Gluttonous Insect's Backlash
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The Sea Emperor spoke those words because he had witnessed an astonishing scene.
After the Gluttonous Insect crawled to the Mother Queen's side, it raised its tail high and then swung it forcefully, plunging it directly into the Mother Queen's abdomen. Streams of blood and flesh energy were continuously transmitted into the Gluttonous Insect's body through its tail, and its body rapidly swelled up.
"What happened?" Gu Ding and the others asked immediately.
"That Gluttonous Insect is devouring the Mother Queen." The Sea Emperor recounted what he had witnessed, and seeing that there were no outsiders nearby, he projected the scene directly onto the screen.
"How could this be? Doesn't the Mother Queen of the Zerg have absolute control over the Zerg warriors she spawns? She can kill any Zerg warrior she spawns with just a thought?" Liliath also knew a little about the Zerg.
"This means that this Gluttonous Insect wasn't conceived by this Mother Queen." The Sea Emperor quickly realized this as well. His database also described this phenomenon. "The Mother Queen of the insect race sometimes fight Mother Queen. Generally, it's a territorial dispute; the winner takes the territory, and the other withdraws. But sometimes, for certain reasons, the defeated party is unwilling to relinquish the territory, leading to a deadly battle between the two Mother Queen. One Mother Queen will devour the other and mimic the pheromones of the original Mother Queen, controlling the insect beasts conceived by that Mother Queen."
"This Gluttonous Insect was probably conceived by another Mother Queen. But that Mother Queen was eaten by this one, which is why it is under its control. However, this time, because the Mother Queen was severely injured, it is unable to simulate the original Mother Queen's pheromones, causing the Gluttonous Insect to exhibit backlash behavior."
"If the Mother Queen is killed by the Gluttonous Insect, then our final mission at the ruins should be considered complete, except that no one will receive a reward," Gu Ding proposed his idea.
In the projected image, the Mother Queen's belly was slowly flattening, but she was still struggling and had not died.
"That's one possibility, but there's another." The Sea Emperor paused, then continued, "The Zerg are a very special race. Any Zerg, even an ordinary one, has a 100% chance of evolving into Mother Queen after consuming an entire Mother Queen. If it only consumes a part, the success rate decreases. But this Gluttonous Insect has consumed an entire Mother Queen, so it will definitely evolve into a new Mother Queen. I'm worried that after the Mother Queen dies, the final rule of the game will change to us having to kill this new Mother Queen. The Gluttonous Insect is already a high-level Zerg. Once it evolves into Mother Queen, who knows what kind of powerful Zerg beast it will give birth to."
On the projected screen, the Mother Queen's struggles grew weaker and weaker. Time passed second by second, but Gu Ding and the others could only wait for the outcome, unable to do anything.
It wasn't until this point that some members of Top1 and the Freedom Alliance arrived near the Mother Queen. Fortunately, they were cautious and only observed from a distance. However, they still witnessed this horrifying scene and immediately retreated from the area.
"I hope this matter can end here. Although we didn't kill the Mother Queen, if it weren't for Robert's Super Bomb, Mother Queen wouldn't have been so badly injured, much less become food for the Gluttonous Insect," Elsa expressed her wish.
"Let's wait and see. The Mother Queen doesn't have much time left. After she dies, no matter what the outcome, that old man will definitely notify us." Gu Ding patiently sat cross-legged on the spot, looking up at the projected image in the air.
Everyone stared at the projection, waiting for the result.
Not long after, the Mother Queen's struggles finally ceased, and her long legs, which had been twitching slightly, became completely still, lying motionless in the air, silently absorbing the food from the Gluttonous Insect.
A moment later, a voice came from the sky again, the same old man as before, "Today was originally the last day of the three-day deadline. Under normal circumstances, the Mother Queen would send Mutated Elite Insect Beast to attack the city tomorrow. However, some powerful individuals thwarted the Mother Queen's plan in advance, annihilating all the Mutated Elite Insect Beast and indirectly causing the Mother Queen's death. Therefore, the insect beast attack originally scheduled for tomorrow will no longer exist."
"Of course, while this sounds like good news, it's actually bad news. Although the Mother Queen is dead, she wasn't killed by humans, so the ruins can't close early. In three days, a new Mother Queen will be born. And that new Mother Queen will be even more powerful, and the insect beasts she spawns will be even more terrifying. Everyone can enjoy these remaining three days." The old man's words clearly indicated his pessimism about the human side's situation.
"Old man, I have a question!" Gu Ding shouted again. "If we kill that Gluttonous Insect from now on, will the ruins close ahead of schedule?"
"If someone kills the Gluttonous Insect beforehand, then the corpses of the Mother Queen and the Gluttonous Insect must be completely disposed of before the ruins will close. Because if the corpses of the Mother Queen and the Gluttonous Insect are not disposed of, other insect beasts that eat them also have a chance to evolve into the Mother Queen. As long as the Mother Queen exists within the 10% exploration progress that has already been developed, this ruin will remain open until the end of the thirty days."
"What if the Gluttonous Insect has already entered the evolutionary process but hasn't completed it? If I interrupt the Gluttonous Insect's evolution at that time, kill it, and dispose of its corpse, will the ruins close prematurely?" Gu Ding continued to ask.
"Yes, and as long as the Gluttonous Insect enters the evolutionary process, regardless of whether it succeeds in evolving, killing it will grant you the reward of killing the Mother Queen." This answer from the old man was exactly what Gu Ding wanted.
After the old man's voice rang out, many people were gripped by panic. The original Mother Queen was already terrifying enough, but now a new Mother Queen had appeared, capable of giving birth to even more powerful insect beasts, which left many feeling hopeless.
Gu Ding stared intently at the Gluttonous Insect's figure on the projected screen. After a long while, he finally asked, "Sea Emperor, if I'm not mistaken, the Gluttonous Insect should be unable to move for a period of time during its evolution into the Mother Queen?"
"Yes, it will automatically generate a cocoon, and its body will evolve inside the cocoon before emerging." The Sea Emperor's database contains detailed records of this information.
"A cocoon... I wonder how strong its defense will be." Gu Ding frowned slightly. He originally thought the other party would enter a dormant state or something, but he didn't expect it to be a cocoon.
"The chances of destroying the cocoon are slim. I estimate that the cocoon's defense will not be weaker than that of the Mother Queen when she was alive." The Sea Emperor was not optimistic about this.
"No matter what, we have to try tomorrow." Gu Ding was determined to give it a shot. "There's no point in continuing to watch from here. Let's go back to the city first."
Gu Ding and his group returned to the city, where they saw many people hunting insect beasts. They seemed to be trying to earn more Merit Points so they could later hide in the Merit Hall or the plaza.
For the past three days, Gu Ding and his group have barely hunted anything, yet their Merit Points are unmatched by anyone else.
Gu Ding alone has over 80 billion Merit Points. The reason he has so many Merit Points is that he originally had over 9 billion in savings, and he acted earlier than the other members of the team.
Liliath was worth over 60 billion, and although the area covered by her Purgatory Fire wasn't as large as Gu Ding's, any insect or beast touched by it would die instantly, without exception. Her overall slaughter speed was no slower than Gu Ding's.
Elsa had over 50 billion. She acted relatively late, but her slaughter speed was no slower than Gu Ding's.
Bigge also has over 50 billion merits, and his killing speed is the fastest among all of them. However, since he has already advanced to demigod status, he only has a double Merit Points amplification effect.
Tagore's hunting speed wasn't actually slow. However, he was already a one-star god, and without Merit Points to boost his stats, he barely reached 10 billion.
As for Dokter, he couldn't compare to the previous five at all. After all, he couldn't even hunt down five-star insect beasts, and most of the pressure was taken by Gu Ding and Liliath. His Merit Points were less than two billion.
Robert's hunting speed wasn't slower than Gu Ding's, but since he had already advanced to Mid-rank God, aside from gaining over 21,000 points from killing those commander-level insect beasts with Super Bombs, his Merit Points from hunting insect beasts barely increased, remaining at less than 100,000 points.
Three days later, the site will close. Only eleven days remain.
If you want to stay in a safe area like the Merit Hall or the square for eleven consecutive days, each person still needs more than 2 billion Merit Points. Although this is much less than the more than 10 billion required before, it is still not a small amount.
Gu Ding and his group haven't used their Merit Points to exchange for any items during this period, just in case something happens, they can all hide in a safe area.
However, the shortened time is a good thing for everyone. For Gu Ding, even if everyone hides in the safe zone, they can still earn several hundred billion more Merit Points to exchange for items.
Not long after Gu Ding returned to the city, the people from Top1 and the Freedom Alliance also returned.
"Didn't Odin come back with you?" After seeing Gu Ding, Kass looked around but didn't see Odin.
"He must have been swallowed by the Gluttonous Insect. When we escaped, he was still attacking the Mother Queen." Although Gu Ding didn't see it with his own eyes, Sea Emperor had told him about the top member being swallowed because he couldn't dodge in time.
"Why didn't you use your sealing abilities to kill the Mother Queen directly?" One of the top members seemed to think that Odin's death was inextricably linked to Gu Ding.
"I didn't have time to make a move," Gu Ding said truthfully. His sealing ability required physical contact with the opponent, and the Mother Queen's body was so enormous that it would take time for her to react completely. "If the Gluttonous Insect had arrived two seconds later, I could have killed the Mother Queen in time. But even with just two seconds left, I was powerless and could only run away."
"When we arrived, that Gluttonous Insect was devouring the Mother Queen. Do you know what happened?" Stda from the Freedom Alliance changed the subject.
Gu Ding then revealed that the Gluttonous Insect was not born of the Mother Queen, and then explained his plan, "After devouring the Mother Queen's corpse, this Gluttonous Insect will enter an evolutionary stage, its entire body encased in a cocoon. According to the old man, this process should last three days. After emerging from the cocoon, it will be unable to move. I will try to kill it tomorrow. Those of you with stronger attack power can also try, since it won't be able to move then. If we still can't kill it, then we'll have to hide in the Merit Hall..." (To be continued...)