Chapter 330

Chapter 330: Once and Again

Silver-white electric snakes illuminated the forest as if it were daylight, and the deafening roar echoed for over ten kilometers, with the wrath pouring down from the heavens faintly perceptible even towards Hope City.

The heavy rain turned the already slick and soft ground into a unified expanse, and countless tiny electric snakes roamed along the mycelium between the sleep pods, using their heat to destroy the mycelium while granting the brains a final semblance of dignity.

At the moment the lightning struck, Lin Qingliu released his ability of [Time], allowing the mycelium to helplessly experience their main brain being ruthlessly destroyed.

There were only a quarter or a fifth of the total number of sleep pods here. Lin Qingliu knew that after today’s lesson, the mycelium would certainly hide the other matrices deeper, but at this moment, they must pay the price for everything they had done to humanity.

The roaring thunder seemed to throw some mycelium into chaos; those that originally used optical camouflage to quickly change colors, like squids cut by a knife, began to twitch and randomly shift hues.

The earth began to churn as plants cycled through withering and blooming, as if caught in a limbo between Life and Death.

Amidst countless bizarre and magnificent sights, a deep, mournful wail seemed to resonate.

Within just a few minutes, the dark clouds dispersed, and sunlight once again bathed this land.

However, the order that Lin Qingliu had found before his visit was gone.

A complex network of blackened vine-like materials covered the entire land, representing the completely dead mycelium network, which had also thoroughly destroyed nearly a thousand sleep pods beneath it.

Hundreds of fires burned fiercely, and countless trees danced eerily in the flames.

At the center of this chaos, a strange silence enveloped the surrounding area for kilometers, as if it had been decapitated and could no longer receive any commands.

In the extraordinary beast forest, an ear-piercing scream echoed continuously.

The body formed from insects bore a tender face at the back of its head, crying out at the highest volume like a true infant.

With each roar and screech, dozens or even hundreds of insects died, unable to maintain such a vocal state.

Yet, more insects quickly replaced the fallen companions, continuing to emit a sound wave that could truly bring death.

The sound wave passed through countless trees, causing the extraordinary beast cocoons struck by the blast to die instantly, turning a dreadful shade of grayish-white decay.

Moreover, many newly hatched extraordinary beasts hadn’t even had time to drink a drop of the nutrient solution produced by plants before they mysteriously collapsed on the spot.

Their bodies were not wasted; the mycelium extending from the ground quickly wrapped them into another form of cocoon.

Bubbles produced from rapid decay and digestion were released through the gaps in the mycelium, creating a bizarre and grotesque scene.

This was the anger of the will of the mycelium, but it was also merely impotent rage, as the sound gradually faded away like the tide retreating from the Seaside, each wave lower than the last.

That face also began to shrink gradually, finally dissipating like a wilted flower.

The remaining three faces resembling humans seemed to take this in stride; they quickly began to move, transforming their previously occupied ninety-degree areas into one hundred and twenty degrees, standing firm like a mythical being with three heads and six arms.

"We are slower than him; we have lost."

One face spoke.

"The beast tide has already begun to gather; we are far from a loss."

Another face replied flatly, without any emotional fluctuations.

"Let it be. When this matter passes, we will proceed with a new splitting process."

The last face said:

"It’s just a pity; we thought it was about to succeed in merging."

"Let’s prioritize attacking humanity."

"How about that individual just now?"

"Don’t worry about him; when humans are attacked, he will definitely defend. It makes no sense to eliminate our bodies here."

"How much longer until the carrier is ready?"

"Three minutes."

As soon as the words were spoken, the body made of insects suddenly collapsed, with the overwhelming biological field that had gathered from all directions already dissipating.

The insects, as if encountering great terror, began to scatter and flee, but they could not escape as they wished.

In the mycelium ecosystem, no energy should be wasted.

Fine mycelium wrapped around their feet, crawling up to the junction between their head, chest, and abdomen, slowly tightening and severing.

With the sound of cracking shells, those temporarily created insects were thoroughly reclaimed.

—

The earth at the matrix began to churn again, but this time, both the range and intensity far surpassed the quicksand and its replicated abilities.

The previously docile ground revealed its ferocious side at this moment, like a hungry Giant Beast devouring the already charred sleep pods.

The ground split open with cracks, causing the man-made objects to fall into gaps dozens of meters deep, which then suddenly closed, completely crushing them, leaving no chance for the mycelium to reclaim anything.

The reason the gaps were not opened deeper was that Lin Qingliu knew that when it reached a depth of a hundred meters, the crust of this somewhat sinister planet would turn into a bizarre substance like molten rock at normal temperature.

That matter had not yet been understood by Ji Yongxing, and he currently couldn’t think of a way to utilize it.

Looking at the chaotic forest below, Lin Qingliu could not relate it to any place he had seen in his dreams.

Not to mention the plant issue; these plants were most likely products of the mycelium assimilating genetic material from the biological gene bank, which is why they had an old hometown style while also exuding a gray or purple eerie feeling.

Compared to these creatures whose origins could be slightly guessed, Lin Qingliu was more concerned about the massive ring-shaped spaceship hundreds of meters high and several kilometers in radius that had gone missing.

The outer shell of the spaceship and most of its partitions and spires were clearly made of a certain material; even the ultimate biological form of mycelium would likely be unable to gain energy for growth from consuming metal materials.

So, where did that huge spaceship go?

Lin Qingliu puzzled, even though many contents had been moved by the mycelium, he felt certain that some useful items would remain.

The lineage of the scrap king was awakening, but without anything to reclaim, Lin Qingliu felt a bit disappointed.

At that moment, fluctuations arose from the distant gray mist, in the opposite direction of Hope City, further away than the extraordinary beast forest and the matrix square.

Even without seeing any phenomenon, Lin Qingliu could sense anomalies through the fluctuations in the biological field.

Something was emerging over there, continuously absorbing nutrients like a newly born embryo, expanding its biological field, as if it was about to descend upon this world.