Chapter 772: Abyssal Insectoids
Abyssal Insectoids
Just as the parasitic worm was paddling through the water, a massive shadow suddenly appeared beneath the surface, rapidly ascending and closing in on the parasitic worm.
By the time the parasitic worm realized it needed to escape, it was already too late. It barely managed to swim a couple of strokes to the side before being swallowed whole by a gigantic maw.
It was a colossal Abyssal insectoid. Large patches of its body surface were already melting, looking like a giant ice cream cone starting to drip.
The parasitic worm tried to struggle, but a wave of devouring rule power fell upon it, yanking it straight into the pitch-black abdominal cavity.
This was a Controller-rank giant Abyssal insectoid.
"It looks like we've been swallowed."
Little Guardian glanced at Lin Ye, who was still petting the cat. She didn't like this feeling of being passive.
"Yeah, I didn't expect to find Abyssal insectoids here either. What a coincidence."
Lin Ye casually replied while deep in thought about the Parasitism Network, continuing to stroke the cat.
"Did it follow us in here?"
Little Guardian hadn't sensed anything trailing them at all.
"Something was indeed following us, but it wasn't this melting Abyssal insectoid. Someone probably made this insectoid on a whim to test our strength."
That was why Lin Ye wasn't willing to act. If the enemy saw through their true capabilities, they wouldn't just be tailing them anymore.
"So what do we do now? If we abandon this parasitic worm, we'll lose our means of free movement in this place."
Little Guardian watched the parasitic worm writhing in the darkness, emitting miserable screeches. They were inside the Abyssal insectoid's digestive organs, surrounded by digestive fluids on all sides.
"It's fine. Its body structure can adapt to many dangerous environments. Plus, with that outside funding, one Abyssal insectoid won't be able to digest it."
"Meow meow?"
Just as Lin Ye had said, the parasitic worm quickly adapted to the environment. It tried biting a chunk out of the insectoid's digestive organ, its mouthparts easily piercing through the digestive mucosa.
The insectoid's digestive organs were soon punctured by the parasitic worm. The worm's mouthparts were a Mutation Structure specially crafted by Lin Ye, reinforced several times since, and could now bite through many things.
The parasitic worm roamed freely inside the insectoid's body. Before long, it found a melting gap and crawled out through it.
The Abyssal insectoid naturally noticed the worm's behavior. It twisted its body, creating suction in its abdomen, and sucked the parasitic worm back into its mouth.
This time, the parasitic worm didn't resist, letting the insectoid suck it back in.
The insectoid's body was covered in melting gaps, so the worm could crawl out from any of them at any time.
But when the parasitic worm emerged from the insectoid's body, it suddenly realized they had left that turbid liquid and arrived on solid ground.
The Abyssal insectoid was dead. Its corpse gradually melted into a pool of murky liquid.
The parasitic worm lifted its head and looked around. This landmass wasn't the one near them before. It was a small patch of land only a few dozen square meters in size.
Beyond the land was still that turbid liquid, and beneath the surface, faint patches of light seemed to flicker in and out of sight.
"That Abyssal insectoid deliberately brought us here."
Little Guardian wasn't sure what the other side was trying to do.
"Yeah. There might be something wrong with this landmass."
Lin Ye shared a new can of meat with Xiao Ling. He occasionally enjoyed this kind of industrial instant food too.
"Aren't you worried they'll just kill the parasitic worm?"
Little Guardian poured Lin Ye a drink.
"If they're willing to take that risk for one parasitic worm, I'm not really bothered."
Lin Ye didn't believe there were enemies that stupid around here.
The parasitic worm tried dipping its tail into the turbid liquid. Its tail didn't melt, but a small patch of it went bald.
"Meow!"
The worm shook its tail, thrashing around in place for a bit.
After a while, the parasitic worm carefully dipped its tail back into the liquid, dodging the faint light patches, and began pushing the liquid like rowing a boat. This time, its tail didn't go any balder.
The landmass drifted slowly across the water. After the worm paddled a few times, it noticed several landmasses of various sizes rapidly approaching.
"This isn't good. Control the worm and push that corpse into the water, then steer the landmass along the route I'll give you."
Lin Ye relayed the movement method and angle to Little Guardian.
Little Guardian manipulated the worm to paddle while shoving the corpse into the water.
The moment the corpse hit the liquid, it was pulled toward those landmasses, eventually sucked onto one of the larger ones.
The corpse quickly became part of that landmass. A giant mouth grew at the edge of the landmass, starting to devour the surrounding smaller ones.
Under Little Guardian's control, the parasitic worm kept wagging its tail, steering its landmass rapidly through the gaps between the approaching landmasses, distancing itself from them.
Just as the parasitic worm was about to escape, a figure suddenly appeared in front of it.
It was an upright creature with an insect head, looking like a human with a bug's face.
Little Guardian acted immediately. She didn't have time to ask for Lin Ye's opinion now.
The insect head suddenly turned to look behind itself, then leaped from the edge of the landmass toward a certain spot.
"So this is your ability?"
The insect head was crushed into minced meat mid-air. A silhouette appeared not far from the landmass, standing on a colorful, mottled carapace.
It was an emerald-green crawling creature with a head covered in wrinkles. Its body was studded with thick, sturdy limbs, and it was less than a meter long.
Before Lin Ye could react, the crawler leaped onto the parasitic worm, driving one of its forelimbs into the worm's head.
An Alienated Body materialized beside the crawler, but it couldn't react either before the crawler pierced through its body as well.
"I see you now."
The crawler swung its forelimb, tearing open the World of Ashes, and leaped inside.
Lin Ye was about to strike back when the crawler tore him apart into scattered ashes.
"Hand over the key."
The crawler let out a piercing shriek at another Lin Ye reforming nearby.
"You mean that Spatial Ring? Can you tell me what you're looking for?"
Lin Ye asked out of curiosity.
"That's not something you need to know."
The crawler leaped in front of Lin Ye, plunging numerous limbs into his body. This time, it didn't tear him apart—it was going to try a different method of extracting information.
But before it could act, Lin Ye's body dissolved into scattered ashes again.
Another Lin Ye appeared not far away. Even if he wasn't blown apart, he could turn into ashes at any moment.