Chapter 196: The Princess of the Silent Sea.

Chapter 196: The Sea Princess of Still Waters.

Yi Fengchu observed intently Meng Siyou.

Outwardly, the man dressed like a vagrant stood motionless, his eyes gradually filling with delirium, madness, and unnatural devotion as he began to babble incoherently.

But Yi Fengchu could see beyond this surface, seeing through the changes within the man’s body—even into the depths of his soul.

He saw the vagrant’s brain inside his skull beginning to "melt."

Deep within the layered folds of the cerebral cortex, glistening droplets seeped out, like dew clinging to leaves on an autumn morning.

These droplets, oozing from the brain, gathered in the grooves, rendering the entire organ unnaturally moist and soft—like an ice cream cake beginning to melt, oozing thick, syrupy fluid. White, yellow, and faint traces of crimson mixed together, eventually blending into a pale pink puddle.

Even for an Ability user, maintaining coherent thought under such severe structural damage to the brain would be virtually impossible.

And the soul housed within this body was likewise beginning to disintegrate.

If Meng Siyou’s soul had once been a bright and steady-burning lamp, its edges now blurred, trembling under the assault of high-level corruption, as if the light were being devoured by encroaching darkness.

Under Yi Fengchu’s unseen gaze, Meng Siyou swayed without volition.

In his daze, he felt something viscous churning inside his skull—bubbling, sloshing, echoing with thick, wet sounds.

His brain matter flowed like a stream, carrying with it an overwhelming, cloying devotion for the fish eggs, suffusing his entire body.

His grip on the blade tightened. Only one thought remained in his mind:

He must ensure the birth of his children at all costs.

He must offer his blood and flesh, his soul and bones—everything he had, inside and out—to feed the ravenous cries of his children…

“—You can’t go any further.”

Like ice rolling over his chaotic, fevered consciousness, Meng Siyou abruptly jolted awake.

He realized he was floating in the fishing vessel in an intangible, incorporeal form.

And in the corner not far away, slumped against the wall, lay the familiar body of the vagrant… now a corpse.

Meng Siyou gazed numbly as he came to his senses.

So, in that stretch of distorted time—whether a mere instant or an eternity—he had already died once.

“Return to the fate that was meant for you,” he heard the prophet sigh. “What lies ahead is beyond your reach.”

After a pause, Wu Suer muttered under his breath, “Honestly, you’re Rank 7—how is your mental resistance so weak? …Tch, ‘Great Mother.’”

Meng Siyou: “…” He felt distinctly mocked.

Before he could respond, he felt himself swept up like a leaf in a gale, his soul lifting and spinning uncontrollably as the world blurred before his eyes.

When his vision cleared, he was back at the bus stop, the large electronic screen still flickering with vibrant colors.

People passed by, none noticing that a young man had briefly vanished and reappeared before the ad screen—or that he had, for an exceedingly short time, lived the lives of both a billionaire and a homeless beggar.

It was like… a vanishing dream.

Meng Siyou stood still for a moment, letting the breeze wash over him, dispelling the lingering sensation of damp, briny seawater on his skin and clearing the lingering sweetness from his senses.

His thoughts cleared again, his brain returning to its normal state. It almost felt unfamiliar…

Was this what it was like to be free of the delusion of becoming a "mother"?

It was wonderful!

Meng Siyou exhaled and looked beyond the bus shelter.

Due to the time difference, dusk had just passed in City A, and sparse stars dotted the sky. He pulled out his phone and called Shen Yuan, asking about the bureau’s recent activities.

“Why the sudden question?” Shen Yuan’s tone was suspicious. “Weren’t you with us the whole time?”

As expected, even his colleagues had no memory of his "disappearance."

The so-called "acting together" was merely a subconscious adjustment in their consciousness after Meng Siyou returned to his proper fate.

Meng Siyou sighed. “There was… a special situation. I’ll explain later. But I promise, it’s really me—no supernatural influences interfering or controlling me. Is Captain Jiang around? Have him use his Ability to confirm.”

The line went quiet, followed by indistinct sounds as Shen Yuan sought Jiang You’s verification.

A moment later, she replied, “Alright, Captain Jiang says you’re fine.”

“The bureau’s been using drastic measures these past couple of days to detain all confirmed users of the capsules, officially classifying them as rare infectious disease cases for quarantine.”

“But the real issue is, as long as those Universal Capsules keep being mass-produced and promoted overseas, the problem won’t be solved. There’s definitely black market trade happening domestically too, creating new users outside our surveillance…”

She couldn’t help complaining, “The divine beings’ larvae in those capsules are exceptionally adept at hiding!”

“They’ve evolved specifically for ‘concealment’ and ‘survival,’ even at the cost of weakening their developmental abilities. They’d rather dissolve into seawater when exposed to air than risk detection—they’ve suppressed their power signatures so much that even the All-Seeing Eye struggles to find them…”

Meng Siyou sank into thought.

When Shen Yuan’s complaints trailed off, he spoke slowly, “Maybe… their ultimate goal really is survival, propagation, and flight—no matter the cost.”

“What?” Shen Yuan sounded surprised. “What do you mean?”

They had all assumed the divine beings’ mass incursion was either random misfortune or part of some premeditated plot.

But now, Meng Siyou proposed another possibility:

Perhaps… they were simply fleeing desperately.

“Yes, they’re fleeing.”

Meng Siyou repeated firmly, recalling his death experience within the vagrant’s body.

That overwhelming, self-abnegating "motherly love" had only emerged after being permeated by the intensely sweet fragrance.

For those incubating countless fish eggs, they didn’t need to inhale external scents—once the eggs partially matured, their bloodstreams would naturally soak with the soft scales of hatchling fish, saturated with potent hallucinogens…

Through this method, the hosts would be completely immersed in delusion by the time the eggs hatched, feeling boundless love and protectiveness toward the "children" inside them.

But why would the fish eggs induce such "affection-based delusions" in their hosts?

The true purpose of these divine beings had already been revealed to Meng Siyou through the illusions:

They needed more food, more energy.

They needed to flee, to escape toward a distant horizon…

They need to... evade some disaster and ensure the continuation of their species.

Without elaborating much over the phone, Meng Siyou hung up and filled out the mission panel again:

"The fish eggs originate from a divine being that descended near the ocean. Upon maturation, the eggs will gradually metamorphose into larvae, growing scales with hallucinogenic properties to deceive the mother into willingly sacrificing herself, using her flesh as their final feast."

"And all these actions are aimed at accumulating energy for the species' escape."

The system confirmed the answer was correct, advancing Task One to 100%.

"Congratulations to the players in this world for completing the exploration!"

"As a reward, basic information about this type of divine being will be disclosed to all players within the instance. May your world have good fortune."

"Additional Information: This divine species is the second generation offspring of the Mother of Tides. When fully mature, they lack a tangible form, resembling a gel-like substance floating in water. Due to the refraction of light at certain angles, they often appear as a smooth white glow, frequently mistaken by observers for a special kind of fish—whether you call them fish or something else is unimportant."

"Under the favor of the tides, they move through the water in non-continuous, non-linear jumps, able to instantly reach any place where there is moisture."

"Their primary evolutionary directions are hallucination, mental control, rapid reproduction, speed, and stealth."

Task One was finally completed!

Regardless, the players had taken a step closer to understanding the divine beings, breaking down the one-sided information barrier between the two races.

One could say that, only at this moment, humans and these divine beings truly stood on equal footing, striving for the weight of survival to tip in their favor.

Meng Siyou let out a sigh of relief, then thought about the fish scale in his backpack and decided to examine it.

As expected, the item description of the fish scale had changed, with blurry text now visible:

To coax their mother into offering her flesh and blood, they gradually evolved hallucinogenic scales to numb pain, cloud senses, and create illusions—illusions of the perfect mother for them.

"Mother," a word that should evoke the tenderest and most endearing feelings.

Yet, in this description, every stroke seems to exude a bloody aura, sending chills down one's spine.

Perhaps, this is precisely how these divine beings define a mother.

Their minds are fundamentally different from humans, even being anti-commonsense, anti-ethics, and anti-nature.

Suppressing the chill rising in his heart, Meng Siyou reread the evolutionary direction of the fish eggs, lost in thought.

They have both ingrained the goal of "escape" in their instincts and are evolving in a non-aggressive direction...

Could it be that their divine mother has no strength left to protect them?

Meng Siyou had always heard about the weakening of the Tidal Mother’s influence, but he never imagined that he would witness Her decline and the flight of Her followers firsthand.

A mighty true deity, reduced to such a state that She cannot even protect Her own offspring?

How terrifying must the enemy be that could drive Her to such a desperate situation...

Wait a moment.

Meng Siyou's expression grew serious.

At the beginning of the fish egg incident, the seer appeared just in time to offer significant assistance... Was this really just a coincidence?

Upon closer reflection, every step in the development of major events seemed to be influenced by a shadow lurking behind the scenes—

Fate, fate, and still more fate!

Could it be that the formidable enemy who has driven the Mother of Tides to her limits is none other than the Narrator, who is closely associated with the Seer?

If his conjecture is correct, does this mean the Narrator has already gained an absolute advantage in the conflict, leaving the Mother of Tides struggling to cope?

My Lord Fate, how terrifying indeed!

Meng Siyou drew in a sharp breath, recalling his experiences in detail, his expression gradually becoming complex.

Could it be that his "life simulation" was also under the watchful eye and tacit approval of the Narrator?

He had previously mocked in his heart how he went from being a billionaire to a beggar in a single day, as if fate were playing a joke on him... Could it be that this was the truth?

Passersby noticed Meng Siyou's shifting expressions and cast him strange glances, quietly stepping away to keep their distance.

"..."

Meng Siyou shook his head, feeling he could not delve deeper into these thoughts; he seemed to have glimpsed too many secrets of the divine realm...

In the face of humanity's survival, however, the secrets of the gods seemed insignificant.

The primary task now was to act, monitoring the condition of every individual taking the medication to prevent the fish eggs from completing their metamorphosis and truly hatching, escaping their hosts!

Given that the "fish" can make non-continuous leaps in water—akin to teleportation—once they mature, no one will be able to stop them.

The human body contains a significant amount of water, meaning the "fish" could potentially leap into a person at any moment!

With a serious expression, Meng Siyou hurried towards the Anomalous Affairs Bureau.

...

Inside the cabin, only a ragged corpse remained.

The seawater within the ship had a peculiar corrosive quality; the tramp’s feet, submerged in it, had already been stripped to the bone, with chunks of flesh and sinew peeling off and swaying in the rippling water.

No matter how one looked at it, this did not seem like a body that could still bear signs of life.

Suddenly, it opened its eyes.

The tramp’s own eyeballs had long since dissolved, and now the eyes in the sockets belonged to the deity who had descended here—gilded irises, pitch-black vertical pupils, as if a golden door had cracked open, revealing the colors of an abyss beyond.

Yi Fengchu stood up.

Though his legs were nothing but bone, this did not impede his movement.

Disregarding the hallucinogenic sweet fragrance, he drove this flesh and continued deeper into the cabin, with parts of his body melting away as he walked, his clothes and skin dissolving into the seawater.

By the time he reached the inner part of the cabin, the “tramp” was nearly reduced to a skeleton, with only remnants of flesh and tissue remaining above the neck. This made the snake-like eyes in the eye sockets appear exceptionally complete and sinister, like two luminous orbs rising in the dim light.

Yi Fengchu lifted his gaze to survey the scene inside the cabin.

In the design blueprint of the fishing vessel, the cabin was intended to store a large amount of cargo, so the internal space was extremely spacious.

But now, it was filled with a massive entity—difficult to describe in form. At first glance, one could only see a hazy, rippling light, as if the cabin contained only clear seawater; but upon closer inspection, it reflected a pearl-like, lustrous white light, as if countless translucent fish were swiftly swimming through the water.

It seemed like melted glass, semi-gelatinous pearls, and seawater given life, flowing viscously within the cabin.

In ancient times, He would often rise from the calm, waveless sea under the high moon, leading numerous tidal saints in praise of the Mother Goddess.

Thus, He is also revered by the local sapient beings as “the Pearl of the Tranquil Sea.”

Distant memories stirred in his mind, and Yi Fengchu recognized the divine being before him, even recalling having seen Him... when he was still a mortal.

Back then, towering waves carried pale corpses, and Yi Fengchu heard all the sounds of the wind cease, leaving only the hoarse and frenzied cries of the zealots ringing in his ears.

The zealots, heedless of their fellow beings' deaths and even their own lives, seemed to shout His holy name in ecstatic joy, their voices mingling with the surging waves:

"O Great Firstborn of the Ocean, the Pearl of the Tranquil Sea, Princess who wields the winds and waves—Anbiso, supreme beneath the Mother Goddess!"