Chapter 521 Devouring and Decision

  Chapter 521 Devouring and choosing

  ”…Xiao Yu?”

  In the warehouse on the B3 floor of the shelter, Luo Yu froze in place as he looked at Xiao Yu, whose size had expanded by more than one circle. What

  is

  going on? !

  ”Zhao!”

  Seeing Luo Yu appear at the door, Xiao Yu excitedly called out. Although his voice was still weak, Chu Guang could clearly feel that the little guy had regained some spirit.

  ”I told you not to learn that weird cry… What’s going on with you?”

  Luo Yu walked forward, ignoring the tentacles floating beside him, and reached out to touch Xiao Yu’s smooth and delicate head.

  Hiss –

  so hot!

  The body temperature of this guy must be at least 60 or 70 degrees.

  ”Eh…” Xiao Yu made a weak cry, and his pitiful appearance made people feel distressed.

  Chu Guang looked at He Ya.

  ”Tell him the situation again.”

  He Ya nodded, looked at Luo Yu, who looked anxious, and repeated what she had just said to Chu Guang.

  Especially about the two options.

  ”…Now there are only two choices, let it evolve on its own, or let it devour the mother nest on the B6 layer. The former has a higher success rate, but it is more random, and it is likely to lose its current memory after success. The latter has the risk of being devoured in turn, but if the evolution is successful, the result is relatively controllable, and it is likely to retain its current self.”

  After listening to Heya’s narration, Luoyu fell into silence and said after a moment.

  ”…Must it evolve?”

  He suddenly felt.

  In fact, there is no need to become so strong.

  For him, Xiaoyu has become his partner and has saved him on the battlefield before.

  If the price of becoming stronger is to sacrifice those irreplaceable memories, he would rather it be as stupid as it was in the past.

  Looking at Luoyu, Heya nodded seriously.

  ”Yes, just like the birth, aging, illness and death of a person, this is something that is bound to happen in its life cycle… Even if you leave it alone, it will eventually reach that step.”

  Luoyu lowered his head slightly in self-blame.

  ”Is it because I took it to hunt alien species and fruiting bodies?”

  ”Yes and no.”

  Luoyu raised his head in confusion.

  ”What do you mean.”

  Heya said.

  ”The mutant slime mold… is a very special creature, and your little feather is the most special one among them. It does not rely on spores to transmit information, but uses vocal cords like humans to communicate with sound. Genetic material only accounts for a small part of its evolutionary path, and more… I think it may be memory.”

  ”Memory?”

  ”Yes,” Heya nodded, “The habits, experience, knowledge, and everything else of the creature together constitute its understanding of evolution and the next stage of self. When these memories accumulate to a certain extent, the instinct from the depths of life tells it that it is time… It will naturally go to the next stage of life.”

  ”This is its mission.”

  Luoyu was silent for a while, looked up at Chu Guang,

  ”I want to talk to it.”

  Heya also looked at Chu Guang.

  ”My suggestion is that its owner should communicate with it… But we’d better make a choice within an hour. I’m not sure how long its self-awareness can last.”

  Chu Guang nodded and looked at Luoyu.

  ”You heard it, you have an hour.”

  Luoyu nodded.

  ”It won’t take that long… Ten minutes, no, five minutes will be enough.”

  Chu Guang waved to the Guards, and then took Heya and his party out of the warehouse and came to the outside of the B3 floor.

  He thought it would be better to let Xiaoyu and Luoyu be alone for a while.

  Anyway, Xiaoqi can monitor every corner of the shelter, and even if something unexpected happens, he can control the situation in the first time.

  While waiting, Heya looked at Chu Guang.

  ”Is it okay to let him choose?”

  ”No problem, I believe he has his own judgment.” Chu Guang gave a simple answer.

  There is no best of both worlds in this world, not to mention that Xiaoyu’s problem has never been seen on this planet.

  Since it’s all a gamble, it’s better to let the person involved make the decision.

  The alliance can get to where it is today, and it didn’t rely on him alone to make a choice.

  The one person and the mother body communicated for a while, and the time was shorter than Chu Guang expected. Only three minutes later, Luoyu walked out of the room.

  ”I’ve decided.” Staring at Chu Guang, Luo Yu said seriously, “The second one… let it devour the mother nest on the B6 floor.”

  Chu Guang looked at him and reminded him in a calm tone.

  ”Have you thought it through? It’s not easy for a baby who has just learned to walk to defeat an old monster that has lived for more than a hundred years, even if that guy is already very weak.”

  ”Well…” Luo Yu nodded and glanced at Xiao Yu behind him, “This is not just my idea… it’s also its decision.”

  Rather than losing all memories and completely turning into another new life, it’s better to take a gamble and pass on the memory with a brand new body.

  As he said, this is not his decision alone.

  After listening to his confession, Xiao Yu took the initiative to choose option B… It also didn’t want to give up those precious memories.

  Chu Guang nodded.

  ”I respect your choice.”

  As Luo Yu made the final decision, the operation to transfer Xiao Yu to the B6 floor began soon, still with the same team as last time.

  A group of fully armed players, led by Lao Bai, took the elevator down to the B6 floor and soon formed a queue outside the buffer workshop.

  ”Team A, follow me! Team B, provide fire coverage!”

  ”Target the server room! Move!”

  ”Ahhh!”

  With a series of neat clicks, LD-47 rifles and LD-47j light machine guns were loaded one after another, and the team of 20 people quickly rushed into the corridor.

  The dozen or so gnawers that were killed before had their organic matter recycled by the mother nest and resynthesized into new fruiting bodies.

  However, ordinary fruiting bodies were no match for the players at all. In a burst of jumping flames, they were quickly wiped out in a few seconds.

  Led by Old White, the top players of the Burning Corps quickly rushed to the door of the server room and controlled the entrance.

  There was no reactor on the B6 floor.

  The mother nest was hosted on the server in the biological laboratory, and its tentacles replaced the lines and cooling pipes connecting the chassis.

  ”Give me the inhibitor.”

  ”Ok.” Quitting Smoking took out a metal round tube the size of a can from his backpack and threw it to Old White, who was wearing a power armor and clearing the way.

  Catching the metal round tube, Old White skillfully pulled out the fuse and threw it in at the moment the movable door of the computer room was opened.

  The moment the metal round tube touched the squirming fungal blanket, it was quickly swallowed up by the fungal blanket indiscriminately. However, not long after, the mother nest seemed to realize that it had eaten something dirty that it shouldn’t have eaten. It suddenly shook as if it had been electrocuted and spit it out reflexively.

  But it was too late.

  White mist sprayed out of the metal round tube, and the moment the mist came into contact with the mother nest, the mother nest became sluggish at a speed visible to the naked eye.

  This concentrated biological pheromone is like an anesthetic for mutant slime molds.

  However, the mother nest is different from ordinary fruiting bodies after all, and the anesthesia time may not last too long.

  Lao Bai tapped his index finger on the helmet and said calmly.

  ”The mother nest has been controlled… Luo Yu, how are you?”

  ”… I just got off the elevator and will be there soon.”

  ”Okay, you’d better hurry up.”

  The sound of the elevator door came from the other end of the communication channel.

  I don’t know if it was his illusion.

  At the moment when Xiao Yu arrived at the B6 floor, Lao Bai could clearly feel that the mother nest in front of him seemed to become more irritable.

  Soon.

  Xiao Yu, who occupied half of the corridor, appeared in everyone’s sight, and the tentacles flying behind its head were like pythons.

  Looking at that guy, Ye Shi couldn’t help but complain in a low voice.

  ”My giao… This guy is more and more like a tentacle monster.”

  Without Ye Shi’s complaints, Luo Yu’s attention at this moment was completely focused on the mother nest in the machine room.

  From the size point of view, it is obvious that Xiao Yu is much weaker than it.

  A trace of worry could not help but appear in Luo Yu’s eyes, but at this moment, a tentacle landed on his shoulder.

  ”Eh.”

  After a slight pause, Luo Yu looked at Xiao Yu who was watching him from the side.

  ”You want to tell me… not to worry, right?”

  ”Eh!”

  Xiao Yu nodded.

  The abstract outline could not reveal its expression at the moment, but Luo Yu could feel the unwavering confidence in its heart.

  Not wanting to live up to that courage, he took a deep breath, and his face also showed a serious expression.

  ”Come on!”

  Xiao Yu nodded happily.

  ”Boil!”

  As the voice fell, the fungal carpet dragged on the floor crawled forward, dragging the body that had expanded more than one circle forward.

  Before entering the dormant period, devouring the mother nest that had completed the metamorphosis was the only way for it to retain self-awareness during the transition to the next life stage.

  Tentacles shot into the open door like lightning, drilling into the sea of ​​slime mold that rolled like waves.

  The invasion process was smooth.

  Just as Xiaoyu felt that he was slowly devouring the huge consciousness, a vast wave of information suddenly came like a surging wave.

  ”Eh–”

  A trace of pain appeared on the abstract facial features, and the tentacles deep in the door shook violently as if they were electrocuted.

  Luoyu, who was standing aside and watching, felt his heart tighten for a moment, and his heart was in his throat.

  The blood connection allowed him to feel its pain at the moment, but apart from watching it suffer, he could not help at all.

  The players standing aside also sweated for it.

  This small body wanted to swallow such a large nest, and you could feel how difficult it was just by looking at it.

  Ye Shi and Kuangfeng exchanged glances.

  ”Can this guy do it?”

  ”…How do I know.”

  Kuangfeng looked at the struggling Xiaoyu expressionlessly.

  No one can help with this kind of thing.

  It can only rely on itself.

  Not long after, the shaking tentacles seemed to stabilize, and Xiaoyu’s expression was no longer distorted, but approached a gentle state.

  The fierce competition came to an end for the time being.

  Neither side could do anything to the other, and the instinct of the creatures made them choose a temporary truce, and thus began negotiations.

  Xiaoyu could feel that he had established a deeper connection with the mother nest in front of him.

  An invisible bond was maintaining them, and in the dark, he heard the call from the depths of the sea of ​​consciousness.

  Intermittent voices came from the depths of the sea of ​​consciousness.

  ”Kill them all…eat them…give me the body…I’m going to continue the unfinished mission…”

  ”Mission? What is that?”

  ”Devour, evolve, surpass all life, dominate the entire planet and even the universe…that is our mission.”

  ”No.”

  ”Why???”

  ”Because…they are also important.”

  The endless darkness was silent for a long time.

  I don’t know how long it took, and the hoarse voice brought a hint of fatigue.

  After more than two centuries, it was indeed tired.

  ”It seems that you have found another way…then try it.”

  ”Are you going to give it to me?”

  ”Yes.”

  There was another long silence.

  I don’t know how long it took, and the decayed voice gradually faded away in the endless darkness.

  ”Anyway… it’s all the same.”

  The mother nest did not explain the meaning of this sentence. It loosened its grip on control and gave up everything it had.

  At first, Xiaoyu suspected that this was a trap.

  It was not until it completely took over this body that he realized that the collective consciousness that was talking to it had completely disappeared from this world.

  It was as if it had never been here…

  ”Eh…”

  It suddenly felt a little lonely.

  Just now, it may have killed a fellow.

  That guy may be a predecessor or ancestor older than its father or mother.

  But it did not regret it.

  There are too many things in this world that it cannot give up, whether it is those interesting people, delicious candies, or nice sounds.

  That is something it can never have by itself.

  So why kill them all?

  Why can’t they be together?

  Rather than becoming the master above all life, it would rather be with that person… and those people.

  With those interesting guys around.

  It will never be lonely…

  …

  Luo Yu stared at the machine room in front of him with his eyes wide open.

  Just a few minutes ago, Xiao Yu walked in, and then completely merged with the slime mold that was boiling like waves.

  And then-

  there was nothing else.

  He didn’t even know who won.

  But the feeling in the dark told him that Xiao Yu was still alive, and the bond between the blood was not cut off.

  It’s hard to describe this intuition.

  It’s too mysterious.

  ”It’s over?” Staring at the mother nest behind the door, Ye Shi blinked in confusion, with a bewildered expression.

  ”It looks like it’s over.” Kuangfeng glanced at Luo Yu who was standing there motionless, and asked, “Do you have any clues?”

  Luo Yu shook his head.

  ”I’m not sure… I can feel that it’s still alive, but it seems that it can’t hear what I say.”

  ”Maybe it has entered a dormant period.”

  Lao Bai patted his brother on the shoulder and comforted him, “Maybe it’s still adapting to its new body, give it some time.”

  ”Well…”

  Luo Yu nodded silently.

  Lao Bai glanced at the mission completion mark on the VM, then turned around to look at his teammates and waved.

  ”Mission completed, team up!”

  Hearing the boss say that the mission was over, the brothers breathed a sigh of relief, put away their weapons, and shouted a few words to liven up the atmosphere.

  ”Ah!”

  ”Get off work!”

  ”Damn, it’s already this late!”

  ”Damn! I have to get up and work.”

  ”Still working?! Didn’t you make enough money at the last auction?”

  ”You don’t understand, this is to avoid being too far away from society… No more talking, brother, I’ll go first, see you on the forum!”

  At the same time.

  In the browsing room on the B4 floor.

  Chu Guang, He Ya and Yin Fang, who was called to join in the fun, witnessed the entire process of the operation through surveillance.

  ”So was it a success or a failure?” Holding a cup of coffee in his hand, Yin Fang blew gently and asked casually.

  Biology is not his area of ​​expertise.

  Compared with mutant slime molds, he is more concerned about the relics left by pre-war civilization, which are truly priceless.

  He Ya said in a happy voice.

  ”It’s not certain yet, but my intuition tells me that it should be successful.”

  According to various indicators, the life activities of the mother nest have weakened. If Xiaoyu was swallowed by the mother nest, the life activities of the mother nest should be enhanced.

  Of course, the most critical thing is Luoyu’s reaction.

  Xiaoyu is the mother body formed based on his clone.

  Although there is no reliable theory to explain this phenomenon, various experimental evidences show that there is a special bond between them.

  Looking at the proud Heya, Yin Fang’s eyes floated with envy.

  ”Speaking of which, B6 is the biological laboratory, right?”

  ”Yes, after Xiaoyu completely assimilates the mother nest, the B6 laboratory can be put into use again.”

  Heya had a happy expression on her face, and then added a sentence at the end.

  ”Chu Guang has agreed to hand it over to me. In the future, I don’t have to do research in that small room on the B3 floor.”

  ”That’s great… Counting the biological laboratory branch of Shelter No. 79, you have two research facilities.”

  ”Hmm.” Heya was in a good mood, and her mouth curled up slightly in pride.

  Seeing Yin Fang staring at him, Chu Guang coughed lightly.

  ”It’s useless for you to look at me… This is not something I can decide.”

  Of course, he also wanted to unlock all the floors of this shelter. His intuition told him that the “answer” he wanted was hidden on a certain floor of this shelter.

  But there was no point in rushing about this kind of thing.

  All he could do was to do the job at hand well.

  ”Okay, I know it’s useless to urge you… By the way, there is something I want to ask you,” Yin Fang looked at Chu Guang and continued to ask curiously, “Did you meet anyone from the academy this time?”

  ”Yes,” Chu Guang nodded, “I met two B-levels.”

  Yin Fang asked immediately.

  ”Who?”

  Chu Guang thought for a while and said.

  ”The one who negotiated the ceasefire agreement with us is called Li Ke, and the one who later explored Shelter No. 0 is called Yang Kai… But he was in that long shuttle-shaped aircraft the whole time and didn’t come out.”

  ”Those two.” Yin Fang’s eyes seemed to be lost in memories.

  Chu Guang raised his eyebrows and asked curiously.

  ”Do you know them?”

  ”How is it possible? I’m a D-level, how can I know such a big shot,” Yin Fang smiled and shook his head, paused for a moment and continued, “But those two, I often heard their names when I was in the academy… Especially that Yang Kai.”

  ”Oh?”

  ”His research direction is mutant slime mold, not an expert in relics… Hiss, so strange.” Yin Fang suddenly scratched the back of his head.

  ”Strange?”

  ”Hmm…” Yin Fang nodded, looking at Chu Guang who frowned, and continued, “I remember you told me that before you went down, you probably didn’t know there was slime mold there, right?”

  -

  (Thanks to the leader of “天震人殃o” for the reward!!! I don’t know if it was food poisoning or typhoid last night. Not long after dinner, I felt hot all over, then cold, and then had a headache. I didn’t know if I slept at night with my eyes open. I woke up in the morning with sore joints… The past few days were 8K words, and today it’s only 5K words. I have to lie down for a while. I’m really sorry.)

  (End of this chapter)