And how could Isrile be stopped so easily?
Having constantly devoured and evolved, Isrile possessed astounding defensive capabilities. The blades of these tallic centipedes, sharp though they were, simply could not penetrate her outer layer, while a single missile of Spider Silk from Isrile was enough to immobilize dozens of centipedes. These soft and sticky strands of Spider Silk didn’t care about sharpness at all. Once the blades were stuck, the chain of connected beings could forget about separating again.
By this ti, all Giant Beasts that could spray adhesive fluid and those with adhesive-type magic had also learned how to deal with them. It was difficult to destroy these centipedes, but there was no need to destroy them; rely immobilizing them was enough.
Finally, the army arrived before the barrier. The Giant Beasts had erected an imnse barrier, stopping the swarming centipedes to allow Isrile to safely study the object before her. It was a sphere, with a diater larger than Isrile’s own body, tallic on the outside but with many intricate patterns on its surface forming an Array that could absorb energy.
"All right, whatever this is, co out now,"
Isrile said.
Of course, there was no echo from within.
Excellent.
"I’d like to see how long you plan to hide in there,"
If energy doesn’t work, then let’s try brute force! With so many Giant Beasts here, could it not be enough?
A dozen pure brute force-type Giant Beasts stepped forward, hamring away at the sphere. The thunderous roars that followed made the surrounding tallic centipedes even more frenzied.
"Big sister! There’s a crack here!"
One of Isrile’s underlings shouted.
"A crack? Excellent!"
Spider Silk was continuously thrown out, forming a massive spider web that covered the entire sphere from both ends. Each Giant Beast held a strand of Spider Silk in their hands.
"One! Two! Three!"
Pull!
Boom!
The black shell burst open, and inside the sphere, Isrile finally saw everything that was hidden there.
They were Tetrahedrons floating in the air, completely transparent, with a huge brain inside each of them. Countless such Tetrahedrons made up a massive Sphere, which was writhing in midair, with arcs of electricity flitting across its surface.
"So, you too are a Giant’s experint?"
A consciousness ca through, carrying also a Giant’s power.
"I’m not an experint; I am a biological weapon transford by the Giants,"
Isrile said.
"It’s all the sa. We all share a tragic fate. We didn’t wish to exist in this world, yet the Giants endowed us with life against our will,"
The consciousness said.
"No, clearly I do not think so. I am glad the Giants gave new strength, turning from a slightly intelligent little crawler into the Queen of the Giant Beasts. In fact, I always hoped the Giants would make even stronger,"
Isrile said.
"Then it seems you are different from us,"
The consciousness said.
"Indeed, different. But I wonder if we could negotiate. How about you let have this spaceship?"
Isrile had no intention of letting this chatterbox continue. Heaven knows what he was planning to do.
"If we give it to you, where would we go?"
The consciousness counter-asked.
"Or you could join and fight for ,"
Isrile said.
"No, we abhor fighting,"
The consciousness said.
"You abhor fighting? You hijacked this spacecraft, you attacked life, and then you tell you hate fighting?"
Isrile laughed.
"What you say is true, and we are ashad, for all these are deeds we have done. But more than sha, we fear death even more."
Isrile froze, because what the other party said was indeed all true.
The consciousness, or rather the collective consciousness, was called Thought Array. It was a research project of the Giants, inspired by sothing they found in Crystal Poison. A single Crystal Poison had almost no capability related to consciousness other than the instinct to reproduce. However, once the Crystal Poison started to accumulate, they would quickly generate a collective consciousness, which ultimately resulted in the creation of the Crystal Core. The Giants found this very interesting, so they began to explore and attempted to create a similar form of life. Of course, to prevent the ergence of a life form as terribly expansive as the Crystal Poison, the Giants slightly modified their plans. They endowed the initial consciousness with a degree of intelligence to prevent any loss of control. However, the project was only halfway through when it encountered an attack from the Dragon Clan and crash-landed here.
The creature on the spacecraft had a powerful ability to assimilate, and to avoid being assimilated itself, the initial independent consciousness hid within the asteroid and then used the asteroid’s resources to grow stronger. At last, the spacecraft, which was devouring the asteroid from the outside in, encountered it, which was expanding from the inside out. Thus, the fight was inevitable. In the end, it erged victorious, with the spacecraft under its control.
However, as it grew increasingly powerful, an urgent need confronted it: the source of energy. At first, it tried to mine the asteroid for nutrition, but clearly, as it grew more powerful, the idea of obtaining enough energy from these barren planets beca very unrealistic.
Therefore, it had no choice but to travel to richer planets, to take a little resources and food. Because of its strength, and its swift actions, it hardly faced any adversaries, and it didn’t appear often—once it had resolved its food crisis, it would imdiately go into hiding.
This earned it the title of a Phantom Battleship.
However, as its intelligence grew, it started to question its existence more and more, and it despised its predatory behavior to obtain resources. Yet, its survival instinct did not allow it to die.
Therefore, it was always in great distress about what it should do.
Isrile was at a loss for words concerning such troubles.
"To worry about such a thing, are all those brains of yours just for show?"
Isrile said.
"You don’t have such troubles, just because your intelligence isn’t sufficient,"
the Thought Array said.
"Rest assured, even if my intelligence were sufficient, I wouldn’t consider these things," Isrile shook his head and said, "All life in the multiverse survives on predation, from tiny insects to the Dragon Clan, whether they’re creations of gods or naturally born. Thus, predation is intrinsic, it is the essence of this multiverse, deeply engraved into every life as a brand and an instinct. You think too much because you have so many brains, but if you want to live, in the end, you still have to rely on that instinct."
"Are you saying that this is an instinct? It is correct?"
the Thought Array asked.
"Yes, of course, it is correct,"
Isrile said matter-of-factly.
"In that case, I can eat you all without any worries!"
Hum!
A sudden vibration; every Tetrahedron emitted a powerful wave of ntal energy. The waves resonated intensely, and all the Giant Beasts around, including Isrile, were paralyzed!
"Is this just buying ti?"
Isrile asked with a smile, showing no sign of tension.
"Yes, that’s all. After all, it takes so ti to gain control of you all, Dragon Hunting Spider,"
the Thought Array said.
"As expected of soone with so many brains, such sincerity in your performance,"
Isrile remarked with a sneer.
"It’s not a performance. Everything I said was true, coming from the depths of my thoughts; I haven’t lied," the Thought Array said, "But as you said, it is the instinct of the creatures of this universe, I need energy, or else I will die. I cannot let you go, or next ti, I will face even stronger enemies. Since that’s the case, I can completely eat you, replenish my energy, and avoid any risks of being exposed."
As it spoke, countless chanical centipedes surged forward, encircling all the Giant Beasts.
Isrile nodded, "What you say makes a lot of sense, I suppose my decision would have been the sa."
"However..."
"You seem to have forgotten one thing!"
Isrile’s lips curled into a crafty smile.
"Your shell is already gone." (A rain of pies from the sky, a cool phone awaits you! Follow the Qidian/Chinese web public account [Wechat > Add Friends > Add Public Account > enter qdread], and participate now! Prizes for everyone, follow the qdread Wechat public account now!) (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to vote for it at Qidian (qidian). Your support will be my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian to continue reading.)
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