To the north of the province of the River Valley, the city of origin of the Great Rift Valley.

In the spacious conference room, in front of the empty conference table, an old man with gray temples and a dignified face was sitting.

He was the chief of the Rift Valley and the last member of the Post-War Reconstruction Commission.

No one knows how old he is, not even himself. Distant memories of the old times have long been left by him in the long past.

Looking intently at the south, a hint of surprise gradually appeared on the old man's face.

After a moment, he lowered his eyebrows and muttered to himself in disbelief in his eyes.

“…… Did it really be? ”

……

It wasn't just the chief of the Great Rift Valley who was shocked.

Yang Kai, a researcher sent by the academy to the alliance, also had a surprised expression on his face at this moment.

The spore cloud that shrouded the sky over Qingquan City is slowly collapsing!

They have been observing the brood for two centuries, and this is a miracle that has not happened in two centuries!

And that's not all.

Through the analysis of pheromones in the spore cloud, he could clearly hear the brood's wail of pain.

“…… How did they do it? ”

Is it some kind of specially created virus?

Or was there some kind of creature that could restrain mutant slime molds......

But that guy's gene pool contains more genetic information than almost all living beings on the earth combined, and he has almost become a god in ancient religions!

They don't even have a full grasp of that guy's gene pool, so where are they going to find a creature that can restrain him?

Yang Kai muttered to himself, his face full of disbelief and confusion, puzzled.

He couldn't figure it out.

How did this force of survivors, who had been born for less than two years, do it, a stubborn disease that even the post-war reconstruction committee could not eradicate?

……

The spores that have accumulated in Qingquan City are boiling, like a pot of boiling water.

It's not just the brood in the city center that roars, but also young Thea.

It felt the pain of the mother.

A terrible force has invaded His body and is devouring Him bit by bit!

In addition to her anger, Thea couldn't help but feel a trace of trepidation.

What exactly is that?

Even its mother can't deal with it!

The spores floating beside it rippled in circles of rage.

The gray-green smoke spread like a rushing torrent along the street centered on the edge of the North Second Ring Road, enveloping all the fruiting bodies and evolutions.

A silent cry echoed in the consciousness of each subentity.

"Kill them!"

"Tear them all apart!"

Resonated with the fury of the man, and both the nibbler and the creeper let out a hoarse and mournful roar, like an echo of the scream.

"Roar ——!!"

On the defensive line, which was less than a kilometer away from the giant wall, looking at the increasingly ferocious wave of the offensive, the soldiers of the punishment battalion couldn't help but write a trace of panic on their faces.

Within an hour of the gunfire, the 5,000 men had lost half of their number.

The two hundred-man teams were brutally defeated!

They saw with their own eyes that the brothers on the same front were overwhelmed by a crowd of corpse gnawers.

In just a few breaths, the guy's countless claws tore into shredded flesh, and the whole person could not find a single intact bone.

The fruiting bodies were like demons.

And now they're even more frenzied, rushing at them desperately!

At the end of the day, they've only had three months of military training, and they're not able to die and die like the players.

Some of the soldiers couldn't help the fear in their hearts and couldn't help but move backwards.

As if to see the fluctuation in morale, the roar of the Warlords came from behind them.

"Hold your ground! No retreat! ”

At the same time, the two machine guns in the rear also sprayed fierce firepower, accompanied by the sudden strafing sound, and tracer light was scattered in front of everyone like a raindrop.

Bit gritted his teeth, grabbed the rifle in his hand, shouted and led the charge forward, and after killing several of the gnawers who had knocked down the machine gunners in the front line, he pulled away the mutilated corpse and squatted himself into the machine gun bunker.

He knows it well.

If they take a step back, not only will the rain of bullets fall in front of them, but also the artillery fire from behind them will fall on their heads.

To go back is to die.

But if you hold on, you might be able to live!

"Ahhh

Bit grabbed the trigger and roared at the predators who rushed towards him, squeezing the trigger.

At that moment, the sound of banging cannons was heard on the other side of the street.

That voice was all too familiar to him, it was the 37mm gun of the Alliance!

As if to confirm his suspicions, armored vehicles entered the battlefield from the side, overturning large swaths of xenomorphs with their wide noses and steel crash nets.

The 37mm cannons on top of the armored vehicles opened fire, and the trail light as thick as a python opened a web of death in the shattered streets.

I saw that the middle section of the wave burst into a string of black blood mist, and the roaring and charging fruiting body instantly fell like cutting wheat, and many of the gnawers were even more miserable and their bodies were blown away in half.

The pressure on the originally precarious defense line was instantly reduced by half, and the morale of the punishment camp returned from the bottom to the halfway up the mountain.

Seeing the armored vehicles and the black skull badges, many people let out a cry of joy, and some even whistled.

"It's the Skeleton Corps!"

"Reinforcements! Our reinforcements! ”

"They didn't give up on us!"

It's not just the Skeletons!

And the militia regiments of Boulder City!

The militiamen wearing exoskeletons, led by power armor, followed the pace of the armored vehicles and launched a counteroffensive against the surging tide.

The artillery projected from the walls and the bullets fired from the Punishment Battalion had annihilated a sufficient number of fruiting bodies, and some of the well-fed nibbles tried to bring nutrients back to the hatchery as a resource for the rioters.

The alliance certainly wouldn't let these guys get their way, and they weren't going to give that Thea any respite.

Taking advantage of the weakening of the tide, the skeleton corps, which had been waiting for a long time on the side, immediately launched a counteroffensive with the militia regiment of Boulder City.

Looking at the roar of guns in the street, Bit's pupils couldn't help but dilate, and then revealed a hint of unbelievable ecstasy.

And the same was true of the soldiers behind him.

A few months ago, they hated the tanks and armored vehicles of the Alliance, after all, it was these guys who blocked the slums under the huge walls and killed them without martial virtues.

Especially after being assigned to the punishment camp, almost everyone desperately thought that they were going to die, and the alliance would definitely use them as cannon fodder until they died.

However, what they didn't expect was that the alliance did not do this, but fulfilled the agreement with them - after they fulfilled the mission of cannon fodder and supported the attack of the wave, the alliance and the militia group took over the task of attacking.

Only when we are lost and regained can we know the preciousness of life.

At this moment, they were grateful for the rest of their lives, and they wanted to kneel on their knees.

Even the most vicious prisoners offered heartfelt praise.

"Praise the Union! Praise to the great managers! ”

Escorting the militia's infantry to the vicinity of the hatchery, and after tackling dozens of tricky evolutions, the Skeleton Corps left only a hundred awakened ones to help, while the rest of the players followed the armored forces along the main road to the Death Corps on the edge of the North Second Ring Road.

According to information from the front line from the Human Flesh Radio, the Death Corps crashed into the remnants of the former 111th Orbital Airborne Division, which had been eroded by slime molds.

Among them are not only dozens of Rotten Knights, but also a six-story Titan!

Sticking out of the roof of the armored car, the mole picked up a horn and shouted loudly.

"Full speed ahead!"

"Our fringe dude bumped into the Titans! You can't let that guy eat alone! ”

A loud roar echoed through the communication channel.

"Whoa!"

With the start of the counteroffensive, the situation in the war zone near Boulder City has been reversed.

The hatching chambers scattered along the path of the wave are equivalent to the "barracks" of slime molds, and once the rioters are dismantled, the corpses all over the ground can only be used as raw materials for refining nutritional paste.

The fighting on the Western Front has basically come to an end, and the fighting on the Northern Front is still going on at the moment.

Especially the 06th section of the defensive line.

A total of 10 positions in the front, middle and rear sections were completely submerged in the fierce offensive of the wave.

The Burning Corps in the center of the airborne city seemed to have stabbed the defense nest, and that Thea seemed to be crazy, desperately attacking the Alliance's position.

The Alliance, on the other hand, showed no signs of weakness, as the planes of the Goblin Corps whined and circled among the dilapidated high-rise buildings, occasionally raining down death on the ground.

The artillery in the rear also fired non-stop, dropping shells into positions that had already been filled with fruiting bodies.

Although the positions were almost submerged in an endless wave, no matter how much Thea urged her sub-entities to attack, they were never able to completely occupy those battlefields.

The gunfire of resistance never stopped for a moment, and even if more than half of the casualties were taken, the players did not take a step back, but continued to push forward.

Encouraged by the Vault residents, the NPCs of the Alliance also burst into an astonishing battle spirit and rushed towards the position one after another.

The situation has entered a stalemate.

Every street seemed to be turned into a meat grinder, and each side used every means imaginable by each other, fighting for every inch of the last line of defense.

And at this moment, a scene happened that everyone didn't expect.

The slime fruiting bodies that had been rushing to the position like a tidal wave suddenly retreated!

Whether it's a nibter who makes up the numbers as cannon fodder, or a rotten knight wielding a big weapon.

Like the waters of the ebbing tide, they turned around and hurried away the way they came.

Standing on Position 4 in the middle of the defense zone, the panting Kakarot changed the magazine of the rifle in his hand and hurriedly glanced at the street outside the window of the building.

When he saw the gnawers who turned around and retreated, a touch of surprise suddenly appeared on his face.

"What's the situation?"

The tide actually retreated?!

When the wave came last year, they fought for several days to push it all the way to the mother body that kept laying cubs, killing it before the wave could end.

He's killing cool.

Why did these fruiting entities start running back?

Kevin, who was standing on the side, had the same twisted leg, with the same expression as the sun hit the west.

"That Thea coaxed?"

Looking at the slime fruiting bodies that kept withdrawing from the building, Kakarot shook his head with a subtle expression.

At this time, the voice of the old brother of the spring water came from the communication channel.

“…… Brother Mosquito saw that the slime fruiting body was returning to the North Second Ring Road, and I guess it was the brethren of the Burning Corps...... It's unbelievable that they really succeeded?. ”

As he said this, the voice of the spring commander couldn't help but carry a hint of emotion.

To be honest, although he agreed with Elder Brother Fang's "bodyguard plan", he had doubts about that guy's plan to surprise attack the city center.

Maybe he doesn't understand the game well enough.

In his opinion, a game that is still in closed beta, there is no reason for the dog planner to let them brush the big boss in the city center.

Is this appropriate without a lock blood hanging?

As a result, I didn't expect the dog to be so generous, and it was really just like what he said when he painted the cake, and everything was possible.

If that Thea is killed again, I'm afraid the tide will be a thing of the past from now on.

At least that's the case in Qingquan City.

"What are we going to do now?" Kakarot reached out and tapped his helmet and asked in the communication channel.

After only a moment of thought, the spring water said without hesitation.

"Catch up!"

Kevin, who had a broken leg on the side, was stunned.

"Catch up? Right now? ”

"That's right!" Quan Shui said without hesitation, "Now is the best chance, the Death Corps has reached the edge of the North Second Ring Road, and the Skeleton Corps is also advancing towards the North Second Ring Road, as long as we hold back the retreat of those little guys, we can serve their old and small pots!" ”

"Hey, I like it!"

Kakarot grinned, loaded his rifle, cut to the team's voice, and shouted at the top of his voice.

"Brothers! The tide is retreating, and the time has come for a counteroffensive! ”

"It's time to change our BGM!"

As if to cooperate with his call to attack, the radio that had been broadcasting noise suddenly blew the familiar melody - the trumpet of the charge!

When the loud melody passed through the battlefield filled with gunpowder, the players who had almost exhausted their physical strength instantly burst into an amazing morale as if their blood was awakened!

The earth-shattering roar even dispersed the gray fog that had piled up on the streets.

Each player rushed towards the retreating slime fungus as if they had been beaten with chicken blood.

"Kill, !!"

"Whoa!!"

The soldiers of the 1st Corps standing on the ground were dumbfounded, staring at the red-eyed Vault dwellers who were chasing after the slime fruiting bodies.

Li Shudong swallowed, his eyes full of surprise and shock, and then gradually replaced by boundless respect.

They are all true warriors!

I am not afraid of death, nor I know what weariness is!

Encouraged by the monstrous battle intent, he felt the blood in his chest boil too, and couldn't help but shout out the cry that he didn't know what it meant.

"Kill, !!"

……

As the Storm Corps and the First Corps began to pursue, the counteroffensive campaign in the northern suburbs of Qingquan City also began completely.

While Thea was struggling to cope with the pressure from both directions at the same time, trying her best to mobilize the fruiting body to return to defense, the devouring of the brood by Luo Yu and Xiao Yu gradually came to an end.

The weakened consciousness had ceased to cry out, but had fallen into a dark abyss with vicious cursing.

Luo Yu felt his consciousness merging into his body, flowing down his veins and throughout his body.

Gradually, he could feel not only his body, but also the part outside of his body.

The billions of spores floating in the air are like his tentacles.

Through the floating neurons, he could vaguely perceive each fruiting entity.

They are all His children.

Including Thea.

And that blanket of fungus crawling all over the walls.

He could clearly see that Thea, the child he loved most in his life, was looking up at him with fear.

It's as if he's a terrible monster.

At this moment, a word that he had only seen in Zhong suddenly came to his mind.

"Is this ...... Snatching? ”

This seems to be the most appropriate description.

And realizing this, Luo Yu quickly fell into ecstasy.

Ignoring Thea, who was terrifying him, he tried to concentrate all his spirits and merge his consciousness into the vast sea of consciousness.

At this moment, a bright white light suddenly broke into his consciousness.

With a loud bang, he felt as if his body had been sucked away, forcibly pulling closer into the vast darkness.

Suddenly lost the perception of the body, Luo Yu couldn't help but panic in his heart, and thought that he was pretending to be too forced and was attacked by the brood.

Fortunately, at this moment, a light murmur wafted into his ears, which immediately calmed his restless mood.

"Hmmm!" (Don't be afraid, I'm here too!) ）

Luo Yu took a deep breath and looked at the bright white light floating next to his consciousness.

"Xiao Yu?"

"Hmmm!" (Yes!) ）

"Where am I?"

"Hmmm." (This is His memory.) ）

"His Memory ......"

Repeating these words, Luo Yu suddenly realized that they had devoured not only his body, but also his memories.

Thinking of this, Luo Yu couldn't help but have a little curiosity, wanting to see what was hidden in the memory of this brood.

At this moment, tiny dots of light suddenly appeared in the darkness around him, and then the boundless darkness turned into a vast starry sky.

Floating in the colorful starlight, Luo Yu's eyes couldn't help but widen, although he was only an abstract consciousness here, and had no real eyes.

Gradually, a bright star emerged from the starry sky.

And next to that star, there hangs a beautiful planet.

It's like a finely crafted work of art.

The earth is dusk red, and the sea is vibrant green.

Rainforests stretch across the world, where thriving species recuperate.

And that's not all.

The endless rainforest is not made up of trees, but giant mushrooms.

The "animals" that are active on the planet are also fundamentally different from the animals on the earth.

They are born from the soil under their feet, return to dust when they die, and then begin a new cycle of reincarnation.

Everything feeds on His hair, and instead of fighting each other, they can play all day long.

There is no such thing as a food chain here, just a near-perfect ring.

In a sense, whether it runs on the ground, flies in the sky, or grows in the soil.

Everything on this planet is His fruiting entity, and over the course of time they have finally achieved eternal harmony.

All things are nurtured by Him, and all things are nurtured by Him.

Looking at that beautiful planet, Luo Yu couldn't help but be a little fascinated for a while, mainly because he had never seen it.

Is this the "hive"?

Seem......

It's not as scary as you think?

"Who is he?"

A distant voice came from the depths of his sea of knowledge.

"He has no name."

"When you come, call him Gaia."

(End of chapter)