Fleshweb Bone Nest (Part 1)

[Notice: Upgrading the shelter with "Flesh and Bone Fragments of Endless Proliferation" will grant the traits: Flesh, Bones.]

[Notice: Upgrading the shelter with "Flesh and Bone Fragments of Endless Proliferation" may carry unknown risks.]

[Notice: Upgrading the shelter with "Flesh and Bone Fragments of Endless Proliferation" will turn the shelter into a living entity.]

Three warnings popped up in succession, but Bai Yi did not hesitate.

On one hand, he did not currently have enough iron to upgrade the shelter. On the other, he knew this mass of flesh had an extraordinary origin. Using it to upgrade the shelter could greatly increase his chances of survival.

[Upgrade shelter?]

"Yes!"

This time, there was no white light. As the flesh merged into the shelter floor, the entire shelter began to tremble.

New bone plates formed a honeycomb support structure within the flesh walls, their surfaces covered in translucent bone membranes that revealed the pulsating network of blood vessels beneath.

Rib-like bone rings emerged across the ceiling. The floor was covered in proliferated flesh, densely packed with tiny tentacles.

"Can this thing... really count as a shelter?"

Bai Yi and Little White had fled the shelter long ago and were now standing outside, staring blankly at it.

It was not that the two of them were overly timid. What had just happened was truly terrifying. While standing inside, Bai Yi had felt as though he were being swallowed.

Looking at the shelter, now completely mutated into a mass of bone and flesh, Bai Yi swallowed hard.

Suddenly, a log notification appeared:

[Basic Alchemy (Fragment) detected. Merge?]

Bai Yi hesitated for a moment. "Yes."

Right afterward, the log vanished as well.

Bai Yi looked at the shelter, which had basically finished upgrading, and kicked Little White.

"Little White, lead the way."

"Awwooo!"

An extremely human-like look of terror appeared on Little White's wolf face. It curled up behind Bai Yi's legs, and no matter how Bai Yi tugged at it, it absolutely refused to go out.

"Useless. I'll do it myself."

As Bai Yi spoke, he slowly walked forward. His heart pounded without pause. If this shelter did not recognize him, that would be one hell of a joke.

Bai Yi cautiously reached out and touched the doorframe. The previously hard bone suddenly softened and rubbed against his palm like a feline. The moment he pulled his hand back, the doorframe returned to its stark white texture.

"It's pretty intelligent." He relaxed slightly, then stepped over the threshold. When the soles of his boots sank into the flesh carpet, countless tiny tendrils immediately stretched out and wrapped around his shoes.

"Let go!"

The tendrils recoiled into the floor as if electrocuted, even helpfully bringing over a pair of bone slippers. Only then did Bai Yi realize that it wanted him to change shoes.

Seeing that the shelter posed no danger, Bai Yi's suspended heart finally settled completely.

Just as he was about to retrieve the log from the table, it ran over on its own as though it had grown legs.

"Huh!" Bai Yi's eyes widened.

The log had undergone a dramatic transformation. The former leather-bound book had now become a book of flesh.

The log's cover was made of hard bone, twisted masses of flesh tentacles winding densely around it. The log had moved using those tentacles just now.

The former paper pages had also turned into thin flesh membranes. They felt soft without being greasy, and the texture was actually quite nice. At a thought from Bai Yi, the log automatically flipped to the shelter information:

[Fleshweb Bone Nest (Egg Cell)]

[Level: 6]

[Flesh: 1000/1000]

[Bones: 1000/1000]

[Capacity 0/200000]

[Traits: Flesh, Bones]

[Upgrade: Flesh: 0/10000, Remains: 0/5000]

[Facilities: Workshop, Modification Room, Digestion Room, Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, Storage Room, Water Storage Room, Flesh Fungus Mat]

[Description: Keep your distance from it, unless you want to play bondage games!]

[Abnormal status "Insulation Ward" unlocked]

[Insulation Ward]: While inside the shelter, the player will not be attacked without cause. (Can only block attacks that have no causal connection to the player.)

Seeing that "Insulation Ward" had already taken effect, Bai Yi's ever-vigilant heart finally eased somewhat.

He then began examining the shelter information. "It added so many new facilities?"

Bai Yi's interest was piqued, and he planned to inspect them one by one.

At that moment, as if it had received some command, the shelter's floor flesh suddenly stretched and expanded, while the white bones beneath the flesh carpet proliferated wildly.

In just a few seconds, an ergonomic chair made of flesh and bone, perfectly suited to Bai Yi's body, appeared behind him.

Bai Yi grinned. He discovered that he could issue commands directly to the shelter in his mind.

Then he leaned back comfortably in his chair, wanting to see how this shelter would show him around.

Countless tiny tentacles wriggled rapidly across the carpet, and Bai Yi, chair and all, began gliding sideways.

"Whoa! That's smart!"

Bai Yi was genuinely shocked this time, but before leaving, he did not forget to give another command:

"Get Little White inside and lock the door."

The next second, Little White, who had been sneakily poking its head around the doorframe, was grabbed by a tentacle that suddenly shot out and dragged into the room.

"Awoo—"

The door closed, and the sound abruptly cut off. The soundproofing was incredibly strong.

Bai Yi arrived in front of a door with a sign that read: Workshop.

The door then opened automatically, and the chair was moved inside.

The original holographic screen had become a combination of a white bone frame and a semi-transparent flesh membrane screen. The mechanical arms had also turned into bone claws.

Words formed from tiny flesh buds appeared on the membrane:

[Blueprint Memory]: Place crafting blueprints on the scanning platform made of nerve cells. After scanning, the blueprint will no longer be needed for crafting. (Crafting consumes Flesh and Bone.)

[Equipment Assimilation]: Consume Flesh and Bone to modify existing weapons into flesh weapons. The weapon quality will be Fine. Weapons below Fine can be upgraded, while weapons above Fine cannot be modified.

Bai Yi's eyes lit up. These two functions meant that as long as he had blueprints, he could mass-produce Fine equipment!

He hurriedly placed the [Fine Stone Pick Crafting Blueprint] and [Tang Dao Crafting Blueprint (Damaged)] on it.

Both blueprints had only 1 durability remaining. Bai Yi had originally planned to save them for later use, but he had not expected them to come in handy here.

The scan was completed quickly. The weapons had already been recorded, and Bai Yi opened the list:

[Bone Pickaxe (Materials: 75 Flesh, 100 Bone)

Quality: Fine

Durability: 100/100 (Can be repaired in the Workshop)

Description: A pickaxe made from unknown bones. Has a 50% chance of yielding double drops when mining resources.]

[White Bone Tang Dao (Materials: 100 Flesh, 200 Bone)

Quality: Fine

Durability: 100/100 (Can be repaired in the Workshop)

Description: A Tang dao made from unknown bones. After striking a target, it continuously inflicts a bleeding effect. Healing potions are ineffective for 10 minutes.]

Bai Yi gave it a try and discovered that the dried meat in the warehouse could not be used for crafting.

He then thought of the rotting corpse bodies outside.

Then, the originally two-story villa suddenly shrank slightly. The Flesh Fungus Mat spread out from the shelter, reaching beneath the four rotting corpse bodies.

The tentacles wriggled as the corpses lined up and were transported one by one to the digestion room. Then the Flesh Fungus Mat retracted, and the shelter returned to its original state.

Before long, a notification came from the storage room.

[Current Flesh: 1040/1000, Bone: 1020/1000]

[Build?]

"No."

Now that he knew rotting corpses could be broken down, things would be easy. There was no shortage of rotting corpses here.

Bai Yi had no plans to build anything for the moment. He wanted to take a look at the other rooms.

The flesh buds pushed the chair toward another room.