Chapter 551 - 548: An Unexpected Host

Chapter 551: Chapter 548: An Unexpected Host

Through their examination of the penguins, the Healers discovered that the Rainbow Virus had no other harmful effects besides turning the host’s body colorful.

Although they remained skeptical of the virus, the Healers couldn’t find any other points of concern. Having basically determined the cause of the penguins’ rainbow coloring, they immediately began treatment.

’Define the Rainbow Virus as a disease and cure it...’

Under the Healers’ powerful healing abilities, the penguins soon returned to normal. The Rainbow Virus in their bodies was completely eradicated, and their coloration vanished entirely. After a final check-up, the Healers sent them back to their original Sky Island.

As for the viral environment on that Sky Island, the Healers could do nothing. Whether the recovered penguins would be reinfected upon returning to their habitat was left to fate.

"We are only Healers, not gods. Our duty is to treat diseases."

Not many Healers would, like Xi’s companions, choose to follow patients back to their habitats to completely eradicate the source of a plague.

These Healers treating the penguins also lacked the courage to leave the Hua Sheng Islands.

Due to the virus’s strange characteristics, Xi had heard about it, even though he hadn’t participated in the penguins’ treatment.

’A virus that isn’t particularly harmful, causing no other effects besides turning its host colorful.’

’But no one wants to be colorful. For races that place great importance on their appearance, being infected with the Rainbow Virus is a terrifying prospect.’

’But why is this virus on Senluo Island?’ Xi wondered, looking at the colorful, spindle-shaped, fuzzy mass above. He could tell it was the Rainbow Virus; its characteristics were very distinct.

’Could the Rainbow Virus have been included in the species protection area while I was asleep? Impossible. How could a virus be protected?’

Xi was baffled. Senluo Island seemed completely different from how he remembered it...

"What is that creature?" Mo Ling asked suddenly.

"Which one?"

"That one up there. The host of the Rainbow Virus. It has to be infecting something, right?" Mo Ling pointed at the strange fish above.

"I don’t recognize it. It’s too far." Xi stared for a long time, but he truly couldn’t make out what it was.

In the gloomy lake, undercurrents occasionally stirred up murky sediment. Coupled with the backlight, it was impossible for the two of them to see any details of the creature infected by the Rainbow Virus.

Xi could only vaguely make out some parts of the creature, judging it to be infected by the Rainbow Virus from its colorful appearance.

Mo Ling nodded. "Too far? Then I’ll bring it over."

After speaking, he took aim at the creature.

Before Xi could react, the creature appeared in Mo Ling’s hand.

Mo Ling looked at it for a moment, then handed the dead creature to Xi.

"This doesn’t seem to be a single creature..."

Xi numbly took the spindle-shaped creature. The small, thread-like things wrapped around it were constantly peeling off. At the same time, the creature’s colors were slowly fading.

"It’s many creatures! These hair-like things are Rot-worms, a type of worm that eats almost anything. There are lots of them on Senluo Island. The Administrator released them to clean up trash on the island."

Xi suddenly realized something. He pulled away the tangled Rot-worms, revealing what was underneath.

After seeing the spindle-shaped object in the center, both of them froze.

The thing wrapped in Rot-worms was actually a severed Healer’s lower leg!

The parts below the ankle and above the knee were all gone, leaving only the spindle-shaped lower leg. It had been wrapped so tightly by the colorful Rot-worms that it had looked like a "fish."

But that wasn’t what shocked them the most...

Although it was still fading, they could see the lower leg was also extremely colorful. Not only that, but it was still twitching constantly. The "swimming" motion they had seen earlier was caused by these twitches.

"It’s still moving?" Xi was astonished. He wasn’t aware of Healers having any ability to regenerate severed limbs.

Mo Ling was also surprised. This lower leg had passed through his teleportation, yet it could still move?

"Is he still alive?" Mo Ling asked, puzzled.

Xi slowly placed his hand on the twitching leg, sensing it carefully. After a short while, he gave his answer: "Dead."

"Dead? Then why is it still moving?"

"I don’t know. The cells are all completely dead..." Xi didn’t understand either.

He grabbed one end of the leg and held it carefully. The leg still twitched occasionally.

"Senior, do you see? It’s as if a string is pulling it. It jerks periodically, and the direction is..." Xi paused for a moment, then pointed toward the center of the lake. "Over there."

Only then did Mo Ling notice that the leg twitched in the same direction every time. It was indeed like a string was pulling it. The force wasn’t strong, just enough to make the leg move slightly.

"I get it! Senior, this leg wasn’t in the lake to begin with. Like the body I first created, it might have been whole at the start. But during its journey toward the lake, it was reduced to this single piece due to some accident."

"It’s also possible it was eaten by the Rot-worms until only this part was left... But even though it’s completely dead, the center of the lake is still attracting it, pulling it into the water bit by bit, making it ’swim’ toward the center like a fish."

Mo Ling was extremely shocked as he listened to Xi’s words.

’Can’t even death escape this attraction?’

’What on earth are these bodies trying to do in the center of the lake?’

’Why is even the body created by Xi subject to this strange attraction?’

Staring into the gloomy depths of the murky lake, Mo Ling grew increasingly confused.

The lower leg in Xi’s hand continued to twitch, as if nothing could stop its advance.

Their curiosity reaching its peak, Mo Ling and Xi shared a silent understanding. Without another word, they started walking along the lakebed, heading for the depths.

...

The water seemed to grow murkier. Before long, they came across an even more gruesome sight.

The lakebed was littered with bleached white bones. Severed limbs, not yet fully decomposed, poked out from the sediment. Scavengers writhed on the lake floor, feasting wantonly on the food that had "walked right into their trap."

’It’s all Healers’ bodies... or rather, it’s all the Administrator’s bodies...’

Mo Ling saw many familiar bracelets on the lakebed, the same kind the Administrator wore. But now, these bracelets were either on a white bone or scattered in the sediment. Their owners had clearly met a terrible fate.

It seemed not all the bodies had made it to the depths; a large portion had fallen along the way.

Some intact bodies were still twitching faintly toward the center of the lake, showing the attraction hadn’t faded. The white bones, however, were completely still.

These bodies were not all identical. Some were strangely twisted, while others were covered in a peculiar blue algae. Mo Ling even noticed one severed limb had sprouted shimmering fish scales. It seemed the Rainbow Virus-infected leg they had found was not an isolated case.

And as Xi looked upon these peculiar "patients," the ball of light that was his head began to flicker restlessly...