Chapter 510: The Queen’s Last Struggle

The queen’s last words did not sound encouraging.

Vanish looked towards the tunnel they had entered through.

"How far away could this recovery unit be?"

"No idea," Leng Pan replied. "But I don’t think it will be coming to thank us for cleaning up the village."

"That would have been nice."

"You can ask them politely when they arrive."

Vanish touched the cut on his face and shook his head.

"I think I have already done enough talking for one day."

The chamber shook again.

Without the blue crystal, the queen could no longer control the energy beneath the village. Cracks spread across the walls, while muddy water poured through gaps in the stone.

Several pale roots dropped from the ceiling.

They were no longer strong enough to hold themselves in place.

However, the danger had not passed.

The queen’s huge body twisted on the ground as it tried to reach the tunnel.

Its movements were slower than before, but it was still large enough to crush anyone who stood in its path.

"It’s trying to escape," Sonny warned.

"No, it isn’t," Leng Pan said.

She could feel the strange energy gathering inside the creature.

It was not moving towards the exit.

It was moving towards Chief Gao.

Chief Gao must have sensed it too because his face turned pale.

"No..."

He pushed himself backwards inside the mist barrier.

"Don’t let it come near me."

Lu Zhen glanced at him.

"I thought you worshipped it."

"I was wrong."

"You keep saying that now."

Chief Gao did not have the energy to feel ashamed.

Something moved beneath the skin of his chest.

The remaining parasites inside his body had awakened again, but this time, they were no longer trying to kill him.

They were gathering near his heart, creating a path for something else to enter.

Leng Pan understood immediately.

"The queen is trying to move its consciousness into him."

Chief Gao shook his head desperately.

"No. It can’t."

"You fed people to it for months. Why would you think it would hesitate to use you?"

"Save me!"

His voice cracked.

"I will tell you everything. I will show you where the aliens left their equipment."

That caught Leng Pan’s attention.

"What equipment?"

Chief Gao clutched his chest.

"In my house. There is a metal box under the floor. They told me never to open it."

"Why didn’t you mention it earlier?"

"You didn’t ask!"

Lu Zhen almost laughed, but there was no humour in his eyes.

"You should be grateful we still need you alive."

The queen released a weak shriek.

A dark shadow rose from its body.

It did not have a solid form. It looked like a cloud made from thousands of threadlike parasites twisted together.

The cloud rushed towards Chief Gao.

Leng Pan closed her hand.

The mist surrounding him compressed into a dense sphere.

The parasite cloud struck it and bounced back.

A high-pitched sound filled the chamber.

The individual threads spread apart before gathering again.

"They could be looking for another host," Sonny said.

"Everyone, protect your mouth, nose, and ears," Leng Pan instructed.

She released more mist.

It wrapped around Lu Zhen, Sonny, Vanish, and herself before covering the captives along the walls.

The parasite cloud changed direction.

It flew towards Little Vine.

Little Vine stretched several tendrils eagerly.

It was ready to eat again.

"Don’t," Leng Pan warned. "That might contain the queen’s consciousness."

Little Vine paused.

After thinking about it, the vine slowly withdrew its tendrils.

It might enjoy eating parasites, but it did not want another creature living inside its mind.

The cloud hovered in the chamber.

With every failed attempt to find a host, it became more unstable.

Lu Zhen raised his hand.

"Can I burn it now?"

"Please do."

His flames surrounded the cloud.

The parasites tried to scatter, but Leng Pan’s mist formed a second barrier around the fire.

They had nowhere to escape.

One by one, the threads burned.

The queen’s body convulsed on the ground.

Its many eyes opened again.

They were no longer red. Most had become cloudy and grey.

"You... cannot... change..."

The mechanical voice had disappeared.

What remained sounded wet and broken.

Leng Pan walked closer.

"I have already changed plenty of things."

"The end... will remain..."

"We will see about that."

"Humans... will fall..."

"That is what you said in the previous life."

Leng Pan formed a sphere of purified water above her palm.

"But I am not interested in watching the same ending twice."

She sent the water into the queen’s open mouth.

The creature thrashed.

Purifying energy spread through its body, destroying the parasite eggs hidden within its flesh.

Lu Zhen added his flames.

Fire travelled along the queen’s roots.

This time, it could not draw power from the blue crystal to heal itself.

It could not use the captives either because Leng Pan’s mist had blocked the remaining connections.

The pale body began turning black.

The queen released one final scream before collapsing.

Every remaining eye closed.

The roots throughout the chamber stopped moving.

For several seconds, no one spoke.

Then Vanish let out a long breath.

"Is it finally dead?"

Little Vine moved closer to the blackened body.

It poked the queen with one tendril.

There was no response.

The vine poked it again, harder this time.

"Don’t play with it," Leng Pan said.

Little Vine pulled back as if it had done nothing wrong.

"Can it eat the body?" Sonny asked.

Little Vine immediately became interested.

"No," Leng Pan replied. "We don’t know what else might be inside it."

The vine drooped in disappointment.

Lu Zhen looked towards the ceiling.

Although the queen was dead, stones continued falling.

"We need to leave before the chamber collapses."

"What about the captives?" Vanish asked.

"We are taking them with us," Leng Pan said.

There were hundreds of people inside the sacs.

Many were barely alive.

Moving them would not be easy, especially when the roots connected to their bodies could not be pulled out carelessly.

Leng Pan approached the man with the scarred face.

His eyes were half-open.

"Can you hear me?"

He gave a weak nod.

"We killed the creature."

The man’s lips moved.

"Water..."

Leng Pan took out a bottle of diluted spiritual spring water.

She supported his head and allowed him to drink a small amount.

His breathing became steadier.

"Do you know how we can disconnect these roots safely?" she asked.

"Queen... dead..."

"Yes."

"Roots... will loosen."