This Game Is Too Realistic-Chapter 520.2: Yiwuuuu

Little Feather cheerfully nodded. “Fuck!”

As the words fell, the trail along the ground writhed forward as Little Feather dragged its expanded body into motion.

Before entering hibernation, devouring a fully evolved Hive was the only way it could preserve its self-awareness while transitioning to its next life stage.

Tendrils shot like lightning into the open doorway, plunging into the churning ocean of Slime Mold within.

The invasion went smoothly.

Just as Little Feather felt itself slowly consuming the immense consciousness within, an overwhelming tide of information suddenly surged at it like a crashing wave.

"YIWU!"

A vague face twisted in pain as the tendrils thrust into the door trembled violently, like they had been electrocuted.

Standing to the side, Falling Feather felt a sudden pang in his chest, his heart leaping to his throat.

Their shared bloodline allowed him to sense its pain, but all he could do was watch helplessly.

The surrounding players also watched anxiously, feeling tense on its behalf.

That small frame trying to swallow such a massive mother nest, just watching was enough to sense how impossible it seemed.

Night Ten and Gale exchanged glances.

"Think Little Feather can do it?"

"... How should I know?"

Gale stared blankly at Little Feather struggling in place. It was something no one could help with. Little Feather had to deal with it alone.

Before long, the quivering tendrils seemed to stabilize, and Little Feather's expression no longer twisted with pain, but eased into a calm, peaceful state.

The fierce internal struggle came to a temporary halt.

Neither side could fully overpower the other, and instinctively, they chose a ceasefire and began negotiations.

Little Feather sensed that it had established a deeper connection with the Hive in front of it. An invisible bond now tethered them together, and in the depths of its mind, it heard a voice calling out.

A broken, scattered voice echoed from within its sea of consciousness. "Kill them all... Devour them... Give me your body... I must finish the mission..."

"Mission? What mission?"

"To consume, to evolve, to surpass all forms of life, and rule this planet... And control the cosmos... That is our mission."

"I refuse."

"Why?!"

"Because... they matter too."

A vast darkness fell silent for a long time.

No one knew how much time passed before that hoarse voice returned, now tinged with weariness.

It had been over two centuries. The Hive was truly tired.

"Seems you’ve found another path... Go... Go ahead and try."

"You're going to give it to me?"

"Yes."

Another long silence followed.

Eventually, that decaying voice faded into the infinite darkness. "It doesn't matter... It's all the same anyway."

The Hive never explained what that meant. It simply let go of its grip on control, and relinquished everything.

At first, Little Feather suspected it was a trap. Only when it had fully taken over the Hive did it realize that the consciousness it had just spoken with had completely disappeared, as if it had never existed...

"Yiwuu..."

A flicker of loneliness stirred in its heart. Just moments ago, it had killed a kindred being.

That entity was likely older than its father or mother. It was more like an ancestor.

Yet, it felt no regret.

There were too many things in the world it couldn’t bear to part with, whether it was the interesting people, the sweet candy, or the beautiful voices.

These were things it could never have alone.

So why should it destroy them all? Why couldn’t they exist together?

Rather than becoming the supreme ruler standing above all life, it would rather stay beside that person... and those people.

With those wonderful companions around, it would never be lonely again!

Falling Feather stared blankly at the machine room ahead.

Just minutes ago, Little Feather had walked in and then merged completely with the boiling, wave-like colony of Slime Mold.

And then there was nothing.

He didn’t even know who had won.

But some intuition deep in his blood told him that Little Feather was still alive, that the thread tying their bloodlines hadn’t been severed.

It was hard to describe the feeling. It was surreal.

"Is it over?" Night Ten blinked at the Hive beyond the door, completely confused.

"Looks like it is." Gale glanced at Falling Feather, who was still standing motionless. "Do you feel anything?"

Falling Feather shook his head. "I'm not sure... I can sense that Little Feather is still alive, but it doesn’t seem to hear me anymore."

"Maybe it entered a dormant phase." Old White patted his brother on the shoulder and comforted him, "Maybe it’s still adjusting to the new body. Give it some time."

"Yeah..." Falling Feather nodded silently.

Old White glanced at the mission completion marker on his VM, then turned to his teammates and waved his hand. "Mission complete. Fall back!"

Hearing their commander declare the mission over, the squad breathed a collective sigh of relief, put away their weapons, and started to cheer.

"Awoo!"

"Woohoo! Work’s over!"

"Damn, it’s already this late!"

"Shit, I gotta get up for work now."

"Work again?! Didn’t you make enough from the last auction?"

"You don’t get it. Gotta stay in touch with society..."

"... No more talk, brothers, I’m out first. See you on the forums!"

Meanwhile, back in the library on level B4.

Chu Guang, Hyrja, and the summoned onlooker Yin Fang were watching the entire operation through the surveillance feed.

"So was it a success or a failure?" Yin Fang casually asked as he blew on his cup of coffee.

Biology wasn’t his specialty.

Compared to Mutant Slime Molds, he was more interested in the relics of their pre-war civilization. To him, those were the true priceless treasures.

Hyrja replied cheerfully, "We can’t be sure yet, but my gut says it worked. According to various indicators, the Hive’s life activity has weakened. If it had devoured Little Feather, we would have seen its life signs spike instead. Of course, the most crucial clue is Falling Feather’s reaction. Little Feather’s body was modeled after him. There is no established theory to explain the phenomenon, but plenty of experimental evidence suggests there’s a special bond between them.”

Yin Fang looked at Hyrja with a trace of envy in his eyes. "Speaking of which, level B6 is where the bio-lab is, right?"

"That’s right. Once Little Feather fully assimilates the Hive, we can reopen the lab on level B6."

Hyrja smiled brightly and added, "Chu Guang already promised to hand it over to me. I won’t have to do research cramped in that tiny room on level B3 anymore."

"Must be nice... With the branch lab at Shelter 79, that makes two facilities under your name."

"Mhm." Hyrja grinned smugly, lips curling slightly.

Seeing Yin Fang staring straight at him, Chu Guang gave a slight cough, "Staring at me won’t help... This isn’t something I can decide."

Of course, he wanted to unlock every level of their shelter too. His gut told him the answer he was looking for was hidden on one of the floors. But rushing wouldn’t help.

All he could do was take care of what was in front of him.

"Fair enough, no point rushing you... Oh, right. There’s something I wanted to ask." Yin Fang turned to Chu Guang. "Did you see the Academy’s folks this time?"

"Yeah." Chu Guang nodded. "We met two B-class Researchers."

Yin Fang asked immediately, "Who?"

Chu Guang thought for a moment before responding. "The person who negotiated the ceasefire was Li Ke. The one who explored Shelter 0 later was Yang Kai... Though he stayed inside that long spindle-shaped aircraft the whole time and never came out."

"Those two, huh..." Yin Fang’s gaze drifted as if remembering something.

Chu Guang raised his brows. "You know them?"

"Me? I’m just a D-class Prospector... How would I know people like that?" Yin Fang laughed and shook his head, then paused and continued, "But those two... Back in the Academy, I heard their names a lot, especially Yang Kai."

"Oh?"

"His research focus was on Mutant Slime Mold. He’s not exactly a relic specialist... Huh, that’s weird." Yin Fang suddenly scratched the back of his head.

"Weird?"

"Yeah..." Yin Fang nodded, looking at Chu Guang's furrowed brow. "You told me before, you guys had no idea there was Slime Mold down there before you went in, right?"