This space is the domain of the newly formed alien species. Its vines spread throughout the dungeon, giving it an intimate knowledge of the place. It also possesses human-like intelligence, but unlike other alien species, it can predict and react to people's next moves.
And it reacted quickly. After its attempts to attack were repeatedly interrupted, all three high school students sustained injuries of varying degrees.
They were aware of the difference in strength between themselves and their opponent. After a prolonged struggle, their own energy was somewhat uneven, but the person covered in vines appeared perfectly fine. Many of its vines had been cut, but they always grew back immediately, as if it had never been injured.
Chen Jing glanced at the other's feet, which had turned into vines and had never left the pile of flesh on the ground, and gestured to Little Fatty and Zhang Xin with his eyes.
Little Fatty and Zhang Xin understood what he meant. Instead of trying to cut down more vines as before, they ran uphill.
Dark red vines followed closely behind, climbing ever upwards.
Just as the vines of the main body were all chasing after it, leaving almost only a twisted skeleton, Zhang Xin raised her hand, and the fire below suddenly intensified, turning completely golden-red. This made the already dark red dungeon even redder, brightening it considerably. The growth rate of the pile of flesh below began to slow down, as it was too busy to continue. Little Fatty jumped directly onto the railing to reach a higher place, guiding the vines upwards.
Chen Jing leaped down from above. The alien species below seemed to understand what they were trying to do, and the vines that had been reaching upwards quickly retracted.
But the vines had already stretched too far, and Chen Jing's falling speed was much faster than it could retract. It could only watch as the man plummeted downwards, the burning sensation below constantly emanating from him, forcing it to climb back up.
The broken railing gradually solidified in his hand, and the instant all the vines were separated from the pile of flesh, he split the railing with the sharp side facing up into several thick vine legs.
After the flash of light, the vines that had grown on their legs fell off all at once, along with a section of the wall.
The wall collapsed, and its heavy weight landed on the pile of flesh below, burying it completely and separating it from the alien species.
The flames continued to burn, climbing up the vines clinging to the walls and burning them all to ashes. Only the legless mutant remained in the space; separated from the pile of flesh below, it could never regenerate as before.
The alien species possesses human-like intelligence, but it doesn't understand concepts like cooperation and tacit understanding.
Chen Jing, who had lost both legs, used the dungeon bars to prop himself up and leaped towards the alien species once again.
A vine was cut in half, but a thin thread remained connecting it, and in that instant, the vine was completely healed. Besides the support of the pile of flesh, it also possessed a self-healing ability.
The chubby guy quickly surveyed his surroundings, then swiftly tore a large piece of fabric from the special protective suit on the corpse on the ground. He stood up and threw the fabric down, which Chen Jing caught. After wrapping his hands in the fabric, Zhang Xin raised his hand in the distance, and the metal railing in his hand began to heat up.
When the scorching metal railing swept across the vines, the vines made a burning sound, turned charred black, and could never be restored.
The alien species was enraged, or perhaps it had lost its mind. The vines lashed out wildly, launching an indiscriminate attack, turning the cells that could have easily imprisoned people to death into piles of ruins.
At the cost of a broken left hand, Chen Jing and two others managed to defeat the mutant.
The remaining few parts of the body, except for the vines, fell to the ground at the bottom with a dull thud, and then there was no further movement.
Little Fatty clutched his wounds and asked softly, "Is it over?"
As if in response to his voice, a tremendous sound came from underground, vibrating his eardrums.
The building debris piled up at the bottom exploded.
The pile of flesh that once covered the ground has disappeared, and huge spiral tentacles have crawled out of the ground, their barbs easily piercing through the thick cement.
Even without seeing the monster in its entirety, the three people above already felt a strong sense of crisis.
This variant is on a completely different level from the previous ones.
Almost before they could react, the three already injured people were swept off the dungeon floor by the spiral tentacles and slammed to the ground, their movements barely perceptible to the naked eye.
A tentacle swept over, and Chen Jing quickly picked up the metal railing again with his right hand, which was not injured yet, to block the barbs that were aimed precisely at him. The barbs stopped just before they reached his throat, but he was pushed into a corner, and the railing was knocked away, twisted and deformed, and finally landed at the other end of the room with a clatter.
"Chen Jing! To the right!"
He heard Zhang Xin's shout from beside his ear. Chen Jing turned his head and saw another tentacle attacking him, with barbs sticking out and conspicuously visible.
Zhang Xin and Xiao Pang were already overwhelmed with their own problems, so a simple reminder was already their best effort.
There was a wall behind him, and he had no weapons in his hands; he had nowhere to retreat.
"Zheng—"
Before the barbs came hurtling down, a metallic humming sound rang out.
The previously darkened dungeon regained a faint light, and a bloodstained longsword stood upright beside the person lying on the ground in the corner, making a sharp sound as it rubbed against the barbs, even sending sparks flying.
A large hole appeared at the top of the dungeon, and debris from the building fell down, hitting the alien creature that occupied almost the entire space.
A fourth person appeared in the dungeon.
A shadow flashed by, and the long sword standing beside Chen Jing was taken away. The blade reflected the light shining down from above, appearing pure white.
In less than a breath's time, the enormous tentacle covered in barbs fell to the ground, the cut clean but never able to heal.
Neither the suddenly appearing people nor the aliens could be clearly seen by the other three.
After things finally calmed down for a while, a figure stood atop the top railing. He held a long sword in his hand, his white hair fluttering slightly in the dungeon wind, most of his face hidden in the darkness, his eyes lowered as he surveyed the monster below, as if deep in thought.
The three people below looked up, their expressions changing.
It is 001.
The 001 that I had been searching for for a long time but couldn't find has now inexplicably appeared here.
—Without any reason, they simply assumed this person was who he was.
Even if you've never actually met someone, some people can always be recognized at a glance.
Although they didn't know why the other party suddenly appeared here, they had saved their lives nonetheless.
Little Fatty and Zhang Xin clutched their wounds, picked up their weapons, and stood up again. Chen Jing looked at the figures above, his eyebrows slightly raised.
The person on the top floor moved. He leaped directly off the railing, and the tentacles below, completely ignoring the other three people, stretched upwards, trying to stop the rapidly falling man.
Its attempts to stop it were doomed to failure. A sharp flash of light, and limbs rained down from the sky, smashing through the already largely destroyed dungeon. Floors collapsed, railings snapped, and debris became embedded in the falling tentacles.
The old tentacles were cut off, and new tentacles kept growing. The newly grown tentacles no longer tried to stop them, but changed their strategy and reached out to the person's back, constantly and quietly enveloping the person.
The strategy appeared to have succeeded. The constant noises in the space finally began to quiet down, and the dungeon, which had been mostly demolished, finally managed to stabilize and stopped collapsing.
After all the sounds had completely subsided, the faintest noises were amplified.
It was the sound of a knife cutting into firm flesh, each sound sending chills down your spine.
"Bang--"
In a fleeting moment, the tentacles that had been tightly wrapped around the person drooped softly, the outer skin cracked open inch by inch, red blood flowed out, and the enormous body began to slowly fall, the barbs piercing into the cement slab, making a sound like cement cracking.
From the wreckage of the alien creature, a figure emerged from the center, his white hair stained with blood, the knife he dragged leaving a winding trail on the ground. Behind him, the alien creature exploded silently, various liquids flowing across the ground, its body riddled with clean cuts, not a single part intact.
Absolute strength, violence, and tyranny.
He slightly raised his head, the light from above slightly illuminating his pale, emotionless pupils, a fleeting red mark appearing in the depths of his eyes.
The three of them finally saw what the person looked like.
In an instant, it seemed that only the sound of breathing could be heard in the entire space.
Objectively speaking, she is very beautiful, with striking eyes and brows that make it difficult to look away.
Subjectively speaking, we are very familiar with each other, the kind of familiarity we've had many times before.
Xiao Pang and Zhang Xin's eyes widened in disbelief, and for a moment they even forgot to breathe.
Beneath the white hair was a face that was both strange and familiar. The eyebrows and eyes were still light and delicate, but the corners of the eyes were stained with blood, adding a touch of bloodthirstiness and killing intent. He was no longer as lazy and droopy as usual.
"..."
Speechless, their minds raced as if about to explode, their worldviews severely shaken.
The little fat boy's language system was disordered, and he uttered meaningless sounds: "This...you, me, him..."
"laugh--"
The man stopped, dragging a long knife in his hand—a knife he usually wouldn't even lift with a small suitcase. The sharp blade was deeply embedded in the concrete, and streaks of blood trickled down his face.
In the silence, the person standing in the center of the dungeon lowered his eyes, leaned on the hilt of his sword, and slowly bent over:
"vomit--"
Sure enough, I shouldn't have drunk those two sips of wine after playing mahjong.
Jiang Yujin retched while deeply reflecting on his own actions.
Drinking alcohol is harmful!
Chen Jing: "..."
Zhang Xin and Xiao Pang: "...?"
They were momentarily confused about the current situation, as if they were dreaming.
They had so many questions to ask: what was going on with the white hair? Why did the other person come here? What did the person who usually said "how scary" when they saw other species do with the knife just now? And why did they feel like vomiting when they saw them?
But they couldn't say anything; their language system, along with their worldview, had shattered.
After squatting on the ground and dry heaving for a while, unable to vomit anything, Jiang Yujin finally raised his head again and waved slightly: "Long time no see."
He seemed quite polite.
After he finished greeting everyone, he gagged again.
High school students: "..."
Why don't you finish vomiting before you speak?
It's hard to describe the situation, but the person who kept vomiting didn't seem much better. He leaned on the knife, stood up again, and casually wiped the blood from his face. He hadn't expected to chat with anyone while his stomach was churning, and before the high school students could speak, he said:
"Get out of the way."
He had just finished gagging, and his voice was still a little hoarse. Slightly different from his usual lazy way of speaking, which was characterized by a drawn-out tone, he spoke very crisply, penetrating straight to the heart, making people unconsciously follow his words.
The three high school students stepped aside and retreated to the corner.
The person in the very center pulled the knife out of the ground, and then pushed it down slightly with a little force.
Starting from where the knife was inserted, the ground began to crack, with cracks of all sizes extending outwards. It started in the dungeon but didn't stop there; the high school students heard the sound of the ground collapsing further away from outside.
Something began to surge deeper inside, and following the sound of collapse, the sound of rock layers being broken through rang out.
After a moment of silence, right in front of them, crimson chunks of flesh barely grazed the ground in front of them, surging wildly upwards. The dungeon could not contain these piles of flesh and was directly broken through, leaving only a pile of remains.
They finally understood why the other party had asked them to move aside.
Just before the dungeon collapsed, the person standing not far away threw down the knife in his hand, patted his chest, and said, "You can find what you're looking for yourselves later."
They didn't understand each other's meaning at first, but they did later.
Before the dungeon completely collapsed, they also left the dungeon and returned to the surface.
When they returned to the ground, they found that the city had completely changed.
Half of the high-rise buildings are gone and they are still collapsing. The roads below are broken and the streets are destroyed. All you can see are ruins.
The residents who seemed to be living normal lives in this city were all turned into shriveled corpses under the ruins, on the roadside, and in the park.
In the distance, strange creatures kept trying to approach, but they were all stopped several kilometers away by someone and died several kilometers away. They kept appearing and dying, and their piercing cries could be heard clearly from this side.
People scattered throughout the city also saw this scene.
The special search team, which was still searching for the remaining zeros elsewhere, looked up at the thing that almost blocked out half the sky.
The light source at the top of the space was squeezed by the scarlet chunks of flesh, and a sound like shattering glass rang out. After the continuous sounds, the world suddenly went dark.
As darkness fell, all they could see were a huge black shadow constantly shifting in the air, eventually becoming indistinct.
Most of the city lights were destroyed, with only a few scattered patches still lit, but these few lights could not illuminate the colossal buildings that were much taller than the skyscrapers.
In the darkness, for reasons unknown, a large number of flames suddenly ignited. The flames followed the road and the buildings, winding their way upwards, but even with such a large fire, they only managed to illuminate a small part of the area.
This small amount of light cannot illuminate the entire alien species, but it can make out what it is.
This is a mass of flesh with more than a dozen heads, each of which looks like a human face from the front, but with slight differences.
It seemed to be laughing, yet also angry. Just looking at those dozen or so faces sent a sharp pain through the viewer's head, as if countless voices were speaking in their ears, and their vision gradually blurred.
Finally, Hu Li's voice came through the earpiece, telling them not to look at the thing anymore. Only then did they come to their senses and try to look away, no longer daring to look.
The intense pain began to subside.
After their minds returned to normal, a deep sense of lingering fear washed over them. If no one had warned them, their heads might have throbbed with pain until they exploded.
After the initial fear came despair. Early in the morning, people assigned to other neighborhoods asked, "Do we really need to solve this problem?"
According to their job description, they are required to deal with all the alien species they encounter. But since they started working, they have never seen any alien species like this before, and even without taking any action, they can sense this sense of invincibility.
They didn't seem to belong to this world; they seemed to be beings from a higher dimension. They couldn't see, they couldn't hear, and they couldn't even look directly at this monster.
"No need," Hu Li adjusted his headset and said, "Someone will handle it. After you finish cleaning your assigned areas, return to your positions and wait for further instructions."
Others who received the message and were unaware of the situation assumed that "someone" referred to Captain Xu.
On the rooftop of the building opposite the massive alien creature, a person stood.
The knife he had found and thought was fairly handy had become like it had been chewed by a dog after what had just happened. Not wanting to make things difficult for the other party, Jiang Yujin returned to his simple ways and casually picked up a steel pipe.
The dozen or so heads that were circling in mid-air had already spotted him, and a dozen pairs of eyes were staring at him. One of the heads was already heading straight for him.
The closer they got, the more they realized the sheer size of the alien creature; its head alone was larger than the cross-section of the building. As the building tilted from the impact, Jiang Yujin seized the opportunity to climb onto the head, his fingers digging deep into the flesh.
When he touched it, tiny, dense tendrils emerged from the pile of flesh, trying to burrow into his skin, especially into the skin around his head.
Jiang Yujin lowered his eyes: "It's a waste of time."
Even though she knew she couldn't control him, she still insisted on getting closer to him.
The alien creature also knew this fact. The corners of the human face on its head turned down, and it began to shake wildly, trying to shake off the person clinging to its head.
There is a tacit rule among them. If [0] is the darkest side of the game, representing all the alien species, then 001 is the brightest side, representing that each of them has their own abilities, which restrain each other and maintain a delicate balance between the players and the alien species, but they also cannot harm each other.
Just as 001 cannot move the crystal, [0] cannot control 001 either.
Once on the head, it felt like riding a giant swing. Jiang, who was already feeling unwell, felt his stomach churning even more. Not only did the other party not stop, but they intensified their actions, and he finally became extremely angry.
Not only his fingers, but his arms sank deep into the flesh, and he strained before he became dizzy.
The skull was ripped open with brute force. He only tore a small opening, but the opening kept extending until it reached the entire head. The brain structure inside was destroyed, and one head was forcibly torn into two, successfully completing the split.
Jiang Yujin briefly landed on another building to catch his breath before complaining, "How rude!"
He was already teetering on the edge of vomiting, and that sway just now almost knocked him away.
The remaining faces looked at the head that had been torn in two, seemingly contemplating who was more rude, before lunging forward even more fiercely.
The high school student, still searching for crystals in the churning, alien flesh below, only saw the person above him seem to say something, but couldn't hear a sound. The chubby boy turned to Chen Jing and asked, "Did you see what he said?"
"..." Chen Jing's eyebrows twitched, he was silent for a moment, and finally said, "He said it was rude."
Now it was Zhang Xin and Little Fatty's turn to twitch their eyebrows.
This is indeed the person they usually know.
—It's between the two of them, and no one else can interfere at all.
The dungeon not only restricted the alien species' abilities but also Jiang Yujin's. After they came out, they were all more unrestrained.
Buildings collapsed, bridges broke, and transformers kept sparking. Hu Li, who was watching from a distance, decisively notified everyone: "Retreat!"
A madman is indeed a madman.
Once a madman goes berserk, he will not care about the lives of others. If anyone else stays on the street, they will only die.
The search was almost entirely completed, and the remaining people were cleared out. Except for Xu Tonggui, everyone in the special search team quickly withdrew.
With the passageway destroyed, they could go down but not up, so they could only watch the distant scene from the side of the ship they had come from.
It felt like the end of the world.
Buildings collapsed, flames erupted, and smoke and dust filled the air above the city, with alien bodies appearing intermittently. Large swathes of city blocks were destroyed during each battle.
They were too far away to see any human figures, but they could see the heads of the alien species, which posed a primal and overwhelming sense of oppression to them, bursting apart one by one, forcing them to roam wildly and indiscriminately across the city.
It turns out that there really can be an insurmountable gap in strength between people.