Over the distant sea, an orange-red flare bloomed in the night sky.
The blond woman was wearing a transparent raincoat and stood quietly on the deck, looking indifferently at the lifeboats floating on the sea.
Behind her, the makeshift radio station continued to receive help signals from lifeboats.
"SOS! SOS!"
"The Aphrodite is about to sink. Urgent help! Urgent help!"
The woman stood on the edge of the deck with her hands in her pockets, showing no intention of paying attention.
At this time, a man in black came from behind, bowed and asked: "Sir Shirley, do you want to start the ceremony?"
"Um."
The woman wearing round glasses responded in a low voice and continued to stare at the sea.
On the deck behind the woman, an altar made of ancient stones shines brightly on the deck.
As the light of the altar became brighter and brighter, several strange lines separated from the hole in the center of the altar, forming a huge six-pointed star magic array.
At the same time, the men in black robes standing at the six corners of the magic circle opened their arms and began to chant.
"The children of darkness displayed in the ancient temple, the mother of all things, the god of fertility, the great mother god, the wife of the ineffable, the goddess of darkness and fertility, the mother of Nag and Jebu..."
"With the delicacies of blood and flesh as a treat, and with the young black goat as a medium, please listen to our call and come here..."
"Yeah! Shub Nicholas! The black goat of the forest that has given birth to thousands of offspring!"
The man in black robe's voice suddenly rose.
At the same time, a large amount of blood suddenly gushes out of the originally ordinary stone altar, and there seems to be a fountain of blood in the stone hole.
Bright red blood was flowing on the deck, and raindrops on it could not dilute it in the slightest.
The crescent moon overhead was also pulled out of the clouds at this moment, illuminating the stone altar in the center of the deck.
The man in black robe paused for a moment and then continued to speak.
"Black goat of the forest that has given birth to thousands of children, please listen to our wishes..."
"Ah! Shub Nicholas! Through the sea of filth, you can know their service!"
"Their hands are at your throat, and you can see them!"
"The great Cthulhu also serves them, and is also the brother of the Ineffable One! He is also your husband!"
"Let's conceive together in the womb of the daughter of darkness!"
"This blood and flesh is also our wedding gift!"
As the dark sacrificial ceremony reaches its climax, in the dark depths of the Pacific Ocean, an indescribable huge shadow releases a terrifying spiritual wave.
This mental wave crossed the numerous sea areas blocked by the sea at extremely fast speeds and reached the bottom of the sinking cabin of the Aphrodite.
At this time, Qin Zhibo was climbing down along the iron wall on the outside of the hull.
Suddenly, a terrifying brain wave made his body startle, and the movements of his hands and feet suddenly stopped.
Losing control of his strength, his whole body began to fall.
Fortunately, the feeling of weightlessness is the easiest to stimulate the most primitive instincts in the human body. His body subconsciously grabbed the rope, which stopped him from falling to the sea.
"Huh...huh..."
He kept breathing heavily and staring, but his mind was thinking about what happened at that moment.
What's going on?
Why does the image of an underwater city appear in my mind?
The intense heart palpitations kept him in a stalemate for more than ten seconds before he slowly came back to his senses.
This is not the first time I have encountered this kind of terrifying mental fluctuation.
That is the eternal presence from Lalayeri...
It may be that the various anomalies that occurred on this ship alerted the powerful man deep in the Pacific Ocean.
But the ship is about to sink now, and now is not the time to think about this.
Qin Zhibo calmed down a little and quickly continued his rescue operation.
He followed the rope lowered by [Flying Claw] and descended directly from the outside of the ship to the floor where the infirmary is located.
The ship's elevator has long since stopped running, and the stairs, which are the fastest way to reach the lower cabin, are also flooded.
The infirmary is in the lower cabin near the bow.
Since most of the stern has sunk into the water, the entire bow of the ship is lifted to a height of more than ten meters above the sea like a seesaw.
Qin Zhibo held the rope with one hand, then flexibly wrapped the rope between his feet to fix the position.
Immediately afterwards, he took out the [Holy Sword of Physics—Crowbar] from the toolbar and smashed it against the porthole.
Bang, bang...
The glass of the porthole was extremely strong. Even if it was knocked repeatedly for more than a dozen times, Qin Zhibo's jaw was so painful that he finally managed to pry open a gap at the edge.
But that's all.
But this is enough for Qin Zhibo.
Instead, he grabbed the rope with both hands, pushed hard on the porthole with both feet, and used the force to swing his body away from the hull.
Under the influence of gravity, he stepped back onto the porthole.
Under the influence of this force, the gap at the edge of the porthole expanded a bit.
Seeing that this method worked, Qin Zhibo swung several times in succession. Each time he stepped heavily on the glass of the porthole with his feet, more of the glass would fall off.
It was not until ten times that the porthole was completely knocked open.
Qin Zhibo quickly climbed in through the porthole and found that he was right in the infirmary.
But now the infirmary is empty.
Has Chengshi already left?
Qin Zhibo ran out of the infirmary and came to the corridor.
I saw that most of the corridor was almost submerged in water, including the stairway.
Qin Zhibo looked deep into the corridor, and all he could see was the turbid sea water and the flickering lights due to poor contact.
Just when he was about to use the finding spell to confirm the location, a pair of shoes next to his feet attracted his attention.
He had an impression of this pair of shoes. They were Chengshi's shoes.
In other words, Cheng Shi has already left the infirmary.
However, given the current situation on the ship, Qin Zhibo was not sure whether he could safely pass through the flooded staircase.
At this moment, a voice came from the sea water in the corridor ahead.
"Hello……"
"Where...in...where!"
"Become...doctor!"
Intermittent sounds came from the water surface. Qin Zhibo quickly entered the water and walked towards the deep water area ahead.
When he came to the place where the sound came from, he saw a detective badge floating alone on the water.
This is……
This thing can only be realized here.
Qin Zhibo picked up the badge, held it in his hand and tried to answer twice.
"Hello? Conan?"
"I am Qin Zhibo..."
It may be that the line is damaged due to water intrusion, and the sound from one side cannot be transmitted to the other side.
Qin Zhibo could only put the badge in his pocket and continue to look around.
Suddenly, the water in front of him rippled.
The next second, a dark shadow slowly emerged from the bottom of the sea water, causing huge ripples on the water.
A tree-trunk-like body emerged from the water in an instant, occupying almost the entire cross-section of the corridor.
The thick body, which seemed to be composed of huge lumps of flesh, had black whip-like tentacles growing on it.
There are huge mouths around the mass, filled with dark yellow fangs dripping with mucus.
And right below this deformed monster, there are three thick legs like elephants, with huge feet like sheep's hooves at the bottom.
Qin Zhibo was so startled by the sudden appearance of the behemoth that he subconsciously took a few steps back. He raised his frightened head and stared at the behemoth with wide eyes.
This is...
The knowledge he had just gained after understanding the contents of the box came to his mind, and he immediately knew the information about this monster.
This is the black goat cub!
It's out of the box!
Realizing that the situation was not good, Qin Zhibo wanted to escape before the monster made any move, but he saw a figure floating on the water in front of the black goat cub's feet in the shallower water.
It’s a reality!
Qin Zhibo identified the floating man and scanned his body again, but found no investigation points related to the corpse investigation.
No one is dead yet!
Qin Zhibo felt happy and immediately stepped towards that direction.
But as soon as his feet moved two steps, the waves caused disturbed the young black goats on the water.
The monster's huge mouth suddenly opened wide, and a harsh roar came from the foul-smelling hole.
roar--!
Qin Zhibo did not cover his ears this time.
He continued to walk forward, and at the same time took out the [Oath Keeper Sword] with his other hand.
When it approached two meters in front of the monster, a black tentacle from the black goat cub suddenly attacked.
Qin Zhibo also saw the right moment and swung the Oath-Keeping Sword vigorously.
The gleaming sword edge collided with the black flesh, and a spiral tentacle was easily cut off.
Perhaps because it could feel the pain, or the humiliation caused by being hurt by humans, the young black goat roared even more harshly.
The roar even penetrated the glass and cabin and reached the sea.
In the lifeboat, people heard the roar of the monster coming from the "Aphrodite" and were so frightened that they shivered all over.
"Hey, you, did you hear that?"
"Okay, it seems like something is calling on the ship..."
"Isn't there someone else on board?"
"How is it possible? How could a human being make such a sound..."
The life raft Conan was in was relatively close to the "Aphrodite", and the sound was very real.
He stared in surprise, looking at the sinking luxury cruise ship in front of him in disbelief.
Just now when we were in the Black Forest Restaurant, there was such a sound coming from under the floor.
At first, he thought it was the steel of the ship's hull being squeezed and deformed under the action of sea water, which was why it made such a twisting sound.
But now if you listen carefully, the sound is very different from the sound of steel being squeezed.
It was more like an angry roar coming from something alive...
What is this sound?
Conan adjusted his high-tech glasses to telescope mode and looked back and forth on the cruise ship.
Suddenly, he looked towards the area at the rear of the ship that had not been completely submerged by the sea water, and could see some dark shadows swimming rapidly in the corridor.
Because the shadow was moving so fast, he couldn't see clearly what it was.
But that was definitely not a shadow formed because the lights were turned off.
All kinds of anomalies made Conan understand that this shipwreck was definitely not simple.
This made him worry about Qin Zhibo's safety again.
But you must survive!
…
In the cabin, Qin Zhibo had to cover his ears this time when he faced the even more piercing roars and screams of the black goat cubs.
At the same time as the young black goat screamed, the dozen tentacles also moved at the same time, attacking in the direction of Qin Zhibo.
Qin Zhibo waved the Oath-Keeping Sword and cut off the approaching tentacles one by one.
The severed tentacles clattered onto the water.
However, such attacks are of no avail.
I saw those severed sections of tentacles growing in a spiral manner, growing new tentacles, and the whole process did not even take five seconds.
If this continues, there will be no end to the killing.
Just when Qin Zhibo was trying to figure out how to get rid of the monster's entanglement and take Cheng Shi away directly from the monster's feet, a tentacle unexpectedly attacked from under the water.
Qin Zhibo did not catch this information immediately.
By the time you notice it, it's already too late.
Qin Zhibo's feet were entangled by black tentacles, and with a little force, his whole body was caught in the air.
The situation took a turn for the worse, and the Oath Keeper accidentally slipped from his hand.
Too bad!
Qin Zhibo felt bad in his heart.
I saw the young black goat opening its central mouth as wide as possible, holding Qin Zhibo's feet upside down with one hand, intending to put Qin Zhibo into his mouth.
Although the throat of a black goat cub is not big enough to swallow a whole person alive.
However, the way black goat cubs eat their prey is not by swallowing it alive, but by sucking the prey's body fluids and completely sucking the prey dry.
Those sharp teeth will cut open the skin of the prey, and then a tentacle with a mouthpart will protrude from the deep throat to suck it, just like a small alien protruding from the alien's mouth.
Qin Zhibo was held close to his mouth, and at the same time, the tentacles that looked like spider mouthparts stretched out from the abyss-like throat.
The tentacles exuded a terrible stench like an dug grave. If they were bitten, even if they could escape, they would definitely die of bacterial infection.
no!
There must be more powerful attack methods!
Qin Zhibo found the briefcase from the props bar, and while hanging upside down, took out a strange-looking pistol from it.
This is not an ordinary pistol, but the Kunyang people's exclusive weapon - a ray gun!
Although human energy replenishment technology can only store three rounds of bullets, the power of this round is also particularly terrifying!
At this time, the tentacle with the mouthparts also stretched out to a position less than 30cm away from Qin Zhibo's head, and it was ready to start feasting on its prey.
Qin Zhibo, who was hanging upside down by the tentacles, took a ray gun and aimed at the tentacles, aligning them with the huge mouth behind them.
The moment the trigger was pulled, a weak electric current flashed through the gun handle.
Terrifying energy gathered in the barrel of the gun, and then ejected from the muzzle.
A blue ray instantly penetrated the body of the black goat cub, and even penetrated the seawater behind it for an instant.
The body of the young black goat trembled first, and then its tentacles dropped weakly. The whole body was like a pile of abstract meat structures piled on the water.
Snap!
Qin Zhibo, who was hanging in the air, also fell back into the water.
He quickly climbed up from the water, untied the tentacles that were weakly wrapped around his feet, and then pulled Chengshi over from the feet of the black goat cub.
But as soon as he took a look at his little brother's face, he realized something was wrong.
How come this face has become more delicate than before?