Chapter 18 - Alien (Kneeling for Collection)

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Ten days later, Z7 was unscathed.

After the first time when he brought back the information, old Jack really did pay a lot of attention to it. Due to this, Old Jack ordered that no one was allowed to enter the base. He also stopped mining to prevent the sound of mining from attracting the attention of that tyrannical creature. At the same time, Old Jack asked Zog to lead the team and stand guard 24 hours a day to strengthen the surveillance and martial law on the entrance and exit of the base.

However, after ten days passed, nothing happened. Nothing strange happened around the base, so Old Jack lifted the martial law.

Although Zero was still a little worried, the direction in which the creature was moving was very obvious. It was almost heading towards the base, but how could it disappear into thin air? However, he was even more clear that it was impossible for Old Jack to make the base stop operating for a long period of time. Ten days was the limit of Z7. Therefore, he did not stop the martial law from being lifted.

As for the scouting around the base, he personally participated in the operation and confirmed that there were no signs of any suspicious creatures approaching. Since that was the case, it was natural for the martial law to be lifted.

The Z7 base resumed operations.

However, the original hunting mission had been cancelled. With the migration of the largest pack of wolves near the base, there would not be any new wolves that would threaten the safety of the base in the near future. Su Yun returned back to her previous three days of being a guard on Lea's side, as well as being in the practice field and as a person in bed. He had been in the base for two years and was already familiar with the life of the new era.

If he followed Zero's wishes, he would have to leave the base as soon as he gained the strength of a rank 1 Magus and a stronger defense. After completing the mission for the Silver Tree City, Old Jack had confirmed his zero ability. The hibernation chamber that Old Jack had previously hidden away as a collection was something Old Jack had magnanimously let Zero inspect carefully. Unfortunately, he did not find much value in this item that had come back to life.

The only clue he had was the set of English words carved on the back of the hibernation chamber.

Halson!

No matter how you looked at it, it looked like a name. However, while there were zero people searching through the base's computers, there were hundreds of people around the world named Halson. To a zero, there was no difference between having a clue and not having a clue.

If he wanted to find his past, he could only try his luck elsewhere.

After the Cataclysm Day, the global land mass had changed. Only one highly polluted sea area, known as the Raging Sea, is left in the former state, while only three are left in the six plates after they have been changed, connected, and collapsed.

The new plates were renamed naturally, and the continent on which zero was now found was called Middle-earth.

The Meso-continental plate is formed by the collision of the original Eurasian plate and the American plate, and is the largest plate in the world. Of course, there is no longer any state system in the two major parts of the old era. Right now, the people ruling this continent were the big corporations and corporate powers like the Parkland.

The Z7 base is located on the edge of the plate in Middle-earth and provides very little information to zero. Zero has to go deep into the heart of the continent to get more information from other companies or chaeurs.

However, he did not leave.

Everything was for Lea.

This girl was extremely similar to the beautiful figure in his dreams, making him unwilling to move away. It was as if by staying by Lea's side, he could occasionally live in his dreams, and forget about the cruel world outside.

As usual, Tian Zero came to Lea's laboratory. Old Jack was also there. The grandfather and grandson were so engrossed in observing a potion that they did not even notice the arrival of zero. Leaning against the door, he knew that Lea had recently been researching an anti-virus serum that could reduce the damage and invasion of Level 3 viruses. If the research is successful, Z7 will not only have the ability to treat Level 3 viruses initially, but will also be able to sell drugs to obtain other financial sources.

However, along with a light sound from the test tube, choking smoke rose into the air. Even an amateur like Zero knew that the experiment had failed.

Old Jack patted Lea's shoulder, seeing the latter's sullen face. After comforting his granddaughter for a while, Old Jack's gaze fell on Zero. "Come with me to the study room. There's a task for you today."

Zero nodded and followed Old Jack out of the lab.

Half an hour later, he appeared in front of the Operating area's gate.

The door was opening, and when only one person could pass through it, he entered the dark mining area.

He had received a reconnaissance mission.

Recently, some miners had discovered the traces of Gold Devourer deep within the Operating area.

The Gold Devourer looked like a maggot, its body was about twenty meters long. Due to the lack of some kind of elemental Su, these bugs liked to eat metal minerals and use their strong stomach acid to disappear. In the end, they would extract the elemental Su that they needed and supply it to their bodies.

However, because of their special habits, these bugs had become the enemy of any mining area. Gold Devourer would occupy the mine as their lair. They were asexual breeding organisms, and a Gold Devourer could often produce a nest of bugs in the next year, causing an area of mineral deposits to become empty.

The Gold Devourer's vision had already deteriorated, but it still lived underground and devoured metal. This allowed the skin of these worms to be comparable to strong fat armor, and had a good resistance to impact and explosion, so it was very difficult to kill them. Therefore, all kinds of mining bases hated and had headaches towards these kinds of worms.

Zero's mission was to scout the bottom of the mine. Once the existence of the Gold Devourer was discovered, all he had to do was gather information on the number of bugs, their paths, and so on. That way, Old Jack could decide whether he should request support from the headquarters or give up on the mine.

The risk of reconnaissance missions was relatively low, and the same zero reward was also lower. After this task was completed, Zero only received 20 yuan. However, Zero did not turn him down. If he did not leave the mission, his monthly salary would only be this small.

He rode Old Jack's minecart to the bottom of Workspace. Under the lead of a miner named Nick, Zero arrived at a mineshaft. The wall of the mine also revealed pieces of natural copper ore. However, a circular passageway appeared on the other side of the wall. There was something similar to bodily fluids remaining in the passage. The grayish white liquid was left behind by the Gold Devourer and served as a lubricant for the Gold-Eating Corpse to move quickly underground.

This passage was naturally drilled out by Gold Devourer, and these insects' mouthparts were filled with sharp teeth. Other than easily biting through the metal, it could also dig out large amounts of mudstones. However, these substances that the Gold Devourer did not need, would quickly melt into a stream of mud and be discharged from its anus, and would not occupy the capacity of the stomach.

Zero wiped his hand that was covered with entomophile on the clean wall. He let Nick go back to work, but crawled into the passage where the Gold Devourer came from.

He had to confirm where the worm had gone to. Did he pass by the mining site, or did he plan to build a house here?

I will continue to work hard to write even better plots to deserve everyone's support!]