The four were concerned that the comics might contain memes, so they did not show the comics directly to the camera (although they also knew that real-world streaming servers had software installed to counteract the memetic effect).

Instead, Nina's finger released the laser laser, and the text was written, briefly summarizing the comic information.

The cover of the ninth part of the comic series "When the Stars Return to Place" is a coral reef in a dark blue ocean, on which lies a conch with several green seaweeds extending from it.

The comics are full-color, the paper is hard, the painting style is photorealistic, the colors are bright and layered, and it is very infectious and emotional, which is more like a work of art than children's and youth comics.

There is no information about the publication date, author, script, painting, etc., and only the words "Home Press" are printed on the back of the book.

As for the content...

At the beginning of the comic (9), it is a red high-horsepower unlicensed convertible driving on a wilderness road, and in the driver's seat of the car sits a pink-skinned humanoid creature with no hair, nose, eyebrows, an old face, a resolute and indifferent expression, and a muscular body.

Dressed in a trench coat and hat, with a cigar in his mouth, a silver cross necklace on his chest and a revolver around his waist.

Sometimes he quotes scriptures and tells some mystical fables and philosophies of life, and he may be a priest.

And in the back seat of the car, sitting... Clownfish.

Orange-yellow skin, body surrounded by white markings, also like a human with erect feet, looking relatively immature,

Judging by the way the two sides are talking, the clownfish may be the adopted son (or daughter) of the pink-skinned priest. The clownfish is hermaphroditic, it does not show its characteristics when it is young, the male can become a female, and the female cannot become a male.

The two "people" seem to have experienced something before this, and neither of them is in a very good mood.

In an awkward conversation, the two sides sailed through the wilderness, and the clownfish finally mustered up the courage to suggest to the priest that they should find a place, such as the anemone jungle, to live there instead of going on.

The priest was silent for a long time, saying that when the dust settled, he would help the clownfish realize this ideal.

After some distance, the vehicle finally came to a tall metal fortress.

The gate of the fortress is closed, the wall is more than ten meters high is full of machine gun turrets, and there are barbed wire and trenches outside the gate, I don't know what to guard against.

The clownfish was a little frightened and asked if this was really the residence of the pastor's old friend.

The priest nodded, turned off the car, and walked to the metal fortress with his hands raised, shouting that he had come for friendship.

In the middle of the fortress, a cannon is raised, and a large LCD screen is mounted above the cannon.

The cannon was loaded, and the head of a human woman appeared on the LCD screen, saying to the priest with a blank face that his friend was dead and that the fortress was now under her control.

This is where the plot of the comic comes to an abrupt end.

"Overall, the comic book style is realistic and exquisite, and the use of color is skillful, which can be called a work of art."

Nina concluded: "This may be a road movie-style literary work, where the protagonist takes a journey as the background, goes through various events, completes life experience, transforms his mind, and realizes his life goals and self-worth."

For example, "Journey to the West", "The Last of Us 1", "Crazy Flowers of the End", "American Gods" and so on.

However, due to the lack of plot before and after, the names of the characters are unknown, and the details of the story are unknown.

The player we defeated earlier was attacked during the powder change. And from the body of the security guard who came to attack, he got this comic.

If you can get a few more comics, maybe you can complete the plot of the comics, and then deduce the backstory of the lost world, so as to better survive. ”

"That's right."

Eva nodded on the side and said, "Personally, I think that maybe this comic has a very special meaning for the security guards, so that they have to hide the new comic inside their bodies."

When we are more numerous and accumulate more strength, we will take the initiative to disassemble the belt, induce the security guards to attack, and get more comics,

Even stalking the security guards to their lair, looking for..."

As he spoke, the observer in the sky suddenly disappeared.

Eva's speech slowed down at any time, and slowly added the second half of the sentence, "... Possible printing equipment – this comic is so new. ”

"The detector is gone."

Pei Youzhen frowned slightly, and sighed, "It is estimated that the observation time has arrived, or a battle has broken out in other places." ”

"But we've got the information on it, and as for how the outside world analyzes it, it's their business."

Qin lifted her feet up with a big grin, put it on the bench opposite the bamboo basket, and said lazily: "By the way, Eva, you turn on the ventilation system of the [Swaying Camping Bamboo Basket] a little stronger, it's almost time for dinner."

I've got burgers, pizza, ice cola, and a lot of international dishes in my storage gear, what do you want to eat? ”

"Are you here to fight or to camp?"

The corner of Eva's eyes twitched, and she reprimanded: "Although the [Swaying Camping Bamboo Basket] can shield the smell, the stronger the ventilation system is opened, the greater the consumption of my spiritual power.

Eat some high-energy drinks and food, and you can bear it. ”

"Don't!"

Jean screamed, "Those drinks and food are so unpalatable, like a cross between slime and snot and slug, and there are hard energy blocks like peanuts in them, and every time I eat them, I feel like I'm going to lose ten years of life."

Do you want me to die early, and then become a team leader and dominate my talent? ”

"Snort."

Eva sneered: "Just the brain of a cheerleading girl like you, I buy a rose, put some poison in the flower, and then lie to you that this is a gift from your admirer,

You'll all be grinning and taking a big sip of it, and then show off the flowers in front of us. ”

Jean looked shocked and said, "What?!" You actually poisoned me!? ”

"Nope! I'm just saying this assumption..."

"You really want to poison me!"

Qin looked wary and said firmly: "I knew I couldn't trust you!" ”

“... Alas, there is really no possibility of communication with a brain like yours. ”

Eva let out a long sigh and rubbed her brow.

Nina was smiling at all of this, but suddenly, the tablet on her lap vibrated and a red light lit up around the screen.

The four girls instantly calmed down from their playful state, and Nina's fingers pressed wildly on the tablet and whispered a location, "Three o'clock direction, 2.5 kilometers." One drone was destroyed. ”

"2.5 km,"

Eva's eyes flickered, "This is almost the limit of the reconnaissance aircraft...

How it was destroyed, can you know? ”

"Hmm."

Nina nodded, "Before the drone was destroyed, the last video was transmitted back. ”

The other three girls approached and looked at the tablet, which already showed the view of the night vision device on the screen—

The drone flies smoothly along the passage, and the scanning device under the fuselage, scanning back and forth over the wide passage, surveying the terrain and detecting enemy tracks.

Suddenly, as if the drone had detected something, it violently rotated the camera.

On the far wall of the dim passage, a flying creature with wings on its back was seen.

The creature crouched on its stomach above the ladder, its back covered with a sturdy carapace of chitin and metal, covered with spines and chimneys.

Beneath the wings, with a wingspan of nearly three meters, there are parasitic groups of tentacle-shaped objects, like missiles on armed aircraft.

The creature's mouth is wide open, sticking out its tongue like a hollow pipe,

In the middle of the tongue, a nail shoots out silently.

The spike pierced through the air, instantly spanning a distance of nearly a kilometer, and hit the drone - the latter did not even have time to turn on the defensive cannon.

The picture came to an abrupt end.

“...”

Eva looked at the hideous, ferocious, completely unearthly creature on the screen, and muttered, "What the hell is this..."

————

The Lost World, 47 floors.

"What's wrong?"

Liu Wuxian, who was riding on a hoverbike and wearing a fully enclosed protective suit, turned his head sideways and looked at Li Ang, who was riding on a fear war horse next to him and suddenly turned back.

The Dreaded War Horse is no different in size from a normal horse, except that its coat is pitch black, its eyes are red, its nostrils are sprayed with a sulfur-smelling gas, and the place where it is trampled on all four feet will burn a dark blue flame with no temperature for 30 seconds, and will not burn objects.

In terms of action speed, the limit movement speed of the Dreaded War Horse is comparable to that of a sports car, and its adaptability to the terrain is far better than that of conventional vehicles.

It's just that there are no stirrups and saddles - the fear of war horses is extremely disgusted with these two things, so the riding experience of low-level players is not good,

Weaker players may even be viscerally injured by the bumpy ride.

However, with Leon's current physical fitness, subduing the fear horse is like playing, and the latter seems to know this, and after Leon feeds him a carrot, he obediently drives him through the tectonic city.

"Nothing."

Leon turned his head and smiled.

It's been hours since he released the hive, which has drained the biomass from the 46-story landfill and begun to expand upstairs and downstairs in search of more biomass sources.

Some of the newly produced Scout Bugs have also flown between the 50th and 40th floors, exploring the terrain and searching for enemies.

In the process, it is inevitable to encounter machine beasts and other players.

Mecha beasts have an extremely strong urge to kill flesh creatures, but the newly produced Scout Bug is covered with several layers of translucent thin films, which can attenuate some of the heat radiation.

The chimney-shaped organs, which are responsible for absorbing oxygen and dissipating heat, also have specialized components built into them to mask the smell of living things emitted when you breathe.

Avoid being detected early by the machine beast and attract attacks.

Players, Scouts, do not actively attack players they encounter, but instead keep a certain distance and hide themselves while constantly observing each other.

And the observation results are fed back to the brain worms in the hive.

If the player is alert, the Scout Bug will quickly fly away, and if necessary, it will even burn itself, giving the player no chance to capture the creature sample.

Now the hive is not strong enough, and it still takes time to convert the biomass into enough troops.

When the hive is expanded, the brain worm will change its strategy.

For example, let the Scout Soldier Insect release its body restrictions, emit heat radiation and the smell of living creatures everywhere, attracting the surrounding machine beasts to attack the player, and then observe more player data.

Or send troops directly to attack and even capture and kill hostile players...

Boom –

There was a dull sound from the ceiling, and the entire tectonic city trembled and shook, and the dome of the sky kept shaking off dust.

It made the Dreaded Horse sneeze and sniffle a little unpleasantly, exhaling more sulfur-smelling gas.

Liu Wuxian immediately glanced at his watch, "Six hours, 3.212 seconds... The second shock. ”

"The last time we shook was three hours after we teleported into the lost world, right?"

Li Ang frowned and said, "It's going to shake here every three hours?" Is this some kind of signal, or is it a hint of time? ”

In ordinary decryption script tasks, hints for time are often extremely important.

For example, every once in a while, the monsters in the mission will be strengthened, and if you don't hurry up, you will inevitably be overwhelmed by monsters;

Or if you don't find a clue within the specified time and rush to the corresponding location, you will be punished with hidden penalties - losing a piece of equipment that could have been obtained, etc.

"Not sure."

Liu Wuxian shook his head, looked at the dome, and said softly: "The first sound sounded around three hours and 3.417 seconds.

The second time was six hours and 3.212 seconds.

The interval is not three hours. ”

Li Ang raised his eyebrows, "Do you think this time difference has some special meaning?" ”

"It's possible."

Liu Wuxian nodded and glanced left and right, "But the structure of the buildings here is peculiar and the material is special.

It is difficult to judge how close a sound is from us based on how fast it travels through building materials.

Maybe it's just a change in my position that caused the time difference. ”

"Hmm."

Leon nodded slowly, he was also quite concerned about this sound, but the structure of the Lost World was very complex, and the location of the passages between the layers was not fixed, so he had to find it by himself.

So even the highest Scout Bug is only on the 50th floor now.

"Here we are."

Liu Wuxian took a deep breath and stopped the hovering motorcycle, and Li Ang also got off the fear war horse, threw a carrot into the horse's mouth, and ended the summoning skill.

In front of the two men was a thick, unimaginably tall metal wall that ran from the ground to the ceiling.

There are no traces of metal plates on the entire wall, and there are no rivets or other parts to hold them in place.

Only in the middle of the wall protrudes in the direction of the tectonic city, forming a large pipe-like silhouette.

In the contours of the pipes, thousands of miniature metal conduits extend across the entire wall like creepers, extending all the way to the gaps in the walls on both sides and disappearing.

“...”

Liu Wuxian was silent, took out a palm-sized instrument from the backpack bar, pointed it at the wall and pressed the button,

Liang Jiu turned his head and said to Li Ang: "The material of this wall is completely different from other building materials, and the specific thickness cannot be measured.

This should be the edge of the lost world. ”

Leon nodded, reached out and broke the miniature catheter, but it didn't move.

With a frown, he took out the Overlord Railing Lance and exerted more force to cut off a tiny catheter.

Poof-

The metal catheter drooped down like a severed snake, dripping brownish-yellow amber fluid from the catheter.

"It's... Petroleum? ”

Liu Wuxian frowned, did not touch the amber liquid, but took out an observation instrument composed of an array of eyepieces from the backpack bar, and made observations with the help of the instrument, "No, this is not oil,

But it also contains high-quality energy.

I need to collect samples..."

"Don't worry, we've got a guest coming."

Leon turned around and looked behind him—a large number of humanoid puppets slowly crawled out of the cantilevered ladders and ruptured pipes at the edge of the tectonic city.