Faced with the colorful gemstone in front of him, and the small crab that shimmered with silver light and resembled a gemstone itself, Gou Fugui hesitated and did not accept the beautiful colorful gemstone.
Even though such a gemstone would be very beautiful if used to make a necklace, Gou Fugui did not reach for it.
Even though this place looks like a beautiful and harmless fairy tale world, Gou Fugui still remembers that this is the base camp of the invasive microorganisms they have speculated about for thousands of years.
What's coated in sugar isn't necessarily candy; it could also be poison that causes suffering.
When the little crab saw that Gou Fugui did not accept the colored gemstone he offered, it tilted its pincers and its whole body as if it did not understand why. It even drooped its two transparent little pincers, as if it was somewhat disappointed by being neglected.
Finally, it placed the gem on its own crab shell and swam away, no longer paying attention to the two outsiders who did not accept its goodwill.
After it left, Gou Fugui looked at the underwater world that was shimmering with seven colors and pondered where to start exploring and researching to find out if it might be an enemy.
"Let's look around first." Xie Tianlang gestured from the side.
Gou Fugui nodded.
Then he slowly walked in one direction. Xie Tianlang did not go his separate ways with him, but walked beside him, also observing this beautiful and fantastical place.
Doesn't this resemble an underground world in a high-temperature apocalypse? Do you think we can find the core of the world here?
Gou Fugui gestured to Xie Tianlang as he walked.
Xie Tianlang nodded and then shook his head.
My intuition tells me something's not quite right.
Although both the underwater world and the underground world are filled with a dreamlike and beautiful feeling, the feeling is quite different in essence.
What's the difference?
Xie Tianlang watched as another transparent and adorable blue-green fish swam past him, then watched as the fish swam into a clump of water plants that resembled lantern grass. After a long silence, he finally gave an answer.
[It's so...harmless and wonderful.]
Although the underground world is beautiful and dreamlike, the killing and danger of the food chain between species still exist within that beauty.
Such killings and dangers precisely prove that the underground world is a closed loop that can exist for a long time.
However, the food chain of "big fish eat small fish and small fish eat shrimp," which should be most evident in the underwater world before us, is not reflected at all.
They had been down there for at least five minutes, and in this place that was bright and beautiful enough without any searchlights, in this place with at least a thousand freshwater creatures of different sizes and species, he had not seen a single large fish preying on a small fish.
The small fish didn't seem to be nibbling on the aquatic plants.
It seems that all the fish here can coexist peacefully.
Then, a very subtle but very discordant problem arises—
If such a beautiful and dreamlike world has already existed, then what do these thousands of adorable little fish and shrimp eat to survive?
Is this lake water so pure that it's impossible for it to contain any microorganisms?
As Xie Tianlang thought of this, his eyes revealed undisguised wariness and apprehension. Once he understood this point, he would know that something was definitely not normal here.
He wanted to use sign language to signal to his Yuanyuan, but he found that Yuanyuan had already taken action—
A bag of fish food suddenly appeared in his hand.
Yes, it's fish food, not bait or earthworms. It's the same kind of fish food as cat or dog food.
Don't ask why such strange things are in Fugui Yuanyuan's pocket. Anyway, this guy will stuff anything he thinks is useful into his space.
Fugui, the mantis shrimp carrying a bag of fish food, opened the bag and poured all the fish food into the clear lake water.
In that instant, Xie Tianlang suddenly felt as if something was beginning to watch him and Gou Fugui.
But he quickly looked around and saw nothing but the glittering fish, shrimp, seaweed and rocks.
I used to be quite envious of the many people feeding the fish in the park ponds, mainly because I didn't want to spend money on fish food.
But now I can finally feed the fish for free, and I can experience what it's like to be chased by a school of fish.
While scattering fish food, Pipi Shrimp Fugui used sign language, as if he was eagerly waiting for the small fish and shrimp to swim towards him.
But it was as if these magical, fluorescent lake-bottom creatures did not feed on fish food. Even when the remaining food slowly fell to the bottom of the lake, no other small fish or shrimp came to compete for it.
Xie Tianlang: [...]
It seems his Yuan Yuan was destined not to experience the joy of being fed.
As Fu Guiyuan watched the indifferent yet joyful fish and shrimp swimming and the swaying seaweed, the corners of her mouth gently curled upwards beneath her diving mask.
"You don't like fish food?"
"That's alright, Dad has all kinds of food here, surely there's something for you to like?"
Then, Xie Tianlang saw Gou Fugui frantically rummaging through his pockets like Doraemon.
From the different flavors of fish food at the beginning, to cat food, dog food, cat canned food, and dog canned food, and then to potato chips, spicy strips, cola, and Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, it's as if this person has to feed the fish and shrimp until they all revolve around him.
However, just as he had initially suspected, none of the living creatures here came up to try eating the food, despite the abundance of food available.
At this moment, Gou Fugui even pulled out a huge, bloody frozen pig leg from his pocket.
He waved the frozen pork leg rapidly in front of the fish and shrimp, almost bringing it to the mouth of a beautiful carp.
Yet still, no aquatic creatures wanted to eat.
Xie Tianlang roughly understood what he meant by testing him, but just as he was about to pull Fugui Yuanyuan back to tell her it was useless, he watched helplessly as his Xinshang Yuanyuan swung the huge, heavy, frozen pork leg with both hands, and the frozen meat sent the little carp that refused to eat floating away.
Xie Tianlang: [...]
Using a leg at the slightest disagreement, isn't that a bit brutal?
But this brutality is only just beginning.
The next Fugui'er was like a crazy environmental destroyer and a heartless fisherman. He started to frantically destroy everything that could glow in the area with the frozen pig leg as he went.
He brutally broke the fluorescent water plants with a frozen pork leg, and swept away all the beautiful and harmless little fish and shrimp with one kick or even three or four pushes.
If it weren't for the cushioning effect of the water, those transparent and adorable fish and shrimp would probably have been hit hard like baseballs or even killed.
At this moment, Fugui, holding the frozen pork leg, looks like a complete villain.
After watching the villain's actions, Xie Tianlang suddenly laughed, pulled out two slender daggers from his backpack, and began to destroy this beautiful world with his Xin Shangyuan.
As his dagger once again severed a patch of shimmering, fluorescent water plants, the fairytale world of the entire Southeast District, already utterly destroyed, could no longer conceal its true, ferocious nature—
[Chirp—]
As an unprecedented, horrifying scream pierced through four layers of protective clothing and echoed in our ears, the entire dreamlike underwater world began to shake violently.
At first, the beautiful little fish and shrimp that were swimming freely suddenly straightened their bodies, and thin gray lines like water snakes appeared in the transparent water around them, pulling them as if they were pulling countless marionettes.
Then there were the glowing, differently shaped aquatic plants that originally grew at the bottom of the lake. Their roots struggled to climb up from the mud at the bottom of the lake, like walking corpses crawling out of a deep grave.
Only then will you realize that the glowing seaweed growing on the mud at the bottom of the lake is just a small part of the giant monster's tentacles, and that the originally beautiful little fish and shrimp are just bait used by this monster with countless gray and transparent tentacles to lure its enemies.
Even the glowing, colorful pearls and minerals at the bottom of the lake were just deadly bait simulated by that giant monster.
In just a few minutes, the once beautiful and dreamlike underwater world was transformed into a gigantic monster with countless mimic tentacles.
Even though Xie Tianlang and Gou Fugui had already guessed it in their hearts, they were still shocked for a moment when they saw the monster in front of them, which looked like a huge, mutated, glowing octopus jellyfish.
[Damn! I thought there would be a giant monster like a deep-sea oarfish here, but why is it a tentacle creature?!]
It's still the tentacle type that looks cute at first glance, but once you see the whole thing, it drains your mental energy like crazy.
Xie Tianlang didn't have time to respond to Gou Fugui's frantic sign language. He reached out and grabbed Gou Fugui, then pulled him upwards and outwards with a powerful tug on his feet.
However, at this moment, the giant alien, unable to deceive and weaken the invaders with a disguised illusion, had already begun its encirclement attack—
At least a thousand dense, gray, transparent, snake-like tentacles surrounded the two of them from all directions, almost instantly blocking all their escape routes and enveloping them in countless gray tentacles.
【Gurgle.】
The enormous lake-bottom monster let out a satisfied sound as it successfully captured its prey.
Although the two intruders were wearing strange protective gear, they were completely enveloped and surrounded by it. Given enough time, any kind of life form would be eroded and occupied by it, and then... completely replaced.
They have longed for this world for far too long since they came with the meteorite.
They want to occupy this new world with life force; they want to devour and integrate more superior genes and traits.
However, each invasion is accompanied by a long drift in the universe. Most invasions have to pass through the natural atmospheric protection layer of the planetary world, causing them to consume a lot of energy and fall into a weakened or even dying state.
However, as long as they are not completely dead, and given a chance to survive, they can use the long period of time as nutrients for their revival, and eventually, at the right time, they will erupt, invade, and take over!
Now is the time they've been waiting for.
Soon they will be able to devour all living things.
boom!
Rumble!
As this enormous, multiplying alien mother, capable of spawning countless invasive microorganisms within minutes, pondered with delight, it suddenly felt an unbearable tearing pain emanating from its gray tentacles.
Those were probably two high-level life forms in this world that it had devoured, struggling and resisting.
They will always encounter resistance.
But that doesn't matter, because their rate of destruction can never keep up with the rate of its replication and growth.
Although he felt that hundreds of tentacles had been blown apart, the huge alien monster covered the gaps with even more tentacles.
The tentacles wrapped around it so tightly that it looked like a giant ball.
And here are countless unseen, tiny intruders.
Gou Fugui saw that the place where he had just blasted a crack was quickly covered up again, and his gaze behind the mask revealed a hint of caution.
Although I don't want to admit it, the situation is very bad right now.
The oxygen tanks on their backs were running low on oxygen, and the countless transparent tentacles around them were covered with numerous invasive microorganisms.
Although there was no obvious pain, Xie Tianlang had already gestured to him, telling him that the four layers of protective clothing made of different materials they were wearing were being rapidly worn down.
How much longer can we hold out?
Gou Fugui gritted his teeth and asked.
I can feel the first layer of protective clothing has already torn, and the second layer is also being destroyed. We can probably only hold on for another fifteen minutes before the invading microorganisms devour and digest our clothes at lightning speed. And then...
Then they will come into direct physical contact with those microorganisms. The microorganisms attach to their skin, breathe through their pores and enter their bodies, invading their bodies little by little. They eventually become like the residents of the ancient city, or like the innkeeper and his wife, a "new human".
Gou Fugui felt that this wouldn't work.
The longer it takes, the less chance he and Xie Tianlang will have of turning the tide.
We must escape this place as quickly as possible and kill and capture this enormous, mountain-like monster to make the antidote.
Gou Fugui pursed his lips in thought. Should he use the most powerful explosive weapon in his space?
But the two of them are now at the very center of the explosive bomb. The most powerful explosive weapon will not only blow up the giant monster, but also the two of them at the center.
But how can we defeat such an alien monster without using the most powerful weapons?
"Tsk."
This is when you should flip through his "Cute Pet Handbook," where one of the cutest creatures might just show off its special talent—
[Golden Thread Turtle: The "golden turtle" in "golden turtle son-in-law" refers to me! Please don't call me a Chinese grass turtle!]
Traits/Skills:
1. Can you see my shell? It's very hard.
Complete Transformation: The Chinese Pond Turtle, also known as the Golden Turtle, Golden Thread Turtle, Longevity Turtle, and Eight Trigrams Turtle, belongs to the order Testudines, family Geoemydidae, and genus Testudine. The Chinese Pond Turtle is, of course, a turtle native to China! So isn't it only natural that China has the most of them?
In Asia and some parts of Europe and America, turtles are considered a symbol of good fortune and longevity.
Bloodline Boost (Basic): Increases defense by 50% and health by 50%. When facing a fatal attack from behind, adjusting your angle can prevent instant death. Please cherish life! Avoid fighting.
2. Who wants to outlive me?
Complete Transformation: All turtles have long lifespans, with a minimum of 170 years. The Chinese Pond Turtle is a particularly magical turtle; according to Huazhou legend, it may even live for a thousand years without dying, and may even eventually become a deity.
The tortoise doesn't have much ambition; it just doesn't want to compete with other tortoises in terms of lifespan.
Bloodline Bonus (No Level Restriction): Vitality is quantified, doubling health points.
If the Golden Tortoise's Bloodline bonus is activated when someone is critically injured or on the verge of death, they can definitely be saved, or live for a few more minutes, hours, or even days.
How long you live depends on how strong your life force is.
Also: Here's a little tip: lying still on your stomach in bed can speed up your recovery!
3. Auspicious Turtle.
Complete transformation: The tortoise is the true embodiment of good fortune! What kind of koi is that little goldfish that just wags its tail and spins around?! How long has it been a koi?! Only the tortoise has been the embodiment of good fortune and longevity since ancient times! Compared to its seniority, that fish isn't even worthy of carrying the tortoise's shoes!
Bloodline Bonus (No Level Restriction): May the tortoise bring you good fortune, ward off disasters and evil, and grant you eternal prosperity!
Small strokes of luck are nothing to worry about, but if you let a tortoise sit beside you, feed it with reverence, and kneel in worship, you'll find that life becomes brighter.
4. Ineffective/Negative Characteristics:
The tortoise is only slightly slow, but compared to the sloth, its speed is lightning fast.
Because of their high seniority, they have always been a symbol of auspicious grandfathers, so they prefer to call themselves grandfathers. This is not to look down on anyone, it is just a habit.
Also, because of the shell on your back, it's best to sleep on your stomach. If you sleep on your back, you might need someone to help you turn over when you get up.
Of course, if you don't believe in this superstition, you can try it yourself to see if you can successfully get out of bed.
Looking at the ordinary blue turtle in the mind's eye manual, Gou Fugui slapped his wrist, and his originally colorful hair returned to its original black color with a hint of blue.
Whether it was a misperception or not, Gou Fugui suddenly felt that his back was very strong, as if it could withstand a powerful attack.
At this moment, Xie Tianlang was still using the ordinary explosive bombs that Gou Fugui had given him to bombard the gray tentacles that had huddled together in a ball.
Therefore, he did not see the fleeting light of transformation beside him.
However, he could roughly guess that his Yuanyuan was looking for a solution to the problem, and he was even thinking about how to get out of this predicament.
Then suddenly, Fu Guiyuan grabbed his wrist.
"I'm about to unleash a powerful attack, so remember to activate your internal energy defense! After the attack ends, you should still be able to move around freely. Make sure to use this time to find the core of this giant alien monster, and then take me with you!"
The important thing is to find the core of the giant alien monster and get me up there. Got it?
Xie Tianlang frowned slightly as he looked at the hand gesture that Fu Gui Yuan Yuan was making to him. He wanted to ask something, but suddenly he was embraced by his Yuan Yuan.
He froze for a moment, and just as he instinctively reached out to wrap his arms around Fu Guiyuan's waist, he saw a huge, exquisitely crafted, polygonal metal sphere appear in his hand.
The moment Xie Tianlang saw the giant metal sphere, his pupils contracted sharply. He wanted to grab Gou Fugui's hand and make him put this extremely dangerous thing away. He even forgot that he was wearing an oxygen mask and hurriedly asked.
"Don't use that small atomic bomb!! We can't withstand that kind of attack here; we'll die along with this monster!!"
However, his hands and his words were a step slower than his rich and beautiful wife. After taking out the small atomic bomb, the rich and beautiful wife pressed the detonation switch and threw it backward!
Then he lunged at Xie Tianlang with even more force, pulling him backward so that Xie Tianlang could no longer move.
Then he calculated the position to block the bomb with his back, and when the fire that could cause the earth to tremble appeared, he was prepared to withstand the most terrible blow.
Xie Tianlang's pupils contracted sharply; he absolutely could not allow his beloved to die here.
So he braced himself with both hands, ready to pull the person into his arms at the last moment, but because of Gou Fugui's action, he forgot to act again—
This willful and audacious guy actually took off the breathing mask he was wearing and ripped it off at the same time!
Although their clothes and breathing masks would be reduced to dust in an instant during such an explosion, removing their masks prematurely would be tantamount to suicide!
But this long-haired youth, who seemed to have figured him out, removed his mask and, with a beautiful smile in his eyes, pressed his thin lips directly onto his own.
The moment their lips met, Xie Tianlang couldn't help but tremble. In that brief moment of stunned silence, the terrifying explosion roared, shattering countless gray tentacles that enveloped them, as well as everything that blocked their way.
The powerful shockwave instantly propelled Gou Fugui and Xie Tianlang to the farthest point in the area.
Even though Gou Fugui had activated his bloodline enhancement, possessing absolute defensive power and a body that could withstand back injuries without dying, his flesh was still instantly torn open and covered in blood when the shockwave from the explosion hit his back!
The intense pain almost made Jin Gui Fugui faint instantly, but before he lost consciousness, he grabbed Xie Tianlang's arm, pulled out a bunch of weapons, and gritted his teeth as he spoke:
"I risked my life, I'm going to find that thing for me!"
Then he fainted.
At this moment, Xie Tianlang, who was completely naked, had no expression on his face. He gently placed the person who had taken most of the impact for him and whose back was covered in blood and flesh and who had fainted next to the rubble, and turned to look at the huge monster that was screaming and roaring, but was already broken into pieces.
In this terrifying shockwave, this once beautiful and dreamlike world, the lakebed that had accumulated invaders for two thousand years, was now shattered beyond recognition.
The monster that they were completely unable to fight just now has now revealed its vulnerable true form.
It was the core of a huge, soft, transparent gemstone, about three meters in diameter.
Within this core, Xie Tianlang saw many tiny lines slowly moving within the liquid.
"Oh."
Xie Tianlang, whose body was also covered in blood from the explosion, stepped forward with a cold smile. He slashed through every broken tentacle that tried to block him, and finally arrived in front of the huge, soft core.
Then, he reached out and struck the soft core surface hard with the stun gun.
When he saw the blue electric light emanating from the entire core and the tiny lines beginning to tremble wildly, a cold smile finally appeared on his face.
He knew that he and Yuanyuan must have been severely infected.
But what does it matter?
Before he loses his rational will, as long as he can take Yuanyuan and the core of the mother body up there, they will win this battle.
When the massive explosion and tremor occurred at the bottom of the lake, the mechanical titmouse, unable to break through the final barrier and forced to fly aimlessly in the lake, lost all contact.
The massive tremor caused Song Sanchuan and Si Wuyai to stand up instantly. They had already put on their protective suits and rushed to the edge of Misty Lake as fast as they could amidst the shaking. After anxiously waiting for ten minutes, they finally saw the two men, who were covered in wounds and bleeding profusely.
Of course, there was also the soft yet hard core, flowing with a silvery-gray liquid, which Xie Tianlang held in a net.
The moment Si Wuyai's hands touched the silver-gray core, they both received a notification from the world's consciousness.
[Congratulations to the saviors for finding the source of the apocalypse. Eliminating the source will repair the core of the world.]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
