Zero made his way through the cave, his army boots on the slime-strewn ground. The slime of the gold swallowing bug is slippery, and it will fall if you don't pay attention. So Zero walked very carefully and at the same time took his steps lightly. All underground creatures have degraded eyesight due to the environment, but their hearing is extremely developed. Even the sound of the needle falling would be detected by them, so Ling walked not fast, for fear that the bugs would notice the sound.
The cave excavated by the gold-swallowing worm was winding and winding. Zero silently counted his steps and concluded that he had walked nearly a kilometer. However, the cave seemed endless, but Zero didn't care at all. In the quiet underground, in the dark abyss, he walks alone. Just like this completely strange world after waking up, although there are many people in the Z7 base, Zero feels lonely.
After all, there is a gap of nearly half a century between him and those people.
Zero no longer remembers the past, who is he? from where? What have you done? There is no answer to all this, but Zero knows that as long as he keeps going, one day he will get close and know the truth.
That's it.
The end of the cave has come.
It is said to be the end, but it is not necessarily the case. It is just that the passage turns a 90-degree turn after reaching here, and extends directly into the dark abyss.
Zero took out the cold sparkler, lit it, and dropped it. The firelight swept across the vertical passage, and some iron beetles the size of a fist immediately scattered away, away from the icy and bright light.
Fortunately, the drop of the vertical passage is only about ten meters. This distance did not make Ling pay attention to it, and the cold smoke continued to burn at the bottom of the passage, and Ling used both hands and feet to climb all the way down through some uneven mud surfaces on the passage. By the time his feet touched the ground, the cold smoke had just gone out. Darkness returned to the ground, and soon, a green light lit up, causing the iron beetles that gathered towards Zero to disperse quickly.
Holding a fluorescent stick in his hand, Zero continued to walk along the horizontal passage opened by the gold swallowing bug. The passage keeps sloping downwards, as if leading straight to hell.
But this time, Zero's journey ends quickly.
Because he heard some special sounds coming from the quiet underground.
Zizizi—
It's like the sound of alternating current, and it's like the sound of something rubbing against each other. Zero couldn't be sure and just pulled out the M500*. This pair of large-caliber weapons, if shot at close range, is like the tough shell of a gold-eating bug, and it may not be able to offset the impact of the .50 bullet.
The sound is getting closer.
Under the green fluorescence, the passage came to an end.
At the end is a bigger cave, the fluorescent light can't reach the end, Ling estimates in his heart that the radius is about 300 meters.
The strange sound came from under the cave, and Zero crouched on the edge. Under the green fluorescent light, several huge worm bodies were intertwined, and those strange sounds came from the rubbing of the mucus-laden body surfaces of these worms. The Gold Swallowing Worm is like a meat maggot that has been magnified countless times, and it is difficult for people to distinguish the head from the tail. Now several big worms are entangled endlessly, making it even more difficult to distinguish.
Under the fluorescent light, the reflection of something slightly stings Zero's eyes. Zero looked towards the light source, and there was a thick layer of copper mud piled up on the edge of the cave.
Those were the food of the gold swallowing bug, Zero showed a thoughtful expression. Why does the gold swallowing bug transport food here? And judging from the amount of this pile of copper slime, the food is enough for several gold swallowing worms to eat for several days. In other words, did they prepare food in advance? Why? Could it be because of the "movement" below
In Zero's mind, he quickly analyzed the matter in front of him.
The entanglement of gold-eating bugs looks like snakes breeding offspring. However, gold swallowing bugs reproduce asexually, and there is no need to reproduce offspring through this behavior. Zero didn't know much about this creature, and the information he knew was just from a chart when he took over the task from Old Jack.
He couldn't judge, but he didn't want to stay for long. The task of reconnaissance does not include destroying the gold swallowing bug. Zero would not do unnecessary things, but when he turned to leave, something new happened to the bugs in the cave below.
The largest gold swallowing worm suddenly poked its head out. On the fat, white worm's big head, there were two rows of six small crimson eyes in total. There was a cross crack in the center of the bug's head, and the fat was rolled up, revealing a mouthpart the same size as the head.
Under green light, Zero could see clearly. There are three layers of small inverted teeth growing in the mouthpiece. It is these seemingly inconspicuous inverted teeth, but they can dig mountains and rocks. But now, the target of this mouthpiece is towards his companion.
With a puff, the big worm swallowed the companion around it into its mouth. I saw the big worm kept sucking, just like that, swallowing another worm into its belly.
Zero pupil constriction.
What's this? Cannibalism
Soon, after the worm swallowed its companion whole, its body became fatter. Wrinkles are visible under the worm body, as if the swallowed companion is struggling. The gastric juice of the gold-swallowing bug can melt gold fossils, so how could it not be able to resist its own kind. Soon, the tiger's body stabilized. But it seemed very hungry, so it aimed its huge mouth at other insects.
The sound of sucking and swallowing continued, and Zero just watched the big worm devour the remaining two companions. After eating three worms of the same kind in one go, the body of the swallowing gold worm became extremely huge. It let out a cry of pain, the six red eyes flickered non-stop, and the surface of the bug's body caused waves of flesh. It seems to be digesting, and it seems to be excreting something.
The giant worm's body twisted continuously, its big head began to sink, and its body curled up, forming a meat cocoon the size of a small mountain. When the shape of the cocoon was completed and stabilized, it vibrated slightly like a human heart.
Zero exited quietly, the reconnaissance mission was over.
This strange phenomenon of the gold swallowing bug should be a kind of evolution. By devouring other companions, it perfects its own genes and evolves to a higher level of life form. In this era, in order to survive, you must use all means to make yourself stronger. As with humans, so with other creatures.
Zero's work has been completed. As for whether the gold-eating bug that has evolved into a new form will threaten the base, it needs to be evaluated by professionals. That's not Zero's job. Zero doesn't care and doesn't care how the base will deal with the gold-swallowing bug.
When I returned to the mining area, it was already two hours later. Zero jumped out of the cave and heard the noise of people outside. He frowned, it was working time now, it seemed that it shouldn't be so noisy, and things were not simple.
Zero walked into the mining area, and the miner Nick, who had been in contact with him before, was arguing with someone. Seeing Zero appear, Nick ran over quickly. While running, he drew the shape of a cross on his chest and forehead with his fingers.
"Thank goodness you're back at last, sir."
Zero nodded, and asked concisely: "What's going on?"
"Lost contact, sir." Nick panted, pointed in the direction of the base and said, "Just half an hour ago, we were going to transport the first batch of copper mine back to the base. The base communicated internally, but there was no movement at all. Everyone was in a hurry and didn't know what happened inside."
"Didn't contact old Jack?"
"How can it be? After the radio contact was silent, we directly contacted the boss through the intercom, but no one answered." Nick hesitated: "This is unbelievable, it's almost like everyone at the base suddenly disappeared. .”
After hearing this, Zero was silent. Leaving Nick behind, he slipped into the crowd, boarded the mine cart, and drove to the entrance of the work area.
It's just that no one knew that his hand was lightly holding onto the handguard.
The entrance door to the work area was closed tightly, and when Zero arrived, all the workers around him looked at him.
Zero jumped off the mine cart and asked, "Who is in charge."
"Me." A middle-aged man emerged from the crowd, raised his hand and said, "Sir, I'm the person in charge of mine operations. You can call me Jieto."
"How is the gate?" Zero asked as he walked towards the gate.
Jieto followed Zero and reported: "The electronic system has completely failed, and there is no response inside the base. The electrician is already dealing with it, but the possibility of recovery is very low."
Beside the stainless steel gate, a thin man was squatting on the ground to check the electronic circuit of the gate. Zero came to him and asked, "Can you open it?"
"No, there is no response at all." The thin man replied without turning his head, and then he saw a pair of zeros dressed as soldiers, and immediately jumped up respectfully: "Sir, I have tried my best."
Zero asked: "Can't it be turned on manually?"
"Manual system? Should..." the electrician patted his head angrily and said, "Damn it, why did I forget about the manual system."
He immediately turned around and called several miners, and hurried to the other side of the gate.
Not long after, the door that separated the operation area from the base finally opened slowly after hearing a "click".
The people near the gate breathed a sigh of relief, but the skin under Zero's clothes felt like a slight needle prick.
Danger!
From the door, there was a dangerous smell.
The door opened a crack, and red, viscous liquid slowly flowed out of the door. They flowed across the brown ground, through Zero and other people's shoes, and then gradually stopped ten meters outside the door.
The miners couldn't say another word, and right by the door, an arm slipped out of the door under the flow of red **.
It was just an arm, it was severed from the root of the shoulder part, and there was still a white arm bone stabbing out of the blurred flesh and blood.
"This... What's going on here?" The person in charge of the mining area was dumbfounded, and he looked at Zero.
Zero took a deep breath and said quietly: "You stay here, after I go in, close the door!"
After finishing speaking, Zero stepped into the bloody water with one foot, and with another foot, he had already stepped into the gate of the base.
After a while, the door slowly closed.