Aberrants

"If my divine power of the sun were still like it was back in the Chaos of the Five Elements dungeon, I'd charge straight down to the bottom hold and take on the boss head-on." Zhang Yuanqing let out a sigh of regret. His Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record had already reached minor perfection. In the Chaos of the Five Elements dungeon, the pure, majestic divine power of the sun had even briefly suppressed the willpower of a Dominator, potent enough to scorch a Dominator—though the Dominator-stage enemy at the time had been a wraith, which happened to be countered by the sun's divine power. Unlike lunar and stellar power, however, the divine power of the sun could not be endlessly replenished through his character card. The card connected to the Spirit Realm, where spiritual power was inexhaustible, but because Zhang Yuanqing had not yet attained the Dominator stage, he could not replenish the sun's divine power through it. In the real world, spiritual energy was depleted, leaving him no way to restore it through breathing and cultivation. Consequently, every bit of the sun's divine power he expended was gone for good. "I wonder if the Spirit Realm of the First District has the divine power of the sun... Most likely not..." Despite the thought, he decided to give it a try. Sitting cross-legged on his bunk, he circulated the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record and began drawing in spiritual power. A few minutes later, Zhang Yuanqing's exhaled breath grew scorching hot, distorting the surrounding air, and a faint golden radiance illuminated his face. Beneath his naval uniform, his lungs took on a golden luster, shining through flesh and skin until they appeared almost translucent. Three hours passed in this manner until noon arrived. As the sun climbed higher, Zhang Yuanqing's skin inside the cabin turned as vivid red as a boiled shrimp, and fine blood vessels beaded at his pores. The solar energy had become too dense. He was forced to stop; continuing any longer would cause the divine power of the sun to incinerate his internal organs and meridians, vaporizing his blood and inflicting grievous wounds. Zhang Yuanqing staggered out of bed, threw himself toward the desk, grabbed the kettle, and guzzled the boiling water heedless of the heat. Still not enough, still not enough... Clutching the kettle, he bolted from his quarters with hurried, stumbling strides, raced down the corridor, and burst into the boiler room at the head of the stairs. He twisted the tap open, ignoring the scalding water, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped down the source of life. He drank until his abdomen swelled and hot water surged back up his throat. Only then did he bend at the waist and head back to his quarters, thoroughly satisfied. "Now I finally understand how Kuafu felt after chasing the sun. That was close—I nearly roasted myself alive..." Zhang Yuanqing returned to his quarters, flopped onto the bunk, and checked the divine power of the sun within him. To his delight, it had recovered to forty percent of its peak. Two more hours of breathing exercises in the afternoon should bring it to sixty percent. He had patrol duty tonight, and skipping it would surely draw the captain's suspicion. In that case, he would cultivate again tomorrow morning and strive to fully restore his divine power of the sun as soon as possible. Yet doubt sprouted in Zhang Yuanqing's mind: why could the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record be practiced in the First District? It was common knowledge that the First District and Second District were incompatible, belonging to different servers with different administrators. Class spiritual powers were certainly incompatible as well. Logically, a Spirit Realm walker from the Second District should not be able to draw in spiritual power inside a First District realm. "Could this be what makes the Night Walker unique? Is the Night Walker a supreme administrator capable of cultivating across servers? Or rather, do both the First District and Second District fall under the Night Walker's jurisdiction...?" Zhang Yuanqing opened the door to let the heat disperse. At this hour, the crew was having lunch in the mess hall, leaving the lower quarters deserted, so no one noticed anything amiss. Once the heat cleared, he shut the door and took an afternoon nap to speed up his recovery. At three-thirty in the afternoon, with the sun hanging in the west, Zhang Yuanqing resumed drawing in the divine power of the sun. The temperature in the room climbed drastically, causing plastic items and other goods to soften and melt. By six o'clock, as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, he finally concluded his practice, two brilliant rays of golden light shooting from his eyes. Zhang Yuanqing hurried to the desk, drained the warm water from the kettle, and returned to the boiler room to down two more large pots. His belly rounded once more, he returned to his room. He waited patiently. Before long, footsteps echoed down the corridor, and a soldier carrying live ammunition arrived at the door, his face taut. Straightening his posture, he said loudly, "Lieutenant Haas, time for the shift change!" Zhang Yuanqing gave a simple grunt. Keeping his expression neutral, he left the desk and stepped out of the quarters. Led by the soldier, he went to the armory to draw an automatic rifle, then stepped onto the deck. The cruise ship's patrol squad numbered twenty men in total, operating in pairs. Their primary duty was watching for monsters in the ocean. Although the demon seed had already been salvaged and could no longer pollute marine life, it had corrupted an incalculable number of creatures during its time in the water. Some of those aberrant beasts had been eliminated, but others remained scattered everywhere. Throughout the return voyage, small bands of aberrant monsters continued to attack the ship day and night. A cardinal of the Holy See claimed this was the demon seed calling out to the fiends. These monsters were made of flesh and blood. Though possessed of immense strength, firearms, grenades, and grenade launchers crafted by humans could still effectively destroy them. On the deck, Zhang Yuanqing, in his role as lieutenant, swept his eyes over the twenty sailors drawn up in formation, as well as a woman clad in a white nun's habit. She looked to be around thirty, blessed with a fiery, voluptuous figure. The loose habit could not conceal the swell of her bosom, and the rough cloth of her robe draped over the rounded curve of her hips. She possessed a mature, glamorous face with sharply contoured features, brown hair, brown eyes, and light freckles that only added to her allure. This was Peggy, the Siren of the Holy See's team of Spirit Realm walkers! Stephen's diary had not lied about her 'devilish figure.' She was indeed a beauty capable of setting any man's hormones racing, and the sailors lined up in formation were all stealing glances at her. Noticing Lieutenant Haas's scrutiny, Peggy arched her delicate eyebrows. Hostility flared in her eyes as she said coldly, "Your eyes are sharp enough. Keep them that way. If any aberrant monster crawls onto this deck, I'll blow your heads off." "Yes, ma'am!" The sailors jumped in fright, immediately throwing their shoulders back and staring straight ahead. "Begin the patrol," Peggy ordered coolly, as though she were the highest-ranking officer present. The sailors dispersed, smoothly falling into pairs and departing for their respective patrol routes. Peggy walked along the edge of the deck, her sharp gaze fixed on the sea. Zhang Yuanqing slung his rifle over his shoulder and paced along the deck's edge in convincing fashion, turning thoughts over in his mind. *Peggy is the only Spirit Realm walker on the deck. With my abilities, killing her swiftly wouldn't be hard... The crew in the lower quarters can be handled by the Ghost Bride alone... *But doing that will definitely trigger the crisis early. If I wait until tomorrow, when the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record is back at its peak, my odds will be much better.* After discovering that the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record could also be cultivated in a First District dungeon, Zhang Yuanqing felt torn over whether to strike tonight or wait until his divine power of the sun reached its apex. Time slipped past. The rhythmic slosh of waves against the hull was the night's only music. A full moon hung in the ink-black sky, casting clear, bright moonlight. Zhang Yuanqing felt better than ever, his mind crystal clear and his limbs surging with strength. *A night like this is perfect for a slaughter,* he thought from the bottom of his heart. Suddenly, a patch of dark clouds veiled the full moon, plunging heaven and earth into darkness. The cruise ship's lights became the sole illumination in the world, drifting upon the boundless ocean. Zhang Yuanqing's ears twitched faintly as he caught the sound of mysterious murmurs. The whispers came from the night sky, from the deep ocean, and from the ship beneath his feet, making it impossible to pinpoint their origin. Vast and ethereal, they sounded like an unconscious drone, yet also like some occult language. *Here it comes... the call of the demon seed mentioned in the diary...* Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank. Immediately, he felt the cells throughout his body undergo a strange mutation, tiny fleshy buds pushing up beneath his skin. Tendons of flesh writhed frantically under his flesh like crawling worms. An intense itch spread across his body; he felt as though tentacles were about to sprout, as if second and third arms were forcing their way out. Zhang Yuanqing immediately circulated the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record. The divine power of the sun flooded his flesh and blood, suppressing and purifying the cellular mutation with instant results. Most of the buds that would trigger trypophobia in anyone melted away, and the writhing tendons settled down. "Looks like the dungeon isn't giving me any time..." He bared his teeth. This was only the second night, and the corruption of the demon seed had already arrived. Was the calm of the first day merely a grace period provided by the dungeon for Spirit Realm walkers to adapt and search for clues? Three days still remained, and the corruption would only grow stronger by the day. It was already this difficult to withstand; if he had to endure three more days, wouldn't he mutate right on the spot? As he pondered, he heard footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw two uniformed patrolmen standing there, their expressions wooden and their eyes dark and vacant as they stared straight at him. "Is something the matter?" Zhang Yuanqing asked. The soldier on the left said woodenly, "Lieutenant Haas, the captain requests your presence." "Where?" Zhang Yuanqing stared at them without expression. Something was off about the pair. The soldier on the right said woodenly, "In the bottom hold!" The bottom hold... Zhang Yuanqing's brow furrowed, suspicion flaring. The demon seed was down there, and the whispers had only just sounded. Heading toward the source of corruption right now was nothing short of suicidal. Only then did he realize that the other patrolling soldiers had gathered nearby at some point. Standing ten-odd meters away, they stared at him with blank, wooden faces. Like walking corpses. *These bastards have all mutated together!* The instant the thought crossed his mind, the skin on the left soldier's chest tore open, revealing a gaping maw lined with fangs. A scarlet tongue flopped out, issuing a low, droning mutter: "Go to the bottom hold... Go to the bottom hold..." A bloodshot eyeball sprouted from the right soldier's forehead, blinking as it fixed a sinister glare upon him: "Go to the bottom hold... Go to the bottom hold..." *Clip-clop, clip-clop!* The sound of hooves approached at high speed from behind—someone was mounting a sneak attack! Without the slightest hesitation, Zhang Yuanqing unleashed a back kick that landed squarely on the ambusher. Accompanied by the splash of water and a distinctly non-human hiss, the attacker was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the deck. Zhang Yuanqing raised his rifle, took aim at the heads of the two sailors, and fired twice—*bang, bang*—blowing their heads apart. The two aberrants collapsed heavily, yet the mouth on the first soldier's chest continued its mechanical mutter: "Go to the bottom hold... Go to the bottom hold..." The solitary eye on the other's forehead blinked rapidly, leaking pitch-black blood. Seeing this, the eighteen soldiers in the distance let out roars, their bodies undergoing varying degrees of mutation. Some sprouted slimy tentacles from beneath their coats; others developed scales and gills across their skin; some grew four thick, black arms; others had their heads mutate into hideous fish heads. They—no, *these creatures*—either raised their weapons to fire or lunged at Zhang Yuanqing with bared fangs and brandished claws. Zhang Yuanqing threw back his head and let out a shrill roar. The high, piercing shriek drove into the brains of the mutated soldiers like iron wedges. *Thud, thud, thud...* The aberrant monsters collapsed one after another, twitching as they died. Under a Mental Strike at the peak of Level 6, the souls of Transcendent-stage Spirit Realm walkers would be annihilated on the spot, while even Level 4 Saints would suffer grievous trauma and lose all fighting capacity. *Thump, thump, thump...* Bullets struck Zhang Yuanqing's body, sounding like they were hitting tough oxhide, thudding dully before clattering harmlessly onto the deck. Just then, a fierce wind howled as the ambusher he had kicked away closed in once more. Zhang Yuanqing turned to face the threat and saw the attacker's true appearance. It was none other than the Siren, Peggy. Her pupils had turned amber, her lips black, and her cheeks were covered in dark scales that gleamed with a metallic sheen. Behind her, eight slick tentacles lashed about wildly, and her ten fingers had grown into pitch-black, horny talons. Her face was both glamorous and monstrous. She rode atop a steed condensed from seawater, charging straight toward him. "Even after mutating, she can still use her class skills? What a pity..." Zhang Yuanqing muttered. Grabbing the Purple Thunder Hammer from his inventory, he rolled to the side the instant Peggy pounced, activating Night Roaming to vanish into thin air.