Monsters Die When Killed-Chapter 52 - 28: Centipede Nest

Meanwhile, on the surface.

While tracking the burst of the Demon Fiend’s Spiritual Qi, Zhang Fucheng had detected a strange, sweet, and foul woody scent. He was now coordinating with local officials, using the pretense of a "massive gas leak" to mobilize the Patrol and fire department, urgently evacuating hundreds of residents from three streets.

The streets were a cacophony of blaring sirens, the chatter of the public, and the wailing of children.

"This is a miasmic wood toxin! We must evacuate the surrounding populace as quickly as possible, or none of us can bear the consequences!"

This was the reason Zhang Fucheng gave, his face etched with urgency, for the emergency evacuation, even if it caused mass chaos.

But in truth, the professor from Zhengyi Academy didn’t need to work hard to explain. Many of the patrol chiefs who smelled the bizarre odor had already turned pale. Perhaps due to pulling an all-nighter on a case, their stamina was low; several Patrol officers on the scene had already fainted from the fumes and were sent to the hospital.

Seeing this, no one would have doubted he was lying.

To avoid mass casualties, Zhang Fucheng could only use the temporary authority granted to him by a few higher-ups to mobilize the Patrol, local armed forces, and vehicles. He did everything he could to send away the bewildered public. To this end, he even requisitioned several helicopters from the surrounding military forces, along with a few military-grade blowers and their supporting equipment, to disperse the toxic gas.

’The response was timely enough... though maybe a bit of an overreaction.’

More than an hour later, after finishing all this, Zhang Fucheng finally realized that he might have overreacted.

The miasmic wood toxin wasn’t actually that lethal. In fact, it wasn’t a toxin at all—it just had a strong hypnotic and anesthetic effect.

Tests on lab mice showed that the worst consequence of inhaling the gas was falling into a deep sleep from which it was difficult to awaken on one’s own. This excluded those with pollen allergies, of course, because the essence of this miasma was, in fact, the pollen of some unknown plant. It might have a trace of toxicity, but it was by no means fatal. Or rather, the method of killing was unrelated to the pollen; the pollen merely served an auxiliary role.

It was now largely certain that most victims of the major 719 serial murder case had inhaled this pollen before their deaths, which was why they were captured silently, without a struggle.

"Do not worry. This is as it should be."

Although it was a bit of a waste of manpower, and strictly speaking, even created panic, the few higher-ups who had been alerted and were now monitoring the situation did not blame Zhang Fucheng. On the contrary, they commended him for his decisiveness.

"This is an era of drastic change. It is better to waste a mountain of effort than to overlook a sliver of a crisis. Fucheng, you did well."

"But you must eradicate that abomination. Do not forget your most important, core objective."

The voice coming from the phone was buffeted by a fierce Gale, as if the speaker was on a lake or even the open sea; there was even the sound of thunder. The voice, its age impossible to discern, spoke with a calm tone, "A Demon Fiend that successfully underwent Spirit Awakening before the Opening the Heavens and Earth will become a great scourge in the future. Other places might be overlooked, but Hongcheng is one of the capitals of the Thirty-Four States. We cannot allow such a Monster to appear here."

"I grant you the authority to mobilize the ’White Emperor Guard.’ Do not betray this trust."

The voice on the phone said no more, simply granting Zhang Fucheng even greater temporary authority before hanging up.

"Sigh..."

Professor Zhang’s feelings were naturally quite complicated. He felt pride at being trusted and commended, but also a headache from the complex situation. ’A long time has passed since the initial Spiritual Qi burst. That Demon Fiend has probably already left. And the commotion from evacuating the public was too great; a quiet encirclement and pursuit is likely impossible now.’

But even so, what needed to be done had to be done. At the very least, for the next few days, Zhang Fucheng could mobilize military units and armed Patrols, which was a massive boost in terms of force.

5:35 a.m., July 28, 2014.

Several figures in sealed gas-proof helmets and white metal Exoskeleton Armor moved silently through the pollen-filled mist of the sewers.

On the back of the metal armor, a strange metal crest flickered, pulsing with Spiritual Light.

"Here."

One of them, who appeared to be the team leader, seemed to have found something. He mouthed the word in his helmet, and an auto-translation system conveyed the meaning to the other four Exoskeleton Armor Guards.

These Warriors all held a peculiar type of firearm. The caliber was not large, only about the level of a typical submachine gun, but the body of the gun was inscribed with all sorts of strange cloud-like patterns, making the entire weapon shimmer with the glow of Spiritual Energy.

Soon, the squad located the spot that had been identified from the surface, and they discovered the pitted and cratered signs of a battle.

The leader raised a hand, signaling for the others to halt. He scanned the surroundings vigilantly as data flashed across his electronic visor, transmitting video information of the area to the professional analysis team on the surface.

--Target previously engaged an unknown enemy at this location.

--Unidentified Spiritual Qi Plants discovered. Unidentified spiritual qi fungi discovered.

--High Spirituality psychic influence detected. Resisting... Isolation complete.

--Hypnotic pollen sediment discovered. Commencing collection of basic samples.

Following the signs of battle, the squad of Armored Guards silently pushed through another cloud of pollen mist. At the same time, the other five squads of Armored Guards patrolling the sewer entrances began to converge on the squad that had found traces of the target.

But soon, the squad stopped in shock. The shadow of a behemoth had appeared before them. The intense, sweet-and-foul smell and the Spiritual Power radiation reaction filled their electronic detection displays with static, forcing them to switch to physical lenses for assisted observation mode.

And then, they saw it.

The body of the giant centipede. Although dead, it was still twitching.

「Several hours earlier.」

「The same location.」

Su Zhou stood at a corner deep in the sewers, next to a drainage opening that had been completely covered by Black Moss, turning it into a warm and humid place.

The water flow here was slow, obstructed by the dense Black Moss, forming a black expanse of water reminiscent of an algal bloom. The abundant Black Moss bore numerous bite marks, likely having served as food for the Wood Centipede.

"So it was actually a vegetarian... No wonder it went undiscovered." Su Zhou couldn’t help but quip. Yara just chuckled. "The arrival of an Evil Demon always affects the local environment. No matter what it eats, it won’t attract too much attention—this is also part of the Spiritual Energy Revival. The environment of the Otherworld will descend upon the Current Realm."

"Wouldn’t that make it a pioneer of greening? If it weren’t for that giant centipede, this sewage-purifying Black Moss would be a real Divine Object."

Though he said this, Su Zhou had actually already activated his Spiritual Vision. He had been turning it on and off so frequently today, and with the added exhaustion from the battle, he was getting a bit of a headache. But it was fine if it was just for a moment.

And in that one moment, he saw the source of the Spiritual Light within this Centipede Nest.

"Heh."

With a soft laugh, Su Zhou strode forward. Ignoring the slippery moss, he walked directly into the center of the nest. He then lifted the meter-long spear shaft, poked it into a bulging sac of Black Moss, and flipped it over.

But this time, what appeared underneath was not a human skeleton, but large, dense clusters of appetizing cyan Centipede Eggs.

These Centipede Eggs were crystal-clear and exhibited plant-like characteristics—they all had roots submerged in the water, entangled with the abundant Black Moss. The moss supplied nutrients to the eggs, allowing them to grow.

One could imagine how the original Wood Centipede Evil Demon had "grown," bit by bit, from this layer of Black Moss when it first descended upon the world.

"Centipede Eggs..." Yara first looked up with considerable interest, then disappointedly shrank back into Su Zhou’s hair. "Not a single one has any Talent. Raising them would be a waste of time... These eggs were probably laid not long ago. Eating them won’t do much for your Spiritual Energy growth. At most, they’ll replenish a little spent Spiritual Energy and provide some nutrients—pretty much the same as lobster meat, I suppose."

"Looks like the reason the Wood Centipede went out to attack people was its urgent need to replenish Spiritual Energy after laying eggs."

After all, in an era before the Spiritual Energy Revival, the few sources of Spiritual Energy, aside from slowly Gathering it oneself, were the flesh and blood of talented humans.

Yara seemed to have little interest in these Centipede Eggs, but Su Zhou’s goal was not the eggs themselves. He pushed aside the round, cyan orbs, then bent down, reached out, and scooped something from the black water.

When Su Zhou pulled his hand back above the water’s surface, a black crystal rested in his palm.

The crystal emanated a cold, gloomy aura. Its surface shimmered like water, yet it also gave off a bone-chilling, sinister cold.

"What’s this?"

Su Zhou observed the crystal with great interest. He could feel that the Spiritual Qi within it was no less pure than that of the Evil Demon Crystal inside the Wood Centipede—it just lacked the aura of a Great Being.

"It’s a condensation of Spiritual Qi from an artificial, subterranean Dark Earth Vein," Yara answered lazily. "Right now, it’s just a Dark Crystal of the Yin-Water Attribute, same as a Resentful Spirit’s Spiritual Energy Fragment, only much bigger."

"If you put it back now, in the future it might coalesce into a Source of negative Spiritual Qi. With it at the center, water would nourish wood, and you’d get a whole nest of Wood Centipedes like this one."

"I’d rather not." Su Zhou shuddered and immediately put the crystal in his pocket, letting it keep the Evil Demon Core company. "The Spiritual Qi in this thing looks a little... dirty. Can I eat it?"

"Of course you can’t eat it. If you ate this, you’d be poisoned even with your Body of Perfection, and you’d be weak for ten days to half a month. Most importantly, it tastes foul."

Yara couldn’t be bothered to complain about Su Zhou’s peculiar Zhengguo People logic anymore. "But it can be used as fertilizer for the Wisdom Tree, or as a raw material for weapon inscriptions—for example, as one of the materials to refine the Centipede Fangs and poison stingers, granting them potent Negative Spiritual Power damage in addition to their poison."

"Then, if you find some Yang Attribute materials to process it with, achieving a harmony of Yin and Yang, you could even forge a powerful Spiritual Weapon capable of channeling many times your own Spiritual Power. It would be enough to last you until the ’Extraordinary Tier’ after your Awakening."

--Now that was a pretty good haul.

That was about it for the spoils from the Centipede Nest. Su Zhou helped himself to four of the larger, more translucent Centipede Eggs, planning to take them back and boil them to see how they tasted. After all, Yara did say they tasted like lobster meat.

As for the rest, he left them for the official Transcendents who were sure to arrive later. After all, the symbiotic relationship between the Wood Centipede’s ecosystem and the Black Moss was quite fascinating. It might have very positive effects on future sewage purification systems—if they could tame and cultivate a few, it could save a lot of resources that would otherwise be spent building water treatment plants.

"Anyway, since I took away that aura from the Great Being, the remaining Wood Centipedes won’t be able to turn into new Evil Demons, right?"

"More or less. Unless that Otherworld continues to project informational disturbances—but in that case, it wouldn’t make a difference whether you took it or not."

Spiritual Blood, Spiritual Liquid, weapon materials, advancement materials, weapon inscription materials... even the food ingredients were all there!

After confirming all this, Su Zhou left, satisfied. Yara was right—an Evil Demon’s body is a treasure trove!

Kill one and the whole family gets rich!

After making sure all his spoils were secured, he headed directly for the gap in the combined sewer overflow where the Wood Centipede entered and exited the Fuhe River, and plunged straight into the water.

Only then did Su Zhou discover what "With Water Assistance, one does not drown" truly meant. It wasn’t just simple underwater breathing, but a certain water-repelling effect!

With a mere thought, he could generate a vacuum layer around his skin, blocking—or ’rejecting’—the approach of water.

"With the aid of wind and water, where in this world can I not go!"

「Several hours after Su Zhou disappeared into the water.」

The ’White Emperor Guards’ and Zhang Fucheng, having hurried over and collected the victims’ remains and the giant centipede’s corpse, finally arrived at the Demon’s Nest.