Pitman was a very professional Druil. At the same time, he claimed that he was a professional archaeologist, psychologist, conjurer, soothsayer, and cook. And because of this series of 'claims', people who knew him had a subtle evaluation of him. But the old man was really a professional Druil.
After all, he was once a middle-ranking cleric in the Doomsday Council (if he did not waste his time, he would have been a high-ranking cleric). And after running away from the Doomsday Council, he was still able to become a middle-ranking cleric in the Eternal Sleep Congregation. This seemingly unreliable behavior was not as simple as just jumping left and right. How could a person with no real ability jump between two dark cults who spoke with their strength?
Or rather, with Pitman's way of doing things that was even more shameless than Amber, the fact that he was able to live to this day without any permanent disability was very telling.
So, the real deal Druil circled the biological tissue on the platform twice after exclaiming in surprise. Finally, he confirmed that the 'hair' that emerged from the flesh was actually a fine root, and inside the root was some kind of nerve node. This unique structure made him squint his eyes. "Interesting … Where did you find this thing?"
"The frontline dug it out from the open land in the east. We found a large number of mutants and biochemists gathering in that area, so we sent a Giant Dragon Brigade to wipe them out. After the battle, the Giant Dragon commander found that there was still a magic reaction underground, so he dug this thing out." Rebecca immediately explained the origin of the 'sample'. She did not forget to add, "And I suspect that they ate it …"
Pitman nodded. "No wonder. When I came here, I saw a black dragon lying on the railing vomiting. It looked like he was about to puke out his gallbladder …"
The expressions on the researchers' faces became more and more strange. But fortunately, this strange topic did not continue. Rebecca quickly turned her attention to the biological tissue. "Old man, can you tell what this is?"
"It's a large nerve tissue, composed of countless nerve fibers, nutrient tubes, and a tough 'skin'. There may be more complex support structures inside," Pitman said casually. "The 'tentacles' on the surface still have residual nerve activity. It should have the function of sending and receiving information. Of course, it can't do that now. The body is dead, and the residual nerve activity is just the last biochemical reaction of the cells. You said that a large number of mutants and biochemists gathered around this thing? "
"Yes, that's a gathering point," an assistant researcher said. "But we did not catch the dark priest who was in charge of commanding the group of mutants …"
The Wasteland Legion's main forces were now concentrated near the Deep Blue Well, and the mutants they encountered on the Alliance's front line were basically a motley crew without command. But that did not mean that these mutants had no one to control them. Without command, the mutants would go wild, and the biochemical beasts would scatter, and these completely out of control units would not even be able to stop the Alliance's army. So even in the current situation, the Wasteland Legion's units on the Alliance's front line had a basic command, and even if this "command" had dropped to the level of keeping the monsters together, the command system behind it still existed.
Not only the Alliance's commanders knew this, but the experts and scholars who studied the wasteland and the mutants also knew this. There must be a command node behind the mutants. Even if there was only one left, this node must exist.
"It's strange," Rebecca muttered, scratching her chin. "I don't know when it started, but the dark priests have completely disappeared from the battlefield. They have always been hiding far away from the front line, but no matter how far away they are, they can't be completely separated from their subordinates. But now, we have not seen them at all …"
"Then it seems that my guess is right …" Pitman pinched his thinning beard. When he looked at the flesh tissue on the platform again, his eyes became serious. "This is the command node of those monsters now …"
"… Huh?" Rebecca was startled. Although she was usually very imaginative, she had never thought of this idea. "You mean this thing … is commanding the mutants and the chimera? This is a … "
"I guess our opponents have also learned something in the process of fighting us … This nerve tissue may be a copy of the 'synthetic brain'," Pitman said slowly. "The technology of the Doom Cult and the Thorin Giant Tree are of the same origin. The synthetic brain is a biological unit of computation cultivated by the Thorin Giant Tree. So the Doom Cult in the wasteland should be able to copy something similar after learning about it. Although it seems that due to the lack of time, they have only created this crude thing, but the flexibility of their thinking is not bad …"
"… I think the Cortex Prime of the Dawn of Earthly Dawn is much better looking than this thing." Rebecca could not help but frown. "Don't you think so, Cortex Prime?"
Several monitoring devices on the ceiling of the lab were aimed at the biological tissue on the platform, and the neutral voice of the Cortex Prime came out of the voice synthesizer. "Thank you for your compliment, creator, but I don't really understand the concept of 'aesthetics'. I think as a tool, it is good as long as it can achieve the design goal and meet the standards of cost and profit …"
"You don't have to be so serious. I'm just saying." Rebecca waved her hand and turned her attention back to the sample on the platform. She frowned slightly. "But come to think of it … Have all the command nodes at the frontline turned into these ugly 'synthetic brains'? Have all the dark priests retreated to the Deep Blue Well? "
"… It's hard to say. Our allies on the other fronts have also reported similar situations. They have not seen any dark priests on the front line recently," a researcher muttered, scratching his chin. "But we don't know what the center of the battlefield looks like. We only heard that it is full of monsters now. Hope the high-altitude reconnaissance team that set off this afternoon … "
Before the researcher could finish his sentence, an urgent voice suddenly came from the shipboard broadcast system. "Attention, medical team and aircraft engineering team are to head to the C-331 landing platform immediately. I repeat, medical team and aircraft engineering team are to head to the..."
Rebecca was shocked and immediately called the control center of Dawn on Earth. "Cortex Prime, what happened?"
"The high-altitude reconnaissance team has been fatally attacked. Only one of the four aircraft managed to make it back. The pilot is seriously injured." The voice of the Cortex Prime was still calm, but it spoke quickly. "… The fire on the aircraft is under control. The pilot is not out of danger yet."
"Prepare the transportation cabin." As soon as the voice of the Cortex Prime trailed off, Pitman hurried to the door. He did not look like an old man at all. "Let the boys over there keep the pilot alive. I'll be there soon …"
"I'm coming too!" Rebecca caught up with Pitman in a few steps. As she followed him to the transportation tunnel, a huge question arose in her mind. The high-altitude reconnaissance team was shot down? And it sounded like they were almost wiped out? How was that possible? Since when did the Wasteland Legion have such anti-air firepower?
The fact that the Wasteland Legion had aerial units was proven in the early stages of the war. It was a disgusting monster with a swollen head that looked like a mutated balloon of flesh. It could fly as high as the dragoons and use a variety of magic to engage in aerial combat. Truth be told, it was a threat against small to medium flying units. But the Alliance did not only have the dragoons. They had massive aerial fortresses, fully armed dragonkin, and the extraordinarily powerful Tarlonde Expeditionary Force. In the face of such overwhelming power, the Wasteland Legion's aerial forces had always been suppressed, and their ground-based anti-air firepower was' weak '.
As for the high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft that Dawn on Earth released … it was a newly designed high-altitude aircraft. It had a closed-loop life-support system on top of the dragoons, and used the high-altitude flight technology provided by the Giant Dragon. It could even fly for a long time in the magical turbulence. That altitude was far beyond the flight limit of the Dawn on Earth, and even higher than most ordinary Giant Dragons. With the Wasteland Legion's weak anti-air missiles and useless aerial units … could they shoot down the aircraft flying in the turbulence? They could not reach it even if they launched their own mother up there!
The Cecil Empire's Lead Putter, whose mind was filled with vulgarities, quickly arrived at the C-331 landing platform with Pitman. The first thing they saw was the high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft that was on the verge of falling apart. The runic amplification ring, which was larger than a Dragon Knight's, was broken. There were large scorch marks at the bottom of the cockpit, and the anti-gravity ring was dim. One side of the wing-like structure was torn apart. It was a miracle that the aircraft could maintain this posture until it returned to the air motherport.
The pilot who escaped death was near the landing platform. Due to his serious injury, he could not be directly transferred to the medical center. The medical team could only perform emergency treatment on the spot. He was now lying on a metal platform with a hollow in the center, many runes on the surface, and wheels on the bottom. His body was covered by a translucent capsule, and only his head was exposed. The capsule was filled with a diluted biomass solution. Several Druil and Holy Light nuns were constantly casting healing and purification spells. It seemed that the wounded's condition had finally stabilized.
A person in charge saw the Pitman and Rebecca and immediately came up to them. "Your Highness Rebecca, Master Pitman, you are here —"
"How is the wounded?" Rebecca did not wait for the person to finish. "How did he get shot down?"
"The wounded is not out of danger yet, but his condition has stabilized. If nothing goes wrong, his life can be saved." The person in charge immediately nodded and said, "The aircraft was seriously damaged by some kind of high-energy attack. From the outside, it did not look like it was hit directly, but it was severely damaged just by brushing past it. The specific situation still needs to wait for follow-up analysis …"
"I'll go take a look first." Pitman turned and walked towards the wounded. When he came to the medical device, his brows finally relaxed.
The person in charge said that the wounded was not out of danger yet, but in Pitman's view, the young man's life was saved, and his future recovery should not be too bad.
"You're pretty tough." The old Druil tugged at his beard as he casually activated a few runes beside the medical device. He bent down and said, "A little later and your major organs will fail …"
The pilot suddenly regained consciousness for a moment. He saw the old Druil standing in front of him, blinking hard as he tried to raise his arm that was soaked in the biomass solution. Pitman frowned at first, but then he reacted and looked up at Rebecca. "He might have taken a picture of something. Check if the recording device on the aircraft is still there!"
Rebecca turned to look at the arcanists who were busy around the almost crumbling aircraft. But before she could ask, one of the arcanists who was half-buried in the machine suddenly crawled out, holding a pale-blue crystal chip less than half the size of a palm in his hand. "The Mana Net terminal is destroyed, but the Recording Crystal is perfectly fine!"
A moment later, the intact recording crystal, protected by layers of armor, was sent to the command center of the Dawn of the World. After the crystal was inserted into the magic net terminal of the command center, the images stored in it were also successfully extracted.
The first half of the video was a normal high-altitude reconnaissance video recording. The special sensor crystal magnified the situation on the ground, and the battlefield near the Deep Blue Well was presented to the mortal army for the first time. The mutant and biochemical beasts surging on the ground like a black tide made people's scalps tingle, and the purple-black fog floating near the surface like some kind of otherworldly erosion effect left a deep impression. But at least these were things that could be imagined.
— Compared with the scene recorded at the end of the video.
A wriggling, weird, and creepy "living creature" suddenly appeared on the screen. Its main body covered a hill, and a large number of branching structures like city walls and mountain ranges extended out. Between the branching structures, there were mesh-like flesh and blood gradually forming. The entire terrifying structure covered almost the entire plain. It rose and fell in the picture, its edges wriggling on the ground. Countless "branches" that looked like forests or limbs stretched out from its surface into the sky, and the army of mutants that gathered like a tide … compared to this behemoth, they were like small ripples around a boulder.
Gina Prince and Rebecca stood in front of the holographic projection for a long time before they finally realized that this thing that covered the entire land, looked like a rising forest, and was constantly moving on the surface … was a "creature".
It was a single individual, an individual that was constantly growing, a … monster that ruled the wasteland army and was constantly devouring the wasteland army into its body as its own source of nutrition.
Even the "body of a fake god" created by the All Things Will Die Order in the past had never given Gina Prince such a pure and nightmarish shock. At this moment, she even blurted out without caring about her manners, "F * ck … What the hell is this?!"
(End of Chapter)
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