Chapter 357: Carboniferous Period 29
After the explosion subsided, the purple light around the centipede dissipated considerably, and its condition became faintly visible.
The centipede’s evolution was about two-thirds complete. Its wounds had almost fully healed, and one of its original two pairs of wings had regenerated.
Once the last pair of wings grew in, its evolution would be a success.
However, because of the recent actions of Perry Yates and the others, the light of evolution had been almost entirely scattered. This caused the centipede’s transformation to slow to a crawl. In other words, its evolution could already be considered a failure, but the creature itself hadn’t given up and was still persevering.
Just then, Perry Yates sensed a restless stirring from several of the Cards she had previously collected.
Seeing this, she realized the owners of these Cards must be among the people here.
Her original plan was to let these players buy back their Cards, but now…
Perry Yates gritted her teeth and flung out the Cards that were clearly agitated.
The moment they were freed, the Cards flew toward their owners like baby birds returning to a nest.
Because it all happened so suddenly, the few players whose attention was still on the centipede noticed their Cards’ abrupt return and all turned to look at Perry Yates.
Perry Yates met their gazes openly, with nothing to hide.
‘So what? Isn’t it an unspoken rule in this game that Cards belong to whoever finds them? I doubt any of these people are without a few Cards that belong to someone else.’
Just then, a conflicted expression crossed one of the players’ faces. He gritted his teeth, then also waved his hand and sent a Card flying.
The Card flew unerringly toward Perry Yates.
This Card was none other than the Clone Card Perry Yates had been desperately searching for.
Perry Yates glanced at the player. ‘No wonder I couldn’t find it. So someone had it hidden all along.’
Now, with the exception of the Any Door, all her Cards had been recovered.
Seeing that the centipede was about to complete its evolution, Perry Yates immediately released three Clones, sending them flying toward the creature from three different directions.
Seeing someone initiate the attack, the others instantly followed suit.
This was no time to think about conserving strength. Anyone with eyes could see that if this centipede was truly allowed to complete its evolution, they, the unlucky players, would be the ones to suffer in the end.
If it were the last few days of the game, perhaps they could have just toughed it out. After all, with only a few days left, why risk their lives? But it wasn’t.
It was only the twelfth day of the game, not even halfway through. They had no desire to entrust their fate to Lady Luck.
Besides, with so many players still remaining, their odds of winning were high if they attacked together. If they missed this chance and allowed the centipede to finish evolving and pick them off one by one, they would truly be left with no way out.
This time, everyone unleashed their trump cards. A massive explosion erupted, and a mushroom cloud slowly rose over the forest, followed by the centipede’s roar of impotent rage.
Perry Yates was sent flying by the aftershock of the explosion. After managing to stabilize herself, she saw a giant centipede flying unsteadily through the dust, and in the next second, its body fell heavily to the ground.
At the spot where the centipede crashed, countless sharp earthen spikes had appeared at some unknown point.
They seemed to be tailor-made for the centipede, piercing its long, purple body with a row of holes of perfectly regular size and spacing.
After its body was pierced through, the centipede struggled for a few moments before going completely still.
‘With the centipede dealt with, things should be quiet for a few days.’
Perry Yates returned to Sage Bishop’s side, taking her and the tortured, barely-breathing Executor away with her.
“You dealt with the Sky-Scythe Centipede?” the Executor asked, his voice weak.
Perry Yates ignored the Executor, but Sage Bishop was kind enough to give him an answer.
“That’s right. We took care of that secret weapon you had prepared.”
After receiving a definitive answer, the Executor looked as if he’d been dealt a heavy blow. He said nothing more, not even making a sound as the sunlight tortured him.
If Perry Yates couldn’t sense what was happening inside the cage, she would have suspected the man was doing it on purpose to make her lower her guard and open the cage, giving him a chance to escape.
In fact, the Executor did harbor such intentions.
「Day Thirteen of the Game.」
As usual, Perry Yates checked on the situation inside the cage.
The Executor inside the cage could no longer maintain his human form and had reverted to his Slime state.
Unlike the transparent black one Perry Yates had seen before, the Dark Slime’s form was pure black and opaque. Its surface was glossy, and it looked like a very smooth ball of black dough. With its perfectly round eyes, it even looked a little cute.
However, this also made Perry Yates realize something: the Any Door she so desperately wanted was probably not on him.
After all, the Any Door possessed a spatial attribute. Theoretically, he should be able to open a portal to any place within his line of sight, or anywhere Space Grass grew, and escape.
If the game’s rules didn’t forbid it, Perry Yates could even use it to return directly from the game world to reality.
But the Executor in the cage had been tortured for several days, and aside from begging for mercy, he had shown no intention of using the Any Door to escape.
This situation meant one of two things: either he was faking it, or the Any Door wasn’t on him at all. Based on the Executor’s performance over the last few days, Perry Yates felt the latter was more likely.
Seeing the Executor’s shrunken form in the cage, Perry Yates naturally shrank the cage to match, then put the entire thing, cage included, into her system backpack.
Sage Bishop, who woke up a moment later, stared at the spot where the cage had been. Her eyes widened as she asked, “Is the Executor dead?”
Perry Yates nodded. “More or less. By the way, what’s today’s intelligence report?”
Perry Yates’s question instantly diverted Sage Bishop’s attention. “Starting today,” she said, “it’s not just players who can find and absorb Cards. Insects will also be attracted by the energy the Cards emit, and they can absorb them as well. Insects that absorb Card Energy will evolve again. Ten thousand meters to the east of our current position, there is a swarm of Vampire Butterflies. Killing The Butterfly King will award a four-star Card called Butterfly Transformation. To the west, two beetles are fighting over a three-star Card.”
“That’s the report for today.”
The first piece of intelligence didn’t have much of an impact on the two of them. After all, one had already found most of her Cards, while the other had simply given up on looking for them. The only real effect was that the insects that absorbed Cards would now be more difficult to kill.