Conspiracy

This is a chaotic scene, as if floating in the void. You can't see the front or the back, the concepts of left, right, up and down are blurred, and even the judgment of time and place is no longer clear. Black mist slides across the fingertips and then surges behind you.

Anyone could tell something was wrong. Where they were going would be filled with fighting, blood, killing, and death. It just shouldn't be like this...

silence.

It was as quiet as a cemetery.

This thought was shocking. The leading bloodline threw away his unnecessary thoughts and carefully examined the situation. He was from the Hart family, had rich experience like the wrinkles on his face, and had a pair of precise eyes.

“This is not our destination.”

This wasn't even somewhere in the black fog. There was endless emptiness as far as the eye could see. The teleportation point shouldn't be here anyway.

"This is definitely not the City of Worms, but a gap in teleportation."

A voice came from far away. The moment the low-level bloodline heard the voice, their ears began to bleed. They fell to their knees screaming. Unspeakable whispers penetrated their brains, eroding their spirits. The sound alone was enough to become a horror that humans could not understand.

The remaining people had no time to care for their companions. The incredible figure walked out from the depths of the black fog, leisurely and contentedly as if taking a stroll. But the moment they saw Him, blood gushed out of the eyes of all the witnesses, and their brains became chaotic and muddled, and they were completely unable to listen to the rest of the words.

"I don't really want to get involved in this, but the apple is about to ripen, so it's better to catch it before it slips out of my hands."

He spoke in a friendly manner, and gently stroked something in the black mist with his palm. Transparent tentacles wrapped around his fingers, rubbing against his skin affectionately. Thousands of tentacles fell from the sky, and a mysterious figure emerged from the black mist.

It looks like a giant jellyfish, floating lightly in the air. Its transparent, fluffy tentacles are extremely harmless and remind people of fluffy clouds and soft pastries.

But no cloud can stir up the black mist with just its tentacles. It drifts in the pollution, as freely as if it were drifting in the deep sea. The black mist is its sea. Mica extends its tentacles to humans, and both the monsters who are undergoing mutation and the humans who are struggling to maintain their sanity melt under its tentacles.

Swallow, absorb, and obliterate.

The wailing of monsters and the wailing of humans seemed extremely fragile in front of the [Monster Lord]. He did not even take action himself, but simply ordered his mount to handle it on its own. With his cold eyes, he watched the tragedy unfold until everything became quiet.

It's really interesting. Even after watching it countless times, He still enjoys the betrayal of humans. His face hidden under the black mist is smiling, and his thoughts are hard to understand.

[Mica] ate all the food obediently and snuggled up to his master. [Monster Lord] patted his tentacles and asked in a doting tone: "Are you full?"

[Mica] gently swayed its tentacles, as if answering his words. He smiled and said, "That's great. Let's go and greet our guests."

The monster's tentacles swayed, gently accompanying Him into the black mist.

Behind them is a silence quieter than death.

......

In the black fog, in front of the anchor teleportation array, Dan stared at this "companion" intently.

What appeared before my eyes was an incredible scene.

The Mechanical City researcher slowly turned his head, revealing a pale and bloodless face. He stared straight at Dan, his body filled with a thick aura of death.

Liquid continuously flowed out of the cut chest, the texture was viscous, and it was red to black. The place where the heart should be was empty, as if someone had taken the internal organs out of it. No, it was better to say that there was no internal organs at all, but instead there were complex and dense lines.

All the bones he saw were made of metal. Dan took a step back, realizing with horror what had happened.

This is actually a robot that has long been banned from manufacturing!

Since the "Mechanical Disaster", the Mechanical City has been prohibited from manufacturing advanced mechanical intelligence. Once discovered, they will be dealt with immediately. All researchers involved in this area will live under surveillance.

Having lived in Partington for so long, Dan had never seen any real robot. But this thing that only existed in legends appeared before him.

This guy is not without emotional intelligence - he doesn't even have a human heart! When he thought about how he had been with this thing for so long, and that it could be contaminated and mutated at any time, Rao Dan couldn't help but feel a little scared.

"What on earth are you..."

He spoke word by word, squeezing out the sentence from between his teeth. The researcher looked at him and answered clearly: "I am an internal researcher of the Mechanical City, a student of Mr. Hai Shiz, and a temporary member of the 41st Black Mist Team. I am an expert in the field of teleportation and have published many papers in the Mechanical City. This time, because of my excellent performance, I was able to join the team and implement the Black Mist Counterattack Plan."

These words are like a template that is input in a unified way. At first glance, they sound very logical, but if you listen carefully, you will taste the coldness that is unique to mechanical creatures.

This didn't sound like a self-introduction, but rather like reading a user manual. While answering, the researcher stared at Rex without blinking. Others noticed the situation and their faces changed drastically. The medical bloodline said solemnly, "This is..."

They didn't have time to think for too long, as the monster's howl came from afar, forcing them to concentrate their thoughts.

Dan took one last look at the teleportation array and said, "Let's go."

The installation mission was completed, and the next mission was to attract firepower. The monsters were not interested in the machines, but if a fight broke out here and affected the teleportation array, it would most likely cause the teleportation to fail.

Under his order, the team quickly left. Before leaving, Dan dealt with the robot. It did not resist, but just tilted its head slightly and looked at Dan with puzzled eyes (God knows how horrified Dan was when he read this emotion from the robot's eyes).

"Why are you getting rid of me? It's not in the best interest of the company."

"I would rather get rid of the worry of the aftermath."

Dan replied coldly, chopped off the robot's head with a knife, and then led the team to disperse to other places.

Each team has a map that records all the areas that humans have explored. The original exploration team members who led the way returned to the way they came along the safest route. It was fast when they went there, but it was not as easy to come back as it was at the beginning.

The frightened monsters no longer stay in their own territories, and you can see frantic beasts everywhere. This makes the way back extremely difficult. Not to mention that when you see a monster that threatens the teleporter, you have to actively lead it away.

He was strong enough to lead the remaining two people to break through the siege. On the way to escape, he also met another team.

The situation of this team was even more miserable, with only the captain and the bloodline healer left. When Dan encountered them, they were being entangled by a violent bear monster. Fortunately, Dan took action in time to avoid the end of their entire group being wiped out.

Dan touched the tip of his nose and said, "It seems like it's not easy for everyone."

The other party smiled bitterly: "This is much more difficult than I thought. We were completely powerless against those monsters. They were like a swarm of crazy bees. I watched my team members die one by one. And that damn researcher, why is he a robot?"

"It's the same situation here." Dan asked after bandaging his wound. "I guess everyone has encountered similar things. Are you still leaving?"

"Of course."

The remaining member of the team stood up and shook Dan's hand without hesitation. The captain shrugged, his eyes still firm: "This road will eventually reach the end."

…

In the City of Insects, Rex, who is also a researcher from the Mechanical City, felt as if he had fallen into an abyss because of the other party's words.

"What do you mean by that?"

Aga didn't answer him anymore. He fell down, and the blood was sticky. Ricks rushed to check on him. Aga had already stopped breathing. His lifeless eyes were looking at somewhere in the void, with a trace of remaining despair.

"Damn..."

Rex turned to look at the teleportation array. Although he could try to modify the ordinary teleportation array, he had no idea how to modify this new model. He suppressed his anxiety and dealt with the remaining Black Mist followers with Malcolm, constantly thinking about solutions.

What to do, what to do, what to do...

What if something really goes wrong because I failed to stop it just now?

Malcolm asked, "What should we do next?"

Ricks gritted his teeth and said, "Call the others and let's go!"

Malcolm stood there and looked at him motionlessly: "But if this is the case, our mission will be a complete failure."

"What can we do? We have already failed. The team did not teleport over. We fell into the trap of the Black Mist followers. Damn it, it's all my fault. If I hadn't been unable to stop him at that time..."

Ricks punched the wall with a look of despair on his face. "What can we do now? We can't go against the Queen."

"We can." Malcolm walked to the window and could see the flames burning in the central area through the hanging white drapery.

"Although there was an accident during the transmission, the association will surely find the problem soon and come up with a solution. We can't just leave like this."

The priest's voice was unpleasant, but it fell quietly into the ears of both parties. Surprisingly, Ricks did not dislike this feeling.

"You mentioned before that there is a [Insect Heart] in the Insect City."

"...You guys, are you really not afraid of death? That thing is not easy to get."

"I am afraid, but don't we have Aurelius?"

Malcolm pointed in the direction of the wall of the Insect City.

Even from a distance, one could still see the earth-shaking smoke. The two monsters fought each other, blood and black confronted each other, and neither side dared to admit defeat in such a battle.

"Since you said so, let's take a gamble." Rex took a deep breath and his expression became firm again. "The Heart of the Insect is actually one of the Queen's hearts, hidden in the deepest part of the bedroom. Come with me, let's try to find it."

He had been here more than a decade ago and explored every corner of the palace.

More than a decade later, Rex still lived up to his original self and found the location of the [Insect Heart].

It was a corridor located in the Queen's bedroom, opened through a special mechanism.

There were tiny reflections in the darkness, as if the ground was covered with light powder. Malkan looked carefully and saw that they were actually countless crawling insects. They were covered in layers, covering the entire corridor. The mouthparts of the snakes, which were almost as long as their bodies, opened and closed in the air, and the reflections were reflected by the tips of these mouthparts.

This scene made people's scalps tingle. Malcolm swallowed his saliva and said, "We are not going to walk in from here."

"I'm going to go in from here." Ricks stared at the end of the passage, which led to endless darkness, like an eye spying on the outside world.

"I can sense the aura of the Heart of the Insect. It is at the end of this passage."

"You want to go in by yourself!?"

"Only I can go in. I have the aura of the queen on me, so these bugs won't kill me. But if anyone else goes in, they will eat them immediately. Besides, my ability is effective against these bugs, as they are of the same origin as the insect people."

Seeing that Rex had made up his mind, Malcolm had no choice but to agree: "If there is anything wrong, call me immediately and I will come in to save you."

"Then I'll leave it to you."

Rex smiled and walked into the passage without hesitation. The insects that discovered the intruder immediately rushed over and densely covered the opponent's entire body.

Just seeing this scene, Malcolm couldn't help but shudder and suppressed the desire to grab. He watched Rex walk deeper, his steps were laborious and his back was firm. The chirping of insects echoed in his ears, making him so upset that he wanted to step on these things to death.

...Hold on, Rex. He could only pray silently in his heart, hoping for the other person's return.

Ricks didn't lie, he just concealed some unimportant truths.

These bugs would not kill him, but they would eat his flesh and burrow into his body. No one but the Queen herself could tame these greedy little creatures.

For the first time in his life, he was thankful that the Queen had taken a liking to him. The [Insect Queen] was an extremely selfish and petty SSS-level monster who would not allow anyone to lay hands on her possessions. That was why he had the opportunity to cross this corridor and go to the room at the end.

The rustling sound of insects gnawing at flesh echoed, and the pain turned into numbness. The man kept walking.

This passage is actually not a secret, it is also the torture chamber of the Queen of Insects.

He couldn't help but think of the promise he made many years ago. He said to himself, "You are our hero."

What was Cohen's fate after returning to the City of Worms for himself? Actually, Ricks did guess a little.

The people in the stable said that the betrayer was in the Queen's palace.

Cohen, who had returned in his place many years ago, entered this palace and never left. The queen fed it to these insects, and day after day, year after year, the blood of countless sacrifices soaked this corridor, guarding the [Insect Heart].

Ricks was shaking all over. He could no longer tell whether the water that fell was sweat or his own blood. It was as if someone put a hand on his shoulder and said to him softly, "Go on, leader."

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the man finally reached the end of the passage. He groped in the darkness with his hands and finally hit a wall. The wall was crawling with insects, which began to gnaw at human flesh when they touched their fingertips.

Rex endured the severe pain and explored a little bit, and finally touched a hard object under the sea of ​​​​worms. After he took it out, the worms in the tunnel went crazy and began to attack him regardless of the queen's breath.

At the same time, a loud chant was heard from the entrance of the corridor.

"My Lord is omnipotent and the only righteous God in the world. Please grant me your grace and save this lost soul."

As the chanting sounded, a strong light burst out from the entrance. A white rope made of light was thrown in from the outside, and Malcolm shouted, "Rex, hold on!"

This time, Ricks held the rope.

With a huge force, he was pulled out from the depths of the passage.

Malcolm took a deep breath after seeing the situation and hurriedly treated his wound. Rex was wincing in pain, but couldn't stop smiling.

"Finally got the [Insect Heart]!"

"Rather than that, you should focus on your own health first."

Malcolm squeezed out the medicine and sprayed it on the wound. He was busy picking out the broken insect limbs, bandaging them and disinfecting them. He heaved a sigh of relief when the man's flesh and blood began to grow again.

Ricks comforted him with a bitter face: "It's just a minor injury - it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Bear with it, this medicine is just like that."

"You must be kidding! I've used it before and it didn't hurt this much. It hurts, it hurts..."

After he was able to move a little, Rex forced himself to sit up. He solemnly opened the box, which contained a bright red, beating heart. It exuded the breath of a queen.

This is the [Insect Heart].

Rex looked at it quietly for a while, picked it up, and stuffed it into his wound with force.

Outside the city of insects.

The Queen of Insects, who had been calm, suddenly changed her expression and turned to look at the place where her bedroom was. Sensing a familiar breath, the Queen sneered.

"It was you who appeared in the territory of the Green Mist Tree at that time, Rex. I didn't expect you to dare to come back on your own initiative."

There is no point in wasting time here any more. Unlike last time, he did not set traps in the palace this time. With the experience from last time, Rex might be able to find the [Insect Heart]. If that happens, it will be very bad.

Thinking of this, the queen accelerated her attack. Although she looked frail, she was actually very powerful and deadly with every move. Grooves appeared on the ground, and every move she made stirred up the wind and clouds.

The red-haired young man paused, and taking advantage of this gap, the [Insect Queen] daggered, trying to get away.

But the opponent did not fall into the trap. The bright red figure blocked His presence again. Oreius's appearance had not changed much from before, but it was worth mentioning the bright red lines all over his body. The lines covered his face, outlining his fierce and violent temperament.

The evil face and blood-gold pupils complemented each other, staring straight at the queen. The predator's eyes made the queen's expression suddenly become extremely gloomy.

"Are you determined to go against me?"

Aurelius raised his lips and squinted, "How can this be called right? You were the one who blocked my way first."

"Hehehe...you are so ignorant! I will step on your head!"

The queen was completely furious. She grabbed the opponent's long sword with her bare hands, and the scarlet thorns burned into her palm, leaving a wound. The sound of insects gnawing continued to ring, and when Oleus pulled back the sword, the blade was covered with holes of various sizes.

He swept the blade across his palm, and the long sword instantly returned to its original shape. A mysterious flame flew up and fell on Oreius' shoulders like a cloak.

The teleportation array did not work as expected, there must be someone behind it. But this is not the most important thing at the moment.

He didn't know what was happening in the Insect City right now, but since there was no signal of retreat, it meant that others were still working hard.

His only mission, then, is to stop the [Queen of Insects] at all costs!

“How hateful, how hateful, how hateful!”

The [Insect Queen] soared up, and her lower body completely transformed into an insect body. Dreamy light powder scattered in small pieces, and if you look closely, you will find that they are countless insect eggs, which hatched into adults the moment they touched the ground, and crawled towards the young man in a dense crowd.

The latter had a blank expression on his face, his cloak of flames falling against the wind, and the strange smell of burning insect flesh wafted through the ground wherever he passed. More insects broke through the flames and came to his side, but when they came into contact with the spells in the air, they became his vassals and attacked the gods they had once served.

With them at the center, the insect tide was divided into two distinct colors: black and red. The two sides collided with each other, and the crunching sound of swallowing was tooth-grinding.

He flapped his wings and was about to fly away. Oreius opened his hands, and his blood stretched to form a rune network, which finally froze on a spear.

“Swoosh—”

Oreius gripped the handle of his spear and threw it at the opponent. The long arrow broke through the clouds and hit the opponent's wings directly. The queen was caught off guard and cried out in pain. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, staining her long skirt.

As the blood flowed more and more, Orelius moved his mind and the spear turned into a net to bind the opponent's body. No matter how hard the [Insect Queen] struggled, she could not escape.

He stood in front of the queen, who instead turned calm. She looked at him with narrow eyes filled with resentment.

The next second, the half-human, half-insect body collapsed into thousands of insects, which crawled out from the cracks in the net. They bit the young man's body frantically, completely unaffected by the blood, and soon his white bones were exposed.

The queen's cold voice echoed in the hearts of all insects, filled with gnashing anger.

"Go and take back the [Insect Heart]!"

All the insects in the Insect City crawled on the ground, trembling in the face of the Queen's anger. The kowtow insects were horrified. Their blood was originally contaminated by the Queen, and they were powerless to resist the Queen's anger. One by one, humans fell to the ground, and Belle burst into tears and sniffed in pain.

"Mom, Mom..."

The old man breathed heavily and closed the door. He leaned against the door and slowly slid to the ground, with traces of insects on his body. Hearing the girl's sobs, he smiled bitterly, slowly crawled to her side, reached out and touched Belle's head, his voice full of fatigue.

"Go to sleep, Belle. Everything will be fine when you wake up."

"Really?"

The girl looked at him with wide eyes, and he smiled: "Really."

Outside this door, the floor of the animal shed was full of people. Regardless of what kind of bloodline they were, they all turned into insects at this moment.

Amelia fell backwards with a pale face, and Flynn immediately supported her: "Are you hurt?"

"...This is the Queen's anger. A similar situation occurred when the rebels first entered the Queen's palace, but it was not as serious as today. Oh my God, what did you do to make the Queen so angry for the first time."

Despite this, she kept a smile on her face. There was no better news than this. The angrier the queen was, the more effective the battle plan was. She looked at Flynn expectantly: "Could it be that human support is coming?"

Flynn looked up at the sky. The suspended teleporter array disappeared into the black mist, causing a trace of worry to rise in his eyes.

"Something seems to be wrong. I have to go and check it out. But I won't be able to take care of you if I have to."

"Don't worry, we still have these guys."

The toothless man smiled and pointed at the Black Mist followers: "Although I don't know what's going on, they seem to be really helping us. I think you can rest assured now."

"...be careful."

Flynn made up his mind, and after giving a worried reminder, he looked at the men in black robes and said, "Take good care of them, and never put them in danger."

"We got it."

The bloodline members were still a little worried, so they bent down and touched the ground to create a mud barrier to protect the bloodline members of the Kowtow Bug, and then they quickly ran towards the palace.

The closer he got to the palace, the more frightened he became. It seemed as if the insects had received some special instructions, and even if they saw him, they ignored him and aimed directly at the palace where Ricks and his men were.

Following this large group of troops, Flynn quickly found Rex and the other two. The priest helped Rex stand on the steps of the palace, and the latter took a weak breath. He shouted, "Back off!"

The monster army was in a commotion for a moment. The heart inside Rex's body beat a little. There were strange fluctuations. The insect people hesitated for a while, but finally obeyed the queen's command and slowly made way.

The two walked down the stairs and came to Flynn. Ricks' face turned pale and he smiled: "How is it? The effect is not bad."

Flynn gave a thumbs-up without hesitation: "That's amazing!"

"I'm not saying anything. What's going on with Aurelius?"

They escaped from the central area and ran towards where Oleus was. Crushed insect corpses were everywhere, and the scorched earth and cracked ground were enough to prove the fierce fighting. The three of them carefully avoided the ruins and finally saw the current situation of the battlefield.

The red-haired young man had his back to them, his exposed flesh and blood regenerating crazily. A blazing flame covered his shoulders, swallowing up all the insects that approached with the wind.

The beautiful woman rested her head on his shoulder, seemingly intimately. But as soon as you saw the completely split jaws on the lower half of her face, you would realize that they were biting each other in the most primitive way.

The Queen of Insects devoured each other's flesh and blood, and Oreius assimilated each other's body. The two sides rolled on this land in the most tragic way.

Finally, the red-haired young man raised his head. He looked like a monster that had walked out of a nightmare, with blood dripping from his cheeks. He held the long sword tightly in his right hand and nailed the insect girl to the ground. The pale flames burned the opponent's body as he moved, like a funeral that would never be extinguished.

The red-haired young man stood up shakily, screaming and wailing as his back was embellished. He walked towards the three people, the flames burning behind him casting a thrilling light and shadow, outlining the mysterious lines on the young man's face.

It was as if the god of death was walking towards them step by step, or like a tyrannical and arrogant monarch, with a sneer in his blood-gold eyes that he himself was not aware of.

Ricks and the other two swallowed their saliva and took a step back subconsciously. The red-haired young man stood in front of them, and there was no emotion in his tone. Only his figure stood firm.

"Let's go, we're getting ready to leave."