Chapter 126 Whose Heartbeat?
This should have been a joyful meeting.
The hosts and guests on both sides had a great time, talked harmoniously, and resolved the joint issues in a happy atmosphere.
But the scene that Zhang Fang, Xiong Wei and others least wanted to see still happened.
"well……"
Xiong Wei looked at the map projected on the long table and sighed softly.
Before this, the reason why they didn't wake up Su Xia was because they were worried that something like this might happen.
After all, Su Xia had basically always stayed in the warehouse to recuperate and rarely came out, but today he came out.
The old man Shi Sishi was not willing to give in and questioned Su Xia: "Why didn't you say anything? Did I say it right?"
"Old man, your stubbornness will kill many people."
"Bei Feng, you are the stubborn one!" Shi Sishi snorted coldly, "You are blinded by power. In order to prevent the alliance, you did not hesitate to frame my disciples. This action has already cast a layer of shame on your reputation in the past few years!"
Su Xia coldly retorted: "Shame? Time will let you know what real shame is!"
Even the Zerg say that there is no hope for the human race.
What's the point of talking about counterattacking the mechanical clan?
Perhaps in a few years, the human race will be completely in civil strife.
The mechanical race doesn't need to take any action, they can just watch leisurely from the sidelines, and then conquer the remaining humans after the civil strife.
By then, the human race will exist in name only.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the reception hall had become extremely subtle.
If they continued talking, Su Xia and Shi Sishi would probably become friendly friends.
Xiong Wei hurriedly smiled apologetically at Shi Sishi, then walked to the door, pulled Su Xia outside, and whispered, "Commander, why don't you go back and rest first, and leave this to me."
"good."
Su Xia was too lazy to argue here, he really had nothing to say.
Arguing without any conclusion will only waste precious time.
Xiong Wei asked: "Commander, do you have anything to say?"
"Yes, it's about the three undeads." Su Xia said in a serious tone, "Mr. Xiong, remember, no matter whether they will eliminate the three undeads or not, don't join forces with them. It's too late now."
"Why?"
"The three undeads saw the map," Su Xia explained. "They know where the new base of the United Organization is. That base, including our oasis camp, is no longer safe."
The three undeads refused to admit their identities and most likely had some ulterior motives, so Su Xia asked Xiong Wei to be extremely careful.
"No problem, Commander, I'll listen to you!"
Although it is still debatable whether the two people and one dog in the hall are undead, after several incidents during this period, Xiong Wei has almost blindly believed in Su Xia's decisions on the general direction.
It's always right to follow the commander.
Even though Longcheng represents authority, that authority is too far away, so there is no need to listen to them completely.
The two walked away from the reception hall, chatting as they walked, talking about the future of Oasis Camp.
Xiong Wei asked: "Commander, since the Oasis Camp is no longer safe, should we move away and find a new place?"
"Well, now that the infestation is gone, it's time to go."
There are also a large number of players in the oasis camp. It is unsafe to stay here after all.
But once they leave, these players will become wandering players, losing equipment suppliers, potion suppliers, training shops, etc., and the future upgrade path will be very difficult.
Su Xia explained: "Most people will withdraw, leaving only a very small number to keep exchanging information with these undead, provide them with some equipment and potions, and monitor their movements at any time."
"That joint organization seems to be doing the same thing."
"Well, they have done a good job in this regard." Su Xia nodded, "The Undead are the lamplighters of the new era. We cannot completely separate ourselves from them."
On the surface, only the shell of an oasis camp is left.
Most people secretly went to the new base and developed their lives there.
This is the safest way.
"Mr. Xiong, do you have any idea about the location of the new Oasis Camp?"
"This... there is one."
Ever since becoming the manager of Oasis Camp, Xiong Wei has been thinking about a way out.
In fact, he had already selected several alternative bases.
One of them is also located in the endless hills in the southwest area. It is very hidden and extremely safe, but it is too far away. It takes at least three days to move from here.
When Su Xia heard Xiong Wei's idea, he immediately said, "Three days is three days. It doesn't matter if it takes longer. Safety is the most important thing!"
"But, Commander, it's too far from Coral City and Waste Armor City. It will be inconvenient to transport various supplies in the future."
"It's okay. We'll find a way to transport the supplies later. If it's really inconvenient to transport them, you can come to me."
"good!"
Xiong Wei is also a decisive person, otherwise he would not be able to secure his position as the manager of Oasis Camp.
After listening to Su Xia's words, he had already made up his mind.
There are now more than a dozen resistance organizations in the Oasis Camp, plus the large number of residents who have gradually settled here. The overall strength is strong enough and there is no need to unite with others.
The only thing we need to do now is to keep those dozen or so resistance groups.
We can’t let that old guy Shi Sishi take anyone away!
"Commander, I'll be going back now."
Xiong Wei had to go back to continue the meeting. Although the alliance could not be reached, he still had to do enough work on the surface.
Su Xia did not return to the warehouse.
He is in good health now and does not need to rest.
Since he was about to withdraw, he had to go and take another look at the insect nest.
The reward for the mission to save the Oasis Camp was never issued. Maybe he missed something.
At this time, Zhang Fang hurried out of the reception hall, caught up with Su Xia, and said apologetically: "Commander, my teacher has this temper, please don't take it to heart."
"Well, don't worry, Mr. Zhang."
"Teacher, he rarely argues with others. In Dragon City, he has always been the one who has the final say..."
Zhang Fang talked as he walked, explaining a lot to Su Xia.
After a while, he found that Su Xia was about to leave the oasis camp, and the direction was southwest, so he asked: "Commander, are you going to the insect nest?"
"Just go and take a look, maybe there are still some remaining bugs in there."
"Okay, let's go together!"
Zhang Fang didn't want to stay in the reception hall with such a subtle atmosphere any longer.
He could clearly feel that not only was the teacher dissatisfied with him, but the other disciples also looked at him in a strange way.
The competitive spirit in Longcheng is really too serious.
Judging from the performance of this outing, Zhang Fang is now at the bottom among all the disciples.
He had praised Su Xia highly in his previous contact messages, but he didn't expect that Su Xia had a calm and peaceful exchange with his teacher as soon as they met.
On the way to the insect nest, Su Xia suddenly thought of a question and asked Zhang Fang: "Mr. Zhang, you said before that Dragon City is now divided into three factions. Which faction do you and your teacher belong to?"
"Well...my teacher and I both belong to the 'Tianxing Academy' faction..."
Zhang Fang thought about it, and without reservation, began to tell everything.
Inside Longcheng, in addition to the city lord's faction, there are two larger forces, the "Tianxing Academy" and the "Queyue Research Institute".
These two organizations have existed since the founding of Longcheng.
Tianxing College, from the name it sounds like an institution for teaching and educating people, but it is involved in more than just education, it also covers all aspects of Dragon City's affairs.
At present, the directors of several important departments within Longcheng graduated from this college.
Their lineage is also called the academic school.
"As for the Crescent Moon Research Institute, this organization almost completely controls the research department of the entire Dragon City." Zhang Fang said, "In addition, most private research institutions in Dragon City have received funding from the Crescent Moon Research Institute, and the actual controller of this organization is the current deputy city lord..."
Listening to his story, Su Xia gradually had a general idea of the structure of the entire Dragon City in his mind.
The three forces check and balance each other, but none of them seem to have found a good balance.
On weekdays, there are constant frictions of all sizes.
Internal meetings at Longcheng often end in a bad mood.
Every time a meeting was held, people from the three forces would quarrel in the meeting place. Sometimes they would just fight over a disagreement, often resulting in bloody fights.
"Especially when it comes to the distribution of interests, the three parties can argue for days and nights in the meeting hall." Zhang Fang said frankly, "but when it comes to getting practical work done, they will push each other."
"Dragon City has been established for so many years, but the benefits have not been fully distributed yet?"
"No, they will fight for even the smallest benefit..."
The three forces will not let go of any opportunity to make money.
Zhang Fang talked about his personal experience.
Just two years ago, the city lord's hall needed to be renovated. At first, the city lord's people were responsible for it. They spent a lot of money to decorate the hall magnificently, but...
Not long after, an inconspicuous tile suddenly fell off in the corner of the hall, so the academic team applied for funds, removed all the original decorations, and renovated the entire hall.
"Oh, I see."
Su Xia nodded slightly, it sounded very familiar.
This is almost like repairing a road. Even though there is only a small crack in the road, the entire road has to be removed.
Zhang Fang couldn't help but sigh: "The amount of money spent on this is unimaginable. If it was used in the army, I don't know how many soldiers could be trained."
Su Xia said, "If we get into civil strife, no matter how many soldiers we have, it will be useless."
"The commander is right!"
Zhang Fang took it seriously.
Many powerful dynasties collapsed from within.
The two of them talked as they walked, and soon they arrived at the gap created by the Zerg.
That night, after Su Xia and Zhang Fang left, Xiong Wei sent many more soldiers over to completely clean out the insect nest, leaving no trace of rotten meat behind and burning it all.
Now standing on the edge of the crack and looking inside, you can see the charred stone wall.
"Logically, no insect should be able to survive."
But insects are an unreasonable race, and their vitality is terrifyingly tenacious.
Su Xia sent out countless nanorobots to check.
The inside of the hive was also pitch black, with no signs of life.
but……
When the nanorobots entered the depths of the hive, they made an unusual discovery.
"Is this... a heartbeat?"
In the feedback from the nanorobot, Su Xia heard a strange sound.
“Boom…”
“Boom…”
It is a rhythmic movement, very much like a human heartbeat.
Su Xia's eyes focused, and he carefully observed the depths of the insect nest through the robot's vision.
The nanorobots continued to move forward, going deeper and deeper, and were about to reach the place where Su Xia and Zhang Fang had met the insect mother.
At this moment, in the darkness, Su Xia saw a ray of dark red.
"Come on, Mr. Zhang, let's go down and take a look!"
After saying that, Su Xia leaped and jumped straight into the gap.
Zhang Fang followed closely behind and also jumped down.
This time, neither of them wore armor or exoskeletons. Jumping from such a height was actually very dangerous, but the cliff had a certain inclination angle, which allowed the two to leverage on it.
At their level of strength, it would be ridiculous if they were to fall to death.
There were a lot of traces of fire left on the ground of the insect nest, and the air was not very fresh, smelling full of stench and burnt smell.
"Commander, please note that the air here does not seem to be well ventilated. If you feel uncomfortable, leave immediately."
"Um."
Neither of them let down their guard and paid close attention to the situation around them.
Zhang Fang still maintained his academic style, taking notes as he moved forward. He seemed to carry a small camera with him at all times.
Looking around, there were charred bones everywhere.
There is a discernible internal skeleton, as well as the insect's hard exoskeleton.
“Crack…”
Su Xia casually stepped on a bone and broke it. She found that it was very relaxing. Both the sound and the touch were very comfortable.
He couldn't help but think: "It's a pity that I don't have time now. If I have time in the future, I can use the insect corpses to make a stress relief park. I believe the children will like it."
There are so many dead insect bones here that you can’t use them all up.
Xiong Wei was a man of great thrift and economy. That night he had all the dead insects brought back to the camp, and removed the glands from the bodies to extract their spiritual energy. At that time, many players had been tasked with extracting the glands.
After the glands are stripped away, the remaining body is thrown back into the hive and burned, leaving only these crispy bones.
Xiong Wei actually considered whether he could use the insect corpses as food reserves, but he gave up after trying it.
No matter what you do, the flesh and blood of the insects emit an unpleasant stench, which is really hard to eat. If you force yourself to eat a bite, you will vomit it out soon.
"Commander, I heard a heartbeat."
Zhang Fang pricked up his ears, his whole body tensed up, and his alertness was at its highest level.
Heartbeat is the symbol of life.
In this insect nest shrouded in deathly silence, the presence of a heartbeat was a very unusual thing.
As the two went deeper, the sound of their heartbeats became stronger and stronger, as if resonating with the entire underground space, making even their hearts feel uncomfortable.
Zhang Fang covered his chest, frowned, and said, "Commander, if Longcheng's information about the Zerg is correct, there is a Zerg Queen hatching inside."
"Well, that should be the case."
Based on the images sent by the nanorobot, Su Xia could roughly judge that it was indeed a hatching insect queen.
As we walked, the turbid smell in the air changed, and the stench of decay and blood became stronger and stronger.
The charred marks on the surrounding walls were originally dead objects.
As the two went deeper, they actually saw more dark brown mucous membranes around them, covering the original charred marks and trembling regularly.
"We had checked carefully enough at the time, but we didn't expect that there would still be some fish slipping through the net."
After reaching the deepest part of the insect nest, the two saw a very special flesh and blood life.
On the surrounding walls, the color of the thin films of flesh and blood changes from dark to light. The very edge is the dark brown color seen before, and the closer to the center, the closer to dark red.
In the central area, there is a thin film of flesh and blood with a diameter of more than five meters, tightly attached to the stone wall. Inside it, there is obviously some creature wriggling regularly.
The creature seemed to have noticed the arrival of Su Xia and Zhang Fang, and gradually stopped all its movements.
"hiss……"
It let out a low, hoarse roar, as if warning the two of them.
But this warning was obviously useless.
The young insect queen currently has a psychic power of only level 0.8, and poses very little threat. In front of the two of them, it is like a desperately howling child.
"Leave this thing to me."
Su Xia walked forward slowly, holding a dagger in his hand, looking relaxed.
In the thin film of flesh and blood, the insect screamed loudly and began to struggle frantically before dying.
“Sizzle…”
It actually used its claws to tear the thin film of flesh and blood that wrapped it, trying to escape from this place.
The moment the film broke, a strong and sickening stench instantly hit the nose, and Zhang Fang at the back couldn't help but dry heave twice.
The insect was green all over, with its fragile shell covered in sticky pus. It had a small head, a bloated abdomen, and limbs similar to those of arthropods. A pair of deformed compound eyes stared at Su Xia. It was only half a person tall.
"hiss……"
It left the membrane, climbed up the rock wall, and crawled towards the top.
It seemed as if he was trying to escape over the heads of the two men.
But Su Xia didn't give it any chance. He jumped high in an instant and cut off its head with a leap.
“Snap!”
The insect broke into two pieces and fell to the ground.
Not only was its body twitching, struggling, and twisting, clearly not yet dead, but the eyes, mouth and other parts of its head were also twitching slightly.
The vitality is so strong that I don’t know how to describe it.
Zhang Fang sighed: "Fortunately, although these insects have strong vitality, their intelligence is very low, and they are not proficient in the use of spiritual energy. Most of them can only rely on physical instinct to fight... If they have human intelligence, I don't know how terrifying they would be..."
"Mr. Zhang, nothing is absolute in this world. Don't jump to conclusions too early."
As Su Xia spoke, he chopped the body of the insect on the ground into several pieces.
The reason he said this was because he remembered the laboratories under Coral City.
There has never been a shortage of crazy scientists and crazy ideas on this planet. In this disorderly post-war world, any moral bottom line can be broken.
Coral City has no shortage of funds...
Perhaps, one day in the future, a monster with both human intelligence and the terrifying power of an insect will really appear.
“Crack! Crack!”
In a few moments, the insect was chopped into more than ten pieces.
Even so, some of the limbs were still trembling.
At this moment, the final hint for the mission [Save Oasis Camp] finally came.
【Mission Completed】
[Rewards have been issued and can be withdrawn at any time]
