My Abyss Survival Diary

Chapter 66 Unexpected Intelligence

As night fell, the group rested in a spacious open area surrounded by four giant trees.

Spores sank from the tree canopy, and a faint light shone on every tired face.

Even after the long walk, Professor Loris still couldn't get a rest. He continued his replication experiment by the faint light of the spores.

After Theodore's long ordeal, his mental state was already unstable. Not long ago, Simon refused to hand over the flesh of the incriminating evidence to him for research, which made him gloomy and depressed. After that, the old man's condition deteriorated further, and he became insane.

"The abyss is guiding me through an experiment. I guess the next thing to put in is this, no, no... this! Yes, it said the next thing to put in is this."

Professor Loris was engrossed in fiddling with his homemade vessels, while Florian, with her dark green skin, tilted her head and watched him with a dazed expression.

"I'm really scared. That old guy's not mentally stable now," the cave raider, Pick, complained in a very low voice to the strange bird in the cage.

He glanced at Simon cautiously, then quickly looked away, seemingly quite frightened last time.

Klein sat on the ground, sharpening his dagger with a whetstone, a pastime he used when he was bored.

He also looked somewhat sad. Badal's departure inevitably reminded him of Anthony, and the disintegration of his former team inevitably saddened him.

The atmosphere at the camp was a bit strange. Simon, carrying a harpoon, led Brienne to deal with a fungal corpse that was wandering around them.

He still remembered the fungal zombie he killed on the first day he entered the abyss. He was completely suppressed in close combat, and the fungal zombie's shooting posture was even more standard than his.

But now, thanks to his improved physique and experience, ordinary fungal corpses pose no threat to him.

In the misty forest, Simon and Brienne chatted as they dealt with the burly figure that lunged out from the fog.

"Do you remember who you used to be? Or do you remember nothing at all?"

"There are some fragmented memories, but they're not very clear."

Simon examined the fungal corpse before him. It was tall, but its body was covered in wounds, including gunshot and knife wounds.

It was dressed in the prison clothes of a sinner, and looked like a sinner who had just entered the abyss, carrying a machete in its hand.

Even if the fungal corpse can repair itself with mycelium, this level of injury indicates that the body is on the verge of collapse.

That's why the fleshy evidence behind its neck didn't hibernate at night, but instead manipulated the fungal corpse to wander through the forest, searching for the next new body.

Gripping the harpoon tightly, blade aimed at the fungal corpse, Simon was ready for battle.

Click—

The mechanism trembled, and a steel crossbow bolt pierced its chest. The enormous impact caused it to stagger backward. It lowered its head and looked down at the tail feathers protruding from the hideous wound on its chest.

The fungal corpse clearly felt its life slipping away along with its blood. It let out a piercing shriek and swung its cleaver at the man in front of it.

Just as it swung its slash, Simon stepped forward, brandishing his harpoon and forcefully cleaving down, instantly severing the fungal corpse's outstretched arm.

The machete and his arm fell to the ground together, and blood gushed out.

Even without feeling pain, the fungal corpse sensed the vast difference in strength. It steadied itself, then turned and fled backward. It instantly realized it had made a grave mistake. The man before it possessed a powerful physique, but he was someone it could not afford to provoke.

It will die!

Simon stood still, not giving chase immediately. He added new steel bolts to his harpoon, then pulled the trigger in the direction the fungal corpse had fled.

An arrow was fired, and the burly figure in the distance slowly fell.

Simon stepped forward slowly, took out a dagger, and slashed off the flesh of the incriminating evidence in one swift motion.

Next comes the time to loot.

The knife in the fungal corpse's hand was already rusted; it was more like a large, rusty piece of iron than a knife.

There were a few unused indulgences and half a half-eaten biscuit in his pocket.

The corpse's palms were covered with thick calluses, concentrated in relatively concentrated areas, and there was a lingering smell of spices in his palms, suggesting he may have been a chef in life.

Simon put the indulgences into the money bag in his backpack and was about to leave when he heard footsteps behind him again.

The two adult men were walking very quickly, heading towards him at full speed.

This was flat ground without any trees to provide cover, so Simon quietly put on his hood, which at least helped to conceal his identity.

An angry shout came from the thick fog:

"You're a complete waste, Rhodes. Have you ever done anything reliable since you were a kid? I told you to watch over the fungal corpses, and where are they now?"

"I...I didn't know that guy would run away!" another, seemingly younger male voice replied. "Didn't you say the fungal corpses sleep at night?"

"This place is like it's haunted all the time. What kind of weird things are happening here?" the middle-aged man complained. "That zombie chased us through most of the forest, and we finally managed to run it away until nightfall. We can't let the indulgences we were about to get fall into the hands of some other sinner!"

Two figures emerged from the thick fog: two criminals dressed in prison clothes.

Standing on the left is a tall, pockmarked, red-haired man, while on the right is a relatively short, red-haired young man; they look like brothers.

Simon hid in the shade of a large tree and deduced what had happened from just a few words...

The two brothers were stalking the fungal corpse like it was a ghost, thinking that the fungal corpse would definitely fall asleep at night so that they could harvest the flesh as evidence of its sins.

Unexpectedly, this fungal corpse was not dormant at all, but had wandered here and was easily dealt with by Simon.

"Damn it! Rhodes, come quick!" The red-haired man cried out in anguish as he looked at the fungal corpse lying on the ground, "Our flesh, the evidence of our sins!"

The young man named Rod stared at the corpses on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

"By the Iron Emperor, what should we do...?"

"Don't cry! Don't be a coward, Rhodes." The red-haired man sternly stopped him. "Wipe away your tears. We can find more evidence of guilt. We still have hope of survival."

"Um..." Rhodes wiped away his tears haphazardly. "Brother Dagon, I just... I just feel like we've had such bad luck lately!"

"Unlucky? Humph, we're not unlucky enough."

Dagon bent down, rummaged through the fungal corpse's pockets, and casually told a story:

"When I was in prison, my cellmate was blind. But he wasn't the kind of blind man you could easily deal with. He was a master thief who could even steal cigarettes from the guards' pockets. I was curious how a master thief like him ended up in prison, so I offered him a cigarette. He started telling me his story."

"He said he stole a book from the locked library, accidentally triggered the alarm, got harassed by a scholar, and then unexpectedly ran into an inquisitor from the Inquisition."

Simon felt as if his entire body had been frozen solid! Ice crystals seeped from his very bones.

"Guess what? That unfortunate scholar was treated as an accomplice and sent to prison too, hahaha!"