Chapter 1294: Chapter 1042: What Happened?
Boom!
The door shattered as Long Yi walked in, saw Fang Zuo cowering in the corner wrapped in a blanket, and burst into laughter, "Hahaha, this guy is really something. It’s my first time seeing someone trying to kill themselves like this. Are you planning to squat there for so long that you develop deep vein thrombosis in your lower limbs and then let the blood clot travel to your pulmonary artery to suffocate yourself to death?"
The question posed by Long Yi rendered everyone in the room completely dumbfounded, as it was so technical that no one present understood it.
"Cough cough, no worries, no worries, I was just cracking a dark joke. Seeing how you all look so chilled to the bone, I know I nailed it."
As he spoke, Long Yi walked straight toward Fang Zuo.
"Come on, tell me, girl, how old are you?" Long Yi asked.
"I’m not a girl, I’m a man, and I’m twenty years old," Fang Zuo said quietly.
"Oh my goodness, you’re a man! And twenty years old at that! I thought you were an underage girl! That’s the epitome of self-pity, you’ve reached a certain level of womanliness! Are you planning to scare your enemies to death with that pose?" Long Yi leaned in and asked.
"Of course not," Fang Zuo immediately felt a flicker of anger within him.
"Or maybe, you’re trying to garner sympathy from others, or you want your father to hold you and lull you to sleep?" Long Yi asked with a smirk.
"Of course not!" Fang Zuo said loudly.
"Then get the fuck up! Don’t wallow in that corner like a piece of trash!" Long Yi cursed bluntly.
Fang Zuo sprang to his feet with a whoosh, glaring furiously at Long Yi. The sudden move made his vision blacken, but Long Yi quickly grabbed him, preventing him from falling over.
"That’s more like it, a man should act like a man, even in death you can’t just die a wretched death!" Long Yi roared.
Fang Zuo nodded vigorously. Although there was still a hint of unease in his heart, he at least didn’t feel as upset anymore.
"Alright, Fang Zuo, I have a few little questions I’d like to discuss with you. Would you be willing to help me?" Long Yi asked with a smile.
"What questions?" For some reason, Fang Zuo suddenly felt a clenching nervousness in his heart.
"They are about why you ended up looking like this," Long Yi said.
"This—" Fang Zuo’s just-calmed emotions began to sink again.
"And your answers will directly determine whether I can completely obliterate those bastards," Long Yi continued.
Almost instantly, Fang Zuo’s eyes lit up.
"Yes, please ask!" Fang Zuo said.
"What exactly happened in the past year?" Long Yi asked.
Long Yi’s question was actually the question on everyone’s mind.
Ever since Fang Zuo was taken away, everyone thought he had died. After all, there had been no contact for over a year. His sudden reappearance, in such an unnerving new persona, was almost a huge surprise. Moreover, this was the first time in the past year that they had successfully discovered that amongst those monsters, there laid a Tetrahedron!
In the whole year of battles, whenever the monsters were defeated, they immediately fled without giving anyone time to react. If they couldn’t escape, they would self-destruct on the spot. The self-destructive power was enormous, and the destructive force was terrifying. Because of this, most of the time, when facing these monsters, they didn’t completely annihilate them.
Clearly, this time Long Yi had been quite lucky to have stumbled upon this great secret upon his arrival.
"Actually, I don’t know exactly what happened either," Fang Zuo said.
That day, Fang Zuo reported to Ruosha as usual. Since Ruosha and Isrile returned from that planet, Ruosha had been in good spirits, and occasionally she would offer Fang Zuo some guidance. Although it was just a small piece of advice, it had benefited Fang Zuo immensely. In fact, deep down, Fang Zuo had harbored a ripple of affection for Ruosha, but Ruosha, having perceived that slight ripple, had very directly told Fang Zuo that she was taken and warned him not to harbor any illusions.
On the surface, Fang Zuo agreed, but internally he couldn’t accept it, "Having a man is nothing but a passing cloud! The affection between two people will inevitably fade over time if they are not together. He intended to seize the opportunity when it presented itself. That’s why he went to see Ruosha almost every day.
But on that day, those inexplicable tetrahedra appeared before Fang Zuo and swallowed him up right before his eyes. At first, Fang Zuo wasn’t at all scared, as he had grown much stronger over the past period of time. This had filled him with confidence, but after several unsuccessful attacks in a row, he truly became frightened. He began to launch attacks with all his might, but the surrounding tetrahedra remained completely still. Fang Zuo could sense that the tetrahedron was flying continuously, but he had no idea where it was taking him.
Then a wave of energy fluctuated, and Fang Zuo passed out completely.
When Fang Zuo woke up again, he was no longer in the tetrahedron and was now floating in a tank. Around him, there were densely packed tanks, each containing a person like him. They were all floating naked, some having lost consciousness, while others were screaming in terror. Fang Zuo tried to use his powers, but all his strength had left him.
At that moment, Fang Zuo noticed something in the liquid of the tank, which should have been clear. When he scooped up the water and looked closely, he was horrified to discover it was filled with tiny worms! These worms were wrapping around his skin, and even more were burrowing into it!
Desperately, Fang Zuo scrubbed his skin, attempting to rub off the worms, but he soon realized that he was completely unable to muster any strength. He collapsed heavily into the water, only to see swarms of worms rushing into his eyes.
"Ai Lin, Sylph, immediately destroy everything Fang Zuo has touched! Conduct a thorough physical examination on anyone who has come into contact with Fang Zuo’s clothes or his body! Quarantine and inspect everyone in this room!" Long Yi proclaimed loudly.
The situation was far more serious than Long Yi had anticipated. If it was as Fang Zuo described, then the worms might have already spread throughout Fang Zuo’s body. That meant he was now like a ticking time bomb.
Hearing Long Yi’s urgent tone, Fang Zuo was petrified and even felt helplessly at a loss on what to do.
At this moment, Long Yi simply used the Giant’s power to create a special reverse shield, which would prevent anything other than air from leaving Fang Zuo’s body. After doing all this, Long Yi smiled at Fang Zuo and said, "Don’t panic, brother, this is nothing. Even if you die, I can still bring you back to life."
Speaking thus, Long Yi cast a sleep spell that made Fang Zuo lose consciousness, then he took Fang Zuo and left the place. Ai Lin and Sylph closed the door behind them and, including the Emperor within the room, smiled faintly, saying, "Come now, ladies and gentlemen, don’t panic. It’s really just a simple spell."
Upon leaving the room, Long Yi brought Fang Zuo back to the Great Explorer, and the Plane had already prepared a top-tier sealed laboratory for him. Long Yi stripped off Fang Zuo’s robe and tossed it into an incinerator next to him. The incinerator immediately ejected a powerful energy that thoroughly destroyed the robe. Then Long Yi pulled out the Giant’s tablet, ready to conduct a more detailed and urgent examination.
"Warning! Massive parasitic source detected! Warning! Extra-Plane life form detected! Warning! God-level energy detected!"
A series of three warnings made Long Yi’s heart skip a beat; he immediately checked the three warnings and then laughed. The enormous parasitic source must be Fang Zuo, while the interdimensional life and god-level energy turned out to be his own!
Well, if I don’t understand, I can always deal with that later. The biggest problem right now is Fang Zuo.
Since the Giant tablet was able to detect the parasitic source, it should know what it is.
"Leviathan Worm?" Indeed, in the detailed information, the Giant tablet provided information about this worm.
The Leviathan Worm is a fissure life form that feeds on pure energy. An individual Leviathan Worm possesses no aggressiveness, only the instinct to capture energy. Each worm has only a limited number of neurons and an extremely simple structure. However, when a sufficient number of Leviathan Worms gather, due to the increased number of neurons, the collective will birth an independent consciousness. The larger the number of gathered worms, the stronger the independent consciousness will be.
Fissure life?
Long Yi immediately thought of another fissure life form he had encountered before. It had described some things about fissures, but clearly, the Leviathan Worm was completely different.
So, was there any strategy to deal with the Leviathan Worm? Long Yi continued scrolling down, but the Giant tablet did not provide a solution, because the statement below was that the Leviathan Worm is a life form with a mild temperament. Since they require only energy for sustenance, they almost never conflict with most other life forms. The few observed large Leviathan Worm collectives, being sufficiently large, are also sufficiently intelligent and wise. They can acquire energy through some special means and thus are even less likely to pose any threat to any other life forms.
So, the matter began to get interesting.
How could this life form, deemed harmless by the Giant, suddenly become like this?
At this time, all the equipment in the laboratory had been activated. A syringe directly extracted some blood from Fang Zuo’s arm. Through an amplifying magic, Long Yi was able to directly see the tiny worms swimming in Fang Zuo’s blood. These worms were minuscule, even smaller than red blood cells. They only did one thing in the blood—absorb energy. Long Yi observed that Fang Zuo’s mitochondria were still constantly producing energy, but the moment it was produced, it was absorbed by the Leviathan Worms that were spread throughout Fang Zuo’s body, which was why he felt so weak. These Leviathan Worms could absorb almost any kind of energy, even the neural electrical signals from the brain, which was why Fang Zuo felt so feeble and sleepy.
Then, Long Yi’s inspection reached Fang Zuo’s head. Here, Long Yi was startled to find a new phenomenon—a mass of worm collective entirely enveloping Fang Zuo’s brain. Fang Zuo’s head was now very large, mainly due to the worms’ doing. If possible, Long Yi really wished to create a new body for Fang Zuo and transfer his soul and consciousness into this body. However, he feared what these energy-devouring worms might do since, in a sense, the soul and consciousness could also be considered a form of energy.
Long Yi reached out his hand and released a part of the Giant’s strength. The Giant’s previous records indicated that if these worms gathered to a certain extent, they would form a consciousness. Now the scale at which these worms had amassed even exceeded Fang Zuo’s own brain, so in theory, they should have some kind of consciousness by now. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
