Chapter 124: The Emissary
, the “ ” Anomalous Containment Research Center.
In 's laboratory, the same shrill alarm sounded.
The flesh tissue samples sealed in the cultivation pods, which had been behaving perfectly docile, had now all fallen into a frenzy.
They proliferated and twisted madly, extending countless aggressive structures and slamming violently against the glass of the cultivation pods.
But “ ” at the lowest level of the research center — that tamed ecosystem — was exhibiting a bizarre situation of the exact opposite kind.
“It's shrinking, shrinking for no reason at all,” 's voice came through the communication channel, filled with gravity and unease. “It's as if... it sensed some kind of threat. Or rather, some even more incomprehensible instinct was stirred within it, forcing it to completely abandon its ‘descent’ and choose to leave.”
“Only after I activated the highest-level isolation protocol in Containment Chamber No. 1 and cut off all possible information exchange between it and the outside world did it settle down again,” 's tone carried deep worry. “ , how are things on your end in ?”
[The has erupted in full. It has the ability to reshape the ground environment and produce monsters.]
[In the center of , intensity has now broken through Level 3, is approaching Level 4, and is still climbing.]
[In the middle of the River, an unknown flesh creature over 30 meters in size has appeared, and the riverside defense line has also begun taking hits.]
's calm voice rang out.
[ , the children are already being moved through the underground passages toward the research center. We'll leave to you.]
“I understand,” nodded gravely. “The research center's defense systems are fully activated. Don't worry about us.”
was silent for a moment, then finally said, “You have to win!”
[Mn.]
***
The defense line.
The spread of the flower sea had stopped when it reached the boundary of 's “ ” shield.
But the strange changes in the sky were far from over.
Like a silent plague, the crimson glow expanded madly in every direction, centered on .
In an instant, it covered the entire sky visible to the naked eye.
From 's broader perspective, the crimson cloud layer nearly shrouded several entire provinces of the central region.
Only above a few cities where powerful mutants existed, and at the distant northern border wrapped in , did it barely grind to a halt.
Atop the defense , the “ ” plasma cannons had already entered full-power operation. Blue-white plasma shells streaked across the crimson sky like a meteor shower, pouring down in overwhelming numbers onto the battlefield below, which had already become a mire of flesh.
Each hit vaporized a large stretch of flesh creations together with the contaminated ground, yet in the next second, new flesh surged up from deeper below to fill the gap.
Watching this, even felt a sense of helplessness — there was simply no killing them all!
[ ! Try the “ ” ecosystem construction module — that should be able to fix the environment!]
“Roger!” Without the slightest hesitation, immediately led a team of operators and, under the cover of artillery fire, began rapidly deploying the “ ” modules had “stockpiled in advance” at nodes along the defense line.
When the first oval metal machine was activated, a soft pale-green glow lit up.
The writhing mire of flesh around it seemed to have met its natural enemy — it rapidly faded, solidified, and returned to the normal color of soil.
And the flower clusters that had been destroyed were regenerating noticeably more slowly.
In the sky, the reserve “ ” battle groups all took to the air.
At the same time, the hundreds of thousands of “ ” drones accumulated over this period surged into the aerial battlefield like a torrent of metal, tangling in mutual slaughter with the endless flying monsters pouring out of the crimson clouds.
Lasers and plasma jets wove into a net, with explosions flaring one after another.
The torrent of drones and the torrent of flesh collided between heaven and earth in the most primitive, most brutal clash.
Countless metal wrecks and chunks of flesh rained down from the sky.
Through a desperate deluge of firepower, the first wave of the flesh tide's assault was finally held fast beyond the defense line.
On the other side, 's had also finally broken through the flower sea's obstruction and reached the flank of the battlefield.
A large number of heavy firepower platforms were fully deployed, further easing the pressure on the main front.
But just then —
“Thump—”
From the deepest part of came a sound so dull and heavy it seemed to strike directly at the depths of the soul.
Immediately after, the earth began to shake violently, and the ruins in the distance collapsed like dominoes.
The monster that had always lurked at the city's center — so enormous it defied human comprehension — had finally appeared.
Its total height exceeded 320 meters. Its colossal body was pure flesh, and its dark-red surface was riddled with countless tiny pores like a sponge.
Every pore spewed thick crimson mist outward, forming the red clouds that shrouded the sky.
Vast amounts of mist gathered around it, forming a churning blood-red vortex.
Its face — if it could be called a face — was a lump of flesh so bloated it had almost lost all definition.
Where its features should have been, countless folds and growths filled the space, making it impossible to tell where the eyes were or where the nose was.
Only that enormous mouth, split from ear to ear, anyone could recognize at a glance.
That enormous mouth, which took up half the face, was drawn into a smile of heartfelt, pure joy that anyone could feel at first sight.
There was no mockery in that smile, no cruelty — only a joy and fulfillment like that of a child finally opening the gift box it had been longing for.
And its “foot” was not a pair of feet, but a giant lotus-shaped structure over 100 meters in diameter.
The “petals” were made of layer upon layer of human faces — each with a different expression: laughing, crying, screaming, silent — stacked, twisted, and fused together to form this malformed “lotus throne.”
From the base of the lotus throne, hundreds of flesh tentacles more than 10 meters in diameter stretched in every direction, slapping the ground as they pushed the colossal body slowly forward.
At every spot a tentacle touched, more and larger blood-red flowers burst into bloom in an instant.
And ahead of it, hundreds of smaller flesh giants, each about several dozen meters tall, cleared the way for their “master” like an honor guard.
The moment this monster emerged from the , the intensity around the defense line broke through Level 4 in an instant and pressed straight toward Level 5.
And in 's system interface, a system notification he had never seen before abruptly appeared in vivid red.
[Ding! triggered: [ ] (1)]
[Quest description: Stop it. You have no choice.]
[Quest reward: 1,000,000 , unlock “ ” antimatter near-Earth orbital cannon x1, blueprint x1.]
***
At the same time, a thousand li west of .
In a ruined city shrouded by the crimson clouds, two figures utterly out of place in this apocalypse stood silently.
A snowflake stained blood-red drifted down and was caught steadily by a small, fair hand.
“The has bloomed,” a clear voice tinged with faint regret rang out. “Another world has reached its end.”
“ , you won the bet. It looks like this planet will ultimately be claimed by [ ].”
The speaker was a girl who looked only eight or nine years old, wearing a white shirt printed with a cartoon bear pattern — yet her face was beautiful to the point of being almost eerily uncanny.
“Its casts a shadow, and all things flourish because of it,” she brought the red snowflake up before her eyes and said softly, “until the world is wrung dry and everything is devoured.”
Beside her stood a man in a well-tailored black suit, holding a black umbrella covered with bizarre, intricate patterns.
Hearing this, the man lowered his head respectfully. “ , could you be sympathizing with this ?”
“After all, we've carried out surveys and experiments here for so long, and witnessed its end with our own eyes,” the girl flicked away the melted snow water, her tone flat. “In my memory, it deserves this much sympathy.”
The man shook his head instead. “In the boundless sea of stars, there are countless border stars like this one. Their existence and their passing aren't worth wasting your precious memory space on.”
“Or... could it be that you intend to intervene?”
“How could that be?” The girl laughed — a radiant, cruel smile. “I don't want those guys calling me a weak imperial princess.”
As she spoke, a teasing smile suddenly crept onto the girl's face. “Besides, precisely because I remember this planet's former beauty, I can savor all the better the aesthetic of its present plunge into flesh! Isn't the instant a bright pearl shatters a spectacle worth anticipating and thrilling over?”
The man bowed slightly. “Understood. However, for your safety, perhaps we should—”
The man's words stopped abruptly before he could finish. His gaze, which had always remained unruffled, betrayed a hint of doubt for the first time as it turned toward the direction where the crimson clouds had erupted.
Why had the crimson spread stalled?
Or rather... why was this shadow's energy level so... low?
“You sensed it too?”
The girl's eerie violet pupils contracted sharply, then blazed with excited light.
“Something interesting is happening, isn't it!”
She pointed toward , her tone brooking no argument.
“Let's go take a look!”
“Yes, .”
The man folded his umbrella and bowed slightly.