Seeing Hou Dayong’s hands smeared with Nether-insects left Wang Jue and me frozen. The idea of Nether-insects consuming a person was still just a story in our minds; neither of us had ever witnessed such a scene, nor did we have any idea how to rescue someone infected by them.

I wanted to move forward and help Hou Dayong, but he repeatedly shouted at me to stay away. I figured he didn't want me to get infected as well.

We watched as Hou Dayong curled into a ball on the ground, his breathing growing increasingly ragged. He let out ear-splitting screams intermittently, clearly in unimaginable agony. Soon, his hands were stripped down to the bare white bone, and then a hole ripped open where his windpipe was. A swarm of Nether-insects crawled out of the opening, writhing densely around the ragged edges. Though he wore tight clothing, we could clearly sense an ant-like movement beneath the fabric, an undeniable trace of the insects’ activity inside him.

Wang Jue turned his back, unable to bear the sight. Even after years as a doctor, watching a friend who had shared hardship meet such a gruesome end broke him.

I squatted beside Hou Dayong, gazing at his face, now so unnaturally pale it was barely human. Tears blurred my vision involuntarily. I wanted to wait for his final words, to ensure he didn't feel utterly alone in his final moments.

Hou Dayong’s eyes were wide open. With his last reserve of strength, he managed to force out three words: "Jingyin Mountain."

I nodded hard, understanding he meant for Wang Jue and me not to give up, but to seek out my older sister on Jingyin Mountain. I touched the stump of my right arm, the memory of him scooping water from the Sea of the Departed to heal my wounds still vivid. Though Hou Dayong belonged to Li Xiaohao’s faction, reflecting on our journey, his care for Wang Jue and me had long since transformed him from an enemy into a friend in my heart. If he hadn’t helped me strip off my infested clothes, I might be the one writhing on the ground now. And if he hadn't dealt with the mermaid, Wang Jue wouldn't be holding the ghost infant today.

After uttering those three words, Dayong simply stared at me, no longer screaming, no longer gasping, no longer trembling. He was gone, his eyes open in death!

I reached out to close his eyelids, but Wang Jue yelled from beside me, "Don't!"

Startled, I looked again. Hou Dayong’s pallid face was already riddled with holes. A few Nether-insects were rustling as they crawled out from behind his wide, unblinking eyes, and those terrifying pupils vanished before me. A chill ran down my spine. I looked at Wang Jue; his face was already streaked with tears.

Hou Dayong had vanished from the world—a man just moments ago so vibrant, now reduced to a pile of white bone in the blink of an eye. Wang Jue’s and my eyes simultaneously locked onto the ghost infant, who was currently playing with the jade pendant on his chest. It was highly likely Hou Dayong’s death was deeply connected to him.

“What do you want?” I asked that devilish little infant, standing close to Wang Jue with a measure of resentment in my voice.

He glanced over at me, offered no word, closed his eyes, and settled down for a nap.

Seeing that he was asleep, Wang Jue gently crouched down and slowly extended both hands, intending to place the child on the ground.

But as his hands moved barely half a foot, those little eyes immediately snapped wide open, glaring fixedly at Wang Jue.

Wang Jue let out a gasp and spewed a mouthful of blood onto the ground. A swarm of Nether-insects rustled over and annihilated the blood completely within seconds.

A strange, eerie smile flickered across the ghost infant’s face, which moments before had looked so innocent and cherubic. I instantly drew a parallel between angels and demons; this seemingly pitiable baby was no different from a murderous fiend. Yet, more terrifying than any murderer, he had successfully taken both Wang Jue and me hostage.