Chapter Seventy-Three: The Ephemeral Clan

Ma Yi turned to look at Iron Pillar and Erha, then asked with curiosity, "Do you two know how to swim?"

His question left the two companions utterly baffled. Since the apocalypse, Ma Yi had at least splashed around a few times in a swimming pool, but as for Iron Pillar and Erha, he had no idea.

"Boss, what is swimming?" Iron Pillar asked, his face full of guileless confusion. It was the first time he’d ever heard the word, and he had no clue what it meant.

"Yeah, Boss, what is swimming? This is the first time I’ve heard of it," Erha said candidly.

"Swimming?" Ma Yi smacked his lips, not quite sure how to explain. After thinking for a moment, he slowly said, "It's playing in the water, just like them." He pointed toward the fishfolk who were frolicking miles away in the sea.

"Oh, that's what it means? I’ve swum before, but I always stay underwater and can’t get back up," Iron Pillar said excitedly. So being in the water was swimming? He’d done that several times—and swallowed plenty of water too.

"I’ve never gone into the water. I hate it," Erha said, unconcerned.

Ma Yi curled his lips. Iron Pillar’s idea of swimming was simply falling in. Oh well, he’d leave it at that for now; maybe a demonstration would make things clear someday. Ma Yi found a hidden spot behind a large coral, keeping his eyes fixed on the fishfolk by the edge of the sea, observing intently. Iron Pillar and Erha crouched behind him, stretching their necks to peek.

These fishfolk were of varied shapes: some looked like those Ma Yi had seen on the hillside before, some carried two shell plates on their backs—shells? Ma Yi’s mind was full of questions; looking closely, they really were shells. Altogether, there seemed to be four types among the frolicking fishfolk: one humanoid carrying shells, another with a human body and fish tail, a third with a fish head and human body, and the last resembled a crab, with four arms and four legs. The crab-bodied ones were the largest, their eyes grew on their foreheads, and their mouths were flanked by two massive pincers.

Fishfolk? More like an ocean park, Ma Yi thought. He redefined them in his mind as Ocean Races—simply, Sea Tribe.

The crab-sea tribe's upper pair of arms were abnormally thick, with huge pincers at the ends. It would occasionally stir up waves with its pincers, splashing water on the shell-sea tribe, all amidst laughter and chatter.

From their behavior, Ma Yi surmised that the shell-sea tribe female had the highest status, followed by the fish-sea tribe, then the crab, and lastly the fish-headed ones, who seemed the lowest. All the sea tribes played around the shell-sea tribe.

"Wow, food has changed so much these days," Erha remarked. "Hmm, these look just like what we ate before." Looking at the shell-sea tribe, Erha recalled the shellfish food they’d found on the mountain. To Erha, anything with a shell was food, just oddly shaped.

"Boss, what are we doing here?" Iron Pillar asked, puzzled by Ma Yi’s furtive behavior. Ever since gaining memory, he’d always marched boldly wherever he went, never bothering to hide—even Boss was strong enough not to need caution when facing mere food.

To Iron Pillar, the creatures swimming in the sea were nothing more than food.

Ma Yi was speechless, but thinking it over, he understood. As zombies, they saw even their former selves as food, so it was no surprise everything looked edible to them. Ignoring these clueless companions, Ma Yi focused on something odd: the sea tribe could resonate with seawater.

Ma Yi didn’t fully grasp what it meant to resonate with seawater, but figured it was similar to the "air shock" and "slash" abilities he now possessed. With a strong enough body and the right frequency, you could achieve it.

Watching the shell-sea tribe maiden lying in her shell, Ma Yi saw her wave her hand, stirring a stream of water across the surface. With each movement, the water changed shape: spiraling skyward, gliding down, forming giant whales, or turning into a curtain of rain.

"Incredible," Ma Yi marveled at her playful display, filled with awe—not from fear, but from respect for their intelligence. Just as zombies kept evolving, now with air shock skills, these were witnessed and even facilitated by Ma Yi himself, so he felt little surprise. But if he were just a human, seeing zombies wield such powers would be shocking.

Like the first human to master slash—a miraculous technique—how did they conceive it, and how did they achieve it? Ma Yi didn’t know. Such wondrous techniques, once mastered, gave not only offensive power but a means to survive.

As Ma Yi was lost in thought, a thick tentacle crept up from the ground dozens of meters away. Its movements were so light that, focused on the sea tribe, Ma Yi didn’t notice, nor did Iron Pillar and Erha—both at the evolved stage—notice the tentacle approaching.

Suddenly, when Erha realized, it was too late. The tentacle, covered in suction cups, wrapped around Iron Pillar and Erha. Ma Yi, noticing the tentacle’s movement, was also instantly grabbed by another tentacle. Compared to the tentacle lifting Iron Pillar and Erha, the one wrapped around Ma Yi struggled, clearly finding it difficult.

"What’s happening?" Iron Pillar and Erha were pressed face-to-face, squeezed tight by the tentacle, unable to move, and hoisted hundreds of meters into the air.

Ma Yi felt little, except for the sticky sensation of the giant tentacle wrapped around him. It wasn't disgusting, but certainly uncomfortable. Unlike Iron Pillar and Erha, who were lifted high, Ma Yi remained dragging along the ground—the tentacle muscles straining, unable to lift the small figure of Ma Yi, barely able to drag him like a dead dog along the shoreline.

Ma Yi couldn’t see the whole octopus; from his angle, he saw only a tentacle hundreds of meters long, at the end of which a giant octopus struggled to move.

Iron Pillar and Erha, suspended in the air, could clearly see everything: a giant beast with tentacles spreading nearly three hundred meters wide. After an initial daze, they calmly waited, even grinning as they watched their Boss being dragged across the sand. As the octopus moved toward the sea, Erha saw the fishfolk had stopped playing, now standing in the water, watching curiously.

"Boss, are you alright?" Iron Pillar squeezed his head between Erha’s, looking down at Ma Yi being dragged, trying not to laugh.

"What could happen to me? The thing's so big yet can’t even lift me—that’s what’s annoying," Ma Yi replied. He felt his big toe had plowed through countless buried rocks in the sand; he was like a diamond, slicing through the solid rocks as easily as glass—a toe alone could cut through.

"Blurblurblububu," the shell-sea tribe female muttered something Ma Yi couldn’t understand. Now close enough, Ma Yi studied her seriously: golden hair damp and gathered at her nape in a bun, two odd fleshy bands connecting her back to the shell's muscle group.

Her long legs were folded atop the strong shell muscles, and she gazed at Ma Yi with wide, curious eyes. Her body was flawless, lacking any excess fat, and unlike humans, wore nothing; though at key spots, a few small shells provided modesty.

Apart from the shell-sea tribe, all other sea tribes surrounded her, their eyes fixed on the trio dragged over by the giant octopus, faces wary.

"Walala wa," the shell-sea tribe spoke again, and Ma Yi was baffled. Seeing he didn’t understand, she rolled her eyes and slowly opened her mouth to continue.

"Who are you?" This time, the shell-sea tribe spoke clearly, and Ma Yi’s jaw dropped as he stared in astonishment. Wasn’t this a scientific apocalypse? These sea tribes spoke Chinese—how could that be? It defied all logic.

"How do you know Chinese?" Ma Yi asked urgently. Zombie evolution had already overturned his understanding, but now things were even more bizarre. Even if these shells were sentient, their unintelligible babble would make sense—different species, language barriers were normal. But suddenly, these shellfolk were speaking fluent Chinese—this wasn’t just a challenge to his worldview; it shattered it.

"Is this Chinese? This is the language of the Shana Tribe—one of our Eight Great Tribes," the shell-sea tribe said, looking at Ma Yi in surprise. "You’re not of the Shana Tribe, so how do you know this language?"

"What? This language has been passed down by our ancestors for thousands of years—how could it be the language of your so-called Shana Tribe, one of your Eight Great Tribes?" Ma Yi said, bewildered. Truly, the end of the world was upon them—even thoughts had become strange. Was this Shana Tribe just mutated coastal humans? Ma Yi was utterly confused, unable to make sense of it all.