Yama Rising

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Dead silence descended upon everyone.

The warehouse was very long, and a wall was set up at the conclusion of the sea passage so that the blood and flesh wasn't able to drift out into the sea. The body had clearly already been soaked here for quite some time, as evidenced by the fact that all of the blood had washed away, making it appear as if there were a series of rags floating in the sea passage.

The leader of the investigators squatted down beside the sea passage and prodded the massive body in the water with a stick that he picked up from the side. As he did so, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Most sea freight companies have close ties with marine biology research centers, right? Have you reported this matter to a research center?"

Ren Dashi wore a bitter expression as he replied, "I have marine scientists among my staff, and they've already examined this creature. Their verdict was that this body doesn't belong to any known marine animal, and secondly..."

He took a deep breath before picking up a metal rod, which he poked into one of the smaller chunks of flesh before vigorously flipping it over.

In the instant that the chunk of flesh was flipped over, a series of human faces formed by pieces of flesh were revealed underneath! The faces resembled tumors, and they began to let loose ear-splitting screeches in unison!

"That's what happens..." Ren Dashi's complexion had paled significantly as he tossed the metal rod aside. "According to our company's marine scientists, this... thing has already been in existence for at least 2,000 years, yet there are still living organisms beneath its skin!"

The leader of the investigators gently prodded the mass of flesh in silence.

Currently, carbon-14 dating is the dating method employed all over the world. Carbon-14 elements were constantly forming in the upper atmosphere, and carbon-14 was very abundant in carbon dioxide molecules. All living creatures would ingest carbon-14 elements during their lifetimes, and once they died, the carbon exchange process that took place between them and the rest of the biosphere would immediately cease. As a result, the carbon-14 content in their bodies would begin to decline, and the rate of decline was dependent on radioactive decay.

The factor that made carbon-14 dating such a reliable method was that carbon-14 elements could exist for thousands of years!

2,000 years was still within the scope of testing, so the verdict was definitely correct. This was something that every scientist who studied ancient living organisms had to know, and he was certain that no biological scientist would make a mistake on something so basic and prevalent.

"In that case, could this really be a chunk of flesh from 2,000 years ago? The tissues under the skin form tumor-shaped human faces... This doesn't make any sense..." The leader of the investigators shook his head as he rose to his feet. "I want to see the footage from when this thing was first discovered."

"Please come with me."

The group quickly made their way to a conference hall, and Ren Dashi pressed a button, upon which all of the doors and windows in the room immediately swung shut. The window shades descended, and an image appeared on the LED screen on the wall.

The image depicted a large area of the sea.

However, this entire patch of the sea was bright red, and filled with chunks of flesh!

Around a dozen patrol boats were traversing through the area, and the boats' sides were packed with people, all of whom were staring at the scene around them with astonished expressions. Many of the boats had already begun to gather the surrounding chunks of flesh.

All of the investigators watched the gathering process intently, but no mishaps occurred throughout the entire process. All the tumor-like growths did was scream, as if they had separated from the main body of the organism and could only maintain their most basic instincts.

Half an hour later, the leader of the investigators nodded and said, "Alright, we'll take on this case. I'll have to ask you to keep this matter strictly confidential, and on top of that, we'll have to temporarily take over this sea passage to aid our investigation."

"Of course! That's not an issue at all!" Ren Dashi was very relieved to hear this. He snapped his fingers, and his secretary immediately made their way into the room before setting down a stack of resources in front of everyone.

"These are all of the photos, records, and footage related to this incident. I leave the rest to you."

After that, Ren Dashi wisely chose to vacate the room, while the investigators in the room began to carefully read through the records provided to them. Roughly an hour later, the leader of the investigators said in a grim voice, "Tell me what you think."

"According to the records and photos provided, this thing... was detached in a very strange way," a female investigator said with a serious expression as she adjusted her glasses. "Firstly, it wasn't detached naturally. Secondly, there are no signs of biting or tearing on its edges. Thirdly, according to results derived by the researchers of the Eastmount Freight Corporation, it was... detached due to a physical shock."

"A physical shock?" The leader of the investigators was quite perplexed to hear this.

"That's right, the physical shock here refers to a violent shockwave comparable to that produced by a nuclear explosion." A thin young man sighed as he set down the documents in his hands. "According to these records, if we calculate based on this thing's scales and muscle mass, its total length would reach in excess of 200 kilometers, which is absolutely mind-boggling, and its width would be around a third of that. A creature like this... There's no way it should exist!"

The female investigator shook her head and countered, "It's not impossible for such a thing to exist in the deepest parts of the sea. Due to the immense water pressure at those depths, the animals living down there will become more and more massive in order to cope. However, it's definitely not natural for this thing to have appeared on the surface of the sea."

The leader of the investigators lit a cigarette, and two female investigators immediately cast dirty glances in his direction. However, he completely ignored them and he held the cigarette between his teeth as he said, "There's something else that we have to consider. This flesh has just detached itself from something, so where is the creature it was detached from?"

"What do you mean?" Everyone was rather puzzled by this question.

The leader of the investigators blew out a smoke ring and said, "The records clearly state that when this thing was first discovered, it covered an area of close to 20 square kilometers, filling the entire Wuyang Port and forcing the port to close for two days. This means that the creature has a wound with a cross-section of over 10 square kilometers in area. While it's true that it has a massive body, this is still a very significant wound, is it not?"

Everyone's eyes lit up with enlightenment upon hearing this, and a young man in his early thirties said, "That is indeed a major injury, and upon sustaining major wounds, a wild animal would instinctively stop nearby to rest and recuperate. In fact, it would've been very normal for it to stir up the entire area of the sea by writhing and thrashing in agony. However, there are no signs of that at all."

Everyone fell silent again. The leader of the investigators snuffed out his cigarette before turning to a young man who appeared to be 17 to 18 years of age. "Get me a chart of the Yin energy levels within Wuyang City during the past week, as well as news reports on all of the major events that have taken place in the mortal realm, also within the past week."

The young man nodded in response before opening his computer, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. Soon, a series of windows appeared on his computer's LED screen.

The first thing to appear on the screen was the Yin energy chart. It could be seen that three days ago, the entire outer edge of Wuyang City had suddenly turned a bright red color.

Before the leader of the investigators had a chance to say anything, someone else said, "No paranormal activity has taken place, and Director Mo didn't raise any alarms, either. My theory is that these Yin energy fluctuations in the mortal realm were caused by some event in the underworld. The degree of fluctuation is extremely large. Should we send this to the Lord of the Land to enquire about the matter?"

"Do it!"

The person who had spoken nodded in response before opening the "Cathayan Municipal Lords of the Land Group." Everyone's ID in the group chat included the province and city that they belonged to, and he immediately typed: "Is Wuyang's Lord of the Land here? I have something I need your help with, honey~~ （づ￣3￣）づ."

The leader of the investigators could feel goosebumps rising up all over his skin. "Can you not be so disgusting? You're a grown man, why are you using emojis like a teenage girl?"

"Shut up! You don't know the shit!" the man replied with a cold smile as his fingers continued to fly across his keyboard. "This is called establishing good relations between the two realms. Don't forget that they're not from the same department as us. So what if I'm using emojis? Emojis help to better convey my friendly intentions!"

The leader of the investigators rolled his eyes before turning to everyone else. "Three days ago, the Yin energy level in Wuyang reached a new record high, but no supernatural events occurred on that day. Did anything else happen?"

A square-faced man replied, "There are records here of a sudden tsunami, but it was extremely far away from the port. The Watanabe Tsunami Classification System is split up into six levels, namely -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. These levels correspond with tsunami amplitudes of ≤0.5 meters, 1 meter, 2 meters, 4-6 meters, 10 meters, and ≥30 meters, respectively. At the time, the tsunami that took place was a level four 4-6 meter tsunami, and the reasons for its formation are unknown."

As soon as his voice trailed off, the investigator who was typing in the group chat suddenly turned his computer around and interjected, "The reasons for its formation are actually very clear. Three days ago, the Yellow Spring returned to the underworld, forming tsunamis at the same corresponding location in the underworld. The tsunamis were all above level six, reaching heights of hundreds of meters. As a result of the fact that our two realms are interconnected, tsunamis have also taken shape in our mortal realm, but due to the fact that we're separated by the entire underworld, the effect was greatly minimized, resulting in only level 4 tsunamis."

The leader of the investigators lit another cigarette and was just about to place it into his own mouth when a pen landed on the desk in front of him with a dull thud, piercing deep into the wooden material. He looked up to find that two of the female investigators were staring intently at him.

It's a good thing that wasn't aimed at my head...

He gave them an awkward smile before putting the cigarette away. "Perhaps it was the shock from the tsunamis in the mortal realm that caused the detachment of that thing?"

One of the investigators shook his head in response. "That can't be the case. Tsunamis have extremely little impact on animals living beneath the surface of the sea, and a level 4 tsunami is nowhere near enough to tear through the defenses of a giant beast spanning over 200 kilometers in length. However..."

He paused momentarily, and the leader of the investigators already knew what he was about to say next. Even though he was very young, a cold smile that was unbefitting of his age flashed across his face. "If a level 4 tsunami can't do it, then what about tsunamis reaching several hundred meters in height?"

Dead silence.

Three seconds later, one of the female investigators drew a sharp breath. "You're saying... this thing drifted up from the underworld? But how was it able to pass through the underworld? How is that possible? In order for it to pass through the underworld, there would have to be a Yin Yang Mezzanine. How could Hell have failed to fill such a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine?"

The leader of the investigators tapped the desk as a sly smile appeared on his face. "What if the Yin Yang Mezzanine is in the sea?"

"So you're saying that there's a giant beast lurking in the sea, and there just so happened to also be a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine there. It was then struck by the tsunamis resulting from the return of the Yellow Spring and fled into the Yin Yang Mezzanine for its life. After arriving in the mortal realm, it couldn't hold itself together any longer, and a part of its body floated to the surface of the sea in the mortal realm?"

The leader of the investigators looked up at the ceiling and said, "Aside from that, I can't think of any other potential explanations. You've all seen the records, right? This thing is displaying no signs of life, yet the tumors beneath its skin are still alive, so what the hell is it? A zombie? A zombified beast? Whatever it is, it isn't from the mortal realm."

He sat up straight as he instructed, "Contact the Eastmount Province City God right away. Tell them that a gargantuan Yin beast has passed through the Yin Yang Mezzanine from the underworld and appeared in the mortal realm. As a result, we are requesting assistance from high-grade Emissaries of Hell!"

"Ahem... This is only a theory, wouldn't it be premature to contact the city god based on just a theory?"

"You don't know shit! What we need to do is exaggerate things. After all, it certainly can't hurt for Hell to send high-grade emissaries to assist us! Do you understand now?"

As soon as his voice trailed off, a round of applause suddenly sounded outside. All of the investigators immediately sprang to their feet, revealing miniature crossbows and talismans strapped to their arms beneath their suits, all of which aimed toward the door.

None of them could sense the aura of a living being outside.

"Who's there?" The leader of the investigators appraised the door with a wary expression. "The sensors detecting paranormal activity haven't been triggered, are you an evil ghost? The conflict between our two realms has already subsided. If you dare to do anything, Emissaries of Hell will immediately be deployed to apprehend you, and they're far more professional than we are!"

The person outside the door seemed to chuckle in response, and in the next instant, boundless Yin energy surged into the room through the gaps around the door. The entire room was quickly inundated by a Yin cloud, and the air temperature plummeted rapidly.

"I met Local Bully just a few days ago, I didn't expect to be seeing you here so soon. How've you been, Ye Xingchen?"

The leader of the investigators was so shocked to hear this that his jaw dropped straight to the ground. "In, Instructor Qin?"