"Captain, what the hell is that?" A new recruit who had just joined the team less than three months ago, his voice was trembling when he saw the mycelium coming out of the corner of the evil god's eyes.
Lin Ke didn't know what it was. He had been monitoring the activities of the evil spirits in the safe zone for more than ten years. During these ten years, he had seen quite a few evil spirits, but he had never seen an evil spirit parasitized by fungi.
What kind of fungus could parasitize on the body of the strongest creature on earth, the Divine Evil
"That's not what we should be concerned about. We just need to be prepared for battle according to our training." Lin Ke said calmly and gestured for the deputy captain to contact the headquarters immediately.
Just as the deputy captain was contacting the headquarters, the evil spirit in the passage made a "ho ho ho" sound, and suddenly stood up, with the fungi on its body glowing with a faint blue light.
Pop pop pop!
A clear and audible cracking sound was heard in the passage. The fungi and other individuals on the rock horse's body suddenly expanded, then burst and shattered, spewing out groups of fine dark blue powder as fine as dust.
Those are actually not powders, but fungal spores as fine as dust. They are as small as dust, shaped like balls, and have a bunch of almost transparent hyphae dancing at the bottom.
After they were ejected, they spread out rapidly relying on the airflow in the channel.
Although Lin Ke didn't know what the powder was, his intuition told him that it was definitely not a good thing. He immediately shouted, "Wear a mask!"
Everyone quickly took off their gas masks, put them on their faces, and used the masks' built-in ventilators to breathe.
As soon as they did all this, the rock horse rushed over like crazy.
"Fire! Fire!" Lin Ke raised his rifle, locked the monster in the sight, and then pressed the trigger hard. The Xingsu rifle vibrated slightly, and beams of light shot out from the muzzle, crossing the cave passage and landing on the monster.
The other team members also raised their guns and opened fire. More than a dozen people were either squatting or standing, concentrating their firepower to attack the evil monster.
Iwakoma is not a very powerful evil spirit in the lair. Even without an Ascendant, it can be killed with concentrated firepower.
Sure enough, the flying beams of light blasted the monster's body with bacteria flying everywhere, leaving its skin and flesh torn apart, but it did not stop. A circle of glowing whiskers around its neck suddenly opened and floated in the air like seaweed.
The cave passage began to shake. As the rock pony stood up again and stomped its hooves heavily on the ground, the ground in the passage rose at a visible speed. The soil and rocks were moved by an invisible force, forming a stone wave that slammed towards Lin Ke and the others.
"Scatter! Scatter!" Lin Ke waved his hands and shouted, throwing himself to the side and rolling to avoid the stone waves.
The team members quickly scattered, but one or two of them failed to react in time and were hit by the stone waves. While their scalps were bleeding, they were pinned to the ground by the rubble.
Lin Ke made a gesture and several experienced soldiers rushed forward, cleared the rubble, and pulled their companions out to prevent them from being suffocated to death underneath.
The evil spirit continued to charge, and although Lin Ke and the others tried their best to stop it, it still rushed into the crowd.
As soon as it rushed into the crowd, the evil creature was already dying. It struggled in its last moments, shaking its body desperately, scattering blood, tissue, and dark blue fungi everywhere.
These things fell on Lin Ke and his men's bodies, masks, and hands. After Lin Ke and his men continued to attack for several minutes, the rock pony finally lay down.
Lying on the ground, except for the occasional twitching of his limbs, he did not move.
"Damn it, what's wrong with this thing?" An old soldier took off his mask and gasped.
Seeing this, Lin Ke shouted, "Wang Tai, put on your mask! Everyone listen, without my order, you are not allowed to take off your mask without permission!"
The veteran named Wang Tai quickly put on his mask and chuckled, "Captain, you are too nervous. A demon like Yanju can't release poison."
"Just shut up and do what I say."
Lin Ke called a few more soldiers and asked them to burn Yanju's body on the spot, then called the deputy captain over and asked, "Have you contacted the headquarters?"
"We've made contact. I just checked the communicator and they've sent someone over."
Just as he finished speaking, the sound of cars was heard from the other side of the cave passage. A moment later, two base vehicles stopped in front, and several teams of fully armed base soldiers wearing full body combat armor and tactical helmets trotted over.
Compared with surveillance teams like Lin Ke, these soldiers from the combat group appear to be more professional and are several levels better equipped.
Lin Ke sent a signal from a distance and shouted: "Don't come over, we may be contaminated, I demand the implementation of the isolation procedure."
"team leader?"
The soldiers in the squad all looked towards Lin Ke, who comforted them, "This is just in case. You saw the evil spirit just now, and it wasn't in a good condition."
"If we go out like this, it would be irresponsible to the base and to our families."
"But there's no need to worry too much. After the quarantine procedure starts, we will be disinfected and inspected. If anything happens, we will know immediately and the base will intervene immediately. Everyone will be fine."
After Lin Ke's comfort, the team members nodded. Soon, a fully automatic driverless vehicle came nearby. Lin Ke led the team into the car, closed the door, and they were sent to the base.
In the isolation area of the base, Lin Ke's team went through three disinfection procedures and were then assigned to a dormitory for a 48-hour isolation observation.
After they entered the dormitory, the projection screen on the wall lit up, and Lin Ke's boss, a middle-aged man with a serious face, appeared on the screen.
"I've heard about your story, Lin Ke. Your judgment is correct."
"Don't worry, your blood samples have been sent for testing and we'll have the answers soon."
"You can come out in 48 hours, and then I will give you a week's vacation."
"It's getting late now, take a good rest."
Lin Ke nodded and thanked his boss for his understanding and arrangement. After finishing the conversation, he glanced at everyone and said, "Everyone go to bed."
The team members nodded one after another, then found their beds according to the numbers on their clothes and lay down on them.
Lin Ke added: "If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, please inform me immediately."
After he finished speaking, he turned off the lights, and the dormitory suddenly fell into darkness.
I don’t know how long it was before the recruit heard a strange sound. He turned over and woke up yawning.
The new soldier found a flashlight, turned it on, and cast the light. He saw that the bed next to him was empty. The veteran Wang Tai, who was supposed to be lying on the bed, was squatting in the corner with his back to him.
Heavy breathing.
"Brother Wang Tai, are you okay?" the recruit shouted.
Lin Ke, who was not sleeping soundly because he was worried about everyone's health, woke up immediately after hearing the voice of the new recruit and asked, "What's wrong?"
The recruit turned around with a flashlight and reported to Lin Ke: "Brother Wang Tai is squatting in the corner. I don't know what he is doing."
"Wang Tai?" Lin Ke picked up the flashlight on the bedside, turned it on, and shone it over, but there was no sign of Wang Tai in the light.
"Where are the others?"
The new recruit also looked back, but at this time, Wang Tai's figure could no longer be seen in the corner: "That's strange, he was clearly here just now, am I dazzled?"
Lin Ke had a bad feeling in his heart. He suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Don't sleep, everyone, wake up quickly."
He quickly turned on all the lights in the dormitory, and just as the lights came on, a dark shadow swooped down from mid-air and knocked down the new recruit.
The recruit was frightened and punched and kicked, but he couldn't kick the shadow that knocked him down. He looked closely and found that it was Wang Tai. But at this time, clumps of dark blue fungi grew on Wang Tai's forehead, neck, and back of his hands.
There were also translucent mycelium emerging from the corners of his eyes, wriggling constantly.
The recruit screamed in fear. At this time, Wang Tai opened his mouth wide and suddenly spat out a stream of blue-black liquid from his mouth. The liquid fell on the recruit's face, mouth, and eyes, instantly dyeing the recruit's face black and blue.
"OMG."
"What's going on here?"
Several soldiers were about to step forward and pull Wang Tai away. Seeing this, Lin Ke yelled, "Don't go over there!"
He quickly rushed to the wall next to him and slammed the emergency button there. Suddenly, a shrill alarm sounded in the dormitory and in the base.
A moment later, a large amount of gas suddenly sprayed out from above the dormitory. These were tranquilizer sprays, which sprayed on everyone's heads. Soon, everyone, including Lin Ke, fell into a coma.
Not long after, the door of the dormitory opened, and a team of personnel wearing full-body protective clothing entered the dormitory. They took Wang Tai and the new recruits away together, and dealt with the contaminated sheets and utensils at the same time. After they left, the dormitory began to spray disinfectant mist again, and the entire dormitory was fully disinfected.
In the base command hall, the base director Xiao Hanling strode in. In the hall, a biological research team was already on standby. As soon as Xiao Hanling came in, they all stood up.
Xiao Hanling pressed his palm down, motioning everyone to sit down, and then asked: "What's the situation now?"
An old man with glasses and gray hair said, "The team suspected of being contaminated has been controlled. The target who has already shown signs of fungal parasitism has been temporarily placed in a critical care isolation cabin, and another team member who had close contact with him has entered the observation cabin."
"Our personnel are taking detailed samples of them, but Director, to be honest, I have never seen anything like this. I suspect that these fungi are invasive alien species. I suggest reporting them to the Golden Court and asking them to check the database to see if similar situations have occurred in other fortresses."
Xiao Hanling nodded and said, "Mr. Feng, you and I have the same idea. How about this? You quickly compile a report, and then I will contact the Biological Department and the Health Department of the Golden Court and send your report to them to see what they think. In addition..."