Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 219 Isolating the Curse, A Bountiful Harvest of Special Abilities!

boom!
The water surface suddenly exploded!
The twenty-two tentacles that Garcia had previously counted were just the tip of the iceberg of the Magic Eye Sponge.

At this moment, there are hundreds of tentacles surging underwater!

Like a coral reef suddenly bursting open, or a sea urchin expanding in an instant, they stretched out densely from under the water, frantically expanding and contracting towards the two people in the air.

The eyeballs at the tips of each tentacle were wide open, hundreds of murky gazes fixed on them, sending chills down one's spine.

Rokuk was completely terrified, his body trembling uncontrollably, and even his fingers were so stiff that he couldn't move them.

But in that split second, before his body could fall back to the surface, he suddenly realized something crucial: the direction these eyes were looking at wasn't him and Cheng Ye at all, but at the piece of sponge that Cheng Ye was clutching tightly in his hand!
Under the shield of the obsidian armor, neither of them revealed any trace of their human presence.

The reason why the Magic Eye Sponge was furious was not because it discovered the intruder, but because a part of its body had been damaged and taken away.

"Quick, get rid of it!" Rococo couldn't help but shout.

"Don't move!"

Cheng Ye's voice remained calm, but at the same time, a scorching fiery aura suddenly erupted from his body.

Boom!
An invisible wave flashed by, and although there was nothing beneath their feet, it felt as if they were standing on solid ground, and their downward momentum suddenly stopped.

Immediately afterwards, Cheng Ye took a sudden step forward with his left foot and stomped down again. Another invisible fiery footprint flashed through the air, leaving behind scorch marks like sparks.

Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom!
Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of people, Cheng Ye took five steps in a row, each step leaving a clear fiery footprint in the air. The moment the sparks exploded, it was as if a temporary "air tunnel" had been built on the water!
By the eighth step, the fiery energy within his body finally gave out, and the power supporting his body suddenly dissipated.

But at this moment, they were less than two meters from the dock. Cheng Ye suddenly exerted force with his right leg, and with Rokuk, he leaped straight towards the shore like a fish, landing heavily on the concrete ground. He rolled several times before finally dissipating the force of the fall.

Without bothering to investigate what had just happened, Rokuk immediately got up, pulled out the short knife from his waist and gripped it tightly, his eyes fixed on the water.

The dense tentacles were still churning underwater, but they seemed to be bound by something. The longest one only dared to float below the surface, and none of them dared to break out of the water and pounce on the dock to attack the two people.

"What happened? Why did you suddenly attack just now?" Rokuk turned his head sharply, his tone filled with lingering fear and a hint of questioning.

If Cheng Ye hadn't rashly cut the sponge, this giant creature wouldn't have been alerted.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he froze when he looked down. His armor was covered with a layer of pale yellow microorganisms, like tiny mold spots or miniature tentacles, which were wriggling slightly, trying to burrow into the gaps in the armor, obviously trying to parasitize him.

Cheng Ye's armor, however, was spotless, without a single trace.

"Do not exhale underwater."

Cheng Ye also got up, first bending down to confirm that the piece of sponge he had cut off was still in his hand, before taking out the red knife. "The underwater world should have completely become its world. Your breath will immediately attract these microorganisms to parasitize it, like a magnet. I almost didn't realize it."

"Can't exhale?"

Rokuk's heart sank. When he saw the entrance to the cave, he couldn't help but let slip a hint of his presence while making his comment.

But even this faint trace of a scent could be captured and parasitized by the Magic Eye Sponge?
"He shouldn't be able to detect our presence. We can put on respirators when we investigate later."

Cheng Ye nodded slightly. Realizing that he had to surface immediately, he simply slashed at the sponge, both to test the giant creature's reaction and to take the opportunity to collect samples.

Unexpectedly, the sleeping Demon Eye Sponge reacted so violently, fully waking up in just two or three seconds and extending hundreds of tentacles.

Fortunately, the upward energy rises faster than the tentacles extend and retract, so next time we can be bolder.

“That power just now…” Rococo started to say, but then stopped.

A smart person obviously shouldn't ask these questions; every prosecutor has their own way of protecting themselves.

But to be honest, the force of the upward surge from underwater, and the ability to stay airborne, completely exceeded his expectations.

Overt superpowers?
"It was just a little trick; I hope Prosecutor Luo won't laugh at it."

Cheng Ye smiled, turned the red knife over, and carefully used the back of the blade to scrape off the microorganisms on Rokuk's back, leaving a thin layer of yellowish-brown powder.

Once the attached little creatures detached from the armor and landed on the ground, they lost their vitality and quickly became shriveled.

Rokuk stared at the microbial remains on the ground, opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed the words that were about to come out.

Only now did he vaguely understand why Cheng Ye was unaffected by the pollution of the immortal objects and even dared to return after leaving Dabo Town.

This level of competence certainly cannot be summarized by the five words "trainee prosecutor".

After cleaning the microorganisms off the surface of the armor, Cheng Ye took out a portable spray gun and burned the hard-to-clean areas such as the gaps and corners of the armor to make sure nothing was missed.

Rococo finally came to his senses and his tone became serious: "Prosecutor Cheng, I didn't expect you to have such abilities. This will save a lot of trouble in the subsequent investigation. However, we need to set some rules first to avoid disrupting the rhythm later."

"Go ahead," Cheng Ye replied, taking out his storage box and carefully placing the sponge fragment inside.

The panel just indicated that the feature extraction was complete, but this fragment still has research value. It can be taken to the test bench on the truck for deconstruction analysis, and perhaps more information about the Magic Eye Sponge can be found.

Rokuk organized his thoughts and slowly began to speak: "The abilities of infected entities are often unpredictable and difficult to discern. A direct confrontation requires immense strength, but our core mission as inspectors is 'containment,' not 'elimination,' so there's no need to actively provoke it. The key to containment lies in observation and judgment, analyzing its activity patterns and identifying its weaknesses. This part has little to do with the strength of one's own abilities."

He paused, then continued, “Many of the fourth and fifth-level inspectors in the station who have contained the Destruction-level Infected Sources have strengths similar to mine. Even when Station Chief Ding contained the Annihilation-level Infected Source ‘Lion Dragon’ back then, he never attacked directly like you. He explored outside the boundaries of the Infected Source’s capabilities the whole time, figuring out the patterns little by little before completing the containment.”

"But the weak have their own methods, and the strong have their own advantages."

Rokuk changed the subject, his tone becoming frank, "Obviously, obtaining infected body materials directly like you do is the most efficient method, but my strength is mediocre. I can't keep up with your 'life-or-death' probing approach. Following you would only waste time and might even hold you back. Conversely, you'd likely find my slow-paced probing approach impatient and unnecessary, so..."

"Splitting up?" Cheng Ye replied casually.

None of those who become prosecutors are pedantic; even Garcia has his own ways of surviving.

To Rocco, his “recklessness” was a test of life and death.

Despite having multiple trump cards up his sleeve, Cheng Ye felt no psychological burden whatsoever. He even wanted to challenge the sponge tentacles a few more times to figure out the infection source's attack patterns and make more preparations for entering the water that night.

If they continue to go into the water together, Rocco will not be able to play a useful role and will instead be hampered.

"Yes, we'll go into the water in stages."

Rokuk nodded immediately. "Since you're strong, you'll be responsible for testing the Magic Eye Sponge's attack methods and triggering conditions, and also observing the underwater environment to see if there are any other paths to enter the cave. Since I'm weak, I'll focus on testing its contamination methods, locating the core of the infection source, studying why it can suppress other infection sources, and its potential weaknesses. These are all crucial for subsequent containment."

He finished speaking in one breath, without any embarrassment at admitting his weakness. Instead, he assured me with certainty, "Believe me, splitting up will definitely be more efficient. We can each use our strengths, which is much better than sticking together."

“Okay, no problem!” Cheng Ye immediately nodded in agreement.

It just so happens that underwater breathing also requires cooling time; a 35-minute exploration requires an hour of cooling.

In addition, the acceleration energy also needs time to recover.

I just used it aggressively once, and it has now dropped to 64%.

Although he was recovering, he could clearly feel that the energy he was recovering did not appear out of thin air, but rather that the totem on his chest was drawing on his life energy, that is, his physical strength.

Fortunately, physical strength is easier to replenish than mental energy; drinking a few more packets of nutritional syrup will restore it, so there's no need to worry too much.

"Alright, I didn't exert any effort just now. I'll test it out first later."

Rokuk didn't hesitate. He turned around, took out his underwater breathing apparatus from his equipment box, sat by the water, closed his eyes and rested for five minutes, stretched his wrists and ankles, and then plunged into the water with a "plop." His movements were swift and decisive, as if he hadn't been affected by the life-or-death crisis he had just faced at all.

This composure and courage in the face of danger gave Cheng Ye a deeper understanding of the position of prosecutor.

Power, responsibility.

Power corresponds to the generous treatment within the City of Happiness, while responsibility means facing life and death and taking on risks in the wilderness.

Since there is no refusal of power, then one should fully assume responsibility.

He looked away, turned around and walked back to the equipment box, placing his hand on the surface of the box.

The obsidian armor on his body immediately began to shake rapidly, and the black substance flowed back into the box like a tide from his fingertips, quickly disappearing.

"Cool!"

Without the black film covering the face, the light, sound, and even the temperature of the air become clear.

Cheng Ye took a deep breath and felt completely refreshed.

He put on the heavy protective armor he had taken off earlier, carried the containment box filled with sponge fragments, and walked towards the truck.

After getting into the car, Cheng Ye first closed the car door, put the sponge fragments into the onboard automatic analyzer, set the analysis program, then pulled over the supply box in the corner, took out a few bags of yellow-packaged nutrient syrup, tore open the tubes and poured them into his mouth.

He drank ten bags in a row, and only when he felt a noticeable bloating in his stomach did he stop, plop down on the alloy stool, and open the collector panel.

The vehicle's external discharge power is not high, only 60kw, but four hours have passed since the truck entered Dabo Town, and the charging value on the panel has recovered to 67%.

Looking at this number, Cheng Ye felt much more at ease. Having energy points meant that he still had trump cards to use in critical moments.

With a thought, the panel immediately redirected to the personal interface.

First, he replaced the "Surfing Waves" technique with the "Snake Force," which he was almost proficient in. Cheng Ye's gaze fell on the data, carefully analyzing the changes:

[Collector: Cheng Ye]

[Current Rank: Level 2 Rookie (67.9/100)]

Life Level: 1

[Skills: Heart-Protecting Fire, Swamp Physique, Fish-like Form, Snake-like Strength]

[Ability]: Eagle Symbiotic Ecology (Shaping)

[Not yet unlocked.]

[Evaluation: Life level is a double-edged sword. It will bring you stronger basic stats and incredible bonuses to your skills, but at the same time, it will attract the attention of special native creatures, who will attack you. Try unloading your superpowers; a determined collector is never afraid of loss. To explore more places and gain more rewards, some sacrifices are worthwhile!]

The level of information dissemination brought about by this divine artifact is the highest ever.

With an information score of 18.2, the job progress directly surpassed the 50% mark, reaching 67.9%.

However, the changes in the evaluation below the panel made Cheng Ye vaguely understand that the reason why the influence of the immortal artifact was triggered this time might be related to the improvement of his life level.

However, he was already within the influence of the divine artifact, and even if he unloaded his supernatural abilities, it would be of no use. He could only suppress the matter in his heart for the time being.

Focusing his mind, Cheng Ye turned his attention to the "Heart-Protecting Flame." After acquiring two new abilities from Liu Kun, this talent had finally shown a significant change:

【Heart Protection Flame (lv1; Extraordinary Talent)】

[Description]: It is said to have taken root and grown in magma.
[Growth Value]: Lv1 (15.27%)

[Growth Path]:
[Current Performance]:
[Note]: Growth value is influencing changes in the Blazing Eagle; this process will take some time to complete.

Previously, the growth value was less than single digits, but this time it jumped by 15.27%. Although the core description on the panel is still not unlocked, a key note has been added below.

Clearly, the growth of the Heartfire is feeding back into the Firefly symbiotic ecosystem.

Beyond the protective heartfire, Cheng Ye looked towards the "Eagle Co-ecology" area, which had undergone the most significant changes:
【Liaoying Co-ecology (Shaping)】

[Description]: After activating the ability
Current Status: Shaping
[Currently Shareable Skills]:
Flame-Eating Eagle (Lv1, Perfect, can absorb a small amount of flames to heal itself or its symbiote's injuries)

Aerial Suspension (Lv1, Perfect: Grants brief aerial suspension when falling from a great height, reducing fall damage)

Blazing Eagle Heartfire (Lv1, Rare: When a symbiote's heart energy is excessively depleted, the Blazing Eagle can replenish a small amount of heart energy by consuming flames)
Blazing Eagle Kills Fire (Lv1, Rare, Symbiotes' contact attacks inflict minor fire damage, capable of causing dual damage to both the physical and spiritual levels)
[Currently shareable attributes]:
Health +10.45% (based on the symbiote's current state)
Strength +25.57% (base)

Speed ​​+15.19% (base)

Defense +45.24% (base)

[Currently Shareable Capabilities]:
Charcoal Power (Lv1, Rare, slightly increases resistance to low temperatures)
Earthfire Power (Lv0, Perfect, Symbiotes' contact attacks deal minor Earthfire damage)

Firewood Power (Lv1, Rare, slightly increases resistance to high temperatures)
After merging with Liu Kun's abilities, the first thing to change dramatically was the shared attribute.

The single-digit bonus has jumped to double digits, especially the defense bonus, which is almost 50%.

The skill bar also gained two perfect-level and two rare-level skills. Previously, the ability to take eight steps in the air and cross a distance of nearly thirty meters was due to the blessing of the perfect-level air time skill.

"This feeling."

Cheng Ye couldn't help but recall the feeling when he activated the symbiotic relationship just now. His body felt as if it were filled with a power, swelling and becoming stronger than ever before.

Even if he were to return to the water now, he would have the courage to confront the tentacles of the Magic Eye Sponge head-on.

Summoning a flame from the spirit space, the little guy, who had been drowsy due to his recent rapid growth, had fallen into a deep sleep after absorbing a large amount of energy. His size hadn't changed much, but his feathers had become denser, and the golden light on his head, representing his heart fire, had become even more dazzling.

As for the upgraded brazier, considering that the Flaming Eagle does not need to replenish its energy in a short period of time, Cheng Ye did not waste the energy points to summon it to check its effects.

After reviewing all the changes on his personal page, Cheng Ye returned to the main panel, tapped his finger, and brought up the notification replay that he hadn't looked at in detail before.

Lines of text flashed by.

The collector has detected escaping biological information and is automatically absorbing it.

[Absorption complete. New creature added to the encyclopedia: Magic Eye Sponge]

[Absorption complete; the characteristics of the Wanling Earth Conch have increased.]

"Sure enough, the fragments of the immortal artifact are either inside this sponge or below the cavern it's blocking." Having obtained the definite information, Cheng Ye immediately opened the biological encyclopedia.

At the very bottom of the encyclopedia, the entry for "Magic Eye Sponge" is prominently displayed, and it is entirely in red.

This means that it was already an extraordinary creature during the S3 era, and only after being infected by the S4 virus did it become a powerful destructive source of infection.

【Magic Eye Sponge】

[Description]: Formed by a mutated virus infecting a "special extraordinary sponge organism", it is huge in size, has multiple tentacles, and is extremely aggressive.

[Current Parasitism Probability]:
Direct contact (probability of contamination: 100%)

Mental pollution (reduction of life level; weakening of the heart's protective fire; no risk)
[Currently Included Features]:
Cotton Chamber* (4.59%)

Co-processed cotton texture* (5.57%)

Soft cotton texture* (10.17%)

Instruction for cotton texture* (0.19%)

Natural cotton texture* (0.02%)

Earth-type cotton pattern* (0.007%)

Water-like texture* (0.0001%)

Eyelid* (2.75%)

Rectangular eye* (1.33%)

"Holy crap, this Magic Eye Sponge has so many properties?"

Cheng Ye glanced at the feature list and froze instantly.

Since the Pokédex feature was enabled, even the legendary gold creatures I encountered before only had five abilities. But the Magic Eye Sponge in front of me has nine abilities already recorded, six of which are "cotton pattern"!

"Cotton-like texture."

He suddenly realized, "Could the patterns on those two corpses be this kind of cotton-like texture?"

Although the current feature collection is insufficient and in-depth analysis or skill/item extraction is not yet possible, many conclusions can already be drawn from the text information provided on the panel alone.

The character "室" in "绵室" is crucial, most likely referring to the huge abscess at the center of the Magic Eye Sponge, which means that the inside of the abscess may be an independent space.

The various "textures" below should be the core capabilities of the Magic Eye Sponge, with effects triggered by the texture.

As for "regular eyes" and "square eyes," they probably correspond to the eyeballs at the tips of the tentacles.

"rule."

Cheng Ye seemed to be deep in thought. Combining the naming pattern of "cotton pattern," a bold guess emerged in his mind:

Could it be that these gatekeepers are responsible for verifying whether living beings are qualified to enter the lower chamber?

The passable pattern is the key, or rather, the identity card. Creatures that possess it will not be attacked by the Magic Eye Sponge.

Thinking further, the "co-infection pattern" is most likely a unique appeal ability of a powerful source of infection, which is the prerequisite for forming an infection wave and can gather the surrounding infected individuals together.

Command patterns, perhaps, are the ability to control these gathered infected?
As for the elements below, namely Nature, Earth, and Water, it's impossible to determine their specific effects from their names, but they are most likely the Magic Eye Sponge's ability to change its internal or external environment.

"If I could obtain this passable cotton pattern and materialize it as a skill—no, a special skill—and wear it as an item, would I be able to pass the scrutiny of the Ruler's Eye and the Square Eye, qualifying me to enter the cotton chamber and eventually reach the deeper cavern?"

Cheng Ye believed that his analytical skills were not weak, and his associative abilities were even stronger.

But when this bold conjecture came to mind, he was still startled.

Putting aside whether others can deduce the function of the cotton pattern from its characteristic name and then obtain the corresponding item, even if they do enter the cotton chamber, there is nowhere to escape if something goes wrong.

Unless you have the ability to blast the Magic Eye Sponge from the inside, you'll just be trapped inside and waiting to die!

As I was pondering this, the vehicle-mounted analysis console suddenly emitted a slight beep, and the screen began to display the data analyzed from the sponge fragments.

Previously, Shi Xu had only taught him how to start the analysis and how to import the data into the database to verify the conclusions, without explaining the principles in detail. Cheng Ye did not delve into it either, and directly imported the analyzed data into the database and started the matching program.

Complex raw data streams flooded into the database, and after rapid analysis and matching, they were quickly transformed into easy-to-understand conclusions, which were then displayed on the screen.

[Source Matching: Completely Unknown Infection Source (referring to a type of infection that has never appeared in the wasteland, with no relevant data)]

[Ability Matching: A large number of rule-based ability residues and contamination ability residues were detected]

Rule-based capability matching verification:

1. This creature automatically rejects any special rules. An attempt has been made to verify this using the "Petrification Curse," but it is impossible to break through the creature's rule restrictions.

2. Attempts were made to stimulate its ability, which exhibited two main characteristics:
Fixed: The feedback result is stable for each stimulus, without any special changes.

Absorption: After each stimulus, a certain amount of data source is lost, which may be absorbed and used by the organism.

[Pollution-related capability matching verification:]

1. An attempt was made to conduct data simulation analysis, suggesting that humans would be directly parasitized upon contact with this organism.
2. Attempts were made to conduct mental simulation analysis; no significant mental pollution was observed in humans after contact with this organism.

Compared to the specific features provided by the panel, the results from the analysis platform are more geared towards academic research, with rigorous data but less intuitive application guidance.

Cheng Ye frowned and quickly scanned the list, his gaze finally settling on the first item in the "Rule-based Ability Matching Verification" section.

The "petrification curse" mentioned here is a supernatural curse that has been circulating underground in Shi Province. Its characteristic is that it automatically absorbs the properties of all plants and then randomly transforms the absorbed properties into hard materials.

What is certain is that the inner city must have materials to ward off the curse, which explains the fresh fruit that was brought out.

How could such a troublesome curse fail to penetrate the body of the Demon Eye Sponge?

Does that mean that its "cotton chamber" interior will also be unaffected by the petrification curse?
Cheng Ye's mind suddenly skipped a beat. If the Magic Eye Sponge really had this kind of rule-repelling ability, as long as he collected enough of the sponge's characteristics and exchanged the information for the corresponding source track technology, he might be able to analyze the underlying principles and then create materials with the same characteristics.

When the time comes, building greenhouses unaffected by supernatural curses using this material and cultivating crops on a large scale will no longer be a pipe dream.

They could even attach the material to protective armor, and with its rule-repelling ability, it might be able to block some of the erosion from the source of infection, and even resist the elusive mental pollution.

"This"

Cheng Ye was a little confused, and the more he thought about it, the more confused he became.

But what puzzled him wasn't the magical properties of the Magic Eye Sponge, but rather how remarkably easy it seemed to collect properties from this enormous Magic Eye Sponge compared to other sources of infection.
I only made one cut and I already have about 4% progress. If I were faster, wouldn't I be able to quickly max out the trait by making three or five cuts at once?
Wow.

He abruptly stood up from the alloy stool, no longer bothering to study the literal meaning of the words, opened the truck bed door and strode quickly towards the river.

He urgently needs to verify his conjecture. Without further ado, he needs to max out the two characteristics of cotton chambers and circulating cotton patterns, extract them as intelligence, and then analyze them.

They rushed to the riverbank and waited for him to change into his obsidian armor.

In just five minutes, Rokuk surfaced from the water, his face beaming with excitement, indicating that he had made quite a haul.

"I observed something unusual underwater and found something hidden inside its pustules," Rokuk said, wiping the water from his face as he eagerly shared his discovery.

"Are those the corpses Garcia mentioned, and the source of the infection?" Cheng Ye asked casually as he stretched his body.

"How do you know?" Rokuk paused for a moment, then shook his head and added, "I didn't see the body, but I saw a scorpion catfish swimming around in its abscess, at least five times larger than a normal scorpion catfish!"

Rococo's words seem to further prove that his conjecture was correct.

The interior of the Magic Eye Sponge's "sponge chamber" is indeed an independent space that can accommodate other creatures.

Cheng Ye took a deep breath, dove into the water, and his voice trailed off as he was already several meters underwater, "You rest first, I'll be right back!"

"Damn it, this young man!"

Before Rokuk could finish speaking, he was stunned. He didn't know whether to admire Cheng Ye's decisiveness or be surprised by Cheng Ye's keen insight into the underwater situation from just a few words of conversation.

But by the time he came to his senses, he had just taken off his armor and hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath.

Then a rapid gurgling sound came from under the water, and the next second, Cheng Ye, who had just entered the water, suddenly flew into the air!
This time, he specially adjusted the angle of his exit from the water. After flying more than three meters into the air, he stepped onto the brick wall of the dock with one foot. Then, like the "moonwalk" move in parkour, he took several steps off the wall and landed steadily on the dock. His movements were graceful and neat.

In his hands, he was holding two pieces of sponge fragments, each twice the size of the previous one.

One piece was a pale yellow, tubular section, while the other was a pinkish piece covered in mucus, clearly cut from the central abscess.

"what?"

Rokuk was completely stunned. He subconsciously turned his head to look at the water, his legs went weak, and he almost sat down on the ground.

Just like last time, countless sponge tentacles emerged from underwater, but this time there were even more of them. It was as if the Demon Eye Sponge had been completely enraged, with the fury in the eyeballs at the tips of the tentacles almost overflowing, staring intently at Cheng Ye on the shore.

“You,” Rokuk pointed at the sponge fragment in Cheng Ye’s hand, then at the tentacles underwater, stammering and unable to speak.

"It's nothing, this is nothing." Cheng Ye opened the containment box and skillfully stuffed the sponge inside.

He glanced again at the 40% pass rate of the cotton pattern, and the smile on his face was so forced that it wrinkled his armor.

"Don't rush, let me chop it ten times first. Those two pieces aren't even enough to fill a tooth gap!"

"what?"

Rococo wondered if he had misheard and was about to ask when he saw Cheng Ye turn around again and plunge into the water, leaving only a ripple on the surface.

In just three minutes, the familiar scene played out again.

Cheng Ye leaped out of the water like an arrow and landed steadily on the dock, followed closely by hundreds of sponge tentacles that almost broke through the water's surface.

This time, the Magic Eye Sponge was clearly no longer just angry, but completely enraged. Three tentacles as thick as pillars stretched out of the water and rushed towards the dock with a howling wind, as if to drag Cheng Ye back underwater.

Rococo instinctively reached for the gun at his waist, ready to retaliate, but before he could raise his hand, he saw the midday sun shining directly on his tentacles.

The wide-open eyeballs at the tips of the tentacles instantly turned like wax being scorched by a raging fire, rolling out a string of murky bubbles with a "whoosh" sound, and even fine scorch marks appeared on the surface.

In an instant, the three tentacles seemed to have been scalded, and they frantically retracted into the water, along with the other tentacles that had extended above the surface, leaving only ripples on the water's surface.

Looking further underwater, the faint purple light that had been flickering only at a depth of thirty meters had now broken through the darkness at a depth of twenty-five meters, and the entire surface of the water was tinged with a faint purple hue, with even the flowing water shimmering with an eerie glow.

Thousands of tentacles danced wildly in the purple mist. The thick ones were like giant pythons coiling around, stirring up the water violently as they swung. The thin ones were like venomous snakes darting about, leaving afterimages in the water. At the tip of each tentacle were eyeballs of varying sizes, making one's scalp tingle.

Even more terrifying, the eyes at the tip of each tentacle were wide open, their murky pupils fixed on the water's surface, their dense gazes piercing like needles, seemingly able to penetrate the air and land on Cheng Ye.

Even without being watched by these eyes, Rokuk felt that if the Magic Eye Sponge hadn't been restricted from leaving the water, it would have rushed ashore and slaughtered the people of Big Wave Town ten times over before it could quell its raging fury.

"Hey, you've got quite a temper!"

Cheng Ye tilted his head and glanced at the chaotic scene of demons dancing underwater. Instead of being nervous, he chuckled.

This time, he had even more to show for it than before. He had four pieces of sponge fragments, and what's more, he was also carrying a complete tentacle as thick as an arm.

The eyeball at the top was still covered with some mucus, which sizzled under the midday sun and quickly turned black.

But the charred eyeball caused the progress of the "Eye Pattern" attribute on the panel to surge by 40%, accumulating at an astonishing speed!

"This thing seems even easier to train for traits than the Black and White Striped Fish, it's like a godsend!"

Cheng Ye was overjoyed.

After this round of harvesting, the progress of the Cotton Chamber and the Flowing Cotton Pattern on the panel has been fully reached, and the progress of the other attributes has also increased significantly. Only the Earth Flowing Cotton Pattern and the Water Flowing Cotton Pattern are still growing slowly.

"Could it be that these two patterns were formed due to the influence of fragments of a celestial artifact?"

Cheng Ye secretly guessed what was going on, but his actions didn't stop.

100% of the characteristics alone is not enough. This Magic Eye Sponge is practically the embodiment of Zha Zha Hui himself, just short of shouting "Brother, come and chop me up!"

As soon as the underwater tentacles retracted, he jumped back into the water before Rokuk could react.

Less than three minutes later.

The water surface suddenly exploded, and Cheng Ye flew out of the water again, landing steadily on the dock. His movements were more skillful and graceful, truly matching the description of a great hero that Rococo had seen in an old magazine.

Passing through a sea of ​​flowers, not a single petal clings to me!
just.

"Is this how any inspector at our Xingfucheng checkpoint deals with sources of infection?"

Rococo completely lost the ability to think, sitting blankly on the dock, his eyes full of confusion.

This time, Cheng Ye was carrying four sponge tentacles. Just imagining cutting off these tentacles underwater and then breaking through the encirclement of thousands of tentacles made him feel terrified.

He turned to look into the water, and through the completely purple surface, he could clearly see that in the murky pupils of the Magic Eye Sponge, there was an additional human emotion different from anger.

It's called helplessness!

　P.S.: There will be an end-of-month summary and details for next month's monthly ticket giveaway later. This month's giveaway is about to end, so readers who still have tickets, hurry up and send them over! The winners will be announced tomorrow!!!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)