Chapter 155: Already Dead

"Hero, welcome home."

In the cold medical pod, Secretary of State Johnson's fat face forced a false smile and patted Maiersi's shoulder.

Maiersi's expression was blank.

He has returned.

As the sole survivor of the Ghost Squad, he was fashioned into a lone hero, receiving top‑tier treatment and commendations.

The Supreme Military Conference Room.

All senior generals of the North American Union gathered, the atmosphere heavy.

Maiersi's voice was hoarse, as if sanded, calmly recounting everything that happened on that ship.

"It wasn't a cruise ship; it was a living tomb."

"After we boarded, communications cut off. The ship was filled with corpses, swollen and pale from seawater, yet they... moved."

He paused, and only the generals' heavy breathing filled the conference room.

"The broadcast would play a weird dance tune, and then those corpses would gather in the banquet hall and begin 'dining'."

"What do they eat?" a Four-star General couldn't help asking.

Maiersi's gaze was hollow as he looked at the generals, spitting out the answer word for word.

"They eat the rotten, nauseating seafood. And..."

"They eat us alive."

Sss—

Gasping, cold breaths rose and fell throughout the conference room.

"Bullets are useless against them; they simply don't die. We were hunted, fled into the corridor, and then found a... rulebook."

Maiersi recited the rules from memory, one by one.

About doors that must not be opened, restaurants that must not be approached, paintings that must not be stared at, mirrors that must not be reflected in.

With each additional rule, the generals' faces grew a shade whiter.

"We broke the rules; my teammates... died one after another. Some were devoured by a painting, some... were killed by a Shadow."

"Shadow?" Johnson frowned, this beyond his comprehension.

"Yes, a Shadow," Maiersi lifted his head, his blood‑shot eyes fixed on Johnson. "A monster of pure darkness; it attacks your Shadow, and your body is torn apart. All my brothers died at its hands."

The entire conference room fell into a dreadful silence.

After a long while, that Four-star General finally managed to speak.

"Then how did you..."

"A diving pod," Maiersi said. "I triggered the emergency egress protocol and escaped from the ship's hull."

"What about the torpedo fragment?" Johnson's main concern remained this.

"It fell in the loading area, beside my teammates' corpses. I couldn't retrieve it."

A flash of disappointment crossed Johnson's face, but was quickly replaced by a fanatical excitement.

"Weird... the Federation's old bastards were actually right!" He slammed the table, eyes flashing, "But this is even more our chance!"

"Generals!" he looked around, voice incendiary, "The Federation wants to use this to manipulate us, to build some damn global alliance! Dream on!"

"Since this thing appeared in the North American Union's waters, it's God's test of us! Next time, if the Haiyang Ningjing Hao shows up again, we'll use top‑grade force, our own way, to wipe it from Earth completely! We'll make the world see who truly rules this planet!"

The generals, inflamed by his words, surged with hot blood and echoed his sentiment.

Only Maiersi kept his head down; no one saw his Shadow twisting and trembling.

The long leave was approved.

Maiersi returned to his suburban home.

He opened the door, and his wife Emily screamed, leapt into his arms, hugging him with all her strength, fearing he would vanish again.

"You're back... you're finally back..."

Maiersi greedily inhaled the fragrance from his wife's hair, that familiar scent pulling him temporarily out of the hellish memories.

He hoisted his wife by the waist and slammed the door shut.

In the bedroom, an intense entanglement erupted.

It wasn't tenderness; it felt more like a release.

Maiersi vented a week's worth of fear, despair, and pain with fierce force.

Life seemed to return to normal.

Yet a week later, Emily suddenly gagged during breakfast, her face turning pale.

Maiersi's heart tightened, and he immediately took her to the hospital.

After a series of exams, the doctor entered, holding a report sheet, smiling broadly.

"Congratulations, Mr. Maiersi, you're going to be a father!"

Maiersi was stunned.

Emily was also stunned, then her face burst with ecstatic joy.

"Doctor, are you sure?"

"Of course!" the doctor laughed, "The ultrasound shows the fetus is nearly three months old and very healthy."

Three months.

Those three words struck Maiersi's Heavenly Spirit Cover like a bolt of lightning.

The smile on his face froze instantly.

Back home.

The atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive.

Emily was still basking in the joy of soon becoming a mother, while Maiersi merely sat on the sofa, silent.

"Darling, what's wrong?" Emily sensed something was off.

Maiersi slowly lifted his head, his eyes cold enough to frighten.

"Tell me, whose child is this."

The smile on Emily's face froze.

"Maiersi, what are you saying? The child is obviously yours!"

"Mine?" Maiersi sneered. "Three months ago I was on a mission abroad; we never had a chance to be together! You tell me, this three‑month‑old child is mine?"

Emily's complexion drained instantly, and she shook her head wildly.

"No! I didn't! Maiersi, believe me, I never betrayed you!"

"Same old excuse!" Maiersi sprang to his feet, veins bulging on his forehead. "You said that last time too! And what happened? If I hadn't caught you fooling around in the car with that damned neighbor, would you still be trying to hide it forever?"

The lesson of the past was a permanent thorn in his heart.

"It was an accident! I was drunk!" Emily screamed hysterically. "This time is different! I really didn't! I swear!"

"What are you swearing on?" Maiersi pressed forward, his eyes blood‑red. "You whore! You've put a green hat on me again!"

The argument grew more violent.

At that moment.

Maiersi suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if an invisible giant hand had clenched it hard!

"Uhh—"

He clutched his chest violently, his body trembling wildly.

"Puff!"

A mouthful of black, viscous blood spurted from his mouth, splattering onto Emily's terrified face.

"Maiersi!"

Emily let out a heart‑rending scream.

Maiersi convulsed, fell straight backward, and crashed heavily onto the floor.

Afterwards.

Maiersi was rushed to the hospital.

But after examination, the doctors announced that Maiersi had already been dead.

This news quickly reached the North American Union Senior Executive who was still monitoring Maiersi's situation.

The same day, a little later.

Military conference room.

"What did you say?!"

Johnson grabbed the reporting officer by the collar.

"Say it again!"

The officer's face turned pale, his voice trembling.

"Sir… the autopsy report of the sole survivor of Ghost Squad, Maiersi, is out. The forensic examiner concluded… his actual time of death was a week ago."

A week ago!

That was the very day he was rescued from Haiyang Ningjing Hao!

All the Senior Executives in the conference room froze in place, a chill shooting from their soles straight to their heads.

The person they had been dealing with… was a corpse?

The hero who reported to them and received their commendations… had already died?

The Four-star General suddenly recalled something, ripped open Maiersi's spoken record, and found the final entry of the Rules Manual.

【6. Do not attempt to leave Haiyang Ningjing Hao by any means.】

Everyone felt a bone‑chilling dread.

They had thought Maiersi was the only survivor.

But now it seemed that on that ship, there were no survivors at all.

It had only returned a corpse.

—a body that had long been dead.

All the Senior Executives present felt their hearts tremble.

They realized that the terrifying power of Haiyang Ningjing Hao could even affect the shore, even the North American Union.

At this very moment.

Every one of them hoped… that the horror Haiyang Ningjing Hao brought to the outside world would end here.

Yet… would it be that simple?

Meanwhile.

Emily sat alone, dazed, in the empty house that was now hers alone.

She could be certain she had not been unfaithful three months ago.

The last time they made love, a week ago, when husband Maiersi had just returned, she was with him.

So why was she now testing positive for a three‑month pregnancy?

In a daze, Emily suddenly felt a strange movement in her lower abdomen.

She instinctively touched it.

Then, in terror, she discovered.

Her belly had, at some point, swollen to a bizarre degree.

Even though not a day has passed, the belly that was only three months pregnant now looks as large as a five‑ or six‑month gestation.

It's as if something… is wildly growing inside her body.