Chapter 55 : Chapter 55
Chapter 55
In the early hours of Tuesday, on the island beach.
Zhou Que casually lit a small flame and calmly observed the situation on the shore. The orange-yellow fire flickered in his palm, yet it did not burn his skin.
He crouched down and used the flame to illuminate the sand at his feet.
In the darkness, a dense scatter of footprints immediately came into view. Most of them belonged to crawling creatures, tracks left by things that had migrated from the sea toward the island.
But strangely enough, Zhou Que discovered a few dragging trails mixed among them.
Some creatures that were clearly not amphibians had also joined this migration onto the island. They were dragging their heavy bodies forward with difficulty, inching their way toward land.
“Something’s wrong,” Zhou Que muttered, lowering his head.
Zhou Que and the others had landed in the third batch.
By the time they reached the waters near the island, it was already pouring. Their landing was delayed because of it, and by the time the rain finally stopped, it was already deep into the night, seven or eight hours behind the first batch.
The island itself was roughly oval in shape. The school had assigned everyone the same landing point, and the closer one stayed to that area, the more likely one was to run into other students.
At that point, it would be very easy for things to turn into a struggle between Hunters.
So the three of them decided to avoid the other students and head for the opposite side of the island to hunt Aberrants instead.
Because all three of them were strong enough to guarantee their own safety, and because they wanted to close the gap in points as quickly as possible, Shao Huayu’s team had advanced along the beach. The beach was where marine Aberrants were most common, and it was extremely easy to end up attacked from both sides.
A lot of teams deliberately avoided this route, so they had not encountered any classmates along the way.
But by the early hours of the next day, just as the three of them were about to reach the other side of the island, they found some strange signs on one of the beaches they passed.
First, trees near the shore had been broken for no apparent reason. Then there were scattered remains of fish-type Aberrants. And finally, there were these footprints of varying depth in front of them...
With both arms folded across her chest, Feng Youyou said troubledly, “Are they migrating toward land?”
“It doesn’t really look like it,” Shao Huayu said as he crouched down and carefully examined the drag marks on the ground.
Then he rose to his feet and looked at the other two gravely. “Everything I’ve been taught tells me this: no matter how much a species mutates, it still won’t change the most fundamental trajectory of its survival.”
“But what we’re seeing here breaks that rule.”
“So... after the apocalypse has continued to this point, have the Aberrants become capable of breaking the biological instincts written into their genes?” Feng Youyou murmured softly, one hand supporting her chin.
But as she spoke, her brows drew tighter and tighter.
This was absolutely not a good sign. It meant that humanity’s current living space would shrink even further, and that they themselves might witness the decline of humankind within their own lifetimes.
Shao Huayu shook his head. “It’s too early to say that.”
He turned to look toward the depths of the island forest, where branches had been broken apart. “Let’s go see what’s in the forest. At a time like this, I’d rather hope it’s because of the Lord’s influence.”
“Yes,” Feng Youyou said heavily.
They still had not ruled out the possibility that this was caused by the Lord. If it was, then the fears they had just voiced would amount to nothing more than needless alarm.
But how could a land-based Lord influence creatures in the sea?
Feng Youyou immediately grew distracted.
A Lord normally only influenced the Danger Zone it occupied. It could not affect creatures outside that Danger Zone. But because Danger Zones were generally open areas, their boundaries were hard to define.
Feng Youyou had once followed her elders into a Danger Zone before.
What she remembered most clearly from that experience was that Aberrants were also divided into groups among themselves. A bird-type Lord-class Aberrant would find it difficult to command a snake-type Aberrant.
Up to now, Aberrants had still acted according to biological instinct. But...
What if that was no longer true?
A trace of hesitation arose in Feng Youyou’s heart, but she quickly stopped herself from thinking any further. As a future reporter who was bound to come into contact with the dark side of the Federation, she could not allow herself to fall into nihilism.
That would become fertile ground for a Cult to control its followers.
“This place really has been through one disaster after another,” Feng Youyou suddenly said with a sigh.
Shao Huayu nodded. “It really has.”
After saying that, Shao Huayu stopped looking at the footprints and instead strode straight toward the forest. Smiling, he asked, “I assume neither of you has any objections?”
“What objection would there be?” Zhou Que said indifferently.
“Of course not,” Feng Youyou replied with a smile.
At that moment, Feng Youyou actually felt a little grateful that she had joined this team. These observations regarding the survival of species and the Lord were things her previous team never could have witnessed.
Not everyone had the courage to witness the upheaval of an era.
***
At noon on Tuesday, in the inner ring of the island.
A fallen leaf drifted lazily through the air in a slow turn, then, in a blur faster than the eye could follow, shot toward the Aberrant circling among the trees. The branches shook violently, scattering a shower of leaves, followed by a thud.
A silver-white flying fish fell into the pile of leaves below.
It struggled a few times, then stopped moving.
Ji Qing calmly surveyed the surroundings. All he could hear was the faint sound of wind and running water. Other than the treetop that had just made the noise, there was nothing unusual.
So Ji Qing stepped out from the bush where he had been hiding.
He crouched down and examined the silver-white flying fish Aberrant, and once again that strange feeling welled up inside him. Like the starfish, flying fish were creatures that lived near the surface of the sea.
It should not have appeared inside the island.
But compared to the appearance of the flying fish, there was something else that puzzled Ji Qing even more. In his memory, flying fish were called “flying fish,” but all they could actually do was glide through the air for short distances. Yet this one could truly fly...
A thoughtful glint passed through Ji Qing’s green eyes.
He had not sensed any pain from the flying fish, which meant that it was willingly staying inside the island. That feeling was profoundly bad...
“The evolution of a species?” Ji Qing murmured.
Human ancestors had first emerged from the depths of the sea. And by now, after the apocalypse had continued this long, it was entirely possible that marine Aberrants were also following that path of evolution and stepping onto land.
Only...
Recalling what he had seen before, Ji Qing murmured quietly, “It doesn’t feel like spontaneous biological evolution.”
“It should be the Lord’s influence.”
You Xingluo’s voice suddenly came from behind him. He casually picked up a branch from nearby and used it to turn over the flying fish’s corpse, carefully examining the differences in its appearance.
After a long while, You Xingluo frowned. “But... this one already looks evolved.”
Ji Qing nodded grimly.
He had noticed that the flying fish Aberrant’s pectoral fins were longer and more powerful than those of an ordinary flying fish. Those differences had clearly evolved in order to better adapt to the resistance of the air.
After returning last night, Ji Qing had told the other two about the starfish.
At the time, You Xingluo’s expression had immediately turned grave. If the starfish had come onto land of its own accord, then every city near the sea would no longer be safe.
At this point in the apocalypse, humanity had long since lost the privilege of venturing into the deep sea. The conditions on the ocean floor were almost entirely unknown, and no one could imagine what kinds of mutations the Aberrants of the deep had undergone.
That would be a catastrophe far greater than merely “the fall of Xicheng.”
But when Ji Qing said that the starfish had seemed to be in great pain, the tension in You Xingluo’s heart eased slightly. There should still be a small chance to turn things around.
So today, the three of them continued deeper into the island.
They encountered many Aberrants along the way. Most were native to the island, while a small number were Aberrants mutated from marine life. Fortunately, aside from the flying fish in front of them, all the other marine Aberrants were still in a half-finished state.
At last, the two of them could confirm that this was indeed the Lord’s influence.
“It looks like it conducted an experiment on this island,” You Xingluo said softly. “I don’t know what method it used, but this island really was a good location.”
If not for the urgency of Xicheng’s survival crisis, this island might well have been left alone for several years before a joint sweep led by Xicheng finally took place.
As for Third Ability Academy...
All that could be said was that no one had expected the Principal to be willing to take it on. Even Li Xuehua, Class S’s homeroom teacher, had not heard anything about it two weeks ago.
“That’s a blessing, at least,” Ji Qing said quietly.
He suddenly rose to his feet and opened his terminal to check the current Team Competition rankings. Just as expected, Shao Huayu’s team occupied first place, with a very large gap separating them from Lu Qingyin’s team in second.
Xie Chang’an’s team ranked fourth, while Ji Qing’s own team was seventh.
Ji Qing said casually, “The other students should report this to the school too, right?”
You Xingluo shook his head. “I’m not too sure.”
After a pause, he said calmly, “Most people aren’t that perceptive. But the people I know among you probably all would. Are we going to keep going deeper now?”
“Wait a moment,” Ji Qing said, lifting his eyes toward the direction they had come from. “Let’s wait for Liu Mu first.”
“Right,” You Xingluo said, suddenly understanding.
Once Liu Mu got here, they could have him use his ability to investigate.
This time, the three of them had been acting separately. Because they wanted to explore the hidden Aberrants lurking in the forest, they had deliberately kept some distance between each other as they advanced.
You Xingluo had arrived smoothly, but Liu Mu had been delayed.
Very soon, a rustling sound came from the bushes.
After seeing the two of them, Liu Mu scratched his head awkwardly and explained with embarrassment, “Sorry. I ran into a cliff on the way here.”
“I went too far,” Ji Qing said with an unconcerned smile.
The three of them briefly exchanged details about what they had encountered on the way.
Ji Qing quickly stepped back a few paces and asked Liu Mu, “Liu Mu, can you try reading the flying fish’s memory?”
“Hm? Right now?” Liu Mu froze for a moment after hearing that.
But he quickly steadied himself and nodded seriously. After all, that was exactly what his ability was for. It was not as though it were some unreasonable request.
“Though I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to read the information you want,” Liu Mu said as he stepped forward. “You want to know why the flying fish could appear inside the island, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then that might be pretty far back.” Liu Mu let out a quiet sigh. Even so, it was something they had to try. Liu Mu crouched down neatly and efficiently, closed his eyes, and touched the flying fish’s remains.
During the process, his brows drew tighter and tighter, and a sheen of cold sweat began to form on his forehead.
“Shit...” Liu Mu cursed.
“This fish didn’t migrate here from the sea. It was born on the island. There are a lot of egg clusters like this one on the island,” Liu Mu said at high speed, his face looking terrible. “They should be in some cave, but I can’t see the exact location clearly...”
Ji Qing fell silent after hearing that.
The evolution of a species did indeed begin with its offspring, but the thought that there might be hundreds or even thousands of flying fish like this immediately made Ji Qing’s skin crawl.
You Xingluo’s expression changed abruptly.
He instinctively bit down on his finger and murmured, “My earlier guess was wrong.”
“It doesn’t want to use this place as an experimental ground. It wants to turn it into a breeding ground. Xicheng...” You Xingluo instantly turned toward Ji Qing, his tone grave. “The school has to be told about this.”
“This Lord... it has the ability to trigger a new Black Tide.”