After being knocked unconscious, the three newbies were dragged here by a group of slime mold fruiting bodies, and then moved to a claustrophobic room.
This seems to be somewhere in the underground transportation network of Qingquan City, but it has been transformed beyond recognition by plaque, and it is impossible to tell where it is.
The player who woke up first shook his head and put his hands on the ground. He felt something sticky on his hands and was startled when he opened his eyes.
All I could see was a scarlet red surrounding, and the throbbing carpet of bacteria was like fresh meat, emitting an unsettling stench.
The big pig's trotters looked around blankly, and it took a long time to hold back a sentence.
"What the hell? What the hell is this place?"
How come I was offline for a while, and then even moved my position when I came back online?
At this time, another man and woman who had been kidnapped also woke up and were trembling with fear when they saw the situation around them.
Hungry force: "I giao...could we be swallowed by slime mold?"
Bowing to the hungry forces: "Wake up, you are such a big lump, how can you swallow it if you don't chew it till it's chewed up?
Hungry force: "......?"
Bow to the hungry forces: "I was wrong."
At this moment, a strange figure appeared in the dark entrance ahead.
It was two people tall, and its burly body almost occupied the entire passage. Its face had only abstract facial features, its upper body was burly and strong, and its lower body had a stretched skirt, with cilia like octopus tentacles rolling around the edges.
It is somewhat similar to Xiao Yu when she was still a mother, but it is obviously larger and has fewer human elements.
The three of them were all startled by the abstract appearance of this guy, and backed away with expressions on their faces that they had seen a ghost.
Unfortunately, this is a dead end. There is a wall behind them, and there is no room to move.
Seeing the guy slowly moving his tentacles in front of him, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, he swallowed, raised his neck and breathed hard.
"Gu...just kill me, I won't say anything!"
It is said that she has wanted to try this line for a long time, and the key is that they, the newbies, don’t know anything about it.
I don't know if he understood her words or just heard her voice. The alien turned its abstract facial features towards her, and the hem of the skirt that was sticking to the ground suddenly opened a crack.
Just when everyone was wondering what it was going to do, countless tentacles rushed out from the gap and instantly pulled her into the open and bloody mouth.
He didn't even have time to scream "wooka", and the hungry force that was still stubborn a second ago disappeared in the closed "mouth".
The open hem of the skirt moved up and down, as if it was being chewed carefully.
Seeing his partner being eaten by the monster in front of him, he bowed his head to the hungry forces and after a brief daze, let out a hoarse scream.
"Wife!! I will fight with you!"
After saying that, he struggled to stand up and rushed towards the monster, which was two people tall, with his fists raised.
However, his fate was no different from previous players.
Before he could even take two steps, he was tripped by a tentacle sticking out from under his skirt. Like a mosquito landing in front of a frog, he was licked into the bloody mouth without any suspense.
.
A pair of dogs, a man and a woman, both died.
After having a full meal, Siya swayed the tentacles under her body and slapped the ground happily, as if chewing the steak she had swallowed in her mouth.
It's just that the abstract facial features still have a trace of confusion, as if they are wondering about something.
Looking at the scarlet skirt that was constantly beating, Big Pig Trotters' face turned pale nervously, and he rolled his eyes in desperation.
"Brother! Don't eat me, I'm not good at eating...I, I, I surrender! Do you need a translator? I'll be your bastard!"
I heard that this game has a lot of freedom.
What if it happens?
Xia turned her abstract facial features to him, and
After thinking for a while, he suddenly opened the skirt that was close to the ground again without any warning.
Looking at the clothes falling out from inside and the tentacles rolling like a meat grinder, Big Pig Trotters had a premonition of his own end, and his expression suddenly changed.
This is damning no matter what! "I-"
Before he could even curse the dog mastermind, the open bloody mouth swallowed him up. Without even a chance to resist, his remaining consciousness merged into the scarlet sea of blood.
Feeling the breath of life melting into her body, Xia chewed quietly for a while, and the confusion on her face gradually turned into incomprehensible anguish.
"strangeness.
As if aware of the child's confusion, the mother's voice appeared quietly in its hazy sea of consciousness.
"What's wrong? My child."
Facing the empty scarlet wall and the indigestible impurities left at her feet, West Asia murmured silently.
"They are empty.
Those guys are empty shells.
And it's even worse than simple organisms like cockroaches and mice
A pure empty shell, like a blank piece of paper without any information.
This is the first time since its birth that it has seen such a strange creature.
This kind of thing cannot be assimilated, or even if it is assimilated, it has no meaning. They are just a walking zombie.
It cannot understand what kind of existence they are.
Are they, like their mother's "fruiting bodies", puppets controlled by some consciousness outside the body?
But they showed a strong sense of autonomy. Sia couldn't help but feel confused on her face.
Could it be
Do these humans also have nests?
"They are assimilated alien species."
Vault No. 404, B4 Floor Browsing Room.
Sitting on the sofa, Heya briefly explained to Chu Guang and Yin Fang the preliminary test results of the two fruiting body samples from the Alliance Biological Research Institute.
Hearing the unexpected and interesting statement, Yin Fang put down the coffee cup in his hand and raised his eyebrows with interest.
"assimilation?"
Hea nodded seriously and continued. "That's right... the slime mold collected their DNA data, and while absorbing their organic matter, retained part of it.
Nervous tissue that originally belonged to those organisms themselves.”
After a pause, she continued.
"You still remember Bachi, right? He's the guy who was parasitized by slime mold. His situation is similar to those of those special fruiting bodies, except that the slime mold in Qingquan City is obviously more aggressive than that in Yongdong City. The slime mold here is
The slime mold assimilates more thoroughly, turning most of the captured organisms into parts of its own body, retaining only a small part of the host's brain tissue.
In a sense, this is actually an improvement for the mutant slime mold in Qingquan City.
It's like going from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age.
In addition to making weapons from the bones of their prey, they also learned to tame them—that is, to train their prey into "combat-type servitors" that are obedient to them.
Yin Fang pinched his chin and fell into deep thought.
Chu Guang, who had been silent all this time, coughed lightly.
"Can you put it in another way that I can understand?"
Hea explained patiently.
"To put it simply, they have made improvements on the basis of unified consciousness. In the past, both gnawers and crawlers hunted under the guidance of the mother nest, but now some of the special fruiting bodies have retained what they were before they were assimilated.
With their combat experience, they can use the more powerful bodies given to them by the slime mold to hunt in the original way."
Yin Fang interjected and said.
"It's equivalent to a combat robot with intelligent plug-ins installed and not controlled by the cloud server.
Hea snapped her fingers.
"That's right!
Chu Guang touched his chin and thought.
"
Does this mean anything?"
Yin Fang analyzed it according to his own understanding.
"The meaning is that the mother nest can allocate more of the hive's "computing resources" to strategic-level command, while some higher-level sub-entities and evolved entities can make tactical-level decisions on their own based on experience. Even if their tactics are not necessarily brilliant.
, but it will be more flexible and changeable than before... Am I right to understand this?"
Hea smiled and nodded.
"Yes, that's it!"
Picking up the coffee cup and taking a sip, Yin Fang sighed and said.
"It has evolved to this level in just one year...the speed of evolution of this thing is too exaggerated."
Hea shook her head.
"It's not just a year, evolution is a long-term process. They have been learning from us, whether it is our tools or our society... I am more inclined to think that the alliance appears to a certain extent.
They have accelerated their evolution, but what really drives them to change from quantitative to qualitative changes is their long-term observation of us.
Spore clouds are spread all over Qingquan City, and theoretically the mother body in the city center can indeed see them.
Just like the Alliance's Biological Research Institute has been looking for a solution to the Brood, that guy must also be tirelessly looking for a solution to the disintegration of human society.
Perhaps it would be better to eradicate them in the early days of the Wasteland Era. The slime molds at that time would not be as difficult to deal with as they are now.
But these are all things for later.
People at that time also had their own troubles. It was not easy to survive in the severe cold of dozens of degrees below zero, let alone fight an unprepared battle against an unknown enemy.
"Actually...compared to what you said, I'm more worried about another thing."
Seeing the two people looking at him, Chu Guang paused and slowly continued.
"They have gradually learned to hide themselves during evolution, testing us and at the same time consciously preventing us from obtaining their remains."
"They seem to know us better and better.
"..."
"Wasteland OL" official website.
Different from the solemn atmosphere in the browsing room, the forum is bustling with excitement at the moment.
Since the release of the new expansion pack, players have been looking forward to what new work Gou Plan will do, and it turns out that this time
Didn't disappoint.
The original wave was a group of fruiting bodies swarming up to A. Now this group of fruiting bodies not only knew how to move, but also performed a wave of jaw-dropping coordination, and even kidnapped three children under the nose of Quan Shui.
New.
This is something no one expected.
Quitting smoking: "Bullshit!"
Battlefield Atmosphere Team: “Even the water from the dog spring is deflated, it’s unscientific! (Funny)
Commander of Quanshui: "Get out of here, I'm so embarrassed. Picking up a body is already a great achievement, okay?"
Yin Leina: "Speaking of which, where are the remaining corpses? Isn't there a monster? (Curiosity)"
Commander Quan Shui: "When the fog cleared, it was gone. It was probably towed away and recovered, or eaten on the spot."
Fang Chang: "It's okay if you eat it..."
Ye Shi: "Hey...this new mother's body feels like something."
Makabazi: "Speaking of the brothers who were kidnapped by those fruiting bodies? Haven't they come down yet?"
Big Pig Trotter: "That's me... I might have seen the mother's body!"
Upon hearing these words, the players squatting in the post instantly became excited.
Quit smoking: “Holy shit! Is this real or fake?”
Elf King Fugui: "Tell me what that thing looks like, brother. (Funny)"
Big Pig Hoof: "I don't know how to describe it, it's a bit like Xiao Yu's appearance before...it's a bit bigger and uglier.
Although he has never seen Xiaoyu in the game, speaking of
There are always photos of Xiaoyu posted by other players on the forum.
Comparing those photos, Xiaoyu still bears some resemblance to it, except that the contours of his facial features and body are smoother, and the color is more pink.
An inappropriate but vivid metaphor is that the mother body called West Asia is more like a shark with its mouth wide open, the kind that can scare children into tears. Xiaoyu is more like a dolphin, although there are also ferocious ones.
One side, but closer to human aesthetics.
Commander Quanshui: "Do you remember where you saw that guy?"
Big Pig Trotters: "I don't know...but I feel like it's somewhere underground. It's very similar to a subway station.
Edge of water: "Subway station... this target is too broad."
Commander Quanshui: "But no matter what, I can confirm that this time the mother's nest and the incubation room are hidden underground... Damn it, no wonder it's something we haven't seen before."
Fang Chang: "@Big pig's trotters, in the end that female body ate you all?"
Bowing to the hungry forces: "Yes, it killed my wife in one bite
Swallowed it...in front of me, oooooooooo
Hungry force: "Tsk, you guy, don't speak so strangely, okay? (angry)
Like a hungry force, he bowed his head: "I was wrong." Big Pig Trotter: "..."
Commander Quanshui: "Then what? Don't you find anything else? Anything is fine."
Hungry force: "Well, I feel...it seems to be responding to our voices.
Commander of Fountain: "Voice?"
Hungry force: "At first it seemed to be planning to eat my partner first, but as soon as I opened my mouth to speak, it swallowed me first... I always felt that it didn't understand what I said.
What is it? After all, I don’t know Renlian.”
Like a hungry force, he lowered his head and said: "Hey... I also remembered when you said that. I was the second one to say anything, and then I was eaten right after you."
Hungry force: "So this alien species relies on sound to hunt?"
Commander Quanshui: "No, I think there is another possibility. It mistook you for a human giving orders...like the alpha wolf among the wolves."
Hungry force: "Ah? I still have this ability?"
Like the hungry forces, they bowed their heads and said, "What the hell? Is my partner capable of this?"
Commander Fountain: "Then I don't know, but maybe that's how it looks from its perspective. After all, most mammals
They all rely on vocal cords to transmit information. Maybe the mother's nest understands sound as a kind of biological pheromone.
Big Pig Trotter: "Speaking of which, I also discovered an unusual place. I don't know if it's a clue... The guy who was suspected to be the mother's body seemed to be very surprised after taking those two bites.
Commander of Quanshui: "Surprised?"
Big Pig Trotter: "Yes, it feels like eating the wrong thing... I looked at it and savored it for a long time before vomiting out the clothes and shoes."
Fang Chang: "It's interesting."
Quit smoking: “Uh, what do you mean?”
Fang Chang: "...Do you think there is a possibility that in the cognition of slime mold, other organisms are "mushrooms" with autonomous consciousness, and the clones we use just don't have autonomy?
Consciousness, so it is confusing where our autonomous consciousness comes from.
Commander Quanshui: "It seems we have thought of something together." Fang Chang: "However, if my inference is correct, this mother body is probably different from all the mother bodies we have encountered before. It is not easy for prey.
Eat them, but select some of them and assimilate them into 'one of our own'."
Just as everyone was discussing, an announcement suddenly popped up from the official website.
["The Return of the Tide" expansion pack update: Added the concept of "assimilated body"]
[According to the findings of the Alliance Research Institute, "West Asia" will consciously capture organisms that invade the territory and assimilate them into ethnic groups
A part of it, retaining its aggressiveness and part of its self-awareness, while forcibly implanting biological prosthetics to transform it.】
[Currently known “assimilations”:
1. Bacteria-eating monsters: They have similar strength to monsters, and their recovery and defense capabilities are enhanced by biological prosthetics constructed from slime molds. Their individual combat effectiveness is even more powerful than that of monsters.
2. Bacteriophageous Death Claw: It has the speed and agility of the Death Claw, and on this basis has enhanced resilience and damage resistance. No samples have been collected yet, and qualitative biological analysis cannot be done. We can only speculate based on combat images.
, which has combat effectiveness comparable to that of an evolved body.
3. Bacteriophage Explosives: A slime mold fruiting body that is suspected of being re-assimilated. No biological prototype has been found in the ecological environment around Qingquan City. Its ability is speculated to be to actively detonate itself and release corrosive poisonous mist, which will be destroyed by other fruiting bodies.
It is thrown as a projectile.
] Quit smoking: “Fuck!”
Debt Big Eyes: "6666! We just updated the settings of the assimilation body as soon as we talked about assimilation!"
Ye Shi: "Brother Guang has plagiarized the forum! (Funny)" Fang Chang: "But this server announcement proves that our idea is correct. There are two pieces of information that can be extracted. First, West Asia has 'Assimilation'
Fighter's characteristics will transform part of
The prey uses their combat experience to be better at micro-management than the mother body in the previous wave. Secondly, it has focused on our differences and is consciously studying us and learning from us... It just hinders us.
Due to limited knowledge, it may cause some deviations in our understanding.
Commander Quanshui: "These two clues are crucial! Since our opponents are no longer the group of fools in the last wave, the form of the wave has probably undergone fundamental changes. It is very dangerous to use the original ideas to formulate tactics. of."
Edge of water: "You mean, they may not play according to the routine? Bypassing our defense line in the northern suburbs?"
Commander Quanshui: "This is very likely. The experience of measuring the attack direction of slime mold through the concentration of spore clouds is very likely to be invalid in this battle!"
Commander Quanshui: "I even think that the wave has already started, but they are taking advantage of the inertia of our understanding of them to stay put and deliberately follow the timetable we expected. After two weeks, they only need to send out a large number of cannon fodder , just like the last wave, it rushes towards our position, and then sends a small group of elite troops around to the flank where our defense strength is the most empty, and can eat up our entire defense line in one go!"
Luo Yu: "I'll blanch it?! Do slime molds still have this kind of arrogance?"
Construction site boy and Brick: "Well, you don't think too much, do you?
Commander of the Spring Water: "I heard that slime mold can plan the shortest path to food based on its location. The mutant slime mold we are facing is obviously smarter than the real slime mold.
Much more, I have reason to believe these guys will do this kind of thing.
Fang Chang: "I agree, anything can happen on the battlefield. My opinion is the same as yours. If you underestimate the enemy, you will suffer big losses.
Midnight Killing Chicken: "It's too troublesome. Do you two have any plans?"
Fang Chang: "After hearing what happened to the two cute newcomers, I have an idea.
Edge paddling: "What do you think?"
Fang Chang: "As we all know, a guy who is a little smart but not smart enough is easier to deceive than a fool who doesn't understand anything. This time the matrix is smarter and more difficult to deal with than before, but we can also take advantage of this in turn. "
Edge paddling: "How to use this?"
Fang Chang: "It's very simple. The idea is the same as the intelligence war during World War II. Since they understand us as a group of organisms that rely on sound waves as pheromones to transmit information, then we only need to forge a mother's nest that gives orders and send us Just show it the "flaws"!"