"It doesn’t quite seem like a living creature?"
This answer genuinely surprised Hughes.
He looked at Richard with some confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Uh, how much do you know about the internal organs of the human body?"
As he spoke, Richard pushed open a door.
The church here was newly built, with smooth and clean bluestone walls.
There weren’t many items inside.
Against the walls stood a row of shelves, with numerous jars filled with organs placed on them.
In the center of the room was a dissection table.
Unlike what Hughes had expected, there was nothing on it.
The entire room was extremely tidy, reminding Hughes of a hospital from his previous life.
"I only have a basic understanding.
The heart pumps blood, the liver detoxifies, the stomach, intestines, and spleen digest, and the lungs and diaphragm handle respiration."
Richard turned his head in surprise.
His gaze toward Hughes carried a bit more respect.
"What you said is brief but very accurate.
Were you a doctor before?"
Hughes blinked.
He had heard from Chloe that Richard had been a doctor before joining the Moths Chasing Fire.
Later, he was expelled for secretly dissecting corpses.
Although technology in this world had developed significantly, people’s thinking had become extremely conservative.
The Church and the nobility strictly controlled spontaneous exchanges and research.
If Castel weren’t so remote, far from both the Church and the Empire, ignored by the "civilized world," Hughes would probably have to start with an ideological liberation movement first.
Thus, research on the human body was strictly prohibited.
Moreover, in this era, dissecting corpses was still seen as a moral offense.
It was no surprise that a doctor curious about the human body would end up joining a cult.
"Not at all. I don’t actually know much about medicine, just some common knowledge."
"Even that common knowledge is valuable.
Back then, I almost got tied to a stake by the Church just for opposing the Four Humors theory."
"And then what happened?"
"What else? I was an Extraordinary.
They burned an empty shell, and from then on, Rhine lost a doctor and gained a devout cultist."
Richard shrugged.
As he spoke, he put on a long robe hanging on the wall.
Then, he pulled an iron bucket out from under the shelf.
The bucket was tightly sealed with a lid.
A strip of cloth was wrapped around the joint, securing it completely.
Hughes vaguely sensed a familiar aura emanating from the bucket.
He couldn’t help but frown.
"Please step back a little."
Richard opened the iron bucket.
Inside, it was teeming with writhing black worms.
Sure enough, it was something Hughes was familiar with—Entity Pollution.
"What is this? By the way, where are the murloc corpses?"
"This is the murloc corpse."
Richard sighed.
"Not long after I dissected those murlocs, their bodies turned into this pollution. I examined it carefully, it’s just ordinary Entity Pollution."
The murloc corpses turned into pollution!?
No wonder Richard had just said these things didn’t quite seem like living creatures.
Dying and turning into pollution, what kind of living creature does that?
Even creatures contaminated by pollution still leave behind corrupted flesh after death.
The wolves on the island that turned into Pollution Beasts had done exactly that.
"Was it just this one murloc that ended up like this, or—"
"All of them. Every murloc corpse turned into pollution after death. I was so shocked when I discovered this that I went to the battlefield to check. The other murloc bodies had also transformed the same way."
Hughes fell silent for a moment and activated the Mind Link.
『Ash, what did you do with the murloc corpses you killed earlier?』
『We just threw them into the sea.』
『Did you notice what happened to them afterward?』
『Happened… how?』
Ash’s tone was puzzled.
『Are you talking about decomposition or something?』
『No. The murloc corpses turn into pollution.』
『!?！？』
Even through the Mind Link, Hughes could feel Ash’s shock.
The Sirens had once been enslaved by the murlocs.
She had interacted with them for so long, yet she didn’t know about this?
『When you were enslaved by the murlocs, did you ever see what happened to their corpses?』
『I… don’t think so. The murlocs never held funerals for their kind. When they died, they were just tossed aside. I… I never thought about it.』
Hughes considered it.
It made sense, who would expect a normal creature’s corpse to turn into pollution?
Besides, murlocs didn’t originate from the Abyss.
They couldn’t even enter it.
They had no real connection to the Abyss, the source of pollution.
"Mr. Richard, when did the murloc corpse transform into pollution?"
"Hmm…"
Richard rubbed his chin.
"About… a day later? I’m not sure of the exact time."
『Ash, are there still any bodies on the shore?』
『Yes, we left them there on purpose to intimidate the other murlocs.』
『Good. Have someone watch them closely and note when they change. Stay far away, both the sea and pollution are dangerous.』
『Understood.』
These murlocs were getting stranger and stranger.
Hughes had initially thought they were just easily dealt-with monsters, while the sea urchins and pollution serpents were his true enemies. Sёarᴄh the NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Now, he wasn’t so sure.
The truth was becoming more and more complicated.
"Lord, there’s actually another problem with the murloc corpses."
Richard’s voice interrupted Hughes’s thoughts.
He pulled a few sheets of paper from a drawer under the table.
The papers contained sketches resembling anatomical cross-sections.
Hughes took one look and immediately frowned.
"These are diagrams I drew after dissecting the murlocs’ internal organs.
After the first dissection, I gathered more murloc corpses and continued. Take a look at these drawings."
Richard took out another sketch and placed it next to the first for comparison.
Hughes’ pupils instantly dilated.
"As you can see, the first murloc had only a heart and a stomach inside. And they weren’t connected to anything. The heart had no blood vessels attached, and the stomach had no connection to the intestines. They just hung there, like decorations."
"But the second murloc had nothing inside.
No organs, no cavities, just a solid mass of flesh."
"I have a feeling that no two murlocs share the same internal structure. But I’d need more bodies to confirm that, it’s just a hypothesis for now."
"Don’t worry. You’ll have a chance to test your theory soon."
Hughes licked his lips.
"Get ready. Come with me to the eastern shore. I just got word that more murlocs have landed there."
"If we’re lucky, you might even get to dissect a sea urchin."
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