As the pale golden light curtain completely dissipated, the world seemed to be muted at that moment.
Immediately after, came a chilling, whistling sound.
It was the true sea wind.
No longer the gentle caress filtered by the system, but a gale carrying the scent of salt, decay, and a bone-piercing chill.
Zzzzt—
The lights in the Main Control Room flickered inexplicably twice.
The previously smoothly operating air conditioning system emitted a dull, low roar, like the panting of some great beast stirring from slumber.
Qin Yu stood by the window, the ember of his cigarette glowing and dimming in his hand.
He could feel it—the seawater beneath the ship had changed.
It had become more viscous, more profound.
As if something was peering upward from the Abyss.
"Warning! Warning!"
Li Ruobing, who had just been relaxed and teasing moments ago, now had her expression drastically change.
The tablet in her hands nearly slipped and fell to the ground.
That piercing alarm wasn't coming from the external radar.
It was from the internal monitoring system of the living quarters!
"What's going on?"
Qin Yu whirled around, his gaze sharp as a blade.
"Did something get on board?"
Li Ruobing's fingers flew across the screen, a fine layer of cold sweat instantly beading on her forehead.
"No... not outside."
She looked up, her eyes holding a trace of incredulous terror.
"It's an internal outbreak!"
"The energy source is in the guest room!"
"That Chen Xiaoya... her body temperature is rising rapidly! It's already broken forty-two degrees!"
"And..."
Li Ruobing turned the screen towards Qin Yu.
On the screen, the light point representing Chen Xiaoya was no longer its previous purple color.
It was now a black so deep it was absolute!
In the center of that blackness, a glaring, bloody crimson was wrapped, madly expanding and contracting.
Like a heart about to detonate.
"Fuck."
Qin Yu cursed, throwing his cigarette butt to the ground and grinding it out viciously.
"I knew that bitch was up to no good."
"Once the Grace Period is over, all the demons and monsters come out."
He snatched up the "Kiss of Death" leaning against the desk.
"Let's go!"
"Let's see what kind of 'gift' our 'guest' has been hiding for us."
...
Guest Room Corridor.
The originally warm, yellowish lighting now seemed somewhat dim.
Before they even reached the door, they could hear a series of shrill, agonized screams coming from inside.
"Ah—!!!"
"Help! Help me!!"
It was Chen Xiaoya's voice.
The voice carried a desperate, hoarse quality, as if she was undergoing some form of torture.
Yao Xue and Yao Qian had already arrived first.
Yao Xue was desperately trying to hold down Chen Xiaoya's limbs, while Yao Qian was cowering in a corner, her face pale, the basin of hot water in her hands trembling.
"What's happening?!"
Qin Yu kicked the door open and strode inside.
The scene inside the room made even a man accustomed to life and death like him narrow his eyes.
Chen Xiaoya was writhing wildly on the bed.
Her silk nightgown was already soaked through with cold sweat, clinging tightly to her body.
But the most terrifying thing was her stomach.
Her originally flat abdomen was now swollen high, as if she were ten months pregnant!
And it was moving!
That movement was not a fetal kick.
It was as if something alive was frantically squirming beneath her skin, trying to tear open her belly and crawl out.
Strange, ghostly blue rays of light shone through her thin skin, illuminating the entire room like a haunted realm.
"Qin Yu! Hurry!"
Yao Xue turned her head and shouted, her composure as a surgeon now on the verge of breaking.
"She can't hold on much longer!"
"Her body temperature is too high! Her heart rate has already soared to two hundred!"
"If this continues, she'll self-ignite!"
Qin Yu strode to the bedside.
He grabbed Chen Xiaoya's wrist.
It was scalding.
Like grasping a red-hot branding iron.
"Ah! Kill me! Please, kill me!"
Chen Xiaoya's eyes rolled back, her nails clawing bloody streaks into the bedsheet.
"It's coming out... it's coming out..."
"It's a devil... it's hungry..."
Qin Yu's eyes turned cold.
"Hungry?"
"On my ship, no one has ever dared say I can't feed it."
He turned to look at Li Ruobing.
"Hold her down."
Without a word, Li Ruobing stepped forward, using her knee to pin down Chen Xiaoya's thigh, her hands firmly gripping her shoulders.
Though a woman, having consumed countless S-Class Creatures had given Li Ruobing astonishing strength.
Chen Xiaoya was nailed firmly to the bed, unable to move.
Qin Yu reached out and tore open the hem of Chen Xiaoya's shirt.
Revealing that bizarre, grotesque belly.
The ugly scar that had originally healed was now splitting open again.
Before the blood could flow out, it was instantly vaporized by the ghostly blue high temperature, emitting a sizzling, grilled-meat scent.
Deep within the split wound.
A fingernail-sized blue crystal was firmly embedded in her flesh.
It was breathing.
With each flicker, the surrounding air would tremble slightly.
[Ding! Ultra-High Energy Level Item reaction detected!]
[Warning! The item is forcibly draining the host's life force!]
[Warning! The item is releasing a distress signal to the outside world!]
The system prompts in Qin Yu's mind rang out urgently.
A distress signal?
A cruel smile curled at the corner of Qin Yu's mouth.
"So it's alive."
"This isn't hiding something inside your belly."
"This is clearly using you as a Human Incubator!"
He pulled a military dagger from his waist.
A flash of cold light.
"Xue'er, prepare to stop the bleeding."
Yao Xue was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted, immediately pulling out hemostats and gauze from the first aid kit.
"You're going to extract it directly?"
"What else?"
Qin Yu looked at the crystal that was still trying to burrow out.
"If we wait for it to crawl out on its own, this person will have long turned into a dried corpse."
After speaking.
Qin Yu did not hesitate in the slightest.
His hand rose, the blade fell.
"Pfft!"
The dagger plunged precisely into the edge of the split wound.
Chen Xiaoya let out a scream that sounded inhuman, her entire body arching sharply like a shrimp before her eyelids rolled back, directly passing out from the pain.
"Sizzle—"
The blue crystal seemed to sense the threat.
Its light instantly surged.
An extremely terrifying chill transmitted up the dagger.
A thick layer of frost instantly formed on Qin Yu's hand.
"Interesting."
"Still dare to resist?"
Qin Yu snorted coldly.
The Qi and Blood Power within his body erupted instantly.
"Get the hell out!"
Qin Yu flicked his wrist and gave a forceful flick.
"Crack!"
A crisp sound, like shattering glass, rang out.
The blue crystal was forcibly extracted from Chen Xiaoya's flesh.
Trailing a few crimson threads of blood, it traced a parabolic arc through the air.
Qin Yu reacted swiftly, scooping up the metal tray he had prepared earlier with his left hand and catching it.
Clang!
The crystal landed on the tray.
It continued to thrash wildly, like a fish out of water.
But separated from the warm incubator of the human body, its glow noticeably dimmed.
"Hurry! Stop the bleeding!"
Qin Yu shouted.
Yao Xue immediately rushed forward, skillfully tending to the gruesome wound.
"Ruo Bing, seal this thing!"
Qin Yu handed the tray to Li Ruobing.
"Use a lead box! Don't let its signal escape!"
Li Ruobing didn't dare delay, quickly retrieving a lead box originally intended for radioactive materials from the supply pile and sealing the crystal inside.
Click.
The moment the lid snapped shut.
The oppressive atmosphere in the entire room instantly vanished.
The temperature also began to slowly rise.
Everyone gasped for breath heavily, as if they had just been pulled from water.
Only Qin Yu.
He shook the melted ice water from his hand, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag.
That hand was still trembling slightly.
Not from fear.
From the cold.
If not for his robust physique, that brief contact would likely have crippled his hand.
"Yu-ge..."
Yao Qian, who had been hiding in the corner, finally dared to peek out.
"What... what was that thing?"
"It looked so terrifying."
Qin Yu exhaled a smoke ring, his gaze fixed intently on the lead box.
In his mind, the system's appraisal panel finally appeared.
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