Chapter 283 Survivors
As Xu Qingqiang looked into Wei Huan's eyes, the scarlet in his eyes gradually faded.
When the magic pattern on his face quickly retreated into his collar, he looked normal again.
Then he glanced at the chaotic explosion of the chariot in front of him, lit a cigarette and said, "It's not like I have no energy at all, it feels like I've just eaten a mouthful of porridge, you know? Normally I eat big fish and meat, the kind that I chew in my mouth, but this kind of food goes down in one gulp, and it doesn't have any energy. That's how it is.
"But!" Xu Qingqiang continued, "I can sense energy within those corpses. If I wait a little longer, I can dig it out along the veins. It's just that I can't bring myself to kill my own kind. I eat everything except humans."
Xu Qingqiang finished speaking while puffing out smoke, and looked towards the battle group above his head: "They are all dead."
Wei Huan thought that it was probably a seed, planted in the flesh and blood, absorbing the remaining power in the challenger's body and bursting out with powerful strength.
This is how parasitism works. The stronger the parasite is, the stronger the parasite will be... Thinking of this, Wei Huan suddenly felt a pang in his heart.
Wait, are the survivors of the sixth-level world really the same survivors who cast illusions to deceive people? The fifth and sixth-level worlds are the same race, and although it has never been explicitly stated that it cannot be, does this make sense?
"Be careful." Wei Huan expressed his guess, "Perhaps the survivors of the sixth-level world are actually new survivors parasitic on the bodies of the fifth-level survivors."
As Wei Huan said this, he happened to see a challenger who was a controlled corpse. Suddenly, its body twisted and deformed, and it turned into a huge, twisted, and somewhat deformed fish. In its wide-open mouth was a row of dwarf-like teeth, and inside the big mouth was a small mouth. Its body was covered with feathers like those of a bird. It swam flexibly in the continuous attacks, used seaweed fragments to dodge, and actually escaped for some distance.
Wei Huan thought of something and then said, "Not only do they possess the mental attacks of the Level 5 survivors, but after parasitizing our challengers, they also possess the abilities of their own sequence.
The other thing is, they might be hosting more than just these two species.”
"That's right!"
"Sure enough, I've noticed something's wrong since just now."
"Be very careful. We don't have an absolute way to avoid parasitism yet."
"Commander Wei, your new discovery is very timely."
"Commander Wei, I have several biological experts on board my chariot. We hope to collect the corpse for research and find out the true identity of the parasite species."
"Objection. Although we don't know what the parasite species is, now is not the time to study them. Saving people is the priority right now. Bringing the body back to the chariot is no less than inviting a wolf into the house."
"The most terrifying thing is facing an unknown enemy. There's a saying in Daxia: Know yourself and your enemy, and you'll win every battle."
"That's an ancient military maxim that doesn't quite apply to the modern world of social challenges."
"coward!"
"You! I'm thinking about you!"
"I don't need it, I just want to know the truth!"
"Whatever you want, just don't drag us down!"
The two generals, who were nearly fifty years old, were bickering like children, but this quarrel was no less than presenting different choices to Wei Huan.
Mu Zhong looked at Wei Huan. This time he didn't know what Wei Huan would choose.
Wei Huan's attention was still on the deformed shark that had already escaped far away.
The other parasitized challengers were torn to pieces in this round of fighting, and only this deformed shark escaped.
With its strength, it shouldn't have been able to escape, but because of the surprise attack, it succeeded.
In Wei Huan's opinion, this is not a bad thing. At least they have exposed their abilities and will not be caught off guard at the critical moment.
Amidst this quarrel and Wei Huan's silence, a broken chariot appeared at the end of the passage that had been beaten into a pulp.
But when the broken chariot appeared before their eyes, everyone fell silent.
In fact, the AI butler had already scanned the broken shape of the chariot, but there is still a big difference between seeing it with your own eyes and just looking at a virtual image.
When the camouflage-painted pieces of the tank fell so miserably before their eyes, everyone felt a sense of sadness, as if the rabbit had died and the fox had grieved for the loss of the other.
The chariot is the guarantee for the challengers to move in the challenge world. A thousand people live in a small chariot.
When a chariot is destroyed, the fighters living inside it may be better off, at least they can fight against their fate.
But the remaining group of logistics personnel, staff, and even some countries agreed to allow family members to board the vehicle in order to stabilize people's hearts. These low-powered passengers, at the moment the tank was destroyed, it was like the end of the world, and they also died.
In the small chariot, the power of the law of space was destroyed, and all the people and some objects were thrown out and scattered everywhere.
Now, their bodies are occupied by the monsters of this world, and they cannot rest in peace even in death.
Under Wei Huan's command, the undead army swam to the front of the chariot, and the facehuggers crawled around on the chariot, exploring every inch of space.
Wei Huan's vision fell on the heroic Lord of the Demonic Eyes, and he could clearly see the situation in the chariot.
"All the cracks are extending outwards. The tank must have exploded on its own, right?" Wei Huan seemed to be muttering to himself, but everyone else heard it.
A chill rose from the soles of my feet.
The chariot exploded from the inside? Was it man-made? There couldn't be a traitor; there couldn't possibly be a traitor in a racial war. The answer was that someone had a parasite inside them, exploding the chariot from the inside and winning the battle without a single drop of blood.
As for how they were parasitized? Did they get out of the chariot?
This is not difficult to guess.
Possessing the illusionary abilities of the plant descendants, they want to trick humans into believing that it is not difficult to get out of the chariot.
It is not difficult to parasitize and destroy the tank.
The enemy's form is becoming increasingly treacherous and difficult to deal with. The key is that until this moment, humans have not noticed its existence.
Wei Huan actually agreed with what the driver said. One should not be afraid of the unknown, but must try to understand it.
But at the same time, he had a lucky hope that the tanks that fell here were not all destroyed by the enemy in this way.
It is not easy for human beings to reach this point. These tanks are the talents that a country has cultivated with all its efforts. The key is that the cultivation of each talent takes time, and the loss of each one is a major loss to the human race.
He had a premonition that not all chariots would suffer misfortune, and that the greater the oppression suffered by mankind in adversity, the stronger the power of resistance would be.
Perhaps the next tank is waiting for their rescue.
"housekeeper."
"I am here."
"Totally destroy this tank."
"yes."
"Mu Zhong."
"I am here."
"Let Ironheart search for survivor signals with all his might."
"yes."
"The whole army has it."
“Yes!”
"Stay alert and go!"
Wei Huan issued orders one after another, clarifying the next mission objectives and not giving others any chance to say anything.
These generals, whose words were law and whose orders were obeyed by all, were actually willing to listen to Wei Huan's arrangements.
The tank commander, who had just been arguing with a red face, immediately adjusted his attitude after Wei Huan gave the order, and followed Wei Huan's tank seriously and moved forward.
Going further ahead, the situation is more of the same.
There were many fragments of the surviving tribe, large and small, piled up together, blocking the way ahead. They had to rely on the turrets of the sixth-level tanks and long-range bombing to clear the way.
The search capability of "Heart of Steel" is far superior to that of the AI butler, and even exceeds the attack range of Wei Huan's chariot.
However, based on the fact that it always detected various anomalies not far from the attack range, Wei Huan had reason to suspect that its signal coverage range might be more than this distance, but its current authority was limited and it could not provide them with more help.
With the help of "Iron Heart", Wei Huan then found three more tanks that were destroyed from the inside.
In fact, they were not far away from each other, and the way they were damaged was exactly the same. The difference was that this time Wei Huan did not use level eight weapons to cut off the sequence of criminals who might escape, but he did not see any corpses in the destroyed tanks.
After the tank exploded, there were more or less casualties, but he didn't see a single corpse.
It's impossible that he was rescued by his comrades. Given the environment here, even Wei Huan couldn't guarantee that he could leave the tank and escape successfully, let alone others.
So the only possibility is that after they were infected, they knew they could not fight them under such circumstances, so they evacuated first.
After confirming the fourth damaged tank, the command channel was silent and no one had spoken for a long time.
Everyone's movements to break through the road ahead and create a passage became mechanical and numb. Some drivers, who were originally serious, now had gloomy faces and their mouths were tightly pursed.
Many people had given up hope of finding anyone alive. They continued to advance deeper, but the environment only grew more hostile. The plant remnants were growing larger and larger, which meant more than just their ability to create illusions. Their massive bodies were enough to pose a threat even if they were to directly attack a tank.
People also found some parasites directly exposed to the sea water, like black worms, jumping and swimming in the water. It was disgusting to think that perhaps these things were drilling into the bodies of their own kind and controlling them.
"Or maybe they're not parasites." Mu Zhong and Wei Huan stood side by side, looking at the slimy sea outside the car. "There are parasites in the fifth-level world, too. They're red tree roots. These black bugs might be the roots of mature trees. Our speculation about parasites might just be our speculation. Our enemies have always been the same kind."
Wei Huan said: "Xu Qingqiang just went out to collect some and gave it to Xia Yu. I believe the truth will come out soon."
"Xia Yu hasn't reached Sequence 6 yet, so she might be in danger."
"She's in charge for the second day, and she has the best training resources on the chariot. Even if she hasn't leveled up, her strength is already no worse than that of a Sequence Six."
"How long do you have until Sequence Six?"
"Soon." Wei Huan thought about it, but felt it wasn't accurate enough, so he added, "I've always had the feeling of a breakthrough. It could happen at any time, perhaps through further practice, or perhaps an opportunity during a battle. It will happen very, very soon."
"How about that?" Upon hearing this, Mu Zhong wanted Wei Huan to upgrade first.
Wei Huan shook his head. The current environment really did not allow him to practice. Even if he forced himself to practice, it would probably be ineffective.
Mu Zhong felt a little regretful, but sometimes things are just so unfortunate and there is nothing you can do about it.
"Captain, Chef Liu asked me to ask if you would like to eat?"
"No." After a pause, Wei Huan said, "Let the others take turns eating, arrange the wartime rotation, and be ready for level one combat."
“Yes!”
Mu Zhong asked, "Do you think there will be a fight?"
"Of course they are. They won't just hide after controlling the corpses. They'll challenge civilization and lost civilizations to the death. We've already penetrated so deeply into their lair. There's no way they'll let us go with such a good opportunity."
"What about us?"
"We can't retreat. Even if we don't save the people, we must figure out what civilization this world truly is. Otherwise, even if the World Tree is planted, humanity will still not have peace."
"You firmly believe that this is a new survivor, a parasite?"
"I think that if it's just the descendants of that liar, this level six world is a bit too simple."
"I actually hope it's the descendants of a liar. The simpler the better."
Wei Huan went to see Mu Zhong, who smiled. Wei Huan thought about it and nodded, "Indeed."
“Knock, knock, knock.”
There was a knock on the door behind them. The two people who were chatting turned around at the same time and saw Liu Chengzhi pushing a food cart in.
Liu Chengzhi is tall and strong, but his face is round and he looks like Maitreya Buddha when he smiles. He has a festive and wealthy appearance, and looks like the old man's favorite "eldest grandson".
Seeing the two of them, Liu Chengzhi chuckled, "Boss, if you don't want to eat, I can't let Brother Mu go hungry. I made Brother Mu's favorite dish today and sent it directly to you. It's enough for the two of us, so let's eat together."
Mu Zhong smiled and walked to the sofa and sat down. While waiting for Liu Chengzhi to serve the dishes, he said, "Thank you. It's thoughtful of you to push the food over from the kitchen, which is so far away."
"Hey, what's this?" Liu Chengzhi pushed his food cart over with a look of congratulation. He lifted the tablecloth and saw that the wheels of the cart were actually floating in mid-air. Liu Chengzhi said happily, "I asked a veteran to help me make this. Isn't a flying food cart awesome? I can stand on the food cart and go anywhere. And this food cart has more than just flying capabilities. You see, it can be fried, grilled, or deep-fried. It's fully insulated, and look at the storage space..."
Listening to Liu Chengzhi's talk, Mu Zhong pulled Wei Huan to sit next to him, placed the bowl and chopsticks in his hands, and Wei Huan started eating without saying anything.
Liu Chengzhi was very happy to have the guests eat. He then took out some iced sour plum juice from the small cabinet on the side and said, "Look, it has a refrigeration function. Isn't this car awesome? It's priceless!"
After Liu Chengzhi pushed the food cart away, Wei Huan felt that his mood had improved a lot. He didn't know when the stone that had been pressing on his heart had dissipated.
It turns out that a delicious meal can solve many problems.
No matter whether this world is a world of deceitful remnants or parasitic remnants, his chariot is a level seven chariot, and many parts have been upgraded to level eight. He believes that even if there are really unknown horrors hidden in this world, as long as he is careful and not reckless, he can make it through with the strength of the chariot!
After relaxing, good things seem to happen.
Mu Zhong's expression suddenly changed. He then pointed at the large map on the virtual screen and said, "There's a signal here, and it's a complete tank. Iron Heart is contacting them... Received! Connected!"
As the last word fell, four faces appeared on the virtual screen in front of Wei Huan. They were all as haggard as ghosts, equally ecstatic, equally uneasy, and equally full of vigilance.
Clearly, suffering from the torture of the bereaved, they hoped the rescue they awaited was real, yet also refused to believe it due to the circumstances. The questioning gazes and the longing for life at that moment became a form of torture, causing their faces to appear somewhat distorted.
"Have you made contact?"
"Why that look? Are they also parasitic?"
"Could it be a scam by the survivors?"
"Be careful, Commander."
At the same time, people on Wei Huan's side also expressed doubts. After all, what they had seen along the way was too tragic. It was hard to imagine how they, who had gone deeper, could have persisted until now.
Wei Huanze glanced around and asked, "Where is General Qiao Xi?"
A tank commander from the Fence Country said, "I don't know. When I regained consciousness, there were only four of us tanks together. The others were gone."
Someone couldn't wait to ask: "How did you wake up?"
The train captain from Libaguo said, "I don't know. It was like a dream and I suddenly woke up."
"Haha, that's a very irresponsible answer. Aren't you worried about being exploited? Or have you been parasitized?"
"Parasitism? What parasite?"
"Are you still pretending? You're not pretending at all."
"Damn it, I really don't know what you're talking about... Ah! Commander Wei, I need resources. Our shield is almost broken. If you had come ten minutes later, we might not have been able to meet again."
"Commander Wei, be careful, it might be a trap."
"Commander Wei..."
"Commander Wei!!"
Wei Huan said, "Trade the energy blocks to them."
Someone tried to stop him: "Commander Wei, we haven't confirmed whether they are safe and reliable yet."
Some people's eyes gleamed: "Oh my God! I received a trade request, it's true, Commander Wei is here to save us, God!"
After this series of events happened, their chariot finally arrived near the chariot where the four were trapped, and everyone finally understood how they had survived until now.
There was actually a tank among them that had been upgraded with a level 7 protective shield.
Before the opening battle, only Wei Huan's chariot on the human side had a level 7 protective shield, but it has been two months since the opening battle. Whether it was obtained from a treasure chest in the level 5 world or as a prize in the carnival, it is not surprising that there is a second level 7 protective shield.
But it is this protective shield that has allowed these tanks to survive until now.
But it is also the last gasp of a dying force. The consumption of the seventh-level protective shield is very high. It has been continuously activated for more than a day. Ordinary chariots cannot sustain its consumption. After all, not every chariot has Wei Huan's way of "plowing the land to open treasure chests", nor can they open as many high-level treasure chests as Wei Huan and have a large number of super energy blocks in their hands.
Some tanks always have one or two super energy blocks, which is already the limit.
The chariots of the Fence Country protected the other three chariots. They gathered together and concentrated their energy on one chariot, struggling to support the thick seaweed that Wei Huan thought could be easily cut.
In order to save people, Wei Huan had slowed down his attack from a distance, so when he saw the trapped chariot, he understood why they could not leave.
Those seaweeds that were thicker than the chariots were like giant underwater pythons, entwining the chariots and trapping them in the center, gradually tightening them to the point of being airtight. However, they did not attack frantically, as if they knew they could not hold out for much longer and did not want to stimulate the shattering of the protective shield, but slowly caught the chariots in the trap.
However, Wei Huan's arrival stimulated these seaweeds like sea snakes. Countless seaweed heads emerged from the depths of the seaweed and lashed at the protective shield. Some seaweed heads split in half like mouths, revealing terrifying mouths full of sharp teeth and dripping with sticky saliva, which bit down in one bite.
"Oh no! If they keep attacking, they'll trigger our tanks' defensive counterattack!" the commander of the Fence Nation tank warned hastily, "Be careful! They're doing this on purpose!"
These plants are quite smart. They know how to use the attack on the level 7 protective shield to trigger the defensive counterattack force to attack them.
Wei Huan's chariot only has a level seven protective shield. It is not clear whether it can withstand attacks from the same level seven protective shield. But if it cannot be defended and is blown up, it may directly attack the besieged chariots and achieve the same purpose of destruction.
As for the damage to the survivors' bodies caused by the detonation of the two protective shields, I think that with such a huge body, this amount of damage is not a problem at all.
Wei Huan's level eight weapon caused much greater damage, but there was no sign of any rioting reaction from the survivors.
All I can say is that although the survivors are plants or parasites, they are not stupid. Along the way, we can find that they can use some strategies and know how to fight in a roundabout way.
Wei Huan did not want to be put in a passive position. When the survivors attacked the seventh-level protective shield, he also ordered the chariot to open fire.
The eighth-level ring weapon flew out and cut along the edge of the protective shield. Countless seaweed heads with bared fangs and claws were cut off, and their bodies broke into pieces and fell down helplessly.
More seaweed emerged from the depths and continued to attack frantically, but it might also be chopped into pieces by the ring-shaped weapons of Wei Huan's chariot in the next second.
Level 8 weapons were incredibly powerful, easily slicing even the thickest seaweed in two like tofu cut by a kitchen knife. However, Wei Huan's attack wasn't a light-based one; it could only strike in one direction. Even though Wei Huan was moving as quickly as possible around the protective shield, by the time he was halfway there, the shield surrounding the chariot was finally unable to withstand the attacks from all directions and shattered with a "pop."
Just like the moment when a glass light bulb shattered, the flickering light fell and disappeared in mid-air.
Immediately afterwards, a powerful force gathered at the center and cut towards the distance.
It was also circular, very similar to the attack of a level eight weapon, and even the distance of the damage was about the same. Wei Huan, who was already fully familiar with this circular attack, had already ordered the chariot to dodge it.
Of course, the survivors didn't want him to escape, and they entangled him with all their might. At one moment, more seaweed than the one besieging the chariots grew out, trying to wrap around him and fix him in place.
If Wei Huan was still only driving a level six chariot, encountering such a siege, it would probably take a lot of effort for him to break through and escape, and he would have to get away from danger as soon as he realized the other party's intention.
Now that he dares to start a fight without running away or avoiding even though he knows the other party's plan, it is of course because he is strong.
All conspiracies and tricks are just useless decorations in the face of absolute strength.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
