Chapter 2657 - 2655: Myriad Insects Pay Homage
In Ling Feng’s hand, the Shadowless Needle appeared once again. As the silver light glimmered, he inserted the needle into the mass of green flesh. The flesh emitted a "hiss" sound upon contact with the needle’s power, accompanied by white steam rising from within.
The green flesh twisted rapidly, transforming into a mass of black threads, like flesh burned to black charcoal.
A strong stench emanated from the green flesh, causing Ling Feng to frown. His frown wasn’t because the odor bothered him, but because the stench was identical to what he smelled in the corpses across the town.
A black aura emerged from the green flesh. This time, Ling Feng didn’t let it escape. He used the Shadowless Needle to pierce the black aura, intending to sever or capture it. But the black aura, though visible, was intangible. The needle could pass through it but couldn’t destroy it.
For a moment, Ling Feng considered using the Chaos Sword to obliterate the black aura. However, he hesitated and dismissed the idea. One reason was that he hadn’t fully mastered the power of the Chaos Sword, and rash use might be dangerous. Second, it was Ling Feng’s most treasured weapon, which he was unwilling to use lightly before outsiders.
After several layers of thoughts, the black aura had already dispersed into the air, vanishing without a trace.
Ling Feng had no choice but to direct his focus onto the two scales. Now, Ling Feng was certain that these scales and the mass of green flesh were definitely related to the town’s deaths.
Ling Feng meticulously examined the two almost identical scales in size and shape, realizing that the one he picked up might inadvertently have been dropped by the murderer of the town, while the one extracted from the town’s hand was likely scraped off by the town in desperation and immense pain before dying.
Upon seeing the scales, Li Feng was somewhat surprised: "What kind of animal has these scales? I haven’t seen anything like it within the Vermilion Bird Kingdom."
A flash of thunder fell in Ling Feng’s mind, opening up his thoughts.
Since seeing the town’s abdominal wound earlier, Ling Feng had sensed something peculiar and had doubts. Initially, he believed the murderer was human, assuming the town had been killed after a fight. But the scattered items on the ground showed no signs of struggle, no damage at all, appearing more like being accidentally knocked over, indicating there was no fierce battle before the town’s death.
But with the town’s martial might, if assassinated, how could he not give his all and fight desperately? He would never just surrender!
Unless... unless the town faced some unusual threat, his opponent’s methods were so powerful or strange that the town couldn’t fight back. All he could do was scrape off a scale from the perpetrator.
Coupled with what Li Feng said earlier and Wei Dong’s prior judgment that the murderer might not be human, and the two scales with flesh attached that Ling Feng found using Divine Sense, he was completely certain now!
The murderer of the town was a bug beast with scales. It had somehow entered the town’s body and burst out from the abdomen at an opportune moment, employing a killing technique that overwhelmed the town, leaving him only able to scrape off a scale with flesh, and the green flesh was indeed the beast’s flesh!
Everything became clear. They now knew who killed the town. Yet Ling Feng didn’t feel any elation post-case. Because even though they knew a bug beast killed the town, there was little other information left. Where should the investigation lead next?
As Ling Feng was perplexed, a memory suddenly flashed in his mind.
He remembered a movie he’d watched before: "Alien."
The alien insect beast first parasitized into astronauts by food, absorbing enough nutrients before bursting out of the host’s body.
This could also explain why the town aged so rapidly, even with toil over refugees, it shouldn’t be so hastily aged.
Ling Feng boldly speculated that the insect beast parasitic inside the town didn’t only consume his organs but also devoured his lifespan, using it as nutrients, killing the host once fully mature.
Was the creature in "Alien" extraterrestrial? Could the insect beast also be from outer space? After all, the Xuanxu Realm is unlike Earth, possibly invaded by exotic creatures.
But the Xuanxu Realm is an independent space, not surrounded by space, but by endless void. How did this cunning alien insect beast invade?
As Ling Feng pondered, he saw only two possibilities: either someone deliberately bred the insect beast to murder the town; or the insect beast entered the Vermilion Bird Kingdom from some unknown space-time vortex within the Xuanxu Realm, coincidentally invading the town’s body.
Ling Feng paced the room with the scale in hand, while Wei Dong and Li Feng dared not disturb this thoughtful King.
Initially, he and Li Xiaonian traversed the entire Xuanxu Realm and found no anomalies. Perhaps the problem isn’t external, but from the core of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom—the Royal City!
With clear thoughts, Ling Feng immediately turned to Li Feng and said, "The funeral and placement of General Quan’s family will be entirely entrusted to you. I will apply to the Queen for you to initially assume the position of acting City Defense General, leading the Royal City defense affairs."
"Yes!" Li Feng stood upright with a spirited shout.
Ling Feng nodded, then turned away.
Vermilion Bird Kingdom Palace.
Ling Feng stood at the highest point of the palace, overlooking the Vermilion Bird Royal City below.
His mind stirred, summoning a giant brown beetle beside him, whose enormous wings stirred a fierce gale with each flap.
Ling Feng’s robe gently fluttered as he tossed the black scale. It hovered before the beetle, Little Fei.
"Little Fei, sense it, then find the owner of this scale. Mobilize every insect within this city to locate that bug beast."
Little Fei’s mouthparts lightly trembled as it sniffed the scent on the scale, then suddenly flapped its wings, creating a whirlwind, emitting sound waves spreading to all directions.
Soon, various insects converged before Little Fei, bowing respectfully. Little Fei immediately transmitted its perception regarding the scale to all insects, commanding them to locate the scale’s owner. Insects, receiving the command and instructions, dispersed in all directions of the Royal City.
Ling Feng stood at the top of the palace, hands behind his back, silently gazing into the distance.