Chapter 117: Linjiang

Making a quick decision, Lin An immediately contacted Mo Ling.

"Mo Ling, pay attention to those students returning to the car; if anything abnormal happens, report to me immediately."

"Absolutely do not let them get close to you."

Among the students returning to the car, someone is definitely parasitized by spider eggs.

The problem is that Lin An is not sure what condition triggers mutation after parasitism.

He could only speculate:

1. When severely injured or physical condition drops drastically, it triggers spider egg hatching, causing death.

2. After the parasitized target dies, it turns into a mutant, or it may still require specific conditions to become a mutant.

Based on the information currently available, it is likely that specific conditions are still needed.

After all, the human-faced crab encountered exhibits traits of both mutant organisms and mutants, like a combination of the two.

If the spider eggs simply hatch, they should only cause the death of the parasitized host.

All of these students are from the sports institute, and their physical condition is not poor.

In the short term, without any accidents, the spider eggs inside should not hatch temporarily, so everyone should still be safe.

Therefore, the urgent task is still to clarify exactly what condition causes mutation after parasitism.

After a moment's thought, Lin An continued chatting within the team and added to Mo Ling:

"If we do not return after three hours,"

"then we will stop them from returning to the base, if necessary..."

"take action and kill them."

Earlier, considering he might be delayed and unable to return with the students, after all the task explicitly mentioned this is a prerequisite mission.

Afterward, no one knows what changes will occur.

The base lacks food, so we can let them go back first.

But now it's different.

A group of carriers parasitized by spider eggs, once they return to the institute and the spider eggs hatch...

With the reproductive speed of the marrow-sucking spider, within a few days everyone in the base will be infected and become food for the marrow-sucking spider.

By then, after thousands of people are parasitized, the number of marrow-sucking spiders that hatch will reach a terrifying magnitude.

Not only will the base fall, but even the entire Linjiang City will face a new nightmare.

"Received, I can summon mutants to kill them."

Mo Ling calmly looked at the pile of corpses above his head, his voice cold and clear.

In the dim seafood area, water dripped with a pattering sound.

"Brother Lin! There are two headless corpses here!"

Gao Tian held an arrow, the other end of which was stuck into the body of the human-faced crab that previously had only one head left.

He carefully compared the wounds on the skull and the corpse, his expression solemn.

Lin An lowered his gaze to the two headless female corpses at his feet; their work uniforms came from inside the mall.

The blood beside the corpses was fresh, the wounds irregularly broken, as if they had been gnawed by many insects.

Beside the relatively petite and frail corpse lay some scattered candies...

Also there was half a crab, its shell peeled off, already rotted and softened.

Crab?

Spider?

It can be confirmed that the deceased was a companion brought by Wang Teng; after all, he had just died, and could only be an outsider who had entered as a survivor.

He was hungry and ate on the spot.

The candies scattered on the ground also confirmed Lin An's earlier guess; upon close observation, the candy wrappers had many fine red dots.

Those are traces left by spider eggs.

Lin An frowned slightly, bent down, and picked up the crab shell on the ground.

"Judgment Eye!"

"Ding, obtained crab shell"

"Item information: top-grade shell, slightly contaminated with spiritual energy, slightly residual zombie virus."

Contamination...

Residue...?

The crab shell in his hand is thin, its blue-gray surface showing some traces of corrosion.

He seemed to have thought of something, and directly stepped over the corpses toward the freezer at the back of the seafood area.

Usually, supermarket staff would stay there to help customers with product introductions.

Perhaps there would be a ledger of purchase records.

"Gao Tian, check the incoming time for each batch of seafood!"

"Okay!"

The two split up to act.

Hearing the voice, Gao Tian went to the seafood box and carefully examined the label cards hanging on the box.

(Black fish)

. (Grass fish)

. (Linjiang River crab)

Gao Tian recorded all the information; the fish in the seafood box had all died from lack of oxygen, their upturned bellies floating in the water.

There are many crabs; there is a fresh seafood area with a pool for customers to catch crabs.

The seafood area also has four breeding tanks placed side by side.

Two minutes later, Lin An lowered his head to look at the white ledger in his hand, where the messy handwriting recorded the recent half-year's procurement records.

Nothing unusual..

After recording all the information, out of the corner of his eye he noticed a red tag that had fallen to the ground.

Front side.

【Good crab-eating season, Linjiang hairy crabs newly launched】

Back side.

"Buy one get one free, full of crab roe! Fatter than in previous years!"

On the tag soaked in ground wastewater, there is a line of small text in the lower right corner: Event start date - month. 01 (Event interpretation rights belong to **Le Company).

Fatter than in previous years?

Lin An's eyes showed contemplation as he suddenly raised his head and ordered Gao Tian.

"Gao Tian! Find the crabs and other seafood with procurement dates before November!"

2 minutes later.

"Brother Lin, here are 4 crabs and 3 black fish."

"They were procured on September 28, October 26, November 1, and November 3 respectively."

On the floor, four same-sized bluish-gray dead crabs were placed separately, while the three black fish were laid beneath the crabs.

Lin An's eyes were filled with a light blue mist as he bent down to touch the crab procured on October 5.

"Beep, hairy crab."

"Item info: dead crab, consumption causes diarrhea effect, mild poisoning."

"Hairy crab? Linjiang hairy crab?"

Gao Tian also squatted on the ground, stirring the dead, stinking crabs back and forth, and asked with some confusion.

"Brother Lin, is there anything abnormal?"

"Aren't they all just crabs? Why take one from each month?"

Lin An shook his head and spoke slowly:

"You get very little information after touching an item, only the basic name."

"They look roughly the same."

"But actually, after I used my skill to probe, these crabs are not the same."

Ordinary players get only minimal information after touching an item, usually no different from what they see with their eyes.

But Lin An is different; after opening the Judgment Eye, he can obtain extra information.

Lin An rubbed the crab shell from beside the corpse, and after comparing it with the crabs on the ground from before November, he spoke slowly:

"Crabs after November are not produced in Linjiang; they come from an unknown area."

To confirm his guess, Lin An continued to touch the remaining crabs procured in November.

Indeed, it was just as he had guessed.

Every crab procured starting in November has spiritual energy contamination and viral residue.

After a moment of contemplation, Lin An continued speaking:

"These crabs from the unknown area have been contaminated, causing infection with the virus and spiritual energy erosion after consumption."

"I suspect that the two corpses earlier, while alive, had likely been infected with spider eggs, eaten the contaminated crabs, and under the zombie virus and spiritual energy contamination underwent mutation."

"Brother Lin?"

Gao Tian suddenly spoke up, asking.

"I understand what you mean."

"This batch of crabs is contaminated, right?"

A flicker of fear crossed his eyes, as if he had thought of something terrifying.

"Could it be possible..."

"Is the entire Linjiang contaminated before and after the Apocalypse outbreak?!"

"Rather than because this batch of crabs came from another unknown area!?"

Linjiang, one of the nine major rivers of Huaxia, runs west to east across seven provinces, with a drainage area of 719,000 square kilometers.