187. Should I Just Stand by and Watch You Get Eaten?
Lu Ban had once seen a movie where a group of people were locked in Incubation Chamber and parasitized by insects, eventually bursting out of their bodies.
But clearly, the rituals here are more exotic.
On those eggs, Lu Ban saw tiny tentacles.
These tentacles, like the tentacles of an octopus, meander from the top of the egg in all directions, as if trying to catch something.
From the top, these viscous, slippery, dark eggs gradually crack open, and within those tentacles, some kind of creature seems to be gestating.
"Can we just blow these things up?"
Lu Ban didn't wait for them to fully hatch before asking Xiya.
For some reason, the people in the movie always watched these creatures hatch before taking action. Lu Ban didn't know what serious illness they had. If it were him, he would have definitely crushed them to ashes.
"No problem."
Xiya raised her right hand, as if she were holding something in her palm.
"****!"
She uttered a word that Lu Ban couldn't understand, and then, like throwing a shot put, she threw the invisible thing in her hand.
A few seconds later, the eggs were still hatching, and Lu Ban could already see the slimy surface of the ugly, wriggling larvae.
"It doesn't seem to be working?"
He looked at Xiya.
"It will take a while to fly."
Xiya said earnestly.
Thud—
Before Lu Ban could even look over, he heard a violent explosion behind him. The Larval Sacs were instantly torn to pieces, and thick black fluid splattered onto the wall, leaving mottled marks.
"These things might hatch from the flesh and blood of the sacrifices, and then grow into the monsters you encountered before?"
Lu Ban approached the blood pool and used a crowbar to pry open the remains.
It has a soft, semi-transparent texture, like jelly.
"Is it tasty?"
He asked a question.
"."
The Iron Fist remained silent.
"It probably won't taste good."
Only Xiya responded to Lu Ban.
"These insects are carnivorous and generally have a high nutritional content. I suspect that the people here may rely on raising these insects as a food source, and then every year, in order to thank these insects, they created a god to worship and threw prisoners and slaves into it to feed the insects."
Lu Ban smelled the insects.
Suddenly, one of the tentacles in the wreckage leaped up and burrowed straight toward Lu Ban's head.
Pfft
The tentacles tore through Lu Ban's skin and pierced his throat.
The tentacles, like leeches, tried to burrow into Lu Ban's skin, tearing open horrific wounds. Blood flowed out, splashing into the pool and creating ripples.
But not much blood flowed, because soon, the green grass growing from Lu Ban's wound blocked the insect's momentum to continue burrowing in and pushed it out.
Lu Ban pinched it in his hand and observed it carefully. He found that the worm was already a complete individual. Perhaps there were countless such worms in that egg. Once it came into contact with a human body, it would burrow into the flesh and eat the blood and flesh, just like before.
"You can put your hand down now. Wait a minute, it's not still flying, is it?"
Lu Ban glanced at Xiya, who had raised her hand, fearing that she would throw that spell at him again, scattering both the insect and herself.
"Not yet."
Xiya lowered her hand.
"So you were really planning to give me a blow just now?"
Lu Ban was surprised.
"My teacher told me that once we get rid of the hostages, the monster won't be able to threaten us anymore."
Xiya answered decisively.
"Is this how you people from Gray Tower save lives?"
Lu Ban felt that one of them, Xiya and himself, must have a misunderstanding about this matter.
"Of course, otherwise, would we just stand by and watch you get eaten by a monster?"
Xiya answered matter-of-factly.
"It's alright. We usually deal with you and the monster at the same time, then use healing spells to bring you back to life. You'll be basically indistinguishable from your previous body!"
"Basically?"
Lu Ban raised an eyebrow.
"Can you use healing spells today?"
"Definitely tomorrow!"
Xiya changed the subject.
Just as Lu Ban was speaking, the insect lost its vitality and quickly shriveled up, like an earthworm dried by the sun.
"You two, stop arguing."
Iron Fist said something and came to the blood pool. The blood was gradually flowing down. As the platform containing the Larval Sacs eggs rose, the blood flowed through the gaps under the platform to the next level.
Where did this blood come from?
The faceless man dipped his finger in the blood and sniffed it. It tasted like human blood and was still warm.
They used the blood of someone with exceptional regenerative abilities to open the altar, but such blood should have long since coagulated after so much time.
The blood here is clearly fresh.
You should know that the wasteland nowadays is almost entirely inhabited by insects, apart from humans. There are no domesticated animals such as pigs, cattle, and sheep as recorded in history books. Therefore, red blood is a human-only privilege.
"We can go down from here."
Iron Fist pointed to the gap in the platform.
"Since there are Larval Sacs, there must be something that lays eggs."
"Wait a minute, could the treasure hidden in these ruins be the Queen Insect?"
Lu Ban stopped the Iron Fist that was about to smash the altar and asked.
"No, it's only a part of it. Hidden deep underground here is something that can turn people into saints, and the Queen Insect is the one that protects it."
Iron Fist answered.
He clenched his right fist, crystals covering his arm, and then slammed his Iron Fist fist down, shattering the entire altar.
The blood-stained Stone fell, revealing a huge hollow.
"After those insects hatch and grow up, they must have a place to go out, perhaps into this hollow."
The faceless man spoke, then summoned his men.
"Flash."
The young man with crystal-like eyes came to the cave entrance and looked down.
His eyes emitted a bright light that illuminated the space.
Lu Ban saw that the space below was extremely spacious, with a dome about tens of meters high. The underground space, illuminated by light, contained a complex mechanical gear structure.
These structures are slowly moving things out.
Those are all Larval Sacs.
Countless Larval Sacs were scattered across the ground of the space. These dark, crystalline things were densely packed, like a swarm of bees in a honeycomb. Some of them seemed to be wriggling, but none of them had hatched.
The blood from the altar flowed down and landed on some of the Larval Sacs. The Larval Sacs immediately began to stir, their tops splitting open to reveal individual tentacles.
These Larval Sacs, about to hatch, are grabbed by stone machines, placed on a conveyor belt, and sent somewhere unknown.
And then, from somewhere else, a conveyor belt continuously transported Larval Sacs over, piling them up in the room.
Are you sure you want to go down?
Lu Ban felt that going down directly was definitely not a good choice.
"Look at these Larval Sacs, they were transported here, so if we follow the road, we will definitely find the queen insect."
Iron Fist pointed to a corner, to the pit in the direction the conveyor belt was coming from.
"Shouldn't we clean up down there first?"
Lu Ban glanced at Xiya.