The giant corporations that started in Night City

Chapter 374 The Star Diving into the Insect Sea! All Heavens Investigation Team 3.0! Infected!

After listening to Paul's proposal, the senior executives of the giant companies fell into deep thought. This method may not be impossible, but the final decision must be made by Li Ang.

And through Paul's reminder, Li Ang suddenly remembered a detail, that is, the current "StarCraft" universe, if it is the Wings of Liberty timeline in the 26th century AD.

There is also an important human force - Jim Raynor's Rangers!

In the "StarCraft" universe, the Human Alliance is not a monolithic force. There are many problems of corruption and injustice within the Tyranid Federation.

This has led many humans to organize a camp to resist the Tyranid Federation. Among them, the Rangers led by Raynor are one of the important forces.

During this period, Jim Raynor was busy rescuing and searching for colonial planets invaded by the Zerg.

Jim Raynor can be regarded as the male protagonist in "StarCraft". He was once a law enforcement officer and militia captain of a colonial planet. He led people to rebel because of the injustice of the Federation.

In the plot of Wings of Liberty, Raynor will purify the Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan, in Valerian, draw the most powerful help to the human camp, and defeat Amon.

If the giants of the world can successfully contact Jim Raynor through the survivors on this planet, then the next task may be much easier.

More importantly, Renault's purpose in finding the Keystone is not to keep it for himself, but to turn the Queen of Blades into a human and contribute to humanity's fight against the Zerg and Amon.

Anyway, the giant companies in the world will join the camp of forces fighting for the key stone sooner or later, so it is better to win over Renault first and let it be used for their own purposes.

"If you want to lead a team on this mission, you have to land on that planet in person."

Johnny Silverhand shook his head, feeling that Paul had tasted the benefits of being promoted to a higher position, and he would take this job risking his life.

"I advise you to think calmly again."

"No, I'm ready!" Paul responded firmly.

Although the planet has been completely occupied by the Zerg, and there is a dense carpet of bacteria everywhere, it is thousands of times more dangerous than anywhere Paul has ever been.

There, waiting for them will be a swarm of hundreds of millions of insects, including many Zerg troops that are difficult to deal with.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is a death-defying operation!

But even so, Paul is still firm in his thoughts: "Someone has to do this. At present, this planet is our only entry point. If we miss this opportunity, there will be no next time."

Paul is not worried about the threat that the Zerg will pose to them. What he is worried about is that giant companies are passive and do not dare to take the initiative and miss opportunities.

If you want to complete the integration mission as soon as possible, you must take advantage of every opportunity!

"Paul, I can agree with you to lead the team into the investigation, but you have to ensure your own safety and be responsible for the lives of your team members."

In the end, Li Ang made the decision to take this action.

Paul's idea is almost the same as that of Leon. If you want to take a shortcut, you must bear the corresponding risks. This is inevitable.

Seeing that the boss had already spoken, the senior management of the giant companies hesitated for a while, and finally reluctantly agreed to Paul's idea, and V also suggested adding:

"If this is the case, I suggest sending out elite advance team members to assist in the investigation, and adding AI drones to assist. This can protect the lives of personnel as much as possible."

However, before V finished speaking, Dr. Halsey suddenly interrupted and said: "I must remind everyone that the Zerg's biotechnology is extremely powerful."

"The evolution of their entire race is based on assimilating and absorbing other creatures. We must always be equipped with the manticore virus, otherwise Paul and the others cannot be saved with just a few AI drones."

Halsey’s reminder is crucial.

The best skill of the Zerg is to absorb and assimilate the genes of other races. As a pure physical essence species, the Zerg can theoretically evolve infinitely!

For example, the prototype of the springtail was originally a small and flexible dune animal, and the hydralisk was just a docile and harmless herbivorous sloth beast.

Cockroaches, which are not afraid of high temperatures and flames, are covered in carapace. Their prototypes are acidic slugs that live deep in the Jaxas Mountains. However, after the fusion and evolution of the Zerg, they can become extremely terrifying Zerg soldiers.

To deal with such a ferocious enemy, conventional firepower devices are useless. Paul can only sneak in all the way. If the Zerg are disturbed, it is basically equivalent to mission failure!

The more manpower sent to this operation, the more cramped and troublesome it will be.

Once the team members' positions are exposed due to mistakes, the giant company can only release the Manticore virus to forcefully clean up the Zerg on the planet.

"It's better to send the knights of the Prometheus Legion to explore. They are completely mechanical and AI-based troops, so there is no need to worry about being devoured by the Zerg."

At this time, Morgan Blackhand gave his opinion. In fact, if they want to ensure the safety of the members of the exploration team, they can send a large number of AI drones to slowly explore.

Unfortunately, there is not much time left for them. The distress signal received by the giant company is gradually weakening, and the two sides cannot even complete two-way communication. The trapped people on the ground may not be able to survive for long.

In an urgent situation, the longer the delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for giant companies to rescue the trapped people. Using AI drones to open roads for investigation is obviously not feasible.

"Knights are combat-type AI robots. They can only fight and assassinate target people. If they want to save people in complex and chaotic situations, I'm afraid this is not something they can do."

V shook his head and rejected Morgan's suggestion. He once led the Prometheus Legion and knew the power of these efficient killing machines.

When it comes to fighting, the Knight is indeed a good player and can be regarded as a model for the AI ​​troops of giant companies.

But compared to sneaking, dormant action, and acting according to the situation, these rigid knights are no match for astute humans.

"Time is running out now. Let Paul select the members of the investigation team. Each of you should prepare enough manticore virus. Once the mission fails, release the virus immediately!"

After everyone discussed it again and again, Li Ang finally decided on the action plan. Paul Atreides will be directly responsible for the selection and decision-making power of this investigation.

After hanging up the video communication with the Wanjie Base headquarters, David Martinez looked at Paul and asked with worried concern:

"What are you going to do next?"

To be honest, David couldn't bear to let Paul lead the team to carry out such a dangerous mission. He had witnessed the power of the Zerg on the flagship and knew how difficult this operation was.

"I am going to select some members from the advance team of Zhutian, and then find some helpers from other departments of giant companies to form a small team to carry out this mission." Paul responded decisively.

"It seems you already have a suitable candidate." David patted the other party on the shoulder.

Paul nodded calmly, and after officially accepting the mission, he immediately started preparations.

The first action candidates selected were Luke Skywalker, Din Djarin and others, who had just joined the All-Heaven Advance Team.

They are Paul's direct members, so this operation will naturally bring them along with them, followed by the Master Chief and Megatronus!

Of course, Megatronus will not directly participate in the action plan. Its mission is to rescue the team members. At the critical moment, Megatronus's entropic energy is enough to open an escape channel for Paul and others.

As long as Paul can find the location of the survivors, with Megatronus's ability to evade the situation, they can successfully escape from the planet.

Soon, the action team was assembled and everyone officially set sail!

The transport ship used in this operation was the Hyperion. The warship was too big for hiding, and the airship was too small and did not have enough speed to help Paul get rid of the Zerg fleet.

All things considered, the Hyperion is the most suitable for this operation.

"It seems like we brothers are working together again. It's great. At least we're not alone on the road to hell."

Din Djarin looked at the Master Chief, Luke and others, couldn't hide his smile and hugged Pani, jokingly.

Luke shook his head and sighed: "Yes, I came into close contact with bugs just to find those miserable unlucky ones."

In fact, Luke didn't have much resistance to this action, but he was just a little worried about the bugs underneath.

The Master Chief remained silent throughout the entire process. He felt like a brick that could be moved wherever needed.

At this time, Paul, who was equipped with the equipment, came over and said, "Okay, this is a rare opportunity. I hope everyone can seize it and have helpers to guide us so we don't have to worry about this operation."

As they spoke, everyone had boarded the Hyperion. At this moment, Qini had entered the battleship with other key members of the advance team, including Megatronus!

"My old teammates called me here just to watch you play some house games with a bunch of bugs. Why don't you just let me complete this mission for you."

Megatronus said jokingly. In the past few years, it has been busy integrating all races of Transformers in the "Transformers" universe every day. It usually has no time to come here to deal with such trivial matters.

"We just treat it like buying insurance and hope you won't need it."

Paul responded.

Of course, it is impossible for Megatronus to go into battle personally in this operation. After all, its size is too large and it can easily attract the attention of the Zerg, which will easily drag down the survivors.

The reason why Paul asked for Megatronus by name was because of his teleportation ability and powerful entropic energy. Once trouble arises, Megatronus can resolve it for them in an instant.

"It doesn't matter. Now that the boss has spoken, whether I do it or not, I have to obey your order and move more smoothly. I don't have that much free time."

Megatronus turned his head and connected to the video communication conversation with David Martinez.

On the holographic screen, David at the flagship headquarters told Paul: [We will be here ready to provide support at any time. If the situation requires it, call us immediately. 】

The executives of the giant company did not have high hopes for this operation attempt, and it would not be a big deal even if the survivors failed to be rescued.

As long as the lives of Paul and his party can be guaranteed.

"Yes, but I really hope I don't need to trouble you." Paul smiled.

After all personnel were ready to board the ship, the Hyperion officially set sail. It deployed a hard-light optical concealment field and quietly descended into the atmosphere of the target planet.

Inside the cabin, Paul gave everyone a teleportation device, which was a miniature teleporter modified from the giant company's hyperspace teleporter.

Nowadays, it has been widely used in investigation teams of major companies around the world.

As long as they are within the signal range of the hyperchronic teleporter, the team members can press the teleporter switch and be instantly teleported to the location of the main teleporter.

This can transmit itself back to the Hyperion when the team members encounter a crisis.

Of course, this thing also has a certain boot time, which takes about two seconds.

But as long as they are not killed by the enemy in one blow, the team members can basically rely on this thing to save their lives.

With the advanced medical technology of the world's giant companies, even if you are seriously injured, as long as you still have breath, you can be rescued.

While handing out the teleportation device, Paul reminded everyone: "This operation is just an attempt. Don't be brave. If you encounter trouble that you can't solve, just press the switch immediately."

"Anyway, you must remember one thing, don't fall into the hands of the Zerg!"

Paul reminded in a serious tone.

The bodies of these advance team soldiers have been marked by the giant company's manticore virus library, and the giant company's virus will not cause harm to them.

But once the Zerg devours them, it means that the genetic information of the Zerg also contains tagged data, and then the Manticore Virus will be helpless against the Zerg!

Unless the genetic data of the sacrificed team members are erased and a new batch of manticore viruses are created, giant companies will not be able to use viruses to eliminate pests before then!

In addition, Paul also did this to prevent Luke from falling into the hands of the Zerg.

After all, the Queen of Blades was once a human, and the Zerg relied on Kerrigan's powerful psychic talent to transform her into a powerful killing machine.

As the chosen son of the Force, if Luke Skywalker is captured by the Zerg, the consequences will be disastrous!

After hearing what Paul said, everyone put their transmitters in place and took the captain's words to heart.

While everyone was preparing weapons and auxiliary devices, the Hyperion was gradually approaching the unknown planet infected by the Zerg.

The Hyperion is parked on this planet, over an area that has not yet been completely infected. The signal received by the giant's AI drone is sent from here.

Unfortunately, the signal was too weak, and they could only roughly determine that it was within this range.

The next thing the investigation team has to do is to take a small shuttle, set off from the Hyperion, and slowly enter the ground.

No one is sure what kind of Zerg monsters they will face, but the only thing the members of the investigation team can be sure of is that it is only two or three days away from being covered by the Zerg carpet.

There is not much time left for them!

As the shuttle gradually descended, everyone looked down through the porthole windows and saw that a large area of ​​the planet had been submerged by the purple-red carpet of Zerg.

Countless squirming sarcomas and internal organs are entrenched on the carpet, constantly hatching more Zerg troops and occupying more uncontaminated areas.

The members of the investigation team of the Zhutian Advance Team were once again shocked and speechless by the Zerg in front of them.

The number of Zerg here was countless times greater than the ones they had seen before, and the carpet of germs all over the earth was revealing gruesome flesh and blood.

Makes you feel like you are in hell.

After a while, everyone landed in an area of ​​primeval forest that had not been contaminated and covered by fungus blankets.

Perhaps because plants and trees are not easily digested and swallowed by fungus carpet, it will take some time for this primitive forest to be covered by fungus carpet.

However, although the carpet has not completely spread here, it does not mean that there are no traces of bugs here.

The members of the investigation team who had just gotten off the shuttle could still see springtails walking through the forest from time to time, as if they were searching for survivors trapped here.

If they spoke rashly and exposed their position, an overwhelming swarm of insects would immediately appear and rush towards them.

"Everyone, please stay hidden. Our goal is to search for the survivors, not to fight the bugs. Don't provoke them."

Paul reminded everyone through the internal communication channel.

After seeing this Zerg star, everyone in the team cheered up. Without Paul having to say anything, they knew that once something happened, they would be immediately overwhelmed by the dense swarm of bugs!

In addition to springtails with well-developed senses of smell and vision on the ground that need attention, Paul and others also need to be wary of eyeworms floating in mid-air.

This balloon-shaped creature that looks like an eye is the scout unit of the Zerg.

Euglena, as the name suggests, has enough eyes to kill a patient with trypophobia on the spot, and its field of vision reaches all directions without blind spots.

In addition, there are six sensitive photosensitive tentacles growing around the body, which makes it difficult for even optical camouflage to escape the detection of eye bugs.

Under Paul's reminder, everyone can only be vigilant at all times to see if there are eyeworms patrolling over the jungle. Once they find traces of eyeworms, they can only take a detour.

There is no way, they must be cautious enough to complete this investigation mission.

Fortunately, the Euglena is not a true clairvoyant. Beyond the distance beyond its field of vision, it cannot detect or warn.

As long as there are AI drones in the sky providing real-time information to Paul and others, they can also circumvent the detection of eyeworms.

"A flying bug was found ahead. It looks like a balloon. Is it creating a carpet?"

With the help of a hard-light sniper rifle, Din Djarin saw an unknown swollen creature floating in the air in the distance. The bug looked like a balloon, but it also had a pair of jointed limbs, which showed obvious biological characteristics.

Paul used the auxiliary vision system of the power armor to look at the place directed by Din Djarin, and sure enough he saw a balloon-shaped creature floating in the air, "excreting" purple-red mucus on the ground.

The body of the balloon has a very conspicuous purple poison sac, and what is wrapped inside should be part of the fungus carpet.

In fact, this bug is the transportation unit of the Zerg, and its name is "King Bug". Its abdominal sac can secrete bacteria carpet, which provides a continuous manufacturing base for the Zerg.

The King Insect has no attack methods, no outstanding detection capabilities, and even its movement speed is quite slow. Its main task is to produce carpets and pollute local areas.

Seeing that the Zerg were polluting this last piece of pure land, Paul felt increasingly pressed for time. He waved his hand and issued an order:

"Hurry up and catch up, we have to move faster."

Immediately, following the guidance of the signal source, everyone carefully came to a place with a group of human buildings. It happened that the carpet of bacteria excreted by the king insect just fell down nearby.

"We must be late."

Pani swallowed, and what everyone saw was the roof submerged by fungi, internal organs crawling all over the walls, and all the houses covered in indescribable sarcoma and mucus.

The squirming flesh and blood was breathing up and down on the fungus carpet, which made people feel nauseated. Even the sergeant chief, who had always been calm and calm, could not help but feel his muscles tighten.

Just when everyone thought that this trip was about to end in vain, Qini suddenly said: "Wait a minute, there are still people alive here!"

However, as soon as Qini finished speaking, she saw the "living person" she mentioned walking towards the outside of the building complex with a strange and twisted posture.

Tentacles and jointed limbs that did not belong to humans grew on their bodies, and they looked as if they had been forcibly inserted into funny auxiliary limbs.

Bone blades grew wantonly from their upper bodies, and the heads of all infected people were modified in various ways by the Zerg.

This group of people can no longer be called humans, but a group of walking corpses controlled by the desires of primitive creatures. In their eyes, they can only execute the orders of advanced insect species, kill and devour.

"Qini, I suggest you look at the target clearly before reporting the situation next time. If this thing can be called a human, the slug in my house can be considered half a human."

Din Djarin's mouth twitched.

"It's better to end them as soon as possible to prevent them from continuing to suffer such pain." Luke was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see humans being tortured like this by the Zerg.

Paul carefully observed the status of the infected people, and he found that the actual situation might be worse than he imagined.

These human beings have not been assimilated into a part of the Zerg race at all, but have been injected with a carpet of bacteria by the bugs, using the human body as a breeding ground for bugs.

The larvae in their bodies are frantically absorbing their own nutrients. I believe it won’t be long before the worms that have eaten and drank enough will burst out of their bodies!

Faced with such a tragic situation, Paul could only sigh for these fellow human beings in his heart, and his focus still had to be on the task:

"First make sure whether the signal source is coming from here."

If the source of the signal is from these infected humans, then their trip will be in vain, and they will not receive any information needed by the headquarters.

The Master Chief carefully observed the surrounding environment, and after confirming through the AI ​​drone that there was no danger for the time being, he said that he could enter the building complex to investigate.

"Master Chief, you and Din Djarin are responsible for reconnaissance and stealth, and the others will help cover with me. Pay attention, don't be too eager to fight, and move as fast as possible!"

Paul quickly made assignments.

"clear!"

Everyone responded in unison.

The most important thing they need to pay attention to now is that they must not attract the attention of other Zerg units and try to avoid making too much noise.

Otherwise, this operation will be forced to fail!