Chapter 73 Mutation
After Li Yi asked this question, Zheng Xueyuan blinked for a long time, and her long eyelashes fluttered.
After a while, Zheng Xueyuan recovered and said in surprise: "Why should I feel guilty or sad? Isn't it normal to feel happy that you picked me to join the group?"
Li Yi was speechless.
Did Zheng Xueyuan really think so? Her eyes and expression were so serious that there was no trace of disguise.
Is it high-grade tea or natural straight tea?
Even Li Yi, who had been through hundreds of battles and absorbed countless memories, still had a hint of hesitation and was unsure what type Zheng Xueyuan was.
After thinking for a moment, Li Yi said, "Then let me ask you, if Zheng Xuefei's team missed the chance to enter the ancient ruins during the three-class competition, what would you think?"
Zheng Xueyuan said: "My skills are not as good as others, I will come back next year."
"Let me ask you again, why do you think you won't leak the information?"
"Because I won't leak it. If they ask me, I will definitely say I don't know."
"Why are you so sure you don't know?"
"Because I am in your group, I must give top priority to the interests of this group."
"What if you were in Fang Tao's group?"
"It should also be based on the interests of the group."
Zheng Xueyuan hesitated for a moment.
Li Yi had a general understanding of Zheng Xueyuan's situation at this time, so he nodded slightly and said, "Okay, that's it. During the training camp in the next few days, you can take time to come here more often and communicate with us."
"Okay, okay."
Zheng Xueyuan nodded repeatedly.
Li Yi turned and left.
This girl is probably just a naive person who only likes things that are good to her.
It’s not bad, it’s not a bad habit.
…
Three days later, before the end of the afternoon training camp, Li Yi finally caught Chen Qiongzhi.
"Instructor, let's practice some moves."
Chen Qiongzhi glanced at Li Yi and said with a headache: "I'm sorry, I have something to do these two days and I don't have time to practice with you. You can only rely on yourself."
"Instructor, are you busy with the advance team?"
"No, other troubles have nothing to do with you at the moment."
"Is it internal or external?"
“Both.”
After a few quick words of conversation, Chen Qiongzhi's entire slender figure suddenly disappeared and disappeared from Li Yi's sight.
Li Yi thought:
"It seems that she is really in a hurry. She actually used the divine characteristics to move quickly... To be able to use it to this extent, it seems that she is not just a mid-level evolver, but perhaps a high-level one, or even higher?"
…
The next day at noon.
canteen.
Cai Xiaodong raised his chopsticks and said:
"Have you heard that yesterday, during routine alert, the standing team discovered a small alien starship that was tracking our Yao Chi."
Tan Haoran said: "I heard that during the close combat, a junior mecha master and two quasi-mecha masters were killed."
Li Yi was so absorbed in extra practice that he really didn't pay much attention to these things. He was surprised and said:
"Even the divine mecha master of the standing team was killed? Are the aliens so strong?"
"Not really. I heard that the standing team lacks practical experience. They clearly have the upper hand on the field."
"As a result, I was caught off guard for a moment and was ambushed by another 30-meter-class mecha hidden in the enemy starship. I was directly ejected from the insertion bay. That would have been fine, but in the panic, I was crushed by my own people..."
Cai Xiaodong was speechless:
"The standing team neglected training, which resulted in weak combat awareness among the personnel. It was clearly a favorable situation, but it ended up being such a mess. Now the captain of the direct squad, the squad leader, and the direct instructor are all being held accountable."
Zuo Ying said: "I have also paid some attention to it. At that time, it was said that it was not that the combat awareness was weak, but that there might be emotional conflicts between the two. The possibility of love killing is not small. And now the Supervision Department is also involved in the search to confirm whether there is a possibility of being controlled by a cult."
Yao Shiwan said with emotion: "This matter has caused quite a stir. I heard from a friend in another department that the instructors of our special class were also asked to be present to verify whether they neglected their duties during the training."
Li Yi understood. No wonder Chen Qiongzhi looked like that yesterday.
At this moment, at the dining table, Sun Duxiu, Zhang Xuqiang and Zheng Xueyuan had gathered here at Li Yi's invitation.
However, Zhang Xuqiang has been very low-key recently. He remained silent during the dinner and did not participate in the discussion.
In comparison, Sun Duxiu and Zheng Xueyuan integrated much faster.
Among them, Sun Duxiu was the most outgoing, while Zheng Xueyuan was the one who integrated into the group without any worldly feeling.
At this moment, Sun Duxiu shook his head and said, "Hey, I also know a piece of news. It is said that the aliens captured are slaves of the alien royal family. They are willing to surrender to humans and brought with them the aliens' unique technology."
"Guide party?"
Cai Xiaodong said in surprise.
"It shouldn't be considered as such. It's just a means of survival."
Sun Duxiu pondered, "It is said that this is the first time that alien slaves who can cross the stars have been captured. They look quite similar to humans, so this has also triggered some speculation."
"For example, during the Earth Era, did aliens visit Earth and capture some humans as slaves?"
Zheng Xueyuan asked: "But, aliens should have their own AI technology, so why do they still need human slaves?"
Tan Haoran shook his head and said:
"You don't understand this. Sometimes, slaves are not just for labor. They can also be used as tools for pleasure and entertainment. This kind of thing happens a lot to us humans, not just aliens, right?"
After he finished speaking, he suddenly found that the air became quiet and several people looked at him with strange eyes.
"You...what the hell is that look in your eyes?"
The pharmacist said gently, "Tan Haoran, you seem to understand it very well. Have you tried it?"
Tan Haoran wiped the sweat from his forehead and said awkwardly: "I have only seen it, but I have never really tried it."
Zuo Ying silently moved her butt to the other side.
"It's unfair. You are just too well protected by your family. In fact, in the interstellar age, this kind of thing is too common."
When Tan Haoran saw this scene, he was speechless.
Li Yi smiled and said:
"There's no need for us to discuss this kind of thing. It's none of your business. Let's get back to the point. Tomorrow we'll be exploring the virtual ruins. We still don't have a clue how to crack the divine light bomb."
Speaking of this, everyone immediately wilted.
Zuo Ying said weakly: "Could it be that we shouldn't explore the hidden map? Should we look somewhere else instead?"
"I don't think so."
Cai Xiaodong shook his head and said:
"Since the advance team has successfully entered the fourth level and penetrated very far according to our intelligence, it means that they must have broken through the divine light bomb before entering the subsequent levels."
Li Yi knocked on the table and said:
"That may not be the case, because we provided a lot of intelligence, and they may have discovered something else in the intelligence, and may have taken other paths. Since the divine light bullet cannot break through for the time being, let's try to explore other paths tomorrow."
Tan Haoran asked:
"Will that delay our progress? Now Fang Tao's team and Zheng Xuefei's team have both been strengthened with a lot of manpower. They should be able to break through the encirclement of the six mechas and reach the incubator without any damage, right? Wouldn't it be easy for us to catch up with them?"
Li Yi shook his head and said, "Keep calm. Even if they make it to the third level, they will probably have to stay in the densely populated area of the third level for a while."
Tan Haoran suddenly realized, "Yes, we can't go through the densely populated area to enter the third level. If they rush all the way, the possibility of being trapped in the third level is indeed quite high."
"Besides, even if they break through the third level, they will probably suffer heavy losses. It will be impossible for them to break through successfully in the area of the divine light bullet."
Li Yi smiled faintly and said, "So, we can at least be ahead by one and a half steps to maintain our priority in intelligence. If we are still caught up with, then it can only be said that the divine light bomb is really invincible with our current strength, and we can only wait and rely on the advance team."
Sun Duxiu listened to the conversation between the others, but after listening for a long time, nothing related to the second level was mentioned. He couldn't help but ask, "I say, how did you guys get to the third level so quickly? Why don't you tell me the secret in advance? I'm so anxious that I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep all night."
Li Yi smiled and said:
"Sun Duxiu, use your brain to guess more, don't keep asking questions, this way your brain won't get rusty easily."
Sun Duxiu was furious: "Why the hell don't I use my brain every day? I use it all the time, but it just has no effect!"
Several people couldn't help laughing.
Zhang Xuqiang still ate and listened in a low-key manner.
…
The next day, the third virtual ruins exploration.
The field suddenly became quiet as the helmet eyepieces on the seats were uniformly closed with a click.
On the desolate ice field with howling winds, eight mechas crashed to the ground.
"Fuck, another random drop."
As Cai Xiaodong shouted, eight mechas had already hit the ice surface steadily, making a loud noise.
In the frost rising into the sky, a large crack appeared on the ice surface under Cai Xiaodong's feet, and countless cracks spread in all directions.
"Oh no, it looks like my landing point is a glacier!"
Cai Xiaodong cried out in surprise, and the Mingfeng mecha fell directly.
Tan Haoran, who was beside him, was quick-witted and quick-handed, controlling the Changrong mecha to reach out and grab it.
Unexpectedly, although this hand grabbed the Mingfeng mecha, the huge force caused the ice surface under his feet to continue to crack.
With a loud bang, frost rushed into the sky.
In just the blink of an eye, even the Changrong Mecha fell.
Apart from the two of them, the others were a little further away and the ground they stepped on was relatively stable, so it was okay.
"Damn, this glacier is quite deep."
Li Yi controlled the Pluto mecha to quickly collect information and discovered that the glacier was actually seven or eight hundred meters deep, which was quite outrageous.
Although the 30-meter-class divine mecha is tall, it is obviously impossible for it to stand out from the ice.
Moreover, with the tonnage of the divine mecha, it is impossible for it to float up...
Fortunately, even if it is only an E-level or D-level divine mecha, it has a high enough ability to adapt to the environment.
Even the surface of a star can be passed through without damage.
Not to mention a mere glacier.
Although the two sank to the bottom, they did not die there.
It’s indeed a bit troublesome to just get up here.
Li Yi thought about it and said on the public channel:
"In a place like this, the frozen soil is hundreds of meters deep, but the ice surface is less than 10 meters thick. Obviously there is something wrong. Why don't you two just explore under this glacier first?"
“If you don’t gain anything, use divine energy as motivation to push yourself up.”
Cai Xiaodong sighed, "What bad luck! With Tan Haoran's total divine power, it shouldn't be difficult for him to push himself up. But with my total divine power, even if I can make it up, I probably won't have much energy left for the next battle."
Tan Haoran laughed and scolded, "Bullshit, didn't you claim that you could hold on for more than half an hour intermittently?"
"Don't rush up here, both of you. Just search here. When I passed by here before, I saw no signs of mechas walking here, so I didn't pay much attention to it. But now I think there may be some useful clues hidden here."
Li Yi said again.
Yaoshi Wan asked, "So what should we do? Should we wait for them here, or go to the third level first?"
Li Yi did not answer directly, but asked ai Xiaochi:
"Xiao Chi, is there a distance limit for public screen conversations in virtual reality?"
Ai Xiaochi replied: "Yes, the distance limit we set here is 20 kilometers."
Pharmacist Wan shook her head and said, "20 kilometers is too short. Let alone the third level, I'm afraid we will lose contact at the second level."
Li Yi said:
"Then wait for 10 minutes, leaving 10 minutes for us to hurry on our way, so as to avoid being blocked by the guard mechas. Although we are not afraid of the guard mechas, we don't need to waste this time."
After saying that, Li Yi called out to Tan and Cai on the public channel:
"I'll give you eight minutes to search as quickly as possible. If you find nothing, quickly activate your divine energy and push yourself up. Do you understand?"
"receive."
The two answered immediately.
…
While Tan and Cai were exploring the riverbed below, Li Yi was not idle either.
He arranged the remaining people into groups of two, each walking around the glacier in different directions to measure the specific scope and source of the glacier.
Seven minutes later, everyone returned.
Li Yi asked: "How about it, everyone report the results of the investigation."
Zhang Xuqiang said: "Sun Duxiu and I walked 25 kilometers along the upstream source of the glacier and found that the direction of the source was most likely the entrance to the second level that we discovered earlier."
Li Yi had asked Zhang Xuqiang before and learned about the entrance to the second level discovered by others.
It turns out that there is a huge building in the far west of the map. You only need to defeat the guarding mecha to enter the second level directly there.
When Li Yi was searching for the underground passage where the guards appeared, he found that the westernmost part was a densely populated area, so he stopped moving forward.
Therefore, he had previously guessed that there was a second level in the far west, but it was only after asking Zhang Xuqiang that he got the final confirmation.
Then came Pharmacist Wan, who said:
"Zuo Ying and I walked downstream, about 38 kilometers, and arrived at the beach."
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
"ocean?"
Several people were surprised.
The temperature here is close to minus 170 or 180 degrees Celsius, but the sea surface is not frozen? Moreover, didn’t they explore the surrounding environment in the first round? Logically, if there is an environment like the sea, they should have discovered it long ago, right?
"Yes, an extremely vast sea area."
Inside the cockpit, Yao Shiwan's face showed a complicated expression:
"Even with the panoramic long-range perspective of the Fire Phoenix mecha, we can't find the end of the sea. This means that this sea should cover at least half of the entire planet."
Because the detection range of the divine mecha is extremely wide, if the divinity is not activated to enhance information collection, the conventional long-range detection function can at least detect information within a range of tens of thousands of kilometers.
Of course, the premise is that there is no obstruction.
If there is any obstruction, the detection range will naturally be reduced.
If the divinity is stimulated to enhance the exploration capability, one can even stand on the surface of a planet and directly observe the surface of another planet a few light seconds or even dozens of light seconds away.
Of course, to achieve this, the total amount of divine inspiration required is not low.
Pharmacist Wan knew that only a high-level evolver could do this through a divine mecha.
"But, we should have explored all the ground we could before this, right?"
On the public channel, Cai Xiaodong, who was listening to everyone talking, raised a question.
Li Yi said:
"I guess it's possible that the advance team changed their exploration path, causing changes to the entire map."
"It is also possible that the advance team regained some of the authority over the ruins in the fourth level, which resulted in the expansion of the planetary map that AI Xiaochi could simulate."
The pharmacist said gently, "If it's the first case, then we're in big trouble."
Li Yi smiled and said:
"No rush. It's not a bad thing if the map expands or changes. It means that the Tianshu Ruins are more valuable. Maybe our divine mecha can be upgraded to two levels in one go. Isn't that great?"
"Upgrading two levels at once, if it's E-level to C, it's okay, but if it's our D-level, it will definitely be too much to upgrade to B."
Pharmacist Wan shook her head.
"Cai Xiaodong, how is the situation over there? If you don't have any harvest, come up as soon as possible."
"No, it looks like I have to come up."
Cai Xiaodong said regretfully, "We walked for most of the day and didn't see any ghosts. It was also a wasteland under the ice. There was not even a single underwater creature or remains. Except for the water being a little clearer, there was nothing else."
Tan Haoran interrupted:
"You didn't find it, but I did. There is an incubator here that is 30% damaged, and there are also some broken eggshell fragments. The traces are still fresh. It seems that a divine mecha was hatched here, and the time was probably no more than three days."
Li Yi asked: "Tan Haoran, put the eggshell together and see how big it is."
Tan Haoran said: "I'll try it now."
After more than 20 seconds, he swallowed and said, "It's a bit outrageous. This thing is actually equivalent to the eggshell of a half-elephant-headed creature."
"That is to say, the main body is at least 70 to 80 meters long, and after catalysis, it may be able to reach 120 meters, or even more terrifying in size?"
Everyone was a little surprised, and even a little solemn.
Even Zheng Xueyuan and the others who didn't know how big the elephant-headed creature was could still feel the terror from the other people's emotions and the heights they described.
"It seems that you can't stay alone under the glacier any longer. Come up as soon as possible, otherwise if something really happens and you die at the start, it will be troublesome."
Li Yi gave the order quickly.
The two also realized the seriousness of the matter, and quickly stimulated their divine energy, pushing their bodies to begin climbing upwards.
…
Ten seconds later.
Tan Haoran suddenly shouted "Fuck" on the public channel.
Then his voice disappeared.
"Tan Haoran, please reply as soon as you receive it. Please reply as soon as you receive it."
No reply.
Everyone's faces suddenly darkened.
Li Yi's face darkened slightly: "It seems that the huge mecha that was hatched is wandering below, and it was even attracted by the divinity they stimulated."
Thinking of this, Li Yi quickly said on the public channel:
"Cai Xiaodong, stop trying to stimulate your divine power. Just walk eastward on the seabed for 38 kilometers. There should be an inlet near the sea. You can walk out of the foreshore and land on the ice there."
Cai Xiaodong: “Received!”
Naturally, he realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately ran quickly under the sea.
…
A few minutes later, the two streams merged at the estuary.
When the Mingfeng mecha walked out of the shallows step by step, dripping wet, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Cai Xiaodong said: "Tan Haoran should be dead. When I was running underwater, I saw the light particles of death."
"Also, I caught a glimpse of the big guy, at least 130 meters high. But he didn't chase me. I guess it was because Li Yi asked me not to activate my divinity that he ignored me."
Cai Xiaodong's voice was a little low, reflecting the low mood of a man who had survived a disaster but whose colleagues had died in battle.
Although it is a virtual evolution, because the evolution is too real and Tan Haoran cannot be seen for the time being, this emotion will also exist in reality.
Of course, for people who have gone through various practical training, this little emotion will naturally not interfere with their normal activities.
But there is no doubt that this little emotion will most likely not be completely eliminated until you leave the virtual reality.
Li Yi said:
"I underestimated the danger of discovering a new scene and made a mistake in judgement."
Pharmacist Wan shook her head and said, "This kind of unexpected situation is inevitable. Li Yi, you don't have to worry too much. Let's rush to the third level as soon as possible."
Li Yi nodded slightly:
"Next time, if our strength improves, we can consider hunting this real 100-meter-class mecha, but now, the focus is still on the third level. We should hurry over while the guard mecha has not come out yet."
…
Although several people were worried that the map of the virtual ruins had changed, whether it would affect the map for entering the second level.
Fortunately, when Li Yi led everyone to the passage point in the non-dense area, he observed for a while and then breathed a sigh of relief:
"It seems that the map is more likely to expand than change. This is a good thing. Yaoshi Wan, I'll have to trouble you to dig the hole this time."
Pharmacist Wan smiled and said, "Fortunately, my strength has improved a bit recently, otherwise it would consume a lot of energy if I just burned it hard like this."
As he spoke, the divine skill Falling Flame Phoenix was activated. Countless flaming phoenixes leaped into the air, gathered into a ball, flipped in the air, then dived down at an accelerated speed and crashed into the entrance of the passage.
Boom!!! Boom!!! The fierce crackling sound of flames continued to ring out, and the high temperature exploded. Soon, the thick frozen soil at the entrance of the passage was quickly burned.
After a dozen seconds, the popping sound stopped.
The entrance, which was burning and smoking continuously and even coated with a layer of smooth silica, was forcibly opened.
Zheng Xueyuan exclaimed in amazement: "What a powerful attack! With this wave, my Bi-Winged Mecha will probably be breached in no time."
Upon hearing this, Pharmacist Wan said, "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you."
Sun Duxiu was shocked and said, "Just find a random spot and dig a hole downwards, and you can go to the second level? This is a lie, right?"
Li Yi ignored Sun Duxiu and said, "As usual, Yao Shiwan and I will go first. Sun Duxiu, you are a level stronger than the others, so when I give the signal, you will lead the way, and then Zhang Xuqiang will be the last, Zuo Ying and Zheng Xueyuan will be in the middle, and Cai Xiaodong will be before Zhang Xuqiang. Everyone, come down in order. Do you understand?"
"receive!"
Although Sun Duxiu was a talkative person, he was not vague when it came to carrying out orders.
…
Soon, everyone arrived at the second level safely.
After coming down, Cai Xiaodong looked up at the sky and found something wrong:
“Some of the towering trees in densely populated areas seem to be broken right in the middle.”
Li Yi said: "I saw it. It seems that some changes have also occurred in the densely populated area. Let's go to the elephant guardian creature as soon as possible."
The seven mechas then set off on their journey.
On the way, the Fire Luan Mecha approached the Pluto Mecha.
In the cockpit, Yao Shiwan asked privately: "Li Yi, now that Tan Haoran is gone, although my divine skills are powerful, they are not as quiet as Tan Haoran's divine skills. By then, I'm afraid that the elephant-headed creature will be activated halfway through the underground passage. How can we fight it then? Rely on numbers?"
Li Yi shook his head and said, "With our numbers and combined strength, fighting against an 85-meter-class enemy is almost the limit. If we go higher, there will definitely be casualties, which will not be conducive to the exploration below. Don't worry, I will have other ways when the time comes."
Pharmacist Wan could only suppress her curiosity.
Soon, everyone arrived at the outer area of the elephant-headed creature.
When Sun Duxiu saw the huge eggshell and incubator, and thought about the fact that he had been able to travel smoothly along the way, which was different from the previous situation where he was surrounded by four mechas as soon as he entered the second level, he was immediately shocked.
"Damn, there really is such a path that can pass through the encirclement of four or six mechas without too much fighting. Li Yi, how did you find it?"
Li Yi said: "Use your brain more."
Sun Duxiu: “…”
At the same time, ai Xiaochi's warning was also heard, and the faces of the three new members of the group couldn't help but change slightly.
"Don't be nervous, we are still in the safe zone."
Seeing that the three mechas had slightly adjusted their body postures, Cai Xiaodong immediately spoke to comfort them.
Li Yi controlled the Pluto mecha and pointed to a location, saying:
"Zhang Xuqiang, it's your turn. Next, I want you to activate your divine skill to freeze this piece of ground. The force should be directed vertically downward, and freeze as deep as possible."
Li Yi can naturally also use his divine skills to complete similar operations.
But now with Zhang Xuqiang, he naturally still retains his divinity to complete the subsequent actions.
"good."
The divine mecha controlled by Zhang Xuqiang is an E-level Ice God sequence, an Ice Wheel Mecha, and its divine skill is the Spiral Ice Wheel, which can instantly freeze objects into spiral icicles, with considerable power.
In Li Yi's original blueprint, Zhang Xuqiang and Tan Haoran would work together with their divine skills, alternating between cold and hot, and would quickly destroy the special alloy on the ground, saving a lot of divinity and time.
But now that Tan Haoran died unexpectedly, the next wave will have to depend on him.
The Ice Wheel Mecha activated its divine skills, sending out waves of freezing to attack.
Crunch.
"Almost there, stop for a moment."
Li Yi stopped Zhang Xuqiang.
Then he controlled the Pluto mecha and walked onto the ice.
After a moment of preparation, he raised his back arm high, ready to go.
Then--
The rotating word technique is repeated to break the word technique!
Boom!!! The frozen ground instantly broke into countless ice fragments that shot up into the sky.
When the Binglun Mecha came over and took a look, Zhang Xuqiang in the cockpit was stunned.
With this punch, the special alloy ground actually sunk down more than ten meters in depth.
Li Yi nodded slightly and said with a smile: "Not bad, we can dig a hole forward after three more attempts. Then, Pharmacist Wan, I will trouble you to cooperate with Zhang Xuqiang to melt the frozen alloy."
Pharmacist Wan suddenly understood what Li Yi meant.
If it is frozen to the limit, then even if it is a special alloy, its internal structure will definitely be destroyed. At that time, her divine skills will only need a very small burst to break the channel.
(End of this chapter)