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- Chapter 69 Insect Man
This is a circular passage.
The soles of the shoes have an uncomfortable slippery feel when they step on the mud soaked in water. Large pieces of waterproof coating peeled off from the surface of the shallow concave circular pipe wall. In many places, exposed steel bars have protruded. Softened cement fragments are loosely attached to the broken parts of the pipe wall. If there is a slight vibration, they will look like the most shocking ones. Like a guard, he rolled down from the place that could barely support his body. Occasionally, a lizard will swim out from the cracks where it lives and lie down on the cold concrete surface. With its eyes that can rotate 180 degrees, it will vigilantly search for all potential opponents and all targets that can serve as food.
Lin Xiang walked cautiously through the pipeline, his steps light and soft, like an alert but elegant cat, silent and silent, relying solely on hearing, unable to detect his presence at all.
He held a sharp dagger in his hand. The thin blade reflected a dazzling cold light in the dim light. The slightly curved tip could easily pierce the body of any creature.
Compared with simple cold weapons, large-caliber shotguns can obviously exert greater power in narrow pipes. But under this special terrain restriction, the deep tube wall can transmit the sound very far, which is tantamount to telling all the mutated creatures lurking underground that there are fresh and delicious prey here.
The three-meter-long pipe diameter can accommodate the body to remain upright. Stepping on the upward-sloping part of the pipe wall to avoid the deepest water at the bottom of the pipe, Lin Xiang climbed on the hard cement wall and slowly groped forward. With.
This is clearly part of a masterpiece of human engineering from the old days. The pipeline should belong to a certain branch of the underground drainage system of a large city. It cannot be as smooth as what is drawn on the map. There must be a large number of branch pipes and ancillary connecting parts. Pipes with various functions are connected, intersected, and overlapped with each other. A dense and complex network is formed deep underground.
Lin Xiang walked very slowly, and he did not turn on the flashlight. The evolutionary ability possessed by the parasite is not only a simple physical enhancement, but all the most basic human sensory systems such as hearing, smell, touch, etc. are also expanded towards more sensitive limits under the influence of the virus. Even in an environment without any light source, he can clearly see everything happening in the dark.
Lin Xiang is not in a hurry to speed up. There is no time limit for the mission. As long as there is enough food and water, there is no problem even if he stays underground for a whole year.
In other words - no matter who you are, you have two choices from the moment you walk into this underground pipeline. First, follow the map, find the exit at point b and leave. The second is to give up the idea of ??leaving and become a permanent resident of the dark world.
It was very cold in the damp and dark pipes, and the cold air coming from the ground seemed to freeze time. Lin Xiang shivered subconsciously. He moved his stiff knuckles, tightened the loose collar of his clothes, controlled his long and slow breathing rhythm, and walked step by step deeper into the passage.
From time to time, incomplete white fonts can be seen on the walls, and the sewage seeping from the top wall is sparing no effort to clean away all traces of the old era. Dirty torn plastic bags were looming in the stagnant water, and foam that had turned into rotten green was piled up on the edge of the well. Under a vertical well that led to the ground, there was even an old and broken bicycle. In the round wheel frame, there were a few rusty metal spokes hanging sparsely. The tripod was broken in the middle. Several thumb-sized, unnamed hard-shelled insects were hiding behind the shadow of the car body, slowly and slowly. Chewing on semi-liquefied rubber tires.
For them, this is the best food.
Suddenly, a low rustling sound came from the depths of a cross-cutting pipe in front. The hard-shelled insects that were eating quickly fled away, and they quickly got into the cracks in the wall next to them. Only their slender tentacles and frightened eyes were exposed, staring at the source of the sound.
Lin Xiang turned sideways and relied on the barrier formed by the corner of the wall to hide his entire body in darkness.
With a clear sound of ropes, a black figure slowly crawled out of the hole flush with the wall of the pipe.
Judging from the back with all four limbs, it should be a human being.
He is very thin and very tall, more than two meters in length. A somewhat ridiculously long coat or cloak or something like that almost covered the entire body. His head was always lowered to his chest, as if he was looking at something intently, his arms were curled up on the front side of his body, and his legs, which were covered by the hem of his clothes, were standing in the middle of the pipe on both sides. The head and arms occasionally shake slightly, as if they are looking for some unknown target.
Lin Xiang frowned, staring intently at the black figure standing fifty meters away.
Captain Sock said that he was not the only tester to go underground. Maybe,This should be a lost person who entered the passage earlier than himself, but failed to find the way out.
In the deep underground, personal power is very weak. The unique physiological structure of human beings determines that the line of sight and observation ability can often only be concentrated in a single direction, but they cannot have a full range of perception systems like insects or other creatures. If you can find a companion, your chances of getting out of this pipeline will undoubtedly be much greater.
Lin Xiang had no intention of approaching him to talk. He held his breath and pressed his body tightly against the cold wall. His whole body seemed to have completely integrated into the surrounding environment and became a part of nature.
He had a very strange feeling. He always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put it into words.
Suddenly, the black shadow turned around and walked slowly towards his direction step by step. Like Lin Xiang, his movements were very light, his steps were slow and silent. If it weren't for his body moving, it would be impossible to notice that he was moving forward.
The positions of the two people are gradually getting closer, thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters
Less than five meters away from Lin Xiang, he stopped. As if he felt something, he slowly turned his head and looked around carefully. All that could be seen was the cold, damp concrete pipe walls, the dirty sludge sewage, and the disgustingly rancid cold air blowing from the depths of the pipes.
Suddenly, Lin Xiang suddenly jumped out from his hiding place at the corner of the wall, and pressed the flashlight that had been adjusted to the strongest light point. A strong white light shot out in a diverging trajectory, completely covering the entire black shadow in the center.
The black shadow erupted into a piercing scream. He covered his temporarily blind eyes with both hands and stumbled back and forth in the passage. The staggering steps drove his body to turn sharply towards the darkness, trying to readjust his sight to see the attacker clearly in front of him.
Lin Xiang¡¯s hands were shaking.
The moment the flashlight emitted light, he had already seen the other party¡¯s true face.
That was not a so-called human being at all, but a mutated insect of astonishing size.
The two strong hind limbs stand upright on the ground, and the long and narrow body looks like a cloak or coat that humans often wear in the dark. A pair of obviously degenerated short legs on the abdomen are folded together like folding chairs. The upper limbs extending from the outer contour of the chest are very thick and long. Although the surface of the limbs has sharp zigzag claws and as hard and sharp as steel bristles. The black body hair, but in the shadow formed by the light, is exactly the same as a human arm.
Its head is very flat, like an inverted triangle formed after compression. Huge oval eyes protrude from the front of the head. In addition to the beak that still exists in the form of a palate, the eyes even have sharp and convex nostrils. The tentacles that grow from the top of the head are very short. They are in the process of molting, and their original function of exploring the environment is given to the new body organs produced by mutation.
No matter from which angle you look at it, it looks very human-like.
It is evolving and is using the mutation ability caused by radiation to guide itself on the same evolutionary path as humans. In a hundred years, fifty years, or perhaps a shorter time, they will likely become human-like beings. The intelligence and thinking may not reach the heights possessed by humans, but judging from the appearance and basic body shape, they are basically replicas of humans.
Suppressing the fear and shock deep in his heart, Lin Xiang stabbed out the dagger he held tightly like lightning. The sharp dagger tip passed along the insect's shortened neck and drew a standard circular trajectory in the air. The triangular head and body were completely separated into two disconnected parts. The stinking blood of indistinguishable color spattered violently from the bare shoulders, coating the cold wall with a layer of sticky slurry.
Squatting down, he took out a collection tube from his pocket, pulled off the sealing rubber cover on the surface, plunged the sharp needle into the insect corpse lying on the ground with its claws stretched out, and drew out a tube full of blood.
The blazing white flashlight beam shrouded the headless insect corpse, and the blood sample in the collection tube revealed a deep purple that crossed with red. Dozens of small hard-shelled insects crawled out from the cracks and corners of the wall. They used their tentacles to carefully explore the direction, and soon gathered at the edge of the wound of the insect corpse, opened their sharp jaws, and bit hard at the parts that did not belong to them. Prey obtained entirely by accident.
Lin Xiang is not a biologist, but he knows that according to the most basic biological laws of the earth, any evolution cannot be completed in a short time. Changes in body organs and living habits will take at least thousands or tens of thousands of years before relatively obvious replacements occur in evolving species. Billions of years from now, insects may evolve into humans. From the outbreak of nuclear war in the old era until now, less than a century has passed. This time is too short for them.
What exactly caused them to change so dramatically?
Radiation??
? Genetic mutations that occur in order to adapt to the environment?
Orare they simply artificial products deliberately created?
Lin Xiang did not waste any time. While installing the collection tube, he continued moving deeper into the pipe. The strong smell of blood will attract all nearby dark creatures. Among the hungry diners, there may be similar humanoid insects.
The Skeleton Knights must know the existence of this mutated creature. Why would they allow mercenaries to enter the pipeline and come into contact with it? Could it be that, in their opinion, humanoid insects are not a secret at all?
The deep cement pipe stretches to the dark end.
In this lightless underground world, the cold air is always filled with a touch of blood.
Lin Xiang stopped in front of a cross connection. He took out the map from his pocket, huddled in the corner, covering the light emitted by the flashlight with his clothes and body, and his eyes quickly scanned the route and direction marked on the map.
This is the sixth intersection he has passed, but the map does not show any forks or branches, only a few symbolic twists and corners.
"A maze"
Putting away the map, he looked at the four black circular pipes like giant beasts. He shook his head lightly, stood up slowly from the wall, and walked slowly towards the entrance directly in front of him.
He could only go on based on his intuition.
After walking about two hundred meters along the pipeline, Lin Xiang stopped again in front of a collapsed pile of rocks.
A weak wave of air flow gently caressed the surface of his smooth and sensitive skin. At the same time, he heard a strange sound coming from deep in the passage.
¡°Help, help me¡ª¡ª¡±
It was very light and very small, accompanied by the reverberation caused by the scream and the collision with the long and narrow tube wall. It was getting closer and louder. After a few seconds, the dense gunfire covered everything, and the wall of the pipe in the darkness also reflected the rhythmic shimmer of flames.
That is the flame tail caused by firing a bullet.
Lin Xiang's eyes were sharp, and he quickly accelerated his pace and ran towards the direction of the source of the gunfire.
He needs teammates.
It is difficult to leave this complex underground passage alive alone.
The thunder-like roar of bullets broke through the silence in the darkness. The fierce firelight reflected tall black figures on the wall from time to time. Furious curses and the sound of bullets tearing flesh were mixed with each other. There were also desperate calls for help before death. And prayers and screams filled with fear and despair.
The fire and roar were just around the corner dozens of meters ahead. Lin Xiang put the dagger back into the scabbard, pulled out the large-caliber shotgun from his backpack with his backhand, held the chute at the front of the gun body and loaded the ammunition, like the fastest cheetah, dodged and rushed out of the passage.
Three people with flat-end assault rifles were pouring bullets desperately towards the direction where he appeared.
Directly in front, a dozen huge humanoid insects were swarming over, waving their sharp claws, opening their beaks and moving jaws, and rushing forward despite the dense rain of bullets. Just over twenty meters away from the corner, a middle-aged mercenary with only half of his body left was lying in the mud and letting out a heart-rending scream. Several humanoid insects were gathering around him, tearing off pieces of muscle from his body with their powerful jaws. The soft intestines were dragged out from the lower part of the mercenary's severed abdomen, and were held tightly in the mouth by an insect a few meters away. Chew slowly. The bright yellow fat wrapped around the intestines looked extremely dazzling in the stream of light trailed by the bullet.
"Let's go quickly¡ª¡ª"
Lin Xiang roared as he rushed into the crossing, aimed at the nearest humanoid insect and pulled the trigger hard. The thunderous gunfire shook off countless tiny particles of dust from the top of the tube wall. The large ball of iron sand smashed the insect's head to pieces. The huge impact pushed the headless corpse backwards, and the frightened and angry insect swarm suddenly erupted. A shrill scream. They raised their claws one after another and stretched out the oval-shaped stiffeners tightly closed behind their bodies, revealing four translucent membrane wings.
¡°Larson, these damn mutants killed Larson¡ª¡ª¡±
A burly bald mercenary roared angrily, dropped his assault rifle that had been drained of bullets, and pulled out a sharp fire ax from behind. He was about to rush desperately towards the oncoming humanoid insect, but was hit by a huge blast. The strength grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back forcefully.
¡°Go back, those with ammunition will maintain the advantage of shooting distance, and you are responsible for clearing the retreat¡ª¡ª¡±
Lin Xiang pulled the trigger again, accurately blasting the chest of another humanoid insect, and growled without looking back: "If you want to commit suicide, I will never save you a second time."
The muscles on the bald mercenary¡¯s face twitched violently, and he gritted his teeth with an angry look, and finally looked atLooking at the passage that was flooded by insects, he grabbed the handle of the fire ax with all his strength, turned around and retreated towards the corner behind him. The other two mercenaries retreated while shooting fiercely at the approaching insect swarm. The powerful warhead rotated into the body of the humanoid insect, rolling and exploding in the fragile flesh, tearing out terrifying holes.
"Ammunition, who still has ammunition? I've run out of bullets -" A young mercenary held an assault rifle that made blank shots one after another, his face turned pale.
"Damn it, there are too many of them." The female mercenary next to her threw down her empty rifle with hatred, and pulled out the pistol from her waist and fired several times.
"Quickly, I still have bullets!" Lin Xiang said with a gloomy face, aiming at a humanoid insect with outstretched wings and pulling the trigger hard. The powerful shot brought up a piece of blood and flesh that scattered all over the sky.
The two mercenaries looked at each other, turned around and ran quickly towards the corner passage.
The words are clear enough. If you stay any longer, you will definitely die.
Lin Xiang nimbly dodged the humanoid bugs attacking from the air, but his ears carefully listened for the footsteps that were gradually walking away from behind. At the moment when the sound of soles stepping on the ground disappeared, he inserted the weapon in his hand back into his backpack, bent over and jumped out of the swarm of humanoid insects. Two balls of blazing flames, several meters high, suddenly appeared in his free palms. Drawn by the inertia of the body, the violent tongues of fire rushed to engulf all objects in contact with it. The humanoid insects that could not avoid it in time screamed and curled up into a ball, and fell to the ground struggling and twisting desperately. The surface of the burning body exudes a scorching smell, and the membrane wings covering the back are completely burned through. They can only writhe in agony on the ground like mud bugs, dying, waiting for death to come, or to be interrogated to share the same kind. The fate of food.
Lin Xiang, who had contained the flames, restrained his body and quickly ran back in the direction where the mercenaries disappeared.
Even if it is to save people, he does not want to reveal his own secrets.
The next thing to do is to gather the escaped mercenaries and leave this dark and dirty underground world together. - Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report
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