His socks were stuffed full, and spikes were coming through them.

Where did those spikes come from?

It was too difficult to remove the socks, so Yamano found a dagger and cut them open.

OMG!

He saw fish tails!

“No! No!”

The entire ark could hear his scream.

…

He wasn’t the only one that was going through this. Such things didn’t happen just to the Flamians either.

Not all the affected had private rooms. In an Iceanian ar, a group of young people was chatting and laughing.

/ .

A man brushed past one of them when he ran into them in the corridor.

The young man frowned when he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He looked down and saw a scratch.

“Dude, watch where you’re going!”

“Are you talking to me?” The middle-aged man asked in annoyance.

The young man pointed at his elbow. “You’ve scratched my arm. I think the least you can do is apologize to me.”

The middle-aged man was amused. He had only brushed past the young man. How could he have scratched him?

“Did you say I scratched your arm? How am I supposed to do that? I’m not carrying any knives or sharp objects! You’re making things up!”

The young man’s friends became angry and surrounded the middle-aged man.

“We all saw it! You scratched him! Don’t try to deny it!”

“I know what’s going on here? You think you can bully me because you have more people! Tell me how I scratched him! Do I have spikes on me?”

“Who knows? Take off your clothes, then!”

“That’s enough! You’ve gone too far!” The middle-aged man lost his temper.

The scene attracted much attention.

“I think that’s enough. There’s only so much space in the ark, and it’s inevitable that we bump into each other. Don’t make a big deal out of it. Just apologize and walk away!”

“That’s right. Don’t fight over petty things like this! Let’s be civil. Just apologize, man!”

“We should be more considerate. Moon is working on restoring gravity, and we’ll be out of here soon. Just bear with each other for a few more moments, alright? Don’t fight!”

The middle-aged man felt wronged as well. “I have no problem apologizing, but he said I scratched him, and I won’t have it! We’re both flesh and bones, so how am I supposed to hurt him? It doesn’t make sense! Your gravity hasn’t been restored, and you’re still hopping around. That was why something like this had happened! We could have avoided this if you had knelt at the ocean! You only have yourself to blame!”

“Are you saying that it’s our fault?” the young man asked angrily.

The middle-aged man said indifferently, “You know perfectly well what I mean.”

Some people supported the young man, while others supported the middle-aged man.

“I agree with him. If you had knelt at the ocean, you wouldn’t have regained your gravity by now. Something like this would never have happened. I know how you’re feeling. You can’t control your movements, and it’s normal to bump into each other.”

“No, it’s not like that! I didn’t kneel, but I could still control my body. I think these young men are to be blamed!”

Somebody said, “With or without gravity, people don’t bleed from bumping into each other! These young men are trying to swindle this man!”

The young man was agitated. “What did you say? Are you calling me a liar? He definitely has a knife! If you don’t believe me, let him take off his clothes, and we’ll examine him! I’ll kneel and apologize immediately if we can’t find anything sharp on him!”

“I don’t have any knives!” The middle-aged man argued.

“Take off your clothes, then! Show everybody you’re telling the truth!” The young man’s friends insisted.

The middle-aged man nodded. “Alright. I’ll show you if I have any blades! If I don’t have any, you must apologize to me for ruining my reputation!”

“No problem! Go ahead!” the young man replied without hesitation.

The middle-aged man took off his shirt in front of all the people. However, as soon as he did that, the crowd stepped back in unison and gasped in astonishment. Some children even screamed and burst into tears.

“Mom, I’m scared!”

“What’s that on his back?”

“Gosh! That’s terrible!”

“Is that a skin condition? Let’s stay away from him!”

“He’s a monster!”

…

The middle-aged man was confused by the panic.

He looked at the young man and noticed that he and his friends looked scared as well. They had moved as far away from him as possible.

“What’s the matter? Do I have something on me? Is it dust?” The middle-aged man couldn’t understand their reaction. However, he was shocked when he looked down at his stomach.

It was covered by scales.

That wasn’t it.

Some spikes had stuck out of his arms around the elbows and looked rather like fins.

In that case, were those spikes the reason he scratched the young man’s skin?

“Why is this happening to me? What’s going on?”

He was still trying to figure out what had happened when somebody else shouted in the crowd. “Look! He has scales, too!”

“OMG! So does he! Run! They’re monsters!”

“Thomas, why do you have scales, too? Wait! Why do I have them?”

“Look! His feet have turned into fish tails! Holy **! This is so scary! Have we been invaded by aliens?”

“You’re not one of us! You’re all aliens!”

“I can’t believe this is happening! It’s like a sci-fi movie!”

“I can’t breathe! I’m suffocating! I need water!”

The people with scales all had the same symptoms. As the artificial moon rose and gravity increased, they started having difficulty breathing.

They stuck their faces underwater as if they were driven by some instinct.