Chapter 201: part 2
Ai Jiangtu walked up to one of the dead Scarlet Scale Sea Demons and used his hands to tear open its stomach.
“Captain, what are you doing? That’s disgusting!” Mu Tingying covered her nose, refusing to let the foul odor coming from the demon’s stomach enter her lungs.
The others were confused as well. Why was Ai Jiangtu opening the creature’s stomach? Was there something important inside?
Ai Jiangtu was not acting carelessly. His movements were controlled and precise as he cautiously tore open the demon’s abdomen. Then, he slowly reached inside and pulled out a small body whose leg had been exposed.
Mo Fan was standing beside him. The moment he saw what Ai Jiangtu had taken out, his expression changed completely.
The casual arrogance on his face vanished.
Ai Jiangtu took a deep breath while holding the thing covered in gastric juices, fresh blood, and half digested remains.
“Captain, what did you…” Mu Tingying was about to ask what he had found, but when she saw the corpse of the infant in Ai Jiangtu’s hands, her face instantly turned pale.
“Ahhh!”
Her scream attracted everyone’s attention.
The atmosphere froze when the others saw the tiny corpse in Ai Jiangtu’s hands. Everyone’s expression changed. Most of the girls immediately turned their heads away, unable to look at it any longer.
It was too gruesome.
Inside the stomach of the Scarlet Scale Sea Demon was the corpse of a child, at most two years old.
The infant had been swallowed alive. It had not happened long ago, because the corpse was still mostly preserved, though the stomach acid had already begun corroding the skin.
The National Team members could hardly believe it.
Why would a Scarlet Scale Sea Demon have swallowed a child alive?
Had it attacked a village recently and eaten the child whole?
Ai Jiangtu’s hands were covered in filth. He slowly walked to the sea and washed away the blood and gastric fluids clinging to the corpse.
The infant had died of suffocation.
If Ai Jiangtu had not discovered the body, it would most likely have been completely dissolved by the demon’s stomach acid. The thought sent a chill through everyone present.
“The child was swallowed whole,” Ai Jiangtu said coldly after cleaning the corpse. “He was still alive when he entered the creature’s stomach.”
The infant’s eyes were still open.
That alone was enough to make several team members feel sick.
“Captain, don’t say anymore…” one of the girls said, her voice trembling.
“There’s another one here,” Mo Fan said.
His voice was low.
Everyone turned around and saw Mo Fan carrying another small corpse, also covered in filth. This child was around three years old. The body had already been partially dissolved, its skin corroded until it looked almost flayed.
The students felt their scalps go numb.
“Give it to me,” Ai Jiangtu said.
Mo Fan silently handed the corpse over.
Ai Jiangtu passed the first washed corpse to Mo Fan and took the second one. He carefully washed it as well, but the body had already rotted too severely. No matter how gently he rinsed it, it still looked horrifying.
Mo Fan looked at the two small bodies, his eyes dark.
He had killed many demons.
He had seen corpses.
He had even walked through battlefields.
But this was different.
These were children who should have been inside the safe zone, protected by walls, soldiers, and mages.
“Let’s bury them,” Mo Fan said quietly.
Ai Jiangtu nodded.
“I’ll do it,” Zhao Manyan said, his usual joking expression gone. “It’s better to purify them first.”
—
A strong light descended from the sky, landing on the rocks near the shore and shining upon the two small corpses.
The well preserved corpse and the badly corroded one were both purified by the golden brilliance. Their tiny bodies gradually turned into ashes, scattering into the wind beneath the warm light.
A sudden breeze swept the ashes away, brushing across the faces of the young mages.
No one spoke for a while.
Even Zhao Manyan, who usually found a way to joke about anything, remained silent.
“It seems like they didn’t tell us everything,” Jiang Yu said in a deep voice.
No one could stay in a good mood after seeing something like this.
“Jiang Yu, Mu Tingying,” Ai Jiangtu said, his voice cold and steady. “You two fly back to Feiniao City immediately. Investigate all places attacked by demon creatures in the past few days, especially cases involving missing children.”
“Aren’t we going to wipe out the creatures?” Mu Tingying asked, still pale. “Everything will be fine once we kill them all.”
“Do you really think the five advisors randomly dropped us in a fishing village?” Ai Jiangtu asked in return.
Mu Tingying opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Ai Jiangtu’s words made the others think.
“Are you saying this is a trial prepared by the advisors?” Gong Yu asked.
“I’m guessing so,” Jiang Yu said sternly. “Something serious must have happened here, but the local authorities either failed to solve it or deliberately buried it. The advisors may want us to uncover the truth during training.”
“A trial?” Nanyu frowned.
Ai Jiangtu shook his head. “Whether it is a trial or not does not matter. We need to find the truth.”
His voice grew colder.
“If we had found the body of a mage or fisherman who ventured outside the safe zone, then we could only bury them and continue the mission. But these are children.”
His quiet voice trembled with suppressed anger.
“Children should be inside the city. Inside the safe zone. They can barely walk properly, so how could they possibly wander into demon territory and be swallowed alive by Scarlet Scale Sea Demons?”
The group fell silent.
Humanity had already given up too much land to demons.
They allowed demon creatures to occupy the wilderness.
They accepted that safe zones constantly shrank under pressure.
They accepted that mages died beyond the borders.
But they could never accept demons treating human infants as food.
That was no longer a matter of territory.
It was humiliation.
The demon creatures had already gone out of control, yet the government of Feiniao City had done nothing.
No wonder the city’s economy was failing.
No wonder the safe zone kept shrinking.
A city that could not even protect its own children had already lost its dignity. It was no different from a poultry cage being raised beside the sea.
Ai Jiangtu had not been this angry when he heard that sea monsters were obstructing Feiniao City’s development. But now, he had the urge to return to the city himself, drag out whoever was responsible for its defenses, and force him to look at the two corpses they had found inside the demons’ stomachs.
Mo Fan stood to the side, silent.
The air around him was frighteningly still.
Those who knew him understood that this was far more dangerous than his usual anger. When Mo Fan cursed and laughed, he might only be annoyed. But when he became this quiet, it meant someone was going to pay.
“Captain, don’t worry,” Jiang Yu said firmly. “There’s no truth I, Jiang Yu, can’t find. I’ll be back soon and tell you everything you need to know.”
“Get me the names of the military personnel responsible for Feiniao City’s defense,” Ai Jiangtu said grimly.
“Not a problem.”
Mo Fan finally spoke, his voice low and cold.
“And find out who knew about the missing children but kept silent.”
Jiang Yu glanced at him and nodded.
“I’ll check everything.”
Mo Fan looked toward the sea, where the Scarlet Scale Sea Demons had crawled out from.
“Good,” he said. “Because after this, I’m not just hunting sea monsters anymore.”