by <unknown>
The group kept on complaining, grumbling noisily as they came to the only river on the island and began to collect clear water.
"If you ask me, we should make a suggestion to Fisher. Let the mercenaries, with their brains and muscles, kill those monsters, otherwise we'll always be in danger. And isn't it their job to protect us? Now it looks like we're protecting them…"
The blond young man kept muttering but at this moment, he suddenly felt a slight itch on his scalp. It seemed as if something had fallen from his head. The young man subconsciously stretched out his hand and scratched it, and suddenly a clump of hair was pulled off and fell into the river.
The young man was startled. He slowly raised his palm in front of him and instantly, a hint of soot-like blackness appeared on his fingers and palm, which was shockingly black.
"Woah, woah…"
Subconsciously, the young man let out a scream. There was a plop as the wooden container in his hand fell directly into the river while he seemed to have turned crazy, turning around and fleeing in the direction from which he came…
When the young man wailed and ran back to the safe zone, everyone heard the commotion and looked over. It was not until a mercenary stopped him that the young man gradually recovered his sanity. He lowered his head and pointed at it, shouting, "It's a curse, it's a curse, we're all cursed!"
"What happened?"
Fisher quickly rushed over. He parted the crowd in front of him and suddenly saw the young man who was lowering his head, pointing to a black stain on his head. Above that black stain, the young man's hair had almost fallen off completely.
This mark…
Seeing this scene, Fisher seemed to recall something. He quickly turned his head and looked at the dozens of patients lying on the ground in the center of the safe zone. At the same time, an unthinkably horrifying possibility came to his mind!
This thought chilled Fisher's heart. He instinctively wanted to stay away from this young man, but when the young man saw Fisher's arrival, he rushed forward as if he had seen a savior. "Mr. Fisher, you must save me. I'm also cursed, think of a way to save me!"
"Get away!"
Fisher quickly backed away, but he was still a step too slow. His arm was directly grabbed by the young man. Instantly, Fisher's wrist was smeared with black ash from the youth!
"D*mn piece of sh*t!"
Fisher's pupils shrank. He broke away from the other guy's palm as if he was electrocuted, while kicking him away. "Quickly subdue him, don't let him approach me. Come on!"
However, at this moment, no one listened to his words. Everyone retreated in unison as if they had seen the plague god.
No one here was a fool. This young man was a member who took care of the volunteers. As soon as he left the safe zone, he displayed the same symptoms as the many volunteers who had lit the signal towers. This scene suddenly reminded everyone of a possibility —
This curse was contagious!
This news was like a stone that caused a thousand ripples. Everyone subconsciously distanced themselves from others and those who took care of the wounded were washing their limbs madly.
In an instant, the camp that was just starting to see some sort of order had become chaotic again!
"Mr. Fisher!"
Several subordinates who were still loyal to Fisher hurried over. "Mr. Fisher, what should we do now?"
Still, at this point, Fisher did not have time to pay attention to this group of people. He just picked up the kettle and frantically cleaned the parts of his arm that were stained by black ash. His face was pale.
"Fisher!"
Just then, a female voice rang out. Fisher subconsciously wanted to run away after hearing this voice, but after hesitating for a moment, he still stopped and looked toward the source of the sound.
He saw Jennifer being supported by another blonde woman, walking slowly over.
Even so, Jennifer's once beautiful face was now red and swollen like an inflated balloon. There was almost no blood or flesh on the back of her head and only her pale skull was directly exposed to the air.
From a distance, Jennifer was no longer like a young girl in her twenties, but an ugly red troll.
Seeing this peculiar Jennifer at this time, Fisher's cheek twitched, but he still smiled reluctantly. "Jennifer, you're injured, you should rest more…"
"In this situation, I can't rest anymore."
Jennifer's voice was hoarse, like metal scratching against glass. She pleaded, "Fisher, I'm beyond help. You don't need to care about me, but I have a request, please, no matter what, you must take my little sister away from here!"
"Big sister…"
The blonde woman who was holding up Jennifer whispered in tears.
Fisher looked at the blonde woman who was sticking to Jennifer and could not help but twitched his mouth. "Jennifer, what nonsense are you talking about? We'll all leave this place, please believe me."
"Fisher, are you still trying to deceive me at this point?"
Jennifer looked even more miserable. "How many things have we done for you, up to now? You can't even agree to this simple request?"
"When did I not agree to you? We can all leave safely. I've always believed in this and I hope you can believe it too." Fisher frowned. "Now you better lie back down. It's disorderly enough as it is. I hope you won't add to the chaos!"
"Add to the chaos? Heh…"
After hearing these words, Jennifer could not help but laugh in response. Then, a deep bone-rumbling voice came from her mouth. "Hahahahahaha…"
The laughter grew louder and louder. Even her sister began to notice something was wrong and subconsciously moved away from Jennifer.
Fisher only felt an uneasy premonition getting stronger and stronger. He inadvertently looked behind Jennifer, where the huge spire tower suddenly flashed with a red light!
This red glow glimmered across the surface of the spire and then disappeared.
In Fisher's eyes, it was as if the spire tower was in operation at first, but after the red light flashed past, the operation of the spire was suddenly halted…
"What the h*ll…"
Fisher had no time to think about the meaning of the spire tower's red light flashing and vanishing. He only noticed that Jennifer trembled suddenly at the same time that the spire seemed to be shut down!
It began as only a slight tremor at first, but as time passed, her body's shaking became more intense. In the end, it was as if she was being electrocuted and even her entire body twitched with afterimages!
At last, before everyone's horrified eyes, red flesh and blood rapidly grew all over Jennifer's body. This flesh and blood continued to grow and spread. Finally, Jennifer directly no longer looked like a human being but a monster made of endless flesh and blood!
Chapter 350: The End |
It was as if countless blood-red long worms had grown out of Jennifer's body. Each of these long worms was dozens of centimeters long and it took almost just the blink of an eye to cover Jennifer's body!
As everyone watched on in terror, Jennifer had turned into a monster made of endless flesh and blood!
With a soft deflating sound, Jennifer seemed to melt and slumped to the ground. At the same time, the flesh and blood all over her body spread out in all directions like tentacles. Fisher's reaction was the fastest. When she began to mutate, he had backed away. By the time she became a monster, he had withdrawn five or six meters away.
One must say that Fisher had a very high intuition for danger. In the next second, the monster suddenly ejected two tentacles. The two subordinates beside Fisher could not dodge in time and were directly ensnared by the tentacles!
Seeing this scene, Fisher's heart turned to ice. Without thinking, he turned around and fled. Still, he noticed that several other cursed volunteers behind him also began to shudder and then endless flesh and blood surged from their facial features and wounds. Their entire body was completely transformed into a mass of flesh and blood without a shape!
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"Run, quickly run!"
"Save me!"
"Agh, d*mn it, I was caught…"
The once-safe zone seemed to be turned into a hell on earth and screams were ringing in Fisher's ears. He had exhausted all his strength by the time he crawled into the jungle.
After escaping into the jungle, Fisher looked behind him in shock but saw that on the ground of the safe zone, the infected group had all turned into a pool of flesh and blood. These substances continued to wriggle on the ground, seemingly fused like a fluid as they spread in all directions at the same time…
Those who were caught were incessantly crying for help in the heap of flesh and blood, but this strange substance seemed to have some kind of extreme peculiar power. It directly enveloped them and was still slowly digesting them.
"Could the end of the world be upon us…"
Fisher stared at all of this blankly, but at this moment, he suddenly felt a chill in his back and a heart-piercing agony suddenly struck him!
Fisher turned his head subconsciously, only to see that Jennifer's sister was standing behind him with a malevolent look. She was holding a sharp flint knife in her hand, the blade of which was red with blood.
"This is for my dear sister…"
Her cold words sounded in his ears but Fisher found that when he was dying, he did not have much fear and instead was overcome by a sense of relief.
Perhaps this world was ending…
Fisher only had time to twitch the corner of his mouth, revealing a wry smile, and then his eyes turned darker. Finally, he had completely lost consciousness…
One day, two days, three days…
Three days later, on the Blacklight which was moored ten kilometers away from the island, Chen Chen looked at the experimental island with a hint of solemnity.
The lush island was once full of emerald green mountains and completely covered by vegetation. However, at this time, most of the island had turned red.
This was a horrifying bright red as if the entire island was covered in a layer of flesh and blood. Looking from a distance, it was an eerie bloody sight.
Even from ten kilometers away, Chen Chen could smell, through the scent of seawater, the stench that was unique to flesh and blood.
Moreover, that patch of flesh and blood was still growing endlessly as if it wanted to cover every inch of the island…
"Sir Godfather."
When Chen Chen was observing the island, Little X's voice suddenly came from the speakers behind him. "We've sent a Black Knight to the island. After testing, we've learned that flames can cause damage to this patch of flesh and blood and this patch also cannot grow in water."
"That's good news."
Chen Chen said without looking back, "If this is the case, then send someone to collect a small sample of the flesh patch. After the collection is completed, the entire island will be burned to prevent this thing from spreading."
"Understood… By the way, Sir Godfather, there has also been a message from Yoru Kamidera. They've thoroughly researched the patch of flesh and blood and now they're also requesting to return."
Little X continued to report.
"There are no issues with them?" Chen Chen did not immediately agree but turned to ask.
"No issues. Everything is under the control of X-112. Although X-112 is still unable to control memetic effects, a little interference is still doable. If these people are infected with memes, X-112 will know."
"I can be rest assured then."
Chen Chen nodded. "Then bring that group back. By the way, ask Yoru Kamidera and X-112 to jointly prepare a complete report for me."
"Yes."
…
When Samuel and the others carefully exited the underground laboratory under the escort of the Black Knights, they immediately saw a dense blanket of flesh and blood on the top of the mountain.
This mass of flesh had turned into a blanket of vegetation-like fungus, covering the ground's surface and wriggling regularly as if breathing.
When Samuel stepped on this fungal spread, he only felt a softness under his feet, like stepping on an endless stretch of internal organs. It was a very disgusting feeling…
"Don't worry. Under the control of X-112, these things will not attack us."
Yoru Kamidera followed out from behind, looking at the blanket of flesh and blood, and could not help looking rueful. "This time, we hit the jackpot. With only 500 lives, we fully observed the mutation process of the memetic effect. Believe me, this experiment will greatly help Blacklight Biotechnology and X-112 in studying memes…"
As he spoke, Yoru Kamidera walked straight to the jungle ahead, only to see trees and branches covered in a shroud of flesh and blood.
In other words, this flesh and blood patch not only captured humans and absorbed nutrients from the soil, but could also digest and absorb plants…
"Is this mutation random? Or is it controlled by this artificial intelligence?"
Samuel asked.
"Of course, it's random. X-112 is like a human being, it can only learn from scratch."
Yoru Kamidera walked to the spire and stretched out his hand to pat it. Over the entire island, only its surface was still smooth, and no flesh and blood could attach to the spiral tower.
"If this carpet of flesh and blood was given a few years, wouldn't the entire Earth be completely swallowed by it?"
Someone suggested this in a soft voice and everyone was secretly shocked at once.
Samuel and the other researchers had nothing to say, but trod cautiously on the endless blanket of flesh and blood, lest it attacked them.
After all, when they were in the laboratory, they could see how these blankets of flesh and blood had attacked humans.
About ten minutes later, the Mi-26 transport helicopter flew over from the Blacklight and stopped at the top of the mountain.
When the helicopter took off again, it carried away everyone on the island and the Gantz server.
After waiting for the helicopter to fly far away, several other helicopters took off from the Blacklight and dumped a large amount of fuel on the island. A few hours later, the entire island began to burn.
In the end, the massive patch of flesh and blood on the island was reduced to a 100-meter-thick plume of smoke in the blaze. Everything was burned to a crisp, completely burying all traces of the experiment here…
Chapter 351: Obliteration Catalyst |
[Memetic Effect: Flesh Carpet.]
[Origin: 1 June 2024, in the temporary observation experiment project on Gantz Island, produced by the memetic mutation of infected person No. 0130 who was infected with "Filth". Temporarily named "Flesh Carpet".]
[Description: "Flesh Carpet" is a special memetic with infectious disease properties. From its appearance, it looks like it is formed by laying flesh and blood on the ground. Therefore, the name "Flesh Carpet" is derived from this image. Unlike the conventional type of memetic effect, "Flesh Carpet" has a dual nature resembling "infections" and plants.]
[Symptoms: At present, all known infected persons have been assimilated as part of the "Flesh Carpet". When someone is infected, they will mutate from their original biological form to a mass of vegetation composed of flesh and blood. It will indiscriminately attack all creatures within a certain range, including but not limited to humans.]
[Mode of transmission: The flesh carpet has extremely terrifying transmission ability. Any life form touching the carpet of flesh and blood, including but not limited to humans, will be 100% infected. At the same time, its transmission is divided into two forms —"violent predation" and "infection transmission".]
[Violent predation: it stretches out a tentacle to ensnare and capture the target. If the target is a creature, it will be dissolved and digested within twelve hours. If the target is a plant, the carpet of flesh and blood will not attack the opponent, but will directly digest it using its body.]
[Infection transmission: The infected person has no abnormalities at the begin
ning, but over time, the infected person's body surface will display a rash, which is an early symptom. At this time, the infected person is already clearly infectious and can spread the rash to any healthy life forms around. The rash will cover the infected person's body entirely after 30 hours. At the same time, influenced by the memetic effect, the infected person will eat as much as possible and conserve energy. This is a mid-term symptom.]
[About forty to fifty hours later, the infected person will melt into a puddle of flesh and blood without warning and begin to attack all life forms around them. This is a late symptom.]
[It has not been verified whether the infected person can be cured when they are experiencing the first and second stage symptoms.]
[Weakness: Fire can kill the flesh carpet and it also cannot survive in water or an environment without oxygen and soil. Therefore, the difficulty of suppression is low.]
…
After reading the report in his hand, Chen Chen nodded and tossed the report to Yoru Kamidera behind the office desk. "You did a good job. Although it's not perfect, in this experiment, the timing you chose to shut down X-112 was still appropriate."
"At that time, X-112 proactively reminded me that abnormal fluctuations in memetic readings were detected. Based on my years of experience, I thought that this should be the phenomenon of memetic mutation, so I asked X-112 to temporarily shut off the Dead Space."
Yoru Kamidera replied a little shyly, "Sure enough, once the Gantz server's suppression of memes was lifted, 'Filth' immediately mutated and eventually generated a new memetic effect. All of this was recorded by X-112."
"Very well, you may leave."
Chen Chen waved his hand. Yoru Kamidera immediately lowered his head and slowly exited the office.
"X, send me a copy of the information recorded by X-112."
After Yoru Kamidera had left, Chen Chen spoke at once, and suddenly, the printer by his hand started to print out various dazzling, dizzying patterns.
These patterns were all similar to Basilisk, but in fact, this was the E language used by the god-level civilization in the Gantz dimension.
