chsdbacks Chapter 181: 174 Insect People
Chapter 181: 174 Insect People
Chapter 181: Chapter 174 Insect People
Zhu Xiong didn’t have time to ponder the meaning of that statement before a bizarre roar coming from the fog interrupted his thoughts.
Two enormous creatures were chased and quickly headed this way. One was a giant ape with shiny silver fur and red eyes, about five meters tall, faintly glowing with silver light. Its huge palm grabbed one of the strange humanoid insect creatures chasing it and threw it heavily.
The other was a gigantic black mantis with three eyes and growths all over its body, its sharp scythelike arms swinging to fend off the attacks of the humanoid insect creatures.
The two monsters rushed over, with at least seven or eight humanoid insect creatures following them, quickly overwhelming them.
“Rip”
The safety airbag was split open by Zhu Xiong, and the person inside finally caught their breath and squeezed out from the car door.
“Run, run! They’re all Second Order monsters. I won’t be able to hold them off for long.”
Zhu Xiong frowned, but he didn’t blindly trust this cultivated-looking old man. Keeping his distance, axe-hammer in hand, he asked in a deep voice, “Who are you, and what are those things?”
The man was taken aback, his mind racing with urgency. What time was it, and there were still questions like this?
Yet he hadn’t noticed the Angel Envoys of Zhu Xiong, Guo Gang, and Zhao Yimin had already crossed the car, blocking the road on the outer side.
The regular search and patrol squad members also retreated behind the inner side of the wall, setting up defense crossbows.
“Bai Shan from Bai Yujing Group. My friend, please believe me, I only ran here in a panic to escape. I’m trying to get to Shanhu Villa District...”
Zhu Xiong: ???
“Weren’t you dead?”
He certainly knew Bai Shan from the Bai Yujing Group, or more precisely, he’d heard the name from Bai Qilan.
After Su Han and Ye Kailing obtained flying Angel Envoys, Bai Qilan used her Contribution Value to make a request to Su Han, to search for her father at the Bai Yujing Group.
However, that was a long time ago. The Bai Yujing Group had already turned to ruins, with not a single person left.
Bai Qilan had resigned herself, either Bai Shan was dead or he was in one of the Bai Yujing Group’s subsidiaries, impossible to search for one by one.
Bai Shan was equally dumbfounded: You know me, and I’m dead?
“Roar”
Before any further conversation, those humanoid insect creatures had already surrounded them, their ugly appearances making one’s skin crawl.
Their worm-like heads continuously turned, mouthparts sharp and dense, surrounded on both sides by flesh tendrils of varying lengths, with human-looking bodies, mantis-like scythe arms, covered with an exoskeleton, and insect-like segmented legs.
A total of eight insect people stood in different parts of the street, rubbing their segments together and staring dead at Bai Shan and the others, their presence oppressively bearing down on them.
“I’ll take the two on the left, Old Guo, you take the two on the right, Zhao Yimin in the middle with two, and Bai Shan, you can handle two yourself, right?”
Bai Shan only then realized that Zhu Xiong’s side had three Second-order Contractors, and there even seemed to be two Second Order monsters that were not Angel Envoys.@@@@
If he added his charge, the Red-Eyed Giant Ape, and the Three-Eyed Mantis, wouldn’t that make them ten Second Order monsters against eight? The advantage is ours?
Bai Shan immediately said, “Count me in.”
“The Corpse Demon Worm was part of a project by our researchers after the apocalypse, aimed to strengthen Angel Envoys, led mainly by Zhao Shijie. Initially, it was for injecting more powerful enhancement serums, but I never expected he was secretly intensifying the cultivation efforts, trying to create a queen-like monster.”
Bai Shan’s face soured when he talked about the research.
Thanks to the decent security force at the pharmaceutical factory and his own high prestige, he had quickly organized the first round of defense, exterminating monsters that had turned into flesh corpses.
He was among the first batch of Contractors; instead of killing flesh corpses, he had risked taking down an experimental gorilla in the midst of mutating.
Benefiting from his early strength, his organizational leadership went smoothly. Using the pharmaceutical plant as a center, he established a base of hundreds of members and facilitated research on monsters.
The research focused mainly on two categories: human body enhancement and Angel Envoy enhancement.
The pharmaceutical factory camp developed smoothly and rescued many survivors during ongoing search efforts.
Bai Shan, nearing the First Order Upper Grade and approaching Second Order strength, was ready to look for his daughter Bai Qilan in the Shanhu Villa District.
But with the camp’s growth, some researchers started to disagree, especially Zhao Shijie. The man’s research talent was not low, and he had Angel Envoy talent to match, breaking into Second Order almost simultaneously with him and rallying a big crowd.
Research conflicts, while not as overt as direct fighting, were not to be underestimated.
Zhao Shijie wanted to study even more powerful monsters, especially queen-like monsters akin to ant and bee queens.
If contracted, controlling one queen could dominate a whole swarm of monsters. Moreover, using insect genes could enhance Angel Envoys dramatically, potentially reaching Third Order strength.
It was a bold idea but incredibly dangerous.
If it got out of control, it would be like putting the entire pharmaceutical factory at risk.
He could only suppress Zhao Shijie’s experiments or leverage his prestige to keep the experiments under control to prevent chaos, unless there was certainty about making a Contract with the creatures. Crossing the line was absolutely not allowed.
The safest method was to use similar serums, gradually transforming Angel Envoys before initiating the Divine Initiation Ritual for them to evolve into queen-like monsters, rather than directly cultivating uncontrolled queen monsters.
Differences in research methods made it impossible for him to leave, further magnifying the rift within the pharmaceutical factory.
Hearing this, Zhu Xiong asked in a grave voice, “So they drove you out, and all these insect people are the offspring spawned from the monster Zhao Shijie created?”
“Offspring?”
Bai Shan pondered the term but didn’t delve deeper. With a deep sigh, he said, “If that were the case, it would actually be better. At least there would still be living people in the pharmaceutical plant. Those insect people were once humans, researchers with considerable strength.”
“What?”
Zhu Xiong’s expression changed, and he urgently asked, “What exactly happened?”
“Zhao Shijie secretly increased the cultivation of Corpse Demon Worms, which were already on the brink of losing control. I didn’t expect an interdimensional rift to appear,” said Bai Shan, his eyes darkening. “The concentration of Spiritual Energy rose, hordes of Corpse Ghosts surged out, and the Corpse Demon Worms completely went berserk. Even Zhao Shijie didn’t know what was happening—he merged with them, turning into a Third Order Corpse Demon Worm. They slaughtered the survivors at the pharmaceutical factory, the eggs parasitized them, mutating the hosts, turning them into the shape of insect people. If it weren’t for high-grade monsters among the Corpse Ghosts sparking a battle, I wouldn’t have had a chance to escape.”
He paused, then continued, “Zhao Shijie possibly wanted to control me to continue the research. I have been hiding from him all this time. Still, I fear that the eastern part of the city is... completely out of control by now.”
Thousands of monsters were surging from the unchecked interdimensional rift, and Zhao Shijie’s insect people weren’t in the minority either. Adding the already existing hordes, the eastern district is now a realm where monsters run rampant.
When Bai Shan fled, he wasn’t alone, but now he’s the only one left.
If not for his daughter, he probably wouldn’t have managed to keep going.
“Could you take me to see Qilan?”