Chapter 1014: Is This Suicide?
Chapter 1014: Is This Suicide?
Over by the Zombie Puppet…
The black fog monster was already dragging him closer to the source of the sound. Aside from the initial muffled noise, a stranger sound followed as they approached.
“Crunch… crunch…”
It sounded like some creature was grinding its teeth.
Ling Mo immediately sensed something was off, but the black fog monster seemed visibly excited. As it suddenly picked up speed, a massive dark shadow appeared before the Zombie Puppet.
This shadow seemed to be crouched atop a pile of something, surrounded by a layer of black fog. Unlike the black fog monsters, this fog wasn’t emanating from all over the shadow’s body, but rather from…
“Is this a transformed weasel?!” Ling Mo couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his mouth, glancing towards another “exit” with a sigh of relief, “At least that won’t be breathing, right…”
“Gah…” The black fog monster suddenly pushed his head down and gestured at him.
“I’ve already said I can’t understand…”
At that moment, the shadow suddenly shifted, rising from the pile of things.
“It’s it…”
Ling Mo raised his eyes, recognizing the silhouette immediately.
When the transformed monster was brought here earlier, this was the creature that emerged to feed… But now Ling Mo knew that this shadow wasn’t the ultimate diner. The one who truly devoured the transformed monster was Tang Hao, who followed.
Thinking back, everything seemed intricately connected… Before uncovering the truth, what they saw and understood was merely an illusion. If all this was orchestrated by the little girl, then she was indeed a master at it.
“Could it be… it’s targeting that monster?” Ling Mo glanced at the monster and then at the black fog monster beside him, speculating.
After the monster straightened its body, it slowly crawled down from the pile. Only then did Ling Mo notice that the monster’s size was significantly larger than typical underground humanoid monsters. But what stood out most was its chest and abdomen… Especially the abdomen. With its chest resembling two basketballs, the abdomen still managed to grab attention at first glance, hinting at its sheer enormity…
As it crawled down, the pile of things seemed to wobble as well. Through a brief clearing in the black fog, Ling Mo caught a glimpse. It was a massive heap composed of mucus, yet within the mucus, many humanoid figures were clearly encased. The outermost figures already displayed mutated tentacles and bizarrely curled limbs. It was evident that these were the same type of Humanoid Monsters Ling Mo had encountered before. Further inside were shadowy figures, likely the black fog monsters. Beyond that, Ling Mo couldn’t see clearly.
“What the…!”
Ling Mo was momentarily stunned. This… this was actually a Progenitor?!
No, that can’t be right… Xia Na had already analyzed that although there were many types of monsters here, there could only be one Progenitor in a given area. ŗÂ𝐍Օ𝖇Ɛ𝐬
But if the real Progenitor was this monster in front of him, then what about that little girl from before?
The most important thing was, although this monster looked fierce, it didn’t quite fit the characteristics of a Progenitor in other aspects…
“Damn it…” Ling Mo realized his understanding of underground monsters was still lacking. At least when it came to identifying the Progenitor, he was completely confused…
The black fog monster, however, didn’t seem to ponder over such matters. It focused intently on the monster’s every move. Once the monster had completely crawled down from the pile of “eggs” and temporarily turned its back to them, the black fog monster sprang into action.
It first grabbed Ling Mo’s Zombie Puppet, then quickly charged forward…
“This bastard… it can’t be planning to use me as a decoy, can it? Wait… if it needs a decoy, it doesn’t necessarily have to be me. So… why did it bring me here? Given the condition of this body, it should be clear to it… To put it bluntly, if a Zombie were standing next to me right now, the other monsters would choose to eat the Zombie instead of me…”
As Ling Mo was pondering, the black fog monster had already brought him to within five meters of the monster. At such a close distance, Ling Mo finally got a clear view of the monster’s abdomen… Abdominal edema? That was Ling Mo’s first reaction. And as he observed it, the monster began to act… This time, it seemed to lift its upper body, aiming its belly at a new, dormant Humanoid Monster…
“Splurt!”
With a contraction of its abdomen, a stream of mucus suddenly squirted from its navel, enveloping the Humanoid Monster. After the mucus completely encased the Humanoid Monster, the monster, as if exhausted, dragged it back towards the pile of “eggs.”
“Damn!”
Seeing the monster turn around, the black fog monster immediately pulled Ling Mo back a bit. But Ling Mo’s attention was entirely elsewhere… He was utterly shocked by the monster’s method of “production.” However, as the monster quickly returned, he snapped back to reality.
Previously, he had an indifferent attitude, but now, he was intensely curious… Most importantly, it was related to the identity of the little girl.
Another point of interest for him was the purpose of the black fog monster… Judging from its actions, it clearly possessed high Intelligence. Unfortunately, it couldn’t speak and wouldn’t let Ling Mo touch any part of its body except for its hands. Given Ling Mo’s current condition, a “surprise inspection” was out of the question…
“Damn it!”
He could only curse silently in his heart.
The Monster placed the new “egg” at the lowest layer, then slowly stuffed it inside… After finally getting the new “egg” in place, the Monster retreated, preparing to climb up again. Just then, there was sudden movement from the black fog monster… It darted out and fell near the Monster, under Ling Mo’s stunned gaze…
“…” Ling Mo was astonished.
Before he could react, the Monster had already heard the noise.
It turned its head sharply, its blood-red eyes scanning the surroundings warily.
Ling Mo turned his head with difficulty and pressed his body against some of the stacked “eggs”. Through the mucus layer, he could feel the Humanoid Monsters inside still writhing…
“Creak…”
The Monster ground its teeth and quickly approached the suddenly appeared black fog monster.
It hesitated for a moment, then carefully circled around the black fog monster, even lowering its head to sniff at the creature’s head. After confirming that the black fog monster was indeed “unconscious”, it finally reared up again…
“Pfft…”
“Holy shit…” Ling Mo felt a chill run down his spine… Was this what the black fog monster had come for? Was it specifically seeking further variation? But before it lunged out, Ling Mo had clearly felt it pinch him.
Although being pinched by a black fog monster was nothing to be pleased about… Ling Mo did read some sort of hint from it. Was it asking him to keep an eye on it? Or to continue monitoring?
On one hand, Ling Mo was highly curious… On the other hand, his suspicions never ceased… Under the influence of both, Ling Mo struggled to support the Zombie Puppet’s body and carefully moved to the edge, then stealthily looked in the direction of the Monster.
By then, the Monster had turned the black fog monster into a new “egg”, and after the second operation, it was visibly exhausted… After pushing the black fog monster deeper in, the Monster hurriedly climbed to the top and soon, there was no more movement…
Ling Mo waited for a full ten seconds before struggling to crawl over… Accomplishing this was not easy for him at the time…
Entering that passage was also clearly not a pleasant task. After ensuring the Monster had no reaction, Ling Mo steeled himself and crawled in. Soon, he saw the black fog monster. Astonishingly, within the mucus layer, the black fog monster had already opened its eyes and was staring unblinkingly at him…