Chapter 854 - 476: All Is Quiet on This Dawn

"Boom!"

The alarm didn’t just go off; it exploded. The entire structure of the ship groaned in agony, the screech of twisting metal drowned out all other sounds.

No one could have imagined that just moments ago they were dreaming about the future, discussing their goals, and in the next second, they would be facing an inevitable death.

Dangers and fatal situations that could arise anytime and anywhere seemed to clutch tightly at everyone’s throats, making breathing impossible, providing no target for fear and resentment.

The engines, energy stores, and living quarters in the rear two-thirds of the ship, all forces and substances that could react, seemed to have been detonated.

One moment, the teammates were playfully bantering; the next, they were eternally separated by death.

The entire starship bent like a branch, twisted and deformed from the middle.

A terrifying heatwave exploded from back to front, nearly sweeping through the entire starship, completely consuming all remaining life forms inside.

Whether it was the newly hatched larvae, the extraordinary agents from outside, or even the space wraiths?

No matter who, they were all fully engulfed and seared by the intense waves of fire.

Moreover, the leakage of the Demon Element caused everyone’s bodies to twist in bizarre and extreme ways.

The catfish instantly turned into a massive, continuously proliferating mass of flesh, while the swarm of insects freshly hatched from cocoons exploded one after another, and the space wraith began sprouting flesh, which, as if coming to life, constantly attacked its owner.

Even the purely energetic ghost now seemed to have completely turned into a perpetually changing jellyfish, unable to maintain its original form.

"Buzz!" The fire wave hit again, the temperature in the twisted living area finally lowered slightly.

However, the area was completely overtaken by roots, terrifying roots that drilled into every corner, even penetrating the already scarred hull, wildly thrashing around the ship’s interior like the tentacles of an Ancient God.

"Boom!"

Another explosion hit, but this time the heatwave was much weaker, leaving only the "sizzle" sounds of flames scorching protein.

"Catfish, are you still alive? Catfish!" Tree-man Dominic shouted.

Yet no one responded to him, only the disgusting burnt stench of charred flesh remained.

The corridors of the entire living area were filled with severely twisted masses of flesh, which burrowed into the metal hull, merging with it, continuously proliferating and reproducing, trying to withstand the impact of the fire and explosions.

It was as if the owner of this gigantic mass of flesh had completely given up control over their body, turning entirely into a misshapen monster.

However, Dominic couldn’t be bothered with the catfish anymore. He understood that this was the last gift of time the catfish could give him.

The roots continued to surge violently, absorbing all the leaking Demon Element and converging it on the main body.

The Demon Element corroded the roots, but it didn’t matter, Dominic knew that compared to animals, he was much tougher, with an unknown resistance to the Demon Element!

And now, the Demon Element had already formed a twisted tree tumor seed in his chest.

As it kept absorbing, the Demon Element in the air gradually decreased, but left Dominic only with pain and distortion.

"Not enough, it’s not enough, this amount of Demon Element is not enough!" Dominic shouted, feeling his consciousness begin to fade.

However, it was not enough!

Completely not enough!

"Dominic, if you hear me, answer, Dominic!" The transmitter, seemingly still operational, carried Yi Shan’s breathless voice after a heavy run.

"Sorry, Yi Shan..."

"I can’t take my little niece to see the stars anymore..."

"Boom!"

The shock from an explosion made the running Yi Shan fall, simultaneously losing all communication with the living area.

"Dominic!" He gritted his teeth, shouting loudly, running back in desperation.

In the flames and Demon Element, an Insect Man with only half his body left dragged the corpses of Niu Tou and the space wraith, struggling to walk through the fire.

"Captain, eat us, and eat the catfish’s corpse too, there should still be quite a bit of Demon Element in us..."

Dominic was stunned. He saw the Insect Emperor, whose abdomen was gone and whose entire body was charred, and the corpses of his two teammates.

And there at the end, blocking the passage, catfish, keeping the heat at bay.

They should have long suffered lethal amounts of Demon Element pollution, yet now, this teammate smiled and said.

"Eat us!"

"Captain!"

The roots erupted into a frenzy, completely piercing through the already faltering living area, turning tendrils into spikes that instantaneously stabbed into the Insect Emperor’s body, into Niu Tou and the wraith’s charred corpses, into the twisted proliferating mass of the catfish.

A massive amount of Demon Element came surging in, converging on the wood tumor in the body, with the bodies of the teammates hanging from branches, like a silent mourning.

At that moment, the amount of Demon Element was finally enough!

However, Dominic couldn’t hold on any longer.

"Yi Shan... take it away..."

"Take this tree seed away..."

As if all vitality converged into this tree seed, Tree-man Dominic’s body began to rapidly wither and decay.

The fiery wave surged past the catfish’s already drained corpse, past countless rotting roots, setting them aflame.

The roots could no longer withstand the fire, but instead became fuel for it, perpetually burning.