manynovel Chapter 54 Innate Collection of Sacred Body
Chapter 54 Innate Collection of Sacred Body
The corridor was deep and narrow, but thankfully it was quite spacious and not too cramped.
Uncle D3 turned on the multi-functional light clipped to his left shoulder; the light was gentle, but the illumination range was wide.
Excessively strong light can easily cause some light-sensitive creatures to suddenly awaken. This shows that Blue Shield has invested a considerable amount of money in equipment.
The walls on both sides of the corridor are covered with scorch marks and countless bullet holes, making it easy to imagine how fierce the battles must have been here.
In addition, Zit also noticed patches of dark green that were unevenly distributed and irregularly shaped.
"Bryozoans are not harmless organisms that hibernate; do not touch them with your hands, or they will run away."
Qin Yun whispered, "The moss lives on the surface of a mutated insect that resembles a maggot, robbing the insect of its nutrients and also providing camouflage and protection for the insect."
As they walked, Qi Te asked, "Harmless, does that mean it won't attack unprovoked?"
"You've hit the nail on the head," Qin Yun said with a smile of appreciation. "In border areas, the concept of 'harmless' doesn't just depend on whether or not there will be an active attack, but also includes the pollution level."
"Bryozoans are one of the few boundary organisms whose pollution index is within the safe range."
Qi Te nodded in realization. After leaving Haicheng, the journey took nearly three hours, and his mindset had changed very quickly. He felt no fear towards the creatures in the wild, whether they were ugly or strangely beautiful, only a strong thirst for knowledge.
But it was only at this moment, after hearing his senior's words, that he realized he hadn't switched his mindset.
The ingrained mindset developed in the city does not apply to border areas.
As they spoke, the three of them successfully entered the subway station.
Senior student Qin Yun took out a camera-like detector from his equipment bag, set up a tripod, and turned it on.
The results showed that within a range of one kilometer to the left and right, the index fluctuated normally, with a danger level of E.
Along the way, G4 explained the danger levels of the border area in great detail to all the students.
Grade F is the safest, but its harvesting value is low because there are very few dormant animals in the vicinity. Most of the mutated plants have already been harvested many times.
Of course, since he was already there, Liu Baichuan would routinely collect new samples every year.
Level D indicates the presence of an anomalous creature of the same level nearby. Slightly different from the ranking system for ability users, anomalous creatures, due to their bestial nature and predatory instincts, are often stronger in combat than ability users of the same level.
For students with no combat experience, even if they encounter an abnormal creature one level below them, if it is a carnivorous creature that is in a state of hunger, their chance of survival is only fifty-fifty.
This ratio doesn't mean an individual has a 50% chance of winning; it depends on the ability sequence.
Elemental sequences have a very high potential, and when used properly, their power is quite terrifying. For example, the fire elemental that caused countless vehicles to explode in the first playthrough of the Merlin Tunnel, and the earth elemental uncle who caused the subway to derail. However, the downside is that before reaching C-rank, their power is insufficient and their endurance is extremely poor.
The same problem exists with mental sequences. Although animals are less intelligent than humans and are more easily manipulated, what about plants?
It's important to know that the mutated plants in the border area are no pushovers either. Plants like the Queen Vine are so fearsome that even ferocious beasts tremble at their mere mention.
In comparison, the most common and ordinary physical attributes have an advantage in border areas. Strength and defense types are tough and durable. Speed types are fast, and self-healing types have long health bars.
If the danger level breaks through to level C, it will be a disaster for humanity. Of course, this situation rarely occurs during the winter break.
Areas of Grade B and above have a special name: Forbidden Lands. They are the most dangerous areas in the borderlands, bar none. Even Grade A ability users would find it difficult to escape unscathed if they accidentally entered.
As for the reason, G4 said they didn't know, only that the company had taken on security work for forbidden areas a few years ago. As a result, both of Blue Shield's A-level captains and the 100-strong special forces regiment perished.
That's another story. After confirming that the values inside the subway station were within normal range, Qi Te began his first data collection operation.
...............................
The subway station was very empty, with the walls covered with climbing plants and patches of moss.
The ground was a dark bluish-black expanse, the traces of the once mountain of corpses had been worn away by the strange creatures that came and went over the past hundred years.
However, remnants of worn-out leather shoes, metal belt buckles, plastic buttons, and countless empty cans can still be found on the tracks and in the gaps.
Clearly, when the disaster struck, humans had settled here and survived a difficult period by surviving on those canned foods. Whether they all ultimately perished or whether any survivors were rescued and made their way to the bunker survival base remains unknown.
Qin Yun held the instrument and moved slowly along the wall, but Qi Te didn't need any equipment at all. For him, even in complete darkness, he could still capture the tracks of animals, including insects.
He walked to a spot ten meters to Qin Yun's right, took a deep breath, and parted the slightly yellowed leaves.
But then, amidst the thicket of thorns, covered in sharp spikes and intertwined, lay a jet-black, oval-shaped creature, its head, no bigger than a thumb, retracted, in a state of hibernation.
An hour later, Qin Yun looked at the five mutated insects of various shapes inside the S-shaped collection tube and nodded with increasing appreciation, saying, "Very good!"
"It's even more complete than my first collection. Professor Liu was right, you're a natural-born researcher."
Qi Te, flattered by the praise, silently clenched his toes and quickly changed the subject: "Senior, it's still early, we can try to go a little deeper."
Qin Yun took out his phone, glanced at it, and after thinking for two seconds, agreed to the suggestion.
The three of them walked along the empty and filthy platform to the left.
As they walked, Qi Te suddenly stopped and called out softly.
"Uncle D, senior"
Qin Yun: "What's wrong?"
"About 200 meters ahead of the track, there is a huge cocoon, and the creature inside the cocoon has a strange shape."
D3's eyes lit up instantly, while Qin Yun looked at Qi Te with a surprised expression: "You're not...?"
Although they were two years apart, they were both core members of Liu Baichuan's research group and had interacted frequently in the lab. He knew, of course, that this junior was a Muggle without any superpowers.
But this wasn't the time to investigate why the other party was hiding their abilities, so Qin Yun quickly changed his mind and said, "Describe it."
"With its claws up and head down, it hangs upside down, resembling a bat. But judging from its size, it is more like some kind of giant moth."
Qi Te stared intently into the dark, deep depths of the orbit, controlling his voice as he said, "The wings are folded, and there seem to be patterns on them, but they're too far away to see clearly."
"My visual perception ability is similar to infrared thermal imaging. In addition, I can also detect various signs of life in living organisms."
Qin Yun understood instantly: "You can capture the pattern, which means that the pattern has thermal energy, or it is some kind of organ."
"That's right." Qi Te nodded, then looked at D3.
The dwarf uncle had already taken out his instrument and accessed the anomalous creature encyclopedia, which was only accessible to Blue Shield personnel, and quickly found content that matched Zit's description.
"Four-winged bat butterfly, danger level C, maximum wingspan of 2.3 meters when it grows up... It begins to spin its cocoon in late autumn and enters a complete dormant state after winter."
Qin Yun's spirits lifted; the higher the danger level of the anomalous creature, the more difficult it was to collect samples. Having participated in three collections, he had only managed to collect samples from three types of Class C anomalous creatures.
However, Qin Yun quickly calmed down: "Although it's rare, collecting biological samples from bats requires inserting an extractor into the cocoon, which is too dangerous!"
According to available information, bats are deep hibernation creatures with three hearts. Most importantly, their cocoons are connected to silk sacs on their wings, which awaken them when they sense danger.
Despite its cute name, this creature is a typical carnivore. Having hibernated for some time, once awakened, the hungry bat-butterfly is extremely aggressive.
"Senior, I want to give it a try."
Qi Te pointed to his eyes, and Qin Yun immediately understood what he meant.
His extraordinary visual abilities are practically divine gifts bestowed upon him by nature.
D3 patted the barrel of the gun, giving off an "I'm fine with anything, you can do whatever you want" look.
Qin Yun stayed behind so that if something unexpected happened, someone could send a distress signal to the control center.
Qi Te and the uncle maintained a safe pace and walked forward.
As they approached their destination, Chit gestured to the uncle to turn off the lights. Although the information did not specify the four-winged bat butterfly's sensitivity to light, it was better to turn off the lights just to be on the safe side.
In the pitch-black environment, it was as if Qi Te had X-ray vision; everything was crystal clear to him.
After carefully scanning the tracks and confirming there were no other unusual creatures, Qi Te cautiously jumped off the platform. He walked more than ten meters forward and arrived in front of the cocoon.
He had initially thought the cocoon was quite large, but upon reaching the root, he realized he had underestimated it.
The entire cocoon was over four meters long, and its widest point in the middle exceeded two meters. A spider silk-like contraption hung from the top, suspending the cocoon more than a meter above the ground.
The silk used to weave the cocoon is not the common white, but a deep purple.
Up close, a faint, deep purple glow could be seen flickering within the cocoon. And this adorable creature, currently in hibernation, was fast asleep with its eyes closed.
Qi Te clearly sensed the extremely faint heartbeat of the bat butterfly, its three hearts intertwined, at a frequency of about ten beats per minute.
He crouched down and pulled out a pre-prepared extraction device from his waist pouch. He precisely located a relatively large hole within the dense mesh.
Place the extractor below the hole and slowly extend the probe. Stop steadily less than 0.5 centimeters from the butterfly's head.
Qi Te took a shallow breath, adjusted the probe's direction, and pointed it toward the inner wall of the left cocoon.
The probe tip splits into three claw-like segments. Just before it reaches the inner wall, Zite gently presses the control button at the end of the extractor to operate the claws to grasp an egg.
Then, the probe was steadily pulled out.
Collection successful!