139 Mystery of the End Times Part 1
The temperature inside the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was noticeably higher than outside, and they were wearing layers of protective suits, already sweating profusely. Holding their flamethrowers, they proceeded cautiously step by step into the pagoda.
Upon activating their night vision devices, within the narrow field of view, there was nothing to be seen. The calm before the storm heightened their nerves.
Single-handedly, Shen Ming lowered his voice and said, "Form two rows, the stairs are over there, move quickly."
A dozen people arranged themselves in formation and tiptoed toward the direction of the stairs. Even though they knew that making noise wouldn't prevent the creatures from sensing them, because every mutant being could feel the surging waves of energy like countless stars around them.
Just as they were about to reach the stairs, Cong Xia suddenly shouted, "Above!"
His sensitivity to energy surpassed everyone else's, and at the very moment the creatures made their move, he had already sharply looked up. A rain of creatures poured down from the ceiling, and Cong Xia aimed his flamethrower upwards, madly spraying flames.
Calmly, Cheng Tianbi shouted, "Above on the left, on the ground on the right, conserve gas as much as possible."
A dark wave also began to surge on the ground, especially the creatures crawling down from the stairs, causing the staircase to be lifted several centimeters. Although they were wearing protective suits, they could still feel the creatures falling on their headgear with a thud and crawling upwards along their clothes.
They all started running. If their movements were too slow, they would quickly be swarmed by the creatures.
The flames spraying from the flamethrowers illuminated the entire space, the ceiling, the walls, the floor, and the stairs, all filled with creatures, as if the entire tower was made of creatures. The flamethrowers were indeed powerful, and with Cheng Tianbi's wind manipulation, the attack range was even greater. Although the creatures still surged upwards, seeing the flames made their movements slightly slower, which provided them with significant breathing room.
Using the flamethrowers, they forcibly created a path filled with scorched black corpses of creatures. As they stepped on those crispy insect corpses, the sticky and greasy sensation made everyone genuinely disgusted.
Deng Xiao shouted, "Be careful not to slip."
Cong Xia had greatly enhanced his physical abilities, and his speed and movements were no slower than the others. This surprised the few Dragonblood individuals who protected him.
Shen Ming roared, "Upstairs, upstairs!"
As they cleared obstacles while desperately squeezing towards the stairs, just as they were about to reach the second floor, a massive black shadow suddenly appeared at the staircase entrance and rolled towards them like a black snowball. Upon closer inspection, it was a large mass of insects!
Two Dragonblood individuals forcefully pulled Shen Ming and Cheng Tianbi, who were leading in front, backward. However, there were people behind them blocking the way, making it impossible to dodge. Cheng Tianbi exerted all his strength, forming a huge vortex in front of everyone, large enough to engulf the entire mass, and the buffering effect of the wind resolved the impact of the creature ball. The ball split into several pieces within the vortex, but the remaining force still hit Cheng Tianbi, causing him to fall backward, and the people behind him followed and rolled down the stairs.
The fall wasn't that painful because the ground below was covered with thick insects. Everyone scrambled to get up from the ground. Shen Ming pulled Cheng Tianbi up from the ground and said to Cong Xia, "He's injured."
Cong Xia rushed over and indeed saw traces of blood at Cheng Tianbi's mouth corner, likely due to internal organs receiving too much impact. Cong Xia grabbed Cheng Tianbi's arm, and energy rushed madly into his body, firming his resolve. "It's alright; I can heal him. Find a way to get upstairs quickly."
Deng Xiao said, "Leave it to me!" He instantly transformed, and the protective suit had enough elasticity for his body, transforming him into a three-meter-tall sturdy monster. He said to the two Dragonblood individuals with grandeur, "We're strong. Let's push that ball back!"
Cheng Tianbi said, "Don't be impulsive; the previous ball was probably being controlled."
The voice of Zhuang Yao came through the radio, "What's being controlled? Report the situation to me."
Cong Xia quickly summarized what had just happened.
Without hesitation, Zhuang Yao said, "Dealing with this is simple. Crawl upwards while keeping your body at the same angle as the stairs. The ball can only roll off you, and there's a thick layer of soft-bodied creatures under you to cushion the impact. The ball of that size won't crush you."
One mercenary cursed, "Cerebral evolved people are so annoying."
Another laughed and cursed, "Always acting as if they're stupid. Hahaha."
Shen Ming cursed, "No time for bullshit, move quickly!"
Everyone lay down on the stairs, reaching into the mass of creatures to grab the stairs and climbed up little by little.
Cong Xia felt like he would never be afraid of anything again in his life. When a person experienced crawling up through a six to seven centimeter thick, slippery, and soft mass of creatures, with the creatures stuck on your face through the transparent protective shield, and carrying a thick layer of creatures on your body, the most terrifying thing in the world didn't seem that scary anymore in comparison. Cong Xia almost broke down and laughed, but he held back because he had more important things to do—overcoming fear and healing Cheng Tianbi.
As they approached the top of the stairs, the ball of creatures formed again and rolled down with a loud rumble. Just as Zhuang Yao had said, the ball slid down their backs, and while it was indeed somewhat heavy, every person here had excellent physical abilities and could bear it. When the ball was halfway down, it split open on its own.
"Charge up!" Cheng Tianbi shouted loudly, suddenly got up, and leaped onto the stairs.
The rest followed suit and rushed upwards, successfully reaching the second floor.
The second floor was just as they had imagined—insects and more insects.
Their plan was for Shen Changze's group to start searching from the fourth floor downwards, while they started from the first floor upwards, and finally met on the third floor to retrieve the puppet jade. Then, they would immediately fly away. Although not all the Dragonblood individuals could fly, those with wings could jump from the third or fourth floor without any issues. Deng Xiao and Cheng Tianbi wouldn't be hurt from a fall, and Tang Yanqiu, Shen Changze, and Al, the three who could fly, would be enough to take the rest of them down. Of course, if they couldn't get the puppet jade and their protective suits were damaged, they had to evacuate immediately.
Cheng Tianbi asked, "Cong Xia, do you sense the puppet jade?"
"It's probably on the third floor, very close to us."
Shen Changze's voice rang out over the radio, "We also sense it on the third floor; there's nothing on the fourth floor."
"Then come down quickly, and we'll go up now." Shen Ming had just finished speaking when he froze. The creatures surrounding them suddenly withdrew for no reason, or rather, they retracted.
All the insects retracted towards one direction—the stairs leading to the third floor. Gradually, several human-like figures became apparent, one, two, three... six in total. These "people" became more distinct, with the creatures wriggling and crawling on their bodies as if they were part of them.
Everyone remained silent, staring at those "people." In their eyes, they saw familiar bright yellow pupils.
At this moment, Shen Changze's heavy voice came through the radio, "We... need a little more time."
Cheng Tianbi replied, "Perfect, we do too."
Shen Changze's team forcefully broke the windows and flew into the interior of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
The light from outside poured in brightly, allowing them to easily see the multitude of creatures covering the mountains and valleys. They activated their flamethrowers and sprayed the creatures like mad.
Tang Yanqiu didn't use a flamethrower but brought out a rocket launcher, firing a rocket every two meters. When the creatures saw the fire, they instinctively retreated, giving them a brief respite. They walked along the path formed by the rockets and began searching in the spacious fourth floor.
Al fought the urge to vomit as he killed the creatures and anxiously asked, "Changze, how's it going? Where is the puppet jade?"
"It's nearby."
"How precise is that?"
"If it's within a three-meter radius, it will trigger an alarm."
Tang Yanqiu said, "This floor is too large. Our protective suits can't cover every corner for a thorough search."
Al suggested, "Then Changze should fly up to check. It will be faster, and the insects on the ground can't reach you."
Shen Changze agreed, "Alright."
Their appearance was somewhat peculiar. To fit entirely inside the protective suits, Tang Yanqiu and all the Dragonblood individuals had an additional layer of wing protection at the back. Since a few of them had particularly large wings, when these wings were extended, it looked somewhat comical. Now, Shen Changze spread his wings and flew at low altitude, and the wings hidden inside the protective layer weren't very flexible, producing a rustling sound of friction against the fabric.
The others followed behind Shen Changze, sweeping away the creatures on the ground, and cautiously making their way towards the stairs according to the structure of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
After walking a few meters, their bodies were already covered with creatures, with even the exhaust vents of their headgear clogged with them. They had to constantly scrape the creatures off the headgear.
Suddenly, Shen Changze called out, "Quick, come here!"
Al was infuriated by the insects, "How can we be quick, damn it!"
Tang Yanqiu grabbed Huang Ying, who was closest to him, "Fly over there."
Among the five people, although Huang Ying and Wu Ya had wings, they couldn't fly. So Tang Yanqiu and Al carried them into the air. Creatures kept falling from the ceiling, but compared to the massive army of creatures on the ground, it was relatively easy for them now.
As they flew deeper, the light grew dimmer. They activated their night vision goggles. Shen Changze stood facing away from them, hovering in mid-air.
When they arrived and looked around, they were instantly shocked by the scene before their eyes.
Through the green light of the night vision goggles, they saw more than twenty humans stuck to a wall in a disarrayed manner. These humans were all stripped naked, with their limbs wrapped in yellow mucus, adhered to the wall. They all had broken skin, and wriggling larvae crawled in the wounds. Yellow fluid oozed out from their wounds. The creatures had practically hollowed out some of these humans, moving back and forth within their limbs and bone marrow. Most terrifyingly, a few of them seemed to still be alive. They might have lost consciousness, but their hollow pupils were filled with fear and despair, staring straight at them, sending shivers down their spines.
Huang Ying and Wu Ya couldn't bear to look and lowered their heads. Al cursed, "Damn it."
Tang Yanqiu took a deep breath, trembling slightly when he exhaled, "Kill them."
Shen Changze and Al raised their guns and smashed the heads of the few still gasping humans.
Tang Yanqiu shot an arrow from his bow, igniting all the bodies. The air filled with an unbearable stench as the corpses burned.
Shen Changze said in a deep voice, "They captured people for this, to propagate."
Al shook his head, gritting his teeth, "People captured by them either become different beings or serve as breeding vessels and food for the creatures."
Tang Yanqiu suddenly looked up, "Something's not right. There are more creatures on the ceiling now."
Everyone looked up, but before they could react, a thick mass of creatures poured down from the ceiling, as if the ceiling had collapsed.
All five of them were overwhelmed by the enormous pressure and thrown to the ground.
Shen Changze shouted, "Someone's controlling them. They changed their strategy based on us."
139 Mystery of the End Times Part 1
The temperature inside the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was noticeably higher than outside, and they were wearing layers of protective suits, already sweating profusely. Holding their flamethrowers, they proceeded cautiously step by step into the pagoda.
Upon activating their night vision devices, within the narrow field of view, there was nothing to be seen. The calm before the storm heightened their nerves.
Single-handedly, Shen Ming lowered his voice and said, "Form two rows, the stairs are over there, move quickly."
A dozen people arranged themselves in formation and tiptoed toward the direction of the stairs. Even though they knew that making noise wouldn't prevent the creatures from sensing them, because every mutant being could feel the surging waves of energy like countless stars around them.
Just as they were about to reach the stairs, Cong Xia suddenly shouted, "Above!"
His sensitivity to energy surpassed everyone else's, and at the very moment the creatures made their move, he had already sharply looked up. A rain of creatures poured down from the ceiling, and Cong Xia aimed his flamethrower upwards, madly spraying flames.
Calmly, Cheng Tianbi shouted, "Above on the left, on the ground on the right, conserve gas as much as possible."
A dark wave also began to surge on the ground, especially the creatures crawling down from the stairs, causing the staircase to be lifted several centimeters. Although they were wearing protective suits, they could still feel the creatures falling on their headgear with a thud and crawling upwards along their clothes.
They all started running. If their movements were too slow, they would quickly be swarmed by the creatures.
The flames spraying from the flamethrowers illuminated the entire space, the ceiling, the walls, the floor, and the stairs, all filled with creatures, as if the entire tower was made of creatures. The flamethrowers were indeed powerful, and with Cheng Tianbi's wind manipulation, the attack range was even greater. Although the creatures still surged upwards, seeing the flames made their movements slightly slower, which provided them with significant breathing room.
Using the flamethrowers, they forcibly created a path filled with scorched black corpses of creatures. As they stepped on those crispy insect corpses, the sticky and greasy sensation made everyone genuinely disgusted.
Deng Xiao shouted, "Be careful not to slip."
Cong Xia had greatly enhanced his physical abilities, and his speed and movements were no slower than the others. This surprised the few Dragonblood individuals who protected him.
Shen Ming roared, "Upstairs, upstairs!"
As they cleared obstacles while desperately squeezing towards the stairs, just as they were about to reach the second floor, a massive black shadow suddenly appeared at the staircase entrance and rolled towards them like a black snowball. Upon closer inspection, it was a large mass of insects!
Two Dragonblood individuals forcefully pulled Shen Ming and Cheng Tianbi, who were leading in front, backward. However, there were people behind them blocking the way, making it impossible to dodge. Cheng Tianbi exerted all his strength, forming a huge vortex in front of everyone, large enough to engulf the entire mass, and the buffering effect of the wind resolved the impact of the creature ball. The ball split into several pieces within the vortex, but the remaining force still hit Cheng Tianbi, causing him to fall backward, and the people behind him followed and rolled down the stairs.
The fall wasn't that painful because the ground below was covered with thick insects. Everyone scrambled to get up from the ground. Shen Ming pulled Cheng Tianbi up from the ground and said to Cong Xia, "He's injured."
Cong Xia rushed over and indeed saw traces of blood at Cheng Tianbi's mouth corner, likely due to internal organs receiving too much impact. Cong Xia grabbed Cheng Tianbi's arm, and energy rushed madly into his body, firming his resolve. "It's alright; I can heal him. Find a way to get upstairs quickly."
Deng Xiao said, "Leave it to me!" He instantly transformed, and the protective suit had enough elasticity for his body, transforming him into a three-meter-tall sturdy monster. He said to the two Dragonblood individuals with grandeur, "We're strong. Let's push that ball back!"
Cheng Tianbi said, "Don't be impulsive; the previous ball was probably being controlled."
The voice of Zhuang Yao came through the radio, "What's being controlled? Report the situation to me."
Cong Xia quickly summarized what had just happened.
Without hesitation, Zhuang Yao said, "Dealing with this is simple. Crawl upwards while keeping your body at the same angle as the stairs. The ball can only roll off you, and there's a thick layer of soft-bodied creatures under you to cushion the impact. The ball of that size won't crush you."
One mercenary cursed, "Cerebral evolved people are so annoying."
Another laughed and cursed, "Always acting as if they're stupid. Hahaha."
Shen Ming cursed, "No time for bullshit, move quickly!"
Everyone lay down on the stairs, reaching into the mass of creatures to grab the stairs and climbed up little by little.
Cong Xia felt like he would never be afraid of anything again in his life. When a person experienced crawling up through a six to seven centimeter thick, slippery, and soft mass of creatures, with the creatures stuck on your face through the transparent protective shield, and carrying a thick layer of creatures on your body, the most terrifying thing in the world didn't seem that scary anymore in comparison. Cong Xia almost broke down and laughed, but he held back because he had more important things to do—overcoming fear and healing Cheng Tianbi.
As they approached the top of the stairs, the ball of creatures formed again and rolled down with a loud rumble. Just as Zhuang Yao had said, the ball slid down their backs, and while it was indeed somewhat heavy, every person here had excellent physical abilities and could bear it. When the ball was halfway down, it split open on its own.
"Charge up!" Cheng Tianbi shouted loudly, suddenly got up, and leaped onto the stairs.
The rest followed suit and rushed upwards, successfully reaching the second floor.
The second floor was just as they had imagined—insects and more insects.
Their plan was for Shen Changze's group to start searching from the fourth floor downwards, while they started from the first floor upwards, and finally met on the third floor to retrieve the puppet jade. Then, they would immediately fly away. Although not all the Dragonblood individuals could fly, those with wings could jump from the third or fourth floor without any issues. Deng Xiao and Cheng Tianbi wouldn't be hurt from a fall, and Tang Yanqiu, Shen Changze, and Al, the three who could fly, would be enough to take the rest of them down. Of course, if they couldn't get the puppet jade and their protective suits were damaged, they had to evacuate immediately.
Cheng Tianbi asked, "Cong Xia, do you sense the puppet jade?"
"It's probably on the third floor, very close to us."
Shen Changze's voice rang out over the radio, "We also sense it on the third floor; there's nothing on the fourth floor."
"Then come down quickly, and we'll go up now." Shen Ming had just finished speaking when he froze. The creatures surrounding them suddenly withdrew for no reason, or rather, they retracted.
All the insects retracted towards one direction—the stairs leading to the third floor. Gradually, several human-like figures became apparent, one, two, three... six in total. These "people" became more distinct, with the creatures wriggling and crawling on their bodies as if they were part of them.
Everyone remained silent, staring at those "people." In their eyes, they saw familiar bright yellow pupils.
At this moment, Shen Changze's heavy voice came through the radio, "We... need a little more time."
Cheng Tianbi replied, "Perfect, we do too."
Shen Changze's team forcefully broke the windows and flew into the interior of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
The light from outside poured in brightly, allowing them to easily see the multitude of creatures covering the mountains and valleys. They activated their flamethrowers and sprayed the creatures like mad.
Tang Yanqiu didn't use a flamethrower but brought out a rocket launcher, firing a rocket every two meters. When the creatures saw the fire, they instinctively retreated, giving them a brief respite. They walked along the path formed by the rockets and began searching in the spacious fourth floor.
Al fought the urge to vomit as he killed the creatures and anxiously asked, "Changze, how's it going? Where is the puppet jade?"
"It's nearby."
"How precise is that?"
"If it's within a three-meter radius, it will trigger an alarm."
Tang Yanqiu said, "This floor is too large. Our protective suits can't cover every corner for a thorough search."
Al suggested, "Then Changze should fly up to check. It will be faster, and the insects on the ground can't reach you."
Shen Changze agreed, "Alright."
Their appearance was somewhat peculiar. To fit entirely inside the protective suits, Tang Yanqiu and all the Dragonblood individuals had an additional layer of wing protection at the back. Since a few of them had particularly large wings, when these wings were extended, it looked somewhat comical. Now, Shen Changze spread his wings and flew at low altitude, and the wings hidden inside the protective layer weren't very flexible, producing a rustling sound of friction against the fabric.
The others followed behind Shen Changze, sweeping away the creatures on the ground, and cautiously making their way towards the stairs according to the structure of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
After walking a few meters, their bodies were already covered with creatures, with even the exhaust vents of their headgear clogged with them. They had to constantly scrape the creatures off the headgear.
Suddenly, Shen Changze called out, "Quick, come here!"
Al was infuriated by the insects, "How can we be quick, damn it!"
Tang Yanqiu grabbed Huang Ying, who was closest to him, "Fly over there."
Among the five people, although Huang Ying and Wu Ya had wings, they couldn't fly. So Tang Yanqiu and Al carried them into the air. Creatures kept falling from the ceiling, but compared to the massive army of creatures on the ground, it was relatively easy for them now.
As they flew deeper, the light grew dimmer. They activated their night vision goggles. Shen Changze stood facing away from them, hovering in mid-air.
When they arrived and looked around, they were instantly shocked by the scene before their eyes.
Through the green light of the night vision goggles, they saw more than twenty humans stuck to a wall in a disarrayed manner. These humans were all stripped naked, with their limbs wrapped in yellow mucus, adhered to the wall. They all had broken skin, and wriggling larvae crawled in the wounds. Yellow fluid oozed out from their wounds. The creatures had practically hollowed out some of these humans, moving back and forth within their limbs and bone marrow. Most terrifyingly, a few of them seemed to still be alive. They might have lost consciousness, but their hollow pupils were filled with fear and despair, staring straight at them, sending shivers down their spines.
Huang Ying and Wu Ya couldn't bear to look and lowered their heads. Al cursed, "Damn it."
Tang Yanqiu took a deep breath, trembling slightly when he exhaled, "Kill them."
Shen Changze and Al raised their guns and smashed the heads of the few still gasping humans.
Tang Yanqiu shot an arrow from his bow, igniting all the bodies. The air filled with an unbearable stench as the corpses burned.
Shen Changze said in a deep voice, "They captured people for this, to propagate."
Al shook his head, gritting his teeth, "People captured by them either become different beings or serve as breeding vessels and food for the creatures."
Tang Yanqiu suddenly looked up, "Something's not right. There are more creatures on the ceiling now."
Everyone looked up, but before they could react, a thick mass of creatures poured down from the ceiling, as if the ceiling had collapsed.
All five of them were overwhelmed by the enormous pressure and thrown to the ground.
Shen Changze shouted, "Someone's controlling them. They changed their strategy based on us."
