Chapter 111 - 95: Ranks of Extraordinary Creatures, a Parasitic Vine in the Unihorn Catfish?
"Right. A huge slab of meat like this... we can’t just let it go to waste..."
The Fishing Club members smiled as they looked at the massive Unihorn Catfish corpse, pulling out their knives to start carving the meat.
Just then, the Fishing Club member closest to the Unihorn Catfish froze and rubbed his eyes hard.
"What’s wrong? Your eyes hurt?"
"No, Chief. I think I just saw something!"
"Something? What was it?"
"Inside the wound on this Giant Catfish, I saw... a vine!"
"A vine?"
Zhong Fang’s brow furrowed. He walked closer for a look. Besides the waterlogged, pale flesh and the sliced outer skin, there was nothing.
"Kid, are you too tired? Your eyes must be playing tricks on you."
"No, Chief, I really saw it! But I don’t know why... it’s suddenly gone..."
"You’re just seeing things. How could a vine be growing inside flesh? Go take a break!"
Zhong Fang chuckled and chided him, then led his men forward, knives ready to cut into the Unihorn Catfish.
Meanwhile, Chen Chong climbed back into the Unihorn Catfish’s mouth.
He didn’t have a peculiar fondness for being in such a place. The only reason he was crawling back in was that his dagger and Tang Blade were still stuck in its jaws, and he had to retrieve them.
Squeezing back into the Unihorn Catfish’s gaping maw, Chen Chong had a different experience this time.
The last time he was in here, he’d been pressed for time. Deep underwater, everything had been pitch-black, leaving no opportunity to observe. But now, looking around...
’This mouth is huge!’
’And the teeth are so sharp!’
’The structure of this thing is weird, too. Why would there be a bone exposed inside its mouth?’
After retrieving his dagger and blade, Chen Chong looked at the "bone" he had unintentionally grabbed while delivering the Fatal Strike to the Unihorn Catfish.
He had been confused at the time. Bones were supposed to be inside the flesh, so how could a section be protruding from the upper jaw?
Even if it was some kind of exoskeleton, that would grow on the outside.
Who’s ever heard of an exoskeleton on the inside?
Seizing the opportunity, Chen Chong looked curiously at the bone that had been such a great help to him.
The Unihorn Catfish’s half-open mouth blocked most of the light, making it difficult to see anything inside. If he held up his hand, he couldn’t make out his fingers, only a blurry shadow.
Even so, it was much better than being underwater.
Chen Chong bent over slightly, squinting as he examined the bone before him. The longer he looked, the tighter his brow furrowed.
For some reason, he felt that the object looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Although he couldn’t quite place it, he was certain... this was definitely not a bone, but some kind of plant, like a tree trunk.
"Such a long piece is sticking out of its flesh. Could the Unihorn Catfish have been too greedy and swallowed a tree trunk, and a branch got stuck in its flesh?"
Chen Chong muttered to himself and touched it lightly with his hand.
’It’s stuck in there really tight, isn’t it?’
’Rather than being stuck, it looks more like it grew out of the flesh...’
SWOOSH—
Just then, the "bone" he had touched retracted slightly into the flesh.
Chen Chong’s eyes flew wide open.
It was too dark inside; he wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him again.
But the sudden, bizarre movement made him hesitant to touch it again.
Drawing his Tang Blade, Chen Chong decided to just chop it off and take it outside to see what it really was.
Just then...
"AHHH!!!"
"It moved! There’s something in here! There really is a fucking vine!"
Hearing the word "vine," Chen Chong’s heart instinctively tightened.
He couldn’t help but think of the vines he had seen outside the Stone Claw Eagle’s hidden cave.
He shouldn’t have thought about it, but now that vines were on his mind...
This "bone"... it looked exactly like one of those vines!!!
...