The Ship of Corpses

"It's enormous... a ship... decayed..."

These words left Simon and the others exchanging bewildered glances.

Long furrowed his brow, "A large, decayed ship?"

Instead of probing further, Simon peered into the distance. Gradually, through the dense fog, he discerned a faint shadow.

The shadow grew larger and clearer until they all saw it—a ship-like silhouette emerging from the mist in the distance.

This silhouette, roughly twenty to thirty meters long, swayed and lurched towards them through the thick fog.

Beneath the water's surface, dark currents churned, while above, the fog roiled more fiercely. An indescribable, eerie feeling enveloped everyone. Despite seeing the ship-like silhouette approaching, they felt no joy at the thought of potential rescuers. Instead, an inexplicable sense of foreboding grew, as if calamity was imminent.

"Lily, can you see if there's anyone on that ship?" Long asked quietly, his eyes fixed on the wobbling silhouette in the fog. The dense mist obscured the ship's true form from his view.

Lily stared silently at the distant silhouette, her eyes slowly filling with terror.

"Corpses, so many corpses…" she murmured, then looked to Simon for reassurance, clutching his sleeve.

Simon grasped her hand, feeling its coldness. "Don't be afraid. You mean there are many corpses on the ship?"

Lily shook her head, looking at Simon, "The ship... is made of corpses."

"The ship is made of corpses?" Simon was taken aback. He turned his gaze back to the shadowy figure, which, though swaying, was moving rapidly towards their building, soon closing to within a hundred meters.

As it drew closer, they finally discerned the true nature of the silhouette.

It wasn't a ship at all.

Instead, it was a mass of countless human corpses piled together, forming the shape of a ship. Most of these bodies were in advanced stages of decay, like melting wax, with many exposing stark white bones. The decaying, melting bodies had fused together, creating a ship of corpses that floated on the water. From a distance, through the thick fog, it appeared as a ghostly vessel.

No one knew how this ship of corpses had formed, nor understood how such a macabre creation could float and swiftly approach their building.

"How could this happen? What on earth is that?" Long exclaimed in shock. In mere moments, the colossal ship of corpses had surged within forty meters of the building.

"This thing is truly sinister. It must have frightened away the corpse beasts and sea spiders that were gathered below. There's definitely something wrong with it. We need to be cautious and avoid provoking it," Simon whispered, peering through the corridor window at the ship. The vessel had crashed into a balcony on the thirtieth floor below, creating a tremendous noise before coming to a halt.

A nauseating stench of decay wafted up to them.

Milly instinctively covered her nose.

Simon gently pushed Lily, urging her to retreat to the room. He then gestured to Long and Milly to quietly withdraw as well.

Though all they could see were masses of half-decomposed, half-melted human bodies, there was undoubtedly something peculiar about it.

Milly, guiding Lily, slowly retreated to the room. Long, holding his breath, remained silent, watching the ship's unsettling changes in the twilight.

Simon activated his "Observation Rune" in an attempt to discreetly examine the ship.

Unfortunately, whether due to distance or some other reason, his "Observation Rune" failed to gather any information.

"Strange, even ordinary corpses would yield some data. Why is it ineffective this time?" Simon pondered, his gaze fixed on the ship lodged on the thirtieth floor. Suddenly, a resounding "boom" echoed as the balcony seemed to be struck by an invisible force, shattering into pieces.

The explosion was so powerful that, even from their position on the thirty-second floor, they felt the building shake.

With the balcony's destruction, the ship's front half burst apart, sending decomposed and melted bodies flying in all directions. The scene became chaotically gruesome, with shattered bones and rotting flesh scattering everywhere.

As the explosion subsided, the upper half of the ship, composed of countless human corpses, split open. A massive dark shadow began to emerge from the fissure, slowly writhing outward.

Simon and Long stared wide-eyed, fixated on this astonishing development. Both sensed that this eerie vessel concealed something extraordinary.

After guiding Lily back to the room, Milly quietly reemerged and positioned herself beside Simon, peering out the window. Her delicate face revealed a look of astonishment.

A mass of earth-colored substance was emerging from the corpse ship, writhing upward like a colossal beetle.

"How enormous," they all instinctively gasped.

This creature, resembling a beetle, bore a crocodile's tail. It measured eight meters from head to tail, with a turtle-like shell on its back and stout limbs. When it stood upright, it reached over four meters in height. Its abdomen housed a massive eye, while its head was replaced by dozens of bizarre tentacles.

It crawled out from the ship made of numerous corpses, spreading its tentacles, each tipped with suction cups, attaching them to the building's exterior wall. Using these tentacles, it began its ascent.

Its climbing was slow but steady. Encountering an obstructing balcony above, it swung one of its forelimbs and struck the balcony.

Simon and the others watched as the balcony's sturdy exterior crumbled like clay, shattered by the creature's blow, sending debris flying.

The sheer destructive power of this beast sent chills down their spines.

If struck by it, wouldn't one be instantly reduced to a pulp?

"What kind of monster is this? Is it heading toward us?" Long muttered, horrified. Observing the creature's climbing path leading directly to their position, he realized that if they were its target, they were in grave trouble. With such terrifying power, neither security doors nor walls could withstand it. There would be no place to hide.