Chapter 686: An Illusion

The instant the scream pierced the air.

Nearly every window on every vehicle was lifted just a crack.

All those gazes converged on the source of the sound.

It was the neighboring convoy...

One of the migration vehicles from the Happy Family convoy.

Almost the moment the scream erupted, countless heads popped out as if triggered by a button.

In an instant, they all crammed into that vehicle.

The vehicle had clearly been modified and reinforced, but against the long-necked heads of those sea anomalies, it was about as sturdy as paper.

That scene, many superhumans who witnessed it felt a chill run down their spines.

Like a single drop of blood falling into a vat teeming with leeches.

The entire process was enough to make one's scalp crawl.

In just a heartbeat, countless heads pierced into that vehicle, densely packed like toothpicks.

At first, there were roars of rage and cries of terror, panicked shouts.

Chen Ye even caught sight of a ball of black flames exploding wildly, seemingly trying to stop those massive sea anomaly heads.

It was that kid called Crow.

Those black flames clung to the sea anomalies' heads, burning ferociously.

But the sea anomalies remained completely indifferent, utterly unbothered by what they were doing.

That rebellious mohawk teenager.

The boy burst out from among the countless long-necked heads.

His entire body was wreathed in black flames, as if doused in gasoline and set alight, the fire swirling around his body surface, blazing with fury.

Even the air itself seemed to warp faintly from the searing heat.

The boy glared fiercely, his palm chopping toward an incoming massive head...

As his palm met the head, a portion of his flames transferred onto it.

In no time, the black fire spread, snaking directly down the long neck.

Then ignited the entire sea anomaly.

The ones near it also caught fire.

Within moments, a sea of flames had formed amidst the horde of sea anomalies.

The whole thing happened incredibly fast!

Faintly, a song drifted through the air, barely perceptible.

It seemed Lin Qingge had made her move.

Not only that, small black specks had appeared in the air, seemingly out of nowhere.

Those specks looked like bugs...

But right at that moment...

Amid the howling sea breeze...

From the direction of the shore, out in the ocean.

At the far rear of the sea anomaly horde.

A head burst out of the sea, then shot straight toward the black-flame youth.

The neck connected to that head was no longer a matter of a few meters, a dozen meters, or even a few hundred meters.

The length of that neck was measured in kilometers at the very least.

The head at the end of that neck slammed viciously toward the youth.

Black hair clung flat to the scalp, revealing only a single gray eye.

The other eye was hidden beneath strands of black hair still dripping with seawater.

The head opened its massive maw and bit down hard at the boy.

The boy was stunned. The black flames around his body erupted wildly, swelling into a fireball nearly ten meters tall.

His entire being transformed into a figure of living black fire.

The flames burned even more ferociously.

He was like a god of fire descending upon the world!

The faint singing grew more urgent.

Those songs seemed to be boosting the boy's power.

More black bugs appeared.

They burrowed into the bodies of the sea anomalies, wriggling...

But in that very instant...

That colossal head paid no attention to the songs or the bugs, not even the furiously burning black flames.

The head opened its mouth wide. It was, at first glance, a head about the size of a normal human's.

Even if slightly larger, it was still within human proportions.

But when it opened its maw, the mouth was utterly absurd.

Grossly disproportionate to the human-sized head.

That huge mouth clamped down on the boy's head, taking his entire upper body in one bite!

Half the boy's body was still sticking out...

As it bit down, black flames nearly engulfed the entire head.

Meanwhile, the other vehicles in the Happy Family convoy seemed ready to make a move.

But the head didn't linger for even a second. It immediately retracted back toward the sea surface...

During the retreat, the one visible eye stared back with mockery at everyone in the base who had lifted their windows a crack to peek.

The look in that eye was like a cat toying with a mouse.

"You... you all... don't..."

The boy's voice came from within that massive maw...

But the rest of his words were cut off.

They watched as the head carried the boy and plunged beneath the sea.

The entire sequence happened so fast no one could react.

By now, the sky was faintly lightening. Though storm clouds still hung overhead, it was far better than during the Eternal Night.

When the Eternal Night had reigned, the sun had vanished completely.

But now...

The clouds were merely a bit thicker than usual, that was all.

The Happy Family convoy...

Around the remaining vehicles, countless heads circled outside the hulls.

As if sizing up these vehicles.

As if, for some reason, they hadn't directly attacked these migration vehicles.

Or perhaps some rule governed their behavior.

But if any of these vehicles made the slightest wrong move, they would end up exactly like that first one.

The singing stopped.

The little bugs that had been crawling through the darkness were gone too.

The black flames that had been raging across the sea anomalies had all fizzled out, leaving only trails of green smoke curling into the air.

Everything fell silent.

So silent it was as if nothing had happened at all.

Even though no one stepped forward, everyone knew that what they had just witnessed had shaken every single person.

Going by the assumption that the longer the neck, the stronger the creature...

That monster which had risen from the sea with a neck several kilometers long should be the most powerful.

And what was worse, a creature of that caliber was probably not the only one of its kind.

A wave of despair welled up in everyone's hearts.

Even Chen Ye felt a slight chill in his chest.

That mocking gaze earlier... it seemed to have lingered on him for a fraction of a second longer.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but Chen Ye felt deeply unsettled.

As if...

He racked his brain but couldn't find the right words to describe what he was feeling.

It was as if that thing had taken him for one of its own kind.

Yeah, that was the feeling...

He was clearly a human being, a superhuman. How could he be one of their kind?

How was that possible...

Perhaps, it really was just an illusion!

"Huff... huff... huff..."

"Yezi, Squad Leader Chu..."

Iron Lion's voice came through the Bluetooth earbuds, sounding unnaturally tense.

Chen Ye pulled his wandering thoughts together and pressed the earbud.

Judging by the tone of that big guy, something had happened on his end too.

Could it be...

But the commotion from the neighboring convoy had been too loud, and he hadn't been paying attention to that side.

"Big Fool, is something going on over there?"

Chen Ye and Chu Che stayed silent, but Dantai Bie jumped into the conversation.

You could hear the tension in Iron Lion's voice.

"I... I killed some people..."

Everyone went quiet.

They all knew Iron Lion's personality. The big guy had always been gentle and kind to survivors.

He had the best reputation among survivors in the entire convoy.

But now...

"Take your time, don't rush!"

Ding Dong said softly.

Iron Lion swallowed hard and slowly recounted what had just happened to him.

Everyone felt a chill run through them.

The commotion from the Happy Family convoy earlier...

They must have run into the exact same situation as Iron Lion.

It was just that the kid, perhaps too young, or maybe held back by other concerns, hadn't made a decisive call.

If something went wrong on Iron Lion's side...

A collective cold dread settled over them. If that happened, the Fair Convoy would be in serious trouble.

At the same time, everyone realized.

Just how overwhelming the oppressive presence these sea anomalies carried truly was.

They would all need to be much more careful from now on.