Hidden Disturbances

Captain Su kept backing away and soon entered Mo Ling's field of view.

Through the bandages, Mo Ling saw that Captain Su's bones were covered in cracks, while the wounds beneath the bandages ran deep to the bone.

These were injuries caused by Bone Spurs growing out of his body!

So the shattered bones had been his own bones. Mo Ling suddenly understood.

This had to be the effect of some Relic as well. Its power and cost both seemed immense.

Although the cracks in his bones and his wounds were healing rapidly, Mo Ling could still see Captain Su gritting his teeth as he endured the intense pain.

The two Earthworm Creatures pursued him relentlessly and charged into Mo Ling's field of view as well.

Captain Su came to a stop, seeming to have thought of a solution, but Mo Ling had already taken aim at the two Earthworm Creatures.

Just as one earthworm was about to contract and lunge forward, a massive Cubical Void suddenly appeared beneath it, making it crash to the ground.

Immediately afterward, countless bloody holes appeared across its body. The invisible attacks instantly turned it into a honeycomb.

Nor did they stop there. To prevent it from regenerating, the invisible attacks continued gnawing away at the Earthworm Creature's body, causing its already riddled form to vanish piece by piece.

In the end, the earthworm was dismembered in midair.

The other earthworm seemed to lack any intelligence. It remained wrapped around Captain Su, ready to attack, but as its companion vanished, it froze in place.

Its thick body seemed to deflate as it continuously collapsed from within. Its spiraled skin kept caving in, suddenly losing all support.

Only when a gap appeared on its skin did they see that the Earthworm Creature's insides had long since been hollowed out by those invisible Cubical Voids.

The smooth cuts continued spreading, devouring what little skin remained of the Earthworm Creature.

The two terrifying creatures that had just been rampaging vanished just like that.

Captain Su stared at what had happened in the blink of an eye, his eyes filled with shock.

Once he recovered, he suddenly realized something and turned to look at Li Luo and the Cube behind her.

Li Luo met Captain Su's gaze and nodded.

Mo Ling leaned inside the Cube, eating food teleported in to him while listening to the soldiers thank Li Luo.

Thinking back on the Fierce Battle just now, Mo Ling realized that his teleportation was getting faster and faster.

I seem to be getting more proficient.

Using his teleportation ability was like learning to grab things with his hands.

If he had been a newborn baby when he first arrived in this world, then Mo Ling was now a three-year-old child.

He could now instinctively teleport things within his field of view elsewhere without needing to concentrate especially hard, which had made his teleportation incredibly fast.

He had casually tossed the chunks of the Earthworm Creatures underground.

If I can do it faster than the naked eye can see, could I make creatures disappear out of thin air?

Mo Ling was eager to try.

After confirming that this Beast Tide had ended, the soldiers gathered around as well.

Some even curiously approached the Cube, but Li Luo held them back with an outstretched hand.

One soldier scratched his head and awkwardly apologized to Li Luo. "I'm really sorry for stopping you outside the high wall earlier. Let me apologize."

After saying that, he ran off to help clean up the battlefield.

After standing guard where he was for a while, Captain Su walked over to Li Luo and solemnly extended his hand.

"Thank you for your help."

Li Luo extended her hand as well and gave his a casual shake.

It seemed that only at this moment did the soldiers at the Outpost Station truly realize that Li Luo was not a powerless investigator.

Li Luo took the opportunity to ask, "Why didn't you report these biological disturbances to the Monitoring Station?"

Captain Su was taken aback. "We did report them. In the daily reports we send to the Monitoring Station every day, we clearly state everything that happens at the Outpost Station."

Hearing this, Mo Ling was equally confused.

Station Master Liang had not mentioned any of this when he issued the mission.

Seeing Li Luo's puzzled expression, Captain Su realized something too.

"The Monitoring Station doesn't know? No wonder. We've been requesting reinforcements recently, but the Monitoring Station has only been giving routine replies and hasn't sent any support."

"That's also why the soldiers have been growing resentful."

Captain Su quickly called over the communications officer and asked about the communications over this period. He also verified the daily reports that had been sent, and everything was normal.

He paced back and forth in confusion, then looked at Li Luo and asked, "Does the Monitoring Station know about the Metamorphic Trees? We reported that too."

Li Luo shook her head.

Metamorphic Trees? What kind of creature was that?

Mo Ling had initially thought the Outpost Station was hiding something, but he had never expected there to be an information gap between the two stations.

Captain Su suddenly thought of something else and asked Li Luo for confirmation. "Your mission here is to investigate abnormalities involving the Theseus Cell, right?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, Captain Su made another suggestion.

"You can go to the Tree Transformation Tribe first and see what's happening there."

"The Outpost Station has always wanted to investigate, but the Beast Tides have been coming more and more frequently. We've been too busy lately."

"We'll return to check why the information never reached the Monitoring Station, then we'll head over as well."

Afterward, Captain Su had Li Luo open the Electronic Screen and transmitted the information on the Metamorphic Trees to her.

The Theseus Cell Lockdown Zone was surrounded by enormous high walls.

Every living thing within this area was made of Theseus Cells. From trees thousands of years old to insects found everywhere, all of them had been replaced.

Except for one kind of creature—

Metamorphic Trees.

They were jelly-like gelatinous creatures capable of simple communication with humans. They possessed a certain degree of intelligence and had their own tribe within the Sealed Area.

After learning about human technology, they had found the humans at the Outpost Station and exchanged for fertilizer.

Later, dedicated couriers would even carry Relics found by their tribe over vast distances to the Outpost Station in exchange for fertilizer.

After discovering this, the people at the Outpost Station had been quite willing to trade with these friendly creatures.

The reason they had not been infected by Theseus Cells was that they appeared out of thin air.

Appeared out of thin air?

Seeing this, Li Luo looked toward Captain Su.

Captain Su explained, "They really do appear out of thin air. They can't be replaced by Theseus Cells. We've tested them, and every Metamorphic Tree is made of normal cells."

"We also inspected all the Metamorphic Trees that came to trade at the Outpost Station carefully. Otherwise, we wouldn't have traded with them."

What strange creatures, Mo Ling thought.

And why did they want to exchange for fertilizer?

Only after reading further did Mo Ling discover the answer.

Because, just like their name implied, the sole purpose of every individual in their entire species was to become a tree.