radicalducati Chapter 368 The Thirst of the Mother Nest
Chapter 368 The Thirst of the Mother Nest
That cold, violent, yet strangely ecstatic, immense will swept across the entire underground vault like an invisible tsunami!
It is not sound—sound needs a medium to travel, but it does not. It is not light—light can be blocked, but it cannot. It is a terrifying "information" that acts directly on the soul, penetrating the skin, the muscles, the bones, reaching your deepest, most vulnerable part.
It is filled with the most primal desire to devour—a desire that is not "wanting" but "needing," like eating when hungry or drinking when thirsty, as natural as a heartbeat and as irresistible as breathing.
And a near-pathological "craving" for a specific existence—a craving not like the hunger of a starving person seeing food, but the madness of a drug addict seeing a syringe during withdrawal.
The source of the will was none other than the enormous, pulsating "mother nest" of flesh at the center of the dome!
At this moment, the dark red "eye" crystals on its surface suddenly became dazzling and stable. Previously, their flickering was disordered and chaotic, like convulsions or spasms. But now—all the crystals lit up simultaneously, no longer flickering or dimming, but steadily and continuously emitting a dazzling, blood-red light, like a hundred eyes opening at the same time.
Without exception, all eyes were focused on the shadowy area at the tunnel exit—on Xiaoyun, who was being held tightly in Chen Duo's arms, her body stiff and her eyes vacant and confused!
"Buzz—!!!"
The "mother nest" emitted a piercing, clearer scream than ever before, a mixture of pain and ecstasy! The sound didn't seem to come from its throat—because it had no throat. It was more like a simultaneous scream emanating from within every single cell, every vein, and every crystal of its being; its entire being was screaming.
The entire flesh and blood factory trembled violently! The ground beneath our feet undulated like waves, as if countless hands were churning it underground. The dome overhead creaked and groaned, the metal frames and pipes swayed like branches in the wind, and rust and dust rained down like rain.
The thick "umbilical cords" connecting it twisted wildly, like a giant python whose tail had been stepped on, swinging and slapping wildly in the air, striking the rock wall with a "slap slap slap" sound, each blow leaving a deep, smoking dent in the wall.
The rate at which nutrient solution was being drawn from the blood pool was astonishing—a gurgling sound, no longer the slow swallowing, but like someone pumping water with a fire hose. The blood pool churned violently, the surface of the liquid as if being stirred by a giant hand, forming whirlpools and even spraying viscous liquid columns several meters high! The liquid columns landed on the platform, the walkway, and the rock walls, hissing and emitting bluish smoke, corroding pits of varying sizes.
From the unopened metal rooms on the surrounding rock walls came a series of crashing and roaring sounds—"Bang! Bang! Bang!" one after another, as if someone inside was pounding on the doors with a hammer. The door panels bulged outwards, the concrete around the door frame cracked, the steel bars were exposed, and dust sprayed out from the cracks in the doors.
More test subjects seem poised to break free of their cages.
On the platform, everyone who was fighting the monster—whether it was Nie Lingfeng, Zhang Chulan, the suit-wearing elite from the Eagle Kingdom, Catherine, or Fujiwara Sosuke from the Sakura Kingdom—was stunned by the sudden change and the terrifying will, their bodies momentarily frozen and their hearts trembling!
Zhang Chulan was about to unleash a punch on the chest of a "Ripper" when his fist stopped less than an inch from its target—not because he wanted to stop, but because an invisible force had seized his fist. His body froze for a fraction of a second, as if someone had pressed the pause button. The "Ripper" seized the opportunity to swing its claw, which Zhang Chulan narrowly dodged to the side. The scythe-like claw sliced across his chest, tearing his clothes and leaving a deep gash on the golden protective shield, sparks flying everywhere.
Master Wang Ye's Qimen formation fluctuated violently under the impact of that will. The illusory Bagua formation beneath his feet resembled the surface of water rippled by a stone thrown in, nearly shattering on the spot. He gritted his teeth and managed to stabilize it, but a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth—the backlash from forcibly maintaining the formation.
Feng Baobao's intuition compelled her to instinctively take three steps back the instant that will descended, her katana held horizontally in front of her, the tip pointing towards the mother nest, her body slightly arched, like a cat preparing to pounce. Her face remained expressionless, but the fingers gripping the katana turned slightly white.
"What's going on?!"
The suit-wearing elite's expression changed drastically. His face appeared exceptionally pale in the dark red light, veins bulged on his forehead, and his temples throbbed.
As he used his energy pistol to fend off an oncoming "Ripper"—a shot hit the monster in the face, the energy beam exploding into a charred flower on its skull, causing the monster to scream and stumble back a few steps, he stared in horror at the suddenly "rampaging" Mother Nest.
"Console! The console data stream has surged by 300%!" He stared at the frantically scrolling data stream on the console screen. The numbers were moving so fast that they were barely visible to the naked eye, just a blurry, white afterimage. Red warning messages flashed in the center of the screen, one after another, densely packed together.
"It's...it's trying to establish some kind of high-priority connection?! The target...the target signal source is..."
His gaze, following the frantically scrolling data stream and positioning indicator on the control panel screen—a red, ever-extending dotted line—suddenly fell upon Xiaoyun at the tunnel exit!
"That child?! How is this possible?!"
His voice was filled with disbelief. A child not even two years old, an ordinary-looking toddler with nothing special about him except for some unusual sensory abilities—was actually the target of this terrifying "mother nest" that bred countless monsters?
"Baka! That child... there's something strange about him!"
Fujiwara Sousuke, wielding a kunai with his single arm, awkwardly parried a monster's claw attack. The kunai collided with the scythe-like claw, sending sparks flying. His arm went numb from the impact, and he stumbled back two steps, nearly falling onto the platform. He steadied himself, noticing the anomaly in the mother nest and the target lock, a flicker of surprise and greed crossing his eyes.
That greed wasn't about wanting to gain anything, but rather because—if that child could truly control the "Mother Nest," then whoever controlled that child would control the base, control "Nidhogg," and possess the power to change the world's格局 (geju, a concept encompassing the overall structure and overall structure).
And Nie Lingfeng—
The moment the Mother Nest's will locked onto Xiaoyun, his heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an icy hand!
That feeling wasn't a metaphor. Something in his chest really contracted suddenly, as if an invisible hand had reached into his body, grabbed his heart, and squeezed it tightly. A sharp pain spread from his chest to his limbs, and his fingers involuntarily spasmed.
An unprecedented emotion, a mixture of anger, fear, and overwhelming murderous intent, shattered his usual composure!
His eyes—those usually calm and serene eyes—were now bloodshot, his pupils shrunk to pinpoints, and the veins around his eyes bulged. His breathing became rapid and heavy, each exhale sounding like a burst of fire, his chest heaving violently.
He can disregard his own life and death.
But Xiaoyun...
"Get out of here!!!"
A roar like that of a wounded lion erupted from Nie Lingfeng's throat!
The sound didn't "come out" of his mouth, but rather "exploded" from his chest. It reflected and echoed through the dome, layer upon layer, causing rubble to fall from the rock walls. The two monsters closest to him were so startled by the roar that they stumbled back, black blood seeping from their ears—if they even had ears.
He completely ignored the sonic attack and claw strikes from a "Screamer" behind him—the screamer opened its mouth behind him, and a visible sonic wave shot from his back, distorting and vibrating the air along its path. The sonic wave tore through his clothes, revealing the skin underneath, which was covered with fine red blood spots.
But Nie Lingfeng didn't turn around. His entire attention was on Xiaoyun, on his way to Xiaoyun.
His surrounding energy exploded with a deafening roar! White energy surged forth from his body like an exploding cloud, instantly enveloping a three-meter radius around him. That energy was not gentle and misty—but rather violent, like an enraged storm.
The force of the Cloud-Dispelling Palm swept outwards like a storm. With a single strike, the palm force transformed into countless white cloud blades, slicing in all directions. "Swoosh swoosh swoosh"—the cloud blades sliced through the air, through the monster's body, and through the metal walkway—a "Screamer" was cut in half at the waist. The upper half flew out and crashed into the rock wall, while the lower half remained standing, twitching for two seconds before collapsing.
He sent the "Screamer" that attacked him flying, along with several other monsters nearby!
His figure blurred into a blurry afterimage, rushing towards the tunnel exit at several times the speed of before, towards Xiaoyun! He was so fast that he left a white trail in the air—the result of his clothes rubbing against the air, like someone drawing a line with chalk in the dark. With each step he took, the ground beneath his feet cracked and caved in, sending pebbles flying like bullets in all directions.
"Brother Lingfeng!"
Chen Duo also sensed the terrifying will that was locking onto Xiao Yun. That will was like an invisible snake, extending from the direction of the mother nest, coiling around the child in her arms, tightening little by little.
Her face turned pale—not from fear, but from anger. She could tolerate anyone doing anything to her, but she couldn't tolerate anyone hurting Xiaoyun. Her fingers clenched tightly in her sleeves, her nails digging into her palms until they bled.
But she still held tightly to Xiaoyun, who was trembling and whose eyes were becoming increasingly vacant. She pushed the protection of the Phoenix True Fire to its limit, and a layer of colorful light membrane became more solid, spreading outward from Xiaoyun's body and enveloping Xiaoyun in a warm cocoon of light.
The light membrane was not static, but pulsated like a heartbeat, flashing brightly and dimly. With each pulsation, a colorful ripple spread out from Xiaoyun's body, pushing the terrifying will back an inch.
"Stop him! Don't let him get near the child!"
Seeing this, the man in the suit's eyes flashed with a ruthless glint. It wasn't impulsive rage, but a cold, calculated decision. He glanced at the still-flashing data on the control panel—though most of it had turned into static and gibberish, a small portion was still active, still displaying something. If that child truly was the key to controlling the "Hive"...
He shouted at Catherine and Fujiwara Sosuke, "That child is the key to controlling the 'Mother Nest'! It must be in our hands!"
"Don't even think about it!"
His response was Zhang Chulan's furious roar!
Zhang Chulan's eyes also reddened. Not from fear, not from anger, but from a more primal, instinctive desire—to protect. Nie Ge's child was his child. Anyone who dared to harm her would have their life taken.
Lightning suddenly exploded from his body, not the thin arcs of electricity as before, but thick, white pillars of lightning like pythons, surging out of his body and coiling and rotating around him.
A thick white bolt of lightning shot out from between his hands!
"Thunder Magic - Yang Five Thunders - Mad Python!"
The lightning bolt didn't shoot out in a straight line; instead, it twisted and meandered in the air, like a giant, glowing python with its jaws wide open, crackling and popping as it viciously bit at the suited elite and Catherine!
It's not aimed at monsters—it's aimed at people!
The suit-wearing elite's expression changed, and he quickly dodged to the side. The lightning bolt grazed past him and struck one of the "Rippers" that was lunging at him from behind. The monster was pierced by the lightning bolt, and a charred hole exploded in its chest, revealing a bright light from front to back. It fell to the ground, emitting black smoke.
Catherine wasn't so lucky. She twisted her ankle—not out of bad luck, but because the ground was wet from the splashes of blood. The edge of the lightning bolt grazed her shoulder, instantly vaporizing the clothes on her shoulder and revealing the scorched, red skin beneath. She groaned, stumbled back a few steps, clutching her shoulder, her face even paler.
Fujiwara Sousuke also wanted to make a move.
He gripped a kunai in his single arm, his eyes fixed menacingly on Nie Lingfeng's direction. Though severely wounded, he was still capable of a desperate attack. If he could stop Nie Lingfeng on his way to Xiaoyun…
But he had only taken one step—