Accompanied by the piercing sound of sothing tearing through the air, a series of dark red tendrils, like lightning, pierced through the body of the Crawler.
The gaping mouth, dripping with black blood, let out an exhausted roar, trying to break free from the tendrils’ binding. However, another tendril shot forward quickly, piercing straight through its forehead.
Black blood splattered.
The forehead, hard enough to stop a 7mm bullet, was punctured right through by what appeared to be a soft tendril.
Falling Feather watched, dumbfounded, as Xiaoyu was covered in black blood and as the Crawler was turned into sothing resembling a showerhead by tendrils, his gaze shifting from surprise and delight to fervor.
This thod of fighting was sowhat bizarre.
But it didn’t matter!
Aweso is aweso!
"Hahaha! My dear child, you’ve finally grown up!" Falling Feather, overjoyed, walked up and reached out to stroke Xiaoyu’s head.
Touched by soone it was blood-bound to, Xiaoyu made a cute "yiiwu" sound and even rubbed its head against his hand.
It was just like a cat asking for attention.
The smooth touch was indeed a bit like a hairless cat.
Although Falling Feather found it initially hard to accept this "SSSR Level Divine Pet’s" avant-garde style, he had gotten used to it over ti.
Being able to singlehandedly kill a Crawler with bare hands!
That was already very impressive!
Next ti, it might be worth trying against a "Tyrant"!
While Falling Feather was happy to have found the trick to raising a child, Xiaoyu had already pounced next to the Crawler it had just hunted and started to feast.
And before this, it had already eaten no less than three!
"It seems this guy’s appetite has increased again."
He rembered that initially, two Crawlers were enough to fill it up.
Now it needed four to five a day.
Falling Feather, intrigued, stroked his chin, took out his notebook, flipped a few pages backward, and noted down this clue.
[Day 11, appetite has doubled, no significant change in size.]
Just then, he made an even more astonishing discovery.
He saw that on the surface of the crimson, skirt-shaped fungal blocks on Xiaoyu’s lower limbs, gray-brown, hardened keratin layers had grown out at so point.
The largest piece was about the size of half a palm, the smallest only thumb-sized, resembling a knight’s armor.
Because the area covered by the keratin layer was not very large, it was almost impossible to detect without a close inspection.
Falling Feather curiously touched it, then tried scraping it lightly with a dagger.
Xiaoyu, engrossed in its food, showed no reaction, apparently not feeling any pain. No matter how hard he scraped, the surface of the keratin layer remained without a single scratch.
Feeling the strength of this "organic armor," Falling Feather’s eyes quickly lit up with excitent, and he eagerly recorded this discovery in his notebook.
[Day 11, organic armor has grown! Armor coverage area suspected to increase with developnt!]
Closing his notebook, Falling Feather looked at Xiaoyu with eyes full of proud paternal satisfaction.
"Xiaoyu... grow quickly!"
"I’m counting on you to beco a T0 Strongman!"
...
Floor B4 Viewing Room.
Soone else wore a paternal smile on his face.
However, it wasn’t because of Xiaoyu’s changes, but because of the books sorted out from the rchant Guild.
With the help of the little princess from the Honey Badger Kingdom, the rchant Guild had significantly sped up their book sorting work recently.
The contents of these books, written during the Prosperity Epoch or even earlier, had not only been a great help to his work but had also been very beneficial to other Alliance managers.
As the Alliance grew larger, the number of issues to consider also multiplied; although many things could be glossed over with a word, the specifics of solving issues were hard to explain in detail even with the space of an entire book.
And the information in these books represented predecessors’ experiences about "how exactly to do things" and the potential issues that might arise thereafter.
The Prosperity Epoch might have drawn to a close.
But this wealth, more valuable than gold, should not be buried and forgotten.
Standing beside the bookshelf, browsing through the books just delivered by the rchant Guild, Chu Guang suddenly found a note tucked inside.
It bore a line of elegant handwriting.
It must have been left by Afni.
[The book ntions that people distribute resources through the market, which makes them slaves to money. Why don’t we adopt a more efficient way to manage the distribution of the resources that everyone needs?]
He hadn’t expected the girl who held picture books in her arms to be interested in such dull academic questions.
Surprised and amused, Chu Guang smiled and picked up a pen, jotting down his thoughts on the blank space of the note.
[People can beco slaves to many things out of desire, not just money. It includes beauty, health, faith, honor, or power... However, this doesn’t an it’s inherently wrong. If we were content with just being fed and reproducing, nobody would climb mountains in search of fire, nor discover how to start a fire with flint and sticks, and our civilization would not have erged.]
[Distributing resources through clerical authority or royal decree is no nobler than doing so with money, and vice versa. Essentially, they are all tools for distributing resources, and people will always discover better options as they explore the future, discarding the old when they are no longer useful.]
[However, your caution is right, and I am surprised that you could think about this at your age. Even if desires aren’t necessarily bad, one should always be wary of indulging in them at the expense of our original intentions, and not to burn down the forest just to keep the hard-won fire alive.]
[Especially when you hold the spark, or the power in your hands.]
If it were Sar asking himself this question, Chu Guang thought he probably wouldn’t share his thoughts so unreservedly with him.
It wasn’t because he was worried about being emulated.
If Sar really could surpass him and bring about a reform in the Honey Badger Kingdom, it would be a good thing for the survivors there.
But he feared that like a chaleon, Sar could grasp the ways of the Alliance but still cling to the old thods, playing insincere gas with him, which would be difficult to guard against.
But Afni was different.
She had just turned eighteen and was a girl. She might be employed by the Alliance, but upon returning to the Honey Badger Kingdom, her fate would mostly be that of a decorative vase.
Even if she learned sothing from Chu Guang, he was not worried about any negative impact. Instead, it might be possible to influence the next generation of the Royal Family through her.
Using economics and education to change Luo Xia Province was also a part of the Alliance’s post-war reconstruction plan.
Several kingdoms in the desert had not declined beyond salvation, and might even experience a period of prosperity due to post-war reconstruction. Therefore, compared to radical change, gentle reform was more suitable for them.
He clipped the sticky note back into the book.
Chu Guang was about to shove the book back into the shelf when he suddenly rembered that this wasn’t a place where one could casually borrow books. He slapped his forehead and tapped on the VM.
Shortly after, footsteps approached the viewing room’s doorway, followed by the crisp sound of a bell.
"Please co in."
As Chu Guang spoke, the alloy door opened.
His Chief Guard, Lu Bei, stepped inside, his right fist pressed to his left chest as he gave a crisp military salute.
"Manager, do you have any instructions?"
Chu Guang walked over and handed the book in his hands to him.
"Take this to the Honey Badger Kingdom’s office on Embassy Street and hand it over to Miss Afni Honey Badger there."
Upon hearing this, Lu Bei’s eyes imdiately lit up, and he straightened up as if he were holding so treasure, taking the book with both hands.
"I guarantee to complete the mission!"
Chu Guang was certain his intuition was not wrong; this guy was probably thinking about sothing off-track, so he coughed lightly and instructed.
"I don’t want to hear any strange rumors."
Lu Bei stood up straight with a serious face.
"I swear on my life! If there are any rumors about you and Miss Afni, you can have executed!"
"There’s no need for that."
Chu Guang watched Lu Bei, with his bright eyes, with a wry smile.
This young fellow hadn’t even grown all his hair yet and was already concerned about other peoples’ gossip.
Maybe it was ti to replace him with a more mature and stable Chief Guard.
Recently, the number of survivors and players in the Alliance had increased significantly, and Chu Guang was contemplating establishing the Third Army of the Alliance. It would accommodate those lone-wolf players who did not want to join the player armies and preferred to mix with NPCs.
Chu Guang planned to transfer Lu Bei to the Third Army.
Although young, his loyalty was witnessed by everyone in the Alliance.
After watching his Chief Guard leave the room, Chu Guang was about to return to the bookshelf when suddenly Xiao Qi’s voice ca from beside his ear.
"Master, the breeding mother that player Falling Feather cultivated seems to have undergone a new change."
"Xiaoyu?"
"Yes!"
Hearing the affirmative response, Chu Guang felt a slight movent in his heart and sat down next to the computer.
Almost as soon as he sat down on the sofa, the pale blue holographic screen unfolded above the computer pen.
The images captured by the Hummingbird drone were displayed in front of him at the sa ti.
Staring at the formidable mother displayed on the screen, Chu Guang’s face showed surprise, and after two seconds of thought, he said,
"Tell Heya to arrange a physical examination imdiately! Prepare to check Xiaoyu’s evolutionary stage!"
To solve the problem with the "Mutated sli fungus" on Floor B6, Xiaoyu needed to devour the lair there, and the prerequisite was to understand the concept of hunting and master the ability to hunt.
Now it clearly t this condition.
But whether it t other criteria still required further research.
Sitting on the coffee table, Xiao Qi swung her legs and playfully gave a military salute like the Chief Guard who had just co in.
"Received!"
...
The Honey Badger Kingdom’s office was located in the corner of Embassy Street. Due to its distance from the core area, it was actually sowhat larger than the office in Giant Stone City.
Its main building was a three-story western-style house with two common palm trees planted in the yard—the Honey Badger Kingdom’s rchant’s gift to the Royal Family.
Although Oasis No.3 had fallen to the occupiers and the Royal Family had gone into exile, for the people who had once lived there, it was still their holand.
Hence, survivors who fled to the Southern River Province often donated money or goods to the Royal Family.
Even though most of those things were not valuable, the acting king, Sir Somr, still ordered the staff here to accept them.
After all, it was everyone’s good intentions.
Besides, they were dependent on others now, and those who still thought of them at such ti were loyal good fellows.
Hearing the knock on the window, the old gatekeeper in the guardhouse yawned and lifted his sleepy face from his elbow.
Glancing at the book in the visitor’s arms, he thought it was another donation that didn’t seem to be worth much.
However, rembering Sir Somr’s order, as a servant loyal to the Royal Family, he still mumbled a response.
"Na?"
"Chief of the Alliance Guards Corps, Lu Bei!"
Even though his voice was lowered, the old gatekeeper still heard the words "Guards Corps" and "Chief".
Sleepiness vanished from his face instantly, and he stood up from the chair as if he had beco a decade younger, his eyes wide open.
"You, you are from the Guards Corps—"
Seeing that he spoke so loudly, Lu Bei quickly stopped him.
"Shh! Why are you yelling? Keep your voice down!"
Realizing his blunder, the old servant imdiately flashed an apologetic smile and said,
"Yes, yes, yes, I was confused. Please, what brings you here?"
The Guard Corps is the personal bodyguard of the Manager, and also his shadow. In the Alliance, this is common knowledge.
The appearance of the Guards Corps’ chief here ant that, no matter the reason, it was definitely not a trivial matter.
"It’s not a matter of offense, but the Manager has instructed that my visit here must be kept secret. Why else would I change into different clothes to co here!" Chu Guang tightened the hood of his cloak and looked seriously at the one who had corrected him, then he revealed the book he had been carrying.
"...Furthermore, the Manager has entrusted to deliver this book to Miss Afni of the Honey Badger family."
The old servant seed to understand sothing. His face imdiately revealed an extrely excited expression, and he quickly reached out to take the book, but Lu Bei stepped back.
"Where is Miss Afni?" he asked gravely. "The Manager told to make sure it gets into her hands, she’d better co down and get it herself."
The old servant quickly said.
"The young lady is still at the rchant Guild, she hasn’t co back yet, on a task taught by the Manager. Don’t worry, as soon as she returns, I will imdiately transfer the Manager’s item to her!"
Lu Bei hesitated for a mont but thought it inappropriate to stand around waiting here and feared he would miss her if he went to the rchant Guild, so he nodded his head.
"Then make sure you rember, it must be passed into her hands!"
Just after giving that instruction, Lu Bei suddenly thought of sothing else and hurriedly added,
"And don’t tell anyone I was here today!"
"Yes! Don’t worry! If I dare to let slip a single word, even if you don’t bla , His Majesty the King won’t let off."
Watching Lu Bei’s grave face, the old servant beca even more convinced of his guess. He kept nodding vigorously, his smile so wide he could hardly close his mouth.
If this were a proper matter, would it need to be so covered up?
It must be because it’s improper!
That’s why it’s embarrassing to let others know!
Not daring to tamper with the book, the old servant didn’t even dare to glance at its cover too long. He carefully placed it in a drawer for safekeeping, planning to give it to the young lady as soon as she returned.
As Lu Bei left, the old servant clenched his fists excitedly, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
The Kingdom!
There was hope!
...
Shelter No. 404, Floor B3 dical room.
After being anesthetized, Xiaoyu was placed on the scanning bed. Falling Feather stood beside it, watching with a worried expression and then anxiously looking at Chu Guang.
"It won’t have any problems, will it?"
The group of jerks on the forum clamoring to chop it up day after day had scared him witless, and he hadn’t dared to show up recently.
Although he complained verbally about being stuck because of this little creature, if Dog plan really took those jerks’ advice and ’balanced’ it out, he naturally would be reluctant to let that happen.
"Rest assured, the suppressant only has an anesthetic effect and will not affect its health," Chu Guang comforted him, patting his shoulder. "It will be a while before the experint finishes. You can go back first."
Falling Feather asked quietly.
"Can I wait outside?"
Chu Guang thought for a mont and nodded.
"You can."
The alloy door opened.
As Falling Feather left, the door slowly closed behind him.
Xiaoyu on the scanning bed let out an unconscious "yi wu," sounding like the purring of a cat in its sleep.
The sound seed like it was acting coquettishly.
However, Chu Guang could sense that the emotions flowing within the sound waves carried a hint of anxiety.
It did not like this feeling.
Chu Guang looked towards Heya, who was busy at the console, and asked,
"Is it possible to perform the examination without anesthetization?"
Heya, without taking her eyes off the screen, casually replied,
"Of course it’s possible... but can you guarantee it won’t suddenly go berserk and attack us both?"
"I can protect you."
Heya’s lips curved, and she said teasingly,
"Oh, although that sounds very reassuring, why gamble on that probability?"
Chu Guang shrugged his shoulders.
"... Alright then, how are the analysis results?"
"You’re asking at just the right ti, the scanning data has just co in..."
Heya touched the holographic screen a few tis with her index finger, then crossed her arms and stared at the chart in front of her for a long ti, and with a sure voice, she said,
"The progression has reached 51%; at this rate, it shouldn’t take long to reach the next stage."
Chu Guang suddenly curious, asked,
"What if it enters the next stage directly?"
Heya answered without hesitation,
"It would then be consud by the lair on Floor B6. After all, it’s like a child right now; even if we gave it a lot of resources, it couldn’t possibly stand up to that old foe who slaughtered an entire floor of the refuge... it’s like putting a child with a hunting gun and a ruthless murderer in the sa room, what do you think will happen."
Chu Guang frowned,
"What if this murderer was incapacitated? Like—"
"Injecting a large amount of suppressant?" Seeing through his thoughts, Heya said in a mocking tone, "If that were possible, I’d like to do that. But consumption is a long-term and continuous process; it’s very hard to ensure that it will only work on a specific kind of sli... it looks like it’s about to wake up, you can call that young man back in."
Chu Guang nodded, abandoning the sudden brainstorm he had, then signaled to the cara in the corner of the room with a nod of his head, instructing Xiao Qi to open the dical room door.
At this mont, outside the infirmary, Falling Feather was anxiously pacing back and forth.
Just then, the door suddenly opened.
Hearing the noise, he imdiately looked towards the infirmary door, but before he could clearly see anything, he was hit full-on by a scarlet figure and knocked to the corner of the hallway.
Barely catching his breath, Falling Feather glared fiercely at the culprit sprawled on top of him.
"What are you doing, trying to kill —"
"Yi wu!"
The face, increasingly resembling that of a human, showed a pitiable expression.
Seeing that "pitiful" appearance, Falling Feather, just about to scold it, suddenly rembered he had sent it to the laboratory for research as part of his mission.
A sense of guilt unwittingly arose in his heart; he let out a gentle sigh and reached out to pat its head.
"Alright, I didn’t want to either, but it’s the mission... there’s nothing that can be done about it. Besides, it’s for your own good. You’ve been alone in there for so long, it must have been tough!"
"Co on, let’s go get so sweets!"
"Yi wu!!!"
Perhaps understanding his consolation or just hearing the word "sweets," Xiaoyu’s face imdiately showed a joyous expression, and the tentacles at the back of its head moved like seaweed.
However, it didn’t get off him. Instead, it snuggled even closer, the skirt-shaped fungal mass pressing down like tank treads.
Falling Feather turned blue in the face, his eyes rolling back, almost popping out of their sockets, nearly dying on the spot.
Goodness gracious!
You can’t tell at all from the outside!
This weight must be at least two hundred kilograms!
Looking outside at Xiaoyu and Falling Feather "stuck together," Heya, with her arms crossed, frowned slightly and suddenly blurted out a sentence.
"He wouldn’t have... developed feelings, would he?"
Chu Guang’s expression was delicate.
"It’s hard to say."
Normally speaking, after a long ti together, one could even grow attached to a fishing rod, let alone sothing alive.
Heya sighed and scratched her full head of silver-white hair.
"It’s best not to be like that. ’Mutated sli fungus’... at least according to my observations, these creatures’ minds are as unstable as their DNA. They have no concepts like parents, relatives, friends, and so on—complex concepts unique to human society. What’s referred to as closeness is likely just an illusion. You must have noticed it, right? It doesn’t even hesitate to prey on its own kind."
"Indeed," Chu Guang nodded, "but blood-related closeness is also a fact. Moreover, up to now, it hasn’t shown a strong aggressiveness towards people."
Heya gave him a look.
"But what about after it swallowed the lair on Floor B6? It will always absorb so part of what originally belonged to that lair... you know what I’m talking about."
What was absorbed wasn’t just genetic material.
It included fragnts of the devoured entity’s mory, knowledge, experience, instincts... or perhaps what organisms abstractly call "soul" or sothing of the sort.
In fact, Xiaoyu’s ability to hunt was not, as Falling Feather believed, due to it learning by constantly killing Crawlers.
But was a more primal and direct thod—
That is, through its digestive system, it digested the flesh and blood of those prey.
In fact, Xiaoyu’s mode of attack was by using its tentacles to mimic the bullets of a rifle, inflicting penetrating injuries on Crawlers.
Even the aiming spot was almost the sa as Falling Feather’s shooting habits.
This portion of knowledge ca from the "devoured victim’s" mory fragnts about death. The evolved "armor" also ca from those mories—
’The prey died because they could not defend against penetrating injuries.’
’So it needs armor that can resist bullets.’
That’s what’s most terrifying about these sli fungi.
They learn from the experience acquired from the corpses of their prey, and they learn from both life and death.
Whenever needed, they can cling to life even in a vacuum, or withstand tal fragnts striking at several tis the speed of sound!
And as long as part of their tissue survives, no matter how severe the injury or by what ans, they always find a way to co back to life.
It’s no exaggeration to say they have mastered evolution and ascended to a realm that human civilization temporarily does not understand.
Chu Guang pondered for a mont then said.
"What’s your suggestion?"
Heya shook her head.
"I don’t know... the plan to clean up Floor B6 must continue, I need the research equipnt there, and no matter how, the sli fungus there must be cleaned out. However, I suggest giving up the idea of dosticating them."
Chu Guang imdiately asked.
"Is there scientific evidence?"
Again, Heya shook her head.
"There is no evidence proving it’s definitely impossible, but the probability of success is very low."
This ti Chu Guang’s pondering lasted slightly longer.
Looking at the two figures outside the hallway, he thought for a long ti, finally slowly saying.
"I trust my residents."
"Just as they trust ."
Heya couldn’t help but ask.
"What if sothing goes wrong?"
As if he had co to a realization, Chu Guang chuckled faintly.
"Then we solve the problem."
"Cleaning up after them is also one of the Manager’s responsibilities."
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