novelMother Nest
| ← Ch.224 | Ch.226 → |
Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
The mountain peaks were of different height, forming a wave-like resemblance from above. The atmosphere was completely silent as there were no signs of life at all in this area.
A giant cave appeared before their eyes like a black hole that led straight to the abyss. Occasionally, strange roars would ring out from within. It was like there was a bunch of hellish demons within that would lunge out at any moment, devouring any humans nearby.
Feng Lin and the two sisters were hidden at the side, staring at the dark cave. They had heavy looks on their faces. Feng Lin then asked, "This is the mother nest of the aberrations?"
"That's right." Yana nodded."Because of the danger aberrations posed to ordinary humans, the experts of interstellar humans would monitor the Asura Planet on fixed intervals. One was to monitor the breeding rate of the aberrations and secondly, to monitor the death row criminals. These death criminals all committed unforgivable sins in the universe. Exile to Asura Planet was the harshest and most extreme sentence in the Southern Milky Way Galaxy. Aberrations were the dominant lifeform here; thus, the death row criminals who are weak would all be devoured.
"Only those evilest, vilest humans would be sent here. These criminals wreaked great havoc and destruction in the outside world and among them, there is no lack of intelligent people. Even embedding a microchip in their bodies wasn't an insurance. No one knew when these criminals would break the code of the microchips and fool the overseers. Hence, they had to use real-time monitoring systems like satellites. If these intelligent criminals started from zero and opened the technological tree, they might be able to make use of the resources on Asura Planet to go step by step from the primitive era into the agricultural era, industrial age, science and technology era...
"In the end, they might even be able to create space ships of the lowest-tier and escape this planet. Given how vast the universe is, everything was possible. After all, there had been a precedence of such cases happening, allowing the criminals to escape. In order to avoid such cases, the situation on Asura Planet is monitored constantly via the optical A. I. of the interstellar humanity court. I made use of hacker technology and found a hole in their defensive firewall, and I managed to sneak in and obtain first-hand info..."
Although she made it sound simple and casual, Feng Lin naturally wasn't stupid enough to casually believe that her methods were so simple.
The interstellar court was the law-enforcer of interstellar humanity, with influence spanning across the universe. Their A. I. firewall was naturally one of the strongest, yet she actually managed to hack into it?
This Yana definitely could be considered a peak-level hacker in the universe.
Many thoughts flashed through Feng Lin's mind, but his expression didn't change as he patiently listened.
Yana continues to speak, "And according to the latest info, this is one of the thirty small-scale mother nests on Asura Planet."
"Small-scale mother nest?" Feng Lin asked.
"That's right. Those aberrations would gather around their queen and form a mother nest akin to an ant colony; they would hunt prey around the area to continue living. According to the information I have, currently on Asura Planet, there's one gigantic-scale mother nest, three large-scale mother nest, ten medium-scale mother nest, and thirty small-scale mother nest! For the sake of caution, let's start by targeting one of the small-scale mother nests first and kill a queen here. The queens of small-scale mother nest would usually be reproductive machines and have very weak combat prowess. It's just that their aberration guards would be very troublesome to deal with."
The mother nest was right before them. In order to prevent alerting the aberrations, they communicated by mental transmissions.
After hearing Yana's words, Feng Lin nodded. This was not a bad idea.
"In the mother nest, other than the aberration queen, the aberrations can be divided into a few different types. The facehuggers, messenger-types, soldier-types, prowler-types, guard-types... Each of the different types would net us a different amount of points when we kill them. For example, the small facehuggers are the embryonic-forms of the aberrations; they don't have much combat strength and we won't gain any points even if we kill them. For messengers, they are creatures that move with their four limbs; they have extremely quick speed but weak combat strength, hunting one would net us 1 point. For the most common aberrations that are known as the soldier-types, killing one would net us 10 points. For prowlers that are ranked higher than the soldiers, their speeds are even faster compared to messengers, and they have excellent stealth abilities, along with high intelligence. Killing one would net us 100 points. And for the last type, the guard-types, they are loyal guards of the aberration queens, killing one would net us 1, 000 points.
"As for queens, they can be classified as small queens, medium queens, large queens, and giant queens. For small queens alone, killing one would net us 10, 000 points, and for every rank up in the queen category, the difference in points we can gain is ten times the previous amount! But what is more terrifying is that after a small queen evolved into a medium queen, they would no longer just have reproductive capabilities, they would have elementary combat strength that would increase unceasingly as they continue to evolve. As for the giant queen, it's the strongest creature on this planet. If we can kill it, we would be able to gain 10 million points. If we truly can kill that creature, we would really be the King of the Solar System, but it's extremely difficult to accomplish this. You must know that giant queens have a strength level equal to grand completion phase of elite cultivators; their combat prowess is incomparably terrifying. For the exam candidates who participate in the second round this time, none of us will be able to do so. Maybe, only those supreme geniuses in the universe would have some hope to accomplish this. We won't be thinking too much about this. Now, we will start by luring out the lower-ranks aberrations like the messengers and soldiers, and keep hunting them to gain points. After they grow suspicious, they will start sending more forces out. Once the mother nest is relatively empty, we will enter it to assassinate the small queen here..."
Yana revealed her battle plan, listing out the steps. There were no loopholes to this.
Feng Lin silently nodded at her intelligence after he heard that.
Truly, one would always walk the path that suited one the most.
This Yana was as expected of a cultivator that walked on the Athena Mythological Path. Her wisdom far surpassed ordinary humans.
This idea seemed dangerous, but it was very doable and had a very high chance of success.
"Right." Feng Lin nodded in agreement.
But before they could say anything more, Aris interjected, "Pay attention, aberrations are coming out!"
Feng Lin and Yana instantly turned their gazes over. They could hear ear-piercing noises come out from the interior of the cave. It felt like 10, 000 bats were screeching beside their ears. The sound made them feel as though nails were squirmed in their brains.
"Stabilize your state of hearts and minds. These aberrations are extremely sensitive to the fluctuations of aura. If you are in a disturbed state of mind, they will immediately sense it, and our positions would be revealed." Yana transmitted her thoughts to her sister and Feng Lin.
Feng Lin and Aris instantly calmed themselves down.
Very soon, from the interior of the dark cave, ten aberrations crawled out. They had compound eyes that scanned everything around them. They also sniffed the air with their noses, trying to sense if there were any strange smells.
All of these were within Feng Lin's anticipations. They completely retracted their auras, leaking nothing at all.
After that, these aberrations split up in four directions as they went off to hunt for food.
In the depths of the mountain, shrill cries filled with terror and despair rang out.
Feng Lin's group simply waited at the side. They had their eyes fixed on three soldier-type aberrations that were moving closer to them. Before the soldier-type, six messenger-types were leading the way.
Feng Lin and the sisters exchanged glances and proceeded according to their plan.
Aris intentionally leaked a trace of her aura.
HOWL~
The six messenger-types instantly sensed something and let out excited howls that resembled dogs.
Three of the soldier-types also grew excited as they smelled the scent of a human. For them, humans were a type of very weak creatures but had high intelligence and contained plenty of nutrients. They were one of the favorite foods of aberrations.
The nine aberrations hurriedly moved, wanting to surround Aris. They were like hungry wolves that had spotted a prey.
With a scream, a female figure flashed and sped toward the narrow valley faraway.
Seeing their prey frantically running away, heat filled the gazes of the aberrations. Drool leaked from their thorny tongues as they chased after.
The speed of the aberrations was very quick. The six messenger-types ran on the walls while the three soldier-types followed behind them, preparing to attack.
However, the speed of the female they were chasing wasn't slower than them at all. They actually weren't able to catch up with her after chasing for some time, and sounds of their panting could be heard.
But when she was about to reach the valley and could finally escape, that female actually slowed her steps. She didn't seem nervous at all. She turned and smiled teasingly at the aberrations.
The aberrations weren't capable of emotions, but their instincts told them something was wrong.
Pata! Pata!
The sounds of two other sets of footsteps rang out.
The aberrations turned only to see a human male of average stature wielding a metal cudgel in his hands. This human male was also staring teasingly at them, and there was a weak human female following behind him.
Shriek! Roar!
The nine aberrations roared with anger. They didn't think too much and immediately pounced toward the delicate-looking female human.
Tyrannical Aura Equipment!
Aris roared in rage.
The wind moved!
Tyrannical aura as thick as oil radiated from her, causing a huge storm that enveloped her within, acting as an indestructible armor.
Tyrant Rush Punch!
Aris's body shot out like a fired arrow. Tyrannical aura gushed forth from her fists, and they were akin to hammers slamming out with the intent to crush everything.
The nine aberrations were hit one after another, and all of them fell back in retreat.
Bang, bang, bang!
The giant metal cudgel was like a gigantic pillar crushing three of the heads of the messenger-type aberrations.
Aris didn't hesitate. She was like a ferocious tiger lunging over, punching out in all directions and causing those aberrations to scream in misery.
These aberrations were born with sharp fangs and huge claws. But their attacks did no damage to Aris's tyrannical aura equipment. Even their highly acidic saliva couldn't injure her. A savage aberration was akin to a weak and harmless lamb before Aris and could only be trampled on and bullied by her.
Feng Lin naturally wouldn't show mercy as well. His cudgel waved around as a powerful force blasted out.
Under the power of his cudgel, piles of mangled flesh could be seen everywhere.
The cooperation between the three of them was extremely smooth.
Yana gave the plan, Aris as the bait, and Feng Lin as the executor. Their combination was truly perfect.
The narrow valley became a natural pocket, trapping the nine aberrations within. They had no way to escape and were all killed off.
Feng Lin sliced the thumbs of the nine aberrations off and split the parts equally to the three of them. One soldier-type and two messenger-types for each person.
Just like this, each of them gained 12 points.
Earlier, Feng Lin killed four soldier-types. Currently, he already had a total of 52 points.
It had only been a short while, but the efficiency rate couldn't be considered low.
But what made him feel strange was that after the sisters had obtained their spoils, they actually took out a small knife and started to carve out a meat lump from a certain part of the bodies of the aberrations.
The two sisters didn't seem to care about their images at all. They directly consumed the lumps of meat as blood sprayed when they bit into it.
Staring at Feng Lin's puzzled gaze, Aris had a look of satisfaction."You don't know about this. The hypophysis of the aberrations is the organ responsible to collect the gene essence of other biological creatures. They naturally wouldn't be corroded by the acidic bodily fluids of the aberrations. This piece of meat is the only edible part of them. Not only are they tasty, but they also contained the genetic essence of the various biological creatures. It's a food item of great nutritional value!"
At the side, she laughed like she was pulling a prank on Feng Lin. A moment later, she tossed the lump of meat over. The meat reeked of an intense bloody smell, causing people to retch in disgust.
Feng Lin frowned but he stared at Aris's expression. It was like she was preparing to watch how he would reject this.
His spirit force scanned the meat and discovered that this hypophysis didn't have any other bizarre auras on it. He decisively swallowed it in a single gulp.
Contrary to his expectations, the smell of blood was almost non-existent when he placed the meat in his mouth. It actually tasted incredibly juicy and transformed into currents of warmth that flowed around his body, giving him a sense of comfort.
Great amount of nutrients flooded his body, allowing him to recover his physical strength rapidly.
Feng Lin activated 'transforming energy into qi' as he digested and refined the nutrients.
Genetic potential +58%, +58%, +58%...
Feng Lin couldn't help but be startled.
Aberrations were a plague-type biological weapon, yet this part of their flesh was actually so delicious.
He also understood the purpose of the monsters' hypophysis. They were packed with nutrients and could be an alternative to food. With these lumps of meat and clean water, they could stay on Asura Planet for extended periods of time; the problem of hunger and thirst was completely solved.
Feng Lin thought deeper into it.
This hypophysis was able to collect the gene essence of the various biological creatures. They had such a wondrous effect, and he wondered if he could do some research on them and produce genetic potions with a certain unique effect.
Genetic potions needed various rare ingredients in the universe. He supposed that this gene hypophysis could also qualify as a rare ingredient.
In any case, these thoughts were for the future. Right now, Feng Lin could only temporarily set these thoughts aside.
For the next half of the day, he cooperated with the greek sisters and re-enacted the earlier scene again and again, luring the aberrations out to ambush them. Gradually, their cooperation grew more seamless. One was the killer, one was the bait, one was the lure; it was a great success.
Even if the three of them split the spoils, they would obtain about 920 points.
Feng Lin's points reached 972 in total, almost reaching 1, 000 already.
They acted with extreme ruthlessness and decisiveness.
And at this moment, the mother nest also seemed to sense that something was wrong.
Countless tentacle monsters that resembled facehuggers rushed out like the tide, searching everywhere in the surroundings. There were also different-types of strange-looking aberrations that came out, frenziedly searching for unusual smells in the air.
Feng Lin's group hid inside a pit they had dug earlier, burying themselves deep within the earth, not revealing any trace of their smell or auras.
After all the aberrations in the mother nest exited, they would use this chance to enter and assassinate the queen.
However, before the mother nest was emptied out, those aberrations and facehuggers gradually returned into the dark cave, no longer revealing themselves.
The atmosphere of the dark cave reverted to its earlier stillness.
What was going on?
The three of them were puzzled.
Why did the commotion in the mother nest seem to have ceased completely?
Feng Lin glanced at the sky. He suddenly discovered the reason why as he pointed his finger over."Quickly look!"
In the sky, the giant star that was akin to a sun sank in the horizons, drowning this planet into darkness. The bitter chill started permeating the atmosphere as a bone-chilling coldness seeped into everything on the planet.
A cold wind gusted by.
Even the three of them couldn't help but shiver.
"Night on Asura Planet has arrived and the temperature will plunge to a negative 100 degrees soon. Those aberrations won't be able to resist the cold; they don't dare to venture outside or their blood would be frozen completely in their veins, " Yana spoke with a heavy expression.
Plans would never be able to catch up with changes in the actual situation!
Now, their plan to lure the aberrations out had failed. Therefore, they could only choose to endure this night and start again tomorrow.
Today, they just arrived at Asura Planet and had to entangle with those death criminals. All of those had wasted too much time.
The time was insufficient!
Yana had a look of reluctance on her face now that her plan had failed. She gritted her teeth but was helpless to do anything.
There was a limit to men's abilities. They couldn't contend against the changes provided by the heavens.
The bitter chill brought by the night permeated the atmosphere. The three of them could only leave here helplessly and try to search for a place to spend the night before trying again tomorrow.
At this moment, Feng Lin's footsteps suddenly halted. He turned toward the mother nest as his heart stirred. He spoke, "The aberrations aren't able to resist the bitter cold and would sink into hibernation. At this time, the defense on the mother nest is the weakest. Why don't we enter now and make things chaotic, assassinating the queen mother in a single blow?"
He offered an extremely bold suggestion. He wasn't willing to wait another moment longer.
If they could kill the queen earlier, they would have more time to collect more points. So why not?
"What? You want to use this chance to enter the cave?" Aris spoke in shock."Have you gone mad? This bitter chill is killing us, won't we be severely impacted? We can't even unleash 50% of our power in such conditions. Are you not courting death by entering the mother nest now?"
Upon facing her doubts, Feng Lin smiled."We are all cultivators, so our vitality stats are high enough to withstand the cold to some degree. These aberrations are not transcendent creatures; under the bitter cold, their vitality force will sink to their lowest point as they enter hibernation mode. Since this is the case, this timing is actually our greatest advantage. Although all the aberrations are now in the cave and we can't lure them out, this is in fact their weakest moment. We might as well enter the cave to kill the queen..."
Aris still wanted to rebut, but Feng Lin continued to speak. His voice was filled with resolve. It was clear he had already come to a decision in his heart.
"Plans will always remain plans. As to what we should do, we should react to changes in the circumstances and improvise accordingly. After all, if we don't enter the tiger's den, how can we steal the tiger's cub?"
| ← Ch. 224 | Ch. 226 → |