Book 4 Chapter 20.1 - Penetrating Deeply
After sweeping through all the strange creatures on the first floor, the two of them obtained a short amount of precious time for rest and reorganizing. From how the strange creatures of the underground base second floor moved, they had around a minute of time.
Su half squatted on the ground, directly inserting his left hand into a wriggling flesh tube. Hundreds of flesh wisps extended from his left hand, connecting with the flesh tube's inner wall to sense its internal composition and biological fluctuations. It was just like how his first impression of this flesh existence was; the wriggling flesh tubes were indeed made of biological matter. Viscous liquid flowed within the thick tubes, its contents full of hundreds of unknown cells. Within this liquid that was similar to blood, there was no oxygen, only large amounts of organic compounds that weren't suitable for humans or any other normal olden era mammal. The flesh strands that floated within this viscous liquid produced fine holes, continuously using them to absorb the surrounding liquid. At the same time, a small amount of Su's blood cells swam into the viscous liquid as well.
Compared to the massive biological body that covered the entire research base, not only the flesh wisps that were so fine not even the naked eye could detect them, but even Su himself was small to an insignificant level. Even though there was no sign of nervous systems, his left hand that was inserted inside transmitted back something similar to a powerful immune reaction, and countless phagocytes began to converge. If the blood was compared to a sea, then the immune cells of ordinary creatures were like small wind propelled fish boats, while these phagocytes were low altitude fighter jets! These phagocytes not only tore viciously at the flesh wisps, they even continuously entered Su's body through the holes on their surface!
These phagocytes seemed to have their own spirituality, and in terms of offensive power, they were much, much more powerful than olden era's biological weapons. They continuously devoured all of the cells blocking their way, only stopping their movements after swelling to several times their original selves. Roughly a minute later, it would divide into new phagocytes before continuing forward. If there weren't any effective defensive measures in place, then in less than ten minutes, they would invade into the heart through the blood vessels of the arm. In twenty, the body would become a place of death. The effects of this were definitely not something a virus or bacteria could compare to.
If it was anyone else in his place, even if there was only a small amount of phagocytes that intruded the body, it would be enough to send one into the afterlife. However, the target this phagocyte selected this time was clearly mistaken. As soon as they invaded, the various cells within Su's body that couldn't look more ordinary suddenly expanded, and then they exploded, firing out several dozen intruder cells! Countless intruder cells rushed outwards, attacking those phagocytes with several times their speed. Then, like moths flying to a flame, they smashed towards those phagocytes, allowing themselves to be devoured one after another. Those phagocytes quickly swelled in size, quickly reaching their limit. However, the intruder cells continued to advance dauntlessly wave upon wave, rushing towards the phagocytes one after another.
Eventually, a phagocyte whose body, after swelling to ten times its original size, reached the limit of what it could bear, and then it exploded! However, when it exploded, what came out weren't phagocytes, but rather thousands of intruder cells!
In the blink of an eye, the phagocytes that intruded Su's body were already completely defeated, all of it becoming nutrients for the intruder cells. Those countless intruder cells, as if under an instinctive urge, rushed out, scattering into the concentrated liquid to unleash a great slaughter! In that instant, the thick liquid surrounding Su's left hand seemed to be boiling as it roiled violently. A strange and disastrous grayness began to spread through the concentrated liquid.
The entire process of slaughtering the phagocytes to release intruder cells into the viscous liquid only took a short amount of time to complete. It was completely done by Su's body instinctively.
When he sensed the large amounts of intruder cells that spilled out from his hand, Su frowned slightly. His mind sent out a will, and then the intruder cells that didn't travel too far from his body began to flow in reverse. A small amount of intruder cells already travelled quite far, and they didn't listen to Su's will to return, but they didn't continue forward either, instead fighting against the hundreds of types of immune system cells within the viscous liquid where they were. Even in front of these immune system cells whose volume greatly exceeded themselves, the intruder cells still occupied a dominating advantage, their amount increasing exponentially by the minute. If it wasn't due to even the intruder cells' division being limited, it truly might have the power to turn the entire research base into a gathering of intruder cells.
Su already sensed that along with the growth of his power, the intruders' rate of division seemed to be increasing as well. In addition, when responding to his will's orders, a vague feeling of defiance emerged from those countless minute bodies as well.
The concentrated liquid that was absorbed into Su's body contained all types of cells and components. They were separately devoured by Su's cells, as well as analyzed at lightning speed. Meanwhile, after Su's analysis, his panoramic view continuously adjusted. Anything that had the viscous liquid from these flesh tubes and membranes within them would display a light blue outline on the panoramic view, as a result further clearly outlining the background of this base. This blue color quickly extended, and soon after, it left the scope of the first floor and reached into the second floor. The further the blue color extended, the wider and clearer Su's field of view became. As the blue color extended, orange specks of light began to appear, representing the strange creature embryos that were being bred on the flesh tubes. A striking red light could be seen after every set distance, the abnormal creatures' illumination function. They released a dark red radiance, but even more so incredibly powerful beams of radiation. Those rays that could not be detected by the naked eye were these creatures' true lighting, and it was these rays' reflection and echo waves that those creatures depended on to see their surrounding environment.
As Su adjusted the framework of his panoramic view, Madeline was completing battlefield preparations in her own way as well. The base was still in tatters, but there were many alloy components that hadn't been affected by the corrosion of time. Madeline gathered many metal components, and then she used her hands to crush them into a different form. In the blink of an eye, several pieces of alloy armor whose workmanship weren't all that great but had rather ingenious designs hung from Madeline's body. Those sturdy pieces of alloy, in her hands, became as soft as soft mud. This set consisting of shoulder armor that had sharp thorns, a shield on her left arm, leg armor with thorns on its knees, as well as armor that covered her thighs, was what this young lady accomplished in under a minute of time. It was to the extent where before those strange creatures emerged from the staircase, she still had enough time to line up the heavy sword by a corner, and then with a step, the slightly bent sword body released creak sounds, once again becoming straight.
Strange beasts poured out towards the first floor like a wave. Under Su's perception, tens of embryos began to expand and contract at speeds several tens of times that of what was normal, the strange beast embryos within growing and maturing at a visible speed. Based on this type of speed, a strange beast, from larva to maturity, only needed ten minutes!