Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 850 - 849: Hypoxia (6K)
There is definitely a conspiracy behind this!
The Ant King suppressed his breathing, his thoughts racing as he desperately pondered.
Those insects transforming into the appearance of his ants, there are two possibilities.
First, the insect swarm is controlled by some entity aiming to frame or harm him.
The possibility of this hypothesis exists but is extremely low—the Ant King couldn't imagine what kind of terrifying computing power a brain must have to control such a large-scale insect swarm.
Moreover, even if there is an independent consciousness manipulating the insect swarm behind the scenes,
it's entirely unnecessary to waste effort on harming a hopelessly trapped and resource-depleted person like himself.
Second, the insect swarm is merely a native uncontrolled experimental organism from the Lost World; they devoured the ant unit he sent out earlier, absorbed the ant's genes, and thus evolved into an ant-like form.
The probability of this hypothesis is slightly higher, but it also has loopholes—why doesn't the insect swarm continue its attack? 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Could it be that the insect swarm, after absorbing the ant genes, inherited some traits of the former, still recognizing him as the former creator?
The cold sensation of the blade on his neck pulled the Ant King back from his thoughts to reality.
He took a deep breath, his peripheral vision brushing over the solemn expressions of Dahan and Paranoia, just as he was about to speak, he heard a distant "clang-clang-crash" echoing from the tunnel.
An armed armored car with four explosion-proof tires sped from afar, the headlights illuminating the tunnel as bright as day.
Driving the vehicle was Gen-Sys Biotech's Ares, while Prometheus' Abel sat in the passenger seat—his chest entirely sunken, and blood continuously sprayed out from the wound in his ribs.
As for the battered young man standing on the hood...
David?!
The Ant King's heart skipped a beat; the European Heavy Industry Group and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Special Affairs Bureau, along with powers like Prometheus and Gen-Sys Biotech Company, had previously formed an alliance,
promising that if encountered during the Lost World stage, they would prioritize cooperation, eliminate other forces, and share the benefits together.
The Ant King couldn't imagine what situation would leave David, Ares, and Abel in such a predicament, even forcing them to flee for their lives.
"You three, if you don't want to die, get in the car!"
David, holding the Judgment Spear, stood on the hood and turned his face to roar at the Ant King and others, continuing to watch the pitch-dark tunnel behind the vehicle,
his expression was extremely gloomy, with a faint trace of... fear between his brows.
The armored car sped towards them, Dahan glanced at the Ant King, turned and accelerated a few steps, grasping the handle on the side of the armored car and jumping onto the vehicle as it passed by.
"..."
Paranoia squinted, her iris twisted and deformed, gradually forming obscure patterns,
the colors in her view rapidly faded, yet everything became remarkably clear.
She saw the creature in the darkness afar—
A large bear-like creature with a broad forehead, slightly short face, and limbs relatively slender compared to its body, yet thicker than a human's thigh by one or two rounds.
Known as the "Shortface" Black Bear, it was flying towards them on a floating metal plate,
its head lowered, its black fur wildly fluttering as it moved,
where it passed, sand and metal fragments gently bounced and floated due to gravity changes around them,
only until the Shortface moved fifty meters away did they fall back to the ground,
forming a long indentation on the tunnel floor,
like a contrail dragged high in the sky by an airplane.
Without any hesitation, Paranoia directly released the Ant King,
taking out a yellow-green colored skateboard from the backpack slot, standing on it, she activated the board's sprint function, catching up with David's armored vehicle at a speed not inferior to a racing car's start.
And the Ant King, seeing them in such distress, also summoned a car-sized winged ant, standing on its back, tightly pursuing them.
Seeing everyone catch up, Ares stepped hard on the accelerator, turning into a narrow road,
David stood on the roof, took a deep breath, gathering what little Spiritual Power he had left, used his skill, and threw the Judgement Spear emitting dazzling golden light toward the dome of the space behind.
The dome shattered and collapsed, crushing down a mass of debris, burying the narrow path.
David's hand grasped, retrieving the distant Judgement Spear from the air, his feet staggered, almost almost falling,
luckily, Dahan beside him supported him, preventing him from falling off the car.
The armored car turned off the headlights, slowly decreased its speed, the roaring engine also toned down, quietly advancing through the pitch-black environment.
"You guys are..."
Dahan hesitated for a moment and softly said, "Encountered Michael?"
"No, but it's not much better."
David slowly sat down on the roof, watching the temporarily silent blocked entrance behind them; he turned his head, speaking to Dahan and the following Paranoia and Ant King: "The elevators and passages leading to the lower space, do you know where they are?"
"Yes."
The Ant King reported several locations, then said in a deep voice: "The four elevators and three passages we've explored are all under the control of the insect swarm, but there are two more that haven't been discovered by the insect swarm yet, although they might require some detour.
"Insect swarm?"
David frowned; they previously clashed with Shortface and Chameleons, killed the chameleon, personally witnessed the opponent's body vanish, confirming they really were Otherworldly Players.
But Cain was also caught in a wrathful frenzy and was torn in half, forced to withdraw from the competition, uncertain if he could survive.
The three survivors took the elevator all the way down, avoiding the Shortface's pursuit, never encountering the swarm.
"Let's just drop it."
David shook his head and quickly said, "Given the current situation, you absolutely can't hold out on your own.
If you have no combat capability, it's better to withdraw to preserve your life.
If you still have combat capability, come down with us."
"Go down?"
Dahan instinctively asked, "Where to?"
"To gather everyone who is still alive."
————
41st floor, above the Bug Nest Metropolitan.
"At the twelve o'clock direction, thirty meters away, there is a squad of scout bugs flying over, wait for them to pass."
A micro device directly implanted in Pei Youzhen's cochlea, stimulated the auditory cells, creating nerve impulses, simulating sound signals transmitted into her brain.
At this moment, she was with her three companions, Qin, and Eva, wearing specially made gloves that could adhere to metal, hanging beneath the dome above the Bug Nest Metropolitan.
They were all sprinkled with a special powder called [Trickery Fog], which could bend the surrounding light, achieving an invisibility effect,
Their clothes and skin covered with a large amount of special grease, which isolated odors and reduced the sound made when contacting the outside world.
Blue Lantern and two companions were on the left and right sides not far from Wind Chaser's team, respectively.
Their bodies similarly coated with Trickery Fog and stealth grease.
Earlier, after a discussion, they decided to join forces to rescue Ju Tianfu, Tsuchimikado Xiao Man, and others trapped.
Ju Zi was responsible for creating a diversion during their infiltration, attracting the Bug Nest's attention,
Nina was responsible for hiding on the 42nd floor, observing the Bug Nest's movements, providing command to ensure the infiltration plan did not fail.
"...Alright, the scout bugs have passed, Group B can continue to advance."
Nina's voice echoed in their minds, as Pei Youzhen and her two companions quietly moved forward by turning the magnetic gloves on and off.
The captured players were indeed still alive, with the Life Paper linked to the players of the Special Affairs Bureau, neither withered nor obliterated, indicating that Ju Tianfu had not died or had left the Lost World.
Similar tools on Tsuchimikado Xiao Man and others were the same.
However, being alive doesn't mean they haven't encountered misfortune,
Especially when facing the Bug Clan, which obviously has superb biological transformation technology, being alive might be worse than death...
The three groups of players crawled forward silently.
One has to admit, looking down from above, the entire Bug Nest Metropolitan appeared even more immense and eerie.
Originally an artificial city built of reinforced concrete, it was now covered with a layer of blue-purple fungi-like substances similar to moss and lichens,
These mushroom-like substances covered roads, bridges, and even skyscrapers' rooftops and walls, continually writhing in slight motions, distorting into various indescribable patterns, as if having a life of their own.
On the top floors of some tall buildings, there were curved winding chimneys growing.
The surface of the chimneys, named [Spore Towers], was full of holes, resembling dead corals (some looked like tentacles), sporadically emitting colorful spores every few seconds.
The spores drifted with the wind, rapidly growing into fungi when landing in suitable areas, forming a Mycelium Carpet.
The Mycelium Carpet could collect and produce biomass, bearing fruit to provide raw materials for the Bug Nest,
Bug Nest Soldier Bugs typically require Worker Bugs to inject energy substances extracted from the digestion pool into their bodies for energy,
but if necessary, Bug Nest Soldier Bugs can also directly consume the fruits of the Mycelium Carpet, or even gnaw on the carpet itself to sustain life.
Moreover, the Mycelium Carpet can transform the surrounding soil, water sources, and air composition, making the environment more suitable for the growth of Bug Nest living entities and structures.
It also has hunting capabilities; some animals, such as deer, cattle, horses, and rabbits, must immediately escape if they accidentally step into the Mycelium Carpet area,
Otherwise, they would be caught by the carpet's tendrils and dissolved by the corrosive solution it secretes, being digested into nutrients...
The rescuers were unaware of the specific details of the Spore Tower and Mycelium Carpet, but it was easy to imagine that contact with these fumes would not bode well for them.
They strictly followed Nina's command, carefully bypassing the range of the Spore Tower, gradually approaching the position Blue Lantern mentioned, "showing Tsuchimikado Xiao Man's life signs"—a skyscraper.
Strange, why are these insects running around everywhere?
As Pei Youzhen hung beneath the dome of the skyscraper, overlooking the scene below, an ominous premonition rose in her heart.
The outermost ground caves of the Bug Nest spewed a flood of Worker Bugs,
They used sharp teeth and claws to cut the Mycelium Carpet, rolling it up like artificial turf, retracting it toward the city.
The Bug Nest Factory, integrated with the skyscrapers within the city, were being stripped and disassembled in all directions, placed on the backs of Ground-drilling Sandworms.
Various levels of Soldier Bugs, previously dormant in the Bug Nest Metropolitan to conserve energy, were leaving their original positions, splitting into groups, advancing along tunnels, quickly disappearing around distant corners.
The entire Bug Nest Metropolitan was in motion.
Is it... relocating?
A puzzled emotion surfaced in their minds, and the players using [Trickery Fog] exchanged glances and gestures, finally deciding to launch the assault.
The Bug Nest forces had split in half, now was the best chance.
As Bai Haozheng withdrew his finger, explosions echoed around the outskirts of the Bug Nest Metropolitan.
The side wall of the wilderness cracked and collapsed. A wooden serpentine puppet, resembling a giant onyx snake, burst through the gap. Its massive forty-meter-long body plowed across the wasteland like a steamroller,
kicking up dust and countless Worker Bugs.
Bugs of all levels quickly reacted, shells rained down like a storm towards the wooden serpentine puppet controlled by Ju Zi.
The Crossbow Gun and machine guns mounted on the back of the serpentine puppet opened fire,
its body twisting back and forth to fling off crawling Bug Nest Soldiers.
For a moment, dust and stones flew wildly over the wasteland, smoke filled the air, gunfire, and beastly roars shook the heavens.
Now is the time.
The eight players hanging from the dome let go of their grips, plummeting downwards.
Bai Haozheng drew his Light Longsword, Yuyi Xinzhong pulled out his Long Knife, Umibouzu slammed down with his Wolf Fang Club, Blue Lantern summoned ghostly blue flames...
The players' attack actions prematurely ended the effects of the [Trickery Fog],
eliciting energy fluctuations that drew the attention of all Bug Nest Soldiers to the sky. Some flying units flapped their wings, rushing at full speed towards them,
while ground units used ranged weapons to target and fire at the exposed players.
Yet, it was still a moment too late,
as various skills struck that high-rise building, tearing apart the Mycelium Carpet covering the exterior, revealing a massive gap.
The players charged into the gap in single file. Bai Haozheng slashed through a curtain of flesh blocking their path with his sword, and Umibouzu swung the Wolf Fang Club to smash the low-level Worker Bugs rushing at them.
"Ten o'clock direction!"
Blue Lantern, holding a locator device capable of showing Tsuchimikado Xiao Man's position, took the lead, charging at the forefront and continuously flinging azure flames to incinerate the bio-weapons obstructing their path.
The team traversed and zipped through the Bug Nest's intricate maze, finding it increasingly difficult to advance the deeper they went.
The Bug swarm ahead was becoming denser in number and higher in quality, evolving from the initial Guard Level, Beast Level, to Guard Level, and even Close Guard Level.
The Bug Nest's evolution speed was terrifyingly rapid; after entering the Lost World, it began by absorbing the skeletal remains of indigenous residents from abandoned cryo pods,
then the shadow dragon lineage from the body of Longxiang Bao, the demonized bloodlines from Tsuchimikado Xiao Man and others,
as well as the demonic ants under the Ant King's command.
Even though these genes couldn't be perfectly utilized by the Bug Nest in a short time or fully replicated,
they provided evolutionary insights for the Bug Nest,
allowing the Brain Worms to draw from a variety of sources to experiment with various specialized evolutions on the Bug eggs produced.
Because of this, the Close Guard Level Bug Nest Soldiers Bai Haozheng and others faced became increasingly challenging and troublesome — some had incorporated large amounts of Lost World metal into their back shells, allowing them to withstand machine gunfire head-on,
and offering considerable defense against energy impacts as well.
Whether it was Bai Haozheng's Light Longsword or Blue Lantern's ghost fire, their attacks on the shells inflicted reduced damage.
Seeing their advance repeatedly slowed, indicating a split and separated tendency,
Bai Haozheng gritted his teeth, pulling out a Perfect Level bomb tool shaped like a skull-head blue tracked vehicle called [Withering Heart Attack]...
————
Deep within the Bug Nest.
Ju Tianfu, still affixed inside a mummy coffin-shaped container, blinked his eyes.
Before him was a blackboard made of gypsum material,
where ten Bug Nest units resembling ladybugs perched, constantly using their tail stingers to write dense human words on the board.
These words originated from Ju Tianfu's brain — ten tubes embedded with nerve fibers extended from Ju Tianfu's head, connecting to the backs of the ladybugs,
converting Ju Tianfu's thoughts into neural signals transmitted through the tubes to the ladybugs,
causing them to rapidly write on the gypsum board.
Due to advanced personnel from both the Special Affairs Bureau and the Heterodox Academy having undergone brain protection, some crucial organizational secrets would not leak out.
Ju Tianfu slowly recalled the most basic Qi training methods circulating within the Heterodox Academy, trying to empty his mind and use vague subconscious thoughts to consider how to escape.
Other players captured together, like Longxiang Bao, had already been moved to other rooms in the Bug Nest and were likely undergoing similar interrogations.
These bugs... are truly bizarre.
Their biological modification technologies, such as Spore Towers and Mycelium Carpets, are almost akin to a biological Natural Disaster,
yet in terms of memory extraction, they still rely on nerve fiber conduction rather than directly absorbing brain fluid and extracting memories;
Most Worker Bugs and Bug Nest Soldiers lack self-awareness, rationality, or fear emotions,
but the highest-level Bug Nest Overlords possess a concept of "self," and can even compromise, negotiate, and learn human languages for maximum benefit...
Boom——
A dull, prolonged rumble resonated from outside the room
The Bug Nest Overlord Cerberus, who was reading interrogation materials while seated, stood up.
Ju Tianfu felt a jolt in his heart and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Your companions,"
Cerberus spoke in a deep voice, "have come to rescue you."
Ju Tianfu's expression changed slightly, and the faces of Bai Haozheng and others instantly flashed in his mind, causing him to regret somewhat.
Given his insight, he was naturally aware of the terrifying power contained within this Bug Nest Overlord's body,
Bai Haozheng and others had never encountered a Bug Nest Overlord before. If they relied on the experience of eradicating Guard Level Soldier Bugs to deal with Cerberus... they might meet misfortune.
"We agreed,"
Ju Tianfu said sternly and urgently, "that if I divulged the information, you would let us leave."
Cerberus glanced at him coldly, hoarsely saying, "I meant 'you all' could leave.
However, these people are not included in the original agreement."
After speaking, the Bug Nest Overlord began to move, heading towards the room's front door.
Boom!
A loud noise echoed once more, causing the entire room to tremble.
Ju Tianfu took a deep breath and activated the Divine Mark engraved beneath the skin at the back of his head.
Mysterious Dark Divine Power leaked out, instantly freezing the mummy coffin constraining Ju Tianfu into ice,
a cold wave visibly spreading outward,
wherever it passed, the ground, walls, and ceiling all froze, and the room's temperature plummeted sharply.
The familiar strong sensation returned to him,
Ju Tianfu crooked his mouth,
and fiercely exhaled a breath of air mixed with ice crystals towards Cerberus.
Spiritual Energy waves surged out from Cerberus's body, applying Creation System's Level-One Superpower to create a rectangular star-like object, which he then launched forward,
using the star-like object to briefly shield himself from the cold breath, retreating swiftly outside the cold zone's lethal range.
Strangely, the Bug Nest Overlord did not launch further attacks; instead, he stood there silently, staring at Ju Tianfu.
A strong sense of unease welled up within Ju Tianfu, but with no choice but to move forward once set in motion.
He expended Divine Power, stirring up cold winds around him, tore apart the mummy coffin, and the conduits connecting above him, breaking free from restraint.
Then he fell to the ground.
Fell—in the most precise terms,
Ju Tianfu lay flat on his back, looking at his body, seeing not torso and limbs but a heap of mutated, twisted, and complex living organs.
Heart, airway, lungs, blood vessels...
These organs manufactured by the Bug Nest originally fixed inside the mummy coffin, were maintaining Ju Tianfu's life by drawing nutrients through the conduits,
now, as Ju Tianfu escaped the mummy coffin, all the sticky, slimy internal organs dropped out, crashing onto the room's ice-frozen floor.
Gone,
My torso, my limbs...
Deprived of touch and pain by the Bug Nest, Ju Tianfu's vision quickly darkened due to fear, anger, and despair,
and also due to organ failure and blood supply shortage.
Tap, tap, tap.
Cerberus walked quickly over, crushing the ice crystals on the ground, and picked up Ju Tianfu,
Skillfully detached several conduits from the ceiling and inserted them into pre-formed slots on Ju Tianfu's head.
Blood filled with oxygen circulated once again, and Ju Tianfu, now only a head, survived.
A large number of Worker Bugs crawled into the room, collecting the broken coffin fragments, clearing away the thick ice layers left by Mysterious Dark Divine Power, and brought in an identically shaped life-support device,
putting Ju Tianfu back into it once more.
"If a human's brain cells lack endogenous oxygen for long, it can cause irreversible brain damage."
Cerberus spoke in a low tone, "I can consider your recent jailbreak as an uninformed reckless offense and forgive your mistake.
But mistakes can only happen once."
Cerberus observed Ju Tianfu, whose consciousness was gradually recovering, and hoarsely added, "Our contract remains valid. Before I bring back your new comrades,
I hope you can write more things down."
After speaking, Cerberus strode out of the room, exchanging glances with other Bug Nest Overlords leaving the room. Together, they headed towards the direction from which the loud noise came, searching for those invaders.
Only these Bug Nest Overlords knew that the Bug Nest Brainworm, [Sphinx], specialized in biological modification technology, designed and created the complex technique that stripped players of their limbs, leaving only their heads, sustained by conduits hanging from the ceiling.
This technology appears to have been inspired by a human cartoon called "Calabash Brothers," which, at that time, received praise and commendation from Lady Saint,
awarded the silver prize at the "First Bug Nest Cup I Love Invention Competition," making other Brainworms envious.
