Volume 13 Ancient Bronze City Ruins Chapter 619: Endless Killing
The moment the searchlight beam came on, everyone saw a terrifying monster clinging to the top wall of the tunnel and approaching the mine cart quickly in a strange posture.
This monster has countless skinny humanoid arms... but other than the arms, there are no other organs on its body. These arms are intertwined with each other, and some of the thinner arms even "grow" directly from the thick arms - this can't help but remind people of the intricate branches of some woody plants... However, with Ke Lan's experience, he has never seen any plant branches that are so messy.
Yes, "disordered" - this was the first adjective that popped into Ke Lan's mind when he saw this monster.
This monster gave people an extremely "chaotic" feeling. Everything about it seemed to subvert human's understanding of normal creatures... Even a monster like the Seed of Erosion was more acceptable than this thing.
In just a blink of an eye, the confused monster was less than fifty meters away from the mine cart.
"Leighton, brake! Ze Luo, stop him!" Ke Lan shouted.
As soon as he finished speaking, an invisible barrier appeared between the monster and the mine cart. Although it was "invisible", with the naked eye, one could still find that the location of the barrier produced a visual effect similar to a space fracture, as if a photo had been cut in half with scissors.
All the nozzles on Augustus' body instantly turned forward, and the two arms of the body clung tightly to the frame of the mine cart. The feet acting as brakes plowed two deep grooves more than ten centimeters deep and nearly twenty meters long in the rocky ground, which forcibly stopped the mine cart that was moving at high speed.
On the contrary, the blasphemer who was following behind just tapped the ground lightly with his toes to offset the inertia of the forward rush.
As for the monster crawling along the top of the tunnel, it crashed into the invisible barrier!
The body of this monster was almost shattered in an instant, but it was not the kind of bloody "pieces" - its body, the moment it touched the invisible barrier, had already split into countless black beetles smaller than rice grains!
Just like flowing liquid encountering an obstacle, these black beetles scattered directly along the surface of the invisible barrier, and then went around the edge of the barrier to the front of the mine cart.
"Um?"
Ze Luo, who still maintained an expressionless face, let out a slight exclamation. She raised her hand and clenched her originally open palm into a fist. As she moved, the invisible barrier suddenly rolled over like a crumpled piece of plastic paper, wrapping the black beetles inside.
Ze Luo's clenched fist became tightly clenched, and the invisible barrier that was "kneaded into a ball" in the air suddenly shrank. Under the compression of the space, the black beetles were directly crushed into pieces, and the creepy friction and shattering sounds continued to be heard from it.
Ze Luo continued to increase his strength, and the invisible barrier tightened further - until the remains of the beetles were compressed into a solid black ball.
"Oh my god, what kind of monster is this?" Layton came to his senses at this time and exclaimed, "I think I have seen a lot of monsters, but this is the first time I have seen one that looks so weird."
"Don't you think it looks a lot like the fleshworms we saw in Leviathan?" Ivan whispered, "The only difference is that those fleshworms simulated the body of Leviathan and the fighter planes of the First Fleet... and these black beetles simulated human limbs."
"Tsk... If a mecha is swallowed by these black beetles, can they also simulate a mecha?" Layton said, and suddenly shook his head, "No, if they can simulate mechas, then the earth driller of the Mole Squad can definitely be simulated... Those troops that lost contact were most likely killed by this monster."
"The mimicry ability of those red fleshworms is more advanced than these black beetles. Not only can they simulate prehistoric beasts and human fighter planes, they can also perfectly replicate technological products such as energy shield generators and crystal engines... And these black beetles, if I'm not mistaken, can probably only simulate living organisms."
"If time wasn't so urgent, I would really like to collect some specimens and take them back for research." Ivan added.
When the solid black sphere in the air was compressed to the size of a basketball, Ze Luo let go of his hand. The invisible barrier suddenly disappeared, and the solid black sphere fell directly and hit the ground.
“Boom!”
A dull thud echoed in the tunnel. The density of this compacted black ball was dozens of times greater than that of a lead ball of the same volume. Just by falling freely from a height of more than ten meters, the noise it caused was no less than the vibration from the front battlefield in the distance. A shallow pit with cracks on the edge appeared directly where the ball landed. Even the steel rails on the side were affected, and the joints broke directly.
"It was like a cannonball," Layton commented.
"Is it solved?" Thirty-three asked in a deep voice. There were no outsiders here, so he simply stopped hiding his abilities. Dozens of black blades were suspended around him, making him look like a cultivator who could manipulate magic weapons and fly with swords.
"No." Ze Luo shook his head. "I crushed them into pieces, but their life force did not completely disappear."
As soon as she finished speaking, a rustling sound came from the front, and the next second, the recovered black beetles crawled out of the shallow pits created by the black solid ball.
"Even you can't kill these bugs?" Ke Lan couldn't help but be more vigilant - Ze Luo's existence was a very important trump card in his hand... or it would not be an exaggeration to say it was a trump card. The first time he met this monster, he directly used the "trump card", but even Ze Luo's shot still failed to kill this... these monsters.
This is like playing Landlord. You start by throwing out a royal bomb, but find that you can't suppress the "three" thrown by the opponent.
"I don't know how to kill them." Ze Luo shook his head slightly, "Perhaps, they are immune to physical attacks."
"Is your attack method a physical attack?" Layton couldn't help but ask, "But didn't you easily get rid of the black mummy that couldn't even be killed by a nuclear bomb?"
"Pure squeezing is of course a physical attack method, and it is the same even if you use your spatial control ability." Ze Luo replied, "I didn't kill the black mummy. It died of its own power. I just took some restrictive measures against it."
Ze Luo waved her hands again, and the invisible barrier appeared again, stopping the black beetles rushing towards the mine cart - but all she could do now was just to stop them.
"It's different. This thing is completely different from the black mummy." Ke Lan said in a deep voice, "Although the black mummy's body is indestructible, as long as a crack appears on its body, no matter how small the crack is, even if it is so small that it cannot be observed even with a microscope, the 'force field' that maintains its body strength will disappear instantly. Even if there is no external force involved, its body will disintegrate on its own... But these black beetles, Ze Luo has already crushed them into powder, but it can still restore to its original appearance..."
Ke Lan paused for a moment and continued, "I even suspect that the shape of this black beetle , like the monster made up of human limbs just now, is also simulated by them. As for their original shape..."
"Could that legend be true?" Ivan suddenly said thoughtfully.
"What legend?" Layton immediately asked, "Doctor, if you have any information, please tell us quickly. Don't be so mysterious at this time!"
"That's just a legend. I'm not sure whether it's true or not." Ivan emphasized the word "legend" again before saying, "I also heard about it in a forum for biology enthusiasts. This legend comes from a document engraved on the wall of the ruins of the Alpha civilization..."
"Documents of the Alpha Civilization?" Layton was stunned, and subconsciously set his sights on Ke Lan. "How did they decipher the documents of the Alpha Civilization? Is it possible that in this world, besides Ke Lan and that damn prophet of the heretical sect, there is someone else who can understand the text of the Alpha Civilization?!"
"They were unable to decipher the textual content of the document, but that document is an extremely rare illustrated document in the Alpha civilization." The meaning of Ivan's words was obvious: even if one could not understand the words, one could still roughly understand the pictures.
"Are there any video or photo materials?" The person who asked this time was Thirty-three.
"No." Ivan shook his head. "According to the guy who spread the news, the ruins were taken over by the research institute not long after. All exploration records and related items were sealed up by the research institute. Hunters who explored the ruins were also required to sign a confidentiality agreement. Not only that, even the account that broke the news was quickly cancelled."
"It sounds like there's a strong conspiracy involved." Thirty-three said, "If it's just a legend, I'd be wary of its authenticity."
"Hey, after all this talk, what exactly is the content of the legend?" Layton patted the cockpit cover speechlessly. "You two, do you think it's time to chat now?"
"Sorry." Ivan also realized this and said immediately, "The content of the document and the discussion on the forum are too professional. Even if you are all biologists, it will be difficult for me to explain it to you in a short time. But the most crucial point is that according to the content of the document, the Alpha civilization may have created artificial organisms at the 'molecular level'."
"Molecular-level artificial organisms?" The confused Layton was obviously not the "biologist" that Ivan mentioned. As a mechanical enthusiast, he seemed to lack even the most basic biological knowledge. "What do you mean?"
"As we all know, apart from viruses, the smallest organism is bacteria. However, no matter how small a bacterium is, it at least has the structure of a single cell... Molecular-level organisms have a volume equal to the diameter of a single molecule. As one of the basic particles that make up matter, everything around us, including ourselves, is made up of molecules. In other words, molecular-level organisms can basically simulate any form."
"I almost understand..." Layton nodded in realization. "What you are talking about, isn't that nanorobots? Theoretically, nanorobots can also form any kind of machine, but due to structural strength and cost issues, no one would do that."
"But the biggest difference between living things and nanorobots is that..." Ivan stared at the black beetles crawling on the invisible barrier and said, "Living things have the ability to reproduce."
"Machines also have the ability to reproduce," Layton said unconvincedly, "As long as the intelligence of AI reaches a certain level, it can build factories, collect resources and replicate itself—"
"I'm afraid the things you're talking about are not the plots of the Omnic Crisis." Ke Lan interrupted Layton 's rebuttal, "Let's not discuss this for now. Our first priority is to deal with these bugs."
"Just let Zeluo wrap them into a ball again and throw them far away," Layton said. "If it catches up, just repeat it again."
"What if there are many monsters like this ahead?" Ke Lan asked, "What if their number is large enough to block ?"
"This..." Leighton was speechless for a moment.
"Even if they are really molecular organisms, they are not impossible to kill," Ivan mused. "Pure physical means may not work, but high temperature or radiation may not work."
"By the way, isn't Valentina's 'Lucifer' equipped with a plasma cannon? Let's try it?" Layton suggested.
