64 Parasitism

◎Explore new ground and fight new alien creatures◎

The night before departure, Yan Xunzhi had a dream for the first time in his life.

She dreamed of Kong Wei. They had a very good relationship in the dream. She couldn't remember what was going on in the dream. After she woke up, she was stunned for a long time.

At this moment, she thought of Kong Wei again.

Does Kong Wei dream? If so, does he dream of her, or of Yan Xunzhi from the past?

Does Kong Wei think of her when he is bored? Is it her that he thinks of when he sees something new on the street and wants to buy it? Are those complicated and trivial clothes and decorations meant for her? Is it her that he is concerned about when she is happy or sad?

Yan Xunzhi wiped his face, his hands were wet.

She originally planned to get out of bed and wash her face, but then she thought that washing her face would definitely make her awake. She was about to go on a mission, so conserving her energy was the most important thing. So she just fell back, closed her eyes, changed her sleeping position and continued to sleep.

That dream continued. In the dream, she was standing next to me from a third-person perspective. Seeing the affectionate scene before my eyes, I found it ridiculous. I thought Kong Wei would fall in love with someone else, but she was her replacement.

They couldn't even be separated, she was Yan Xunzhi and Yan Xunzhi was her.

She herself couldn't recognize who that person was.

"Do you love me?" Dreams were all flickering, and Yan Xunzhi drifted back to the first-person perspective. She looked up at Kong Wei and asked, "Do you love me, or the original person?"

Before Kong Wei could answer, the alarm clock rang.

She got up and rubbed her sleepy eyes, not finding the alarm clock ringing at an inopportune time. Yan Xunzhi knew in her heart that because she didn't have an answer, even if the alarm clock didn't ring, she wouldn't wait for that answer in her dream.

Wash up, eat, and gather. The sentries who are going to the surface are already waiting in the hall, chatting in groups of three or four.

Yan Xunzhi inserted himself into the conversation very familiarly and said hello, "Good morning, Lun Ding."

Lunting grabbed his hair and muttered, "This isn't good at all. If they weren't broke, who would take on this lousy mission? We've got to gather so early in the morning."

Yan Xunzhi patted her calmly and said, "You'll have money after the class!"

The team was led by an S-rank Sentinel, a rare Exploration-type with extremely sharp senses, and a linked A-rank Psychic Guide. This combination was only mediocre in combat, but quite useful for exploring unfamiliar areas. They weren't from Area 1, but had been borrowed from Area 3.

He should have borrowed it quite often, and he was quite familiar with the original sentries in the East District.

Yan Xunzhi also greeted them, and the other party's eyes lingered on her face for a long time with a concealed and restrained look.

Yan Xunzhi felt that his face was already covered with calluses, as thick as a city wall, and immune to all poisons... He maintained this posture as if nothing had happened. It was time to talk and let her see enough.

But there are always those who are not afraid to introduce something, "Don't be fooled by the fact that Xiaoyan is only B-level, she was Officer Kong Wei's beautiful sentry! She was the S-level guide who was transferred from the Central White Tower to the South District."

The reconnaissance sentry nodded reservedly without saying anything more.

Yan Xunzhi thought, it's better to be a senior sentry! He is knowledgeable and might know Kong Wei. He is too lazy to gossip about her boring things.

This feeling continued until I put on the helmet, and a private message popped up in the communication, from the investigating sentry: Did you really fall out with Officer Kong Wei?

Exploration Sentinel: You have no private contact at all now?

Yan Xunzhi: ...

This time, we will use the outermost ground tower as the center to explore unfamiliar areas within a radius of ten kilometers and install small blocking nets and early warning devices.

In a sandstorm, anyone would get lost if they went over a hundred meters, and in calmer times, they couldn't connect to the ground after 300 meters. The difficulty of this expansion was self-evident. Yan Xunzhi had a subtle feeling that this number was just a nice-sounding statement, like a good-looking answer sheet.

In fact, out of the 64 people in their exploration team, almost one-third will be laid off early due to mechanical failure.

Even if we are lucky enough not to encounter any foreign objects, it will be difficult for all members to complete the exploration within the time limit as the area is too large.

The people on the ground began to disperse, and four teams were divided into four groups to expand in different directions. Each team had a spiritual guide who was responsible for maintaining contact with the underground.

The first three kilometers went smoothly. This expansion was a bit more difficult, a bit like a death squad, and those who came were either capable or desperate.

The overall moving speed was very fast. There were seven or eight intermediate-level alien objects along the way, and on average it took less than a quarter of an hour to kill each one.

Yan Xunzhi was astonished. He had thought the East First District had a mild ecology, but it turned out to be a place full of hidden talents.

After three kilometers, the communication began to become unclear. Even if a mobile tower to transmit signals was laid out at intervals along the road, it would be of no use. The spiritual guide deduced that after about five kilometers, the communication would completely fail.

This is not good news. Radiation levels on the ground have increased again.

The area within a radius of five kilometers is a vacuum zone, and the scope of this vacuum zone is really too large. Not to mention that when the sandstorm comes, the entire army will fall to the ground, there is a risk of getting lost even in a calm period.

The team leader had obviously thought of this as well and stopped moving. "I'll contact the ground first."

Yan Xunzhi glanced coldly into the distance, exchanged a look of "I told you so" with the mixed team guide next to him, and squatted on the ground to draw circles.

The final result of the underground discussion was to shorten the expansion distance to only seven kilometers. The two-kilometer vacuum zone was arranged by the team leader. They relied on mental power to connect with each other, so they could receive notifications at the first time and avoid being dispersed by wind and sand.

Yan Xunzhi stood up and patted the sand, "Let's go."

She felt that the underground was still too optimistic. It was estimated that they had not been on the surface for many years, and their decision-making was completely out of touch with the masses.

Just now, two Sentinel exoskeletons were damaged and had to return offline. At this scrap rate, they may not even be able to travel seven kilometers.

After more than four kilometers, they ran into a woody foreign object.

The alien creature, shaped like a lizard, lay motionless in the sand, its spiritual energy barely wafting, making it impossible to detect without close inspection. Suddenly, it erupted from the sand and bit the sentry who had stepped on its eyelid.

The sentry was quick-eyed and quick-handed. He was lifted into the air, but he turned around and got off the machine. He kicked hard and threw himself out, narrowly missing the foreign object by half an inch.

The alien creature stood upright on the ground. Its bark was dry, uneven, and tightly wrinkled, wrapping its body. There was a string of sharp barbs on its back. The blood had long soaked into its skin, making it dark and red like an ancient tree.

It opened its eyelids, and its eyes were squeezed outward. As its head moved unsteadily, it seemed as if they would fall out in the next second. However, the chaos in its pupils now seemed to be somewhat normal.

Yan Xunzhi had seen this guy twice in the northwest, and the killing was very easy for him. He rushed forward as soon as the offline sentry was uncovered.

The exploration team was well-equipped with weapons, and she made a quick selection in her mind, thinking that there was still a long way to go, and they might run into something even more dangerous.

Giving up the idea of killing it directly with laser, he drew out a machete, charged it, and chopped it down!

The other sentries behind him also took out axes, long knives, fuel injectors, and muskets... ready to add fuel to the fire at any time.

The huge alien creature opened its mouth.

Its eyes were on both sides, turned straight forward, with the corners of its mouth twisted into a grin, and those unclear eyes seemed to show mockery and contempt.

No! Yan Xunzhi's heart skipped a beat, and he slid to the side, subconsciously turning his knife.

It's too late.

From its bloody and gaping mouth, a long arm suddenly appeared from deep within its esophagus, and its extremely long tongue, like that of a lizard, popped out in an instant, aiming at the offline sentry who had just escaped!

The human hand quickly pounced on the sentry, and five fingers firmly grasped her shoulders.

The next second, the knife blew! The lotus-root-like arm was as tender and crisp as a lotus root. There was no resistance at all, and it was cut off neatly with a snap.

The wailing of an offline sentry was heard behind him. The laser of the sentry next to him had been fully charged. Yan Xunzhi stepped back and the laser sentry took over.

The foreign object opened its mouth again, and the sticky residue at the broken end had disappeared, replaced by a plump little baby hand. It was also much shorter, barely able to reach out.

It rushed towards the laser sentry, but before it could reach out, the laser blade had already landed on her.

The invention of laser weapons can truly be regarded as a milestone in the history of ground combat. No matter how tough the foreign objects are, they cannot compare with the laser that can cut through everything.

Although the loss was large and the charging was slow, four or five scouts took over and the foreign object was quickly broken into pieces.

The skin and flesh shrank in the wind and sand, and gradually even the reflexes disappeared.

Yan Xunzhi took a breath and went back to see the offline sentry.

The five fingers of the foreign object were firmly embedded in her flesh, and the skin around her hand had turned slightly black.

The experienced sentry quickly erected a makeshift shelter nearby. She initially tried to dig the finger out, but the knife seemed to resist. Hesitant, she gave the offline sentry a stick to bite, then pulled hard, tearing the entire piece of flesh off!

The offline sentry twitched in pain, his throat seemed to be broken, and blood gurgled in his hoarse voice.

The medical sentry threw the torn flesh aside and applied medicine and bandage to her.

Yan Xunzhi came over with some curiosity. The part of the torn flesh had turned black and rotten, and was spread on the ground in a sticky manner. The five slender fingers that pinched it were swollen, and roots had grown out, piercing into the flesh. There were slight signs of dryness around it.

The blood vessels seemed to have extended into part of her root system, and the flesh and blood were the soil connected to it.

Yan Xunzhi thought that the medic was indeed decisive. If she were to take over, she would have to make careful considerations. By then, the foreign object would have probably already parasitized her body, and it would not be a problem that could be solved by sacrificing a piece or two of flesh.

She squatted down to study. The mixed team guide came forward and kicked the rotten flesh with his toe. "What are you looking at?"

Yan Xunzhi looked up, pondering and said slowly, "I just think, it can actually be parasitic, how scary. If it were me, I might not be so decisive as to tear off my own flesh."

Is this how Shu Chi died? He was unlucky enough to encounter a parasitic alien and was unable to escape in time, so he looked alienated, but he was actually just an ordinary guide, and ultimately died from mental radiation.

That was three years ago. Three years ago, could foreign objects already be able to parasitize?

Yan Xunzhi thought back to her first encounter with the woody alien. Back then, the alien's secondary evolution was a small-scale secret, and the Federation was not allowed to report it. But now, it is encountered frequently on the surface, and it can no longer be concealed.

The mixed team guide agreed, "Luckily we encountered them during our exploration. If they had gone deep into the sea two years ago and I had led my own team to encounter them on the surface, we'd probably have been killed without even knowing how."

In this world, there are always unlucky people who die on the forefront of the world.

Then when everyone saw her death, it suddenly dawned on them that this was the future.

Xu Yan is, and maybe Shu Chi is too.

Maybe her death was really an accident and had nothing to do with her.

Such a death is indeed horrifying and cannot be considered too deeply. In her previous life, she was just a C-rank sentry. Because she was afraid to retreat, but could not retire, it was normal for her to go to the Armament Logistics Department...

The foreign object detonated the mental power at the last moment, causing a small-scale impact in the surrounding area and making the signal even more chaotic. The mental guide could only step back a distance and report the new discovery to the Federation.

The injured sentry returned, and the others took a short rest and continued to expand outward.

After a few steps, the signal was completely cut off due to foreign objects.