I’m a Max-Level Taoist Master, and You’re Throwing Me Into a Rules-Based Horror Game?! - Chapter 170

Chapter 170: They Have Been Completely Eradicated, Physically!

The black bear now steadily carried the mechanical being on its back.

The more terrifying the strength Zhang Yangqing displayed, the more respect it felt.

Just based on that last move, the black bear confidently felt that if this great one decided to cut it down, it certainly wouldn’t survive either.

Because, with its current abilities, it couldn’t even see the speed of that strike.

By the time it registered what happened, the bizarre cat-kin warrior had already been sliced in two.

Only now did the black bear truly understand that the beating it took earlier was actually light.

The reason Zhang Yangqing acted himself, aside from wanting to intimidate, was that he had detected the contamination.

The black bear’s speed was certainly no match for the bizarre cat-kin warrior.

If the black bear got contaminated, he would lose his means of transport.

So, it was more convenient to act himself at this point.

As for the bizarre area with the full moon, it was the attack zone of the Velvet Ants.

Entering would attract swarms of attacks.

However, when the swarm saw the black bear, they lost their desire to attack.

After all, the black bear was a dominant force in this area.

If other chosen ones entered here, they would definitely be swarmed; leaving was the best option.

Zhang Yangqing simply swaggered right through the dangerous area.

Brendan, the chosen one from Bullfighting Country, after evading the bizarre cat-kin warrior’s attack, began searching for Velvet Ants, because he needed to follow them to find the hive’s location.

The rules stated that the Queen Bee could be communicated with, but the prerequisite was to meet her demands.

Along the way, Brendan speculated about what the Queen Bee might request.

The path to finding the hive was long and dangerous.

This area didn’t just contain the things mentioned in the rules; there were also special plants.

Brendan noticed some plants seemed to be sneaking towards him, so he directly fired his bio-hand cannon, resolving the trouble.

At times like this, it’s best not to conserve energy and eliminate dangers early.

After all, with a mechanical body, he possessed some combat capability.

After several life-and-death tests, the chosen ones were becoming more proficient with their mechanical bodies.

They might not be able to defeat those terrifying large creatures, but bullying these small plants was feasible.

It made the survivors from the previous round envious; if they had such mechanical bodies in the last round, clearing it would have been much easier.

However, none of the chosen ones let their guard down, constantly observing their surroundings to avoid accidents.

Chosen ones who genuinely felt the danger ahead was too great could choose to withdraw at this point.

After all, those who could come in search of special rewards had basically already completed the basic tasks.

On the Dragon Nation’s live screen, Zhang Yangqing rode the bear unimpeded.

The black bear soon arrived before a massive tree trunk.

In front of them was a magnificent hive as tall as a ten-story building, its exterior Dark yellow crystals, appearing exceptionally sturdy.

However, the moment they appeared, a large swarm of Velvet Ants poured out from inside the hive, seeming to blot out the sky.

They made this already poorly lit area even darker.

The two demi-human warrior brothers saw this scene and immediately raised their weapons, aiming at the swarm of Velvet Ants.

As soon as the Mechanical God gave the order, they would start shooting immediately.

They wouldn’t embarrass themselves like the previous times.

If the two brothers had come to this place alone, seeing this sight would have scared them weak in the knees.

That sky-blotting swarm of Velvet Ants could make their bodies vanish without a trace.

Now, they didn’t know why, but perhaps because this Mechanical God was beside them, they weren’t nervous at all.

Maybe this was the Mechanical God’s ability?
Just as they were observing Zhang Yangqing, they noticed he showed no intention of taking action.

The two brothers were very puzzled. Wouldn’t the Velvet Ants attack them? Or did the Velvet Ants already know the Mechanical God’s power?

While they were confused, a voice came from within the hive.

“Friends from afar, please come in.”

A mature woman’s voice reached everyone’s ears.

Zhang Yangqing told the black bear and the demi-human brothers to wait here, and he walked in.

The younger demi-human brother was about to speak up, urging Zhang Yangqing to be careful, but the older brother, now wiser, stopped him with a look that said: The Mechanical God will be fine; we just need to trust him.

The older brother was smart. He knew his younger brother intended to gain the Mechanical God’s favor through concern.

But sometimes, intention and reality differ. Showing concern for the strong could be seen as looking down on them.

Not only might it not gain favor, but it could also lower their impression.

So, the older brother told the younger one to shut up; they just needed to follow orders.

The younger brother wasn’t quick to react, but he listened to his older brother’s advice and closed his mouth.

When other chosen ones first arrived here, they truly didn’t dare enter.

The inside seemed ten times more dangerous than the outside; if surrounded, there was no chance of survival.

But the rules stated that the Queen Bee could be communicated with, and she was being quite polite.

So, the chosen ones gritted their teeth and went in.

Especially Ramirez, the chosen one from Argentina. He actually wanted to bring his mechanical army inside with him, but that seemed rather impolite.

This Queen Bee was being polite; if he brought over a hundred mechanical beings into her home, wouldn’t that seem provocative?

So, he followed the rules, left his mechanical army outside, and entered alone.

Away from his mechanical army, he felt nervous, unlike a certain superhuman who simply wasn’t afraid.

As soon as Ramirez entered, he found the structure inside unique.

Generally, in his understanding, hives should be pitch black, with occasional light filtering in.

Because the outside of a hive is usually a fully enclosed structure.

But here, the lighting system was well-developed; the interior was dimly lit but very suitable for the Velvet Ant swarm’s life.

Inside this massive structure, busy Velvet Ants were everywhere, and the buzzing sound filled their ears.

“Huh, why do I feel the architectural style here isn’t simple?”

Ramirez sensed something.

According to Ramirez’s understanding, shouldn’t the inside of a hive be layered?

Why did it feel somewhat winding, more like a human castle?

After the chosen ones entered, a large Velvet Ant, nearly one meter long, appeared before them.

It posed a certain level of intimidation to the other chosen ones.

But this thing didn’t seem to be the Queen Bee.

Just as Ramirez observed carefully, this large Velvet Ant gave him a look, then fluttered its wings and left.

It seemed to want the chosen one to follow it.

At this stage, most chosen ones were very nervous, fearing something might go wrong.

But some weren’t afraid; after all, they had come this far. If there was danger, it would have happened already; why wait until now?

Ramirez followed the large Velvet Ant, bypassing several spiral staircases and passing through two corridors before arriving in front of a large ‘room’.

What he saw inside made his eyes widen.

Inside the room, there were bookshelves filled with many ancient books.

The covers of these books were somewhat old, and the written text was completely unfamiliar to the chosen ones.

Next to the bookshelves was a ‘laboratory’.

The laboratory was filled with various chemical instruments, and behind it were all sorts of apparatus.

The bottled instruments contained liquids of different colors; the chosen ones didn’t know their specifics.

The owner of this room, the Queen Bee, was busy fiddling with her bottles and jars.

It had to be said, this Queen Bee bore some resemblance to the bizarre cat-kin warrior.

Her body was humanoid, but her skeleton was entirely insect-like.

She had the eyes of a Velvet Ant on her head, and her torso appeared slender yet sturdy.

The only difference was her face—a pale human face.

The features on this face were exquisitely beautiful but lacked the expressions of human emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness; it seemed immobile.

It possessed a strange kind of beauty.

Judging by the face alone, it was indeed a beautiful type.

But the spines on her body made one somewhat fearful.

Yet, it also hit the preferences of certain viewers, who went wild again.

At least the Queen Bee looked somewhat human, which slightly eased the tension in many chosen ones’ hearts.

Seeing the chosen ones enter, the Queen Bee put down the bottles and jars she was busy with.

“State your request.”

She got straight to the point.

The Queen Bee was highly intelligent; she knew these people came from afar not just to chat with her.

They must want something, which was why they braved various dangers to come here.

She had read many books and encountered many different types of creatures.

Her personality was also very straightforward; she didn’t engage in small talk.

“Respected Queen Bee, I desire the Queen Bee Crystal. I wonder if you could bestow it upon me.”

Seeing the Queen Bee so direct, Ramirez felt he didn’t need to beat around the bush either.

Moreover, the Queen Bee’s actions gave him the feeling that she was more like a potion-brewing witch than an insect-like creature.

The Queen Bee looked at Ramirez, her expressionless face forming some words: “According to the rules, since you wish to obtain the Queen Bee Crystal, you should also pay a certain price.”

If the Queen Bee hadn’t said this without any killing intent, many chosen ones would have been afraid.

“Tell me, what do I need to do?”
Ramirez felt that equivalent exchange was fine; compared to fighting, he preferred completing tasks to earn rewards.

Completing tasks for NPCs in the strange tale world and obtaining corresponding rewards was also the approach for the vast majority of chosen ones.

The Queen Bee then stated her request.

Originally, this primeval forest only had her, the black bear, and similar creatures.

The beast-kin races didn’t live in this area; if any were present, they were few.

But someone spread the news that the Queen Bee Crystal could enhance combat power.

Now, many beast-kin tribes were stationed nearby.

Those greedy fellows annoyed the Queen Bee endlessly.

So, the Queen Bee created this pollen area to keep those beast-kin races away.

Who knew those beast-kin wouldn’t give up and just set up camp outside.

If the chosen ones wanted to obtain the Queen Bee Crystal, they needed to do the Queen Bee a favor.

Behind this forest, there was a special spring area, the legendary Black Mist Spring.

No living being could approach it because proximity would lead to infection by special radioactive energy, causing loss of consciousness.

The Queen Bee had also tried sending Velvet Ants to collect it and attempted to concoct some potions.

But they couldn’t enter that area and had lost many Velvet Ants.

The chosen ones had mechanical bodies and should be able to withstand the radiation contamination to obtain the water from the Black Mist Spring.

That is, use the special container provided by the Queen Bee to collect it.

The purpose was simple: to create weapons that other beast-kin races would fear.

To make herself safer, and if possible, preferably drive away the beast-kin races.

This was the Queen Bee’s request and the condition for the chosen ones to obtain the Queen Bee Crystal.

After listening, Ramirez nodded and agreed.

Other chosen ones might worry about their safety.

But Ramirez had a mechanical army! The Queen Bee’s request was just for him to fetch the water from the Black Mist Spring, not to go himself. What did he have to fear?

He didn’t care if mechanical guards died anyway.

In this level, he only needed to give orders and supervise on-site.

Brendan, the chosen one from Bullfighting Country, was operating alone. He was still very cautious when performing this task, constantly observing on the journey to the Black Mist Spring.

If his body showed any signs of discomfort, he planned to find a way to leave.

But the Queen Bee’s guess was correct; the radiation from the Black Mist Spring seemed ineffective against the chosen ones’ mechanical bodies.

The closer Brendan got, the more it smelled like mutated industrial wastewater to him.

After all, the mechanical body had a sense of smell, even if it didn’t react.

He thought this would just be a matter of fetching water, but unexpected incidents still occurred.

The chosen one from Maple Leaf Country was careless. He kept observing the spring and the surrounding forest for mutated fish or mutated beast-kin.

He completely failed to notice a puddle of black mud on the ground.

Or rather, the ground here was all pitch black, so it wasn’t within his consideration.

As the Maple Leaf Country chosen one prepared to approach the spring to fill the bottle, the black mud came alive, lunging at him.

It instantly swallowed the unprepared Maple Leaf Country chosen one.

The Maple Leaf Country chosen one panicked; this thing was a mutated mud monster, impossible to break free from, and it stuck tighter the more he struggled.

He tried blasting it with his bio-hand cannon.

The explosion’s blast did shake the mud monster apart somewhat.

But after only one or two shots, the bio-hand cannon was infiltrated by the mud monster, firmly clogged.

The Maple Leaf Country’s screen went black; the contestant was eliminated.

This made the viewers’ scalps tingle; the difficulty of this level felt too high.

Except for that Celestial Master from the Dragon Nation, could anyone really clear this level?

Looking at the mud monster’s terrifying appearance, even if the Dragon Nation’s Celestial Master had superb sword skills, wouldn’t they be useless against a mud monster?

The one with stable performance this round was Ramirez, the chosen one from Argentina. He used saturation fire; over a hundred mechanical guards used cannon fire to push back the mud monster, clearing a path.

Relying on other mechanical guards charging recklessly, he steadily obtained the Black Mist Spring water.

Throughout the process, Ramirez only gave orders, facing no great danger.

He only lost six mechanical guards this round; not a big problem.

Brendan, the chosen one from Bullfighting Country, almost died in this place.

When he stepped on a patch of sticky black mud, he felt a suction force on his foot, as if trying to glue him down.

He quickly pulled back, but the moment he retreated, the black mud monster pounced.

He blasted with his bio-hand cannon while retreating, barely escaping danger.

When he reached a safe area, the mud chunks blasted apart by the hand cannon wriggled and recombined.

“Looking at this form, could these guys be the hidden bizarre entities?”

Near the Black Mist Spring, Brendan, the chosen one from Bullfighting Country, felt his scalp go numb.

Unexpectedly, he encountered hidden bizarre entities here?
Hidden bizarre entities had the special characteristic of being indestructible and immortal.

Other hidden bizarre entities had resurrection cooldowns after being killed, but this thing resurrected instantly! How are you supposed to deal with that!
Special rewards really aren’t easy to obtain.

Brendan began recalling other chosen ones’ recordings in his mind. What did chosen ones do when facing such dangers?

At this point, he remembered the method used by chosen ones in the previous round when picking colorful fruits.

If a person entered the attack range of bizarre plants, they would definitely be attacked.

Then, the special bizarre mud monster before him must also have an attack range.

This was the so-called hidden rule; one must observe carefully.

Brendan observed that the mud monster couldn’t leave the vicinity of the Black Mist Spring; the contamination in the spring seemed to be its power source.

Once this point was realized in this level, various strategies emerged.

Simply throwing a bottle in with a rope wouldn’t work because the bizarre mud monster would corrode the rope.

Any object passing through their attack range would be attacked.

So, Brendan’s strategy was to climb a tree, reaching a certain height.

Bypass the bizarre mud monster’s attack range, arriving at a branch above the Black Mist Spring.

There were some small details for survival here.

That was, first tie a rope around his waist, then secure it to a nearby large tree.

If the branch couldn’t support his weight, he wouldn’t fall directly into the Black Mist Spring.

One could say that chosen ones had many tricks up their sleeves to survive.

Once near the top of the Black Mist Spring, he could throw down a bottle tied with a rope.

After filling it with Black Mist Spring water, he could pull the bottle back up.

The height was sufficient here, and since it didn’t pass through the mud monster’s attack range overhead, it wouldn’t be attacked.

Thus, Brendan also obtained the Black Mist Spring water.

Other chosen ones used all sorts of strange methods.

Some made ultra-long fishing rods.

If not for the mechanical body’s strength, ordinary people couldn’t even lift them.

Others directly used heavy artillery to bombard the Black Mist Spring.

After the explosion, they used bottles to collect the splashed Black Mist Spring water.

This method was certainly tedious, collecting very little each time, but it was safe, and it was a method they could think of.

The strategies in the strange tale world aren’t very singular; it depends on what the chosen ones come up with on the spot.

At this time, the audience was eager to see how the Dragon Nation’s Celestial Master would deal with the bizarre mud monster.

This round had no rules that could directly execute special bizarre entities.

Moreover, the magic of the Dragon Kingdom’s celestial master is restricted, so it may not be easy to pass this level

Just as they thought this, they opened the Dragon Nation’s live screen.

A scene they didn’t expect, yet found reasonable, appeared.

When Zhang Yangqing entered the hive, he followed the large Velvet Ant into the Queen Bee’s laboratory.

In the laboratory, the Queen Bee, seeing someone enter, put down the bottles and jars she was busy with.

Just as the Queen Bee was about to say something, Zhang Yangqing spoke first: “State your wish.”

This sentence left the Queen Bee stunned.

It felt like her line had been stolen?

Wasn’t that my line?

But the Queen Bee went along with it.

She said she wanted the water from the Black Mist Spring, and then she could give Zhang Yangqing the Queen Bee Crystal.

After listening to the Queen Bee’s story, Zhang Yangqing pondered for a moment and asked, “The purpose of you wanting the Black Mist Spring is to have a weapon to protect yourself when facing attacks from the beast-kin races, isn’t it?”

The Queen Bee nodded and replied, “Correct. Preferably, to drive them away, so we can develop.”

The beast-kin races were adaptable, but the Velvet Ants had their own hive and couldn’t easily relocate.

So, they could only find ways to protect themselves.

“I think even if you get the Black Mist Spring water, you won’t be able to drive them away.”

“Huh? Why is that? Doesn’t that thing make all living beings avoid it?”

Zhang Yangqing shrugged and said, “Because I’ve already killed them all. There are currently no beast-kin races near you.”

Queen Bee: “…”

So, when you said ‘unable to drive them away,’ you meant you’ve already killed them all?

This is indeed complete eradication, physically!