Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 14: Feeding

The old man really found the wrong person.

But he couldn’t blame Lao Wei. Zhu Yanchen was tall and sturdy—a bit taller than himself, who was responsible for fighting the mutant beasts with amazing combat power. Compared to a researcher, Marshal Zhu looked more like an armed escort.

Zhu Yanchen frowned and said, “Fly lower.”

The girl made of erosion substance became more complete, staggering on the surface of the Erosion Swamp, muttering something incoherent in her mouth.

“Mom… Mom… Mom…” It was strangely hoarse, not like a child’s, but the woman didn’t mind.

This was what Zhu Yanchen referred to as his “presumed same kind”?

Shu Jun looked around but couldn’t see anything special, and the Erosion Swamp under his feet didn’t look special either. However, Zhu Yanchen looked very carefully. In the previous interaction, he didn’t show a strong sense of oppression, but at this moment, Marshal Zhu looked like a carnivorous animal about to prey.

That kind of momentum couldn’t be disguised, and Shu Jun instinctively tightened his back.

At the same time, the woman by the Erosion Swamp moved. Although she looked very eager to touch the black figure, she didn’t do so. The woman adjusted her posture, knelt down by the Erosion Swamp, and an old woman approached her from behind and put down a jar in her arms.

“My little darling.” The woman murmured and scooped out some black liquid from the jar and piously poured it into the Erosion Swamp. “My little darling.”

It was probably the erosion substance stolen from the corpse disposal department but unexpectedly used here.

After receiving the “tribute”, the Erosion Swamp became satisfied and calm, almost gurgling. Shu Jun tried his best to perceive, but he couldn’t find any emotions similar to those of a child. The girl made of erosion substance was at most six or seven years old—children at this age, even if they were used to the current situation and wouldn’t feel pain or fear, at least, seeing their mother would cause some special emotional fluctuations.

But the Erosion Swamp was just an Erosion Swamp, and it continued to boil quietly.

The woman seemed afraid that she couldn’t see clearly. She took off her mask and stared obsessively at her daughter’s figure. Lao Wei squinted, seeming quite intoxicated by the scene.

If this were still a game, everyone below would just be NPCs, and Shu Jun would feel that this was material as part of some quest. However, everything was real, and this scene only made him shudder. The woman stayed in the high-concentration erosion substance without her mask on for a long time, then it changed to another person. The same call, the same erosion substance feeding, the same attachment.

The Erosion Swamp continued to change, outlining the images of the deceased one by one. Its voice didn’t change, and it couldn’t even form complete words, but people’s expressions were extremely grateful and satisfied.

Shu Jun hovered in the air, speechless.

The jar was almost empty, and the strange ritual finally came to an end. Two villagers with bodies resembling humans entered the tent and carried out a corpse. The body was tightly wrapped in a grayish-white cloth, with a strip of cloth tied into a flower on its chest, lying across a frame made of rotten wood. The oddly shaped people gathered around and pushed the frame together, and the wooden frame silently slid into the Erosion Swamp.

The body sank quietly, and the grayish-white gradually shrank and disappeared.

“The one pushed down was Lao Chen, but he will come back.” Lao Wei turned to Shu Jun and spoke confidently. “We have brought back many people. We’re not afraid of death. It’s just that they always look like that, so everyone is a little worried. Now that we have seen you, I am sure that we have not chosen the wrong path—”

“Enough.” There was a hint of anger in Zhu Yanchen’s tone.

Ignoring him, Lao Wei looked eagerly at Shu Jun. “We are the ones who are more adapted to this world. You are from the city, right? Look at your chain. How inhumane.”

…This provocation was like coaxing a child.

Before he could refuse, Zhu Yanchen’s gun was pointed at Lao Wei’s head.

“Shu Jun. Land,” he said. “We can’t leave this Erosion Swamp here.”

Facing the three people who suddenly landed on the ground, the biggest reaction was the Erosion Swamp itself. Seeing Shu Jun approaching with momentum, it skillfully spat out a large amount of clear water, shrinking itself into a soft ball with a diameter of two to three meters, ready to escape.

Shu Jun was still considering how to keep this thing, but Zhu Yanchen had already started to act.

As if he were prepared, he quickly changed the magazine of his gun. The bullets fired were no longer ordinary bullets but pellets that expanded in the air and turned into a crackling fine net, just enough to catch the soft ball.

The net was slightly green, with a purification effect, and made a sizzling sound where it touched the Erosion Swamp. The Erosion Swamp was still struggling, pressing out more water from its body, trying to squeeze out of the small mesh.

“I can only trap it for a while.” Zhu Yanchen entered a password on the handcuffs and unlocked the handcuffs on Shu Jun’s side. “Destroy its brain while it’s docile.”

It seemed that his previous “chain reconnection” had worked a bit. Shu Jun nodded happily. “What about the data you want?”

“The data can wait,” Zhu Yanchen said succinctly. “This thing is close to maturity, and when it grows up, it will no longer need these… ‘cultivated’ people.”

“Nonsense!” Lao Wei shouted. “We are the ones raising it, you—”

“Hurry up.” Zhu Yanchen continued to ignore Lao Wei.

Shu Jun had been fighting Erosion Swamps for ten years. This thing had even tried to assassinate him for intelligence. Although he didn’t quite understand the situation, he didn’t want to get entangled in trivial matters at this time—it was said that things always came in threes, the Erosion Swamp had been scared by him once, and was caught off guard by Zhu Yanchen a second time. If it really was a stubborn kid fixated on its own ideas, it might be prepared for the third time.

Now was the best time.

“Yes, sir.” Without the handcuffs, Shu Jun’s tone became lighter.

The villagers panicked when they saw the attack coming from the opposite side. Some picked up guns and fired indiscriminately towards the side. Some took knives and cleavers and began cutting the net with all their might.

“Don’t move.” Zhu Yanchen’s voice was clear as he pushed Lao Wei forward. He had changed the magazine at some point, and the gun was now pointed directly at the back of Lao Wei’s head.

“Take the Erosion Swamp and run!” Lao Wei shouted at the top of his lungs. “You can take my body back later! The Erosion Swamp must not be lost. This matter must not be abandoned halfway!”

Shu Jun moved even faster, soaring through the air and landing deftly on the soft ball that was the Erosion Swamp. The holes in the net were just large enough for his arm to pass through, and he once again eroded his arm and ruthlessly plunged it into the mass of the Erosion Swamp, searching for its brain.

Realizing that escape was impossible, the Erosion Swamp repeated its old trick and immediately let out a piercing scream. The erosion zone was never lacking in mutant beasts, and they rushed towards the village from all around. However, given the time, they might not be able to catch up—Shu Jun caught hold of the soft tendon-like thing again. This time, the size of Erosion Swamp was too small, so it was only a matter of time before he grabbed its brain.

The villagers were frantically running around the Erosion Swamp, unable to reach Shu Jun standing on top of the soft ball. They tried to shoot, but their weapons were too old and couldn’t break through Shu Jun’s wind shield. Shu Jun didn’t hesitate. He deftly felt for the tendon-like structure, and was about to grab Erosion Swamp’s brain.

Suddenly, the situation changed.

The Erosion Swamp spat out a large amount of water without any care, and then started shrinking in size which caused Shu Jun to grab empty handed—the originally over twenty square meters of Erosion Swamp shrank into a half-cubic-meter block-like shape with a texture that was close to solid.

Shu Jun landed lightly and reached out his hand again without hesitation. The too-thick erosion substance couldn’t form a liquid column, and the Erosion Swamp, in order to escape, gave up the offense on its own initiative. It was already desperate, and catching it was only a matter of time.

However, when Shu Jun raised his eyes again, he found that things weren’t that simple.

The Erosion Swamp block once again transformed into the appearance of a little girl. It struggled jerkily with the net on its body and rushed towards the woman, who was trying to cut the net with a kitchen knife.

“Mom… Mom…” it hoarsely cried, stumbling and throwing itself into the woman’s arms. “Mom…”

The appearance was so pitiful that it made Shu Jun hesitate for a moment, not to mention the mother. She frantically pulled the net off the “child’s” body and held it tightly in her arms.

Shu Jun could feel the emotions of the Erosion Swamp. There were no pleadings or no innocent fears; only the same tension and panic as before, even mixed with a hint of appetite. The appetite was clearly not directed towards him. In a place where the woman couldn’t see, her protective suit was being quietly dissolved.

“Mom… Mom…” the Erosion Swamp continued.

Shu Jun attempted to pull the Erosion Swamp with his hands, but the woman, like a mad lioness, bit directly at him with her teeth. The Erosion Swamp shrank itself small enough that the tall woman almost enveloped it entirely in her arms. The situation had become difficult to pull, let alone attack with wind-based skills.

“Let us go. Let us go!” she screamed. “What else do you want to rob when it’s already like this?!”

“That’s not your daughter.” These people were obviously lower-class citizens, and Shu Jun didn’t want to kill them indiscriminately. “Hand it over, and we can avoid using violence. My companion will give you an explanation. We…”

The Erosion Swamp was easy to control in this state. It could easily release water, but it was difficult to reabsorb it again. As long as another layer of net was added, it wouldn’t be able to expand, and naturally, wouldn’t be able to escape.

The woman smiled miserably. “So, what if it’s not? Shh, shh, my little darling is not afraid.”

“Mom…” Seeing that Shu Jun stopped attacking, the Erosion Swamp went crazy and fanned the flame.

The villagers quickly surrounded them, keeping the woman in the center, like a cluster of ants in a flood. Everyone, young and old, had the same resolute expression on their faces. Shu Jun gritted his teeth. At this point, he could only use force.

The woman cried, the villagers cursed, and the bullets did not stop. In the distance, Zhu Yanchen was also fighting. He had to come up with a solution as soon as possible.

If this situation continued, as long as the Erosion Swamp desperately accumulated water and ate these people, it would be difficult to track it down. Moreover, if this intelligent Erosion Swamp could escape, and who knew how many other Erosion Swamps it would lead to evolve.

Dealing with humans alone was troublesome enough. Even if all his companions were successfully rescued, they wouldn’t be able to withstand the Erosion Swamp’s attacks. One misstep would only bring more trouble.

…Zhu Yanchen dared to plan to come alone. What is he thinking?

Feeling the Erosion Swamp’s gradually triumphant emotions, Shu Jun had a plan in his mind.

“Little one, if I can’t beat you, I don’t deserve to be called captain.” He grinned.

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Erosion Swamp: Don’t come here.jpg

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