Chapter 98: The Moon is Beautiful p1
After the Blood Crystal Stimulant surged through her body, scarlet veins pulsed outwards from her heart, spreading like a spiderweb towards her brain and limbs.
She plunged into the swarm of red insects, charging towards the Corn Cob.
Fueled by the stimulant, her speed rivaled that of a Sprinter.
Red insects crawled all over her, but their sharp mandibles couldn’t penetrate her skin.
A thin, golden, gelatinous layer, although not offering much protection, was enough to deter the insects, preventing them from easily biting through.
Covered in insects, relying on the vision of her airborne green insect to see, Lin Jiayao observed her own frenzied charge from a third-person perspective, like playing a video game.
Unlike a game, however, the insects were now biting through the protective layer, their mandibles tearing at her skin, the pain very real.
“Click—”
Her left tentacles pulled the pins from all four grenades simultaneously.
Running across the rotting wooden floor and the shattered seats, Lin Jiayao leaped towards the Corn Cob on the stage.
“WOOO—”
The Corn Cob, sensing danger, emitted a sound like a train whistle, its hundred legs scrambling sideways as it tried to turn.
And the insects on Lin Jiayao, agitated by the sound, buzzed frantically, their wings beating against her skin, desperately trying to burrow inside.
Trying to escape… too late!
Twisting mid-air, abandoning balance, she flung out her left tentacles.
The golden tentacles, wrapped around the grenades, extended, reaching towards the slow-turning Corn Cob.
“Thud—”
A tentacle, its tip a grenade, burrowed into the fist-sized wound on the Corn Cob’s side.
The golden insect that had been clinging to the wound’s edge, widening it, was crushed between Lin Jiayao’s tentacle and the Corn Cob’s gelatinous flesh, shattering like glass, its remains dissolving into a gram of blood crystals.
Lin Jiayao’s other tentacles also probed the wound, widening it, shoving in more grenades, bits of brain and pus spilling out.
Before she could insert the last grenade, the five-second fuses detonated.
“BOOM—”
The explosions sent smoke and shrapnel flying, clearing the insects within a three-meter radius. Lin Jiayao, landing, was thrown back by the blast.
A shard of shrapnel sliced through one of her tentacles, the golden, viscous blood flowing freely before quickly clotting, thanks to the Blood Crystal Combat Stimulant.
Almost instantly, she scrambled to her feet, seemingly oblivious to the pain of her severed tentacle and the bleeding wounds, and lunged towards the now-larger wound on the Corn Cob.
“Wooo—”
“Wooo—”
The explosions had not only widened the wound but also blown off several of its legs on that side. It swayed, tilting towards her.
And the force of the internal explosions had liquefied the brains in its lower half, a gruesome mixture of pus, gore, and severed red tendrils spilling out.
Before it could collapse completely, Lin Jiayao had reached the wound, diving into the gushing stream of brain matter and pus.
She gripped the Corn Cob’s gelatinous flesh with her right hand and pulled herself inside.
“Thump—”
The Corn Cob collapsed, its weight pinning Lin Jiayao within, stemming the flow of gore, completely engulfing her.
“Gurgle, gurgle—”
Submerged in the viscous fluid, Lin Jiayao quickly exhaled, emptying her lungs.
Her human instincts still made her breathe, but most zombies, modified by blood crystals, didn’t need oxygen, unlike the Sprinters with their enhanced lungs.
She hadn’t realized this during her first simulation in the Training Grounds and had choked on the “brain pus,” the experience so revolting she’d immediately deactivated her senses.
Now, having learned her lesson, she quickly expelled the air from her lungs, sealed her nose, mouth, and ears with golden mucus, and then extended a protective layer of gelatinous membrane over her eyelids.
Surrounded by a sea of white and gray brain matter, Lin Jiayao opened her eyes.
She could feel the red insects that had been crawling on her, and even those she’d ingested, dissolving into their original blood crystal form upon contact with the pus, absorbed by the Corn Cob.
And her white scout insects outside saw a large number of zombies, breaking through her pheromone barrier, their confused state gone, swarming towards the theater.
But the Corn Cob could no longer control them; even its red insects were falling from the sky, lifeless.
The invading zombies, seemingly forgetting their purpose, started picking up and consuming the fallen insects, some even reaching the stage and lapping up the spilled brain matter.
Lin Jiayao moved through the white pus, her hands searching, until she found it: the thick, central red tendril.
The main artery, the one that branched out, connecting all the brains.
“Gurgle—Gurgle—”
“Wooo—”
She gripped the thick tendril and pulled, the Corn Cob wailing in agony.
Neither the Corn Cob itself, nor any human, could have imagined this method of attack… entering its body and destroying its core.
The intense mental interference would have incapacitated anyone who got close, their trembling hands unable even to aim, their only option to flee.
Only Lin Jiayao, having practiced extensively in the Training Grounds, controlling Goldie, immune to the pheromones, could attempt such a risky strategy.
But her hands, covered in the slippery fluid, couldn’t tear the tendril.
And the insects she summoned were instantly dissolved in the pus. She’d already released all her insects, and she didn’t have any blood crystals to replenish them.
Unless she drank all this brain pus… which, for a zombie, was a nutrient-rich, blood crystal-laden delicacy, the perfect breeding ground for insects.
“Gurgle—”
Having no other choice, she pulled herself closer to the tendril, opened her mouth, ignoring the pus flooding her nose and mouth, and bit down.
The tendril was as thick as Goldie’s two hands combined. Her small mouth couldn’t even bite through a quarter of it, even stretched to its limit.
Perhaps starting from the thinner end would work, but that wouldn’t destroy the core; she had to sever it at the base.
Lin Jiayao wrapped her entire body around the central tendril and bit down again, tearing with all her might.
“Squish—”
The tendril tore, a stream of red, liquefied blood crystals gushing out, staining the white pus crimson.
“WOOO—WOOO—WAAAA—”
The Corn Cob, feeling the excruciating pain, thrashed violently, spraying gore everywhere.
The rotting wooden stage, unable to withstand the strain, collapsed, wood and dust raining down.
Lin Jiayao, still inside, breathed a sigh of relief.
A small opening was all she needed.
This blood crystal fluid was essential to the Hive Zombie, used for creating insects and emitting pheromones.
After tearing the tendril, she pinched the opening slightly, reducing the flow.
“Gurgle, gurgle—”
Spitting out the pus from her mouth and nose, she brought her mouth to the opening, her teeth clamping down on the tendril as she sucked.
“Gulp—”
A torrent of blood crystal fluid flowed into her mouth, down her throat, filling her stomach and even her lungs.
Goldie’s body was also rapidly absorbing the nutrients.
But the absorption rate couldn’t keep up with the influx. Her stomach and intestines filled, her stomach distending, then rupturing.
Her entire body had become a container for the blood crystal fluid, her bones cracking under the pressure, her body swelling.
If it weren’t for the protective translucent membrane, her skin would have burst.
Lin Jiayao was also frantically using the excess fluid to generate insects and regenerate her left arm.
Her severed arm rapidly regrew, the golden tentacles extending and thickening.
The previously translucent tentacles were now blood-red, filled with the crimson fluid.
Soon, the hives within her body were full.
But she couldn’t release the insects; they would be dissolved in the pus.
She could only let her body continue to swell, her skin stretching thin and translucent, becoming a “red fatty” in a matter of seconds.
The Corn Cob thrashed, its struggles only hastening its demise.
Its body withered, its pheromones weakening, the controlled zombies losing their direction.
They started moving towards the Corn Cob, drawn by the scent of its blood crystal-rich flesh and fluids, the perfect zombie meal.
Some had even started to tear at its gelatinous skin.
Soon, a new Hive Zombie would emerge from this feast, taking control of the horde and consuming the remaining blood crystal fluid and the corpse.
But with Lin Jiayao present, that wouldn’t happen.
“Thud—”
Lin Jiayao, releasing the drained tendril, pierced the now brittle body of the Corn Cob with her thick left tentacle.
Ripping open a three-meter-wide hole, she rolled out.
Her body was round and swollen, her skin a translucent, golden, gelatinous membrane, filled with glowing red blood crystal fluid.
A red version of the “green fatty,” without the brains and pus.
The yellowish-white brain matter clinging to her slid off her smooth, distended body, her clothes long since shredded.
“Buzz—”
A swarm of red insects emerged from her eyes and began circling the theater, rapidly spreading her pheromones.
The zombies, those feasting on the corpse and brain matter, stopped, their roars replaced by confused gurgles.
The insects flew outwards, taking control of the Corn Cob’s remaining horde. Only after securing the area did Lin Jiayao examine her own body.
Ugh…
A larger “green fatty.”
And she had just evolved; she couldn’t use this blood crystal fluid for another evolution yet.
She tried to roll over and stand, but her limbs couldn’t reach the ground simultaneously. If one hand touched the ground, the other three couldn’t.
With a sigh, she used her thick left tentacle to support her swollen body and slowly inch her way towards the top of the Corn Cob.
She’d only absorbed most of the blood crystal fluid; a significant amount had spilled out, scattered across the stage.
After a while, she gave up.
At this rate, she wouldn’t reach the extraction point until nightfall.
“Buzz—”
A swarm of green insects emerged from her eye sockets and began collecting the scattered blood crystals, bringing them back and piling them up around her, like diligent little bees.
I’ll call them Little Green Bees, she thought, her body, like a giant ball, supported by a tentacle.
But she soon lost interest in naming things.
Because she felt the blood crystal fluid within her rapidly being… consumed.
Another evolution?
Goldie’s body was changing again.
Perhaps because of the excessive amount of blood crystal fluid, it was instinctively transforming into a more efficient storage form.
Her limbs atrophied, her lower body and hands mutating.
Numerous thin tentacles extended from her swollen waist, and as they grew, her body shrank.
As if transferring the blood crystal fluid into the tentacles for storage.
Soon, she was back to the size of a ten-year-old girl.
But her hands had been replaced by several two-finger-thick, translucent golden tentacles.
And her lower body, from the waist down, was now a mass of thicker, golden tentacles, each about the size of her forearm, three to four meters long, some still filled with blood crystal fluid.
What… Cthulhu?
Lin Jiayao, seeing herself through the eyes of a Little Green Bee, felt a flicker of recognition.
But the feeling quickly faded. Goldie’s face was still the same, her upper body still human.
“At least… it’s better than the ‘green fatty’…”
At least it wasn’t as disgusting.
But to anyone whose… preferences… were tentacles and little girls… this would be a dream come true.
Fortunately, even in the apocalypse, Lin Jiayao’s tastes remained normal; she didn’t find this new form particularly… appealing.
“Squish—Squish—”
She moved, her tentacles making a sound like someone walking in inflatable shoes.
She reached the pile of blood crystal stones collected by the Little Green Bees, her tentacles picking them up and counting them.
1, 2, 3… 6.
Besides the crystals still within Goldie’s body, the Corn Cob had yielded six more.
One of them contained a faint, wriggling tentacle, similar to the one from the “green fatty.”
Now Lin Jiayao understood.
If she wanted to cultivate these American Hive Zombies in China, she could have a Biter or a Nest Zombie consume this crystal and evolve; there was a high probability it would evolve into a Hive Zombie.
Putting the six crystals into the safehouse, Lin Jiayao looked at the surrounding horde.
Almost all the zombies previously controlled by the Corn Cob were now under her control, and she even had some mental capacity to spare.
It seemed one of Goldie’s abilities significantly enhanced her mental strength and control over zombies. She wondered if this ability was selectable.
If so, she could increase her own mental strength simply by absorbing blood crystals.
After ordering a few Sprinters and Hunters to dismember and consume the Corn Cob’s remains, Lin Jiayao left the theater.
The other Biters and Lurkers, following her commands, were now engaged in a frenzied free-for-all, tearing each other apart.
She didn’t need the meager blood crystals from the weak Biters and Lurkers.
To further develop Goldie’s abilities in America, she needed a horde of mutated zombies; then she wouldn’t have to fear other Hive Zombies or humans.
The Corn Cob had controlled a large horde and stored a significant amount of blood crystals, but its own evolution wasn’t particularly advanced; its only attack method was the red insects, easily countered by entering its body.
Lin Jiayao wasn’t sure if there were stronger, more evolved Hive Zombies in this area. She had to be prepared.
Her movement speed was now even slower, so she headed towards the extraction point, not wasting time watching the zombies fight.
Before reaching the sunlight, a faint, golden layer covered her pale skin, reflecting the intensifying rays.
From a distance, she seemed to be surrounded by a faint golden aura, an almost holy glow.
Passing a clothing store, she stopped, picked a clean, white t-shirt, and put it on.
Now, looking at her clothed upper body, ignoring the eyes, Goldie looked like a normal, albeit pale, little girl.
But the tentacles extending from beneath the hem of her shirt and from her sleeves betrayed her true nature.
With great effort, she finally reached a point less than a kilometer from the extraction point.
By now, Sprinters, having finished their gruesome feast, were catching up.
And several Hunters, running low to the ground, were rapidly approaching.
By the time she reached the extraction point at the skyscraper, she was followed by over a hundred mutated zombies.
Nest Zombies, Sprinters, Hunters, even unarmored Armored zombies with exposed bone spikes… every kind imaginable.
A dozen bone insects had already mapped the area within 300 meters, and the Little Green Bees buzzing around her provided a 360-degree view.
With the ever-growing horde and her own slow movement speed, she felt like a “land aircraft carrier.”
An apt description.
Reaching the extraction point inside the skyscraper, after ordering the zombies to guard the perimeter, she crawled into a store, curled up, and waited.
[Extracting: 2.1]
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