CH 61

Chapter 61: Zhou Yu & Mo Ye vs the death dahlia

When they were less than five meters away from the lizard monster, it suddenly raised its head and leaped, accurately pouncing on the small creature with a speed that surprised Zhou Yu.

This caused Zhou Yu, who had originally decided to move, to stop.

The lizard monster became quiet after tearing apart its prey and devouring it into its belly.

It got up and headed in Zhou Yu and the others’ direction.

Zhou Yu and Wu Yun had no choice but to step back. They automatically blocked in front of the two team members; unlike Zhou Yu and Wu Yun, they were not experienced in dealing with the organisms of Nibelungen. They would not observe their habits first then make judgments based on experimentation, like Zhou Yu or Wu Yun. Once they lose their rationality, they would produce devastating results.

In any case, Zhou Yu believed that it only recognized prey that entered into a certain range around it.

As they retreated, a cry of surprise came from behind them.

Another lizard monster had somehow gotten behind them, and with their retreat, it attacked the nearest team member among them!

It bit the shoulder of the team member and quickly dragged it along the ground.

The team member took out his gun and shot rapid-fire at the lizard monster. But because of his shoulder injury, he was unable to control his aim, the bullets were pelted out chaotically in a shower of sparks.

Wu Yun ran over to try and save him, but he was almost hit by a bullet.

“Fuck—if you keep shooting wildly, I’ll gun you down!”

A bullet hit in front of his toes. Just a millimeter closer, and Wu Yun would have died.

It was so dark in the cave that none of them could open fire when the target couldn’t be seen clearly.

“In the future, even if we’re going to work in broad daylight, we have to be equipped with night vision goggles!”

This was Wu Yun’s newfound experience.

Zhou Yu ran hard, chasing after Wu Yun. Wu Yun chased after the lizard monster. The other team member chased after Zhou Yu following his footsteps.

The only thing Zhou Yu could feel was that the ground under his feet sloped slightly downwards. If it continued in the same way, then they should be running somewhere deeper.

None of this was a coincidence; whether it was the “messengers,” the perytons, the attack on the helicopter, the giant birds that drove them into a crevice in the valley, or the vines that sealed the entrance—all of this indicated that some organism was driving them into the depths of the cave.

They could not continue to let it take the reins!

Just as Zhou Yu was reaching into his backpack, a cool breeze came rushing at them. Zhou Yu pulled the trigger without blinking. A crash sounded. Something dropped down from the shot and fell on the team member who had sprinted over with them.

“Are you all right?” Zhou Yu took out his light stick and shone it over him.

The team member pushed the lizard monster away with difficulty and crawled out, looking terrified.

Zhou Yu pulled him up.

“Just what is this?!”

When the light stick passed over it, Zhou Yu seemed to find something on the lizard monster. He said to the team member, “Stay on guard!”

He squatted down and shone the light stick over the monster’s carcass.

The scales on its body seemed to have been pushed out from underneath its flesh and were still carrying traces of blood on them. Zhou Yu had no doubt that it must have been very painful when the scales were growing.

There were some scars on its neck, like marks left behind after being violently scratched.

Also…  it seemed to have an Adam’s apple?

Its abdomen and the lower part of its arms were not scaly. Zhou Yu narrowed his eyes and reached out to turn its arm over.

“Instructor Zhou…” The team member who followed Zhou Yu was worried. What if it wasn’t dead yet and suddenly attacked Zhou Yu?

“It’s fine.” Zhou Yu flipped its forearm over and found that there was a faint pattern there, already unintelligible from wear.

“Instructor Zhou, what are you looking at? Let’s leave it alone. I’m worried about Instructor Wu… “

“They’re tattoos,” Zhou Yu said suddenly.

“What? Tattoos? How could that be possible?”

He also crouched down and looked towards the glow of the light stick, where there was indeed a tattoo-like mark.

“It seems to be an English name… This looks like ‘E’, and this letter looks like a ‘Y’,” Zhou Yu said.

“If it’s an English name, then it looks like “Emily”. But how could the creatures here have tattoos?! Did someone help tattoo it?”

The information that Song Zhi had given to them about Dr. Turing’s last mission flashed through Zhou Yu’s mind.

In it, there was a guy named Chris with a note on his profile that said that he had the name of his fiancee tattooed on his forearm. Emily.

“He’s probably Chris Fanks.”

Zhou Yu got up.

“What? This guy… is a lost field worker? Impossible! This is clearly a monster!”

What was going on? How could he have become like this?

If Chris Fanks had become like this, then what about the other field workers? What about Dr. Turing? Had he become a lizard monster too?

“Shit! Wu Yun!”

If his reasoning was correct, then there must be something here that could cause changes in humans! Zhou Yu held up his light stick, the other team member following behind him.

Up ahead of him, he faintly saw Wu Yun holding a light stick.

“Wu Yun, are you okay?”

Wu Yun made a gesture meaning “silence” at Zhou Yu. Then he stretched his hand over his head to indicate to Zhou Yu that there was something above them. The three of them stood back-to-back, guarding each other.

In the end, Zhou Yu decided to take out a flare and launch it upwards.

The flare went up more than ten meters before it exploded.

The whole cave was illuminated, and all three of them were instantly rendered speechless.

The cave was much larger than they’d thought; it was about the same size as the cave where Elpis had been growing. There were numerous holes along the stone wall of the cave.

Several lizard monsters were lingering on that stone wall. They didn’t respond at all to the intense light.

The team member who had been bitten on the shoulder by the lizard monster was already dragged up the stone wall, his legs dangling in the air. His gun had fallen down and was on the ground.

“So… many… What should we do?” the team member following Zhou Yu asked.

The team member who had been taken away was still alive and shivering from blood loss.

Even though they could see clearly at the moment, the second they were to open fire, that team member would fall from a height and likely die from it.

The other lizard monsters turned their heads in their direction. Zhou Yu realized that they had entered into the hunting range of the lizard monsters.

Zhou Yu secretly counted the number of lizard monsters; it matched up with the number of missing field workers.

“They’re most likely the field workers who were protecting Dr. Turing,” Zhou Yu said.

“How is that possible?!” Wu looked at Zhou Yu as if he’d lost his mind.

Zhou Yu tilted his chin and motioned for Wu Yun to watch the lizard monster that was biting onto their team member.

The lizard climbed higher and higher, and from the residual light of the dissipating flare, they could see that there was something on its forearm.

Wu Yun’s eyes widened; it was the same locator as the one on his arm! It was basic equipment Juli Corp gave to all researchers to protect them on expeditions!

Wu Yun also found that another one of the crawling lizards was wearing a camouflage suit that was tattered beyond repair!

These were not coincidences.

“This… What’s going on here? If they are really from that team, do they still have any awareness?” Wu Yun asked.

“If they are aware, then they wouldn’t attack us.” Zhou Yu raised his gun. “Before they attack us en masse, get rid of them.”

It would be impossible to bring those who had lost their human consciousness back to the base, and waiting for the lizards to attack them would be too late.

Compassion for those of the same kind was meaningless now.

The lizard monster climbed higher and higher. The bitten team member begged weakly. “Help me… Please, help me…”

Meanwhile, something was slowly blooming at the apex of the cave. It was a giant flower.

The brightness of the flare was lost. Zhou Yu tilted his head up, but he could only see a large shadow at the top of the cave.

Hell was slowly devouring their world.

“Wu Yun! Do you have any flares?” Zhou Yu said coldly.

Without replying, Wu Yun fired a second flare.

The interior of the cave brightened up again.

Zhou Yu peered up at the giant flower.

Its petals seemed to be translucent. The center was silver while the edges were a pale gold color. It was more exquisite than the paintings on the ceilings of Western churches.

Its beauty was that of which one simply couldn’t look away from.

From the heart of the flower, some kind of red flesh thread slowly reached out and wrapped around the wounded team member carried by the lizard monster.

“What the hell is that?!” Wu Yun looked at Zhou Yu.

“The death dahlia…” As Zhou Yu answered, he raised his gun and shot above them. The thread of flesh from the death dahlia quickly shoved the injured team member into its center while pulling over the lizard monster that was closest to it, thereby blocking Zhou Yu’s bullet.

The death dahlia, like Elpis, was an A rank organism, but it was much crueler than Elpis. It also had the ability to manipulate low-level creatures. The “messenger” birds and perytons near the valley were under its control. Its flowering heart could grow several red meat threads, which were its digestive organs. But as for how the death dahlia had turned those field workers into the way they are was unknown to Zhou Yu.

“Fuck…” Zhou hadn’t thought that something so big that was an obvious target fixed in place could move so quickly.

Meanwhile, the lizards that had been attached to the cave wall all pounced at them. They were being controlled by the death dahlia and had long been reduced to its subjects.

Zhou Yu replaced his magazine, Wu Yun and their remaining teammate started shooting in all directions, trigger-happy and reckless.

Several lizards were hit and fell to the ground.

Zhou Yu calmly took aim amidst their frenzied gunfire and dispatched three lizard monsters that were close to him.

Still, there was one that rushed above their heads, its claws swiping over the body of that team member. Zhou Yu immediately shot it.

“Ah…” The team member fell to the ground.

“Hey, are you all right?” Wu Yun pulled him up and checked his shoulder. Fortunately, it only ripped his outer clothing.

Presently, the lizard monsters in the cave were all dead.

Wu Yun heaved a sigh while Zhou Yu reached out to pull Wu Yun and the other team members away. “Be careful!”

The closed heart of the death dahlia slowly opened again and a lizard monster was slowly spat out.

There was a thick, viscous liquid all over its body. It fell to the ground with a “splat”.

It slowly crawled up, blood gushing as scales broke through the skin on its back and body. 

“My God…”

Zhou Yu and the rest kept retreating, watching it struggle in pain. It opened its mouth wide, but it couldn’t make a sound. Then it stretched out a twisted front claw to grab its own throat.

“It… It was just eaten…” The team member behind Wu Yun was dumbstruck.

It all went beyond his comprehension.

“Is the death dahlia you mentioned… able to do… that?” Wu Yun asked.

Just then, the lizard monster’s human eyes suddenly lost their pupils and rolled up, only leaving behind the whites of its eyes.

It looked down as if sensing something, then charged in the direction of Zhou Yu and Wu Yun.

Zhou Yu did not utter a single word; he pulled the trigger and shot it dead center on the head, ending it.

The death dahlia opened its mouth again, the countless threads of flesh making a slimy sound before extending out from above.

Without any delay, Zhou Yu raised his gun at the heart of the flower and let loose a burst of bullets.

But there was a layer of mucus on the epidermis of the death dahlia, causing the bullets to hit the mucus as if it was hitting bulletproof clothing. It was impossible to shoot into the interior of the death dahlia, so any nervous system compounds would not be effective.

The threads of flesh started to squirm like crazy. Zhou Yu and Wu Yun fired while running.

They went along the only underground river. The team member trailing behind them shouted out loud, and Zhou Yu turned to find that a meat thread had pierced his ankle and was dragging him away.

Wu Yun and Zhou Yu wanted to get closer, but there was already a string of meat that had extended to them.

What should they do?!

What could they do now?

Their bullets couldn’t pierce it and its flesh was an extremely strong puncturing weapon! It was an A rank organism; if they didn’t take care of it here, then even if were to leave the cave, it could still manipulate other creatures to kill them!

Zhou Yu realized for the first time that he had been forced into a dead end.

Wu Yun had emptied his ammunition clip and had no choice but to take out the dagger from his hip. “If worse comes to worst, we’ll duke it out! I’m living on borrowed time anyway!”

At this time, a voice sounded in Zhou Yu’s mind. I am here, Zhou Yu, I am here.

Zhou Yu’s pupils trembled when he realized that the voice belonged to Mo Ye.

He thought he was far enough from the base, so he didn’t expect Mo Ye to still be in his mind!

Zhou Yu, I am not your enemy. I want to bring you back, so don’t reject or resist me again. Even once… just this once is enough. Please believe me.

Zhou closed his eyes and remembered the first time Mo Ye had saved him.

What is there to be afraid of, Zhou Yu? There can be no worse ending than their current predicament. The death dahlia was an A rank organism; indeed, only an S rank organism like Mo Ye could deal with it!

Zhou Yu spoke inwardly. All right. If I believe you, then what should I do?

Mo Ye replied, Let me borrow your body. Let me take charge of everything.

Zhou Yu took a deep breath. He knew that at this point in time, he had no other choice.

Mo Ye’s voice rang out again. Relax, Zhou Yu… Relax…

He felt like he had sunken into a warm embrace, and Mo Ye was holding him tightly from behind. He was plastered against Zhou Yu’s cheek, his breaths sweeping through every cell of his skin and permeating into his body.

“Don’t worry, leave everything to me…  Believe in me.”

When Zhou Yu opened his eyes again, he starting sprinting.

“Zhou Yu! What are you doing?!” Wu Yun reached out to grab him, but Zhou Yu was too fast and eluded him.

Just as the threads of meat were about to stab into Zhou Yu’s body, an intangible force seemed to push them back and instantly disperse them.

Wu Yun was stupefied. He followed behind him.

Zhou Yu’s headlong dash went unimpeded, and he ran straight underneath the death dahlia, where he raised his head.

The strings of meat quickly withdrew as if they were frightened, and they retracted into the heart of the flower. Even the petals in bloom quickly closed up.

“What’s going on?” Catching up to him, Wu Yun was shocked by the scene. “Zhou Yu! Come back! Zhou Yu!”

But Zhou Yu did not respond at all.

The hellish dahlia seemed to want to shrink up and not be found. It seemed to be afraid of Zhou Yu.

When Zhou Yu looked up, his eyes suddenly turned golden.

The hellish dahlia at the crest of the cave seemed to have been forced into a corner. Out of nowhere, it suddenly unfurled its petals, about to swallow Zhou Yu.

Wu Yun was terrified. Even though he only had his dagger left, he could not let Zhou Yu be eaten!

Just when Wu Yun rushed up, a force seemed to batter the death dahlia’s petals, completely tearing them apart. They fell around Zhou Yu.

But Zhou Yu continued to look up.

Time came to a stand-still.

The petals that had fallen to the ground rotted and decayed in the blink of an eye.

The team member who had been swallowed up by the death dahlia was also regurgitated out.

He was still conscious. Now that he’d finally gotten oxygen, he started to hack up a lung.

Zhou Yu turned to Wu Yun and said, “Let’s go.”

The color of Zhou Yu’s pupils startled Wu Yun. He instantly drew his gun and aimed at Zhou Yu.

“What are you? What did you do to Zhou Yu?”

Wu Yun’s hand around the gun was steady, but his heart was pounding violently.

In front of him, the man’s lips slowly curved up in a smirk that undoubtedly did not belong to Zhou Yu.

It was lazy and arrogant.

It was as if he had been born superior to them all.

“Wu Yun, I am Mo Ye. If you don’t want to die, then come with me while I still have my powers.”

Wu Yun understood immediately.

Zhou Yu, who was being controlled by Mo Ye, bent down and pulled up the team member who had lost his strength. He effortlessly carried him over his shoulder.

His strength was extraordinary; he was clearly carrying a person, yet his gait remained as steady as ever. 

They walked following the stream.

Trailing behind him, Wu Yun was harboring strange emotions.

“Are you really Mo Ye?”

“If I’m not Mo Ye, then could I be the death dahlia?” Mo Ye’s voice carried a mocking tone.

This was a tone that Zhou Yu would not use under normal circumstances.

“Are you in Zhou Yu’s body?” Wu Yun asked again.

“My mind is in Zhou Yu’s body. Did you want to ask, that if I had parasitized Zhou Yu, should you be trying to kill me?”

“Zhou Yu is my brother,” Wu Yun replied.

[T/N: As an experienced cnovel reader knows, they are not literally brothers.]

He was willing to try anything to cure Zhou Yu, but he couldn’t bear to pull the trigger on him.

“If it’s not parasitism, then how are you controlling Zhou Yu’s body only through your mind?” Wu Yun asked.

It was entirely like he was possessed. Wu Yun found it hard to understand.

“Like how ‘messengers’ are able to share their sight with perytons and perytons are controlled by the death dahlia, this is remote telepathy, a special ability of the organisms in Nibelungen.”

[T/N: A direct translation would be something like “remote sensing of thought”.]

“So how did you kill the death dahlia? You didn’t even touch it!”

“As you say, Nibelungen’s organisms have a strict hierarchy. I outrank it, thus I can kill it. ” Mo Ye spoke as plainly as drinking a cup of tea.

“Can you kill us in the same way?” Wu Yun asked again.

“No, because your neural architecture is different from the organisms of Nibelungen. The creatures here have a special type of nerve pulse; all the creatures here rely on it to some extent to connect with one another. The higher the ranking, the stronger this power is. Like how A rank organisms like Elpis can manipulate lower-ranked organisms, as an S rank organism, I have a much stronger pulse force.”

“Thank you for your popular science explanation. I think Mr. Song would be very interested in what you just said,” Wu Yun replied.

“But I have no interest in sharing this knowledge with him. I prefer to watch him fumble about in the dark—it would be even better if he strays further down the wrong path.” There was a touch of ridicule in Mo Ye’s voice.

“Fine, I’m not too fond Song Zhi either. So besides Zhou Yu, can you also control other human bodies?” Wu Yun suddenly grew worried. If his presumption was correct, then everyone at the base was in serious danger. And Mo Ye’s so-called restriction of freedom was just a game he was playing with human beings in his spare time.

“What nonsense are you thinking of? It’s Zhou Yu’s blood that’s in my body and our genes are matched. That’s why I can use my abilities through his body. But as for other human beings, other than enticing you, reading your thoughts, and playing a prank… the rest is of no use.”

Mo Ye suddenly turned around and leaned towards Wu Yun.