CHAPTER 599: CHAPTER 597: PARASITE

She tugged at Lu Chen’s sleeve and whispered, "Look at that soldier over there."

The man followed her gaze in that direction, and he too sensed something uncommon. He suddenly stood up, approaching the person who was ceaselessly scooping rice and still trembling slightly.

The other man caught a glimpse of him and immediately knocked over his bowl to run into the pitch-dark forest, but Lu Chen wouldn’t give him a chance to escape. He tore open a rift in Space, and in the next second, appeared right in front of him, kicking him in the chest and knocking him down to the ground.

He tore open the man’s clothes, and what met his eyes were black and purple veins crisscrossed and protruding on the skin, covering a large area of the chest.

All the people were in an uproar, and several guns were immediately aimed at the man on the ground.

A soldier exclaimed in anguish, "How did you get infected!"

The man on the ground frantically tried to wrap his clothes back around himself, yelling, "I’m not, I’m not infected, it’s a skin disease! A skin disease! Could an infection last this long?"

Looking at his somewhat abnormal shoulder, Su Mo said, "Take off his clothes."

"No, no, no!"

He scrambled up from the ground, raising his hands on either side, crying out, "I’m not! I was just stung by some bug!"

The appearance of a mutated variety among so many humans was undoubtedly dangerous. Luo Cong immediately had people catch the soldier and strip off his clothes, and even the tightly wrapped bandages were cut open.

With his upper body bare, his appearance was unrecognizable.

In the glow of the campfire, on his right shoulder—where human skin should have been—there was no longer any; it had transformed into a jaw with a circular disc, and countless tiny wriggling worms were crawling over the wound.

He had become a grotesque monster, neither human nor ghost.

Everyone instinctively moved a bit away from him, and the soldier standing directly in front of him aimed his gun to puncture a hole in his skull, but unexpectedly, the man who wanted to live vanished from the spot in a flash, grasping the soldier’s neck, "I told you! I’m not a monster! I don’t want to die!!"

He still retained human consciousness, but his body was no longer human.

Li He, who had been silent, saw that a life was about to be taken and bit his lip as he stepped forward, "I’m a Healing Superpower User, do you mind if I have a look?"

The miraculous Healing Light Ball in his hand caught everyone’s attention, including the infected soldier. In that split second, Lu Chen tore open Space again to reappear beside him, yanking the person out of his grip and kicking him down to the ground, but this time he pinned him down with pressure, preventing him from moving.

Lu Chen said to Li He, "Come over."

With Jianxiong accompanying him, Li He walked over and crouched down in front of the ghastly wound, condensing the Light Ball in his hand to its most dazzling moment and then slapping it onto the shoulder.

The shoulder, covered in worms and growing sharp fangs as though possessing their own vitality, started to wiggle the moment the Light Ball struck it.

Beads of cold sweat began to form on Li He’s forehead while the man pinned to the ground by Lu Chen screamed in agony.

"It hurts! Stop, it hurts too much!"

His fiercely bellowing voice had turned hoarse, resembling the roar of a monster.

Li He exhausted all his strength, but the mutated arm and body showed no sign of change.

Supported by Jianxiong, he stood up a little drained and then shook his head, "It’s no use, I can’t drive it out. It seems like a parasite and not a virus is the cause; my Level isn’t high enough to expel it."

In other words, the man on the ground was sentenced to death.

He bellowed in anger and despair, "I want to live! To live!"

The next second, Lu Chen’s Ice Blade mercilessly pierced through his skull.

The people on the ground fell completely silent now, but the parasites on his shoulder started to crawl downward. Luo Cong called a Fire Ability User who set the corpse ablaze.

The soldiers, who had been enjoying their delicious dinner, were plunged into endless silence.

This is the world they live in now. What else could they do but passively endure?

To prevent such incidents, Luo Cong gathered all the soldiers together and required them to take off their shirts for mutual inspection.

This time, they were lucky that Su Mo had discovered it early. The consequences would have been unimaginable if the virus had truly spread among them.

Fortunately, in the end, everyone was unharmed except for that one unfortunate soul.

The corpse was nearly charred to carbonization, and everyone returned to their posts.

Lu Chen and the others were once again summoned to Luo Cong’s tent, where he handed them a notebook. Lu Chen flipped through it, finding it filled with records of various insects.

"These creatures exist near Luohe. I’m not sure if they are still in the Bunker, but if going there is truly our last hope, I’ll join you," he said.

Seeing the notebook’s illustrations of various insects, none of which could be called beautiful, Su Mo frowned. "If each species has a different way of attacking, that will be very troublesome. We need to keep the protection shield on at all times."

"What protection shield?" Luo Cong asked tentatively.

Su Mo smiled at him, "You’ll know soon enough."

After Lu Chen had flipped through the entire notebook and assured himself he had memorized everything, he asked Luo Cong, "How many superpower users do you have?"

"Twenty."

"Take ten trustworthy ones to accompany us, and leave the rest to guard here," said Lu Chen.

Luo Cong understood how high the danger was for the normal soldiers remaining here; he couldn’t afford to lose them in vain.

He nodded in agreement, "No problem."

"I’ll prepare a tent for you to rest in tonight. There will be soldiers patrolling outside, so there shouldn’t be too much trouble," he said.

A small green tent, not too spacious, but just enough to accommodate four people to rest, contained only a few sleeping bags on the ground and a burning candle.

Su Mo found a spot to lie down and turned her head to speak to Lu Chen, "It’s a two-day journey from here to Luohe, and the road leading up the mountain will probably be difficult."

"True, the outskirts are dense forest, and there won’t be a shortage of mutants," he replied.

Having briefly perused the illustrations of the creatures, Su Mo sighed inwardly. Life had never been easy for her; she wondered whether Zhao Changsheng and the others had arrived safely.

Sitting in the car on the rapid return trip after meeting with the villagers, Zhao Changsheng gazed into the night sky, his eyes filled with worry.

That night, everyone was safe.

Early the next morning, Luo Cong was already organizing the packs, the middle-aged man ready to accompany them to Luohe.

Though he was a hale and hearty forty-year-old, Lu Chen outright refused his company, only accepting the ten dedicated superpower users.