargo hold was covered in some kind of bright yellow crystal. Deep within the cargo hold stood a huge statue. The statue was encased inside a bright yellow crystalline shell, like amber.
"I think I smell something... something very strange..."
Liv kept sniffing, yellow glints flashing in her eyes.
"Sorry."
Ayla suddenly covered Liv's mouth and nose with a handkerchief. Soon, Liv fainted.
This was her last dose of knockout agent.
Ayla held Liv and retreated. Lin Ye controlled the Aberration monster and walked with Kama towards the depths of the cargo hold.
Mond knelt below the statue, muttering delirious words no one could understand.
Through the yellow crystal, the rough outline of the statue inside could be seen. It was a deformed, mutated humanoid creature, looking not much different from those mutated monsters outside.
Lin Ye immediately pulled Kama back. The Aberration monster violently exploded, and milky white fluid tendrils stabbed towards the two of them.
The speed of the tendrils was extremely fast;
the two had no time to react.
But just before stabbing into the two, the fluid tendrils suddenly crumbled, turning into liquid that splashed onto the ground.
"You actually tampered with this body?"
The Aberration monster looked at Lin Ye in surprise and spoke.
"Wasn't that inevitable? Otherwise, why would I possibly keep such a dangerous source of contamination by my side?"
Lin Ye looked at the Aberration monster with a strange expression.
"You guessed I would use this body?"
The Aberration monster then asked.
"Mhm. Otherwise, what's the point of those mutated monsters' existence? For us to have fun fighting them? However, I only guessed you would utilize the Aberration monster. I didn't expect you would cut 'yourself' into pieces and send them into the Aberration monster's body. It wasn't until I saw the thing inside that I roughly guessed a little. That statue was created by mutating my companion, right?"
Lin Ye also wasn't sure if his methods could suppress the source of contamination, which is why he hurriedly pulled Kama back.
"Encountering a smart human like you is troublesome. But you don't think you can control me with just some basic runes, do you?"
After dealing with the runes inside its body, the Aberration monster once again condensed milky white fluid tendrils.
"I wouldn't call it control, but it should cause some influence, because some things can't be cleaned out."
For example, the state of madness induced by the Berserk rune.