This is the excellent mimicry ability of the Invisible Worm U2...
Like chameleons or deep-sea squid and cuttlefish, they rely on the surrounding environment's colors and then mimic them with their own skin to achieve a camouflaged, invisible effect.
This is their most basic ability; once injured, these Invisible Bugs enter a second stage of invisibility, where their epidermis begins to secrete fluid to cover their entire body, achieving true transparency, just like transparent glass. This is the truly invisible state.
And the size of these Invisible Bugs is not small; don't let the 'bug' in their name make you think they are only fist-sized.
In reality, they were initially created by invading and genetically modifying human infant embryos with Plaga parasite genes. Upon birth, they are the size of human infants, and just as human genes can grow to a certain extent, they naturally can too.
Therefore, never underestimate these Invisible Bugs.
They are essentially humans with wings, capable of devouring humans of the same size at any time...
And the only way to determine their hidden location is their sound—!
The Creator is fair; when one window opens, another closes. There are no perfect creatures in nature.
Even humans, strong as they are, are not the most perfect. We have only grown to this point by relying on our most prominent brain intelligence. In terms of physical quality alone, humans still cannot compare to the top predators in nature.
And these Invisible Worm U2 are no exception. Although they possess very powerful mimetic invisibility, they cannot control the sounds emitted when their vocal cords breathe, just like the summer night's grass. When night falls, the irritating heat of summer brings forth sharp chirps of cicadas.
So, the basis for judging whether these Invisible Bugs are hiding nearby is... whether there are piercing cicada chirps in the surroundings.
At the same time, this is also the real reason why this place is called the Mosquito Room, because the chirping of the Invisible Worm U2 is very harsh, just as annoying as mosquitoes.
"..."
"Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz ————!!!!"
However, just a few steps into the vast, empty castle hall, dense, piercing insect chirps assailed them from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint the Invisible Bugs' exact location.
And the annoying chirping immediately stopped Javier and Leon in their tracks. They frowned, looking at the empty castle hall before them.
At the very center of the hall, on the ceiling, there seemed to be a huge insect nest, dark and oppressive, like a hornet's nest seen in childhood, formed by a large amount of mud, debris, and saliva. Faintly, Javier and Leon even saw a few Invisible Bugs that had not entered their invisible state flying and hovering above it.
Seeing this situation, Leon was about to raise his Garand Rifle to snipe and kill, but he was quickly stopped by Luis, who was quick-handed and even made a shushing gesture to everyone...
Chapter 55: Invisible Worm U2
Watching Luis suddenly grab his rifle barrel with such speed, Leon looked at Luis with a puzzled expression.
Luis, however, shook his head, not rushing to answer. He quickly pulled the others back a bit. Only after they were completely out of the Mosquito Room area did Luis finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"..."
"Hey, buddy, you almost made a big mistake just now. Luckily, I stopped you in time, otherwise all of us would have been in trouble."
Patting his chest, Luis said to Leon and Javier with an expression of having narrowly escaped death. From his appearance, he seemed very afraid of that bug earlier, even still having lingering fears?
This made Leon very confused. To be honest, he had dealt with many bio-organic monsters, and quite a few insect types. He didn't understand why Luis was so afraid.
And as if sensing the doubt and confusion in Leon's eyes, Luis shook his head and quickly prepared to explain.
After all, as the father of Plaga parasites, Luis not only understood the Plaga parasite very well but also understood the origin of these bugs. They were created by a biological madman, a very annoying archenemy of his. Although Luis used to enjoy researching Plaga parasites, he would not be cruel enough to use infant embryos from pregnant women's wombs for modification.
That was no longer just a matter of morality, but a perversion and distortion of character...
So, facing the Invisible Worm U2 before him, Luis understood it well and also deeply disliked its true creator, Isidro.
A crazy biologist whose personality was the opposite of his own. Despite not having studied biology for long, he managed to create Black Water and the Invisible Worm U2 based on his insane fantasies. He was simply a pure human pervert—
"..."
"Did you hear the strange sounds coming from inside?"
"Sounds, yes! That's right, those are actually insect chirps. Dense insect chirps echoing all around. This means there are a lot of mutated bugs hidden in the castle hall just now, you just can't see them."
"Once you attack rashly, they will swarm like killer bees, overwhelming us with their numbers and devouring us completely!"
Making a shushing gesture again, Luis pointed to his ear and slowly explained to Leon and Javier. Luis understood the habits of these bugs very well, so Leon's rash attack earlier would have been absolutely dangerous.
"Those bugs are called Invisible Bugs, code-named U2. They are a deformed product invented by one of the castle's mad biologists."
"They were initially created by infecting and modifying human infant embryos in pregnant women's wombs with Black Water, which is a very evil method of modification."
"Black Water is a black liquid rich in Plaga parasite genes. Using a pregnant woman as a host, he poured this liquid into thirsty pregnant women's bodies. The infants in the embryos, due to malnutrition, absorbed this foreign liquid, Black Water, thus having their genes tampered with. What then burst out of their bellies were these hideous monsters!"
"This damn practice, even in the Middle Ages, would be an extremely evil heresy, a demon to be publicly punished by fire... Bah!"
"And Invisible Bugs, as the name suggests—these bugs possess mimetic invisibility. Like chameleons, they change the color of their skin according to their surroundings, then cleverly hide in any corner to launch a surprise attack. So, the castle actually harbors many Invisible Bugs, and you absolutely cannot launch a rash attack!"
"And the only way to perceive their location is by relying on their chirping, but there are too many Invisible Bugs in the castle, and chirps are coming from all directions, making it difficult to pinpoint their location. So we must be careful and cautious!"
With an expression of disgust, Luis looked at the dark, huge insect nest on top of the distant castle and spat, saying,
He deeply despised such evil and unscrupulous methods, wantonly deforming new lives that had not yet been born. This kind of interference with nature, playing God, made Luis, as a human, extremely ashamed.
"Pregnant women?"
"Babies...? How could this be!"
The moment they heard Luis's explanation, Leon and Ashley both showed expressions of disbelief.
They found it hard to believe that the ugly bugs before them were actually transformed from infants in human pregnant women. This practice was simply too cruel.
Especially Ashley, being a woman, she couldn't even imagine what it would feel like for a recently pregnant mother, eagerly awaiting the birth of her child, only to have these cultists forcibly inject her with the disgusting Black Water, which then contaminated the child in her womb and even turned it into a hideous bug.
Not to mention, these mutated bugs had no hearts at all; they would only continuously devour the life of the pregnant mother, and finally burst out of her belly cruelly. That scene was truly too brutal, horrifying, and terrifying.
This was the first time Ashley felt that humans could be so evil, truly demons in human skin.
"Sound?"
"Then how about we deal with them with this...? They should have a hard time detecting the sound of crossbow bolts, and it wouldn't expose our position so easily either."
On the other side, Ada listened to Luis's explanation. Although her black ladies' sunglasses slightly furrowed in disgust, she quickly became composed.
She had encountered a great deal of bio-modification data, so she understood the ugliness of humans privately modifying these things. Therefore, Ada's adaptability was very strong; not only did she not become emotional, but she instead took down the crossbow from her back and calmly suggested,
Almost forgot, this was the military crossbow Javier had given Ada to use earlier. All the portable explosives had been used up, but there were still a dozen or so ordinary crossbow bolts left. Using them sparingly and retrieving them after shooting should be enough. What was even more valuable was that crossbow bolts were silent and very difficult for the Invisible Worm U2 to detect.
"A good method,"
"But as far as I know, the shells of those bugs are very hard. I'm afraid these arrows can't easily penetrate them. One Invisible Bug would require more than ten shots to take down. Moreover, their surprise attack speed is very fast; once they discover a target, they will immediately pounce."
Seeing Ada take down the crossbow from her back, Luis's eyes lit up. Without a doubt, the crossbow was an excellent weapon, but as soon as he thought of the hardness of the Invisible Bug's shell, Luis immediately lost his enthusiasm. All things considered, they still had to rely on firearms to solve the problem.
And if they relied on firearms... they couldn't avoid a head-on collision with these Invisible Bugs. And in a head-on collision, their group of five would undoubtedly be no match for the swarming Invisible Bugs!
Hearing Luis's explanation again, Ada also shook her head helplessly.
Since that was the case, what should they do? If they rushed in, they couldn't win. If they tried to ambush, they couldn't kill them. Wouldn't that mean they couldn't advance or retreat?
Helpless, Ada simply crossed her arms and looked at Javier with her dark ladies' sunglasses. Since no one else had a solution, they could only see if Javier, the old fox, had any ideas. After all, in such difficult situations, Javier usually made the choices.
Unbeknownst to them, Javier had already become the backbone of the team.
It seemed that no matter the situation, Javier could always make the most correct choice and lead them out of danger.
Not only Ada, but even Luis and Leon also cast their gazes towards him. Even the White Wolf at his feet, with its intelligent husky-like eyes, stared intently at him, expecting its wolf king to have some brilliant plan.
Seeing this, Javier could only roll his eyes inexplicably.
Good heavens, what kind of people are these? Waiting for him to fall into their trap here. What could he do? In the game, they just rushed through the Mosquito Room. There were no brilliant tricks. He just hadn't expected that in reality, this Invisible Worm U2 would be so difficult to deal with.
However, since Leon and Ada were looking at him like that, Javier couldn't show no reaction. His eyes darted, and he immediately thought of a bad idea:
"I have a very simple and crude method."
"This method is called 'making a feint to the east while attacking in the west,' or 'luring the tiger out of its mountain lair,' uh... it can also be called 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao.' I'll act as bait and lure all the Invisible Worm U2 inside to one side, and then you can take the opportunity to pass through. How about that?"
Raising a finger, Javier offered a bad idea to everyone. Of course, it wasn't really a bad idea, just another self-sacrificing method. After all, in the current situation, was there any more effective method than this?
Without a doubt, there wasn't!
After all, everyone waiting to die together was not as good as one person acting as bait to allow the others to escape. This was currently the optimal solution.
But—
It was clear that Luis and Leon did not want anyone in the team to be lost. Their personalities would not allow anyone to sacrifice themselves for them. They would rather face the difficulties together than sacrifice anyone.
"Hey, hey..."
"Don't overthink it again. I'm not looking for death. Just like last time in the village, I lured the Plaga Parasite Villagers away, and then reappeared completely in front of you. How about it? Trust me!"
Seeing Luis and Leon's inexplicable gazes again, Javier quickly waved his hand and re-explained. This wasn't the first time he had acted as a rearguard alone. Why would anyone still think he was planning to sacrifice himself?
Hadn't he said it countless times? He was the person who valued his life the most. He would never dare to do such a dangerous thing without absolute certainty!
"This is indeed the optimal solution right now."
"Luis, Leon, you two take Ashley and this husky first. I'll stay behind with Javier to draw fire. Don't worry... I also have my own escape methods. The amber sample is still with me, and I don't want to die in this godforsaken place."
Seeing Luis and Leon still hesitating, Ada, who was beside them, took off her dark ladies' sunglasses, revealing her beautiful and charming eyes, and calmly spoke to the two.
At the same time, she patted her thigh holster. Inside was her grappling hook gun. The Invisible Worm U2 were very fast, but Ada was confident she could transform into a female Spider-Man and directly shake off the encirclement of those nasty bugs.
Looking at the stubborn Javier and Ada, Luis and Leon didn't know what to say anymore.
These two... were even bolder than they had imagined, never putting any danger in their eyes. It was as if luring Invisible Worm U2 was like discussing what to eat for dinner or what late-night snack to have. It was unbelievable—
"Bang bang bang ————!!!"
However, just as Luis and Leon were about to try and dissuade them again, Javier, catching them off guard, stepped into the Invisible Worm U2's nest area.
He raised his two Desert Eagle handguns and immediately opened fire on an uncamouflaged Invisible Bug hanging upside down from the dark nest.
"Pfft!"
Thumb-thick, orange-yellow bullets spun at high speed, accurately hitting the Invisible Bug's head. Two bullets struck simultaneously, and a puddle of greenish-yellow liquid immediately splattered down. The Invisible Bug, half-hanging, crashed down from the nest like a black vulture with broken wings.
"Splat...!"
With a crisp sound, the first Invisible Bug was directly smashed into a pulp. Corrosive greenish-yellow blood splattered on the ground, immediately emitting faint white smoke. Its body was torn into pieces, and its curled-up form was as large as half a person. Its size was indeed terrifying.