Chapter 354: Carboniferous Period 26
It’s common knowledge that Sunflowers can’t swallow their prey whole like a Cannibal Flower can. So, the two enormous golden Sunflower heads slammed shut, clamping the unsuspecting man between them.
Then, the golden petals began to unleash all the sunlight they had absorbed during the day, causing the surrounding temperature to rise considerably.
Amid piercing screams, wisps of black smoke vied to escape the man’s body before dissipating into thin air.
The screams continued for over ten minutes before gradually fading away.
When the two Sunflower heads reopened, a black, gelatinous glob dropped out.
Perry Yates looked at the thing on the ground, a disgusted expression on her face.
She wouldn’t even dare feed it to her Cannibal Flower, worried it would get an upset stomach.
But she was also afraid some strange mutation might occur if she just left it there.
Perry Yates summoned her Cannibal Flower, extracted a bit of digestive fluid from it, and dripped it onto the black, gelatinous glob.
With a SIZZLING sound of corrosion, the black glob dissolved into a puddle of black liquid, which then merged completely with the ground.
Seeing this, Sage Bishop was completely stunned. ‘Just how many Advanced Cards has she fused?’
Based on her experience, while she couldn’t immediately determine its grade, she was certain the Sunflower was an Advanced Card, likely four or five stars.
‘Still, the stronger Perry Yates is, the safer I’ll be. Maybe I won’t even need to arrange a backup plan.’
Once the black, gelatinous substance had completely dissolved, it left something else behind besides the black puddle on the ground: a pure black card.
“A three-star card!” Sage Bishop exclaimed instinctively, looking at the card on the ground. But she quickly corrected herself.
‘No, this isn’t a three-star card.’
Three-star cards were black overall, but their edges and backs were flecked with gold, giving them a mysterious air. This one, by contrast, was pure black and radiated an ominous black smoke.
Perry Yates picked up the card and flipped it over.
The front of the card depicted a black, irregularly shaped splotch of liquid.
She took out one of her identification items and snapped a picture of the card:
[Unknown Card, Unable to be Identified! Unknown Card, Unable to be Identified! Unknown Card, Unable to be Identified!]
“This is the first time I’ve seen a card that can’t be identified,” Sage Bishop said, looking at the card in Perry Yates’s hand.
“Me too.”
‘It’s probably because the grade of my identification items isn’t high enough.’
Perry Yates put the card away, deciding to try identifying it again after they left this place.
Just then, a deafening roar erupted in the distance, immediately followed by a gushing torrent of flame and magma.
Following the sound, they saw a giant, hundred-meter-tall, completely red Millipede, its head held high as it battled another insect.
The other insect was a giant centipede, similar in size to the Millipede. It was entirely purple and, astonishingly, even had two pairs of wings. It flew through the sky, periodically unleashing furious roars down at the Millipede on the ground.
Seeing this, Perry Yates didn’t hesitate for a second. She grabbed Sage Bishop and they ran for it.
It was as the saying goes: when gods fight, mortals suffer.
Those two insects were clearly in a completely different league from any they had encountered before.
Even though they weren’t the targets, the shockwaves from the creatures’ attacks would be more than enough to overwhelm them.
Hadn’t the area around the Millipede already turned into an ocean of magma?
The centipede in the sky was no pushover, either. Its eyes could shoot lasers, and it could summon thunder, lightning, and rain.
She recalled the information she’d gotten from Sage Bishop: the Executors planned to eliminate all players on the fifteenth day of the game.
Once they reached a safe distance, Sage Bishop looked at the two distant, battling figures and asked, “How do you plan on dealing with those two behemoths?”
Hearing this, Perry Yates turned to Sage Bishop. “What do you mean, ‘how am I going to deal with them’? You don’t actually expect me to take on those two behemoths, do you?”
Sage Bishop blinked. “Isn’t that what you always do? Nip the danger in the bud.”
“You said it yourself: ‘in the bud.’ This thing is already fully grown. I’m not omnipotent, you know,” Perry Yates said with a helpless sigh.
‘Who gave Sage Bishop the crazy idea that I could take down both of those behemoths at once?’
“But we can’t just leave them be, can we? It’s only the tenth day of the game. We still have twenty days to go.”
“Don’t be hasty. Ever heard the saying, ‘the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’? Let’s let them wear each other out a bit first.”
Perry Yates had no intention of ignoring the situation. She was just worried that if she tried to fight both giant insects at once, she’d become the mantis, only to be devoured by the oriole.
And so, the two monsters fought from day until night. Throughout the battle, other giant insects would constantly try to join the fray, but whenever one appeared, the Millipede and centipede—who had been fighting to the death just moments before—would instantly team up to eliminate the intruder.
After killing the outsider together, they would immediately go back to fighting each other.
Their whole demeanor screamed: “The Millipede (Centipede) can only die by my hand. Anyone else who tries is just asking for death.”
After the two insects teamed up yet again to take out a blue Millipede that had suddenly appeared, Perry Yates stood in the distance, holding a roasted chicken leg. “If they weren’t so ugly,” she commented, “I’d almost start shipping them.”
Sage Bishop, however, was focused on something else.
“Did you notice? The insects seem to be appearing out of thin air. When that blue Millipede showed up just now, I think I saw a flash of light right where it appeared.”
Hearing Sage Bishop’s words, Perry Yates took a vicious bite of her chicken leg. ‘Of course they’re appearing out of thin air,’ she fumed internally. ‘That’s my damn Any Door.’
The problem was, she had just tried to connect with her Any Door, only to come into contact with a cold, alien consciousness instead.
That cold consciousness felt like slimy Tentacles coiling around the Any Door, controlling it, binding it, and preventing it from returning to her.
「On the eleventh day of the game.」 The two giant insects were still fighting tirelessly, showing no signs of fatigue.
“How much longer will they keep this up?” Sage Bishop asked.
Perry Yates shook her head. “Not sure. By the way, what’s today’s intel?”