Doomsday Totem

Chapter 41 Crisis
In this world, the abilities of worm-forming mutants are usually divided into two categories, namely the basic type and the rare type.The abilities of the basic type are generally to improve various functions of the body, while the abilities of the rare type are all kinds of weird insect abilities.For example, the silk spinning of spiders, the stinging of wasps, and the orientation sensing of bees.

Iron Slag's two natural insectification abilities, as well as the "latent parasitism" acquired through gene phagocytosis, are all rare abilities.

However, although the worm-like mutants have various abilities, most of the worm-like mutants only have basic abilities except for the natural "gene devouring".And these basic abilities have many similarities with traditional evolutionaries.

For example, the most common basic abilities are "Antification Muscle", "Pump Circuit", "Insectization Compound Eyes", "Limb Regeneration", "Beetle Endurance" and so on.These abilities can all improve the strength, agility, perception, etc. of mutants in a single way.Although the enhancement methods are different, the results are similar.Therefore, insectoid mutants with basic abilities can also wear mechanical power armor.

Two years ago, Tie Slag suddenly discovered that Lao Niu's strength was getting stronger and stronger, while other aspects did not increase.At that time, he suspected that Lao Niu was a mutant with the ability to antify muscles.Later, after being diagnosed by the Narcissus doctor, Lao Niu was a special traditional evolutionary.Because the strength increase brought about by antized muscles is time-sensitive, while the strength increase of traditional evolutionists is permanent, so Dr. Narcissus made a judgment based on this point.

Generally speaking, there are many similarities between general insectoid mutants and traditional evolutionaries, but there are very big differences between insectoid mutants with rare abilities and traditional evolutionaries.

Iron Slag is a compound evolutionary of B1B2, so he does not need to strengthen the body's functions through the insectification ability of the basic type, so he will only devour the ability of the rare type.For example, Latent Parasitism, although the range of effect of this ability is very small, it is still more useful to him than basic ones.

In addition, some rare abilities can stack with each other.For example, the latent parasitism of iron slag has changed from the "common ant with a soft body and short six limbs" of the gene protozoa to "an armored ant with a barbed carapace and long pointed six limbs".This is because in the gene chain of Iron Slag, there are mutated gene fragments with sharp-edged carapace and blade-edged feet.

It didn't take long for Iron Slag's army of armored ants to complete the mopping up of the alien eggs.Under the command of the main body, the army returned to the intestinal tract to sleep.These armored larvae die quickly and eventually become nutrients for their hosts, which are then excreted.

After finishing all this, the tired Iron Slag soon fell asleep...

silent night...

The next morning, the whole crew packed up and set off.Not long after, five sand buggies drove into the endless sand sea with billowing smoke and dust.

At this time, the sea of ​​sand was clear and there was no wind blowing.The fine sand is evenly spread on the surface, which looks very comfortable.

Ye Xinling, who was sitting in the driver's seat, looked up, and what caught her eyes was the boundless yellow sand, spreading continuously towards the junction of the sky and the earth.The undulating sand dunes glowed slightly white under the sun.

Looking at the peaceful desert, a strange mood welled up in my heart.

It turns out that the ruthless sand sea also has such a beautiful side...

"The weather is fine." Iron Slag sat on the passenger seat, looking out the window and said.

As soon as the words fell, a girl's mechanically synthesized voice came out from the car radio.

[Friend, the current temperature is 20 degrees Celsius, which is very suitable for human survival. Alice suggested that friends can organize a picnic]
"Master, the title 'friend' sounds so awkward." Ye Xinling couldn't help saying.

"And it's still a girl's voice." Lao Di, who was sitting in the back seat, echoed.

"A little bit." Tie Slag thought for a while and said, "Why don't you call him 'Brother'?"

"Don't!" "Don't!" Ye Xinling and Lao Di shouted almost in unison.

[Alice can simulate a real human conversation, and change the title according to the situation, friends, please authorize]
"Agreed to authorize." Iron Slag said.Then, on the radio...

[Hahahahahahaha... Little slag!Here comes Alice...]
"Cancel authorization." Tie Slag touched his forehead and said.

[My friend, Alice suggested that using the tone of a real human can effectively reduce the error of information transmission]
"Change title to 'Captain'."

[Captain, Alice suggested...]
"Alice, analyze my driving route in the endless sand sea last time. At that time, I stayed at a certain coordinate for about two hours, and there was a wreckage of an aircraft there."

[Obey, my captain] [Analysis begins...] [Didi... Analysis complete]
[There are only coordinates and time data in the database, no image data, the closest coordinates are 371 kilometers to the north, and the team leader stayed there for 1 hour, 48 minutes and 52 seconds]
Iron Slag recalled the situation at that time. At that time, he hid for a while in the wreckage of an aircraft in order to avoid the sandstorm.After the sandstorm, Yu Ge accidentally attracted a sandworm, which eventually caused the nearby sandworm swarm to chase them.According to Iron Slag's preliminary judgment, there is a breeding spot for sandworm colonies near the aircraft wreckage.

Sandstorms are magical creatures with primitive social systems.Each sandworm has its own colony and territory, and the golden sandworm is the leader of the colony.Usually, they are scattered in the territory of the group to forage independently.When it comes to breeding season, they will gather somewhere in the territory to mate.Sandworms are hermaphroditic creatures.After mating, several sandworm eggs will be produced in their bodies.These sandworm eggs hatch inside the mother until the larvae are born.

Many years ago, scientists in Yincheng discovered that sandworm eggs could extract a substance called "radium 2315", which is also known as body regeneration factor, which can repair human fatal wounds.Since then, every season, a large number of hunters will come to the endless sand sea to hunt sandworms and collect sandworm eggs.

Of course, hunting sandstorm bugs is definitely one of the most dangerous things in the world.But the rich income brought by sandworm eggs always drives countless hunters to die in the sand sea.

Iron Slag also hunts sandworms occasionally, but it's only a small matter.This is the first time for such a large-scale hunting operation.

After confirming the coordinates, the convoy drove towards the wreckage of the aircraft at full speed...

For the next two days, the road was uneventful.The entire sand sea seemed to be silent, so calm that it made people feel a little depressing.

Until the morning of the third day...

When the convoy arrived at the destination 50 kilometers away, sand and dust suddenly rolled in front of it.Iron Slag immediately called the parking team and climbed onto the roof to observe the front.In the sand and dust, hundreds of sand people are rushing.

"Ready to fight!"

Following Iron Slag's order, everyone aimed their guns at the sand people.Just waiting for his order, countless bullets will pour out.

Tie Slag stared ahead, feeling that Shamin's behavior was a bit strange.They have a certain IQ, and will take the initiative to attack lonely humans, but they will never provoke groups of soldiers.However, there is no time to think now.Seeing that Shamin was about to rush to 500 meters in front of the convoy, Iron Slag raised his hand and sank down!
In just an instant, everyone's weapons spit out flames, and bullets shot forward like raindrops.

"Da da da... da da da... da da da... da da da..."

Accompanied by the intensive gunfire, the sand people in front wailed in pain and fell into the sand one after another.Some who were not killed rolled and struggled on the ground, raising dust all over the sky.

After the first round of shooting, hundreds of corpses of sandmen lay in disorder in the sand 500 meters away.Although they suffered heavy losses, they still rushed to the convoy wave after wave.

Then it's reloading, then the second round of shooting, the third round of shooting...

There are more and more corpses of the sand people in front, but there are too many of them, and it is impossible to kill them all.

Seeing Sha Min's reaction, Tie Slag's face became more and more serious.The sand people are not very courageous, and they will definitely collapse under such a loss.But now these sand people are like... like something is chasing after them!

Thinking of this, Tie Slag shouted loudly: "Stop shooting, retreat!"

After a few seconds, everyone got in and started backing away.In a blink of an eye, some sand people rushed to the front of the car, but they didn't attack the car, but ran away from the side.Iron Slag guessed right, their purpose was not to attack, but to escape!

At this moment, dark clouds suddenly covered the front, and a large black mass seemed to cover the sky and the earth, sweeping towards the convoy at an extremely fast speed.

"Sandstorm?" Tie Slag just had a thought, but heard Lao Di shouting on the walkie-talkie, "Desert bee swarm! It's a desert bee swarm! Close the window!" Lift the window.

In less than two seconds, there were buzzing sounds from all directions.The extremely dense sound is like putting your ears on a high-speed rotating electric fan.Immediately afterwards, the sky suddenly dimmed, and in an instant it became invisible.

As soon as Iron Slag rolled up the car window, a panicked scream came from the intercom.At the same time, there was a crackling sound in the cockpit.Iron Slag listened carefully, it was the sound of desert bees hitting the glass window.

Ye Xinling had never seen such a scene before, her face turned pale with fright, she leaned on the driver's seat and did not dare to move.

Tie Slag cursed in his heart, it was unlucky to encounter such a pest plague before seeing a single sandworm.At this time, the sound of the desert bees hitting the glass became louder and louder, and the car windows kept shaking as if they were about to be smashed at any moment.Iron Slag involuntarily clenched the steroid stimulant in his pocket.When necessary, he will get a needle, and then grow a carapace on the skin, so that he can resist the needle sting of the desert bee.

In the darkness, time becomes extremely long.Every second feels like a year under the stress of car windows shattering at any moment...

(End of this chapter)