55: Stunning lures, the exposed facade of celebrities.

The women fell silent, the relaxed atmosphere from moments ago completely vanished.

The ocean had been quietly hunting them all along.

Right then.

A delicate cry came from the stern.

"Aiya~~"

The steel pipe fishing rod in An Nuonuo's hands was suddenly yanked by a massive force!

"Help, help me!!"

How could a petite loli withstand such immense power?

She was dragged across the deck toward the railing, her small feet squeaking against the surface.

"Captain!! I'm going to fly away!!!"

This was definitely a big one!

Seeing the little loli about to be pulled overboard along with the rod, Chen Du quickly ran up behind her.

He wrapped his arms around her from behind, his large hands covering her small ones.

"Don't be afraid."

"Pull together!"

His solid chest pressed against her back, providing a profound sense of security.

An Nuonuo's face turned beet red.

This posture, being completely enclosed in his embrace... it was too much!

"Hold on tight!"

Chen Du exerted force with both arms, his biceps bulging.

"Come—UP!!!"

The two pulled together like they were in a tug-of-war.

A whirlpool erupted beneath the surface, and the steel pipe let out a groan.

Splash!!!

Water sprayed five meters high!

This time, a humanoid silhouette burst out of the water!

Sunlight pierced through the dark clouds and fell upon the creature, reflecting a dazzling silver light!

Exquisite silver scales, crystal clear.

They spread along the undulating S-shaped curves all the way down to a shimmering silver fish tail.

Slap, slap... the tail beat against the deck, each sound striking a chord in Chen Du's heart.

"Save... save me..."

She struggled to prop up her upper body, her hands covering her chest.

Below her delicate collarbones, seaweed-like long hair obscured those breathtaking curves.

She looked up, revealing a face as flawless as a 3D model.

Tears hung at the corners of her eyes, making her look incredibly pitiable.

"I... I'm from the Art Department of Sheng University... I was washed into the sea at the port... please..."

The girls' expressions were a sight to behold, though most were filled with jealousy.

"My god... is it possible for such beauty to actually exist?"

An Nuonuo was still clutching the fishing rod, staring blankly.

"Compared to her, I'm just a potato..."

Xia Xin lowered her recurve bow, her gaze softening.

As a fellow woman, she felt a strong sense of fragility coming from this victim.

"From Sheng University? Or a player?"

Although Xia Lai was usually lustful, her curiosity had the upper hand now. She leaned in and asked, "Hey, how did you survive that tsunami? And this tail... is it a talent mutation?"

Only Chen Du remained unmoved.

He maintained his posture of holding An Nuonuo from behind.

The position was ambiguous, but his eyes were steady.

Deep within his pupils, the light rings of Tyrants Gaze spun slowly.

His nose twitched.

There was indeed a fragrance in the wind, like some high-end orchid scent.

But at its core, there was a hidden, faint stench.

The stench of a corpse.

The smell of a dead person, rotten to the bone!

"Captain, she looks like she's not going to make it." Xiao Ai frowned, preparing to step forward and check. "Should we first..."

"Don't move!" Chen Du's voice was low and cold. "Everyone, back away three meters."

"Captain, how can you have no compassion at all?" Lin Keke's chuunibyou soul hadn't died out yet, and her sense of justice was overflowing. "She's bleeding! Didn't you see the hook in her tail?"

That silver steel hook was the one An Nuonuo had just cast down.

It was now firmly embedded in the tail's flesh, looking agonizingly painful.

"I said, get back."

Chen Du didn't waste words; his right hand rested on the hilt of his tachi.

Just then, Li Yaozhi suddenly screamed!

"The coin... the coin is ruined!!"

Everyone looked back.

The silver coin Li Yaozhi was holding was actually carbonizing!

Crack!

The silver coin shattered into black powder!

This was a dire omen! A sign of great calamity!

"Listen to Chen Du! Retreat!! Retreat at full speed!!" Li Yaozhi's face was deathly pale, her voice cracking: "It's not human! It's dead! It's dead!!"

Hearing this shrill cry, the women shuddered and scrambled backward!

In the center of the deck.

The pitiful mermaid suddenly froze.

The liveliness in her watery eyes vanished, replaced by two masses of grayish-white.

"I've been... discovered..."

The heavenly voice instantly turned into a piercing shriek!

Crack—!

Under everyone's horrified gaze, that exquisite face split from both sides of the mouth!

The skin and flesh peeled back, tearing all the way to the ears!

There was no blood, only a thick, black, asphalt-like liquid.

Beneath the painted skin were row upon row of dull yellow, hooked teeth!

A long tongue suddenly shot out—it was actually a two-meter-long fleshy tentacle!

"Hiss-ga—!!!"

An infrasonic wave exploded!

An Nuonuo and Tang Ran bore the brunt of it, blood spraying directly from their noses.

"Damn! What kind of underworld crap is this!" Tang Ran endured the sharp pain, grabbed an oxygen tank, and hurled it.

Bang!

The oxygen tank hit the mermaid and bounced off as if it had struck a rubber tire.

Before anyone could react, the entire ferry tilted violently to the starboard side!

The sea surface exploded as an abyssal maw large enough to swallow half the deck burst from the water!

The owner of the maw was an anglerfish the size of a small submarine!

Its body was covered in rotting tumors, and its fins gripped the ferry's railing tightly.

And the end of the mermaid's tail was actually connected to a thigh-thick, flesh-colored tube.

The other end of the tube was attached to the forehead of this deep-sea monster!

"A lure..." Chen Du's eyes turned cold.

What kind of mermaid was this!

This was a "mimic lure" evolved by a giant anglerfish to entice prey!

It was fishing! And its bait was everyone on this boat!

"Nuonuo! Clear a path!!" Chen Du roared.

Though her face was covered in blood, An Nuonuo's survival instinct flared in this life-or-death moment.

"Don't eat me! I'm all skin and bones!!"

She screamed with her eyes shut, pushing her hands forward.

"Get the hell away from me!!!"

Boom!

A mass of extremely compressed air exploded between the mermaid and Chen Du!

The powerful shockwave flipped the mimic monster over.

An opening!

Chen Du's figure vanished instantly.

The wind howled!

His combat boots stepped onto the railing as he leaped into the air!

His dark gold pupils locked onto the giant beast!

"Xia Mo!!"

"Here!"

In the shadows, an ice-blue arc of light flashed abruptly.

Xia Mo had already activated Shadow Evasion, gliding across the deck like a ghost, her tachi covered in a thick layer of frost.

"Fatal Strike—Sever!!"

Crack!

The tachi accurately struck the fleshy tube, the ice-element freezing making the tough flesh instantly brittle.

Immediately after, Chen Du delivered a heavy cleave!

Puchi—!!

The fleshy tube snapped!

Stinking green liquid instantly drenched the deck.

"Ang—!!!"

The giant anglerfish beneath the surface let out an earth-shaking roar of pain.

Losing its lure was like having its eyeball gouged out.

Its massive body thrashed wildly in the water, the resulting waves nearly capsizing the ferry.

"Tang Ran! Hard to port! Full speed away!!"

Chen Du wiped the green blood from his face and, with a backhand strike, pinned the still-twitching tentacle on the deck to the floor with his blade.

Vroom—!

The ferry's engine let out an overloaded groan, charging forward and narrowly scraping past the frenzied beast.

Ten minutes later, the sea returned to a dead silence.

On the deck, everyone was gasping for air, their hearts still pounding.

The severed mermaid was still twitching.

The upper body still maintained its stunning human face, but the lower half was a nauseating mass of minced flesh.

This extreme blend of beauty and ugliness caused one's sanity to plummet.

"What... what kind of hellish world is this..." An Nuonuo crouched on the ground, staring at that face, her worldview shattered.

With a cold expression, Chen Du walked up to the remains with his tachi.

"God... will punish... the blasphemers..."

The remains' mouth opened and closed, speaking human language.

"God?"

Chen Du sneered, the tip of his blade pressed against its throat. "If you're a god, then you're a serious violation of the building codes."

He used the tip of the sword to pull aside the tattered flesh below the collarbone.

There was a faint purple butterfly-shaped tattoo.

Beside it was a string of miniature English letters—"L.K.X".

Seeing these letters, Chen Du froze for a moment.

"This is..."

Li Yaozhi leaned in as well.

When she saw the tattoo clearly, her pupils constricted to pinpricks:

"Lin Xinyan?! The 'National First Love'?!"

"Isn't she on a world tour right now? I saw that butterfly tattoo on the trending searches... Why? Why would her skin appear on a monster's lure?!"

A chill ran from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads; everyone felt a wave of nausea.

Chen Du stared intently at the beautiful face-skin, his mind racing.

A national-level star turned into a deep-sea monster's lure?

No.

This damn world was somehow stripping the skins of elites and celebrities... if even a top star had turned into this ghostly state, what about ordinary people?

"Don't kill her yet!"

Chen Du suddenly withdrew his tachi.

"Xia Lai, go get a basin, add some seawater, and keep it alive."

"I'm going to find out exactly what these so-called gods are made of!"

"If I use this thing for a Sacrifice... I wonder if it'll drop an entertainment industry?"