Chapter 167 - 154: Crab Slave 2

[Ye Jin: We can’t be sure yet, but we’ve found some patterns based on the information from all the victims.]

[Ye Jin: First, all the victims are male. Second, they’re all evolvers. And third, the victims’ power levels have been increasing with each successive death. This means the killer is parasitizing progressively stronger male evolvers.]

[Su Ze: I’ll ask my sister tomorrow. See if she can connect this information to any valuable leads.]

[Ye Jin: Okay, thanks a lot, junior. How was your trip to Lin Hua Country? Did you find anything useful?]

As usual, Ye Jin had no idea how to end a conversation and would just start a new topic.

[Su Ze: Don’t even ask. The travel back and forth has been exhausting. I can’t sleep well in unfamiliar beds, so I haven’t gotten any good rest these past few days. I can barely keep my eyes open now. I’m going to bed.]

Su Ze successfully used his "Sleep Escape" tactic to end the chat with Ye Jin. After saying their goodnights, he closed the chat window.

He then opened his phone and searched for recent murders and disappearances, finding quite a few.

This was highly unusual for the Dongli Kingdom, which had a reputation for being relatively safe.

Su Ze went through them one by one and found that, just as Ye Jin had said, there were no connections between the victims. They lived all over the country.

The victims were indeed getting stronger and stronger. The latest one to disappear was already at the initial Butterfly Stage!

If even a Butterfly Stage evolver fell victim, how strong must the killer be?

Su Ze sensed the gravity of the situation and decided he had to talk to Liou Wenxin about it tomorrow.

...

The next day, Su Ze went with Liou Wenxin to the lab early in the morning.

On the way, Su Ze brought up the recent string of disappearances and murders, mentioning the "parasitic" skill.

Su Ze started from the very beginning, with the disappearance of two soldiers from the naval base, then moved on to the owner of the Evolution Store...

He recounted case after case, all the way to the recent disappearance of the Butterfly Stage evolver.

By the time he finished, the two had arrived at the laboratory.

Liou Wenxin listened carefully, then nodded. "It does sound like the killer has mastered a parasitic-type skill."

Su Ze asked, "Why are all the victims male? Is there some kind of parasitic skill that only works on men?"

Liou Wenxin sat down in a lab chair, resting her chin on her hand as she thought for a moment. "None of the known parasitic skills available to human evolvers match this description. However... your description does remind me of a certain animal."

"An animal?" Su Ze noted her choice of words. Not a beast, but an animal. This meant there was no precedent for this creature evolving into a beast.

"To be precise, it’s a parasite called the ’Crab Slave.’ I don’t know if you’ve heard of it." As she spoke, Liou Wenxin took out a cup of milk tea, inserted a straw, and took a small, satisfying sip.

Su Ze had just bought it for her that morning, as he had promised to treat her to milk tea for a month.

Su Ze shook his head. ’Crab Slave? I’ve never even heard of it.’

Liou Wenxin explained, "The Crab Slave is actually a type of barnacle found in the sea. The female of the species has parasitic abilities. They attach themselves to crabs, with a particular preference for male crabs.

"A parasitized crab loses its self-awareness and is completely controlled by the Crab Slave, becoming a puppet. The Crab Slave also absorbs most of the nutrients from the crab’s body, leaving just enough to keep the host alive.

"What’s even stranger is that the Crab Slave affects the male crab’s hormone secretion, causing its physical characteristics to change to that of a female. Its claws shrink, and its abdomen gradually widens and flattens, making it look just like a female crab."

Su Ze was dumbfounded. "Isn’t that basically a sex change?"

Liou Wenxin said, "You could see it that way, but the parasitized crab loses its ability to reproduce."

"Got it. It’s like a man goes to Thailand and looks like he’s become a woman, but he can’t actually have children," Su Ze said with a flash of understanding.

"Thailand? Where’s that?" Liou Wenxin didn’t understand what Su Ze was talking about.

"Oh, it’s nothing." Su Ze brushed it off. "So, why do Crab Slaves turn these male crabs into females?"

Liou Wenxin said, "When these male crabs turn female, they attract other male crabs to mate with them. This is how some Crab Slaves manage to parasitize new hosts."

A chill ran down Su Ze’s spine. ’That thing is seriously twisted.’

"Wait a second, Liou Wenxin. You don’t think the killer has mastered the Crab Slave’s parasitic skill, do you?"

Liou Wenxin shook her head. "Your description sounds very similar to the Crab Slave, but so far, there have been no reports of a Crab Slave ever evolving into a beast. So it’s just my speculation. It’s not very likely."

But Su Ze immediately thought of the Coral Island that had appeared before.

A Tier Four Coral Insect had appeared on that Coral Island.

"You said before that the chances of a creature like the Coral Insect evolving to Tier Four were also very small, yet it happened not long ago. You all believed some external factor caused the Coral Insects to evolve. And this parasitic killer’s first crime? It was just a few days after the Coral Island siege..."

Liou Wenxin understood what Su Ze was implying. Her brow furrowed unconsciously. "Are you suggesting that the Crab Slave might have also been affected by the same external factor and evolved into a beast?"

"Is it possible?" Su Ze asked. "After all, the timing of the two events is too close. And the parasitic killer’s first crime scene was the naval base in Lihai City. That’s too much of a coincidence."

Liou Wenxin thought for a moment and had to admit it was a possibility. She said, "If that’s true, it means some kind of ’fortuitous encounter’ has occurred in the ocean, accelerating the evolution of Marine Beasts. It’s causing some animals and beasts that were originally unlikely to evolve to suddenly do so. That’s terrifying.

"Some creatures have abilities that are actually very powerful, but they’re held back by natural limitations—all sorts of flaws, like a small body size or a short lifespan. These types of creatures usually have an extremely low probability of evolving into beasts. But if they did manage to evolve successfully and overcome their inherent flaws, they would become unimaginably strong."

Su Ze thought about it and realized it was true. Never mind anything else—just take this Crab Slave. If it really did evolve into a beast and could parasitize humans, that alone would be terrifying enough.

If that parasitic skill was obtained by a human evolver with malicious intent, the thought was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Su Ze analyzed, "If the killer really does possess the Crab Slave’s parasitic ability, then there are two possibilities. One is that a Crab Slave beast parasitized the naval soldiers and is committing the crimes. The other is that a human evolver absorbed the Crab Slave’s parasitic skill."

Liou Wenxin said, "The former would be better. The latter would be much more difficult to deal with."

Humans, after all, are always more difficult to handle than beasts.

Next, based on the characteristics of a normal Crab Slave’s parasitic ability, the two of them began to theorize what traits the skill might have if a Crab Slave evolved into a beast.

1. Only female Crab Slaves possess the parasitic skill. Applying this to humans, a bold guess would be that either only female evolvers can master the skill, or a male evolver who masters it would turn into a female.

2. If it parasitizes a male organism, it will change the host’s sex.

3. It will absorb the host’s internal energy to strengthen itself.

4. If it’s a mutated Crab Slave, after changing the host’s sex, it would attract other males to mate in order to achieve re-parasitization. If it’s a human evolver... whether they’d do that would depend on their personal preferences, I suppose.

Su Ze jotted down these points, planning to send them to his senior, Ye Jin, that evening.

He only dared to chat with Ye Jin at night.

After they finished discussing the topic, Liou Wenxin happened to finish her milk tea. She stood up, looked at Su Ze’s chest, and said, "Take off your shirt. It’s time to get to today’s main event."

Su Ze instantly felt like a guinea pig about to be dissected.

Nevertheless, he obediently followed Liou Wenxin into the sterile room, took off his shirt, and lay down on the operating table.