Chapter 112: The Lost River

According to the signal receiver, this downward-sloping passage should be the entrance to the Lost River. When Qin Fei first arrived on this planet, his landing site was not the same as the crash site of the Aurora where the protagonist of the game landed, but it was not too far away. Therefore, after traveling from the shallows to the deep sea, he was able to reach the entrance to the Lost River as depicted in the game.

The Lost River is essentially a massive natural cavern. From the depths of the cave all the way to the entrance, there is a "river" flowing with yellow-green gas. Upon arriving here, Qin Fei was being pursued by a mutated Reefback, leaving him no time to study this green river closely. He pressed forward, following the river, and quickly fled into the depths of the Lost River cave. He noticed that as he traveled deeper into the cavern, the color of the river on the ground shifted closer to a dark purple.

This was easy to explain: Element fluid is denser than water, so the vast majority of it is concentrated deep underground, with only a small fraction exposed on the surface. Because the concentration of Element fluid in the outer layers of the cave is so low, it appears yellow-green—the color of diluted Element. As one reaches the heart of the cave, the quantity of Element increases, causing the river to turn dark purple.

Qin Fei reached an oval-shaped chamber. The total area of this cavern was enormous, measuring at least several hundred meters in length and width. On the floor of the cave, dark purple, eerie liquid flowed everywhere. This liquid was undoubtedly the "Element" from the ARK: Aberration world. Unlike the pale green gas outside, this high-concentration Element fluid is lethal to touch. In the game, falling into such a river results in immediate death.

In the center of the cave lay a giant skull, over 300 meters long—the skeletal remains of a Titan Leviathan. Near the skeleton sat the wreckage of a massive submarine. Based on his signal receiver, Qin Fei determined that this was the Cyclops he had been searching for. He took out his scanner, intending to scan the exposed parts of the Cyclops to obtain its blueprints.

"Roar!" A series of strange cries echoed through the cave.

It sounded like the calls of the two Ghost Leviathans Qin Fei had encountered earlier. That shouldn't be right, he thought, puzzled. Hadn't those Ghost Leviathans been driven out of the Lost River to the sea desert by some monster? He had even killed them himself.

As this thought crossed his mind, a Ghost Leviathan glowing with a pale blue light emerged from a crevice in the cave wall. It was a juvenile, only about fifty or sixty meters long. Although its appearance surprised him, Qin Fei felt no panic. Even if ten of them came at once, he could easily kill them all with his blade.

Seeing the Ghost Leviathan swimming toward him, Qin Fei took out his Stasis Rifle. He planned to wait for it to get closer before freezing it in place. However, as it drew near, he noticed something unusual: its surface was covered in countless faint yellow-green spots and the kind of yellow-green tentacles that only appeared after a mutation. It was a mutated Ghost Leviathan.

That explained it. Qin Fei realized that the two Ghost Leviathans he had previously killed were likely driven out of the Lost River because one of them had undergone this mutation. Mutated creatures are highly aggressive, possessing significantly enhanced combat power, and they do not even spare their own kind. Naturally, the other two would have fled the Lost River to escape. Perhaps the nearby wreck of the Cyclops had also been caused by an attack from a mutated Ghost Leviathan.

Qin Fei raised the Stasis Rifle and fired a magnetic sphere. As it struck the creature, he immediately ducked into his Prawn Suit and turned to flee. The Stasis Rifle could not hold a creature affected by corrupted consciousness for long. If he did not escape while it was frozen, he would have no chance once it broke free.

He sped away, quickly leaving the mutated Ghost Leviathan behind. However, at that moment, the mutated Reefback also caught up into the Lost River cave. As Qin Fei fled, he ran straight into it. He was completely speechless. He had only arrived slightly later than the original protagonist, yet the entire ocean world had turned into this nightmare, filled with mutated, tentacled monsters that even a Stasis Rifle couldn't stop.

With no other options, Qin Fei took the cryopod containing his Tusoteuthis from his backpack and threw it forward. He had intended to save the giant squid for his battle against the "Father of Sharks" Leviathan, but he could no longer afford to worry about that. If he didn't release the squid now, he might die on the spot.

Once released, a giant squid forty to fifty meters long—dwarfing the Ghost Leviathan—appeared before the mutated Reefback. Qin Fei signaled the squid to attack. Although the mutated Reefback was a Leviathan, it was much smaller than the Ghost Leviathan. The Tusoteuthis grabbed it with its tentacles as if it were a mere toy.

Qin Fei then climbed into his Prawn Suit, grabbed his Tek Rifle, and began firing at the restrained Reefback. With their combined assault, the mutated creature was quickly killed. However, Qin Fei noticed that the surface of his Tusoteuthis had undergone an irreversible change. The Tusoteuthis in ARK primarily attacks by grabbing enemies and draining their blood; in doing so, it had absorbed some of the Element fluid from the mutated Reefback. Its skin had dulled, and it appeared to be shifting toward that same eerie, dark purple hue.