Cave Refuge

Looking at the cluttered Companion Spiritual Treasures on the road within the campsite, Ye Liuyun initially wanted to say something, but seeing that they had almost reached the top of the city wall, he pursed his lips and, in the end, reluctantly let out a sigh.

Seeing someone flying over from the inside of the camp, the leader of the Guard Squad immediately ordered everyone to form up and prepare for combat, but then noticed the boss was present, so he instantly revoked the assembly order.

The Flying Sword had barely stabilized near the city wall when an anxious Ye Liuyun immediately jumped down and turned to the squad leader to ask, "What was that impact sound just now?"

Hearing Ye Liuyun's inquiry, the Guard Squad Captain's face was a mix of emotions. He tried to organize his words and, upon failing, gritted his teeth and said to Ye Liuyun, "Boss, I really don't know how to tell you, you better come and take a look yourself."

Afterward, the Guard Squad Captain pulled Ye Liuyun over to the outer edge of the city wall campsite and pointed in the direction beneath the city wall, "The impact noise just now, it was caused by those things."

At this moment, Zachary also walked to the edge of the city wall and looked in the direction the Guard Squad Captain was pointing. Gazing through the murky water, it was impossible to see clearly what lurked below, but looking through the surface, all that was visible was a large, submerged shadow.

Ye Liuyun pointed at the shadow, "Have you seen clearly what exactly is under the water there?"

Before Zachary had the chance to employ his Divine Sense to investigate what was hiding in the underwater shadows, the Guard Squad Captain somehow procured a sizable rock and flung it with force.

Being the Guard Squad Captain, he naturally possessed significant martial cultivation, so despite the rock's size, it effortlessly hit the center of the underwater shadow.

As the rock smacked heavily into the water, the submerged shadow shattered instantaneously into pieces from the airborne assault. Once the rock had completely sunk, the scattered underwater shadow, as if nothing had happened, reconverged to the same spot.

By now, Zachary had extended his Divine Sense over to this area to conduct an investigation, experiencing the scene personally. The image that was blurry from above the water, Divine Sense turned it into a live broadcast, projecting directly into Zachary's mind.

Zachary had suspected that the shadow on the water could be a cluster of smaller creatures gathered together, casting such a large shadow on the surface.

But Zachary had never imagined that the shadow on the water would consist of catfish with two whiskers.

Under normal circumstances, catfish, when starved, have a habit of devouring their kind, which is why most catfish do not like to school together; they prefer to hide and scatter as they journey.

Also, because catfish are roamers and highly adaptable, the size difference among them can be quite significant. The smallest fry may not even be as big as a finger, but given the chance to grow freely, some catfish can grow large enough to swallow a person whole.

Just like those underwater shadows captured in some tropical rainforest documentaries, most of those captured shadows are actually giant catfish.

Even if catfish grow in size, their mode of attack is usually direct ingestion using their mouths. However, the violent impact noise coming from the wall earlier, even if it were those considerably large giant catfish, they wouldn't bash into city walls, much less create such a loud disturbance.

Moreover, what piqued Zachary's curiosity was why those catfish were gathering there, even though the black small water snakes had already been attacking the survivors in the camp, those who defied superstition and insisted on entering the water.

But comparing the sizes of those black small water snakes and the giant catfish, Zachary found that it wouldn't be too difficult for the giant catfish to swallow the black small water snakes whole, and normally fish are not afraid of water snakes.

The catfish gathered outside the campsite showed no intention of nearing the camp; instead, they huddled together over there for some unknown reason. Most importantly, even though the nature of the shadows in the water had been identified, the exact source of the earlier collision sound remained unclear.

Madeline, unlike Zachary, did not possess Divine Sense to observe underwater conditions, so after watching from atop the city wall for a long time, she still had no idea what the shadows in the water really were, hence her tone carried a hint of impatience. After all, most people intensely dislike those who speak in riddles.

"Enough already, stop beating around the bush with me, and just tell me straight up what caused that collision sound."

Hearing the impatience in Madeline's voice, the Guard Squad Captain hurriedly began to speak with a slightly troubled tone, "The thing that hit the city wall, making such a loud noise, I'm not even sure how to describe it. It was a very strange lump of flesh.

That lump of flesh rolled along the surface of the water like a soccer ball, heading straight toward us before hitting the wall and bouncing back out. During the recoil, the lump of flesh just exploded, and then scattered across the area like baiting a spot while fishing.

The shadows under the water were not fragments of the tumorous growth that originally fell into the water, but rather fish attracted by those fragments."

After listening to the Guard Squad Captain's explanation, Zachary finally understood the whole story. If things had ended there, it might have been just a mix-up, nothing to worry about.

Just as Zachary was preparing to leave with Madeline, the Guard Squad Captain's next words made the two, who were ready to depart immediately, stop in their tracks.

"At first, there weren't many fish feeding on the tumorous growth, but from the time the noise was heard until your arrival, the shadow under the water seemed to have expanded several fold.

We thought that more fish were attracted to the lump of flesh, continuously gathering to compete for the food.

But from the occasional appearance of fish on the surface of the water, as they fought over the food, we noted that the enlargement of the underwater shadow might not be due to more fish accumulating, but rather that the size of some fish in the group was increasing due to their consumption of the flesh fragments."

"How can you be certain that the larger fish you observed later are not ones that came from elsewhere, but rather are mutations of existing fish here that have grown larger?"

Upon hearing Zachary's question, the Guard Squad Captain opened his mouth, glanced at Madeline standing not far away and hesitated for a long time before ultimately choosing not to explain the reason.

In fact, Zachary knew the man wasn't deceiving him; his question had just been a reflexive response, not implying any doubt about the truthfulness of the Captain's words.

Perhaps because Zachary and Madeline had come together, the Guard Squad Captain might have chosen to remain silent, but one of his men didn't opt for secrecy, "Actually, it's because we were tempted. Although we knew that the fish were attracted by those shattered, strange lumps of flesh,

even though we understood that they were there to ingest the lump, I was craving meat, so, taking an 'it's not dirty if it doesn't make you sick' approach, I thought of catching a couple of fish to satisfy the craving.

Fashioning a makeshift anchor hook from what I had on hand, I figured there must be plenty of fish under those shadows, so I couldn't resist trying a few casts.

Who would've thought I'd actually succeed on the first try, but as I was dragging the fish back, the weight kept increasing until the line eventually snapped under the strain."