CHAPTER 354: CHAPTER 351 【YOU OLD BASTARD】(TWO-IN-ONE CHAPTER)

(Just to let everyone know, I got vaccinated with my second dose on the 30th, and this time, the reaction was pretty strong.

Oddly enough, when I got the first shot, the reaction was minimal, with no notable side effects.

After the second dose, I’ve been feeling weak for the past couple of days and especially sleepy and lethargic.

So I took a day off, feeling completely drained. It wasn’t until the early hours of today that I started to feel much better.

Starting off the month like this has me speechless; there’s no way I can compete for the monthly tickets now, just bad luck, I guess.)

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-One [The Old Bastard]

Corot!

The "old friend" mentioned by the Son of the Sun. That prominent Controller who once collaborated with the Son of the Sun inside Noah’s Ark.

He later made a trip to Antarctica.

After returning from Antarctica, he defected from Noah’s Ark, supposedly because he fell in love with a woman from the Octopus Monster organization and then essentially entered a state of retirement.

And then, a few years later, he died of the brain cancer that seemed both uncanny and familiar to Chen Nuo.

Moreover, before his death, he wrote a letter to the Son of the Sun, telling him that Controllers should not go to Antarctica.

That was all the information Chen Nuo had previously.

And now, this guy, he’s actually...

"So... after you arrived in Antarctica, you died here? Then... who was the ’Corot’ that returned from Antarctica?"

In that moment, Chen Nuo even felt his skin crawl.

After asking the question, Chen Nuo quickly corrected himself.

Clearly, the crux of the matter wasn’t there, but rather...

"What did you actually experience after you came to Antarctica? And you say you’ve already died, so what state are you in now? A ghost? How did you gain control here? How could you create such a large barrier? Can you command those monsters, too?"

Faced with Chen Nuo’s barrage of questions, Corot seemed to ponder for a moment before speaking slowly, "You’ve asked a lot of questions all at once..."

"Alright!" Chen Nuo quickly retorted, "This is more important! We can stop the little cat-and-mouse game we’ve been playing."

"...Valuable information has to be exchanged for information of equal worth," Corot coldly responded.

"..." Chen Nuo fell silent for a bit, then stated coldly, "Since you contacted me, you obviously want me to do something, right? You don’t want the monsters here to escape from this base; you want to protect this world? You need my help, right?"

Corot’s answer was laced with a hint of mockery, "You are mistaken. I do not need your help... Even if I did need help, your strength is far too weak. At your current level, still stuck at the Destroyer rank, there’s nothing you could do for me."

"Then why the hell are you invading my Consciousness Space to chat? Got nothing better to do?" Chen Nuo shot back, not holding back his words.

"It’s only to obtain a bit of information," Corot said nonchalantly. "I have been here too long, and I’ve lost touch with many outside events. It’s quite convenient to find you, a ’Chosen One,’ and get some news about the outside world from you."

Chen Nuo was taken aback.

"According to my plan, you would all die here. The barrier... well, since you’re used to that word, let’s use it. The barrier has been activated, and the extreme low temperatures will continue to keep these monsters within this area. At the same time, I will tap into some energy to kill some of them. As for you, it’s just bad timing on your part. If you can withstand the cold, you’ll live. If you can’t, then you’ll die here."

Hearing these words, Chen Nuo truly felt like cursing someone out!

Damn the bloody...

Huh?

A thought suddenly struck Chen Nuo. "So there’s something I can tell you... The ’Corot’ who returned from Antarctica, the one who usurped your identity, after he came back, he defected from Noah’s Ark."

"...You already mentioned that earlier..."

"Furthermore, after he defected, he joined the Octopus Monster organization and even married a woman from within their ranks."

"..."

"And he also wrote a letter to the Son of the Sun, warning him to never come to Antarctica, saying that any Controller who came here could die."

At this, Corot broke the silence.

"He told the Son of the Sun that?"

"Yes."

"Well, he kept his promise," Corot sighed.

Hmm?

That statement seemed a bit off, hinting at more than what was said?

Chen Nuo took a deep breath. "What do you mean? The person who impersonated you and left here conveyed the message to the Son of the Sun that Controllers shouldn’t come to Antarctica, and he did it out of good intentions?"

"It’s not out of kindness, but that was the agreement between him and me," Corot replied indifferently. "He now..."

"This person is already dead," Chen Nuo said coldly.

"..." Corot seemed silent for a moment, but he quickly denied Chen Nuo’s words.

"Impossible!"

"Uh? What do you mean?"

"He couldn’t possibly be dead."

"Indeed he is dead. A very strange, powerful brain cancer that could kill a Controller killed him."

Corot was silent again for a while, as if he was rapidly contemplating something, but soon, Corot still slowly, yet very firmly, denied it. "Absolutely impossible. He would never die."

Chen Nuo frowned. "If the reason you don’t believe this is because you think a Controller’s abilities can immunize them from these diseases, I think you probably haven’t understood the situation. That kind of brain cancer is very aggressive. To my knowledge, Controllers have indeed died from this type of brain cancer. Its cancer cells are very peculiar; they can resist a Controller’s power, slowly erode the body, and then bit by bit devour the Controller’s abilities and Life Force. I can tell you for certain that I know of Controllers who have died from this kind of brain cancer."

Corot pondered again, but still, he firmly expressed his opinion, "I believe you, and I believe you’re not lying... But, I’m still very certain that he couldn’t possibly die like that."

"Why?" Chen Nuo asked swiftly. "Could it be... The one who left from here, the ’Corot’ who impersonated you, is... Fuck, it’s not the original Mother hidden in Antarctica, is it?!"

"It’s not the Mother." Corot’s reply allowed Chen Nuo to breathe a slight sigh of relief. "If it were the Mother, after its revival and departure from Antarctica for so many years, our world would have already been kaput."

"Then who is it?!" Chen Nuo pressed on.

"He is a Seed."

「The cold wind howled on the ice field.」

Suddenly, space shimmered like the appearance of a mirror, and a smooth, round "mirror" abruptly appeared in the air. Visible to the naked eye, within the "mirror" lay a green lawn, warm sunlight, and houses...

A curly-haired boy and a young Latin girl stood side by side, then slowly... the mirror disappeared.

They were now standing on the ice field.

The girl instantly shivered, her voice trembling, "It’s... way too cold here!"

Seed turned his head to glance at the Latin girl and with a casual wave of his hand, the air around them immediately warmed.

"Follow me, and don’t stray too far from me," Seed said indifferently.

Fox bit her lip as she looked at Seed’s profile, "Certainly! I don’t want to freeze to death!"

She paused, then asked, "Why did you bring me here? What is this place? Just now... Was that Spatial Ability? Teleporting from one place to another in an instant? Is this one of your abilities?"

"I brought you here because I think it might be interesting. And... yes! This is one of my abilities. This is Antarctica... Any other questions?"

"..." Fox looked at Seed with a mournful expression, "My mom went to the supermarket, and she’ll be home in no more than two hours. We..."

"We’ll be back within two hours, don’t worry," Seed said, thinking for a moment. "If something unexpected happens and we return a bit late, I’ve already left a note in the kitchen, saying you took me out for a walk."

"...Okay!" Fox, also an Ability User, naturally had a lot of courage. On hearing this, she promptly let go of the notions in her mind and curiously observed the ice field around her—the wild wind seemed to billow past, but within about ten steps from Seed, there appeared to be an invisible barrier protecting them from the cold and gales.

"Where are we going now?"

Seed stretched out his hand and pointed ahead, "Let’s go. It’s not far ahead. Just around that hillside, and we should be able to see it."

"Why do we have to walk over that hillside? Why not directly teleport us both there with your Spatial Ability?"

"Because..." Seed thought for a moment, then turned back and made a funny face at Fox. "Why should I answer every question of yours?"

"Don’t answer a question with another question!" Fox’s face showed a hint of displeasure.

"...Alright." Seed scratched his head and then spoke slowly, "Because... I dare not."

"Huh?"

"My power comes from it... Although it is still asleep, if I use energy to directly enter its range, I fear an accident might occur!

"Moreover, I can feel that it is releasing energy. At this moment, I certainly do not want to wake it up.

"Trust me, no one wants to stir it awake."

「 」

"A Seed?!" Chen Nuo took a deep breath. "You mean, a Seed performed Body Seizing on you, leaving your spirit here? Your physical body was then taken over by that Seed, which used your identity to escape to the human world?"

"It’s not about Body Seizing." To Chen Nuo’s surprise, Corot denied it, then he provided an unexpected answer, "I voluntarily relinquished my physical body for him to use."

"Why would you..." Before Chen Nuo could finish, he suddenly exhaled deeply. "Alright, asking one question at a time is just too tedious! Are you willing or not, to tell me the entire story?"

"I’m not willing," Corot answered very straightforwardly. "The information I wanted to get from you is already sufficient. Next, I suggest you think about your own survival. According to this ’barrier’ that I control, the ultra-low temperature will drop to a level that your cold protection suits absolutely cannot withstand within half an hour. Even if you are Ability Users and use spiritual power or Telekinesis to resist the low-temperature energy field, at most you could only hold on for no more than an hour. This means an hour and a half might be your limit."

"Fucking squid!" Chen Nuo cursed without politeness. "After all, I am a friend of the Son of the Sun, and I have also helped Noah’s Ark with matters. You’re just going to watch me die?"

"I’m already dead," Corot’s response was utterly heartless. "So your friendship with that old bastard, the Son of the Sun, or your relationship with Noah’s Ark, means nothing to me. I don’t owe you anything."

So cold?

Chen Nuo thought for a moment, then immediately sensed something amiss. If this guy were truly so ruthless and cold, he wouldn’t need to take these "protecting the Earth" actions here. People who are already dead still worry about whether monsters will escape and destroy human civilization?

That shows he’s not really heartless.

"You don’t want to save me; you just can’t do it, right?" Chen Nuo tried to provoke him.

"Yes, I can’t do it."

"..." Chen Nuo choked on his words for a moment, then continued to provoke the other party, "You can’t turn off the barrier and let us out, can you?"

"Right, you’re correct. I can’t."

"..."

"Another minute has passed. I suggest you’d better find a cabin to hide in. Although it won’t be of much use, the temperature indoors will drop a little slower. You might live a few minutes longer."

"Like that underground sealed tank I almost went into just now?" Chen Nuo asked with wide eyes.

"No, they will die before you," Corot’s answer was cruel. "Once the temperature drops to a certain level, those monsters adapt better to it. Their activity and energy levels will increase significantly! They will dig everywhere underground, awakening the companions that entered hibernation during the ’window period’ when the temperature was rising. They will quickly dig to the big tank you mentioned. The so-called alloy steel plates of that big tank won’t be able to stop their digging at all, and once it is opened..."

Chen Nuo thought for a moment. "For these monsters, it’s like... an opened can of food?"

"Yes."

"There’s a Controller inside, a very powerful one, and he won’t be afraid of those monsters."

"..." Suddenly, Corot stopped talking.

Chen Nuo suddenly caught a clue!!

"Where did Lillian go? The female Controller! The people who were searching the central control equipment just before!" Chen Nuo said urgently. "That Controller wouldn’t just disappear like that! I don’t believe that just a few monsters can silently take down a Controller! And... the Wizard is also a Controller! The key message conveyed by the Son of the Sun before was that ’Controllers cannot come here’! You tell me, do you have other plans for the Controllers?"

Corot didn’t answer.

Chen Nuo took a deep breath and decided to throw out the piece of information he had been hesitating to keep as a trump card!

"Corot! The situation is not what you think! You must tell me the truth!! I’m telling you, the situation outside is much worse than you think! I’ve been to South America with the Son of the Sun, where we found a Mother and a Seed! But the Mother in South America has been killed by that Seed, which has evolved into a new Mother! It’s extremely powerful; we can’t fight it at all! If you know something, you’d better tell me! A new Mother, in an awakened state, moving freely in this world! Its threat is much greater than those sleeping Mothers! Do you fucking hear what I’m saying?!"

This time, still no answer!

Chen Nuo had a bad feeling. He carefully searched his own Consciousness Space and discovered that the trace of consciousness that had been invaded by the other party had disappeared.

This Corot... had he left?!

Chen Nuo’s heart raced, and in an instant, he made a decision!

He rushed out from behind the boiler quickly, running and shouting aloud as he went.

"Corot!! Come out!! I know you can hear me!! You don’t have a fucking clue what’s happening!! The situation outside is much more serious than you think!! Come out!!"

Hearing Chen Nuo’s shout, the Captain ran back immediately. "Hey! What happened?"

Kamisou Ichiro also came running from another direction. "Mr. Anderson?"

Chen Nuo quickly motioned for the two men to be silent, his face fierce as he looked up to the sky and roared, "Corot!!!"

Chen Nuo, in anger, smashed open a metal pipe in the nearby rubble, then turned and jumped out from the crater torn by the explosion, crawling out from the ruins of the central control equipment’s cabin. He stood in the open space of the base, shouting loudly, "Corot!!!"

The Captain, watching with alarm, subconsciously followed, but saw Chen Nuo completely ignoring him, standing there shouting at the air.

The Captain’s heart sank... Damn! My main support, has he mutated too? Gone insane from the mutation?

Thinking this, the Captain’s face fell.

Just as he thought to go pull Chen Nuo back, Kamisou Ichiro suddenly grabbed him first, then spoke to him in a low voice with a cold expression, "Captain! Look quickly!"

Following the gesture of the Neon Person’s eyes, the Captain looked out and felt his heart sink to the bottom!

In the warehouse area’s pit in the distance, a large swarm of monsters was climbing up. Following Chen Nuo’s shouting, the monsters had slowly started crawling in this direction! The formation of monsters on the ground spread out, like a tidal wave unfurling, dispersing but getting closer and closer, more and more numerous...

The Captain instantly felt a bitterness in his mouth...

"Corot!!" Chen Nuo saw the approaching monsters but didn’t bother with them much. Instead, he jumped onto a high spot of a cabin wreck and continued to bellow, "Corot!!!"

"The monsters are coming! Stop shouting!!" The Captain yelled from the ground, quickly ran over, leaped onto the top of the cabin wreck, and reached out to grab Chen Nuo.

Chen Nuo exhaled sharply, cursing countless sentences in his heart.

All swear words. These old Controllers, these old men... are they all fucking crazy?! Muttering all the time, can’t they just speak plainly, act decisively? All misty and obscure, to hell with it!

Chen Nuo saw the monsters crawling ever closer, almost completely surrounding the cabin wreckage beneath his feet. Kamisou Ichiro also quickly ran over and jumped up.

Chen Nuo sighed helplessly in his heart and turned to whisper to the Captain, "I’ll grab you, you grab Kamisou Ichiro. Hold tight and don’t let go!"

"Ah? Oh! Okay!" The Captain immediately nodded.

Chen Nuo took a deep breath, cursing in his mind while helplessly watching the growing number of monsters.

He had no choice but to teleport away from here first. Fuck! Encountering a crazy old bastard was just beyond reason!

However, just as Chen Nuo was about to activate the "teleportation" skill...

Suddenly, his eyelid twitched!

The dense swarm of monsters below suddenly stopped in their tracks, lay flat on the ground, and a few occasionally raised their heads, emitting several low growls...

A thought stirred in Chen Nuo’s mind.

Then, with a rustling noise, these monsters swiftly receded like a tide, and in an instant, they retreated back into the pit in the warehouse area!

Even more bizarre, among the ebbing wave of monsters, there was one that stood still, head raised, as motionless as a wooden statue. Only after its companions had run off without a trace did this monster slowly crawl towards where the three stood.

In the end, the monster stood just below the ruins where the three were, raising its head.

Its peculiar body had several pairs of compound eyes on its face, and even stranger, its tentacles also bore compound eyes. It looked both disgusting and terrifying.

Chen Nuo eyed this quiet monster for a moment, then a thought crossed his mind, "...Corot?"

The monster made no sound, didn’t move.

But in the depths of Chen Nuo’s Consciousness Space, he finally heard Corot’s voice again.

"You called out in the wrong direction, towards the sky; I hid underground. If you look down and shout for me, the sound will be clearer."

Chen Nuo clenched his teeth.

I fucking know now why you and that old geezer Son of the Sun are good friends! You’re both assholes!

"What you just said, about a Seed evolving into a Mother outside, is it true?"

"It is true!" Chen Nuo said out loud, instead of using mental communication.

Corot sighed. "It really is... a despairing piece of news!"

"So stop fucking around now! Let’s exchange information properly! Let’s figure out a solution together!"

"I might have a way to counter that new Mother you mentioned. But first, you have to do something for me."

"You name it!"

"Help me get the Controller out of that honey pot!" Corot said slowly.

"Why?"

"There can’t be a Controller here... The more Controllers there are here, the more Chosen Ones this world will potentially have once they come into contact with it! Do you understand? For the Mother, each additional Chosen One in this world equates to an increase in the Mother’s odds of winning!"

Chen Nuo suddenly realized, "So... you actually wish I’d die here, right? Because I’m also a Chosen One?"

"Yes, I hope you die here."

After saying this, Corot added, "Especially you!"

"Why?"

"Because I sense that you are very different from other Chosen Ones."

Chen Nuo pondered, "What about Lillian, the female Controller?"

"I’ve already gotten her out."

"Then why do you still need my help?" Chen Nuo sneered.

"...My power is insufficient," Corot finally showed a hint of helplessness. "I need to maintain the barrier here and have much to do... My power could subdue that woman, and I got her out. But I can’t afford to expend more power on another Controller. I must preserve my consciousness until I’ve finished everything I need to do here! If my consciousness fades prematurely... this place will go out of control, and everything here will spread to the outside world, including those monsters!"