Undying Thing

A soldier walked over to Captain Su and asked in a low voice, "Captain, these are all Theseus Cell creatures. Aren't we going to kill them?"

Captain Su smacked the soldier on the head and cursed, "If you're so good at killing, why haven't I seen you wipe out every creature in the Sealed Area?"

"But the creatures up there have no intelligence. If these intelligent creatures develop for a few thousand more years and discover the world on the surface, won't we end up fighting?" The soldier rubbed his head and spoke earnestly.

"They're still at war right now. By then, they might even have a technological explosion and master all kinds of military technology," the soldier added.

Captain Su gave him a strange look. "Have you been reading Three-Body lately?"

The soldier nodded.

"The Dark Forest Law, right?"

The soldier's eyes lit up. Just as he was about to ask more questions, Captain Su kicked him flying.

The atmosphere eased slightly.

The bodies of the soldiers who had fallen in the earlier battle were collected.

The Transparent Race members were also gathering their people's clothes and weapons. At first, whenever they encountered the soldiers cleaning up the scene, they kept far away.

But after realizing that the soldiers paid them no attention at all, they gradually stopped being afraid. The two groups moved through the area, weaving past one another.

Meanwhile, Mo Ling was still immersed in his battle with the Ram-Headed Man.

He realized that the Ram-Headed Man's current formal logic did not seem to fit either the Ugly Duckling Phenomenon or the Red String Worm.

He was neither crazily slaughtering Tree-Cutting Sheep nor continuously heading in one direction.

"Why did he come here to kill the Transparent Race?"

Mo Ling could not understand it.

Captain Su also walked over to the Cube and discussed the Ram-Headed Man's behavior with Li Luo.

"It seems to be constantly moving in one direction now while slaughtering wildly along the way. Sometimes it suddenly turns back. There's no logic to it at all," Captain Su said in confusion.

Li Luo thought for a moment, then said, "He isn't acting without logic. His behavioral logic conforms to the Ugly Duckling Phenomenon."

Captain Su was puzzled. "How does it conform?"

Li Luo explained, "It has already discovered that its source species is not the Tree-Cutting Sheep, but the Theseus Cell."

"It may have discovered this after fleeing back to the Underground World. That's why it no longer insists on returning to the surface and instead chose to slaughter the Transparent Race everywhere."

"And it's getting smarter. It knows we'll keep obstructing it here, so it chose to avoid battle. It isn't that it doesn't want to kill."

"It probably understands that the Underground World is full of Theseus Cell creatures, so it does not lack this small number."

After hearing this, Captain Su stood there blankly. After thinking for a while, he said, "So we don't need to bother with it? We just let it keep killing here?"

Li Luo fell silent. It seemed that she had no solution either.

Inside the Cube, Mo Ling was also full of helplessness after hearing that.

The immortality granted by the Red String Worm only grew stronger with every fight. Restraint was the only option, but things had now reached a point where restraint was impossible.

It was growing smarter and had even learned to avoid battle.

There was simply no way to contain such a lifeform.

Captain Su called over his deputy again and began assessing the Ram-Headed Man's threat. He seemed to be having doubts about his own decision to pursue it by force.

The deputy told Captain Su that the Ram-Headed Man's threat level had now reached a terrifying degree.

Although it would not affect humanity for the time being, no one knew how a lifeform created by the overlap of a Relic Phenomenon and an Abyss Creature might develop in the future.

"We said we'd take things one step at a time, but I never expected the situation to become this serious so quickly. So many brothers died for nothing." Captain Su was deeply remorseful.

After discussing it for a long time, Captain Su still decided that they could not simply leave it alone.

"Change the plan. Continue tracking it, but this time focus on observation. If an opportunity arises, try to guide its behavior. We can't keep confronting it head-on."

Captain Su had his deputy relay the order to the soldiers.

He sighed and said, "Even if we can't eliminate it, we should at least bring back some information on the Theseus Cell and the Relic Phenomenon. We can't return empty-handed."

There were always trade-offs in the Abyss. The deputy nodded dejectedly and turned to leave.

Before long, the elderly Transparent Race man returned. When Captain Su asked him which direction the Ram-Headed Man was heading, his face suddenly filled with terror.

"What is it?" Captain Su asked, confused by the old man's startled reaction.

"That direction leads to our village!"

After answering Captain Su, the old man hurried back to his companions and anxiously said something to them.

The Transparent Race members no longer had any mind to collect the clothes and weapons scattered on the ground. They hurriedly packed their belongings.

Seeing this, Captain Su had everyone follow him into the group of Transparent Race members.

"If you don't mind, we can set out together. We aren't familiar with this place and need someone to guide us," Captain Su said sincerely.

The Transparent Race members looked at one another. Only after a heated argument did they agree to Captain Su's request.

Along the way, the elderly Transparent Race man introduced the history of the Underground World to everyone:

"Long ago, this place was inhabited only by the Transparent Race. There was no war, and everything was peaceful. We lived lives free from conflict."

"But one day, strange caves suddenly appeared everywhere. Inside them were white, oval lumps of flesh that constantly writhed and tried to devour anything that came near."

"But that was not the most frightening part. One of our ancestors cut off a piece of that flesh and discovered that it did not turn into Transparent Liquid!"

"After leaving the cave, that flesh no longer moved, but it did not disappear either. It could even remain in this world forever."

"At the time, there was a powerful Prophet among our ancestors. He declared that this was an extremely terrifying 'Undying Thing' that would bring disaster upon the world, but some people refused to believe him."

"As expected, just as the Prophet foretold, disaster soon descended. All kinds of 'Undying Things' began pouring out of the 'Undying Cave.'"

"At first, there were only things like branches and leaves. Later, living creatures came to this place. They began occupying this world and slaughtering the Transparent Race."

"After these undying creatures died, they did not turn transparent like the Transparent Race. Instead, they remained in the world forever, becoming flesh and blood and forcibly taking up space in this world!"

At this point, the old man grew agitated, his eyes bloodshot.

"Our ancestors were all shocked. Flesh that would not disappear! If there were enough of it, the world would be completely filled. By then, there would be no space left to survive in this world."

"It would occupy the land, occupy the water sources, occupy the air, until the whole world was filled with undying flesh!"

Hearing this, one soldier could not help laughing. "How long have these Undying Things been in this world?"

The old man could not quite understand why the soldier was laughing, but he still answered politely, "A very long time. More than a dozen generations."

"Have the Undying Things filled up anywhere yet?" The soldier still could not suppress his amusement.

The old man finally became angry and shouted, "Not yet! Do not question the great Prophet! Just because it has not been filled yet does not mean it will not be in the future!"