"Insight"
Name: Magikarp (Mutated)
HP: 97%
MP: 400 / 400
Strength: 68
Agility: 34
Stamina: 89
Intelligence: 40
Charm: 5
Luck: 15
Skill 1, Overlord-tier Creature: HP +1600, natural HP recovery speed increases by 28 per second, body surface is immune to attacks from any weapon below blue quality.
Skill 2, Deep Sea Behemoth: Movement speed in water increases by 86%, and it can command all weaker creatures in the water to come to its aid.
Skill 3, Lay Eggs: Lays a large number of parasitic fish eggs, which have powerful parasitic capabilities.
Skill 4, Deep Sea Roar: When in the deep sea, it can unleash a terrifying roar, which will generate 23 waves of Qi attacks, each dealing extremely high and terrifying damage.
Skill 5, Lucky Magikarp: Possesses a strong luck effect, an additional +10 to the Luck attribute, and ranged attacks have a 30% chance to forcibly miss when attacking the Magikarp.
Skill 6, Fish King Clan: When the number of Fish King Clan members within 1200 meters is greater than 30, it will inherit one-twentieth of the Magikarp's passive effects; when the number is greater than 100, it will inherit one-tenth of the Fish King's passive effects.
Skill 7: ???
Skill 8: ???
Skill 9: Lesser Abyssal Creature: ???
--- Qin Jie's expression changed; anyone who saw such Heaven-Defying attributes and didn't immediately turn and run would truly be a Divine Being.
He had a vague premonition that although the Magikarp was heading towards him, its target shouldn't be him.
"Boom!"
The Fountainhead Palace's structures began to collapse in large numbers due to the Magikarp's movements, with many palaces being trampled into fragments.
Because it was a shallow water area, and the Magikarp's four legs had been crushed by its own body, it could only move on the ground by wriggling.
Although this posture was clearly comical, its immense visual impact made it appear extremely terrifying.
The Magikarp's speed was not slow; in fact, it was slightly faster than Qin Jie, who was using Shadow of Concealment, but because Qin Jie had started running earlier, he wasn't caught.
The Magikarp's body slowly swam in front of the giant Fountainhead Palace Noble, then opened its massive mouth and directly swallowed the giant Fountainhead Palace Noble's body.
This sight made Qin Jie's eyes widen.
It wasn't because of the act of eating, although the Magikarp's feeding scene was quite shocking, but what surprised Qin Jie was that as the Magikarp ate, a woman's face also appeared in its mouth.
It was Calamity A.
Unexpectedly, in this short time, Qin Jie had found all three parts of Calamity A's Soul.
But Qin Jie never expected that Calamity A's third Soul would actually be inside the Magikarp's body at this moment.
This was troublesome.
Qin Jie's current mission was to investigate the source of the Fountainhead Palace's pollution, and Calamity A's Soul was crucial to him; after all, once he gathered all of her Souls, Qin Jie would be able to obtain certain information from her.
But how was he supposed to extract this information from the Magikarp's mouth?
It wasn't that understanding the reason for the Fountainhead Palace's anomaly could only be achieved by collecting Souls through a soul box, but rather because the penalty for failing the side quest of collecting three Souls was equally severe.
If Qin Jie couldn't successfully resolve the current problem, then the Fountainhead Palace Nobles would all play the Abyssal Flute Sound, and he would lose the opportunity to explore the Fountainhead Palace.
"Boom!"
Surging waves swept across the entire Fountainhead Palace.
After finishing its meal, the Magikarp slowly dragged its massive body away, leaving only Qin Jie to ponder what to do next.
Meanwhile, Shu Zida, who had survived the disaster, lay on the ground like a dead dog; he had just been carried by Qin Jie's Sword Shadow and had gulped down a lot of water along the way, almost drinking his fill.
"Ugh."
Shu Zida dry-heaved for a moment, then spat out a black Magikarp from his mouth.
The Magikarp had four legs.
Seeing this, Qin Jie was a bit puzzled, "Why didn't this Magikarp Derivatives parasitize you?"
Shu Zida replied weakly, "This beast isn't stupid. Although it's mutated, it knows that these Oki-kami women will serve as its bait. If it were to parasitize and eat them, it would lose a delicious meal, so it naturally wouldn't easily kill these Oki-kami women."
So that was it.
Thinking of this, Qin Jie suddenly asked, "Then if poison were put in the bait, could it be poisoned to death?"
There was a side quest in the original plotline where the Magikarp was poisoned to death, so Qin Jie asked.
Shu Zida shook his head and pulled out a white block-shaped item from his embrace.
Precious Bait (Poisoned)
Quality: White
Origin: Fountainhead Palace
Effect: Instant death upon consumption.
Note: This item has a strong attraction to the Magikarp.
Description: Precious bait exclusive to the Magikarp.
Rating: 8
Note: Plot item, cannot be sold.
--- "I tried to poison the Magikarp, but I never expected its resistance to poison to greatly increase after mutation.
I scattered about twice this amount of poisoned bait at the time, but after the Magikarp ate it, it only fell unconscious for two hours, and its health bar barely dropped.
This stuff is probably like a sleeping pill to it."
It was only then that Shu Zida noticed something was amiss.
He tentatively asked, "You're not going to kill the Magikarp, are you?
I advise you to reconsider.
Even a Tier 2 Contractor would have to run from this thing.
I estimate only a Tier 3 Contractor would be able to take it down."
He couldn't let Qin Jie go to his death; after all, he was still waiting for Qin Jie to send money to the Samsara Merchant Guild.
Qin Jie merely said indifferently, "My mission objective is still in its mouth."
Mission objective?
Shu Zida glanced at Qin Jie.
"Your target is that woman?
I see.
Then what do you plan to do?"
"Poison the Magikarp into unconsciousness, then infiltrate its body and destroy its heart."
"Are you crazy?
The Magikarp's body contains extremely corrosive mucus.
You'll probably be digested clean in moments if you go in there," Shu Zida said, shocked.
"Anyway, if my mission fails, I'll still be erased, so I might as well give it a shot," Qin Jie said with a rather devil-may-care attitude.
His true intention was not this; the reason he acted like a hot-headed fool was mainly to see if Shu Zida had any ideas.
If the other party also had no solution, then Qin Jie had a second option.
That was to clear out all the nobles in the Fountainhead Palace within one day, so that even if the mission failed, no one would be able to play the Abyssal Flute Sound.
After seeing Qin Jie's appearance, Shu Zida sighed.
"Since you're determined to do this, I do have a way.
How about I help you out?"
"How should I put it, my main body isn't completely dead yet; it's just that my Soul is hollowed out now, leaving only a shell."
"You understand what I mean, right?
The current me, my main body, still has the identity of a Contractor."
"And coincidentally, my main body happens to have corrosion-resistant equipment."