Chapter 15: The Riot

There was too much hair, too dense, everywhere.

A hundred thousand silk-like threads wrapped around Li Youyi, pulling him inch by inch into the grave soil with an irresistible, giant force.

He couldn't breathe.

At his mouth and nose, there was nothing but mud and hair.

Just as Li Youyi was nearly suffocating, the internal energy current from the center of his right foot surged out. Instantly, his lungs, which were about to burst, were relieved, and he miraculously entered a mysterious state of continuous internal breathing.

"This current can actually replace breathing. Doesn't that mean I can hold my breath for as long as I want from now on?"

Only excited for a moment, Li Youyi returned to the dangerous and terrifying reality. He mobilized his whole body’s strength to struggle for a while, but only exhausted himself; he simply couldn't compete with those hairs.

Gradually.

He sank deeper and deeper, the mud on his back becoming thicker.

At a certain moment.

Li Youyi felt a bone-chilling cold coming from beneath him, and through the strands of hair, he saw that beneath him was an ice coffin emitting a blinding white light.

Lying flat in the coffin was a slender skeleton wearing red clothes, hands folded over the lower abdomen, calm and serene.

The bones were like immortal jade, with strands of bright red blood flowing on them... there was actually fresh blood preserved? And it contained extraordinary vitality.

All the hair grew from the skeleton’s head, spreading out along the gaps in the ice coffin.

"It really is a corpse coming back to life! But that shouldn't be; it has already turned into a skeleton, so why did it suddenly wake up?"

"This ice... is melting..."

As the ice coffin melted, Li Youyi’s whole body became wet.

The coffin lid became thinner and thinner.

Li Youyi’s sense of crisis grew stronger; it pulled him down, surely not because she was too lonely lying below by herself? If he didn't break free, once the ice coffin completely melted, he would likely turn into a skeleton too.

Right, the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish.

This supreme treasure of the Chan Sect was still in his hand.

The two fish eyes had a huge origin; they could surely subdue the red-clad immortal maiden in the coffin... pfft! What red-clad immortal maiden, she was just a skeletal demon.

At the time, the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish seemed to have been activated by his blood, emitting cyan light and red clouds.

Forget it, treat a dead horse as a living one.

Just as the ice coffin lid melted to the point of transparency, Li Youyi accumulated strength, resisted the hair wrapped around his arm, and pulled his right hand, which was tightly gripping the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish, back with all his might.

Instantly, his wrist collided with the edge of the melted, uneven coffin lid.

"Bang!"

As Li Youyi fell into the coffin, his wrist was cut by the sharp edge of the coffin lid, and blood surged out instantly, flowing along his arm toward his palm.

This skeletal demon was too abrasive; there wasn't a bit of flesh on her.

Falling onto her, Li Youyi felt pain all over. The key was that the hair was wrapped too tightly, making it impossible to move, and he could only passively be in contact with her.

Li Youyi’s eyes were almost embedded in her deep, sunken eye sockets.

His nose was stuck in her nasal cavity.

His lips were pressed against her mouthful of snow-white teeth.

The hair wrapped tighter and tighter...

Li Youyi’s body felt like it was about to be crushed, and the places where she pressed hardest, such as his lips, cheeks, shoulders, and hips, were already broken, with blood overflowing.

Bizarrely, this blood was actually absorbed by her, drilling into her bones.

"Is she trying to devour all my flesh and blood? She wouldn't be trying to come back to life, would she?"

Li Youyi’s consciousness blurred from being squeezed by the hair and the skeleton beneath him, and even the scorching current in his body retreated.

Even more terrifying, a cold force came from her forehead, seeping into Li Youyi’s brow, making him shudder all over.

"Whoosh!"

Just as Li Youyi was about to be played to death by her, the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish finally reacted, erupting with cyan light and red clouds.

The hair wrapped around Li Youyi retreated like straw encountering fire.

Li Youyi finally broke free, sat up, and slapped her skull, which was covered in hair, knocking her head to the side. It was too bullying; he had to vent this anger.

The Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish only shone brightly for a moment before dimming again.

Li Youyi was so scared he immediately fled; how could he dare to continue teaching her a lesson?

While climbing the grave mound, he found the Huang Long Sword.

Just as he jumped off the grave mound with the sword, he heard the wind chimes on the blue stone tablet ring loudly again, and black hair like a mass of dark clouds and snakes rushed out from the pit at the top of the mound, surging toward Li Youyi.

In an instant, flying hair was everywhere within a five-zhang radius.

Li Youyi wasn't sure if the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish was really activated by his blood; if he were wrapped into the ice coffin again, he might not be able to escape.

"Swish! Swish! Swish..."

His legs dodged and shifted quickly, and the Huang Long Sword slashed repeatedly.

As the scorching current from the center of his right foot flowed to his right hand, a faint yellow glow appeared on the blade of the Huang Long Sword.

He swung the sword horizontally.

The arc was like the moon, extremely brilliant.

Those black hairs were struck, immediately turning into wisps of smoke and dissipating in the air. This sword had clearly transformed into a demon-breaking blade, feared by evil spirits.

On the deck near the medical tent.

Dozens of men, women, old, and young had their hands tied behind their backs, sitting or lying under the railing.

Because they had eaten breakfast containing drugs, some were still in a state of unconsciousness. The conscious scientific researchers all had faces filled with anger, cursing Chen Hong, Kong Fan, and others standing not far away.

Kong Fan was the head chef, a short and stout man in his forties; his white chef’s uniform had both oil stains and newly stained blood marks.

The other three members of the kitchen team were dragging the wounded and disabled out of the medical tent one by one.

Professor Xu, both legs broken, was dragged by one arm by a young cook out of the medical tent, his mouth twitching in pain, howling as if crying and laughing: "Animals will return to their nature... feeling danger, they will attack and kill. Lacking food, they will cannibalize their own kind. If human nature is not restrained, all evil will be released, unbridled... desire... madness..."

"Old thing, you’ve been the one eating the most during this time, howling so loudly, it seems your strength has all grown into your mouth!"

Kong Fan had a strong prejudice against Professor Xu because for the past few days, Professor Xu’s appetite had increased greatly, and his students ran to the kitchen tent several times a day, which was very troublesome.

Of course, neither he nor those students knew that most of Professor Xu’s food was actually going into the stomach of the person in the neighboring bed.

Professor Xu’s head was kicked hard twice by Kong Fan, blood streaming from his mouth, and he immediately went quiet.

"Bang! Bang... bang..."

Several gunshots rang out in succession.

A moment later, Xie Tianshu walked out from the underworld mist with a cold expression, wearing the dragon-patterned thumb ring on his left thumb and holding a pistol in his right hand.

Four security team members followed behind, carrying two corpses, and threw them in front of the crowd.

Seeing the corpses of the captain "Gao Xin" and another crew member, the angry cursing turned into screams and cries. Some were completely terrified, not daring to make a sound, their bodies trembling violently.

"You actually killed someone; how did Captain Gao provoke you? You are simply lawless." Professor Xu said angrily.

Xie Tianshu was a person with a gentle and stable temperament, explaining patiently: "Professor, we are now in the Ghost Wilderness world where land cannot be seen; where does the law come from, where does heaven come from? The captain was a good man, but good men are destined not to survive in harsh environments; he was the first wave to be eliminated."

"You are a biology professor; you should understand better than anyone that survival is the first law of the universe."

"When the survival environment becomes harsh, organisms become irritable and uneasy, and then, they take the initiative to clear out competitors for food. Those who don't take the initiative are destined to be eliminated."

"Survival of the fittest. Isn't that what you often have on your lips? Only by clearing out the inferior people on the ship who consume food and water can the superior people have a better chance of surviving."

"Sigh, if a person doesn't have long-term worries, they will have immediate ones; it’s impossible to wait until the food is really exhausted, everyone is too hungry to have strength, and then, cannibalize each other? That would be too ugly; we are people of a civilized society."

"Captain Gao couldn't bring himself to be ruthless, so I have to be the bad guy."

Immediately after, Xie Tianshu came to Zhao Meng, squatted down, looked at his broken and bent legs, and said with great displeasure: "How were your legs beaten like this? You guys were too ruthless! Brother Meng, does it hurt? It must hurt a lot; how about this, you hand over the Buddha’s sarira, and I’ll give you a quick end. I swear to heaven, I will definitely do what I say."

Zhao Meng’s face was as white as paper; he opened his eyelids and looked at him indifferently.

Xie Tianshu’s eyes instantly turned much colder, and he asked in a deep voice: "Have you found Li Youyi?"

A security team member said: "Not yet."

"The deck area is only so big; where could he hide? Search for me inch by inch, dig up all the grave mounds, and find him. Where is Xie Jin?" Xie Tianshu said.

"He took people to the planting area and hasn't returned yet." The security team member said.

Xie Tianshu knew Xie Jin’s intentions; he must have gone for Cai Yutong.

"Brother Meng, do you know why I am certain that the Buddha’s sarira must be on you two junior brothers?"

Xie Tianshu smiled and then said: "Because when the Longji sank, I saw with my own eyes that Li Youyi erupted with cyan light and red clouds. The more you cover up and deny it, the more it shows that the Buddha’s sarira is on the ship. Tell me now, and you will suffer much less."

Zhao Meng remained silent.

Gao Huan, his hands tied behind his back, his face pressed against the cold ground, slowly woke up, his shoulders and wrists in extreme pain, his head dizzy, his vision and hearing gradually becoming clear from a blur.

After seeing the situation, his gaze moved to the two corpses, and his pupils contracted violently.

He struggled to sit up in disbelief, his eyes fixed on Captain Gao Xin’s corpse, and suddenly cried out: "Dad!"

He stood up and rushed over.

His center of gravity unstable, he fell head-first next to the corpse.

"Dad... who killed my dad... who did this, you... ah... woo..."

Gao Huan’s voice was hoarse, his heart twitching with pain, his tears mixing with the blood on the corpse.

Chen Hong was surprised: "So Captain Gao’s son was also on the ship; he hid really well."

"Another connection-hire." Kong Fan sneered; it was just a research ship, yet so many people could be stuffed in.

A security team member whispered in Xie Tianshu’s ear: "This kid and Li Youyi are very close, often together recently; he must know where Li Youyi is hiding."

Xie Tianshu walked over to comfort him: "Xiao Huan, the dead cannot return to life; you must restrain your grief. Tell me, where is Li Youyi?"

Gao Huan saw the pistol that originally belonged to his father in Xie Tianshu’s hand; how could he not know who the executioner was?

"I’ll kill you!"

Gritting his teeth, he slammed his head forward.

Xie Tianshu quickly retreated.

Gao Huan slammed into the air and fell to the ground. Before he could crawl up, he was stepped on the neck by Chen Hong, his ear bleeding from the hard sole of the shoe.

Chen Hong said: "Don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit; can't you see the situation?"

"I can see your... mother..." Gao Huan roared.

Chen Hong’s eyes sank, and he kicked out, kicking Gao Huan until he nearly lost his breath, unable to curse anymore.

In the underworld mist, messy footsteps and cursing came.

Xie Jin and the other three brought back the five students from the planting area.

Seeing the tragic scene on the deck.

The students who had just been emotionally indignant all shut their mouths, silent as cicadas in winter. Two of the girls lowered their heads, their legs trembling violently.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 16 =====