A ganglion the size of a mountain... or more accurately, a cluster of ganglia appeared in front of them.
This irregularly shaped giant connective tissue had a radius of nearly two kilometers. It looked like a rotten orange connected by dozens of skinny nerves that floated in the air. There were no other biological tissues to support it. Plaques and veins glowing in red covered the surface. The red spots were still pulsating with a throbbing sound. This behemoth was alive!
As a container for the 'brain nucleus,' this organ was way too large for the size.
Hao Ren had a First Born sample at hand. He knew this super life could grow a planet-sized body, but its 'brain' would remain relatively tiny. The diameter of a brain nucleus was usually about several meters; the largest one would not exceed ten meters. After the First Born grew to a certain size, the brain nucleus would stop growing. Instead, it divided. It was a unique physiological characteristic of the First Born. The delicate nerves in this connective tissue seemed to suggest that this organ contained the brain, but it outsized all other previous research subjects Hao Ren had ever conducted. This organ was another variation.
When they came close to the organ, the red glows on the surface pulsated even more rapidly and brightly. Vivian's brows knit together. She sensed the familiar but dangerous atmosphere. When Hao Ren stopped the car at a few dozen meters from the organ, it looked like a breathtaking mountain suspended in the red chaos.
This place was close to the center of the planet. Though the First Born was using his organs to regulate the temperature and the heat would not damage its core, it was still inhospitable for a human to get in here. Hot gases and dangerous cells of the First Born made the air unbreathable. Gravity was weak and distorted, making movement difficult in this place.
Hao Ren had to let everyone, including Hessiana and her two sidekicks, wear life-support collar and space equipment.
Hessiana felt out of her depth in this circumstance. She had given up thinking and would do whatever Hao Ren told her. However, when Hao Ren and Vivian pushed the door open and drifted towards the red 'mountain,' she was alarmed. "Wait a minute! Are you guys seriously thinking of going there? That would be a bad idea. Just look how menacing that thing is."
"That's where the ultimate secret lies." Hao Ren nodded matter-of-coursely. "You can stay back in the car if you're scared. The car is strong enough though it has no special armor and shield. I guess you're not used to a low gravity environment."
Hao Ren's words had stirred the rebels in Hessiana. She jumped out of the car and used the propulsion equipment to propel herself towards them. "Don't belittle me! After all, I'm Ma'am Vivian's… Oh wait, how could I stop this thing?"
Hao Ren looked on as the little bat flew out and away in the low-gravity environment. He only shrugged his shoulders when Hessiana became desperate. "Did I not warn you? Even Vivian needed a day to learn spacewalk," Hao Ren said.
While Hessiana and her sidekicks were learning how to use the high-tech equipment, Vivian had already floated towards the huge biological tissue. She reached out her hand and stroked the thick outer skin of the tissue. She felt a warmth in the glowing red spot.
There was a sense of nostalgia too.
"What should we do next?" Hao Ren looked at Vivian. "Shall we blow it up into pieces?"
Vivian shook her head. She bit her finger and squeezed a drop of blood onto the skin of the enormous connective tissue. "If the illusion I saw is anything to go by, this will generate enough stimulation, then—"
Before her voice trailed off, the vast tissue seemed to pull the blood drop to itself and absorbed it instantly. Almost immediately, Hao Ren heard a loud throbbing sound, which was even more potent than all the sounds that echoed in the entire space.
The mountain-like monster trembled violently; the throbbing increased in intensity as if its heart was going to explode. The red glow moved around the huge tissue, spreading, flickering, and slowly forming a vein-like meridian. Then, the part of the skin that glowed the brightest began to rise.
Everyone was nervous. Lily drew her Frostfire Claws; Nangong Sanba held up his crossbow and rune cards, while Hessiana and her sidekicks had mastered the maneuver in this space using their wings and were ready for battle. Nangong Wuyue remained unchanged though; she had been in the shape of a ball—her ultimate manifestation of fear—since the beginning and she could not get any worse than that.
"Something is coming out..." Lily looked nervously at the huge tissue that suddenly came alive. "Wait a second! It has burst! It's punctured. There is blood!"
The large biological tissue burst. Red liquid was flowing out from the holes. However, the 'blood' did not float around in the air. Some power was controlling, grouping the blood and condensing it into something.
Amid a strange sound that groaned like a beast, a huge red figure emerged out of the condensed blood!
It was a huge female figure with only an upper body.
The 'blood giant' conneceted to the connective tissue, which served as her lower body. Erecting at a kilometer tall, she bent slightly forward and looked indifferently at the intruders who appeared like a group of tiny ants in her eyes. The 'blood' was flowing around on her body, slowly shaping the detailed feature of her face.
Hao Ren was not surprised at all to see Vivian's face on the 'blood giant.'
Such was the secret hidden in the First Born. It was the 'evil-spirit Vivian, who was more massive, stranger, and more potent than what they had seen before.
She was part of the First Born!
"This is not the same as I imagined!" Lily already broke out in cold sweat looking at the blood giant who gazed at them with a pair of indifferent eyes. "Battie! You didn't say there is something like this in the underground!"
"I'm just as shocked as you, all right?" Vivian said with her jaw dropped to the ground. "What I saw in the blood spar was just a person of the same size as me. I have no idea that she has grown so large for the last ten thousand years."
The Giant of Blood, or Busting Super UR Vivian MK-II, no matter what its name was, the giant creature had noticed the intruders. Her liquid face was void of expression. She stared deadly at Hao Ren, who had no clue as to why he became her attention. His blood froze whenever he looked at the Vivian lookalike. "Do you think she is hostile?"
Before his voice trailed off, the finger of the bloody Vivian-lookalike was already coming down with an overwhelmingly powerful, negative energy!
Hao Ren quickly retreated to a safe distance and drew out his weapon. "Apparent she is hostile! Let's take her out!"
A strange battle unfolded right in the heart of the First Born.