The Great Flood of the End of Time: Female Neighbor Comes to Borrow Food

Chapter 686 Abyss Island, Giant Turtle Corpse
"It startled me. I was wondering how there could be anyone in this building that had been flooded for so long."

Ye Nan gave an awkward laugh and made a comment to ease the embarrassment.

Liang Yuan shook his head: "It's always good to be careful. Don't forget, those merfolk and mermaids are humanoid. Maybe they had nowhere else to go, so they built their nests in these submerged buildings?"

"This..." Ye Nan was surprised, feeling that Liang Yuan's words made perfect sense.

"Mr. Liang, are you saying that these mermaids and merfolk are evolved from other fish species?"

Liang Yuan nodded slightly: "It's highly likely. Wasn't there a scientific report that said scientists speculated that the earliest origin of humans may have evolved from marine life?"

"If everyone has the same genes, some humans can transform into merfolk or mermaids. Why can't there be any mutated fish among those fish that can evolve into merfolk or mermaids?"

Liang Yuan even thought back to the mutated frogs in Meidu Garden. After they evolved into huge bodies, their limbs and facial features showed a tendency to evolve into humanoid creatures.

Ye Nan was amazed and said, "Then you're saying that those merfolk and mermaids in our ancient myths and legends all have real-life counterparts? Did the ancients really see these monsters? Otherwise, how could they describe them so realistically?"

Liang Yuan glanced at him, never expecting that his casual remark would actually be correct.

According to the information obtained from Ling Yurong, apart from the fictional parts, most of the ancient myths and legends probably actually contain real mutated beasts.

It was recorded through word of mouth.

Of course, it is also possible that some organisms have such a strong impression of these mythical creatures in their genes that it is directly engraved in their genes and passed down to their offspring from generation to generation.

Later generations can also construct these terrifying creatures in their subconscious, such as in dreams.

This is not just Liang Yuan's speculation; genes really can carry information and be passed on to the next generation.

For example, with cats and mice, if cats don't have genetic information, how could a newborn kitten know that mice are edible?

If a rabbit has no genetic information, how would it know that an eagle in the sky is its natural enemy?

All of this stems from fears inherited in our genes throughout the ages.

Humans are the same; perhaps the fear and curiosity about these mythical creatures have long been etched into human genes.

After this fright, Ye Nan also became more alert and cautious, searching for a route while not daring to let Liang Yuan get too far away.

Soon the two had swum more than ten kilometers, and a dense cluster of buildings began to appear underwater ahead.

The roadside sign was rusty, with some paint marks on it that read "Wenxi Road".

"This is it, Mr. Liang. Look over there!"

Ye Nan looked around and finally saw a huge black shadow in front of him. He immediately called out to Liang Yuan.

Liang Yuan looked in the direction he pointed and saw a huge black shadow in front of him, like a massive hill, lying on the seabed.

It crushed many surrounding buildings, and numerous high-rise buildings collapsed near it.

Numerous mutated beasts roamed around, occasionally weaving into the hills.

Liang Yuan immediately said, "Let's go, let's go take a look!"

The two gradually approached the huge island in front of them, which was about one hundred meters high.

It's not very tall, but it covers a huge area, almost the size of the entire Yangshan Mountain.

It should be noted that the floodwaters are now spreading and the water level has risen, estimated to be only about 100 meters.

Half of Yangshan Mountain is still above the water.

In other words, this underwater island almost reached the height of the water surface.

Without a doubt, this is a floating island that has sunk to the bottom of the water.

Some call it the abyss.

This is because this once floating island had abundant resources, but now that it has sunk into the water, it has attracted a large number of mutated beasts to gather here.

In addition, there were already parasites on the island.

This turned the area into a true abyss overrun by mutated beasts.

"Mr. Liang, what do we do now?"

Ye Nan followed Liang Yuan and swam to the vicinity, but there were too many mutated beasts around the island.

Liang Yuan thought for a moment and asked, "Why can so many mutated beasts coexist?"

"It looks like they live in groups, each with their own designated areas," Ye Nan said in a low voice after observing for a while.

Liang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Let's go, I'll take you directly underground."

Ye Nan was taken aback, and then he saw Liang Yuan reach out and grab his shoulder. Immediately, a yellowish-brown halo flowed around the two of them.

brush!
Liang Yuan used his earth-遁 (earth-遁) skill to drag him into the mud.

This is real land in the truest sense, not like a floating island where the surface land is actually flesh and blood.

On the floating island, one can only use shallow earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique for escaping through the earth). Once one goes deeper, one will be blocked by the flesh and blood of the floating island itself.

Because, in essence, a floating island is a massive biological corpse, not an island in the true sense of the word.

Beneath the soil, Liang Yuan carried Ye Nan, rapidly traversing the underground.

Before long, Liang Yuan stopped. He felt that he was now below this abyss island.

“Mr. Liang, I can’t tell which way is which in this underground place, and I don’t know where the island owner and the others are.”

Liang Yuan said, "We should be below the Abyss Island now. Let's go up and take a look. Be careful to conceal your presence."

"Okay, okay." Ye Nan nodded quickly.

The two quickly swam upwards, and soon they sensed an obstacle above them.

Liang Yuan's earth-遁 (earth-遁) technique could no longer advance upwards.

Clearly, it was blocked by the flesh and blood tissue inside the abyss island.

This means they have reached the bottom of the abyss island.

Liang Yuan then changed direction and began to explore.

Before long, he found a 'crack' made of mud and rocks.

Following the gap, he led Ye Nan back into the water.

Emerging from the water, Liang Yuan looked around.

They discovered that this place was actually a cave.

Inside the pitch-black cave, bubbles were rising all around.

Some unidentified substances emitted a faint fluorescence, barely providing any brightness.

Ye Nan subconsciously asked, "Mr. Liang, where is this...?"

"Shh—!" Liang Yuan quickly covered his mouth, startling Ye Nan.

He quickly looked at Liang Yuan, puzzled.

Liang Yuan pointed to the fluorescent substances and shook his head slightly at him.

Under Liang Yuan's spiritual perception, these fluorescent substances turned out to be eyes!

Their owners are giant, snail-like mutated creatures that attach themselves to the caves.

These mutated snails vary in size and have glowing eyes that blink as if trying to attract other creatures.

Clearly, this is a hunting method that uses itself as bait.

Liang Yuan only glanced at it briefly, but there were probably thousands of these mutated snails in this cave.

Although he felt that their mutation level was not very high, Liang Yuan still didn't want to cause trouble.

If we make a commotion and attract even more powerful mutated beasts, then it would be a loss.

Liang Yuan immediately activated the Dark Abyss Shadow Dragon's ability, directly taking Ye Nan with him, transforming into shadows, and silently moving through the darkness, quickly escaping the cave entrance.

Once outside the cave, Liang Yuan continued to move stealthily in the shadows.

They were at the foot of the mountain on this abyssal island.

"We're out now. Follow me carefully. In shadow form, we should be able to avoid most of the mutated beasts' attention."

Liang Yuan gave Ye Nan a piece of advice.

The two quickly swam towards the island.

After walking several hundred meters, Ye Nan suddenly couldn't help but tug at Liang Yuan.

"Mr. Liang, look!"

Liang Yuan turned around and looked in the direction he was pointing.

But throughout the abyss, all sorts of creatures shimmered with strange light, adorning the entire abyss with vibrant colors, a breathtaking sight.

Various mutated beasts roam freely on the island, and all sorts of strange mutated plants sway gracefully in the water, creating a beautiful underwater world.

However, Ye Nan was not referring to this beautiful scenery, but rather to the cave entrance they had come from.

But the cave entrance was huge, and when I first came out, I didn't feel anything.

Looking back now, Liang Yuan realized that this was not a cave entrance at all!
It's clearly a giant snail shell!

The entire shell is over ten meters tall and blends into the surrounding mountains, as if it has been attached to them for many years and grown into them over time.

That hole was just a small hole that broke open in the snail shell!
Liang Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he whispered, "It should be the shell of some kind of mutated snail. No wonder there are a lot of snail-like mutated snails inside."

"How can there be such a big snail?" Ye Nan couldn't help but ask.

Liang Yuan said, "It should be a mutated conch that has reached the level of gene recombination."

"But now only an empty shell remains, and inside that shell live a large number of its offspring."

"I don't know if it's self-laying eggs or some other method of reproduction."

Liang Yuan murmured, feeling a strange sensation, as if he were witnessing firsthand the way a different species reproduces.

“Mr. Liang, let’s go quickly, this place is really creepy.”

Ye Nan didn't find it strange; instead, he felt a sense of fear about the unknown and hurriedly urged Liang Yuan to hurry up.

Liang Yuan nodded slightly and asked, "How much further?"

"It should still be further ahead. We were carried down into the water by the giant turtle, not climbed up from below."

Liang Yuan nodded slightly and said, "Then let's go."

The two continued to hide in the shadows, stealthily moving forward.

A short while later, Liang Yuan suddenly stopped.

Ye Nan asked in confusion, "Mr. Liang, why aren't we leaving?"

"It's your giant tortoise."

Upon hearing this, Ye Nan immediately looked up.

But then they saw a gigantic tortoise, as large as an island, lying in the mountain hollow ahead!

The giant tortoise, which should have been the size of two or three football fields, had its head bitten off by something.

Its limbs were also devoured by many mutated fish and shrimp, leaving only a part of its body and a huge tortoise shell. It carried the former base of Lingyu Island and landed in this mountain valley.

"Lingyu Island!"

Ye Nan's eyes instantly reddened, and he shouted in disbelief.

This giant tortoise has become his home.

How could he bear to see his home turn out like this?
Liang Yuan said, "This giant tortoise is not simple. It has such a large size, but its strength does not match the characteristics of a genetically recombined mutated beast."

"I wonder if it's because of some special bloodline or something."

In Liang Yuan's research, the size of a mutated beast is generally proportional to its strength.

Generally, the larger the volume, the higher the degree of evolution.

For example, when Liang Yuan's gene recombination progress reached 10%, the recombined gene beast form was about ten meters tall.

At 20 percent, it will reach a height of 20 meters.

Not only him, but also Feng Jiangong, Zhang Yujiang and others have similar characteristics.

Of course, this is not absolute. For example, in the case of mental or spatial gene maps, the volume and recombination progress are not directly related after gene recombination.

After Liang Yuan transformed into the Sumeru Sky Green Ant, his size was only a few meters.

The same applies to the Spirit Turtle and the Illusionary Serpent.

However, the gene morphology of other gene map types still follows the principle that size and strength are proportional.

This giant tortoise's situation clearly does not belong to this category.

"Now is not the time to be sad. Finding your island lord is the most important thing."

Liang Yuan's words were enough to make Ye Nan suppress his grief.

He nodded quickly, took a deep breath, and said, "You're right. Now that we've seen the giant tortoise's corpse, the place we were hiding at the time shouldn't be far away."

(End of this chapter)