Chapter 329: Silver Blood |
Before them was a mountain range that rose from the deep sea, with undulating peaks and black reefs scattered everywhere.
The surface of the undersea mountain range was covered with many caves of varying sizes.
This mountain looked as if it had been corroded, riddled with holes.
From time to time, one could see some cave-dwelling marine creatures going in and out of the caves.
"Qin, to lure it out, we need to prepare some bait first." The Fish-man Chieftain searched nearby and quickly found what was needed.
It was a type of red fish with a large head and a small body.
There were blue spots on both sides of its cheeks, looking like a pair of blue eyes from a distance.
The Fish-man Chieftain clapped its hands together, directly smashing it into a pulp.
Then, it took out a fine net from a leather pouch at its waist and poured the pulp into it.
"If something bites later, you need to act fast. Don't hold back. That thing bites really painfully." The Fish-man Chieftain looked back at Mogu beside Qin Ziwen.
Mogu just glanced over, his pale golden pupils sweeping across.
"Get started."
The Fish-man Chieftain began. It grabbed the rope in its hand and swam close to the mountain surface.
The pulp trapped in the fine net trailed through the water, leaving a bloody, fishy trace.
Qin Ziwen noticed these traces followed a pattern; they were all strung together in a line along the holes on the mountain surface.
Just as it passed by the entrance of one of the caves, a slender black shadow shot out from inside.
In an instant, it fiercely bit onto the fine net, the rope pulled taut.
It was a silver-white water centipede with a glazed, glossy sheen.
The part that had emerged from the cave alone was over two meters long, with a body as thick as a wrist covered in sharp spines on both sides.
"Bang—"
Mogu vanished from his spot.
By the time he reappeared, the creature was already grasped in Mogu's palm.
In his palm, the water centipede struggled desperately, trying to coil around Mogu's arm.
Mogu gave his wrist a flick, then a squeeze.
A thick cloud of blood mist erupted in the water.
Only then did Qin Ziwen's Insight ability, arriving belatedly, land on this water centipede.
[Superhuman · Silver Bobbit Worm: ☆☆☆☆]: Level 1 Sharp Mouthparts
Qin Ziwen took this Silver Bobbit Worm from Mogu's hand.
He hadn't expected it to be this thing. He had heard about it before on animal documentaries.
It was said many alien monsters in movies were modeled after it.
The Bobbit worms that grow in the deep-sea sand layers on Earth are ferocious in nature, bizarre in appearance, with chrysanthemum-shaped mouthparts on their heads and a pair of large mandibles.
The Bobbit worms in this sea area were no less formidable.
"Master, the blood in its body is very valuable." Mogu lifted the Silver Bobbit Worm in his hand. "After refining it, pure Silver Blood can be extracted."
"What's it used for?"
Mogu said, "It's an important ingredient. Many recipes that can enhance innate racial abilities require the Three-Colored Blood. The three-colored blood—Gold, Silver, and Bronze—mixed in a 1:2:3 ratio produces the Three-Colored Blood."
"Then isn't the blood flowing out of its body right now being wasted?" Qin Ziwen pointed at the Silver Bobbit Worm in Mogu's hand. From the broken end of this twisted worm, blood emitting faint silver specks of light was continuously flowing out.
The blood dissolved into the sea, quickly dispersing.
"We do need to go back first." Qin Ziwen thought for a moment and directly opened a node nearby.
Coincidentally, the node had been upgraded and had an extra slot available.
Seeing the node, the Fish-man Chieftain was somewhat curious. It had only heard of this thing on the stone tablets passed down in its tribe and was seeing it for the first time.
But without permission, it didn't dare to step in rashly.
Mogu lowered his head and returned to the Home through the node. Qin Ziwen went to the kitchen and found an iron basin.
Although the Bobbit worm was long, it was slender, like a python. Coiled into a ball and placed in the basin,
blood seeped from the wound, soon accumulating a thin layer of bloody water at the bottom of the basin. The bloody water shimmered with sparse silver light, as if sprinkled with fluorescent powder.
He was very interested in the Silver Blood and Three-Colored Blood Mogu mentioned. He also wondered if he would have the chance to obtain the kind of building Mogu spoke of.
If he did, he could also make the nourishing tonic Mogu mentioned.
Besides the Silver Blood, the corpse of the Silver Bobbit Worm could also serve as a collectible.
"The fifth kind." Qin Ziwen counted silently in his heart. Among the several Superhuman creatures hunted before, aside from the Dry-eyed Snake, he had preserved the important materials from the others in the cellar.
The Dry-eyed Snake had been sacrificed to the Snake Puppet by the Fish-man Chieftain. He had completed the task and taken the three cards it dropped, so it wasn't appropriate to bring up the corpse again.
Returning to the undersea mountain range, the Fish-man Chieftain repeated the previous operation, changed to a new fine net, and continued "fishing."
This time, the luck was slightly worse. After nearly half an hour, they finally hooked a second Silver Bobbit Worm from another hole.
This Bobbit Worm was larger than the previous one, nearly five meters long, and had an extra star.
With the previous experience, Mogu didn't directly crush it this time. Instead, he gave his arm a shake. The Bobbit Worm rolled once around his arm and then went limp on it like soft noodles.
Qin Ziwen narrowed his eyes, surveying the surroundings. He pondered in his heart—could it be that only this kind of worm inhabited this part of the seabed?
As if guessing Qin Ziwen's thoughts, the Fish-man Chieftain spoke up, "This kind of worm is the most common here. Its mouthparts are very sharp, and after biting a wound, it will burrow into the body and then parasitize inside."
"Besides this kind of worm, deep within the mountain range, there is another type of Superhuman creature. But they are scarce in number, and I don't know if any still exist now."
The surrounding seawater was icy cold, the area dimly lit.
After venturing deeper into the undersea mountain range, Qin Ziwen discovered this seabed mountain range was turbulent and undulating, and its shape was somewhat strange.
The holes covering this mountain range were dense and numerous. For some reason, it actually reminded Qin Ziwen of the Thousand-Eyed Snake.
He cast Insight on the mountain range but received no feedback.
He immediately chuckled at himself—he was probably overthinking it.
This was just an ordinary undersea mountain.
"Can't we go inside?" Qin Ziwen pointed at the caves on the mountain surface.
The Fish-man Chieftain said, "The passages inside are very complex. These holes interconnect with each other, making it easy to get lost."
Just as it was speaking, it stopped walking.
"There!" The Fish-man Chieftain pointed ahead.
Following the direction of its finger, Qin Ziwen saw, in a depression of the mountain range, a reddish-brown "pumpkin seed" lying flat.
Its back was flat, with two flagella near its head, and several pairs of armored limbs on the sides of its body.
It looked like a crab, yet also like a hermit crab, and even somewhat like a spider.
[Superhuman · Bloodthirsty Sea Mite: ☆☆☆☆★]: Level 1 Blood Boiling
Sea mite?
There were actually mites in the sea?!
At first glance, he thought it was some kind of crab. He never expected it to be a mite.
A mite this large... what kind of thing could it possibly parasitize?