Chapter 111: Sea Monster Faith
Yu Lianyun did not give an immediate reply. Although her expression was calm and composed, she glanced at the time displayed on her wristwatch. The disappointment and despair in her heart were no less than those of the people present. Moreover, she had the pressure of being the leader, making her mood even heavier.
Currently, less than fifteen hours had passed since the departure time of this exploration mission began. There were still a full nine hours or so until twenty-four hours. On this small island with limited space for movement, facing the carpet-style search by those mermen, where could they run to?
Yu Lianyun wanted to activate her Inspiration Talent again, but she also knew that if she used her ability again, she might be completely locked onto by the colossus in the thick fog, and she would have no chance to escape.
If it were just her surviving alone, she might have already chosen to take a gamble, but now there were three teammates by her side, and she did not dare to gamble with their lives.
Shang Wei seemed to see Yu Lianyun’s concerns and quickly encouraged her: “Captain Yu, do whatever you want to do. We have no other methods now. If the method you think of has a probability of successfully escaping, no matter what it is, we are willing to try it.”
The other two C-level Mystic Investigators, who had sluggish spirits, only recovered some consciousness after a few slaps from Shang Wei, but they just said: “It doesn’t matter. Do whatever you want.” Then they completely gave up.
Receiving such a reply, Yu Lianyun also relaxed her mindset and activated her Inspiration again to perceive the source of danger.
However, this time Yu Lianyun sensed a towering shadow enveloping this secluded island. The thick fog on the sea was His handiwork, the mermen were His minions, and He was leading the mermen in a massive approach toward them.
The Sea God of Anhai seemed to have become even more powerful. Yu Lianyun could feel a huge sense of oppression in the air. His heavy mass made the entire secluded island sway for it, and He was also using His inconceivable power to push this secluded island forward on the sea.
Based on her Inspiration judgment, they currently had no absolutely safe option. No matter which path they took, it was dangerous, at most just avoiding the greatest danger, that is, the attack from the Sea God of Anhai.
After thinking for a moment, Yu Lianyun looked back toward the depths of the cave and said: “Perhaps we can find a clear path from this cave.”
Hearing Yu Lianyun’s words, everyone couldn’t help but look at her in confusion, seemingly not understanding what Yu Lianyun meant by this, but they had no choice and could only follow Yu Lianyun’s footsteps.
Yu Lianyun led the three Mystic Investigators into the depths of the cave. The wristwatch activated the flashlight illumination function, immediately lighting up an area.
With the illumination of the flashlight, Yu Lianyun finally saw that the walls deep in the cave seemed to be depicted with records of all kinds of strange and bizarre creatures, carved into twisted and eerie symbols.
The Investigators deeply felt amazed. Shang Wei said: “What exactly was this cave used for before? Could this also be a place where the original inhabitants of the island worshiped the Sea God of Anhai?”
Those textual symbols might be like heavenly script to others, but to the Mystic Investigators who had undergone various skill trainings, they were not worth mentioning.
They recognized them; those were ancient hieroglyphs from the Shenzhou Region, but the content recorded on them made one’s scalp tingle.
“I don’t think so. This symbol representing wind and sky doesn’t seem to refer to the Sea God of Anhai. It seems to refer to another being,” Yu Lianyun voiced her guess. “Before humans revered the Sea God of Anhai, if the humans living here wanted to beg for protection or pray blessings for someone, they originally should have had another faith.”
“You mean, that sea monster expelled by the Sea God of Anhai?” Shang Wei immediately guessed.
“It can only be that.” Yu Lianyun nodded, saying somewhat helplessly, “According to the personality of beings, we adore powerful and formidable things. Worship may be born from desire and emotion, and faith may also be born from fear and hatred.”
The instinct of beings is to fear the strong, and humans, such “shame-knowing” and “hierarchy-understanding” beings, will package and beautify their fear emotions.
The sea monster, as the monster that harmed the people at that time, if there was no method to counter or deal with it back then, the early humans would seek temporary peace by appeasing the sea monster, exchanging peace through transactions. As the form of transactions developed and was “beautified,” it could give rise to heretical rituals such as sacrifice, further developing into eerie and inexplicable faiths. Similar things are countless in human history, such as early nature worship, totem adoration, and so on…
“So this is originally the place where the islanders enshrined the sea monster?” Shang Wei understood Yu Lianyun’s idea. Although shocked by this matter, upon careful thought, it seemed somewhat reasonable.
Yu Lianyun read the ancient text on the stone wall: “This records the history of the islanders’ interactions with the sea monster. Back then, that sea monster was summoned from another world by the ancestors of these islanders through some ritual. Originally, they wanted to use the summoning ritual recorded in the heretical texts to confront the invaders, but it unexpectedly went out of control.
The sea monster seemed to be a ruler-like existence in another world. Its body was immensely colossal. In fact, only a small part of the sea monster’s body was summoned to this world because the summoning ritual had only been successfully performed halfway. All the people hosting the ritual at the time died—some were scared to death upon glimpsing the sea monster’s true appearance, some had their souls hooked away by the sea monster’s voice, and some were devoured by the sea monster’s body.
But this small part was already enough to wipe out all the invaders at the time.
In the end, the islanders defended their island, but it brought them new danger.
To preserve the life and safety of the small island, they had no choice but to reach a transaction with the sea monster, promising to offer it a considerable quantity of livestock and other sacrifices every year, and the sea monster would also promise not to attack the residents of their small island for that year…”
The Mystic Investigators looked at the various evil and bizarre ritual procedure diagrams on the stone wall, trembling from head to toe.
Suddenly, everyone noticed a new change in the painting on the stone wall. A green gemstone fell from the sky, dropping into the sea, and the sea monster seized it like a treasure, holding the gemstone above the sea surface.
“One day, a comet fell from the sky, and an unknown green glowing object crashed onto the small island. The green light on it was lush and vibrant, dazzlingly bright, making it impossible to see its specific regular shape clearly. The green light it emitted would invade the earth and all things. People who stared at the light for a long time would die.
But such a dangerous gemstone was easily taken and used by the sea monster like an amusing toy. From then on, the sea monster’s eating method changed. Before eating the sacrifices, it would let those sacrifices first receive the irradiation of the green light, dying first in the fear illusions created by the green light, then completely devouring those sacrifices to enjoy a higher level of eating pleasure.”
“Good grief, this is like a premium seasoning, huh?” Shang Wei’s eyelids twitched wildly.
Filled in… no lunch break, so sleepy
