Chapter 285: Chapter 283: The Body
Not long after Mo Ling rescued Bai Zhou’s body, the small figure finished absorbing all the age-eaters within the sphere and approached him.
However, his movements were strange. He staggered as he walked, his actions slow and sluggish, as if he were drunk.
"What’s wrong?" Mo Ling asked with concern.
"A little dizzy," the small figure replied, shaking his head.
’Good thing this relic can still hold out.’ The small figure looked down at his root-carved body.
After taking a moment to adjust, he finally returned to normal, and Mo Ling turned his attention back to the human body on the ground.
Crouching down, Mo Ling examined the diving helmet. It looked exactly the same as when he’d first met Bai Zhou, completely unchanged. The school of fish departing seemed to have had no effect on it.
"Now that the school of fish is gone, will the helmet still work?" Mo Ling asked curiously.
Even now, he didn’t fully understand the mechanics of how it worked.
"The distortion of his self-perception happened a long time ago. Even if the helmet stops working, he’ll still think he’s a Fishman," the small figure said with a helpless shake of his head.
"He?"
"Yes. The new soul born inside my master’s body."
At these words, Mo Ling finally understood. The new soul was the Bai Zhou he’d met at the very beginning—the one who had always claimed to be a Fishman.
Still, Mo Ling was curious as to why Bai Zhou’s body was here.
At Mo Ling’s request, the small figure held nothing back, slowly explaining the story of this body and why it had been hidden among the swarm of age-eaters.
...
Bai Zhou had managed to stay conscious and use the age-eaters to alter his age, but the component embedded in the back of his neck could never be removed.
The component’s location was too dangerous, so Bai Zhou didn’t dare let the age-eaters touch it. If it suddenly vanished, he would have no way to patch such a large wound.
Not only that, but the component allowed him to understand the complex Fishman language. To better sabotage the Fishmen’s plans, he even chose to keep it.
Then, after the school of fish awakened one time, he discovered something strange.
The component seemed to be altering his perception. Every time he fell asleep, he would wake up to find himself off the island, his consciousness hazy.
At the time, Bai Zhou didn’t know the school of fish planned to use a Fake Fishman to influence the Fishman Race on the island, but he knew the component in his neck was responsible.
Each time he awoke, the component had changed, slowly transforming into a strange helmet that enveloped his head.
At the same time, the distortion of his perception grew more and more severe. Bai Zhou even began to believe the fabricated "backstory."
Only when he escaped to the Soul Spirit World did his consciousness instantly clear.
So, Bai Zhou had no choice but to instruct the Chali Race to periodically revert his body, while he himself hid away in the Soul Spirit World.
It was during this time that he slowly became immersed in that world.
With his soul absent, his body in the outside world, just like those newborn Fishmen, slowly began to generate a new soul.
This newborn soul would often slip away from the island whenever the Chali Race wasn’t looking.
The Chali Race, having no physical bodies and being busy suppressing the technology of the new Fishman Race, allowed the new soul to pilot the body off-island several times. Fortunately, it always made it back to the island safely.
The most recent incident was when Bai Zhou ran to the black tower.
After he returned this time, with the Sea-Moon Rite approaching, the Chali Race grew concerned about further incidents. So, they wrapped up the body and forced it into a deep sleep. This was also done to protect Bai Zhou’s body.
"Now that the school of fish is gone, he probably won’t run off so carelessly anymore. The distortion of his perception, however, is likely irreversible," the small figure said regretfully, looking at Bai Zhou on the ground.
The small figure walked over to Bai Zhou’s body and touched his arm with a root tendril. The body, which had been lying on the ground, lurched unsteadily to its feet.
"Let’s get him out of here before he wakes up. Follow me." The small figure leaped onto Bai Zhou’s shoulder and waved at Mo Ling. Bai Zhou’s body then began to walk, swaying unsteadily.
His gait was bizarre, like a zombie’s. The small figure fell silent, seemingly concentrating on manipulating the body.
Mo Ling decided not to disturb him and followed Bai Zhou’s body through the tunnel.
Just as before, the small figure’s route was still strange. It would periodically turn and circle, and sometimes, it would suddenly jump.
Bai Zhou’s body was already quite stiff. Watching it suddenly and clumsily jump in the darkness made the atmosphere even more bizarre.
Although it was strange, Mo Ling didn’t know why it was happening. When he reached the same spot, he simply copied Bai Zhou and jumped as well.
And so they proceeded, one following the other, both suddenly jumping from time to time.
"What are you doing?" the small figure suddenly stopped and turned to ask. "Why are you jumping?"
His tone was full of confusion.
Mo Ling was just as confused.
"Weren’t you the one who jumped first?"
The small figure froze for a moment, then explained sheepishly,
"I hit the wrong button... You don’t need to jump here..."
"..."
So, Mo Ling stopped jumping and obediently followed Bai Zhou as they wound through the darkness. Finally, a light appeared up ahead.
The small figure had Bai Zhou’s body lower its head and duck through.
Mo Ling followed close behind, emerging from the exit.
The exit appeared to be a well-hidden tree hollow near the Fishman Village. From the outside, it looked so narrow that no one would ever guess it led to the underground tunnels of the Chali Race.
The small figure tapped Bai Zhou’s shoulder a few times, and Bai Zhou began walking straight toward the village. The figure then hopped off.
"There. He’ll find his own way back."
Mo Ling watched Bai Zhou slowly walk toward the village and asked, "When he wakes up, who will he be?"
"The new soul."
"Then what about your master?"
"He has become an immortal!"
The small figure grew very excited at the mention of this.
He then leaped up and landed on Mo Ling’s shoulder.
The moment he landed, Mo Ling felt a thick fog swirl around them.
The fog seemed to be chasing the small figure.
’Is it because he has too many of the Chali inside him?’ Mo Ling guessed.
The small figure flicked its root tendrils, seemingly quite pleased with the surrounding fog.
"Now we just need to make the fog on the island disperse, and it’ll all be over," he said, his tone light.
But hearing this, Mo Ling was confused. "How do you make the fog on the island disperse?"
’Isn’t this fog the price for understanding immortality? The school of fish couldn’t do anything about it for twenty-two hundred years. Does the Chali Race actually have a solution? But if the Chali Race had a solution, why didn’t they act before the school of fish arrived?’
"To be precise, we’re not making the fog disperse. We’re taking it with us," the small figure quickly explained.
"Taking it with you?"
"Yes. We’ll have the fog follow the Chali and leave this island."
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