dark moon

Chapter 253 Crystal Mine

"Sure, let's have something to eat." The only one who could be so considerate was Saff. The female swordsman walked into the control room carrying a plate of delicious batter that had been processed.

The night was already very late. Since the meeting ended in the evening, Xiure had not left the control room. Every time someone passed by, he was seen either communicating with Wei in an unknown language, or observing some different things. The three-dimensional image of the position never left the chair beneath him.

Saff didn't even know why, but she actually felt very heartbroken, and even felt a little resentful towards Mia. It should be your responsibility, but you passed the responsibility to Shuer. He didn't even bother so much with me. Why? I have to take responsibility for you. It was obviously me who came here first... Ahem, of course, this is not important. What is important is that Xiure has not eaten anything for a day.

"Actually, I secretly ate the dried meat I brought from Parvatiga." Shuer raised his index finger to make a silent gesture, took out a waterproof food bag and shook it, smiling sinisterly, "I I don’t really want to continue eating their food.”

"Huh? Why?" Saf's face suddenly became ugly, resisting the nausea feeling in her stomach, and said in a tangled, "No, what you said yesterday is true, their food here is made of insects. It’s done, so you don’t dare to eat it?”

"Actually, I don't know what it is made of. The vocabulary used by Wei is too technical and I can't understand it." Shuer shrugged and handed over a few pieces of paper, "But after seeing this thing, I lost my appetite. "

"What is written?" Sapp was confused. The paper was full of unfamiliar words. The format looked a bit like messages, but the content was completely incomprehensible.

"This, well, how can there be such unpalatable food in the world? And this, I will never eat pig food again. And this, I strongly accuse the Ministry of Munitions of using dog food as military food. And, I We take them home to feed the dogs, but the dogs won’t eat them, so you bureaucrats actually let us eat them? Hmm, I’m wondering, do they have any grudge against the dogs?”

"I think it's delicious. Why do you say it tastes bad? Besides, you didn't go anywhere all night, didn't eat or sleep, and you just watched these boring things?"

"Whether it tastes good or not, it's best to wait until you have eaten it for a year before making a judgment." Shuer shrugged, "See, these are just adjustments, Wei?"

"There are still 38 minutes left until recharging is complete, Commander."

"Time always passes so slowly when you're waiting." Shuer patted the seat next to him. Saff lowered her head and sat down next to him naturally, listening to his calm demeanor most of the time. The voice said, "I'm chatting with Wei. Hey, chatting with her is very interesting. It helps me understand the world better and makes me think of many things that I haven't thought of before."

"for example?"

"For example? For example, did you know that in the eyes of the Queen of the Swarm, we have no secrets anymore." Shuer sighed softly, "If nothing else, she knows our language, our origins, and even our fighting ability. We already know very well that we have already lost half of the final separation war before it even begins."

"How is that possible?" Saff subconsciously exclaimed, but she immediately understood, "Pretender?"

"Let's call it a brain-controlling worm. Pretender is the name of the insect swarm." Shuer smiled meaningfully, "Although there is no definite evidence, I conclude that the brain-controlling worm has infiltrated into our team. "

"Why don't you test our methods and find them?" Sav asked puzzledly. "Although the direction of perceived hostility is very vague, there are always ways to determine it, such as talking to each other individually."

"It's not necessary, just make sure you are not controlled." Shuer narrowed his eyes and smiled a bit sinisterly, "They will always jump out on their own, hehe, since the Queen of the Swarm is not in a hurry and wants to play games with us , what am I in a hurry for?"

"Huh? Playing games?"

"It knows where we are and our combat power. If it's really in a hurry, it can mobilize the main force during the period when the mutant spider mother is surrounded and not attack, and it will take less than a few hours to break through our defenses. , killing most people. But it didn’t do that, why? I think, as the commander of the insect swarm, it must have another purpose.”

"What's the purpose?" Saff's eyes were blank, and she asked a question that she later felt was stupid.

"How do I know? I'm not it." Shuer said dumbfounded. "I don't know how much the person or people it absorbed know about projections from other worlds. It must know that I am in a copied world. , but this world will soon be annihilated and the creatures in it will never escape from this. Most ordinary people in Parvatiga do not understand. I think it should not know either, otherwise it will definitely fall into madness. Now it I have reservations. I think the main reason is to save energy and not want to hatch too many bugs to deal with two targets at the same time. If you know everything, then what purpose and saving are there? The world is going to be annihilated anyway. Kill all the enemies first."

"Fortunately, it doesn't know." Sapp suddenly felt that the feeling now was very good. The weak light, the two people close together, and the intermittent communication as if to kill time, everything made her feel inexplicably... Feeling happy, she just hoped that time would never pass. As for what was said in her mouth, even she couldn't figure it out.

"I just don't know how much energy the copied insect swarm received when the projection world was formed. I hope it won't be too much, otherwise their mother nest will be difficult to deal with." "Wait a minute." The dazed Saff finally came to his senses, "What kind of energy are you talking about? Do insect swarms also need energy?"

"I just learned about it from Wei." Shuer explained, "There are many planets in the void of this world. Many planets will produce a special energy crystal. Most intelligent races will absorb the energy in the crystal for themselves. Use. For example, when humans in this world were still on their home planet, they used lightning energy as their main energy source. However, after the discovery of crystal energy, it has been completely replaced by crystal energy in the past few hundred years."

"Isn't that similar to our Parvatija?"

"The essence is different, and the crystal energy here will not escape. It will be consumed as much as you collect it. If you don't collect it, there will be no consumption. And the crystals here can be directly used by living creatures to meet the needs of the body, just like when we eat and drink Just like water, you see, bugs are a typical example. All their activities, including hatching nests, expanding territories, increasing numbers, and maintaining the life of each bug, all rely on crystal energy. To be precise, they are a kind of A deformed creature completely attached to crystal."

"In the legend, well, it doesn't refer to the legend of humans, but the legend of this world. Hundreds of millions of years ago, there were no swarms of insects in the world, until a certain kind of insect lived near the crystal for a long time and inadvertently swallowed a large number of crystal fragments. After that, amazing changes took place. In a very short period of time, maybe only a few years. To this world, a few years is just a short moment. But not only did they increase in size, but they also gave birth to wisdom and began to spread their knowledge to all people. Crystals and planets with physical life expand, plundering all crystal energy, tearing apart all physical creatures, and acting as energy supplements for them outside of crystals.”

"Can't other creatures be like them?" Sav listened intently, "If bugs can absorb the energy of crystals, then other creatures..."

"There is a key difference. After this kind of bug absorbs energy, it is shared by the entire race, and other creatures do not have this ability." Xiure asked Wei to call up the influence of the crystal veins in the record, "This is the Crystal, it is said that it is a relic of the gods in ancient times. It contains extremely huge energy. Even if it only absorbs a little bit, it will be unbearable for an individual creature, unless it has an extremely powerful body, such as... legendary level, haha , have you thought of anything?"

"No, is there anything special?" Saff tilted her head and thought for a moment, then suddenly her eyes lit up, "Cave-dwelling spider?"

"Wei, bring up the mineral vein distribution map again. Yes, it is still within the area determined before." Shuer explained the map that appeared later, "The dim red dots are the exhausted crystal mines, and the bright spots are still there. There’s energy.”

"Ah, this is our fortress?" Saff pointed to the lower corner of the map and said, "Does this mean it will be exhausted soon?"

"Well, Wei said that although the minimum energy consumption has been maintained, the energy will be completely exhausted if it can be maintained for up to half a year. Because of this, the military will abandon this fortress and shrink the defense line backward."

The female swordsman bit her lip and glanced at Wei with pity. Even though this loyal artificial intelligence had been given up, she still persisted in maintaining the entire fortress and abiding by orders to protect every human warrior.

"Don't pity her. The weapons and tools are about to break down. Just replace them with new ones. It's the easiest way to get rid of the old ones. The tools can't have any opinions. She is the same, she's just data, she doesn't have this concept at all. Well, that's what she said herself." Xiuer seemed to be a little angry and glared at the artificial intelligence that only had images. It was obvious that the two parties had some dissatisfaction over similar issues before. Well, it was one-sided. Not fast.

"Pfft", it was clear that she was still a little sad just now, but Safu was immediately amused by Xiure's attitude, which was very cold and rational. Hehe, he was really cold.

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious." Xiuer coughed dryly and stared, "And you have to grasp the key point, Sasa, who told you to see our fortress."

"This is..." Sapp then saw Shuer pointing at a bright spot. Although the bright spot was small, indicating that the number of crystals was very small, it actually existed. "The underground cave of the mutated spider mother?"

"Legendary level individuals can barely withstand the impact of directly absorbing crystal energy without being exploded by the energy. And although the energy cannot be shared by the entire clan, they can evacuate the absorbed energy in the body through the birth of larvae, thereby achieving the purpose of overall improvement. . Ha, it’s like it’s tailor-made, no wonder this guy instinctively crawled into the cave.”

"Ah, no wonder the number of little spiders has increased so much just after a few hours, almost at the same rate as the growth rate of the insect swarm." Saf covered her mouth and exclaimed, "I understand why the insect swarm is so large. The enemy has invested huge forces to deal with it, and they are afraid that another one will be born. Oh, wouldn't the mutant spider mother also produce wisdom like a bug?"

"Unfortunately, yes, the exact time when the initial insect swarm developed intelligence is no longer known. It may have been years, days, or even minutes after swallowing the crystal energy. So, pray that they have not yet developed intelligence. Otherwise, we Having killed thousands of little spiders, it is its most hated enemy. Otherwise, try throwing you to the mutated spider mother and tell it that you are the main messenger, and maybe it will let us go. "

"Damn it, don't talk nonsense, I..."

"Your Excellency Commander, the radar has been charged. Please give instructions."

"Phew, it's finally done." Xiuer took a long breath, licked his lips, and said expectantly, "Sasa, let's see what's going on in the Soul Clan base after our trouble."

(End of this chapter)