CHAPTER 356: CHAPTER 353 [FEEDING]

Chapter 353: Feeding

Inside the intertwining underground tunnels, the deeper one went, the lower the temperature became.

As they excavated further down, just past a layer of frozen soil, Chen Nuo immediately noticed a dim luminescence ahead!

He stumbled upon a vast expanse of subterranean glacier!

Beneath the eerie green glacier, a network of tunnels had been painstakingly carved out, and beneath those tunnels was an even larger cavity reminiscent of a giant nest.

The walls surrounding the cavity were covered in a dense array of tunnels, burrowed out in all directions!

Corot hadn’t been wrong—the creatures were indeed adept at digging and burrowing.

What made Chen Nuo’s skin crawl was the sight below the glacial cavity, as big as a stadium, teeming with countless such creatures.

However, Chen Nuo could see that most of the creatures were merely lying prone, their bodies slightly undulating, but otherwise inactive, as if in deep slumber.

In the glacier beside them, some creatures were even sealed within the ice.

With a cursory glance, Chen Nuo realized the number of creatures was definitely in five figures!

Approximately ninety percent of the creatures hadn’t fully awakened; they were lying on the floor of the glacial cavity, maintaining a state of quiet slumber.

As Chen Nuo and Kamisou Ichiro crawled onto the back of one of the creatures and entered the cavity, the awakened creatures didn’t attack them. Instead, they immediately turned around and cleared the way from afar.

Soon, a passage was cleared for them.

Why are they so docile and obedient now? Chen Nuo wondered.

"My power can control some of these creatures," Corot replied in Chen Nuo’s mind. "But not too many at once; otherwise, I can’t manage. That’s why I can only activate the ultra-low temperature energy field intermittently—to awaken a small number that I can control. Then, I make them kill each other within the energy field.

"Then, I need to shut down the energy field because if it stayed active, it would awaken more and more creatures beyond my control limit.

"So, I must rest sufficiently before restarting it."

He understood. These were the so-called "cold periods" and "windows of opportunity." That was how they were formed.

"Why don’t you just provoke an earthquake and bury all these things alive?" Chen Nuo asked.

"First, these creatures are too resilient, and burying them alive in an earthquake wouldn’t kill them all.

"Second... doing that would alarm the Mother," Corot replied.

Chen Nuo sighed. "So there really is a Mother here!"

As he spoke, Chen Nuo widened his eyes, looking around. "Where is it?"

"Right beneath our feet, below the glacier." Whenever Corot mentioned the Mother, whether it was a psychological effect or not, the voice projecting in Chen Nuo’s consciousness seemed to lower deliberately, clearly expressing a deep wariness of the Mother. "It’s still in a deep slumber and very weak; it won’t awaken.

"But... even if it merely detects danger and awakens momentarily, that’s enough to kill us all in an instant!

"So, please, don’t do anything rash."

Chen Nuo understood.

It was like when you’re sleeping in the summer, and you feel a mosquito on your face. Even without waking up, you’d reflexively swat at it, kill it with a slap, and then continue your sleep without even opening your eyes.

"What do we do now?" Chen Nuo asked.

"Don’t make any noise, don’t make any sudden moves, and suppress your spiritual power! No matter what you see, don’t react too violently!" Corot warned.

Then, shortly after, Chen Nuo witnessed a surprising scene.

Three creatures quickly crawled out of the surrounding tunnels.

As they emerged, one of their tentacles was dragging a person out!

Three creatures, three humans!

All were clad in red cold-weather suits.

Chen Nuo took a quick glance and immediately recognized them as three Ability Users from Lillian’s "Diamond" group!

Aside from Lillian herself, her female Ability User follower and the Black woman were among them!

These three people were clearly not dead. Chen Nuo’s newly acquired passive skill, "Peek," allowed him to easily sense weak fluctuations of consciousness and spiritual power from the Ability Users, suggesting they were merely unconscious.

"Remember, no matter what you see, stay still!"

In his mind, Corot issued the warning once again.

Then, all of a sudden, from the tunnels in the walls of the cavity, the three creatures dragged the bodies of the three human Ability Users out and then simply threw them down!

The three humans landed heavily after being tossed down onto the glacial ground. They still didn’t wake up. Chen Nuo even saw that the fall had clearly broken and twisted the Black woman’s leg, yet she remained unconscious.

This was highly abnormal for Ability Users—clearly, their Consciousness Spaces had been sealed.

After the three unconscious figures were thrown down, a whistling sound was heard, and several creatures quickly scurried over. The fastest creature arrived beside the Black woman and, suddenly opening its jaws, bit down hard!

What the—?!

Chen Nuo’s eyes instantly widened, and he almost cried out, forcefully suppressing the urge!

Immediately after, the three Ability Users were torn apart and devoured!

The sight of humans being chewed up made Chen Nuo’s scalp tingle in horror!

But before he could adjust his mindset and emotions, another, even more shocking scene unfolded.

Only five or six creatures feasted on the human Controllers. The rest remained stationary, prostrating on the ground, unmoving.

Quickly, after the five or six creatures finished feasting, they ignored the blood on the ground, lowered their bodies, and pressed themselves tightly against the earth. Then, silently, all five or six creatures suddenly... their flesh collapsed!

It was as if their bodies were collapsing at a genetic level. Their flesh completely disintegrated, turning into clumps of meat and blood... like ice cream under the sun, rapidly "melting" away!

The melted bodies simply fell onto the glacial ground, quickly merging with the ice.

Almost instantly, a green light flashed across the glacier, swiftly draining the remnants of the dissolved creatures from the surface!

Chen Nuo could feel a powerful spiritual power instantly "sucking" all of it down, seeping deep into the glacier...

After a while, Corot’s voice echoed in his mind.

Corot seemed to exhale a long breath, then slowly said, "It’s satisfied now, and it’s gone back to sleep."

Chen Nuo: "..."

Although he knew Corot must have a specific reason for this, as a human, Chen Nuo still felt immense disgust and revulsion. No one could witness humans being fed to creatures and remain indifferent! This had nothing to do with the specifics of the situation. Rather, as a human being, witnessing one’s own kind used as "feed" for another species ignited a primal anger and disgust!

"Is this how you feed the Mother?" Chen Nuo asked, his tone very unfriendly.

Beside him, Kamisou Ichiro’s expression was grim, his lips pressed tightly together, his eyes still fixed on the glacial ground.

"I have no other choice," Corot replied coldly. "I need its power, and I also need to keep it sedated.

"It is currently sleeping. Its most primitive, instinctive consciousness is the need to absorb spiritual power.

"It’s very ’thirsty’."

"Then why must you do this?!"

"First, only by satisfying it slightly can it be kept sedated, allowing it to continue its slumber without arousing its awareness.

"Second, I’ve become part of it. I must do this to get a small return of its spiritual power, or else my consciousness will completely dissipate!"

Chen Nuo could somewhat understand the first point, but the second was truly shocking!

Corot... had become part of the Mother?! Chen Nuo immediately questioned.

"Of course!

"What else do you think allows me to control so many things here?!

"Now is not the time for this. If you want to delve into it, it’s too complicated and would take a long time to explain—and we simply don’t have that time."

Chen Nuo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart. He willed himself to look away from the spot where the human Ability Users had just been devoured.

Finally, he glanced at Kamisou Ichiro, took the communicator from his neck, and brought it to his ear.

"Captain! Answer if you can hear me!"

The communicator was still functional, but now it seemed that only the three of them could use it to talk to each other.

Once Nolan and the others entered the underground facility, the thick "sealed container" blocked all signals.

After calling out twice, Chen Nuo got a response from the Captain.

"I’m here! I can hear you!"

The voice had a bit of static. Perhaps because Chen Nuo was underground, the signal wasn’t very clear, but they could communicate with difficulty.

"Have you entered the command center? Can you find a way to contact Nolan?"

"I’m right at the blast door, but the communicators here can’t be activated... damn it, some kind of internal clearance is needed," the Captain said, sounding a bit disheartened.

Chen Nuo nodded. He had suspected as much but had asked the Captain to try, just in case.

"Alright, get your weapons ready now and wait at the entrance of the command center. Find a good strategic position with a clear line of sight and be prepared."

"Okay... where are you? What are you planning to do?"

Chen Nuo shook his head. "I’m not sure yet... but one thing’s for certain, it’s definitely not anything good!"