met free Chapter 128 The Standing Corpse
Chapter 128 The Standing Corpse
Chapter 128 The Standing Corpse
The capsules distributed by Maro were indeed very useful. Once in the water, they allowed people to breathe freely, just like on land, and even speak underwater.
"Gurgle..." Xiao Jie opened his mouth and blew out a few bubbles.
Upon spotting the figure below, it quickly moved its limbs to catch up.
The group dived deeper and deeper until they saw bubbles ahead. Gon and Killua remembered another capsule and decided to use it.
A balloon-like cover enveloped the two of them, then clung to their skin like a thin bodysuit or a protective film.
It doesn't affect breathing, nor does it cause discomfort due to pressure, and the voice can be heard better by each other.
"Gon, look!" Killua pointed to his right.
Xiao Jie turned his head and saw a deep, underwater castle.
It was an ancient castle built of rock, several hundred meters high, with coral and seaweed growing on the rocks, making the building look very desolate and ancient. It quietly took root underwater, seemingly never to have been discovered by anyone.
The overall shape resembles a coiled snake, with layer upon layer and hundreds of windows.
There were many fish swimming around in the window, and even... white flames.
White flames beneath the deep sea? Will-o'-the-wisps?
Killua and Gon stared at the faint white flames, subconsciously using their inner energy to focus their energy on their eyes, and finally saw the true nature of the white light.
It was a fish that was completely transparent, with its internal organs and blood visible inside, yet it emitted a white light, like a ball of white flame.
"That's White Flame, one of the Seven Beauties. If you catch it and sell it, you could probably get two or three billion." A faint voice came from the side.
A white-haired, blue-eyed figure with facial markings pointed at the fish and spoke.
Seven beauties? Two or three billion?!
Gon and Killua's eyes instantly turned into the shape of coins.
"By the way, this fish is extremely sensitive to water quality after it's been caught. If it's not properly cared for... it will die right in front of you in a second," Su Wu said with a laugh.
He originally planned to catch a few more after giving one to the system, and then keep them in his airship for ornamental purposes, and they could also serve as natural lighting at night. But well…
Less than ten minutes after being placed in the airship's fish tank, the fish died right in front of him.
The fish, which was originally transparent and could even be described as pure white flame, quickly decomposed into a black, flowing substance after death, emitting a foul stench.
It polluted the entire tank of water.
The breeding program failed before it even began.
"This is so difficult..." Killua reached out and grabbed the raincoat to examine it.
"Three...two...one..." Su Wu silently counted down three seconds.
In an instant, the beautiful fish in Killua's hand turned into black liquid and merged with the seawater.
Killua, yelling and gesturing incoherently, waved his hands in disgust, saying, "What's going on here?!"
"That's how it is. If a human touches it, it will die right before our eyes." Su Wu looked at the familiar scene and laughed for a while before explaining it to Killua.
"...This is too difficult to please." Killua shook his hands for a long time before stopping.
Suddenly I remembered that I hadn't actually touched the fish; there was a protective membrane between us.
"That won't work either. Even if you try to touch it with your Nen, it will die without warning. The only way is to make a cage out of corals or seaweed from underwater, and not touch it at all. Once the cage catches it, you can take it out..." Su Wu shrugged, guessing Killua's question.
"However, it can't survive in the waters above; it can only live on the deep seabed..." He sighed helplessly as he said this.
So they die as soon as they're taken out.
Su Wu guessed that perhaps these fish weren't used to the world above, such as sunlight, oxygen levels, and pressure...
All these factors led to its sudden and dramatic demise, which was witnessed by everyone.
"...If we take them up there, they'll only survive for ten minutes at most..." Killua pondered, "Then there won't be enough time to sell them!"
Forget two or three billion, you can't even get a single jini.
"So I'm just introducing it to you guys..." Su Wu said nonchalantly, and then swam into the building.
The seaweed swayed with the current, as if greeting them.
One by one, several people swam into the room through the window.
The facilities inside the building did not appear to have suffered any damage, and the space looked larger than it appeared from the outside.
The building is supported by towering stone pillars carved with intricate totems from all sides, and the arched doorways are dazzling, making it feel like being in a looping maze.
The wall is inlaid with blue beads that emit a faint blue fluorescent glow.
Huge seashells were carelessly discarded on the ground.
There was no furniture, no clothing, and no trace of human presence.
"This ruin...which civilization does it belong to?" Killua looked at the scene with some doubt.
"Civilization?" Su Wu asked in a strange tone. "It should be a monster's lair, right?" He replied ambiguously.
He saw it; it was something not far away.
"A monster? Could it be created by a magical beast?" Xiao Jie asked thoughtfully.
The group continued walking deeper into the area.
Xiao Jie could vaguely see human figures ahead, but he stopped and looked around with some confusion and wariness.
"I have a feeling... there's something waiting for us ahead," he said seriously.
"Those people?" Killua pointed ahead.
A group of beings that looked like standing human figures.
"...I don't know." Xiao Jie closed his eyes, sensed for a moment, and then shook his head.
He couldn't sense the emotions of the things in front of him.
Even though sunlight can penetrate the sea surface and reach the ocean, it cannot reach the deep sea where they are.
It's dark and quiet here, and no outsiders are welcome.
"Those are just dead people." Su Wu continued walking forward.
"Dead people?" A group of people walked to the spot where the figures were standing.
What they saw were rows of stiff, swollen, and unrecognizable corpses, soaked in water.
Their corpses nourished many scavenging creatures in the sea; they were tiny, yet could not escape the six eyes' perception.
Some corpses were reduced to bare, grayish-white skeletons, all their flesh and organs gone, their clothes tattered and torn, either still on their bodies or lying as fragments on the ground.
Many of the corpses had completely rotten and decayed tissues, a mixture of green and blue...
This phenomenon is known as the phenomenon of giants.
They all died standing up, without exception.
The corpses stand here like the last guardians of this building.
but……
"Hunter's license, this guy is a hunter." Killua found a hunter's license sticking out from a tattered bag on the ground.
Judging from the time represented by the number under the hunter's license...
The other party was clearly not a resident of this ruin.
So they were intruders just like them.
In the end, the other person remained here forever.
As if he had found the fun in exploring the identities of the corpses here, Xiao Jie also searched everywhere for things that could prove the identities of these people.
"This is... a pirate?"
"This is a martial artist."
These corpses belonged to different professions: hunters, martial artists, and even people carrying professional tools similar to those used in tomb raiding.
They didn't seem to come in groups, but rather in batches.
This can also be seen from the different degrees of decomposition of the corpses.
(End of this chapter)