Chapter 123: Night Parade of a Hundred Demons (14)

A gigantic centipede head appeared, assembled from countless zombie corpse fragments and countless souls like threads, trying to stitch those corpse pieces together.

On its head was a grotesque human face. Its body not only had human legs like a centipede’s, but at the joints there were also tentacles spilling out, wriggling like disgusting worms.

Narok shuddered and instinctively retreated several more steps. After all, this was human survival instinct. When you encounter something beyond your understanding, your brain automatically makes you keep your distance.

Selina also stepped back once, but her hand still gripped the sword tightly. She didn’t believe that machine could stop such a massive monster.

You had to know the corridor was five meters wide and over four meters high, yet that monster occupied nearly more than half the corridor. Those tentacles stretched out, forming a net that blocked the entire hallway.

The robot was about 2.5 meters tall, but compared to that centipede, it looked small.

Selina wasn’t afraid of death. Her eyes were full of worry as she looked toward Room 2705.

The robot didn’t seem afraid at all. It holstered the gun at its waist and grabbed the shield.

At that moment, the shield suddenly split apart, then reassembled into a greatsword. The blade was condensed laser, emitting a cold purple glow.

The face atop the centipede spread a cruel smile, not a smile a human should have. Its eyes were two faces of unfamiliar souls, mouths wide open, releasing low wails that made anyone hearing them shiver.

The robot raised the greatsword high. Both hands pulled taut, and the sound of metal being stretched rang out. Suddenly… countless tentacles spewed from the centipede’s mouth, wrapping the robot tight.

The robot didn’t struggle. Its posture of holding the sword high remained unchanged, but its body was gradually being dragged into the centipede’s mouth, like into a gigantic grinding machine.

That mouth was like a cave, narrowing deeper inside, with countless fangs around it like saw blades.

KRIT! KRIT! KRIT!

The sound of metal stretched to its limit rang out again. Selina and Narok retreated once more, watching the centipede and robot warily.

More and more tentacles wrapped around it, turning it into a cocoon.

Just as the robot’s body was less than a meter from the centipede’s mouth, two metal plates on its back opened. Two metal tubes extended outward, blasting searing blue flames.

Not only its back, but its arms also had small exhaust tubes, firing terrifying jets of flame, like fuel nozzles pushing a rocket forward.

KRIT! KRIT! KRIT!

The metal-stretching sound grew even louder and denser. On the robot’s body, countless sparks erupted at the joints, as if there were terrifying friction inside.

Right after that…

WHOOSH!

The blade came down. A gale swept from back to front.

Time seemed to stop. The world lost its colors, leaving only black and white. A flash of light streaked straight through the centipede from front to back.

Then…

CLANG!

A sound like a bell rang out. Time returned to normal, and the world’s colors came back.

There was no explosion, no blinding flash. Only a gust of wind passed through, and then… the centipede’s body split in two.

At the cut, countless souls, countless twisted faces, seemed to not even realize the centipede had been severed.

Thud! Thud!

The two halves fell to either side of the corridor. The physical body assembled from countless zombies also slowly collapsed onto the floor, melting into thick sludge. The souls screamed, trying to crawl out, trying to reconnect the physical body again.

However, the moment those souls crawled out, their bodies were like they had met concentrated acid. They twisted, shrank, then turned into ash.

A massive centipede, yet it so easily became a pile of ash and sludge on the floor.

After that, the robot automatically reassembled into a cube and was pulled back into Bardi’s room by the door.

Thud!

Narok dropped onto the ground. Only after a long while did he gradually come back to his senses, but his body was still trembling.

He had thought his sister was the strongest. He had thought that by staying beside her, he would easily get through this damned game.

But he was wrong.

The monsters were becoming less and less normal, going beyond his understanding. The Owners’ power also wasn’t as weak as he had thought.

Narok thought of something. If that robot earlier attacked his room, could his sister hold out?

He didn’t know, but he was deeply unsettled. What if his sister couldn’t hold out?

Run away? Or… die?

Narok sighed. His pride had been ground down until it was nearly gone. He felt that in the future, when going outside, being more humble would be better.

Selina was different. Her eyes fixed on Bardi’s room, and she seemed to be thinking of something.

…

Inside the room, Rover saw what had just happened. His eyes narrowed as he muttered, “Terrifying.”

He saw on the leaderboard that Bardi had instantly jumped to Rank 1, even pulling more than 1,000 points ahead of him.

Nanoe nodded as well. “Yeah. It’s truly terrifying. Looks like… there was a reason he chased after where the most monsters would appear.”

Morie spoke up too. “Not only can it easily kill zombies, it can even kill souls. Looks like… that robot is anything but normal.”

“However, it seems that robot has many limitations.”

“Hm?!” Rover asked in confusion. “You mean…”

Morie said, “If that robot were really that strong, he wouldn’t need to buy a room on our floor. That means its operating range isn’t large.”

“Besides, it probably can’t operate too much. That’s why he contacted you and Leng Yan and said he would take all the points for this wave.”

“Maybe running that robot costs a lot of resources, or maybe he can only use it once a day, and only for a short time.”

After listening, Rover nodded, agreeing with Morie’s guess. If that robot were truly that strong, Bardi would have been on Floor 1 already, blocking the entire monster wave.

This round might be his feast, and no one else would even get a bowl of soup.

At this moment, Rover also received a message from Bardi.

[Bardi: I need to rest. I won’t touch the monsters in the later waves. But if you need help, I’ll step in. 500 gold coins each time.]

Rover showed Bardi’s message to Nanoe and Morie. Both nodded, feeling Morie’s guess was probably over 80% correct.

“But the next wave will probably be souls combined with zombies,” Nanoe said. “Maybe mutated zombies fused with souls, or some other zombie form we haven’t seen yet.”

Rover nodded. “If that’s the case, I might need to Upgrade the defense towers. I’m just afraid the towers’ damage won’t be enough to kill them. Killing zombies seems simple, but souls…”

Morie spoke up, “If they’re just normal souls, it’s not a big deal. But if it’s a soul like that centipede earlier, then even if the defense towers can handle it, it’ll take a long time to attack.”

Rover rubbed his chin. Looking at his current Omni Points, around 10,000, he felt a bit more at ease.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Right after that, knocking sounded at the door.

Nanoe hurried to the door, then opened a notebook. On it were clear, graceful handwriting, packed with dense lines of text.

Rover leaned in to read it, and in the next moment, he fell completely silent.

The notebook was divided into questions, answers, and different sentence types. Each type had a different knocking pattern, or a different cipher to identify it.

The lines written in the notebook almost covered every possible scenario. Rover could even see lines that said the room could be transported to another space.

Or a line that said everyone in the room might be fake, or that everyone might be able to move freely.

However, at the very top of the notebook, there was a huge note written in bold: “Prioritize Rover’s safety above all else!”

His heart felt touched, yet he was also stunned. He looked at Nanoe and Morie like he was looking at two monsters.

What the hell was inside their heads? He felt it wasn’t the brain of a normal person anymore, but the brain of humans from a higher civilization.

They not only came up with this weird but effective way of communication, they also created countless scenarios no one would even think of.

Nanoe suddenly turned and winked at him.

Rover smiled and shook his head, then stepped back. After all, the smarter and more capable they were, the more relaxed he could be.

He didn’t want to be like male leads in novels, where their women always got into trouble, forcing them to rush out and rescue them.

Or be so stupid they ruined every plan and pushed everyone into dangerous situations.

Nanoe spoke up, “Rover, should we keep Selina outside to keep fighting, or should we have her enter the [Destination Point] zone?”

Rover didn’t hesitate at all and immediately said, “Have her go to the [Destination Point] zone. It’s safer there.”

“But… if we do that, our ranking points might not be high,” Nanoe frowned.

Rover shook his head, his voice calm. “We don’t need to win. We just need to be safe.”

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