212: Chapter 212 Poison Needle Hanging Overhead

Ling Ye's eyes flashed with fierce light.

The moment the poison needle adjusted its angle and was about to shoot, he made an extremely risky, almost insane move!

He didn't try to raise his gun (too late, and might lose balance), nor did he go for the military knife at his waist.

Instead, he exerted force with both feet, kicking hard against the protruding flange of the pipe beneath him, while simultaneously releasing his grip from the crevices!

His whole body actually dropped half a meter the moment the poison needle shot down!

"Swish—!"

A nearly invisible transparent thread brushed past his scalp, taking a few strands of hair with it, and nailed deeply into the rusted surface of the pipe where his head had just been, making a "hissing" sound and emitting a small puff of white smoke!

The venom was extremely corrosive!

And Ling Ye, the moment his body dropped and avoided the fatal poison needle, his left hand, which had long been ready, struck out like lightning.

His five fingers formed a claw, grabbing precisely one of the monster's limbs that was clutching the pipe above!

The immense downward force, combined with his prepared grip, actually ripped the basin-sized monster, along with the other limbs it was using to grip the pipe, straight off the pipe!

"Squeak—!!"

The monster let out a sharp, piercing screech, its eight limbs flailing wildly, and the poison needle at its tail bent again, attempting to stab Ling Ye's arm!

But would Ling Ye give it a chance?

Just as his downward momentum hadn't finished and his body was about to hit the pipe again, he exploded with all the strength in his core and right arm.

Using his left hand, which was gripping the monster's limb, as a fulcrum, he swung his body violently diagonally upward toward the shaft wall!

At the same time, the rifle he had been holding tightly in his right hand, with the safety off, was used like a short spear; he slammed the butt of the gun hard into the monster's eyeless, sickly green tentacle-covered "head" that he had pulled to his side!

"Bang!"

A muffled thud!

The gun butt slammed solidly into the junction of the monster's head and thorax!

The sound of chitinous shell cracking was clearly audible!

Sickly green slime and shattered tissues splattered from the crack!

The monster's sharp screech came to an abrupt halt, turning into painful spasms!

And Ling Ye used the recoil of that smash, along with the momentum of his body swinging, to release his left hand that was gripping the monster's limb.

His entire body completed a brief, gravity-defying hang in the air, and then he lunged toward the dark branch pipe opening above the water not far below, like an arrow released from a bow!

"Splash!"

He barely managed to lunge into the edge of the branch pipe opening, most of his body falling onto the damp and greasy ground inside, splashing up sewage.

Behind him came the "thump" of the monster's remains and the rifle (which had slipped from his hand at the last moment) falling into the turbulent water below, followed by a few dull impacts.

Temporarily safe.

Ling Ye lay at the opening, gasping violently, his heart pounding in his chest like a drum.

The stinging pain in the back of his neck, the numbness in his arms, and the exhaustion from exploding with all his strength just moments ago hit him all at once.

He struggled to turn over and sit up, back against the inner wall of the opening, and immediately reached for the back of his neck.

A small patch of skin had been corroded, stinging fiercely, but it seemed to only be the epidermis and hadn't gone deep.

He quickly took out his water bottle, poured a little clean water to rinse the wound, and then applied the crushed disinfectant tablet he carried with him.

The stinging intensified, but it could effectively prevent infection and the spread of toxins.

After treating the wound, he immediately checked his equipment.

The rifle... lost.

It had fallen into the rapids below with the monster's remains.

His heart sank, but he immediately felt relieved.

To survive under those circumstances was already a stroke of luck.

Fortunately, his military knife, flashlight, grenades, key documents, and most of his supplies were still in his pack.

He drew his military knife, holding it in his hand, adjusted his high-intensity flashlight to medium, and vigilantly shone it into the depths of the branch pipe.

This branch pipe was more spacious than imagined, about 1.5 meters in diameter, enough for a person to walk bent over.

The inner wall was rough concrete, covered with water stains and strange, dark green traces that looked like some kind of dried slime, winding forward.

The air was even more turbid, carrying a thick, fishy, musky smell and... a faint, pungent odor similar to ammonia.

That thin sense of "incongruity" seemed to become clearer here, and... the source seemed to be just ahead!

The branch pipe wasn't straight; there was a right turn about twenty meters ahead.

And before the turn, Ling Ye's flashlight beam illuminated a messy patch of slime-covered drag marks on the ground, as well as several obvious footprints with claw marks!

The footprints weren't large, but their shape was peculiar, seemingly belonging to some kind of bipedal or quadrupedal crawling creature with sharp-toed feet, and there was more than one!

Something was active here!

And it was very likely the owner of those dark green slime trails!

Was it the nest of that spider-scorpion monster from just now?

Or some other pipe creature?

Or perhaps... a Mutant spawned under the influence of the "Dark Nest" that was better adapted to the pipe environment?

Ling Ye's heart tightened again.

He had just gone through a thrilling battle, lost his main weapon, was not in peak condition, and had broken into a nest tunnel where there was clearly biological activity...

Retreat?

Outside was the shaft rapids; without climbing points, going up was almost impossible, and going into the water was suicide.

He could only move forward.

He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down.

He took the last defensive grenade from his pack, checked it, and put it back in the most accessible position on his waist.

He then held the high-intensity flashlight in his left hand (which could be used for a blinding strobe if necessary) and held the military knife in his right hand.

Then, he crouched low, like the most cautious explorer, and began to move silently along the branch pipe, toward the depths, in the direction where the fishy, musky smell and the sense of "incongruity" were coming from.

Every step landed on the damp ground, avoiding those slime trails and obvious footprints as much as possible.

His ears were perked, capturing any subtle sound.

"Energy Perception" acted like a blind man's cane, cautiously extending behind the bend.

Apart from his own heartbeat and breathing, there was only the faint sound of water in the distance, and a… extremely slight "pop-pop" sound, as if countless tiny bubbles were bursting, coming from behind the bend.

Getting closer.

He arrived at the turn, his back against the cold, damp concrete pipe wall, and slowly turned sideways, inching his eyes and the flashlight beam out.

The beam of light pierced the darkness, illuminating the scene behind the bend.

Ling Ye's pupils contracted sharply!

Behind the bend was a relatively open space, similar to a small reservoir or sedimentation tank, about the size of half a basketball court.

The bottom of the pool was thick, dark green, viscous sludge that constantly churned and bubbled, emitting a strong fishy, musky, and ammonia odor.

The walls of the pool were covered with a thick, constantly writhing layer of dark blue, translucent fungal mat, and countless sesame-sized, constantly rotating, sickly white eyes were open on the mat!

It was exactly the same as the fungal mat "eyes" in the B7 hall, but on a much smaller scale!

And in the center of the pool, in the churning sludge, half-buried were a dozen "sarcomas" of various sizes, oval-shaped, with surfaces covered in blood-vessel-like dark blue veins!

These sarcomas were pulsating slightly, as if breathing, and viscous dark blue liquid constantly seeped from their surfaces, dripping into the sludge below.

The largest one was nearly a meter in diameter, pulsating the most vigorously.

And on the edge of the pool, on the bank near Ling Ye, were scattered some broken eggshells, tiny, incomplete, deformed bones, and... a few ugly-looking "larvae" slowly crawling on the edge of the sludge—they had lizard-like torsos, but their skin was moist and dark blue, with short limbs and a tail, while their heads were eyeless, with only a mouth full of fine teeth, instinctively gnawing on the fungal mat at the edge of the pool and the organic matter in the sludge!

This was a small, actively hatching "abyssal eye" pollution nest!

It was a secondary pollution source and breeding ground spawned after the "Dark Nest" energy leaked into the underground pipes!

Those spider-scorpion monsters, as well as the mutated woodlice in the branch pipes, were likely all attracted or contaminated and spawned by this nest!

And Ling Ye was standing at the entrance of the "maternity ward" of this nest right now!

Seemingly sensing the aura and light of an intruder, the "eyes" on the fungal mats on the pool walls turned in unison toward Ling Ye!

The pulsation of the sarcomas in the center of the pool also suddenly accelerated!

The churning of the sludge intensified, and more bubbles surged out!

Those larvae also stopped gnawing, raised their ugly heads, and emitted a faint but aggressive "hissing" sound toward Ling Ye!

Discovered!

Although it was only a small nest, here, in this enclosed underground space, facing potentially endless pollution creations and that central sarcoma that looked all wrong...