Chapter 26

"Pa da!" The hard cocoon fell to the ground.

A black shadow suddenly shot out of the cocoon's shell. It carried a strange jade-green glow as it charged towards the dark space above the cave.

Then, as if he had bumped into something, he heard the soft cries of a small beast as it was injured.

Following which, the green light descended once more.

It fell to the ground, bounced, crashed into the wall, and rolled to the feet of zero.

Zero looked at it in surprise.

In his line of sight, there was a round body.

It should be a belly, white as snow.

There were four little paws on his belly, and they were paddling in the air.

Then, this thing did its best to roll around on the ground, causing its four claws to land on the ground. It was different from the snow-white belly, it had a light yellow colored body.

The head and the body were all connected, and the little round thing had exaggerated eyes.

The eyes were as round as the body, and they were "watering" to zero.

He had heard that some animals took the first creature to be their mother.

He didn't want to be a wet nurse's father, but reality didn't seem to give him a choice.

It was small as a ball, with strange zigzag ears on its head.

Let's call it ears. I don't know what kind of organ it is.

However, when the pair of ears twitched, a pair of wings as thin as a film popped out.

The thin wings made a high-frequency vibration, allowing the small beast to fly.

It flew high into the air, and only then did it clear that there was a green rhombus symbol on its forehead.

"Lala ~ ~" the little beast cried out happily and suddenly leaped into Ling's arms.

It seemed to cling to the zero point, its round body swaying with all its might and curving towards Zero's chest.

Zero picked it up and threw it to the other side of the cave.

In this era where survival was a problem, he did not have the leisure to raise a strange creature as a pet.

The ball like beast was thrown onto the mountain wall and bounced back to the ground. It let out an aggrieved cry towards Zero.

And then he continued to fly up and into Zero's arms.

Zero pushed out frantically, but this guy was really sticky.

Annoyed by its entanglement, Lingcun grabbed it and pressed it against the wall, wanting it to stop for a moment.

He didn't want to think that this thing was really like a rubber ball. Its body was extremely soft.

With a slight push of his hand, the little beast's body immediately became flat.

"Lala —" It let out a low cry, but a stream of yellow liquid spurted out of its mouth.

As soon as the liquid made contact with the mountain wall, the solid rock was corroded by the strong acid and quickly melted. Furthermore, the pungent smell was just like sulfur.

Lingzhi, thinking of this thing, it seems to be a new life from the golden bug's evolution.

The stomach acid of the metal-eating bug was the most powerful corrosion solution in the world. It could melt the armor of composite materials, and now that it had melted the rock walls, it was nothing more than a child's play.

However, this made Zero think of a possibility.

Zero picked up the little beast again, and the little thing, which had returned to its round shape, suddenly shivered.

Hans opened his eyes. His body was recovering.

Due to the decrease in his body's energy, the recovery rate slowed down a lot.

However, as the bones healed, Hans stood up from the ground.

This was because Zero was right in front of him. The smell of Zero's flesh and blood was like a stimulant, stimulating Hans' senses.

Hans was so hungry that he wanted nothing more than to tear it apart and swallow it.

However, he also discovered that there was something in Zero's hand.

It was round and had a pair of large eyes. It didn't look like a weapon, but more like a creature.

Naturally, Hans could not tell what it was.

He did not care whether it was a weapon or a living creature. Hans did not even put it in his eyes, so why would he care about this little thing?

He grinned evilly and walked towards Zero.

Zero looked at him expressionlessly, raised the little beast in his hand, and put his hands together.

The small beast's body was immediately grabbed and flattened. It let out a "La La" sound and immediately spat out a stream of yellow water arrow from its mouth.

The water arrow hit Hans without any hindrance. Hans was stunned for a moment. Clearly, he was unable to determine the significance of this move.

However, he soon discovered that the part of his body that had been hit by the arrow melted rapidly, like ice and snow under a big sun.

Hans still did not understand what was going on, but Zero continued to squeeze the small beast and constantly spewed out high concentrations of acid.

The little beast was just like a powerful acid machine gun. It was squeezed until its eyes were watering. Unexpectedly, it sprayed streams of acid all over Hans' body.

As soon as the yellow liquid touched Hans's body, it dutifully dissected his muscles, bones, blood vessels, and fibers.

Hans was finally panicking. He realized that his powerful body was not recovering at the speed that it had in the past.

The energy in his body could not be replenished, but the rate at which his body was regenerating could not keep up with the corrosion of the concentrated acid.

This monster, which could not be killed no matter what, was now forced to a dead end by a new life form that had evolved from the Gold-Eating Bug.

This reminded Zero of an old saying in the Eastern Kingdom: "One thing comes with one thing!"

Hans roared in despair and threw himself at Zero.

Unexpectedly, both of his legs were already rotting. With this bit of force, he immediately broke it.

Both of his legs were like mud as he fell to the ground.

He was like a fragile porcelain doll. The moment he touched the ground, his entire body instantly shattered.

Blood mixed with minced meat splattered all over Ling Chen's face, and he finally stopped his actions of squashing the little beast.

This little thing had also sprayed all over Hans' blood. It seemed extremely disgusted and immediately broke free from Zero's hands. It floated in mid-air and shook it with all its might, sending the blood flying out like a puppy.

Zero wiped her face and sighed at Hans.

This monster had an infinitely regenerative physique. It could be said to be a perfect creature, but it didn't want to be eaten alive by the strong acid from the new life form that the Gold-Swallowing Worm had evolved into.

However, regardless, having been able to get rid of Hans, Zero had finally completed the final task entrusted to him by Old Jack. He heaved a sigh of relief.

However, he did not notice that a small part of Hans's blood, which was all over his body, was being absorbed by his own blood pores.

It was a phenomenon that could only be observed with a high-power microscope, so of course he wouldn't notice it.

All he wanted to do now was to go back to the base and take a shower before he slept.

He hadn't slept for three days.

After the battle between the sniper and the sniper ended, Zero felt as if there was an extra point of evolution in his body, and his Agility's enhanced ability showed signs of breaking through to rank 2.

Sure enough, the power of the new era could be obtained through potions, but the more direct and more convenient method was a battle that hovered between life and death!

"Lala — —" Behind him, the small round ball of a beast saw that Lingcun was about to leave and immediately flew over, pitifully staring at him.

Zero frowned at it, then at Hans' corpse, then he sighed and said, "Fine, I owe you one."

The meaning behind his words was that he agreed for this little thing to follow him.

It was unknown whether or not he understood Zero's words, but the little beast let out a happy cry and flew to Zero's shoulder to lie down.

Zero shook his head helplessly. He hoped that this guy's appetite wouldn't be as big as his parents'.

He lifted his foot and was about to leave when his heart suddenly thumped.

An indescribable feeling coursed through his body like an electric current, and Zero suddenly opened his eyes wide and fell flat to the ground.

The little beast was frightened, and was at a loss as to what to do. It flew down to the ground, trying to use its body to make an arch.

He didn't want the small beast to shrink back the moment his body touched nothing.

On Zero's body, there was an unnatural fever.

When he woke up again, it was already two days later.

When he woke up, he felt extremely spirited, and his body was in a very good condition.

He was somewhat puzzled. This was the second time he suddenly fainted.

The first time he felt dizzy was two years ago. It was after he had taken care of the butcher during his mission to Silver Tree City. When he left the hospital, he suddenly fell into a dazed state due to an unknown reason.

The only thing they had in common was that after a dramatic battle, Zero thought that it would not be a good thing if they would fall into a daze after every intense battle.

But now was not the time to study this issue. After leaving the base for five days, he did not know how it was now.

With this question in mind, Zero and the bulbous little beast walked back to the base along the passage opened by the golden bug.

Two hours later, they arrived at the Z7 base's mining area.

The mining area was surprisingly quiet. Due to Hans' destruction, the base's production had yet to resume.

This indirectly also points to the fact that the Parkland plutocrats have not yet taken over the base, otherwise it would have been a different story.

Fortunately, the base's power supply had been restored.

The gate that separated the base from the mining site rumbled open after the button was pressed.

However, a strange scene occurred after the gate of the base was opened.

The corpses of the unfortunate ones had already been cleaned up.

The work area's entrance platform was as clean as ever, but it was currently surrounded by dozens of surviving miners.

One of the zeros went to the man in charge, Gietto, who was holding up his hands and saying something to the group.

But it didn't matter. What did matter was that Leah was in the middle of the crowd.

Everyone, including Jetto, moved away from her as if she were a monster.

Leah lowered her head, the familiar figure, but not the familiar spirit.

It was a familiar sight to Zero, not unlike the one when Hans and Rita had been deported two years ago.

Zero's heart skipped a beat.

His appearance naturally attracted the attention of others.

When the door opened, everyone's eyes fell on him.

Only Leah remained with her back to him, unmoving.

"What's going on?"

Zero asked in a deep voice.

He looked first at Zero, then at the two large-caliber revolvers at his waist, and finally, in a low voice, he said, "Sir, we're going to banish Leah."

"What's the reason?"

"Infection!"

Virus infection!

"Sir," he said, "your Miss Leigh's face."

We don't want that either, but the Parkland people are late.

"In order to ensure everyone's safety, we have no other choice."

He moved silently to the side of Leah, who looked down.

Her blond hair hung down, covering her left cheek.

Reaching out with his fingers, he gently ruffled Lia's hair.

Beneath her hair, her skin was a strange dark red color.

Black lines appeared on the dark red skin, like the blood vessels of a monster.

Lia's left eye had also undergone some changes, and her whites were abnormally white, while her pale golden pupils were now pure black.

The black pupil had shrunk by more than half its normal size. It was embedded in the whites of her eyes, giving Leah an indescribable terror.

Her hair hung down, obscuring the ghostly left side of her face.

Lingcun sighed. The beautiful girl from yesterday no longer existed.

Old Jack's death, the inexplicable virus, had caused Leah's heart to sink into her grave.

"You're here, too, sir."

She must leave. "

Gato stressed.

Zero: "Yes, she has to go."

Leah's head drooped even lower at the sound of zero.

"But I'll go with her."

Zero sounded like he was saying something that didn't matter, his tone was as calm as water.

Leah looked up, stunned, toward zero.

Zero held her hand and said, "Don't worry. I will definitely heal you."

"I promise!"

Zero's eyes were calm and firm.

In the golden pupils, one could see the still beautiful face of Lia.

Just like when the two of them first met.

Lia noticed that the original zero's eyes had never hesitated or blurred.

She was in zero pupils, her own clear figure.

"Yes."

Lia nodded softly but equally firmly.

Today, at this moment, she had placed her fate in the hands of this man!