Chapter 322: Tricky
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Behind the silicified wood branches, Luo Yuan saw a unique creature that he had never seen before. It was different from other common mutated creatures. Although the morphological form and capabilities of living things have changed tremendously since the apocalypse, most creatures could still be identified by human beings. For instance, a beast would remain a beast, a bird would remain a bird, and an insect would remain an insect even after they were mutated. This was especially true on the surface.
This mysterious life form was completely new and terrifying to Luo Yuan. Just as he thought about it, there was something happening to the lake of mercury. There was a two-meter-wide swirl forming just beyond the border of the lake. From afar it looked like it was five meters deep but the bottom was nowhere to be seen. Considering that the swirl was happening outside of the border, it showed that the lake was incredibly deep. Looking at its one square kilometer radius, this mysterious object was unimaginably massive.
A few seconds later, a ball-like object appeared on top of the surface. As time went by, the object turned out to be a human head and it looked just as if it was 3D-printed. Then, a torso, arms, legs and clothes were coming out gradually. The human body was so detailed and real that there was even a scar on its face. If not for its pale color, it would be no different than a real human.
Suddenly, Wu Qianru who was numbed by the mercury that was devouring her upwards from her chest, started struggling out of fear when she saw the appearance of the human body. However, the substance seemed to be extremely sticky. No matter how much she struggled, her body was stuck and she could not move.
"That seems like the deputy team leader!" Luo Yuan thought to himself while watching from afar. This mercury lake did not seem to have an exact form. From the looks of it, its main ability should be cloning every living thing that it captured. Apart from the creatures that looked like a snake or earthworm, he did not encounter any other life forms. That was the reason why the lake was only able to transform into a snake or earthworm. Now that it had captured its second life form, a human being, it started cloning human beings.
The clone of the deputy team leader had no facial expression. Once it landed on the ground, it started moving like the mercury earthworm did. Luo Yuan had a clue of what the creature was up to.
It seemed that the purpose of the mysterious life form was to find ways of getting out of its cage. However, Luo Yuan had mixed feelings about his guesses. Given that this place was in the reconstruction area, Luo Yuan could not imagine the situation if it succeeded in getting out of this place. With sufficient time, it could produce a military of troops. And with more and more lives being captured, its size might expand and become deadlier. If it was not stopped immediately, the situation will get worse and the human who was already suffering would face even bigger challenges.
Looking at the cloning situation that was happening in the lake of mercury, Luo Yuan frowned. Facing such a massive yet mysterious life form, the saber that he had always been proud of was useless. Even if he could manage to kill one or two, or maybe even a thousand of its clones, the lake itself was just too massive.
His head was telling him to return to Hope City immediately to report this matter to his superior. Furthermore, he had not accepted the mission so leaving would not bring him any trouble. As for Wu Qianru, they were just acquaintances. Prior to this, he did not even know about her. Even if she died, he would not feel guilty at all!
To be fair, Luo Yuan was never a loving person even though he often extended his help to others. He did whatever he could within his abilities but he would never risk his life to save someone. He looked at Wu Qianru with sympathy and proceeded to go into flight. As he began to fly, there were three ‘human’ clones that started running frantically.
Half a minute later, he stopped and looked to his left. There was a human clone climbing up the wall. Its speed was extremely fast like an agile ape. When its body touched the wall, there was a force that allowed it to stick on the wall. The shackles that the snake-like creatures had binding it to this place was now possible with this human form.
"I can’t let this thing leave this place!" Luo Yuan’s facial expression changed immediately. If the lake found out where the entrance was and escaped, the consequences were unimaginable. He was not sure if the clones were an independent lifeform, but he could not risk the possibility.
He leaned nearer to the wall quietly and then stomped on the ground with his feet. His body leaped forward the clones like an arrow. The human-clones seemed to notice his movements and it jolted slightly. Perhaps it had been living underground for too long that it had lost its basic senses. Luo Yuan pulled out his saber and chopped off its head. However, it did not give any response.
However, his effort was futile. As the mercury was immensely dense and sticky, right after Luo Yuan’s saber slashed it, its wound healed immediately. Luo Yuan had predicted that, so he did not panic at all. Before it could do anything else, numerous swings of Luo Yuan’s saber produced a glowing blurred light which shone upon them.
The light flashed like a rainstorm and in almost no time at all, the human clone had received 70 slashes. It would be certain death for a common creature or beast but unfortunately, it had limited effects on the clone and it looked as though it was completely untouched. Its wounds had completely healed.
"I don’t believe that I can’t even handle one clone." Luo Yuan was stunned but most of his heart was occupied by anger. Ever since he arrived at the reconstruction area, his life was generally peaceful but his attributes did not stop increasing. Due to the changes that happened, his attributes were growing even faster than before. Compared to the time when he was facing certain death if he went up against green-level creatures, now he was eager to fight a dark-green creature. His attributes had grown more than ten-fold. Feeling powerless while facing this creature which could uniquely heal itself was extremely frustrating. After taking the brunt of so many slashes, the human clone finally noticed him. It attempted an attack but was slashed continuously by Luo Yuan once again.
He took a deep breath to try to calm himself down. The clone could hardly be considered as a strong enemy as it was merely between a dark-blue or light-green level ranking. That was nothing to Luo Yuan and all he wanted to know was how to kill it. Luo Yuan decided to ditch his plan to go back and started his experiments on how to solve this problem.
First, he utilized his will which was slightly effective. He chopped off the clone's head which fell and rolled on the ground. There was neither blood nor liquid coming out of the wound; it was a clean cut. The clone had now lost its mobility and it looked like a piece of metal. Its wound did not seem to be healing at this stage and it seemed to be completely damaged and lifeless.
But the clone's head was just an accessory. It could still move around without a head. Luo Yuan continued using his Will and sliced it into thin layers. Within seconds, the clone was only half-a-meter tall. What shocked Luo Yuan was that the creature was still alive! Only when it was left with a body the size of a palm did it suddenly roll into a ball and stop moving completely.
Luo Yuan stood there to analyze the situation. After confirming that there was no longer any danger, he picked up the object and put it on his palm. It was cold and heavy and had a 10-centimeter radius. It was a perfect ball weighing around five kilograms. As compared to when it flowed in the lake, it was now more solid. But if he were to grab it firmly, there was a flexibility to it which was unique.
The ground was filled with a whole bunch of tiny gray balls. Luo Yuan looked around and soon he found the head he chopped off. To his surprise, it was transformed into a 40-centimeter tall mini human attempting to run back to the lake! However, it was a futile atempt as a swing of Luo Yuan’s saber transformed it into two silver balls that were of similar sizes. He then used his identification technique on one of the tiny silver balls.