MASG chapter 62

 

Xia Yu and Mi Dou stopped abruptly.

Jingwei: [What happened? I’ve already sent your coordinates to Ling Shi. If Ling Shi reports back, Mo An and the others will be able to quickly pinpoint your location.]

Xia Yu and Mi Dou remained silent. Neither of them had ever witnessed such a change. Everything happening underground was bizarre, and it was unclear if it was connected to their church. Ma Jiayuan wasn’t being aggressive. He was just standing there, so they didn’t want to provoke him.

Rather, they didn’t want him to discover their presence.

Jingwei didn’t speak again. Only two words flashed on the screen: [Be careful.]

Clearly, Jingwei also sensed that something was wrong. The simultaneous silence of Xia Yu and Mi Dou meant that they had encountered an unsolvable problem. The underground bunker was dimly lit, making Ma Jiayuan’s strange body appear even more peculiar. He stood motionless and silent in the way, as if in some kind of meditative state.

They were very close to the emergency exit, yet Mo An and his team still hadn’t come to rescue them. Xia Yu had a bad feeling; perhaps something was happening on the surface, too.

They’d been ambushed!

This was definitely a well-planned ambush, striking from underground to the surface and catching them completely off guard. Everyone involved in the operation had been tricked, and the attack occurred during breakfast. With this thought, Xia Yu once again drew his ordinary gun.

“Where are you going?” Unexpectedly, Ma Jiayuan spoke up.

“Where are you going?” Xia Yu repeated his question, not giving him a direct answer.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here. Evolution is complete. This is my final resting place.” Ma Jiayuan’s hands moved in unison, like the gestures of a magician or a cultist performing a ritual. Xia Yu slowly approached the wall, turned his back to it, and faced the danger head-on with his gun barrels raised.

“What is evolution?” he asked. “Your ‘Blooming Project’? What exactly does ‘blooming’ mean? What is your relationship with the Cult of Mechanical Omnipotence?”

Mi Dou seized the opportunity to pull a small bottle from his pocket and clutched it secretly behind Xia Yu, ready to strike at any moment. The two worked seamlessly together: one led the charge while the other ambushed.

“Compared to our evolution, the Blooming Plan is utterly insignificant. True evolution is an unparalleled miracle. That day will come sooner or later. When that day comes…” Ma Jiayuan spoke haltingly. His thick legs, as thick as gasoline drums, began to ooze liquid. The liquid was milky white. First, it pooled into a puddle. Then, it became trickles that flowed down his skin. Each trickle was like a long worm crawling on his body.

“What ‘when that day comes’? Which day is that?” Xia Yu felt as if he had been hit in the back of the head, and his memory flashed back. He remembered hearing those words before…on the day Mo An hatched!

The fishmen grabbed him and tried to remove his lungs. They pinned him to the junkyard and studied whether lungs could regenerate.

“When that day comes, they’ll definitely come in handy!”

That’s right! That’s what they said! Xia Yu’s pupils constricted as if a thread had connected in his mind—a sentence from over a decade ago that had become the fuse for today. What exactly would happen on this “day” these people spoke of?

“Explain yourself clearly, and I guarantee you’ll live.” Xia Yu used this delaying tactic because there was probably more to this than just the Mechanical Omnipotent Cult.

“Hahaha, hahahaha, you didn’t participate in evolution, you will surely die! The apocalypse is coming; the knights are descending! The Apocalypse is coming! The Knights are descending! The second knight has arrived! You can’t see it, and you won’t possess any miracles!” Ma Jiayuan’s voice grew louder and louder as the massive change within his body was about to erupt. His consciousness had already left his brain. Xia Yu and Mi Dou could hear his sobs.

“Come, come, great evolution. Holy you, welcome to your descent. The one true God, Yehuai.” Ma Jiayuan nodded repeatedly.

Having obtained no useful information, the possibility of a peaceful resolution was close to zero. Xia Yu aimed decisively, and a bullet pierced Ma Jiayuan’s skull, killing him instantly. However, Xia Yu also understood that the mutated Ma Jiayuan couldn’t die like a normal person. With his face riddled with bullet holes, he looked at Xia Yu and said, “You killed Yehuai’s food, which displeased Him. All who betray Yehuai will die in His wrath. You are destined to become His food.”

He spoke calmly; pain and death were no longer a concern. Suddenly, his legs swelled, transforming him from an ordinary height to three or four meters. He looked down defiantly, his expression one of unprecedented ease, relief, and joy.

Xia Yu pulled the trigger again, but ordinary bullets could no longer harm Ma Jiayuan. Finally, Xia Yu steeled himself, covered the muzzle with his left hand, closed his eyes, and fired the bullet from the magazine.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. The last nine bullets were fired, and Xia Yu’s left palm was riddled with holes the size of a bowl. Unable to support his fingers, half of his hand fell to the ground.

The blood bullet gun was empty, so he hastily made another one, but it came at a greater cost. The result was predictable. Ma Jiayuan’s massive body slammed shut like a lid. Sometimes he fell forward and sometimes backward. A milky white liquid seeped out. The poison was taking effect; he clutched his head, unable to bear the pain any longer. Xia Yu seized the opportunity to run straight ahead, pulling Mi Dou along.

A deafening roar erupted behind them, and Ma Jiayuan’s body began to swell again. His skull split open, and his skull broke in two. His brain was gone, leaving only a dense mass of… white insect eggs.

All the eggs leaped out, desperate to escape the body. They clearly couldn’t withstand the Blue Jellyfish’s venom and had jumped out prematurely to flee. Mi Dou, a seasoned veteran who had seen dozens of strange creatures, was facing this situation for the first time. Panicking, he threw the small bottle he was holding and ran with Xia Yu without hesitation.

“Run!” Mi Dou shouted as they ran.

Jingwei controlled the remaining keypad doors, and when they ran over, they found all the doors open, saving them considerable time. A painful scream erupted behind them as a strong wind swept past with enough force to overturn them. Like a hurricane, Xia Yu and Mi Dou were blown toward the ceiling before they could run far.

Right before they crashed into the ceiling, the ground lifted.

A force tore through the soil from below, like a seed sprouting into a towering tree. Xia Yu and Mi Dou were wrapped in earth and completely weightless as they were thrown high into the air and fell again. Rocks and dirt constantly smashed into their faces, leaving no chance for survival.

In less than a minute, Xia Yu and Mi Dou went from the ground to the air and then plummeted back down! Fortunately, the ground was soft, so falling in felt like sinking into a swamp. Xia Yu’s legs were sucked into the soil when, suddenly, a hand grabbed him and pulled him out.

“Captain Xia! Watch out!” A teammate pulled him back.

Xia Yu turned to help Mi Dou. After several attempts, they finally stepped onto firm ground. Three team members dragged them behind the tent. Xia Yu took a short, steady breath and looked at them. “How did you all get injured? What happened?”

“It was an ambush!” said a teammate, bandaging Xia Yu’s hand. “Suddenly, many insects emerged from the ground, each several meters long.”

“The defensive line has been breached! Commander Mo An is guarding it!” another teammate said.

“Were there any casualties? Where is Mo An?” Xia Yu asked, sitting up. The team members remained silent, only shaking their heads. Xia Yu clenched his right fist. How could flesh and blood withstand a monster? Besides, they were eating breakfast at the time and might not have had their weapons on them. No one knew where Mo An was. That fool would definitely fight to the death.
In the half-minute they rested, the battle situation reversed again. A massive collapse formed, revealing a bottomless abyss in the ground.

“Captain Xia, run! We’ll cover the rear!” A team member shoved Xia Yu.

“Yes, Captain, you go! This isn’t something you can handle. We can hold the line for now. The drones and Silver Fang’s support will be here soon!” Another team member shoved a gun into Xia Yu’s hand.

A bloody battle erupted around Xia Yu. The once peaceful camp had become a living hell, with heavy casualties. How could Xia Yu leave alone? After taking the gun, he pushed Mi Dou to the side of his teammates.

“Protect him!” Xia Yu didn’t give them a chance to react before turning and running toward the cave entrance. He had a premonition. Ma Jiayuan wasn’t dead; he was about to emerge!

A deafening roar sounded, like a lurking helicopter underground. The cave entrance became a drafty vent; a gust of wind shot straight up. Xia Yu raised his gun toward the inside, bracing the muzzle with his left forearm this time.

His severed wrist was still dripping blood.

Buzz!

A deafening roar pierced the sky. Sand stung Xia Yu’s eyes. When he could finally see clearly, he could hardly believe his eyes. A gigantic flying insect, estimated to be 15 meters long, was soaring into the sky with its deep purple wings spread. Its wingspan was comparable to a helicopter’s and whipped up a gust of wind with its rapid flapping.

Its exceptionally agile head sported two long, purple antennae and remarkably developed compound eyes that reflected sunlight and swirled in circles. Its chewing mouthparts were even more advanced, and its hook-like claws were constantly stuffing something into its mouth.

Xia Yu desperately wanted to shoot it down, but it was flying too fast, and he couldn’t find a suitable opportunity. Then, the insect turned and began to swoop down, allowing Xia Yu to see its abdomen clearly from below.

Its abdomen bore burn marks, the result of the alkaline liquid Mi Dou had thrown.

Not only were they burned, but the abdomen also had three pairs of arms that resembled human arms, but were covered in hard armor and sharp hairs. Further down was its stomach, where Xia Yu saw the most shocking sight: Ma Jiayuan was on top!

However, this was not the real Ma Jiayuan, but rather, Ma Jiayuan fused with the insect’s body. The enormous insect had completely stretched open his body, leaving only thin, fully extended, flattened skin on his lower abdomen. This indicated that the insect had been inside him from the beginning. He was the incubator, feeding the insect with his own body.

The wind speed continued to increase, and Xia Yu couldn’t find an opportunity to fire. If this continued, everyone would be in danger.
As he pondered this, a black shadow soared into the air like a nimble bird, gliding past his peripheral vision.

Mo An! Xia Yu dared not fire again. Where did Mo An come from?

The wind was strong. Mo An gripped the rope tightly with one hand and rose rapidly. The other end of the rope had already pierced the insect’s body, propelling it into the air due to the immense pull. However, the insect was intelligent. Sensing Mo An’s presence, it shot vertically into the sky like a rocket.

The rope struck its wings, and it almost lost its grip. Mo An leaped upward, the rope coiling around his hand several times. The instant he made contact with the insect, he drew his dagger and plunged it viciously into its back. In pain, the insect turned horizontally in midair, spinning wildly. Mo An used the tip of his knife to tear at its flesh. Then, he kicked off with his long legs and stepped onto its body.

This scene sent chills down Xia Yu’s spine. At this height, one misstep would send Mo An shattering to pieces.

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