Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Fang Zheng wasn’t sure what was going on in the Pacific Ocean, but considering that it was already late, he decided to wait until tomorrow to check it out.

However, when Fang Zheng arrived at the hospital early the next day, he was stunned by the scene before him.

The hospital was bustling with people, filled with patients crying out in pain everywhere. Ambulances were constantly coming and going, and he could often see patients screaming in agony, covered in blood, being rushed in, while the emergency and surgical departments were so busy they couldn’t keep their feet on the ground.

What is going on?

Seeing this, Fang Zheng was confused. Did the Great Kanto Earthquake happen? That’s not something that should be happening in recent years, right? Of course, it’s normal for Japan to have earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and such, but yesterday night, he stayed up late and found nothing. If there was a major earthquake, it shouldn’t have caused problems only now.

”What’s wrong? What happened?”

Thinking about this, Fang Zheng went to the reception desk and caught a nurse for inquiry.

”Ah, good morning, Dr. Haruno.”

”Good morning, what’s happening here? Has there been an accident somewhere?”

Fang Zheng thought about it and guessed that maybe some factory accident would cause such chaos; perhaps something exploded?

”I heard it was some kind of animal attack, but I’m not really clear on the specifics, sorry, I have to take another call.”

While speaking, the nurse hurriedly picked up the phone again to arrange personnel. Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders and stepped aside. Although he didn’t know what was happening, it didn’t matter; Ryoko Asakura would soon bring him the news.

Sure enough, Ryoko Asakura quickly brought the news.

”These people were attacked by fish.”

”Fish?”

Confronted with this unexpected answer, Fang Zheng was truly dumbfounded.

”Attacked by sharks?”

Considering the population density of the surgical room today rivaled that of a supermarket during a sale, when Fang Zheng heard ”fish,” his first reaction was naturally great white sharks.

”No, they were attacked by fish that came ashore.”

”......What?”

”I heard these people were injured by walking fish.”

”Fish that can walk?”

Fang Zheng felt he had been dumbfounded three times today.

”Did they grow legs?”

”Yes, at least according to those patients, these fish did grow legs and ran quite fast. They’re as nimble as cockroaches.”

”......This is really......”

Fang Zheng was dumbfounded for a while, completely at a loss for words. But quickly, he remembered Nymph’s report from last night.

Could this matter be related to Tomie? But why would Tomie do such a thing? She wasn’t fishing; Cthulhu and its followers were already made into a seafood barbeque by him, so who cares about it?

But who knows? Tomie held the Silver Key, and that would surely result in Outer God spirit contamination. She’s not an expert in these things like Yayahiko Oya, just an ordinary mortal; she might already be insane by now......Well, that’s uncertain.

”Ugh.”

Suddenly, an eerie stench wafted in, causing Fang Zheng to frown.

”What’s going on? Why does it smell so bad?”

This is a hospital, and even though medicine wasn’t that developed at this time, as a university-affiliated hospital in the Tokyo Region, their disinfection work was quite thorough. This intense stench was very rare here. Fang Zheng could keenly detect the smell not only had the scent of decaying corpses but also a fishy smell......

What is happening?

”Help!”

”They’re coming, run!!”

At that moment, frantic screams came from outside the window, and Fang Zheng walked to the window and looked out, then he was shocked.

On the street outside, people were frantically fleeing, and behind them, he could see fish surging forward rapidly. They had four limbs underneath, propelling their bodies forward quickly, like cockroaches.

Damn, they really grew legs!

Seeing this, Fang Zheng was genuinely surprised; although he had traveled through many worlds and seen many things, he had never seen fish with legs, especially given this was Earth and not some mysterious fantasy world—where mermaids wouldn’t be odd.

But upon closer inspection, Fang Zheng realized those legs weren’t real legs. In fact, these fish were no different from ordinary sea fish; the biggest difference was they were tightly clipped by something resembling a hair clip underneath their bodies, and the four legs extending from the clip were running frantically, making the scene look bizarre.

Even more bizarrely, those fish were already dead.

This is also quite normal; how could fish live on land? Not even in their dreams would they do that. To be honest, what’s running all over the streets now is actually that strange device beneath the fish’s body, and the fish are just stuck on it. It’s just that the way that device moves gives the impression of a living creature, hence the misconception that those fish are alive.

No... that’s not quite right either...

Watching the fish schools drifting in the streets, Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes, and at this moment, he saw those schools already following the human crowd, rushing towards the hospital.

”Quick, close the doors, close the doors!!”

Seeing this, the people in the hospital jumped in fright, but the speed of the fish schools was like that of cockroaches. They barely had time to reach the entrance before seeing a pile of fish breaking through the hospital gates and charging inside. Among them were tuna, sardines, flounders, herring... oh my gosh, there was even a whale?

Watching a giant blue whale, guided by an equally giant scaffold, crash through the hospital’s outer wall, Fang Zheng’s eyes widened — this scene should definitely be shown to his cute little ones at home, such sights don’t occur often!

But just watching the spectacle is not an option; right now, these schools of fish have already entered the hospital courtyard, bringing with them a stench that’s unbearable. After all, it’s the smell of hundreds of thousands of rotting fish; just imagining the fish market odor daily and multiplying it by a hundred times, it’s unbearable for anyone.

It’s almost comparable to a chemical weapon, seriously.

Seeing these fish almost pour into the hospital, Fang Zheng’s expression slightly darkened, then he gently stomped his foot.

”Hoo!!!”

The next moment, they saw a manhole at the hospital entrance suddenly fly into the air, followed by a tongue of flame shooting up from it, rapidly setting the surrounding fish ablaze. Then it spread quickly in all directions. In the blink of an eye, the fish schools, like lit fuses, were burnt clean, leaving only a ground full of black ash.

And at the same time...

”———————!!!”

Accompanied by a bizarre cry, everyone saw within the burning schools of fish, a mass of gas suddenly seemed to appear. They clustered together, looking like a cloud made of various fish species merging together, surging upward. However, the next moment, it was swallowed by the flames, turning into scattered sparks and quickly dissipating.

Seeing this, Fang Zheng frowned slightly.

”Ryouko, did you see that?”

”Yes, I saw it, Master.”

Ryoko Asakura, standing beside Fang Zheng, also nodded.

”Is that what humans call a ghost?”

”It looks like it, but I haven’t seen one like this... never mind, it’s not important. Inform Nymph and Saya to get ready, we are heading straight to the Pacific Ocean.”

Fang Zheng burned away the fish schools that rushed into the city with one fire, but he knew this wasn’t the end. It seemed that to find out what was really happening there, he had to handle it personally.

Afterward, the city was still in chaos.

Although the government promptly dispatched police and the army to lock down the city, the fish schools were much harder to deal with than zombies, and more importantly, people harmed by the fish schools had a high probability of being infected, which complicated the situation. Naturally, in such circumstances, hospitals were also operating at full capacity.

As a psychiatrist, Fang Zheng couldn’t be of much help, so he turned around a few times, then ran home, and after waiting until dark, Fang Zheng reappeared, then guided by Nymph, headed to the Pacific Ocean.

”To be honest, I have thalassophobia.”

Re-transformed into a giant dragon, Fang Zheng lowered his head, looking at the deep water below, and sighed. He really didn’t like the ocean, much less the deep sea. However, Fang Zheng also knew that this was his reaction when he was human, but now, in the deep sea, he wasn’t one to fear, but one to be feared.

Actually, Fang Zheng didn’t want this either, but he couldn’t use spells or had deep-sea exploration gear in this world, so he simply reverted to a giant dragon, gripping Ryoko Asakura and Saya, took a deep breath, and with a ”plop,” dove directly into the ocean.

The entire sea was pitch black, looking down from the top, you could clearly see the crystal azure water turning dark blue, then black — as if there was a bottomless abyss below.

”Nymph, are you sure it’s here?”

”Of course, Master.”

Nymph, like a small fish circling a whale, flitted around Fang Zheng’s head.

”I can sense a distortion of information flow here, so it must be here.”

”Alright, then let’s see what awaits us below.”

Fang Zheng vigorously flapped his wings, quickly, the giant dragon quietly dived into the ocean depths like a massive whale, then continued downwards.

While the direction Nymph indicated wasn’t the Mariana Trench, it was clearly quite deep here, and more importantly, there were no visible fish schools in this sea area. The deeper they went, the quieter it became around, with only sea bed plants...

”Wait, what’s that?”

Fang Zheng suddenly widened his eyes, staring at the sea bed not far away. He initially thought it was something like seaweed, but the closer he got, the more something felt off. Now he could confirm it wasn’t seaweed — it looked more like blood vessels spreading across the seabed!

These blood vessels were extraordinarily thick, as large as a jumbo jet’s fuselage, densely covering the entire seabed, extending all the way. And just then, Nymph also turned her head, looking towards another side, then she suddenly screamed.

”Master, look over there!”

”Hmm?”

Upon hearing Nymph speak, Fang Zheng turned around to look at the other side, and when he saw what was over there, even he was stunned.