Wandering swamps, far to the far north.

The cold wind and snow are like thousands of shuttles, weaving the endless white into an endless Milky Way.

This is not only the northernmost part of the academy, but also the northernmost part of the entire Middle-earth continent, with perennial temperatures below minus 20 degrees Celsius, and even minus 100 degrees Celsius at the coldest time.

The extreme climate acts as a natural barrier, like the desert that surrounds the oasis of the province of Luoxia.

Only a few xenomorphs with thick hair and fat are able to move in this area.

However, in this bitter cold land frozen for thousands of miles, there is one of the most prosperous settlements on the swamp.

Its name is Ice Sea City.

As the name suggests, this settlement sits on the edge of a permafrost coast.

The hundred-meter-high settlement is entirely made of alloy, like a giant axe draped over an iceberg, and the metal walls emit a cold light in the wind and snow.

It is said that more than two centuries ago, it was the seed bank of the People's Federation, and it was not until a century and a half ago that it was transformed into a settlement inhabited by the first technicians who left the post-war reconstruction committee.

Later, the Science and Technology Committee was established, and it was placed under the management of the Science and Technology Committee.

However, although it is managed by the Science and Technology Commission, because of the special nature of this settlement, the people living here are not very difficult.

The howling wind and snow and the extreme cold are all blocked out by the walls of the settlement, except for the seed area embedded in the iceberg, which can feel the cold of tens of degrees below zero, and several other production areas and living areas can even be said to be like spring all year round.

Other than that, the people here don't work too hard.

The most common job is that of a gardener, and the "hardest" job required is nothing more than regular tending to some special crops grown in tropical climates in a hot, sweaty greenhouse, and spending most of his time looking at the screen of a monitor and drinking tea.

In addition to the most numerous and common gardeners, the most sought-after positions here are undoubtedly assistants and apprentices recruited by the Academy's official researchers.

Unlike the Academy's apprentices, apprenticeships in Ice City are just jobs, usually tied to a specific research project, and are primarily aimed at young survivors between the ages of 12 and 18 who have excelled in higher education.

Although the salary of this position is no different from that of a gardener, it is a great opportunity for a child who is preparing for the exam in December to get in touch with mentors and scientific research in advance.

As long as these boys and girls are a little smarter, and they are not stupid enough to offend their bosses, they will be taken care of to some extent.

After all, most of their bosses have also experienced that exam, understand their situation at the moment, and prepare for the exam that will determine their life while participating in the work.

Often, just a sentence or two can save these children years of detours.

And when they pass the assessment to become a real apprentice, a letter of recommendation or just a name on their work history can make it easier for them to get through the apprenticeship than children in other parts of the Science and Technology Committee, and even get the approval of a mentor to skip the rank of prospector and become an honorable researcher.

Even if he takes 10,000 steps back, has not been admitted to the academy for N years, and has to give up his position to others at the age of 18, this apprentice from Binghai City can usually get a good position in the settlement because of his scientific research experience, and even enter the management of the science and technology committee to start another life.

It is precisely because of the favorable conditions here that any researcher who has some energy and deep feelings for his family will find a way to stuff his family into this settlement.

The researchers who leave this settlement will take care of some of their hometowns and help the settlement within their means.

It is precisely for this reason that although the researchers of the academy are not directly involved in the management of the gathering place under the Science and Technology Committee, they still give the settlement of Binghai City a transcendent status, and even form a regional faction named after Binghai City within the students.

It's just that due to the relative indifference of people in the academy and the weak interpersonal relationships, the factions maintained by blood and geography are not as strong as the factions maintained by direct interests, so this faction is not very popular, and only has influence on some inconsequential issues.

For example, the special zone established by the alliance and the academy.

As far as the academy is concerned, this special zone can be built anywhere in the science and technology committee, and the core interests of most researchers are within the academy anyway.

As a result, this special zone landed in Ice Sea City.

It's been half a year since the Special Zone landed, and some of the shelter residents from the Alliance have indeed brought a lot of interesting new gadgets to the local area.

Both materially and spiritually, their optimism and bravery are something that the people here have not seen in a long time.

Of course.

These guys from afar don't bring all the joyful things they bring.

On the tarmac of the Ice Sea City dome, a long shuttle-shaped aircraft slowly landed and stopped.

A frozen hibernation pod was lifted down and placed on the snow.

Two elderly people, a man and a woman, stood at the entrance of the tarmac, wearing thick winter suits, snuggling up to each other, silently watching the coffin that sank into the snow.

The transparent mask was crawling with a layer of hoarfrost, and it was impossible to see the expressions on the faces of the two.

But from that silent atmosphere, the people around could feel the pervasive sadness.

A soldier in an exoskeleton stepped through the snow and walked up to the two old men, tapped his left arm twice with his index finger, unfolded a palm-sized holographic screen on the arm, and gently pushed it in front of the two old men.

"Condolences."

The woman who saw the photo on the holographic screen shook her body and seemed to faint.

Her husband, who was standing nearby, put his arm around her shoulder, looked at the soldier and said nothing, just nodded silently.

The three of them only exchanged one sentence.

The soldier nodded, then turned back to the shuttle-shaped flying machine.

The silver-white fuselage slowly rose, and a faint blue flame burst out of the tail, disappearing into the endless wind and snow, as if it had never been......

More than a dozen residents of Ice Sea City stood at the entrance to the tarmac, arm in arm, leaning together, for a simple funeral for the poor child.

His body was then cremated, partly preserved as a memento, and partly sprinkled on the snowstorm.

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows of the settlement, several players wearing exoskeletons cast an intriguing glance at the tarmac.

They recognized the soldier's equipment, especially the gas mask embedded in the helmet, who was undoubtedly a member of Task Force Alpha.

One thing to say, this game is really realistic. Even the NPC who was killed by the plot in the background board has a complete life of its own.

They only heard about the defeat thousands of kilometers away on the forum, but they didn't expect to see corpses dragged down from the front line in the game a few days later.

I'm afraid that the inconsequential NPCs in other games will be counted in the cutscene, and then they will be refreshed.

“…… I thought the members of Task Force Alpha were poor people who couldn't eat potatoes. ”

One of the power-based players muttered, a look of surprise evident on his face.

The agility player next to him also nodded his head and said with emotion.

"I didn't expect there to be guys from Ice Sea City."

Having spent some days in this settlement, they still know a lot about the local situation.

Even if the ideal city is used as a reference, the life of the local residents can definitely be called rich, but it is not as good as the prospectors and researchers of the academy.

Whether that guy is looking for excitement, or to pursue a different life and ideals, or simply out of rebellion against dogma, it takes courage to join "Alpha".

Another intelligence player interjected.

"But at least his loved ones can receive the urn, but not others."

The Power player shrugged his shoulders.

"That's the two sides of the world."

While talking, the group took the elevator to the exit of the settlement and got on the all-terrain crawler that was already waiting there.

Their mission today is to travel to the ruins of the nearby city of Molokova, collect samples of the local fruiting body, and bring them to the researchers of the Alliance Biological Research Institute stationed in Ice Sea City.

Deep in the ruins lies a dormant brood, somewhere below the metro station, the exact location of which cannot be determined by existing technical means due to the camouflage effect of the large number of spores.

The fruiting body produced by the brood is also quite distinctive, extremely good at camouflage, able to blend in with the environment, and suddenly attack the prey when it approaches.

At present, the long-term goal of the special zone of the adhesion community is to find the specific coordinates of the mother nest and eat it with small feathers, and the short- and medium-term goal is to analyze the mother nest and provide reference data for the research projects of variant slime molds in various regions of the community.

It's a tiny piece of work, but any big project is made up of an infinite number of such tiny jobs.

At the same time as the group left, a man and a woman stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window where they had previously stopped.

Looking at the dormant warehouse outside the window, Jiang Xuezhou's face was full of complicated expressions.

She didn't know the parents, and she couldn't possibly know the person lying in the sleep pod.

It only occurred to her that if she hadn't made it out of Vault 0 that day, and had died in the wasteland like countless researchers who had suffered accidents......

Her heart tightened slightly, she lowered her head for a moment and whispered.

"Hey ......"

Seeing Jiang Xuezhou's heavy face, Ye Shi, who was standing next to him, made a helpless expression.

"What's wrong with you?"

Jiang Xuezhou continued in a low voice.

“…… I want to go home. ”

"Go back."

Ye Shi gave her a strange look, do you need to talk to yourself about this kind of thing.

His lips moved, and Jiang Xuezhou was a little embarrassed, but finally opened his mouth.

“…… Can you go back with me? ”

She hadn't been back for a long time since she became an apprentice, and she didn't know how to deal with those familiar and strange relatives, so she subconsciously wanted to find a trusted partner to accompany her.

As soon as he heard about this little thing, Ye Shi didn't think much about it, and simply agreed.

"Okay, when?"

Jiang Xuezhou was stunned.

She just mentioned it casually, and she didn't even plan when she would go back, but she didn't expect this wooden man to agree so simply, and even asked when she would leave.

“…… That...... How about tomorrow? ”

Unprepared, she said this, and it was only then that she suddenly realized something, and her cheeks began to burn.

What she didn't know, however, was that one of the guys didn't think that much at all, just when an exclamation point popped out of the NPC's head.

"No problem......"

Looking at Jiang Xuezhou, whose face suddenly turned red into an apple, Ye Shi's face couldn't help but have a strange expression.

This guy has been wandering up a lot lately.

It can't be a fever, right?

……

The front line thousands of kilometers away.

The scorching flames melted even the snow on the Mountains of Blood.

The roar of artillery fire shook the earth, followed by crackling gunfire and the roar of mutants.

As if to save the day, Task Force Alpha reformulated a more elaborate battle plan based on the information gathered in the previous battle, and launched an even more aggressive offensive than before.

This time, it was not just two squadrons of 100 people that were pushed to the front line, but a whole ten squadrons with a total of 1,000 people!

A fierce exchange of fire ensued between the two sides in the cave.

Under the cover of the drone attack formation, one team after another methodically filled in the abyss-like cave, only to see people entering, but not people coming out of it.

Looking at the ferocious Alpha Task Force, General Modlin, who was standing halfway up Broken Blade Mountain, couldn't help but show a look of surprise on his face.

Including the adjutant standing next to him, there was also a look of disbelief on his face.

“…… Are these guys drugged? Looking in the direction of the front line, he muttered to himself.

In just three days, the group of lifeless guys seemed to have changed as if they had changed.

Although he couldn't see the situation in the cave, just by looking at the momentum of those guys, he could clearly feel the difference in those people.

"I don't know, you guessed it right." General Modrin frowned and pressed down the telescope in his hand.

The High Command of the Coalition revealed the characteristics of the Alpha Protozoa.

According to that standard, the entire 310,000-strong team is afraid that only the punishment team and some of the awakened with strong physical strength can resist the erosion of the red mist.

As had already been shown in the operation three days earlier, Task Force Alpha was not known for its physical strength.

Without changing his equipment, he could only suspect that these guys must have taken some immune-boosting drugs, or installed some biomimetic plug-ins that can fight infections.

In addition to this, there was another thing that caught his attention.

That is, he only saw these people going in waves, but he did not see anyone coming out of it.

Either they fought to the last minute and died there, or they should have gained some kind of ability to sustain recovery in battle.

Thinking of this, General Modlin's eyes couldn't help but have a hint of interest, and he couldn't help but have a hint of anticipation for the outcome of this battle.

It wasn't just General Modlin who watched the battle, but also the Commander of the Storm Corps, Commander Quanshui, and the Death Corps' Captain Edge.

The two of them also stood halfway up the Broken Blade Mountain, staring at the battlefield that was close at hand.

"Mom...... It's a bunch of ruthless people. With a shocked expression on his face, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Not counting the clones who didn't have a full mind, it was the first time he had seen someone in this game who was not afraid of death like them.

"Indeed......" Commander Izumi nodded in agreement, holding his binoculars and staring at the battle situation on the front line.

In a sense, this time the torch is really a chess opponent.

Although the academy's attitude towards the blue coat is relatively friendly, he still has to complain that these guys are really not their opponents when it comes to not being people.

A thousand biological prostheses were inoculated in three days, and a third of the alpha on the front line was "transferred" in situ, directly turning from a mechanized soldier into a semi-biological and semi-mechanized soldier.

Although Xiao Yu is still quite cute after watching it for a long time, it doesn't seem to be too much of a problem to change skins to play with occasionally, but all of this is based on the premise that it can be resurrected.

If he can't be resurrected, or if he is resurrected, he won't wash away the biological prosthesis, and he feels that even in the game, he will have to hesitate to install this thing.

While the commanders of the coalition army were watching the battle, the Beastmaster standing on the blood mountain also overlooked the entire battlefield.

And the expressionless face also had a hint of obvious surprise.

"What's that?"

His mouth kept muttering, his eyes full of astonishment, unable to believe what he was seeing in the eyes of those mutants, let alone comprehending.

He saw with his own eyes a Task Force Alpha soldier being thrust through the chest by a spike thrown by a mutant mutant, and then flung out again.

The hot blood was even sprinkled on his (his) head, and the hot touch could never be an illusion simulated by holographic technology.

For humans, that is undoubtedly a fatal wound.

However, he (he) had just wiped the blood stuck to the spike when he saw the unconscious soldier suddenly convulse, and then he or she lay on his side and grabbed his rifle and swept it (him) abruptly.

Caught off guard, several electromagnetically accelerated projectiles shattered the mutant's chest and brain.

He also lost his perception of the mutant for a moment, and returned to God's perspective with a blank expression.

The fierce fighting continues.

The guys in gas masks seem to have found a way to combat the poisonous fog.

And not only that, but their ability to recover has also become stronger, as if they have become a different species overnight.

"Haha...... Hahahaha! ”

The stunned eyes gradually turned into fanaticism, and he suddenly laughed as he looked down at his feet.

"Interesting...... It's so much fun! ”

Is it possible to actively inoculate the fruiting bodies of benign varieties to gain immunity before being infected by the spores of slime molds?

These old things are not as rigid as he imagined, and they also know how to be flexible.

Sure enough, it's interesting to compete with such an adversary with ideas.

He couldn't learn anything from fighting those Willantes except for a batch of organic matter.

Looking down at the members of the Alpha Task Force who were waiting at the foot of the mountain, the Beastmaster said in a very soft voice.

“…… I want to know the secrets of those guys, can I ask you to eat them? ”

It is not a sound transmitted by sound waves, but a communication between consciousness and consciousness.

After waiting for about a few minutes, the dull sound of an ancient bell slowly entered his sea of consciousness.

"I think...... It's better not to let that guy come near me. ”

The Beastmaster was slightly stunned and frowned slightly.

"Can't you eat it?"

The "Lord of the Plague", located deep in the mountain, spoke slowly.

"Generally speaking, we evolved to devour other organisms, and the devouring of other broods is just an accident in evolution. That guy is different, its evolutionary logic is diametrically opposed to ours, it exists purely to devour other slime molds, and can coexist with the humans who raised it. ”

"Like the green-skinned guys who can tolerate the smell of me and even adore me, you can interpret it as...... It is a 'mutant' among 'us'. ”

After a pause, the voice continued.

"I could feel from that disgusting breath that guy had devoured at least two of his kind...... I've got so many lovely kids and I don't want to be next. ”

Those believers are its children.

It had never seen anything so interesting, and it embraced the distortions it had given them with cheers and love, rather than being terrified of what it looked like.

The beastmaster, the beastmaster, told it that this was the "faith" of humans, and that they saw themselves as mothers and even gods who gave them life!

It loves the title of Lord of the Plague, and even more so the believers who cheer its name, and loves them even more than its own fruiting entities.

It is precisely for this reason that it feeds them with its own flesh and blood, and selects the most devout creature among them as the "prophet" who cultivates the "plague", and then uses that creature as a seedbed for producing spores, giving them a stronger "evolutionary factor".

In a sense, they are its fruitions, at least in part.

It has high hopes for them, hoping that they will continue to grow in size until they take over the entire planet and conquer more distant worlds with their beliefs.

One day, they will return to their mother, Gaia, in their place.

Perhaps they could bring a message for Him for themselves.

The Beastmaster pondered for a moment, then suddenly spoke.

"If you can devour it, won't you be able to get it too...... Its ability to devour other slime molds? ”

He thought of the forests of Baiyue Province, where Nago was born, and where Nago's weakness was there.

If they can devour the brood there, their heavenly kingdom will have no weakness.

The Lord of the Plague was silent for a moment, then spoke slowly.

"That's true, but ...... Its ontology doesn't seem to be here, and only its fruiting entity has appeared so far. My fruiting body can digest them, but that's only in a physical sense. If I had to eat them, I'm afraid I'd have indigestion. ”

"I see...... Got it. The Beastmaster nodded thoughtfully.

This is indeed a problem.

However, they can solve the problem scientifically, such as harmlessly making the sample and feeding it.

Of course.

That was after the capture of Qingquan City.

"Leave that alone...... My children are begging for my help, and you should have heard them crying. Looking at the Beastmaster who seemed to be distracted, the voice of the plague lord carried a hint of urging.

The battle on the Blood Mountain is becoming more and more unfavorable for its children.

Not only its children, but also its own children are in danger.

It had a hunch.

If you let someone carrying other slime fruiting entities into its lair, something terrible will happen.

The Beastmaster nodded slowly, and turned to look at the gray sky to the southeast.

That's the direction of Haiya Province.

Standing on the top of the Blood Mountain, you can even see the gray mist that pervades it, and the prosperous kingdom hidden in the gray mist.

He admits that the fruiting entities that lodge on the human body were not what he expected.

But if these guys think they can beat him with one or two unexpected cards, they're underestimating him.

They set foot on this barren and chaotic land many years before these old things noticed it.

It took them more than a decade to get the seeds to take root, blossom, and bear fruit.

All the lands from the Ten Peaks Mountain to the Weifu Wasteland are his domain, and the Kingdom of Heaven has descended here a long time ago.

These guys just built a few houses on top of it, took down a few hills, and thought it was their territory.

It had always been his domain.

He will make them remember this profound lesson.

"Don't worry."

The Beastmaster waved his hand lightly, and the red mist that wrapped around the mountain seemed to be in a trance for a moment, and then it was replaced by the gray-green fog that slowly rose.

"It's time to fog up."

(End of chapter)