Brutal Colony

Chapter 42: 1.42 Brutal Colonies

The final stages of the third phase of conflict were extremely boring.

Because the Southern Gene Colonies had run out of options.

If they gathered, without modern logistical support, the scarce food and water in their locations would further slow down each gene colony's movements. If they spread out wider, Wei Keng would destroy them one by one more quickly.

Maintain the status quo? These colony groups were already in a state of collapsed retreat.

It was as boring as the self-rescue efforts of Human City-States that Transmigrators from the Main World had witnessed across timelines.

On those timelines, humanity resisted after Pandora covered the globe. Each time, one or two people, or a small group, pushed the residual patterns of the past to their limits with formidable resolve, even surpassing past limits, giving others ephemeral hope. But ultimately, facing an unstoppable future, they fell into powerlessness! These repeated cycles, as the taste of life grew increasingly bland, the stench of decay grew stronger.

Life craves breakthrough! A death throe is an all-out attempt at various possibilities, not the helpless "giving it your all" seen in the dark anime of the 21st Century.

When Wei Keng completed his seventh insertion and returned with all his military equipment and supplies undamaged, "coincidentally" passing by Jian City, Wei Keng and his group looked at the mist spreading outside the city walls, and the bleak Life Radiation of the city dwellers still clinging to life in a deathly silence.

Wei Keng: "Death? It doesn't seem unacceptable. The key is hope. Some die lighter than a feather, while others die heavier than Mount Tai."

Three days after Wei Keng's legion returned, a Tractor convoy from the Zhujiang River Basin arrived at Jian City for a commercial trade.

At the end of the war, 347 native humans had followed Wei Keng into battle, undertaking support missions. To resist possible Gene Radiation pollution, they had basically all been injected with Wei Keng's blood. There were no unexpected side effects, such as everyone becoming like Wei Keng, or their thoughts being controlled by Wei Keng.

More and more locals in the settlement began to be influenced by the herd mentality.

These brave Young People, who wanted to hold guns and walk freely on this land, chose to try an injection. Wei Keng, however, due to insufficient self-production, began to ration the quotas.

When Wei Keng tightened his blood Output, it ironically sparked a trend of pursuit, which made Wei Keng laugh in amusement.

Pandora Era, Year 134, December 11th. The morning sun refracted through the dewdrops on the city walls and barricades, giving them a crystalline sheen.

The Tractor convoy from the South stopped only outside the city walls. Cargo was being hoisted in, but the Zhujiang Trade Team was not entirely allowed inside the walls.

The overall Leader of the trade team, Zeng Jiakan, had returned to his homeland with great enthusiasm, expecting to be welcomed as a hero.

However, a few hours after entering the iron gate, he walked out of the black and gray city. When he returned, his excitement had vanished, replaced by disappointment.

In the city, he felt the gaze of "outsiders" upon him.

This once passionate young man couldn't understand: he was the one who risked being assimilated by the gene colonies to save this city, and this city, those who had once given him orders, his colleagues who had praised his courage in going out of the city, were now whispering behind his back: This person has become a slave to the mental control of the Southern Same-faced People.

Zeng Jiakan desperately wanted to shout at them, "Have you forgotten the life-or-death pressure of the gene colonies bearing down on us!"

The people of Jian City did not hear this inner cry.

But Wei Keng did! Hmm, this was the first abnormal phenomenon Wei Keng could confirm after the blood injection.

The Wei Keng Collective took this very seriously: this proved that other individuals, while in the same life field as himself (Wei Keng), still had a special influence effect.

Zeng Jiakan might not be the first, because before this, he could always inadvertently hear the inner voices produced by the intense psychological activities of some people, but at that time, Wei Keng couldn't be sure if he was hallucinating. Now he could be sure.

Of course, Wei Keng couldn't hear everything.

Some instinctive, meaningless psychological activities, such as whether to eat fish or eggs today, and other such low-level desires, Wei Keng had never heard.

It wasn't even an active skill. Wei Keng could only hear it when some individuals' emotions were particularly complex and uncontrollable. The current phenomenon might be the convergence effect of the biological colony nodes.

What Wei Keng didn't know was: in the high-dimensional space bubble, in Bai Linglu's current records, this situation had already been recorded as The Formation of Human Gene Colonies, and Wei Keng was compared with the various factors of the traditional node creatures in this world.

After this incident occurred, Wei Keng, who was in the middle of a planar mission, also paid close attention.

Fearing "social death," Wei Keng began to pay attention to whether his own internal dialogues could be heard by them.

Of course, this would not happen. Bai Linglu provided the answer in his report: the information processing power of node creatures was stronger than that of other individuals. Although the information relationship within the Wei Keng collective was regional, it was central compared to the newly incorporated individuals from the outside world.

The peripheral individuals like Zeng Jiakan did not have the central information processing power of the Wei Keng collective, so they could not receive the complex psychological activities of the Wei Keng collective.

As for Wei Keng, he acted as if nothing had happened on the surface, but secretly tested the people of this plane and confirmed the same result. The "group information" between his individuals would not leak. Therefore, he also secretly hid the fact that "he could read the minds of others" from the outside world.

Hiding aside, Wei Keng still took seriously the words he heard.

At this moment, Wei Keng empathetically responded to Zeng Jiakan's resentful question about Jian City.

Wei Keng: The people in the city now, who are high and mighty and express their feelings about the city through literature, indeed do not have a deep understanding of this war. Because in the war with the colony, they, who are in the leadership class, can repeatedly push unimportant people out as sacrificial shells. As for you, Zeng Jiakan, you actively embraced the storm. They feel they cannot repay your kindness, and they don't want to feel guilty as despicable people, so they deliberately treat you as a tool without pain or emotion, a social shell.

However, although he had thought of what to say in his heart, Wei Keng did not utter a single word to Zeng Jiakan.

Wei Keng was not accustomed to preaching. Preaching was equivalent to making a promise. Therefore, this answer was actually a self-reminder, reminding himself how to respond to the questions of people like Zeng Jiakan with practical actions.

As it happened, some people from Jian City were brought out by the negotiation representatives from the Zhujiang Gathering Place, along with a group of injured. These numb and lost people leaving the city were the consumables of this defense operation.

Because their bodies' tissues were severely damaged by a large amount of gene radiation, some of their skin was covered with animal fur, and their hands had even lost some human nerve function, turning into claws. Therefore, they were disgusted by everyone in the city. They disliked the abnormal life phenomena on their bodies, which would interfere with themselves.

In short, to tell the truth, they were very ugly! If there were no prior context, Wei Keng would have walked around them like he would a smelly beggar on the street.

However, after quietly answering in his heart: Wei Keng, pinching his nose, determined that they should live, and he should help these people.

When the upper echelon of Jian City stood on the high tower and confirmed that the mist in the surrounding jungle had dissipated and the traces of beast hordes had disappeared, and the safety crisis was resolved. They hurriedly went to the city's ancestral hall to thank their ancestors for their protection.

When the trade delegation from Zhushui Jiao proposed to transfer labor to offset the cost of this rescue, and the specific plan did not mind having some injured people radiated by the gene colony, the Ruling Council of Jian City hurriedly drove more than four thousand mutants out of the city.

These people with severe mutated diseases were driven out of the city. Upon hearing that they were to be sent to demons like Wei Keng, they were extremely terrified. In their despair, some of their symbiotic microbial communities detached from the cell nucleus and turned into viruses, causing widespread coughing and vomiting and diarrhea.

Regarding this matter, Wei Keng sighed. Whenever such hysteria appeared in human society, religion was often needed as a dependency to fill the inner void. Now, an opportunity to become a god was placed before Wei Keng! But Wei Keng refused in his heart.

The Wei Keng collective dispatched a working group to guide them and began to chat with these people.

Telling stories to ten-year-old children, telling them idiom stories, telling them about human life before the Great Cataclysm.

Chatting with the women, asking them how to thread a needle for mending clothes, and whether sewing machines are needed.

Chatting with the men about farming, that food can grow in the soil, that houses can be built by firing bricks, and that illnesses can all be cured.

Before returning to the temporary resettlement point in Zhujiang, these four thousand people had almost all stabilized emotionally. They had no objections to the matter of having their blood injected into Wei Keng for Life Radiation treatment. The previous propaganda in Jian City that instilled wariness about Wei Keng being an anomaly was slowly being shed.

Injecting blood within city-states was very normal! It was a routine measure to resist external Life Radiation. In Jian City, if a person encountered Erosion by Demonic Aura (Gene Pollution), it could actually be treated. In this regard, these people who had been ostracized longed for such treatment.

Through many days of chatting, Wei Keng gradually dispelled their rejection and began to guide them to accept his treatment. When Wei Keng proposed the treatment plan, he could see a hint of hesitation on their faces. But in the end? It seemed they reluctantly filled out the list one after another.

How were minor effects caused by species confusion and gene radiation treated within Jian City? Injecting the blood of a hundred normal people was sufficient! However, at market price, the blood of each normal person cost a hundred coins! Yes, that was one yuan, a steel cent from the Civilization Era. When capital assisted feudalism in governance, there was no possibility for the survival rights of the lower and middle classes to be cared for by public services.

Being poor and wanting to survive, they were ultimately forced to accept options they would not have chosen before. This was like choosing to eat Kaolin during a famine.

On December 31st, Year 134 of the Pandora Era, one week after these Southern Migrants from Jian City were resettled, Wei Keng drew blood tube after tube and injected it into these four thousand people. This caused Wei Keng's Life Radiation to drop by one percent in a short period. However, it recovered within a few days.

After drawing a tube of blood, Wei Keng experienced about five days of discomfort. But for those four thousand people, it was equivalent to a rebirth. These Mutants discovered that after injecting Wei Keng's blood, the effects were almost visible to the naked eye. The Animal Fur on their skin fell off, and some people's Tailbones retracted. Those Fangs that protruded from their lips, after being pulled out, began to grow normal teeth again within a few days.

Of course, after a month, no one's appearance would assimilate with Wei Keng's.

However, this Gene Injection made Wei Keng very serious about certain changes now.

Wei Keng: "If this develops into a situation similar to a Gene Colony, then this place will be divided into an Inner Circle and an Outer Circle. The Inner Circle will be my own group, and the Outer Circle will be those human groups who begin to communicate with my genes."

This assimilation might have significant benefits, but Wei Keng was wary of its potential drawbacks! As a species, humans should have a certain degree of diversity. Now, Wei Keng himself did not want everyone to become the same as him.

Wei Keng: "System, is this situation possible?"

System: "Your Gene Colony effect is already in the radiation phase. Large numbers of other species around you have already been cleared. As the top species in the Apex Predator, Ecological Resources are coming under the control of one species. Then, resonance will form under the Gene Activity of that species. You should be the core, and your blood injection has merely accelerated this process."

Wei Keng: "Is that so? What about the drawbacks?"

System: "There are no drawbacks. As long as the species spreads widely enough, there will always be mutations. You don't need to worry about the issue of human gene diversity. Because apart from you, human cohesion has always been unable to reach a point where genes tend towards convergence like a Clone Cluster."

But Wei Keng asked an even more piercing question: "Will my Life Radiation Field evolve to a higher degree, thereby affecting the human groups around me?"

Wei Keng's inner voice rejected the idea: Today, I can already hear the Inner Voice of some people. So, will I one day be able to transmit information to others in a One-way Information Transmission? Even further in the future, will I directly Remote Control of Thought and Will!

After running for a few seconds, the system's reply was "Lack of data."

There was indeed a lack of data, but there were references in this world. It was just that the Bai Linglu would not point out this malicious reference to Wei Keng.

Northern Yu City, the rolling Yangtze River was still battering the River-blocking Vine Cluster.

Amidst the mountain city with a strong sense of three-dimensionality, a large head hanging from that eye-catching Skyscraper Tree Tower turned again.

Now this giant was connected to all the priests at the bright apex of the tower.

At the top of this skyscraper, the Tiled Floor was still preserved, but the tiles were covered with Vein-like Green Networks. Every inch was wiped clean, making one think the owner of this place had Germophobia.

Here, every priest had Vine-constructed Seats, but now no one dared to sit. Because the Prime Spirit's mood was not good enough to allow them to sit.

Prime Spirit: "The battle in the south has ended, Qi Shengxun is dead!"

From a human perspective, Qi Shengxun was already dead after being devoured and his Brain and Mind Reshuffled, but in a collective, there was no such thing as emotional self. Everything belonged to the Matriarch. Only genes represented the self.

Qi Shengxun's Gene Influence disappeared. His death represented the complete annihilation of one of the Prime Spirit's branches.

At the very end, one priest clasped his hands and reported to the Prime Spirit with reverence: "The Dongting Lake Dragon Blood suffered heavy losses in this Southbound journey. Prime Spirit, according to your will, do you wish to integrate this Incompetent Scum."

Gene Colonies and Gene Colonies had always been in conflict. For example, the colony that Wei Keng drove away from the Yue Region in the second stage went north to the Xiang Region and was completely swallowed by the Dongting Collective. Now, Dongting's Southbound journey was almost completely wiped out by Wei Keng. Only one-fifth of the total life returned. However, the Node Creatures were repeatedly destroyed, and the scale of Life Radiation was less than one-tenth, a true heavy blow. Therefore, for the Yu City Collective, this was indeed a good Annexation Opportunity.

However, the Prime Spirit did not prioritize discussing this topic now, but continued with its recent doubts.

Prime Spirit: "In the south, by the sea, what exactly is that!" she continued to ask her recent priests. At this moment, the anxiety of this Super Giant Head was shared by these recent priests.

The conversation continued, but a few vines appeared casually in the hall, dragging several priests into a cave within the Big tree. The thoughts and consciousness of these priests were devoured by the Prime Spirit.

And the Prime Spirit seemed as if nothing had happened, as if it had just devoured a few small breads. It was like a bored human talking to their breads while eating.

And the priests, as "Little Bread," showed no fear, all very calm. They felt that "as bread, if they had no other use," being devoured was normal.

[Such a scene, such calmness! Such understanding is enough to shock people of the Civilization Era! Therefore, they are not human, nor have they ever regarded humans in the city-states as their own kind.]

Long Ximin: "Matriarch, I still want to go there."

Prime Spirit: "You? Do you think you can still communicate with him? Ugh, he is very cruel!"

Long Ximin: "He inherited the most brutal male genes among humans, with a Destructive Tendency, but perhaps he has certain desires."

The Prime Spirit pondered for a moment. A flower bud with a diameter of five meters extended from the giant tree and enveloped Long Ximin. As the petals closed, thorns popped out from the inner petals, piercing Long Ximin's body inch by inch. There was no gushing blood, but the flesh merged. As the flower bud completely contracted, the Prime Spirit placed the flower back on a Treetop fifty meters away, coiling around the branches of the giant tree.

Prime Spirit: "She will come out in fifty days. Next, let's talk about the Dongting Collective. I don't want to share the same river water with these Hairy, Scaled, and Horned anymore."