Chapter 110: 108. Sea Monster Faith (Supplementary Chapter)

108. Sea Monster Faith (Supplementary Chapter)

Yu Lianyun did not give an answer immediately. Although she looked calm and unhurried, she glanced at the time on her wristwatch; the disappointment and despair in her heart were no less than anyone else's present, and with the added pressure of being the team leader, her mood was even heavier.

Less than fifteen hours had passed since the departure time for this exploration mission, and there were still about nine hours left until the twenty-four-hour mark. On this small island with limited space for activity, facing the carpet-search by those fish-men, where could they possibly run to?

Yu Lianyun wanted to activate her inspiration talent again, but she also knew that if she used her ability once more, she might be completely locked onto by the behemoth in the thick fog, and she would never have another chance to escape.

If she were surviving on her own, she might have already chosen to take a gamble, but now she had three teammates by her side, and she dared not gamble with their lives.

Shang Wei seemed to have sensed Yu Lianyun's concerns, and he hurriedly encouraged her: "Captain Yu, do whatever you want to do. We have no other options now. If the method you have in mind has any probability of successful escape, no matter what it is, we are all willing to try."

The other two mentally sluggish C-rank Occult Investigators only regained some of their senses after a few slaps from Shang Wei, but they only said: "It doesn't matter anymore, do whatever you want," and then completely gave up.

Having received such a reply, Yu Lianyun also relaxed her mindset and activated her inspiration again to sense the source of the danger.

However, this time Yu Lianyun felt a towering shadow enveloping this isolated island. The thick fog on the sea was her handiwork, the fish-men were her minions, and she was leading the fish-men, moving toward them in a grand, imposing manner.

The God of the Peaceful Sea seemed to have become even more powerful. Yu Lianyun could feel a tremendous sense of oppression from the air; its heavy mass caused the entire island to shake, and it was using its incredible power to push this island forward on the sea.

According to her inspiration's judgment, they currently had no absolutely safe option. No matter which path they took, it was dangerous; at best, they could only avoid that greatest danger, which was the attack of the God of the Peaceful Sea.

After a moment of thought, Yu Lianyun looked back into the depths of the cave and said: "Perhaps we can find a way out from within this cave."

Hearing Yu Lianyun's words, everyone couldn't help but look at her in confusion, seemingly not understanding what she meant, but they had no other choice and could only follow in Yu Lianyun's footsteps.

Yu Lianyun led the three Occult Investigators into the depths of the cave and turned on the flashlight function of her wristwatch, which immediately illuminated an area.

With the help of the flashlight's illumination, Yu Lianyun finally saw that the walls deep in the cave seemed to be covered with depictions and records of all kinds of strange and bizarre creatures, which were carved into twisted and odd symbols.

The Occult Investigators were deeply amazed, and Shang Wei said: "What was this cave used for in the past? Could this also be a place where the indigenous people of the island worshipped the God of the Peaceful Sea?"

Those written symbols might have been like a heavenly book to others, but in the eyes of the Occult Investigators who had undergone various skill training, they were not worth mentioning.

They recognized that those were ancient pictographic characters 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 the sky does not seem to refer to the God of the Peaceful Sea; it appears to refer to another existence," Yu Lianyun said, stating her guess. "Before humans revered the God of the Peaceful Sea, if the people living here wanted to beg for protection and pray for someone, they must have had another faith originally."

"You mean, that sea monster expelled by the God of the Peaceful Sea?" Shang Wei immediately guessed.

"That can only be the case," Yu Lianyun nodded and said somewhat helplessly, "According to the nature of living beings, we admire powerful and formidable things. Worship can be born from desire and emotion, and faith can also be born from fear and hatred."

The instinct of living beings is to fear the strong, and humans, as creatures who "know shame" and "understand hierarchy," will package and beautify their feelings of fear.

As a monster that harmed the common people at the time, if there was no way to check and counter it, early humans would have curried favor with the sea monster to beg for temporary peace, exchanging peace through trade. As the form of trade developed and was "beautified," it was possible for evil cult rituals like sacrifice to be born, subsequently developing into strange and inexplicable faiths. Similar things are countless in human history, such as early nature worship, totem worship, and so on...

"So this is the place where the original islanders worshipped the sea monster?" Shang Wei understood Yu Lianyun's idea; although he felt shocked by this, upon closer reflection, he felt it was somewhat reasonable.

Yu Lianyun read the ancient characters on the stone wall: "This records the history of the islanders' interaction with the sea monster. Back then, that sea monster was summoned by the ancestors of these islanders from another world through some kind of sacrificial ritual. Originally, they wanted to use the summoning ritual recorded in the evil cult texts to fight against invaders, but it unexpectedly went out of control."

The sea monster seemed to be a dominant existence in the other world as well. Its body was incomparably huge; in fact, only a small part of the sea monster's body was summoned to this world because the summoning ritual was only successfully held halfway. Everyone who presided over the ritual at the time died—some were scared to death after catching a glimpse of the sea monster's true appearance, some had their souls snatched away by the sea monster's voice, and others were devoured by the sea monster's body.

Yet this small part was already enough to wipe out all the invaders of that time.

In the end, the islanders held onto their island, but it brought them a new danger.

To preserve the life and safety of the island, they had to reach a deal with the sea monster, promising that they would sacrifice a considerable number of livestock and other offerings to it every year, and the sea monster would promise not to strike at the residents of their island during that year..."

The Occult Investigators looked at the various evil and bizarre ritual flowcharts on the stone wall, unable to stop themselves from trembling from head to toe.

Suddenly, everyone noticed that the paintings on the stone wall had undergone a new change: a green gemstone fell from beyond the sky and dropped into the sea, and the sea monster, as if it had obtained a treasure, held the gemstone above the sea surface.

"One day, a comet fell from the sky, and an unknown green glowing object landed on the island. Its green light was lush and vibrant, and the light was so blinding that one could not see its specific regular shape. The green light it emitted would invade all things on earth, and those who stared at the light for a long time would die."

"Yet such a dangerous gemstone was like an interesting toy in front of the sea monster, easily handled and taken for its own use. From then on, the sea monster's way of eating changed. Before eating the sacrifices, it would let those sacrifices first receive the irradiation of the green light, die first in the fear-filled illusions created by the green light, and then completely devour those sacrifices, thereby enjoying a higher level of eating pleasure."

"Good heavens, this is like a premium seasoning, right?" Shang Wei's eyelids twitched wildly.