Last Totem Novel - Chapter 41
Chapter 41 Crisis
In this world, the ability to insecticize mutants is usually divided into two categories, the basic and the rare. Generally speaking, the basic ability was to enhance the various functions of the body, while the rare type was a variety of strange insect abilities. For example, spinning silk of spiders, needling of wasps, orientation sensing of bees, and so on.
The two innate insect-forming abilities of iron slag, as well as the “latent parasite” that they had acquired through gene devouring, were all rare abilities.
However, although the abilities of insecticidal mutants varied, most insecticidal mutants only possessed basic abilities other than natural “gene devouring.” There were many similarities between these basic abilities and those of traditional evolutionaries.
For example, the most common basic abilities are “ant-shaped muscles”, “pump-shaped circuits”, “worm-shaped compound eyes”, “limb regeneration”, “beetle endurance”, and so on. These abilities could increase the mutant’s strength, agility, perception, and so on. The results were similar despite the differences in how the enhancements were made. As a result, worm-like mutants with basic abilities can also wear mechanically powered armor.
Two years ago, Tie Zha suddenly realized that the old bull’s strength was getting stronger and stronger, but it didn’t increase in other aspects. At that time, he suspected that the old cow was a mutant with the ability to transform muscles into ants. Later, after Divine Doctor Shui’s diagnosis, the old cow was a special traditional evolutionary. Because the increase in strength brought about by the ant-shaped muscles was time-consuming, while the increase in strength of traditional evolvers was permanent, Divine Doctor Shui made his judgement based on this point.
Generally speaking, there are many similarities between ordinary insectivated mutants and traditional evolutionaries, but insectivated mutants with rare abilities are very different from traditional evolutionaries.
Iron slag was a compound evolver of B1B2, so he didn’t need to strengthen his body through basic insect transformation abilities, so he could only devour rare abilities. For example, Lurking Parasite. Although the scope of this ability was very small, it was still more useful to him than the basic type.
In addition, there were some rare abilities that could be superimposed on each other. For example, the latent parasitism of iron slag changed from a “soft, short-limbed ant” to a “barbed shell, long-limbed, armored ant”. This was because the iron slag’s gene chain contained mutated gene fragments of the blade carapace and blade knuckles.
Not long after, Tie Zha’s army of armored ants finished sweeping through the eggs. Under the command of his main body, the army returned to their intestines to sleep. These armored larvae quickly die, eventually becoming nutrients for the host and excreting from the body.
After completing all of this, the tired Tie Zha quickly fell asleep …
He was speechless all night …
The next morning, everyone set off in full gear. Not long after, five sand trucks drove into the endless sea of sand with billowing smoke and dust.
At this moment, the sand sea was clear and there was not a single breeze that blew past. The fine sand was evenly spread on the ground, making it look very comfortable.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, Ye Xinling raised her eyes and saw boundless yellow sand stretching out to the junction of heaven and earth. The undulating sand dunes gave off a faint white light under the sunlight.
Looking at the calm desert, a strange feeling surged into his heart.
It turns out that the ruthless sand sea also has such a beautiful side …
“The weather is good.” Tie Zha said as he sat in the passenger seat and looked out of the window.
As soon as he finished speaking, a girl’s mechanical synthesis voice came from the car radio.
[Friend, the temperature is now 20 degrees Celsius, which is very suitable for human survival. Alice suggests that friends can organize a picnic.]
“Master, the term’friend ‘sounds awkward.” Ye Xinling couldn’t help but say.
“Furthermore, it’s the voice of a young girl.” The old flute in the back seat echoed.
“It is indeed a bit.” Tie Zha thought for a moment and said, “Why don’t you call it’brother ‘?”
“No!” “Don’t!” Ye Xinling and Old Flute cried out in unison.
[Alice can simulate real human conversations and change titles depending on the situation. Friend, please authorize]
“Agreed to authorize.” Iron slag said. Then, it came from the radio …
[Hahahahahaha … Little scum! Alice is here …]
“Cancel authorization.” Tie Zha touched his forehead and said.
[Friend, Alice suggests using a mood that mimics real humans to effectively reduce information transmission errors.]
“Change the title to ‘Captain’.”
[Captain, Alice suggests …]
“Alice, analyze the route I took in the Endless Sand Sea last time. I stopped at some coordinates for about two hours. There was a wreckage of an aircraft there.”
[Yes, my captain] [Analysis begins …] [Didi … Analysis completed]
[There are only coordinates and time data in the database. There is no image data. The closest coordinate is 371 km north. The captain stopped for 1 hour 48 minutes 52 seconds.]
Iron Slag recalled the situation at that time. At that time, in order to avoid the sandstorm, he hid in the wreckage of an aircraft for a while. After the sandstorm, You Ge accidentally attracted a sandworm, which eventually led to a nearby swarm of sandworms chasing after them. Iron slag preliminary judgement, near the wreckage of the aircraft there are sandworm community breeding sites.
Sandstorm insects are magical creatures with primitive social systems. Each sandworm has its own community and territory, and the Golden Sandworm is the leader of the community. Normally, they were scattered in the territory of the community to feed on their own. During the breeding season, they gather somewhere in the territory to intersect. Sandworms are hermaphroditic creatures. After mating, they produce several sand worm eggs in their bodies. The eggs hatch in the mother until the larvae are born.
Many years ago, Silver City scientists discovered that sand worm eggs could produce a substance called “radium 2315,” also known as body regeneration hormone, which repairs fatal wounds in humans. From now on, every season, a large number of hunters would come to the Endless Sand Sea to hunt for sand worms and collect their eggs.
Of course, hunting sandstorm insects was definitely one of the most dangerous things in the world. However, the huge income brought by the eggs always drove countless hunters to die in the sand sea.
Iron dregs occasionally hunt for sand worms, but they are just a small fuss. This was the first time such a large-scale hunt had taken place.
After confirming the coordinates, the convoy drove towards the wreckage of the aircraft at full speed
For the next two days, the journey was peaceful. The entire sea of sand seemed to have fallen silent, and it was so calm that it made people feel a little depressed.
Until the morning of the third day …
Fifty kilometers before the convoy reached its destination, sand and dust suddenly surged in front of them. Tie Zha immediately called the parking line and climbed onto the roof to observe the front. In the dust, hundreds of thousands of people were rushing over.
“Prepare for battle!”
Following Tie Zha’s orders, everyone aimed their guns at the Sandpeople. Once he gave the order, countless bullets would pour out.
Tie Zha looked ahead and felt that the actions of the Sandpeople were somewhat strange. They had a certain IQ and would attack the lonely humans on their own initiative, but they would never provoke groups of soldiers. However, there was no time to think. Seeing that the Sandpeople were about to charge 500 meters in front of the convoy, Tie Zha raised his hand and sank!
In an instant, everyone’s weapons spewed out flames and rain-like bullets shot forward.
“Dada … Dada … Dada … Dada … Dada … Dada …”
Along with the intense gunshots, the sand dwellers in front let out painful cries and fell into the sand one after another. Some of the survivors rolled and struggled on the ground, raising the dust in the sky.
After the first round of shooting, there were hundreds of corpses lying in the sand five hundred meters away. Although they suffered heavy losses, they continued to charge towards the convoy one after another.
Then there was the loading, then the second round, then the third round …
There were more and more corpses in front of them, but there were simply too many of them to kill.
Seeing the reaction of the desert people, Tie Zha’s expression became even more solemn. The desert people didn’t have much courage, so they would definitely collapse under such a loss. But now, these sand dwellers were like … like there was something chasing after them!
Thinking of this, Tie Zha shouted, “Stop shooting and retreat!”
A few seconds later, everyone got in the car and began to retreat. In the blink of an eye, some of the sand dwellers rushed to the front of the carriage, but instead of attacking the carriage, they directly ran away from the side. Tie Zha was not wrong. Their goal was not to attack, but to flee for their lives!
Right at this moment, dark clouds suddenly covered the area in front of him. It was as if it was enveloping the heavens and the earth, and it was sweeping towards the convoy at an extremely fast speed.
“Sandstorm?” Just as a thought flashed through Iron Cinder’s mind, he heard the old flute holding the walkie-talkie shouting, “Desert swarm! It’s a swarm of desert swarm! Close the car window!” He shouted as he forcefully rolled up the car window.
In less than two seconds, buzzing sounds could be heard from all directions. The intense noise was like putting your ears on a high-speed rotating electric fan. Immediately after, the sky suddenly darkened, and in an instant, his fingers became invisible.
Just as Tie Zha rolled up the car window, panicked screams came from the walkie-talkie. At the same time, a crisp crackling sound sounded from the cockpit. Tie Zha listened carefully. It was the sound of desert bees hitting the glass window.
Ye Xinling had never seen such a scene before, and her face turned pale from fear. She leaned against the driver’s seat and did not dare to move.
Tie Zha cursed in his heart. He hadn’t seen a single sandworm encounter such an insect plague. It was simply unlucky. At this moment, the sound of the desert bees hitting the glass grew louder and louder. The windows of the car seemed to be about to be smashed apart at any moment, constantly trembling. The iron slag involuntarily gripped the steroid stimulant in its pocket. When necessary, he would insert a needle and grow a shell on his skin to resist the stab of the desert bees.
In the darkness, time became incomparably long. Under the pressure of the window being crushed at any moment, every second was like a year …