174: Chapter 174 Parasite Detection (Part 1)

Smoke was still rising from the battlefield.

Soldiers in protective suits walked among the zerg corpses.

They used flamethrowers to ignite the insect corpses, and the flames leaped up, burning the bodies into charcoal.

Green blood boiled under the high temperature, giving off pungent bubbles.

Su Mingyuan stood beside a mecha, watching the soldiers collect zerg samples.

The corpses of several Advanced zergs were cut open, and their internal organs were packed into sealed jars.

Those organs were still writhing, as if they were alive.

"After these things are sent back to the Main World, have the biological research institute study them thoroughly," Su Mingyuan said to the communicator, "I want to know all the characteristics of these bugs."

"Understood."

The portal lit up again.

This time, neither tanks nor mechas came out.

Instead, there were a dozen white medical vehicles.

The Red Cross symbol was printed on the bodies of the vehicles, and there was a rotating warning light on the roof.

The medical vehicles stopped in the open space, the doors opened, and several medical staff wearing white coats jumped down.

They pushed out equipment piece by piece.

There were brain scanners, blood analyzers, and some instruments General Chen had never seen before.

"What is this for?" General Chen walked over, looking at the equipment.

Su Mingyuan turned around.

"To test all of you," he said, "and confirm who has been parasitized."

General Chen's expression changed.

"You mean... there are still parasitized people among us?"

"Definitely," Su Mingyuan said, "and there won't be few."

"Staff Officer Liu being parasitized shows that the zerg had already infiltrated your shelter long ago. They wouldn't only parasitize one person."

General Chen was silent for a few seconds.

"If we really find someone who has been parasitized..." he asked, "what should we do?"

Su Mingyuan looked at him.

"What do you think?"

General Chen didn't speak.

He knew the answer.

Parasitized people couldn't be saved.

The parasite was in the brain, and if it was surgically removed, the person would die.

Even if it was removed, the brain had already been chewed to pieces.

"Everyone assemble!" General Chen turned around and shouted to the survivors, "Subject to inspection!"

The survivors began to stir.

"Why should we be inspected?" someone said loudly, "I haven't been parasitized!"

"Yeah, we are fine, why should we be inspected?"

"In case the test finds something, what will you do? Kill us?"

The crowd became more and more chaotic.

Some people retreated, and some began to whisper.

General Chen raised his gun and fired a shot into the sky.

Bang!

The gunfire echoed in the ruins.

Everyone quieted down.

General Chen put down his gun and looked at these people.

"Shut the fuck up, all of you!" he roared, "You saw those people just now, their brains were full of bugs!"

"If we don't test, who knows how many more people among us are parasitized?"

"Cooperate with the inspection, this is for everyone's good!"

The crowd was still a bit restless, but no one dared to speak again.

A medical staff member walked over and said to General Chen: "Have them line up, one by one."

"Did you hear that!" General Chen shouted, "Get in line, all of you!"

The survivors slowly formed a line.

The first person walked up to the testing equipment.

That was a man in his thirties, his face covered in mud and blood.

"Lie down." The medical staff pointed to an examination bed.

The man hesitated for a moment, then lay down.

The testing equipment started up.

That was a ring-shaped scanner that slowly moved over the man's head. A brain scan image appeared on the screen, and various data were jumping.

After a few seconds, the scanner stopped.

"Normal," the medical staff said, "Next."

The man breathed a sigh of relief, got off the examination bed, and walked aside.

The second person came up.

The third.

The fourth.

Most people passed the test.

But when the test reached the thirtieth person, an alarm sounded.

Beep, beep, beep, beep!

The harsh sound made everyone turn their heads.

Lying on the examination bed was a young woman wearing a worn military uniform with a pale face.

She was a soldier of the Seventh Shelter, usually quiet and always staying alone.

"What's wrong?" The woman sat up, "Do I... do I have a problem?"

The medical staff stared at the screen.

On the scan image, there was a shadow in the woman's brain.

The shape of the shadow was irregular, as if something was entrenched there.

"You have been parasitized," the medical staff said.

The woman's face turned even paler.

"No... impossible... I didn't..."

Halfway through her words, she suddenly stopped.

Her expression changed.

Her eyes changed from panic to emptiness.

Then she pounced on the nearest medical staff.

The speed was very fast, her fingers stretched out like claws, aiming straight for the medical staff's throat.

The medical staff screamed and was knocked to the ground.

The woman's fingers dug into the medical staff's neck, and blood gushed out.

"Shoot!"

The soldiers standing nearby immediately raised their guns.

Bang, bang, bang!

Three bullets.

The woman's head blossomed, and her body collapsed softly to the ground.

A grayish-white bug crawled out of her head.

The bug was as thick as a thumb, covered in blood and brain matter, writhing on the ground.

A soldier rushed up and stepped down on it.

Squish.

The bug was stepped on and burst, green juice splashing everywhere.

A stench instantly filled the air.

That smell was like rotting meat mixed with acid, making people want to vomit.

The crowd exploded.

"She was really parasitized!"

"A bug! There's a bug in her brain!"

"How many more monsters like this are among us?"

General Chen raised his gun.

"Shut the fuck up, all of you!" he roared, "Continue the test!"

But the crowd was still stirring.

Someone wanted to run and was stopped by the soldiers.

Someone knelt on the ground and began to cry.

Just then, a dozen people suddenly rushed out from the crowd.

Their eyes had changed, becoming empty and ferocious.

Some grabbed guns nearby, and some directly bit people next to them with their hands.

"Kill them! Don't let them test us!"

A parasitized man pounced on the testing equipment, trying to smash it.

The soldiers immediately opened fire.

The gunfire was as dense as firecrackers.

Those parasitized people fell one by one.

Some had their heads pierced, and some were shot in the chest.

But after they fell, those parasites were still crawling.

Grayish-white bugs crawled out of the corpses, writhing on the ground, trying to crawl into the crowd.

The soldiers rushed up and, one kick at a time, crushed all these bugs to pieces.

Green juice splashed everywhere.

The whole process took less than a minute.

A dozen corpses lay on the ground, along with puddles of bug remains.

The stench in the air became stronger.

Some people began to vomit.

Lin Wan leaned against a wall, her face pale.

She knew the parasitized female survivor, and they had just carried out a defense mission together earlier.

"Continue the test," Su Mingyuan's voice was very calm, "All soldiers, as long as the scanner alarms, immediately control the target."

"Yes!"

The test continued.

But this time the soldiers were all holding guns, and as soon as the scanner sounded, they immediately rushed up and pinned the person to the ground.

The fiftieth person.

The alarm sounded.

The soldiers rushed up and pinned the person down.

That was a middle-aged man, struggling desperately, making inhuman roaring sounds from his mouth.

"Kill me! Kill me! Don't let it control me!"

The man still retained partial consciousness, his eyes full of fear.

A soldier raised his gun.

Bang.

The eighty-second person.

The alarm sounded.

This time it was a teenager.

He knelt on the ground, crying and shouting: "I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

But the scanner wouldn't lie.

In his brain, that shadow was clearly visible.

The gunshot rang out.

The child fell.

The one hundred and twentieth person.

Alarm.

The soldiers were already numb.

Like machines, they controlled, confirmed, and shot.

With every gunshot, there was one more corpse.