Otherworldly Desert Dust-Chapter 507 - 462 Rotten Forest

Having evaded the Corpse Tide, we thought we could easily reach Blood Lake Base, but to our surprise, a rotten forest lay before us.

The entire forest was filled with decaying vegetation, a slight exertion of force could pulverize the sky-towering decaying trees into multi-colored dust; sometimes, a fiercer gust of wind from the wastelands could produce a scattering of leaves, resembling a strange and dreamy spectacle.

Wu Hen initially intended to take advantage of the journey to upgrade his weapons by eradicating the rotten Beast Aliens inhabiting the forest. However, to his utter surprise, the surface of the forest was so decayed that the three of them fell through to the underground root layer below. Battling the Biochemical Earth Dragons within this root layer wasted a great deal of their time.

Fortunately, it was not all for naught. Wu Hen collected the Condensed Liquid from Biochemical Earth Dragons and used it to strengthen the Magnetic Claws on his fingertips. When Wu Hen stretched out his hand and grasped it towards the front, he could now grab objects from a distance; activating the Thunderstorm, would produce a thunderous grasp with impressive destructive power.

"These beasts in the rotten forest are also very tough to deal with," said Guo Hong.

"Let's not waste time here. These rotten beasts are scattered and prefer to ambush and stealth attack. Hunting them down one by one doesn't provide us much benefit unless..." Wu Hen glanced around.

With Perception sealed, Wu Hen could not conduct a holographic scan to easily find these rotten animals' dens.

"My detection snake seems to have found something. It's a rotten bear's den, right on our path ahead," Lu Xian's goggles displayed the gathering place of the rotten giant bears.

"These rotten bears have a high degree of mutation, not unlike those Small Elite Corpses we encountered in the wasteland; we can collect them," suggested Guo Hong.

"Alright, lead the way. Let's take them all out in one fell swoop!" Wu Hen nodded.

Following Lu Xian's released detection snake, they quickly located a forest bear cave.

But this cave was not the usual mountain den, it was made of massive decayed trees and mountainous piles of bones. Near this bone-crafted bear den, swarms of rotten bees hovered about, serving as the loyal guards to these mutated bear beasts, erecting Biochemical Bee Hives on the mountain of the rotten bear cave.

It seemed that the mutated bears had reached some form of symbiosis with the rotten bees. The powerful mutated bears would drag great prey back from hunting trips, and after feasting on the flesh and fat of their catch, the skin, internal organs, and remaining tissues became delicacies for the rotten bees. Subsequently, they secreted saliva to stick the immense trees and bones together into a rotten castle, standing towering amid the forest, almost forming a kingdom belonging solely to them.

Seeing this rotten kingdom, with bears as royalty and bees as guards, even Wu Hen couldn't help but sigh, wondering which cruel High-Dimensional being was influencing the creatures here. They were clearly dead, yet they continued to 'live' in a pitiable and tragic manner, their souls unable to find rest, in what was effectively an eternal curse.

"You deal with these rotten bees, I'll go in and relieve them of their misery," said Wu Hen.

"Okay!" both Guo Hong and Lu Xian nodded.

After teaming up with this mysterious powerhouse, the efficiency of Guo Hong and Lu Xian's looting greatly increased.

In the past, their entire squad would move forward carefully, fully armed, where encountering a Corpse Tide was akin to awaiting death, and they wouldn't dare to approach nests of such rotten creatures.

More often than not, they roamed the periphery, relying on luck to stumble upon solitary mutated species. It took careful planning and coordination among a team effort to barely eliminate an Elite Mutant, nowhere near as straightforward as Wu Hen barging into the den of Elite Mutants alone!

Following this mysterious powerhouse, the bravery of the two grew.

Of course, what mattered most was the confidence that their new equipment gave them. In the past, they would have to flee from these rotten bee guards, but now, by simply activating their trackers and firing freely into the sky, they could see the rotten bees transform into a shower of flames as they fell; the firepower was still lacking, after all...

"At seven o'clock, there seems to be a Biochemical Bee Queen. My god, what huge pair it has grown..." Lu Xian pointed up at a giant decaying tree, speaking with disbelief.

Guo Hong looked in that direction and indeed saw the Biochemical Bee Queen's Magic Milk as if they were not vessels for nursing fluids, but two Biochemical Tanks hanging from its chest!

Indeed, that was no mere ornamentation on the Biochemical Bee Queen, but a fearsome Biological Weapon. A deluge of Poison Liquid Rain sprayed out, and simultaneously, all the Biochemical Bees lifted their rears, firing their stingers at Guo Hong and Lu Xian.

The dense stingers mingled with Poison Liquid Rain midway, unleashing an exaggerated storm of Biochemical Bee Stings, sweeping across the rotten forest.

Lu Xian was taken aback, having never expected that these rotten bee swarms would have such a combined attack.

The stings of the rotten bees weren't particularly deadly; with their protective equipment, both could easily fend them off. But the stingers coated with the Queen's Biochemical poison became terrifying...

"Get behind me!"

Said Guo Hong to Lu Xian, opening his arms wide.

Thankfully, Lu Xian had a slender figure; when Guo Hong turned around to protect her, he was able to wrap her up almost completely.

Still, Lu Xian was pale with fright, only daring to open her eyes after the horrific storm of Biochemical Bee Stings had passed.

"Now I understand how we fell into the forest subsurface before. The ground of this rotten forest has long been full of holes pierced by these creatures!" said Guo Hong.

"To solve this problem, we must deal with the Queen Bee. Those rotten bee soldiers can never be completely eradicated, and they hardly carry any Mutant Condensed Liquid. Killing more is just a waste of ammunition," said Lu Xian.

"Use this to blast open a Violent Vortex Fire at a hundred meters high in the seven o'clock direction. I'll blow it up!" Guo Hong handed Lu Xian a Flame Bomb, then climbed to a position with a clearer view.

Taking out his ancestral sniper rifle, Guo Hong took a deep breath and began to sense the air around him. The surrounding atmosphere could create various interferences with his bullet, but if utilized properly, it could even double the propulsive force of the rifle's barrel, or generate different effects such as Biochemical, Violent Vortex, Fiery Flames, Rapid Freeze, and Corrosion.

The area was filled with decay, the forest saturated with swampy gas.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

Guo Hong concentrated the rotten air in his gun barrel...

"Boom!!!!"

A blast resonated as the Flame Bomb exploded right in front of the Queen Bee, instantly incinerating the layered rotten bee swarm like a wall of fog.

Without the hindrance of these rotten bees, Guo Hong held his breath and took aim, then pulled the trigger!

The special effects of the sniper rifle's bullet were somewhat random. When it roared out of the barrel, making contact with the surrounding swamp gas, it instantly ignited the air, turning into a fierce green fireball, screeching past like a ghostly predator.

The ghostly flames rushed towards the Queen Bee, engulfing her in a blaze. It could be seen that the Queen Bee was incinerated in mid-air...

"Boom! Boom!"

Two large blobs of Magic Milk crashed down; the remaining parts of the Biochemical Bee Queen had turned into ash.

Looking carefully, Lu Xian realized that these blobs of Magic Milk were actually metallic smelting objects. No wonder they looked similar to Biochemical Tanks.

Blue Mutant Condensed Liquid flowed out from inside. Seeing that the surrounding rotten bees had fled following the queen's downfall, Lu Xian excitedly began collecting it.

This share of Queen Bee Mutant Condensed Liquid was equivalent to their entire year's hard-earned gains. Truly, after upgrading their equipment, their efficiency in scavenging for gold had greatly increased. It wouldn't take long, they felt, before they could afford to buy a comfortable and pure abode in one of the Oasis, enjoying hot baths, tasting delicious food, breathing fresh air, and stepping into retirement early.

"Go check inside the bee nest. From my higher vantage point, I noticed there's Yuan You honey; it should be pure if nothing unexpected's happened. Lord Wu Tian needs it, don't let any impurities contaminate it," Guo Hong said to Lu Xian.

"Got it, I'm good at this." As a woman, Lu Xian was more delicate and deft in picking and preserving Yuan You, ensuring no sullied air would tarnish even a trace.

Reaching the top, Lu Xian saw the pure Yuan You, stored just like a royal jelly.

Just as she placed it into the box, the ground suddenly shook and trembled beneath her feet. Panicked, Lu Xian glided down, just in time to see the entire rotten bear cave collapse with a crash, followed by a tall figure emerging from the dust that was kicked up.

"Brother Wu," Lu Xian said with a smile on her face.

"These bears, their skeletons are all made of metal; what rotten bears, they are truly Vajra Bears. It was quite a struggle for my armor to deal with them, but in the end, I've sent them all to nirvana. Here are their Biochemical Bear Gallbladders, which seem to be made of Crystal Energy substances. If they are valuable, you can keep them," Wu Hen gave the Bear Gallbladder Crystal Cores to Lu Xian.

"This stuff is valuable. Crystal Energy is one of the few energy sources that can be utilized in this wasteland. In those Oasis cities, it's equivalent to a small energy integration board," Lu Xian said with excitement.

After their last ordeal, the red-haired Lu Xian had become gentle and refined, charmingly naive like a sheltered young girl, no longer possessing her previous arrogance.

"The Mutant Condensed Liquid is quite abundant. My weapon can evolve another stage, but it seems the absorption efficiency decreases with the Condensed Liquid from the same Alien Species. The conversion rate for my weapon has dropped to less than ten percent. I'll give the rest to you two," Wu Hen offered half of the remaining Mutant Condensed Liquid to Lu Xian and Guo Hong.

Looking at the sticky and ugly, yet invaluable as liquid gold, Mutant Condensed Liquid, both Guo Hong and Lu Xian's smiles were ceaseless, as their progress was already incomparably greater by just following along than it had ever been before.

"It's like this: these mutant species also seek Condensed Liquid from different species as it allows for greater evolutionary leaps. It's similar to genetic evolution; the greater the genetic disparity, the higher the chance of genetic mutation and the larger the potential ceiling. The more similar the genetics, the more likely it is to induce pathological changes, with diminishing absorption effects," explained Guo Hong.