It was a worm, a giant bluish-black worm with a diameter exceeding ten meters and an unknown length.

Lin Ye instinctively glanced at the kitchen knife in his hand, which was less than half a meter long, and for a moment didn't know what expression to make.

The giant worm didn't attack them. Instead, it rested its head against the edge of the pool. It had no eyes, only a massive mouth filled with sharp teeth, but it was clear it had already detected them.

Lin Ye briefly considered how to deal with this worm, but he quickly realized that in his current state, he had absolutely no way to eliminate it.

Dollification wasn't a cure-all; it was unlikely to work on a creature of this size. And even if he could successfully turn the giant worm into a doll, Lin Ye still couldn't dispose of it.

The kitchen knife was even more laughable; the invisible blades probably couldn't even scratch its epidermis.

Just as Lin Ye was pondering how to deal with this giant worm, the worm released some spiritual energy around it. Lin Ye received a spiritual imprint:

"Aren't you supposed to offer a sacrifice?"

Before Lin Ye could speak, Kalin suddenly rushed in front of him and shouted at the giant worm:

"We are the sacrifice! Can you grant my wish?"

However, the giant worm completely ignored Kalin. It sent another spiritual imprint to Lin Ye:

"Hurry up. I don't like this pool, and I don't want to be associated with you. You need to give me a sacrificial offering so I can leave."

"Uh... will this do?"

Lin Ye took out the contamination bombs he had obtained from the cultist corpses.

"... That's too trashy; it doesn't qualify as a sacrifice. The other junk on you won't do either. I'm not here to collect scrap."

The giant worm wasn't angry; it simply rejected Lin Ye calmly.

"Then, can you give me some spiritual energy? I can craft a sacrificial offering for you... Or, if you're not in a hurry, you could wait for me to return, re-perform the ritual, and prepare a truly precious sacrifice for you."

Lin Ye was out of options. Here, he was just a D-Class personnel. But if the other party wasn't in a rush, his basement back home contained many suitable offerings.

"... Fine. I hope you can craft me a decent sacrifice."

The giant worm sprayed a burst of spiritual energy towards them, instantly increasing the spiritual energy concentration in the environment.

Utilizing the Flesh and Blood Rule Fragment and parasitic runes, Lin Ye created some small parasitic worms inside the surrounding corpses. These parasitic worms looked somewhat strange in appearance but didn't lack the necessary characteristics.

"How about this? A type of parasitic organism capable of rapid reproduction."

Lin Ye had become quite adept at creating parasitic organisms recently.

"Hmm... Not bad. Just that their cries are a bit odd."

The giant worm observed the parasitic worms for a moment, then, satisfied, collected these constantly meowing parasitic worms.

After accepting the sacrifice, the giant worm retracted back into the pool and disappeared.

Taking advantage of the lingering spiritual energy in the environment, Lin Ye compressed some of the pool water and stored this compressed water inside a black hazmat suit that had undergone Alienation.

After completing the ritual, the damaged hazmat suit also presented three options:

Basic.

Protection.

Enhancement.

This time, Lin Ye chose the Protection option.

The hazmat suit remained tattered, but when using it, one could activate a layer of spiritual energy shield.

Lin Ye, holding the ritual item, climbed up the escalator beside the pool towards the surface, with the three D-Class personnel following behind him.

Kalin walked at the very back with a bitter expression. She never imagined things would turn out this way.

Lin Ye couldn't be bothered with Kalin. If he didn't need her alive to reduce the ritual's difficulty, he would have disposed of her long ago.

Since she wanted to become a sacrifice, Lin Ye naturally wouldn't refuse her request.

The four of them successfully returned to the Lounge. Lin Ye rested for a while before walking over to the handcart and lifting the black cloth.

This time, both the black cloth and the handcart appeared completely normal. Lin Ye's speculation was correct; the ritual's difficulty was related to the number of participants. The more people, the lower the difficulty.

Under the black cloth was a transparent crystal ball. Inside the sphere was a vast expanse of pale red sea.

Lin Ye picked up the crystal ball. The liquid inside flowed continuously, producing the sound of waves.

"What is this?"

Damon looked at the crystal ball curiously.

"Probably a miniature Red Sea."

Lin Ye pushed open the door. Outside the Lounge was a small island whose end could be seen at a glance, surrounded by pale red seawater.

"What is the Red Sea?"

Mu Kai looked at the seawater before him, asking in confusion.

"The Red Sea is a red-colored sea."

Lin Ye walked onto a rock and looked down at the pale red seawater below. For now, he didn't know what this ritual was about.

This ritual clearly wasn't related to Marty but was Lin Ye's exclusive ritual. Yet, he wasn't connected to the cultists, making it difficult to guess the ritual's content.

"Boss, there seems to be something strange over here!"

Damon shouted from behind the Lounge.

Lin Ye walked over and discovered a large mouth with sharp fangs in the center of the island. The mouth was about one meter long and was constantly opening and closing.

"Uh, are we supposed to throw sacrifices into it?"

Mu Kai made a reasonable guess.

"Probably. But to obtain sacrifices, we might need to do some experimentation."

Lin Ye took a breath of the spiritual energy drifting over from beyond the island. This area finally wasn't a spiritual energy void.

"Could it be that we need to get sacrifices from the sea?"

Damon was eager to try. He was quite the fishing expert and would often cast a line in his free time.

"More or less."

Lin Ye used the kitchen knife, the hazmat suit, and tables and chairs from the Lounge to craft several fishing rods, which he distributed to the other three.

He sincerely hoped they would have an excellent fishing experience.

Lin Ye cast a line into the seawater. He didn't use bait because there was nothing on the island. They had all become Stuffed Toys and couldn't even provide a piece of flesh and blood.

However, Lin Ye felt he could use the Flesh and Blood Rule Fragment to revert them from stuffed toys back to normal humans, but that wasn't something he could accomplish quickly.

"I hope we can catch some materials that can be used as bait."

Lin Ye's mental energy could penetrate the pale red seawater, but it could only extend a short distance within it, so he couldn't directly grab creatures from the water.

But Lin Ye could vaguely sense the creatures moving in the nearby shallow sea area. Perhaps he could hook them out of the sea with his fishhook.

Soon, Lin Ye sensed a submerged shadow moving nearby. He flicked the fishing rod, attempting to use a hooking technique to bring the thing below to the surface.

The fishhook easily snagged the shadow. Lin Ye forcefully jerked the rod, and a slender Red Sea creature was flung onto the shore.

Before Lin Ye could even get close, the Red Sea creature sprayed a barrage of dark red water arrows at them. The arrows were extremely fast, hitting everyone except Lin Ye. Even Lin Ye almost failed to dodge them.