"The first meatball, the second meatball, and then the mushrooms found in that world …"
"They all belong to a type of 'soldier'. The reason for their appearance is probably related to a type of microorganism in that world."
"Microorganism? You mean the kind that rolls? "
"… No, this type of microorganism doesn't roll. I can call it a 'mucus sucker'. You can imagine that it looks like an ancient squid sucker."
"I see. Things of this shape definitely won't roll."
"But they can coexist with the plague fungi. In fact, they were originally a parasitic species. The shape of the sucker and the relatively small size allowed them to stick to other microorganisms, and then they would extend a lot of … small spikes."
"Using these spikes, they can directly affect the 'genes' of the host. They can add a lot of extra information to the target, and then let the host grow some special structures … For example, structures that deliver nutrients to them."
"In other words, the microorganism parasitized by the 'mucus sucker' will grow a tube-like structure to feed the 'mucus sucker'."
"Because the amount of feeding is not large, this parasitic relationship can last for quite a long time. The 'mucus sucker' will also begin to divide and reproduce during the parasitic process, and then its young will stick to other microorganisms as a new host."
"They have a great advantage in the local area with this way of life. My spider took a lot of samples of the surrounding environment on the way back and found that there were microorganisms parasitized by them everywhere …"
"So, these things that can't roll encountered fungi?"
"That's right. The mucus sucker can stably parasitize local microorganisms. Then they will modify them to provide nutrients for themselves … So when they encountered fungi. They also tried to modify fungi. "
"But there were some problems in the end …"
"The specific process is not clear, but I think that the 'mucus sucker' definitely did not succeed when they modified the fungi. But when they parasitized, the fungi did not immediately devour them. Then, their modification triggered some kind of information in the fungi's nucleus."
"This caused those parasitized fungi to begin to grow into a special type of soldier … which is the current meatball."
"These soldiers were probably designed a long time ago. They have very strong intelligence and command ability. This may be … designed by their brains. "
"That's so that the fungus can grow a new brain to continue commanding after the user's death, but why didn't the fungus grow such a meatball before?"
"That should be related to the previous' curse '. Perhaps the Atte's brain's curse towards the fungus isn't limited to the fear of seawater. There are many other effects."
"But the fungus seems to be able to rely on external mutations to remove part of the 'curse', so the meatball was born under such circumstances."
"That meatball seems to be able to roll around."
"They can't roll most of their lives, including the mushroom form and the second form. The smallest meatball we found should be the initial form, and I'm not sure what stage the mushroom form is, but it's not as mature as the second one I found. The second meatball, which was also the biggest one, was currently the most mature, and its ability was also the strongest. But I think it will continue to grow. "
"In the end, they may grow into something like the 'Plague Brain', but they seem to have many additional functions, such as attaching the limbs of random monsters to their bodies to gain mobility. This meatball may have been in contact with the fungus in the mother ball since a long time ago …"
"It gave them all kinds of orders and commands … Perhaps the 'Plague Dragon' was created under its influence, and the fungus was preparing various plans for a full-scale attack."
"At the same time, it also wanted to use the bandit group to attack me. It also cooperated with the small meatballs to block my connection to the outside world. However, they didn't know that I soon broke through its shield and went to a cave to find it. Together with this mushroom that I caught in that world, all these meatballs were dealt with."
"In other words, after dealing with them, the fungus will lose its command?"
"No, there's still the Plague Dragon. It's growing very quickly and has considerable intelligence. Even without the meatball, this giant beast can move on its own, command its own … and spread its own infection."
"I still have to study other problems. You can help the random monsters a little, although it doesn't seem to be of much use."
"No, I don't want to help them anymore."
"Because … they don't want to roll at all!"
…
"… I do feel that it's not the same race as me." The imam turned off the communication device and looked behind him.
In the vast laboratory, two meatballs and a mushroom were kept in a transparent 'cell' in the laboratory. These things no longer sent out brainwaves here.
Although the imam believed that they had intelligence, they never communicated with the imam, so the imam didn't intend to communicate with them.
But he didn't intend to get rid of them so quickly. Instead, he kept them here for observation. As for their food … they could be fed with Voidfolk meat.
Because the bandits left a lot of meat here, the imam could eat it himself, and there wouldn't be a shortage of food for a long time.
What the imam wanted to know now was … Why was the astral gate connected to another world?
Previously, he thought that it was a coincidence, and that there might be similar things in other worlds that connected them …
But that didn't seem to be the case. After that, the imam sent a metal spider back to the colony where the astral gate was and entered a building next to it.
The imam was paying attention to this spider.
Because it was nighttime, the bandits did not continue their transportation activities. They had all entered a state of rest. As for the other bandit groups that were chased away, they gathered in large numbers in the distance and prepared to attack the 'Smiling Face Gang', just as the imam had expected.
Knowing this, the Smiling Face Gang also stayed alert under the orders of their leader. If there were any problems, they would immediately retreat into the gate …
Taking advantage of the time when they weren't moving, the imam entered the building to investigate … This colonial building was a two-story house.
The facilities inside were quite 'luxurious', but now these things were scattered everywhere because they were 'looted' by the Voidfolk bandits.
The useful things were taken away, and the useless things were scattered all over the ground …
'Thud!' The imam's spider stepped on something. This thing … seemed to be a picture of the original residents here. In the picture, there were two Voidfolk hugging a child, looking very happy.
But now they were nowhere to be found. Soon, the imam passed through the first floor and came to the entrance of the second floor.
The room on the second floor was not 'looted'. The door here was tightly shut, and there were signs of it being hit, but the door was still not opened.
The Voidfolk did not use explosives to blow the door open. Perhaps they were afraid of damaging the things inside, so it was very safe here.
The imam knew that the second floor was usually a place to store important items and property, so it was locked up very tightly.
But the imam knew how to open the door here. The metal spider stretched out its forelimb and poked the door slightly. An image suddenly popped up on the door.
'Please enter the password.'
It was written on the screen.
The imam looked at the screen and hesitated for a moment. Then, he let the spider poke the door a few more times. The 'password is correct' display popped up, and then the door slowly rose …
It really was the password …
The imam saw a small date in the picture before, so he entered the date as the password, and it was correct.
Originally, the imam wanted to use a more direct method, but it was much more convenient this way.
And the bandits did not seem to have noticed …
Creak … After the door opened slowly, the imam walked into the second floor. Everything here was in good condition. There were a few things called safes, and some mechanical parts and so on.
The imam's spider slowly walked in front of a complete mechanical device and poked it. Suddenly, an image popped up.
This was a surveillance system. Every building near the Astral Gate had one. It was used to monitor the Astral Gate.
Although the gate was locked, the Voidfolk here felt uneasy, so they installed these systems to continuously monitor the gate.
The imam adjusted it and brought up the most recent image. He could see the scene where his metal spider was besieged by the bandits.
And when he adjusted the time again, there was nothing around the Astral Gate. Although there were many Voidfolk in the colony, they did not go near the Astral Gate.
The imam continued to adjust the time. In the recent days and nights, other than the Voidfolk passing by, the imam did not see anything suspicious …
But as the imam continued to adjust the time … he finally saw a suspicious Voidfolk.
When the imam saw it, this Voidfolk was lying under the sealed shell of the Astral Gate. It seemed to be doing something, but because its back was facing the imam, the imam could not see what it was doing.
After it was done, it reached out and knocked on the shell lightly. The shell suddenly opened up a hole that it could pass through. Then, it went in.
Sure enough, connecting to that world … was indeed because there was something here. That thing was also related to the meatball.
And it might not be a Voidfolk. (To be continued …)
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