Chapter 856: Entering the Sea of Death

856. Entering the Sea of Death

"Who knows what's going to come back. Maybe you can ask them yourself when you get back."

Lin Ye looked at the island not far away. Several passengers had already run back from it, looking utterly disheveled, as if something was chasing them from behind.

"So what do we do now? I..."

Von suddenly turned to look at the fishing rod. He could sense that there was nothing in the sea, yet his fishing rod was slowly bobbing up and down.

"You can actually catch something with that?"

Lin Ye also noticed the condition of the fishing rod.

"This isn't right. What should I do?"

Von's voice sounded a bit shaky. He had only heard the name of the Abyss, that dangerous Plane, but had no idea what the Abyss actually was.

The unknown was the most terrifying thing of all.

"I suggest you pull whatever's down there up. That way, at least you get to pick a treasure chest."

Lin Ye unsealed the Abyssal Eye. He saw another Von, like a reflection, standing on the cruise ship beneath the water, that Von also holding an identical fishing rod.

The fishing lines had become tangled together in the seawater. The Von in the sea noticed Lin Ye, smiled, and waved at him.

"...I don't know... I'm feeling really awful right now... Am I going to die here?"

Von stared at the calm sea surface in despair.

"I don't know either, but I suggest you do something as soon as possible. Wait any longer, and I might have to take care of you myself."

Lin Ye could see the Von down below constantly tugging at the fishing line.

"Screw it!"

Von abruptly lifted the fishing rod, forcibly pulling up whatever was down there.

It was a clump of black seaweed tangled around the fishing line.

Seeing that seaweed, Von visibly relaxed.

But Lin Ye noticed that the fishing line on Von's rod had transformed into the same material as the seaweed.

"Seaweed works too. Go pick a treasure chest."

Lin Ye took out a string of treasure chests from his spatial item and let Von choose whichever one he liked.

"Then I'll take this one... These chests aren't all filled with Abyss products, are they?"

Von was about to pick a chest when a deadly thought suddenly struck him.

"Pretty much. There are also relics left behind by previous passengers in the Abyss, but those relics all have some problems."

Anything connected to the Abyss was bound to be influenced by it. That was only natural.

"Then forget it. I don't want to carry an Abyss item on me."

Von put away the fishing rod that had been affected by the Abyss and tossed the seaweed back into the sea.

While the two were talking, passengers gradually returned to the ship. Some of them looked subtly different from when they had disembarked.

"Master, should I hide in the ship's interior?"

Rex didn't want to be in the way.

"No need. The Abyss itself isn't what's lethal. What's lethal are the Abyssal creatures."

Lin Ye reassured Rex.

But he didn't tell Rex that this kind of non-lethal danger was precisely the most troublesome part.

The ship set off, beginning its deep journey into the Sea of Death. Only three-quarters of the passengers had made it back on board, and some of them had gained extra parts.

Take the high-level spiritual energy user who had caused trouble earlier, for example. His body surface was now covered in black eyeballs of various sizes, those bulging eyeballs growing inward into his body.

But that was a sight only visible through the Abyssal Eye. Everyone else could only see subtle changes.

Lin Ye paid no attention to the others. The Parasitism Network seemed to be having some issues, and Little Guardian was running into trouble as well.

'I shouldn't have tested the new version of the Parasitism Network here.'

Lin Ye severed his connection to some of the parasitic nodes. Those nodes seemed to have developed problems.

"...What the hell is that?"

Rex clutched his head, staring at the 'thing' that had suddenly appeared on the sea surface in the distance.

"It's so beautiful... Is that really an Abyssal creature?"

Von was also staring in that direction, his eyes glued to the sight.

"You can see it too?"

Lin Ye briefly sealed the Abyssal Eye and found that what he saw hadn't changed at all.

This meant the area had already fully merged with the Abyss. That was not a good sign.

"I see an island made of flesh and blood. People keep growing out of it, and those people are eating... and being eaten by the island..."

Rex's expression turned dazed. He climbed onto the railing, wanting to jump into the sea, swim toward that fleshy island, and enter that eternal cycle.

"What are you talking about? That's clearly a statue made of flesh... This is the first time I've seen something so beautiful..."

Von retorted in a daze.

"So everyone sees something different."

Lin Ye placed a mental barrier on both of them. Through the Abyssal Eye, he only saw a grayish-white sink floating on the sea surface, filled with dark red murky liquid.

"Ah! What's happening to me?!"

Rex quickly scrambled down from the railing and retreated to Lin Ye's side.

Von also became much clearer-headed. It was then he suddenly noticed that numerous fishing lines reeking of seawater were tangled around his body. Those fishing lines had come out of his spatial item.

"Damn!"

Von frantically tore off the fishing lines and threw them into the sea along with the spatial item.

Lin Ye paid them no attention. After the ship entered the Sea of Death, many strange things appeared on the sea surface. Even without the Abyssal Eye, the passengers on board could see those things.

However, depending on the observer's level of mental energy, what they saw seemed to differ as well.

At Lin Ye's mental level, even without using the Abyssal Eye, he could see the original forms of those things.

But he didn't seal the Abyssal Eye. In a place like this, no amount of caution was excessive.

Protected by the mental barrier, Von and Rex could still stay normal. The other passengers weren't so lucky.

Many passengers jumped into the sea, swimming toward those strange things.

One high-level spiritual energy user ran into an abandoned building floating on the sea surface. Before long, every window of that abandoned building displayed an identical copy of that high-level spiritual energy user.

All of those high-level spiritual energy users stared at the ship, wearing bizarre smiles.

Lin Ye glanced over. The abandoned building had exactly 999 windows, and there were exactly 999 high-level spiritual energy users.

But he couldn't see the back of the abandoned building at all, nor could he sense what was going on there.

That was still one of the more normal cases. Another high-level spiritual energy user flew directly up into the sky, where there was an inverted island. Its surface was covered in strange creatures wearing white spacesuits. That passenger tore off his own epidermis and disguised himself as one of those strange creatures.

Some other passengers dove deep into the sea, to places even Lin Ye couldn't sense.