Breeding Relationship

Chapter 23: A Relationship of Rearing

The corpse before them bulged at the chest, the swelling rippling upward until its throat and both cheeks were stretched impossibly wide. A thick, fat white worm squeezed out from the mouth—

"Everyone fall back!"

Zhou Diao barked the order, his right hand instantly transforming into a beast claw. One strike pierced the skull, tearing the entire head apart!

The plump white worm twitched and retracted.

Zhou Diao's beast claw dug into the throat, then wrenched with force—the fragile corpse was split open from the middle!

Like a water balloon slashed open, a torrent of viscous fluid gushed out. The corpse and the worm together collapsed and shriveled into a thin, flat sheet of skin, with no trace of flesh, blood, bones, or organs left behind.

Qin Liang suppressed his nausea and filmed the scene. "The insides were completely eaten hollow by the worm..."

"Disgusting as it looks, the skin is thin and easy to kill. Not much of a threat." Zhou Diao glanced back at the other team members and said, "Let's deal with these worms first."

Everyone followed him into the cave where the Xenomorphs were.

Headlamps, flashlights, emergency lights—all kinds of illumination lit up the cavern, exposing more Xenomorphs with bizarrely twisted limbs.

Besides the few lying near the cave entrance, there were over a dozen deeper inside.

Without exception, all were corpses.

Some had waxy pale skin, some were rotting black, and some had already been hollowed out by the worms, their skin as thin as paper, so thin you could see the fat white worm slowly writhing inside.

The team members each drew their daggers to handle the corpses.

Brother Chao, standing at the cave entrance, watched the scene unfold. His expression darkened as realization dawned. "You're not people from the forum. You're from the Xenomorph Supervision Bureau."

Unlike Brother Chao's reaction, Fang Ye beside him lit up with joy. "You're from the Supervision Bureau?"

"Idiot! You think they're here to save us?" Brother Chao cursed at him. "Now that they've killed all the Xenomorphs, we won't get a single cent of the bounty!"

Fang Ye shrank back, too timid to speak.

No one paid the two brothers any mind. They only thought them foolish.

Even if they had actually dragged these Xenomorph corpses out, they wouldn't have gotten the bounty.

The Supervision Bureau's labyrinthine procedures weren't designed for nothing. For every Xenomorph case, the Bureau produced a detailed analysis report, plus the application and review process. The brothers' lie would have been exposed at some step along the way.

The only reason Feng Ling's bounty arrived so quickly was that Su Yuqing personally vouched for her.

The cave echoed with the wet thwack of hacking and slashing.

Each corpse was like a water-filled bag—too thin, too brittle, too weak. Feng Ling swung her axe a couple of times and lost interest.

She told Huangfu Miaomiao to give it a try, see if she could earn some Points.

Maybe because these fat worms wrapped in corpses posed no threat, Huangfu Miaomiao's courage grew a little. With a grave expression, she raised her hammer and smashed one nearby.

Feng Ling leaned on the long-handled axe like a walking stick, lazily resting her weight on the butt of the handle. "So? Got any Points?"

Huangfu Miaomiao turned to look at her, showing the first smile since entering the cave.

"Yes!" She nodded vigorously at Feng Ling.

Feng Ling grinned. "How many?"

"2 Points!" Huangfu Miaomiao's eyes sparkled with excitement.

Feng Ling: "..."

Broke much? Getting this happy over 2 Points?

Well, 2 Points was still Points. She could trade them for jelly in the Little Xenomorph's Shop.

"Hey, Deputy Captain Zhou~~~" Feng Ling called out to Zhou Diao not far away. "Leave a few for Little Skeleton. Let her earn some Points."

Zhou Diao stopped in irritation and cursed, "Tch. Anyone who cooperates with a Xenomorph has no brain! You'll bring disaster on yourself sooner or later!"

Feng Ling nodded in full agreement. "Yeah. Who would be stupid enough to cooperate with a Xenomorph?"

Zhou Diao: "..."

Do you even know I'm cursing you right now?!!

Feng Ling tilted her head at him. "What's with that look? Were you cursing me just now?"

Zhou Diao snorted, his beast claw grabbing two corpses and tossing them over. "Hmph. Playing dumb."

Feng Ling smiled. "I'm not cooperating with a Xenomorph. We have a relationship of rearing."

She turned to Huangfu Miaomiao, who was busy smashing corpses. "Isn't that right?"

Huangfu Miaomiao paused, then forced herself to go along. "Yes, Mom."

Feng Ling smiled and lifted her chin toward Zhou Diao.

Zhou Diao glared back, then tore a nearby corpse to shreds.

Just then, Qin Liang, who had been filming the whole time, suddenly spoke up. "Found something!"

Everyone turned to look. Qin Liang stood by a cave opening and said, "There are more corpses inside this cave. Their shapes are strange."

"Move aside. Let me see." Zhou Diao frowned and walked over.

Qin Liang couldn't help leaning into the hole. "Something's off... there seems to be something under the corpses..."

Before he could finish, Qin Liang sharply inhaled and leaped backward!

At the same time, a cyan-black insect the size of a full-grown adult shot out from the cave entrance! Its massive mandibles snapped like lightning onto Qin Liang's military headlamp—

Crack!

The headlamp shattered, and the insect's entire head was crushed by a beast claw.

Zhou Diao rushed over and barked angrily at Qin Liang: "I said, follow my orders! Who told you to act on your own?!"

Qin Liang's expression was tense, his eyes wide as he drew his pistol and aimed at the cave mouth, shouting: "They're all, all coming out!"

Two more cyan-black insects tore through the corpse's skin and crawled out rapidly!

"Move!" Zhou Diao yelled.

Everyone immediately retreated from the cave entrance, back to the large cavern they had first arrived at.

The two insects also crawled out of the hole, incredibly fast, and with a single target—they lunged straight for the positions of the flashlights and illumination lamps!

Zhou Diao swung his beast claws to shred these insects, but heard rustling insect-crawling sounds coming from every cave mouth around them. He immediately ordered: "Flare bombs for light! Prepare to fire!"

Everyone formed a circle, back to back, aiming their guns at the surrounding cave openings.

Xiao Li and Cao Hongyi quickly pulled flare bombs from their backpacks and tossed them left and right, instantly illuminating the entire cavern with blinding clarity—those pitch-black cave mouths revealed centipede-like insect heads, antennae swaying in the air, lying in wait!

"Fire!"

At Zhou Diao's command, gunfire thundered through the cave!

The Special Forces were all rigorously trained sharpshooters. One insect after another was shot through the head and tumbled out of the caves, insect fluids splattering everywhere, their carapaces shattered by bullets.

A few of the sturdier Bug Monsters survived the gunfire and charged forward. Before Feng Ling could act, Zhou Diao, like a tigress protecting her cubs, rushed in and tore them apart!

Standing among them, Feng Ling actually felt a bit useless, and she sighed inwardly: Zhou Diao might not be likable, but when it comes to work, he really puts in the effort.

She matched the Special Forces' combat rhythm and killed a few bugs herself.

The gunfire continued without pause, only gradually ceasing when no more insects crawled out of any of the cave mouths.

The ground was littered with insect corpses and foul-smelling ichor.

The team members still didn't dare let their guard down. They quickly reloaded their ammunition, then kept their guns trained on the cave openings.

"Stay on alert!" Zhou Diao said in a low voice.

La la la la~ Have you cast your votes today?