Shortly after the reconnaissance team arrived near the ghost ship,

A sudden change happened suddenly.

The scout team didn't know what they had encountered, and when Simon's exclamation fell, the entire team's communication channel was in chaos!

All kinds of gunshots and screams came and went, and the headphones rang out in a mess.

Since there is no encryption restriction for short-distance communication, the voice of everyone in the headset is the same.

This situation sounded to Meng Lei's ears, as if it was a voice chat room where the microphone closure function had not yet been realized in the early years, and as soon as he entered, all kinds of chaotic sounds immediately filled the entire eardrum, and it was almost difficult to distinguish the content of a certain person's speech.

As a result, Simon's voice is completely obscure.

In addition, the signal itself was extremely unstable at that time, and the sound of the current and the shouting were intertwined, and it became an extremely strong noise.

So much so that Meng Lei couldn't figure out what happened to the reconnaissance team.

However, through the roar that Simon exclaimed just now before the incident, and the indistinct communication of everyone.

Meng Lei probably still learned something,

Knowing that the enemies were numerous, and quite terrifying, even Simon felt terrified!

You know, Simon, a big man with a strong body, is a guy who dares to face the mire and the dragon.

Even when he was fighting the Painted Skin Parasite head-on, he never showed the slightest fear on his face.

But at the moment, Meng Lei could clearly tell that there was a trace of nervousness and horror in Simon's tone.

It is enough to see how terrifying the things encountered by the reconnaissance team are!

"Quick, everyone, get out! Let's go back to the ship first! ”

At this time, Meng Lei didn't have time to inquire carefully.

In a hurry, at the first moment of the riot, he immediately realized that something was wrong, and then immediately shouted in the communicator, ordering the reconnaissance team to evacuate in time.

On the other side, the screams of the team became more and more intense, and the battle seemed to be extremely fierce.

The sound of gunfire, explosions, wails is intertwined,

The chaotic and noisy sound is like being on the battlefield, which makes people's adrenaline soar!

Fortunately, the crew members selected by Chen Yu personally for Meng Lei all have good combat quality and psychological quality.

The panic lasted only a moment, and soon returned to normal.

Although it was still noisy, it was obvious that the team was retreating in an orderly manner.

And at this time,

Simon's voice also stood out again, and was finally clearly captured by Meng Lei.

In the headphones, I heard Simon constantly shouting at everyone:

"Don't fight, take the wounded, grab the propeller and evacuate as soon as possible, and be careful not to be touched by those green cell bodies!"

"After two men with rifles break with me, this thing is too scattered, grenade launchers are ineffective in an open environment, use rifles to stop them from approaching! Come on! ”

……

Simon's loud voice let out a hysterical roar, and the situation was clearly critical.

And what shocked Meng Lei the most was that in such a short period of time, the reconnaissance team had already suffered casualties?

Otherwise, how could Simon have said such a thing as bringing a wounded with him?

"Damn! What the hell is it? ”

Meng Lei was in a hurry, and it was hard to imagine what happened to the other party.

There is no doubt that the opponent he met this time was far more terrifying than the Mire Swift Dragon.

An armed reconnaissance team of fifteen people, who didn't even have time to put on a fighting posture when they first met, collapsed directly at the touch of a button, even if they encountered the creeper group, they wouldn't be so embarrassed!

After a little groaning, Meng Lei shouted loudly in the earphones:

"Simon, what's going on now? Do you need my side to sail over to help?! ”

When the words fell, Simon was heard panting and shouting urgently:

"Don't, captain, don't come here, and don't let the other submarines come close!

The beacon station and the submarine in front are all controlled by the thalamus, and they have to be pulled into the water in the past, so don't come over! ”

Hearing this, Meng Lei's heart suddenly jumped.

"The thalamus? What the hell is this? ”

Meng Lei frowned puzzled, this term was the first time he had heard of it, and it was extremely unfamiliar.

And judging from the name alone, he couldn't even imagine what kind of monster it was.

It's so ...... It's different.

But Meng Lei also knew that now was not the time to ask questions.

The situation of the exploration team is critical, and he doesn't want Simon to be distracted any longer, lest it cause irreparable consequences.

At that moment, Meng Lei called Hans to the bridge command room through the public broadcast in the ship, hoping to learn some information about this monster from Hans.

"What?! That's a thalamus ship?! ”

However, after hearing this new term that popped out of Meng Lei's mouth.

Hanston's eyes widened, and his face showed a look of shock and solemnity that he had never seen before, even more so than when he first learned of the Molten Outpost's Painted Skin explosion.

"Yes, Simon said that the submarine and the beacon station in front of him were controlled by the thalamus."

Meng Lei nodded heavily, looked at Hans suspiciously, and asked:

"What the hell is this? Is it hard to entangle? ”

Hans took a deep breath, calmed his emotions, then nodded slowly, then shook his head helplessly, and sighed:

"It's so difficult, it's just incomprehensible!"

Meng Lei's heart jumped when he heard this, but he didn't answer, but looked at Hans directly, waiting for his next words.

After a pause, Hans continued:

"How can I say it, the thalamus has been studied for a long time, but it has not been able to give a specific conclusion, to determine what type of creature it belongs to, or a plant!"

"It is said that the pioneers of Tia, who came to the alien colony, did not find such a thing in the ocean, at least not in the shallow seas, not even the slightest sign.

Later, as the exploration continued to deepen.

It was only when the pioneers moved into the deep zone that thalamic fungi first came into view.

Yes!

Its original essence is, in fact, a fungal creature! ”

As he spoke, Hans explained to Meng Lei with his dancing hands, for fear that his knowledge level was limited and his description was not thorough enough.

And Meng Lei also looked at Hans with a serious face, and according to the other party's description, he sketched the concept of thalamus in his mind.

What he never expected was that

This time, it was no longer a deep-sea monster in the conventional sense, but a fungus!

A rare and terrifying deep-sea fungus!

"In general, thalamic fungi tend to float in the form of spores, sleeping in dark waters.

It was first discovered in the ballast tanks of submarines.

When the submarine is submerged, the seawater is pumped into the ballast tank, and the thalamic spores enter the ship.

At this time, under the right temperature and water flow conditions, the spores will begin to wake up quickly.

Then, it secretes a viscous substance that sticks itself to the bulkhead of a water pump or ballast tank to achieve the purpose of immobilization and parasitism.

At this time, the swarm of spores does not yet have the ability to attack and prey.

They thrive quickly with the help of organic matter and plankton brought by the water flow in the ballast tanks.

This process is very short, often taking less than six hours for the parasitic flora to generate its first core.

At this point, its form begins to change.

If the core is soaked in seawater, then it looks like a lake of flesh and blood, but a vibrant heart.

It glows red and beats in the dark.

And if the core is exposed to the air, then it will turn into a colorful overlord flower, hideous and eye-catching!

Two different forms of evolutionary lines will diverge here.

The parasitic flora, or a sort of differentiating organ, derived from the core of the heart, will begin to consciously dominate the growth of its own hyphae.

In a very short period of time, it proliferates like crazy and crawls all over the ballast tanks!

When the time comes, you will see an extremely terrifying and gorgeous picture.

The mycelium growth below the seawater is full of hyphae and neurons similar to human blood vessels, which will continue to multiply and eventually turn into flesh vesicles that resemble tumors.

At first glance, it looks like walking into a flesh mill, and it looks like the body of some kind of large creature, bloody and terrifying! ”

As he said this, Hans's face gradually turned a little pale.

It seems that I recalled some bad things, and I still feel the joy of it.

And Meng Lei couldn't help but hold his breath, and the picture sketched in his mind made him feel very uncomfortable.

It's as if you've stepped into a terrifying world made entirely of flesh and blood!

Even if you don't see it with your own eyes, you can imagine the horror of that environment!

After a pause, Hans took a breath and continued:

"Mycelium, which is exposed to air above seawater, takes on a different form.

They are like some kind of legendary liana, attached to the bulkhead of the submarine, an intricately intertwined network of plants composed of mycelium, which will not miss an inch of space to climb onto, and can completely enclose the entire inner wall of the submarine.

These hyphae then produce one after another large, showy flower buds with thick, fleshy petals.

When the time comes, the entire submarine will turn into a strange and splendid sea of flowers, which looks extremely unreal! ”

Hearing this, Meng Lei had some superficial understanding of this parasitic flora.

However, he did not find anything particularly dangerous.

At best, the picture is a little weird and terrifying, but it doesn't have much impact on the submarine and the crew in the submarine.

"Devouring the Starry Sky: Signing in to Become a God"

Then the problem arises again.

Why did Hans and Simon feel so nervous and frightened by this parasitic flora?

Meng Lei raised his own question and looked at Hans with a solemn face.

"Captain, you listen to me first, and then the most terrifying thing about this fungal creature!"

Hans took a deep breath, collected his thoughts, and said in a deep voice:

"The revival and growth of this parasitic fungus only needs the help of organic matter and plankton to meet its own energy needs in the early stage.

However, as colonies continue to multiply and multiply, the amount of energy required increases!

At this time, they will use tens of thousands of mycelium to probe the nearby electromagnetic pulse signals and penetrate deep into the submarine's circuit network.

Then, while frantically proliferating to expand the prey area, the mycelium actively stretches towards the submarine's electrical system until it completely touches the abundant electrical energy.

Due to the hyphae of the thalamic fungus, it itself is extremely conductive.

Therefore, in the subsequent growth process, they will use more efficient electricity as food to meet their own growth needs. ”

Hearing this, Meng Lei interjected suspiciously:

"No, the circuit voltage in the submarine is so high, this thing is so blatant to steal electricity and eat, so it's not afraid of being electrocuted?"

Hans shook his head and said in a deep voice:

"No, the thalamus is said to be a parasitic fungus, but it has a high level of intelligence and evolutionary ability.

The initial core is only the first organ that he condenses in the process of growth, and as it grows and develops, it will generate a variety of different alternative organs according to the surrounding environment!

Therefore, it will also generate various insulating layers from the hyphae according to the strength of the voltage, so as to safely extract power from the submarine.

Eventually, it will be able to extract an endless supply of energy from the nuclear reactor and make it grow rapidly!

Until it expands to the point where it can't be ignored!

And its irregular devouring of the submarine's power system will also cause the submarine's internal electrical system to be disordered, and eventually paralyze the entire ship and sink in this cold and dark deep sea......"

Speaking of which, seeing that Meng Lei wanted to speak and stopped, Hans knew what he was thinking in his heart.

So he smiled bitterly twice and continued:

"Captain, what I just said is only the first hazard.

You may ask me, why don't we detect it as soon as possible and remove it as soon as possible, so that the hidden danger is strangled in the cradle before it grows.

So what I'm going to tell you about is the second point! ”

Meng Lei nodded, and Hans continued:

"The thalamic hyphae that lie dormant underwater, in the process of growth, will form a large number of acid vesicles, which are the kind of flesh vesicles that resemble tumors I just mentioned.

Once heated or squeezed by an external force, these vesicles will be detonated instantaneously.

This releases a highly corrosive acid that melts into the seawater and coats the surface of nearby organisms, ulcerating the entire body of the enemy into dissolved!

This is the first means of self-protection in the prethalamus!

And this is not the most deadly, as long as the vesicle is destroyed from a distance with a thermal weapon, it is still possible to get close to its core and destroy it.

The deadliest is ......"

After a slight pause, Hans looked at Meng Lei with a solemn gaze, took a deep breath shudderingly, and said:

"The most lethal thing is that those flower buds exposed to the air will immediately release a large number of spores in the air when they grow to the final stage, or when they are hit by external forces.

These spores pass through the ventilation system inside the submarine and will be scattered throughout the submarine in a very short time!

When the time comes, all crew members who breathe this biological spores into their bodies will be unwittingly infected by parasitic infections.

Eventually, these spore communities will awaken with the help of the body's weak bioelectricity.

Then draw energy from flesh and blood, take the human body as all the energy source, take root in flesh and blood, and complete its own growth! ”

At this, Hans shuddered imperceptibly, and a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.

"People who are parasitic by the thalamus are more painful than those who are parasitic with painted skin before death!

I can only watch my flesh and internal organs slowly dissolve from the inside, and my bones are entangled by countless mycelium, drawing nutrients from the bone marrow.

Eventually, the whole person is completely assimilated by the thalamic flora from the inside out.

The limbs turned into vines and branches, the torso turned into rhizomes, and a bloody flower bloomed in the cranial cavity! ”