Chapter 483

Chapter 483: The Cleanup Master is Online

South of Hope City, the Abyss.

Thick, tar-like biomass gradually surged up; this change was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, yet it was happening—undeniably occurring.

This substance, which appeared to be pure black and absorbed all light, emerged from the so-called "Abyss."

In reality, this "Abyss" wasn’t very deep, only a few hundred meters.

But it was precisely because of this pitch-black substance that all exploration became nearly impossible.

Because here, it truly devoured people.

Along with the black substance, several Beacons previously deployed by humans and the completely skeletal remains of extraordinary beasts surfaced.

This black "lava" swept across the land, consuming the small plants clinging to the dry, solid surface, quickly spreading to a small "oasis" made up of extraordinary beasts and trees.

A two-headed hyena immediately lifted its head, looking at the approaching black line in the distance, inevitably feeling hostility toward it.

Its body slightly arched, trying to drive away the unseen enemy, but to the lifeless black tide, this was of no use.

It wanted to escape but saw the surrounding black, sticky substance closing in, and ultimately, this two-headed hyena made its last decision.

It charged at this incomprehensible thing, with both heads biting down with dozens of sharp teeth on the black substance.

Unexpectedly, this substance was not scalding, nor did it have any taste; it was simply thick—extremely thick.

The hyena could not pull its teeth out; it struggled violently, screaming in terror, the sound escaping from its narrow nostrils, only to be quickly drowned by the black substance.

This extraordinary beast vanished within the black tide, along with the oasis that held dozens of shrubs and big trees, completely disappearing.

At the moment the oasis vanished, an extremely fine mycelium transmitted its first signal since existence.

Like how Fulan and Wang Xiao reported the changes in the "Abyss" to humans, this signal also reached the enhanced oases along the road, eventually known to one of the three consciousnesses, Atropos.

Atropos, who was conducting surgical research with dozens of human Elites, momentarily lost focus upon receiving this information, even causing the cognitive filters of these limited revived humans to malfunction for a moment.

For less than a second, they saw the patient before them turn into a mass of rotten flesh, samples under the microscope transforming into wildly sprawling mycelium, witnessing the laboratory become a plant paradise amidst ruins.

But soon, with the return of Atropos’s main consciousness, all their actions returned to normal.

Time was running out.

Atropos thought.

He was engaged in a great endeavor; at least, he believed so.

Just as most cognitively normal humans accepted the theory of evolution, Atropos also believed in the origin of his tribe’s existence.

Though the mycelium had begun evolving into three branches, before that, they were one entity. Before that, consciousness had not yet differentiated, and before that, external characteristics did not primarily manifest in plant-like forms; instead, they were closer to moving animals due to harsh living conditions.

But what about before that?

Humans knew they evolved from "monkeys," and as long as they were willing to trace their roots, they could find the ancestors of monkeys.

But the mycelium life did not know where it came from.

This concept, which should exist in philosophy, now trapped Atropos; he had to figure it out, discover his origin, to know the direction for future evolution; otherwise, the previous understanding of the limits of his tribe would, in the end, become a thorn, forever affecting him, this Immortal being.

For he had realized his own limits, aware of the natural barriers of this tribe.

He aimed to become a "forefather" in the minds of humans, to find a new path for the mycelium.

And it all started with using humans to analyze himself.

—

Later, a long testimony was placed before Arthur.

The confession of the captured extraordinary beast lasted several hours, as no one asked or guided it; it could only use the most basic and simple methods to narrate from the beginning of its memories, detailing everything down to the small details until midnight, finally recounting how it lost due to a single miscalculation against Wang Xiao and his companions, sounding like the last struggle of a medieval hero.

Zou Cong followed the basic agreements, completely granting the extraordinary beast relief after it converted everything in its memory into video and audio.

Watching the blazing incinerator, Zou Cong couldn’t help but marvel at the extraordinary beast’s incredible regenerative ability.

In nearly ten hours of interrogation, due to external nutrient supply, it had continuously grown; by the end, the incinerator did not even need additional fuel, as the extraordinary beast’s own flesh and blood sufficed to maintain the burning state.

By that time, even the ashes left behind had piled into a considerable cone.

Meanwhile, important data from the extraordinary beast’s confession had already been refined by the [Skydome] and made public to the important personnel within the research institute.

With Ain and others being eroded, and now Zou Cong handling this interrogation, the human side was able to match the two wills of the mycelium with the authority they wielded.

Lachesis controlled the biological field and was skilled in infiltration and erosion.

Clotho mastered the breeding of extraordinary beasts, excelling in launching beast tides from the front.

With these two correct options for exclusion, Lin Qingliu could roughly guess what aspects Atropos was responsible for.

But the more he thought, the more anxious he felt; undoubtedly, among the three consciousnesses, Atropos had the highest potential since he governed learning and evolution.

If such a consciousness were allowed to develop freely, the outcomes could be truly frightening. At this point, all Lin Qingliu could do was have his followers continually sharpen themselves in battles of blood and fire, so he could reach that boundary between man and god as soon as possible.

—

On the battlefield in the outer city, an extraordinary beast with a severed leg crawled out from a pile of corpses.

It was about to launch another attack on the city when suddenly, another voice surfaced in its mind.

This voice did not belong to its mother or its creator but was equally grand and layered, equally unreachable.

In just an instant, the extraordinary beast’s sense of self was obliterated.

It became a puppet of Lachesis, staggering toward the Misty Forest with its few crippled legs.

Tree seed, tree seed!

Generous Clotho would not care.