Dead?

No one here could possibly surpass Hela, an Artificial Human, in her understanding of life. Yet, even so, Huai Shi found it unbelievable.

Koshchey had probably been dead for a long time.

In the moment when he released Yaga in agony, the once invincible Demon King and Immortal perished under the nurturing of the Waters of the Styx, meeting his own end.

Even though his Soul had completely melted away into the darkness he created, something indestructible by death lingered in this world.

It was like the Holy Remains that persisted after the Philosopher's Stone vanished.

After struggling for survival for hundreds of years, Koshchey had used every means to resist the death that should have come much earlier. But when death finally arrived, he chose not to resist. Instead, he engraved his final will upon his soulless corpse.

This was his last will, his final wish, and his ultimate command.

In that instant, amidst roaring, the Dark Basicity locked in his shell erupted violently, devouring everything.

The final murderous intent turned substantial, sweeping away all life with it on the lone boat atop the vast sea, as part of the pitch-black deluge.

At this moment, the Mayflower trembled under the Power of this individual death, on the verge of collapse.

No more running away.

If the root wasn't eradicated quickly, then this ship would definitely not make it to the New World.

But how? They're impossible to kill completely!

Huai Shi roared, hacking a charging figure to death. When he turned to look back, he only saw the red moon outside the porthole, as if it had melted into the darkness.

All that met the eye was a crimson color.

It was like an ocean of blood.

They had nowhere to escape now.

"Water, I need water!" Lily's footsteps suddenly halted as she looked toward the swimming pool on the front deck. "Give me enough water, and I can hold them back..."

"Come with me."

There was no time for her to explain further. Huai Shi forcefully threw an empty Plasma Bottle onto the ground, drew his Short Knife, and covered Lily as they made for the upper levels.

All along the way, Huai Shi saw more than once the spectacle of fleeing passengers being devoured by the mud Monsters, with more and more Monsters relentlessly pursuing them from behind.

An almost infinite amount of black sludge, and countless limbs and decayed husks climbing out of it.

Who the hell knew how many living beings Koshchey had devoured over the years!

It wasn't just humans, but assorted creatures and Monsters—Two-headed Giant Eagles, Hellhounds, or long-extinct Treemen. It was like a biology expo; there was nothing he hadn't seen, nothing he hadn't eaten...

One could only say this Old Turtle really had quite the appetite.

When they reached the front deck, all they saw was a scene of carnage, with passengers trying to escape or fighting in vain. Amidst the chaos and bloodshed on the ground, all the Monsters turned their heads together, looking at the new intruders.

The terrifying scale made Huai Shi swallow a gulp of saliva.

"Lily, if you can't come up with something now, this time... we're really just serving ourselves up on a platter."

Lily, as if she hadn't heard, stopped in front of the pool. She tore a piece of paper from the notebook she carried, wrote something quickly, and then tossed the heavy bag she was carrying into the pool.

In an instant, the entire pool began to churn, and a pungent stench arose from it.

In the pale mist, nothing was clear.

It was like quicklime boiling cold water.

As Lily cut her finger, thick blood dripped from her fingertip, a fine line into the pool.

Golden blood!

When that drop of blood emerged from Lily's fingertip, her face turned pale in an instant, almost unable to stand.

And Huai Shi could barely contain his own craving, swallowing saliva, struggling to restrain himself from rushing to lick her finger.

Soon, the blood blended into the vast pool.

The dreadful anomaly caused all Monsters to halt for a moment. Soon, a mud Monster that could have been a cheetah or a lion could not contain its murderous intent, lunged with force, leaping over the pool and pouncing toward Lily.

And Lily had just thrown the piece of paper into the boiling water.

Huai Shi lifted his Axe Blade.

Faster than him was a sturdy arm that suddenly lifted from the mist, catching the piece of paper. Then another hand grabbed the Monster's thigh, clenched it tightly, and with all its might, slammed it down at the edge of the pool.

SPLAT.

The sludge dispersed.

The robust middle-aged man, with mottled white hair and a flushed red nose, carrying his belly, stepped out of the water.

"Awakened again, huh? Well, it doesn't matter."

He spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the ground, moving his stiff neck and flexing the muscles on his sturdy arms.

His eyes, seemingly drunk, slowly lifted, casting an indifferent glance around.

As if a baby had just been born.

Completely naked.

"Please wait a moment." Lily rifled through her waist bag in a fluster, eventually finding the already withered branch. "Here's your flower."

"Ah, thank you."

The captain grinned, revealing a cheerful smile. He gently took it, deeply inhaled the remaining fragrance, and then pinned the withered branch amidst his mottled white hair, softening his fierce eyes.

"So, young lady, please step back a bit…" he said, "I'm about to get to work."

He casually ripped a ragged towel from a lounge chair and tied it around his waist. Then, with one pull, he uprooted the lounge chair welded to the deck and hurled it into the Monsters ahead.

"So many people sneaking aboard my ship!"

The captain bellowed, "Did you pay the extra fare!"

The dead in the mire howled, showing not the slightest hint of repentance.

So the captain grew even more furious. His muscles swelled, his whole body emanating the high heat of a furnace, his feet pounding the deck and creating intense thunder.

Charge forward!

BOOM!

It was like a shell had fallen into a mud pond, mud splattering everywhere in an instant.

Behind him, the Artificial Human Sailors who had died at noon climbed one after another out of the swimming pool, spitting out the Amniotic Fluid in their guts. As they brushed past Lily, they nodded in greeting, then completely ignored Huai Shi, disdainfully picked up the mess on the ground, and charged towards the howling Monsters.

For a time, the scene on the forward deck was filled with muscle-bound naked men wielding all sorts of bizarre objects fighting Monsters. Huai Shi felt like his eyes were deeply wounded.

He had been prepared to see his allies fall in an instant.

But soon, his jaw was about to drop.

The brawny, muscular Artificial Human Sailors were actually holding back the spreading mire with their unreasonable strength and speed?

It was as if seventy or eighty Arnolds had suddenly leaped out of the pool, each with a metallic head and iron limbs, as tough as iron and as mighty as King Kong. Huai Shi saw with his own eyes how several Monsters opened their wide mouths and bit down on their Skulls, only to nearly shatter their teeth.

Against such Skulls, no Wolf Fang Club could prevail!

Even if they were seriously injured amidst the Monsters' onslaught and retreated a couple of steps, they would somehow find a box of canned vegetables from some corner to dump into their mouths, chewing it carelessly for a bit before swiftly returning to their original condition, fearlessly throwing themselves back into the fray.

Huai Shi skeptically picked up a few empty cans to inspect them.

There were no magical relics or Alchemy Potions, just genuinely canned spinach.

God damn it, spinach—what sort of scientific principle could this be?

Huai Shi was utterly baffled.

It was nothing short of a miracle.

It was not merely the creation of a Legion-scale army of Artificial Humans in one breath but also endowing them with unbelievable enhancements and Power on top of their original capabilities.

Huai Shi quietly calculated the amount of life force required, only to be met with a number so terrifying it was beyond comprehension.

Even for Scholars who had mastered Life Science, it was a luxurious fantasy. But for Lily, who was also an Artificial Human, it was so simple.

Her very blood was the essence of miracles, continuously breaking down and processing into any lesser material required. No, it was fair to say that Lily, registered under the name Underworld Goddess Hela, was in herself an incarnation of pure life!

With this group of fearless Artificial Human Sailors, the dark tide unleashed by Koshchey was actually being held back.

The situation seemed to be turning for the better.

Just as Huai Shi's tightly wound nerves had begun to relax slightly, he felt a violent tremor beneath his feet. An explosion roared from the direction of the rear deck.

It was as if some crazed passenger had completely punched through the ship's deck, the short-circuiting wires causing flames to rise, igniting everything, with thick smoke and fire billowing up.

The cruise ship was wailing.

The miracle bestowed upon the ship's body by the White Crown King was fading away.

Under the glow of the fire, the railings, riddled with cracks, along with the ship's sails, riddled with holes, swelled in the wind. Fragments kept peeling off from the luxurious cruise ship, falling into the sea and slowly melting into a handful of mud.

The original appearance of a sailing ship emerged.

It seemed to draw from the life of the deceased. Laden with strife and death, it sped faster and faster, almost flying as it sailed across the Blood Sea.

"Stop wasting time, you fool!" In the midst of the battle, the captain turned around, a pipe clenched in his mouth, which he had apparently snatched from somewhere, and roared at Huai Shi, "If this continues, the ship will sink! If you want to live and reach the New World, then get to work quickly!"

His face had already cracked open.

Clearly, under such ruthless propulsion, both his body and his ship couldn't last much longer.

Without needing any further urging, Huai Shi seized the opportunity and plunged into the depths of the Source Substance tide. After a few nimble leaps, he finally fought his way back into the ravaged dining room.

Crashing through the remaining half of the shattered glass, he leapt into a scene of disarray, seizing the moment to look around.

In legend, Koshchey was known for hiding his Soul outside his body to avoid his enemies' attacks, earning him the titles of Immortal and Undying One.

According to Huai Shi's conjecture: since deciding to leave his homeland, Koshchey would naturally not allow his Soul to remain in the enemy's territory and would surely carry the container for his Soul with him. Even now, with the Soul shattered, it remained the haven for that terrible obsession.

Soon, he saw amid the surging muck, that wheelchair which, despite the corrosion of the decaying Source Substance, remained intact!

This is the place!

Ignoring the wind whistling from behind, Huai Shi raised the Axe in his hand and threw it with all his might into the mud!

In the blink of an eye, following the shrieking of breaking through space, the sound of shattering steel erupted.

The wheelchair fell apart.

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