Please support the translation by reading the translation and commenting on otakutl official site.
Thank you.
Everyone from Otaku Translation
Chapter 16: Unless He’s a God
Amidst the flying Zerglings corpses, a blur of shadow flashed past. A crimson, spine-like spike, as thick as a water jug, tore through the air with a sharp sonic boom, leaving behind a long, drawn-out trail of sound, cutting against the direction of the dragon’s breath like a streaking comet.
Before the centipede creature had a chance to react, the anchor-like spike pierced into its mouth, spiraling down and destroying countless internal organs, directly puncturing the chest and abdomen, emerging from the severed intestines.
The dragon’s breath surged to within three feet of Tang Fang's face before slowly stopping. The splashing acidic fluid left countless small brown holes on his silvery combat suit.
The centipede creature let out a painful wail from its throat. Green, yellow, blue, and cyan-colored bodily fluids poured out from its mouth and abdominal cavity, staining the ground within a hundred-meter radius in a multicolored swamp.
Moments later, with a loud boom, its massive body crashed to the ground. Its hundred-meter-long body thrashed wildly, and with every twitch of its head, large amounts of green mucus sprayed out.
The spine-like spike, now covered in shredded meat and sticky fluids, retracted to Tang Fang's back. The centipede creature’s head shook a few more times, its murderous gaze fading and finally returning to calm.
Tang Fang suppressed his excitement and let out a long breath.
Six-legged, meat-winged Zerg Queen crawled slowly towards him. In the distance, a few smaller Zerglingss struggled to stand. These Zerg combat units, as long as they still had a breath left, would slowly recover from their injuries, and on the creep, this effect would be doubled.
Having sacrificed sixteen Zerglingss, he finally brought down this gigantic creature. Tang Fang instinctively wiped his forehead, but instead of sweat, he encountered the hard, gas mask.
He recalled the remaining six small Zerglingss and the spine-like crawler back into the system space, leaving only two Zerg Queens to stand guard. Tang Fang carefully walked to the centipede creature’s corpse and used a composition analyzer. He measured the fluids, and aside from the green fluid, which had strongly acidic and toxic properties, the rest of the bodily fluids were harmless. After a brief consideration, he removed his protective gloves and carefully placed his hand on the cyan-colored viscous fluid that resembled human blood.
As expected, a mechanical voice, devoid of emotion but oddly soothing echoed in his mind as the scan progress bar flashed.
[Unknown DNA sequence detected. Diagnostic procedure initiated…]
[Diagnosis complete, compatible Zerg strain confirmed.]
[Recombining gene structure, Gene level: C+, Research tree unlocked, Technology level 1, Building unlocked: ‘Evolution Chamber’.]
[Life energy collected. Total: 1500, Rare elements collected. Total: 500.]
The system interface's crystal value increased by one digit, now standing at 1755, while the gas reserves shot up to 540.
Tang Fang didn’t express much excitement but instead furrowed his brows in silence. How could such a large, powerful creature have only a C+ gene level? And the technology level was still stuck at level 1. The Evolution Chamber was one of the most basic buildings in the game.
However, when he ordered a drone to build on the creep, the upgrade options in the menu made him realize something.
“Zerg melee attack,” “Zerg ground unit armor,” “Zerg range attack.” These passive upgrades affected not only the small Zerglingss but also had strong combat enhancements for mid-tier Zerg units like the Hydralisks and Infestors, as well as for ultimate units like Ultralisks.
Seeing the upgrade costs, which were ten times higher than in the game, Tang Fang couldn’t help but feel pleased. Compared to the options in the Spawning Pool, the cost-effectiveness of the Evolution Chamber's upgrades seemed far superior in the long run.
He closed his eyes for a moment in contemplation, then opened them again. His flashlight swept over the centipede creature’s corpse, and he quickly spotted something unusual. Within a few breaths, the bluish liquid that had been spilling from its intestines disappeared completely.
At first, it was there, but after absorbing the creature’s life energy, it suddenly evaporated? He thought briefly and then an absurd idea formed in his mind.
He walked towards the crack in the rock layer, glancing at the severed intestines on the ground. Tang Fang, with his gun tucked under his arm, adjusted his flashlight and approached slowly.
The intestines, as thick as a truck tire, lay on the ground, some liquid with green patches still flowing from the walls. He took out the composition analyzer once more, and the result left him stunned.
While examining the creature’s bodily fluids earlier, he had been focused on checking for toxicity, not noticing the elemental composition. Now, as he took a closer look, he was shocked to find that the primary component of the liquid was the precious Element Zero.
Could this rare element be what the system absorbed? Carefully avoiding the toxic green patches, he lightly touched the blue liquid with his palm.
A line of text flashed through his mind: [Too many impurities in the rare element, difficult to collect,] followed by four bold red words: [Needs Refining.]
Needs refining? Tang Fang paused for a moment, his gaze shifting to the drone near the hatchery. As his mind focused, the zerg drone, bigger than the Zerglings and with a pair of scythe-like pincers and membranous wings, appeared in front of him.
Just like directing the queens, he gave the drone an order. After it landed on the normal ground without the creep, all building options in the first construction menu, except the Extractor, were grayed out and unavailable.
Looking at the current situation, it seemed that the intestines connected to an underground element mine, similar to a Vespene gas geyser in the game. By building the Extractor, he could refine the Element Zero and convert it into the gas required by the system.
He felt a surge of joy and didn’t hesitate to issue the construction order.
The drone flapped its wings, lightly gliding to the severed intestine, slipping into its body. Countless flesh tumors grew on the walls, spreading at a visible rate towards the underground.
What was once a lifeless intestine now seemed reborn, rhythmically wriggling again.
---
Meanwhile, in the underground layer above the massive hollow space.
The eight survivors, including Byron, were in heated debate with Arroz.
“If you want to wait for him, you wait. I don’t want to stay in this damn place for another second,” Naru said, still shaken. The memory of the terrifying centipede creature and the five teammates reduced to nothing made his spine tingle.
“Right,” Harvey chimed in, “Who knows if that monster will fly back up? What if it causes another disaster and collapses the entire cavern, burying us alive? This place isn’t safe. Even if we wait, we should head to the surface.”
Another muscular man shouted, “we have already completed our mission. Once we hand the data to the military, we'll be free! Who wants to wait here and die with you?” With that, he turned and started walking back.
One, two, three… Naru, Harvey, Eva.
The appearance of the centipede creature had shattered everyone’s courage. Even though they were hardened warriors who had killed and bled, they weren’t about to gamble with their lives. This was a battle with no chance of winning; there was no way Tang Fang would survive it – unless he were a god.
Please vote for this novel at
If you would like to support this translation, you may choose any one of the options below.
How to find a list of chapters
Please find the chapter label next to your favorite translator's name, and click the label.
No comments:
Post a Comment