Into the Fish's Belly

The river was over a hundred meters wide and there was a scenic bridge above it.

However, the bridge had already collapsed and smashed into the river. It was still burning with raging flames.

The river was more than ten meters deep, and every year, some people would drown in it.

Now, the two banks of this river were covered in flames.

Countless dead fish floating on the river were flowing downstream with the current.

And in the midst of those dead fish, a small eyeball was hanging there.

This was Luo Fan.

Luo Fan had escaped from the fire and fallen into the river.

Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, thinking that he could develop here, a large black shadow suddenly sprang out from under the river.

A huge fish, the size of a man, leapt out of the water.

The huge fish opened its wide mouth and swallowed all the dead fish in the river in one fell swoop.

Unluckily, Luo Fan was among the dead fish swallowed by the fish.

Luo Fan could only feel his vision turn dark and then, he was following the flow of water downward.

It was as if the heavens and the earth had turned upside down as the water current flowed downward.

He landed in a soft place, where many bodies had piled up.

He was slightly stunned; it was pitch black before his eye.

"Have I been ingested by the fish into its belly?"

Piecing together the black shadow and the huge mouth, it dawned upon him that he had been eaten by a fish, and that he naturally was in the fish's stomach.

"It's so difficult to live!"

Luo Fan cursed angrily. He had just escaped the fire and found food, and in the blink of an eye, he was eaten.

Anyone would be angry.

It was as if it had been arranged by the world, there were always accidents.

Luo Fan quickly calmed down after cursing.

The situation was not optimistic. He could already feel the acidic fluid around him.

"The fluid is digesting my cells. I have to find a way to get out. Since I'm still conscious now, there's still a chance."

Luo Fan was unwilling to resign himself to his fate and did not want to die here just like this.

This was not the end of life.

With the desire to live, Luo Fan's intelligence spun rapidly, analyzing the current situation.

"Currently, my greatest threat is not insufficient nutrients, but the stomach acid which is eating away my body continuously. I've to get out of here as soon as possible to prevent my body from being constantly attacked by the stomach acid."

Then, he thought, "I had come in through the fish's esophagus, so I'll have to go upward and get back into the fish's esophagus."

Very quickly, Luo Fan had a plan.

The top priority now was to get away from the stomach acid. So, he had to get out of here and head for the esophagus.

Then, his eight intestines began to move.

They all climbed onto the flesh around them.

He was going to use his intestines to lift the eyeball up and then move slowly into the esophagus.

"Lift me up!"

Luo Fan started to exert force again. The eight intestines were about to collapse flat.

Little by little, the eyeball was lifted upward from the stomach acid and just when it was about to surface, "Splash!"

Another big wave of water had gushed in, carrying a large number of dead fish carcasses and also some unknown rotten flesh.

The rotten flesh carried by the water current smashed onto Luo Fan's eyeball, and immediately made all of Luo Fan's efforts go to waste.

The eyeball which had just been lifted up fell heavily again.

"Damn it!"

At this moment, Luo Fan was fully submerged in the stomach acid.

The last hope had been shattered!

He was covered with dead fish and rotten flesh, as well as some unknown sticky fluids.

The stomach acid had also covered his body.

"My cells are dissolving…"

Luo Fan let out a final sigh.

The cells around the eyeball dissolved quickly upon contact with the stomach acid and became piles of rotten tissues.

They dissolved very quickly, and the eyeball soon became completely unrecognizable.

Furthermore, those intestines were also breaking apart, turning into lumps of rotten tissues and melted into the stomach.

After about half an hour, the dissolution was complete, but Luo Fan was still tragically conscious; he did not die.

"Fortunately, the stomach acid can't dissolve the level-2 cells."

Luo Fan pondered, after having survived the catastrophe.

Level-2 cells were able to block the entry of the stomach acid, otherwise he would really have died here.

Although he had survived, Luo Fan was in tatters.

Only less than half of the eyeball's body remained; an intestine was attached to it from the top.

It looked extremely miserable; there was a large number of corroded dents on the eyeball.

Only so many cells in his body had evolved.

"I won't die for the time being. I can consider the next development."

Luo Fan calmed himself down and began to analyze his surroundings.

He was in the stomach of that big fish, and the dead fish and rotten shrimps swallowed by the big fish piled around him.

The stomach acid could no longer harm his body. Right now, Luo Fan was the only living thing in its stomach.

"I can devour the surrounding fish and shrimps that have already been decomposed by the stomach acid. Luckily, I have evolved an intestine."

At this moment, Luo Fan was very glad that he had further evolved his intestine in order to increase the absorption rate.

Although he had evolved only one intestine, it was also the only one that had survived in the stomach acid.

But with just this one intestine, he would be able to quickly absorb the surrounding rotten flesh.

Luo Fan issued an order.

That intestine began to move. It twisted and inserted into a pile of rotten flesh.

The decomposed matter and energy slowly entered the intestine, and were then transferred into Luo Fan's eyeball.

"The next step is to slowly mend the body, but at the same time, the cells have to evolve. Otherwise, the cells that have just divided will be dissolved by the stomach acid within the blink of an eye."

As Luo Fan pondered, he ordered the energy to be converted toward his intestine.

The first step was to create a few more intestines to speed up the absorption rate.

The second step was to repair the eyeball fully.

On those few intestines which had broken apart, some of the cells were dividing again.

Luo Fan used energy to evolve these newborn intestinal cells as soon as they had divided.

The requirement for a level-1 cell to evolve into a level-2 cell was very simple, and that was 1 joule of energy.

...

In the river, a two-meter-long fish was swimming around freely.

Its body was covered in scales that were pure black, just like ink.

It moved like an apparition in this river of pitch-black water.

The fish swam to the surface of the river from time to time and swallowed dead fish into its belly.

When night came, the black fish would sink into the river.

Traveling in the deepest part of the river, it was heading towards a specific location.

There was a spot of light in the darkness of the river.

The black fish swam towards the faint light.

This was a sandy beach at the bottom of the river. The beach emitted a golden glow, illuminating the dark bottom of the river.

When the black fish came over, it groveled on this stretch of beach which was emanating a faint light.

For some reason, the black fish felt very comfortable lying on the beach. It was as if energy was constantly being channeled into its body.

Ever since it discovered this stretch of beach at the bottom of the river, it had become stronger and stronger. Now, it had vaguely become the overlord of the riverbed.

In this stretch of water, it already possessed the strength to proclaim itself as the overlord.

Energy emanated from the beach and was slowly channeled into the body of the black fish.

The black fish lay comfortably on it.

At this moment, not far from the black fish, another big fish with fiery red scales was eyeing the black fish covetously.

Originally, this was its place but it had now been taken away by the black fish.

The red fish watched from afar, not daring to approach.

It was only a meter long in size and far from being the black fish's opponent.

However, the red fish did not know that due to the black fish's gluttony, it had allowed parasites into its body.