Chapter 59: Chapter 59: The Terrifying Trap!
From the very beginning, Shen Yu never intended for these people to investigate, or rather, for anyone in this world to carry out an investigation.
Nor did he request reinforcements or more soldiers.
Because this would be nothing but gambling with human lives for the slightest bit of progress.
Just like how, before Shen Yu met the other Shen Yu, the Eastern Country dealt with the eye worms.
Perhaps, when the true crisis arrives, we will still need to compose the final hymn of Human Civilization with life and courage.
But right now, there’s no such necessity—or rather, changing this situation as much as possible is exactly what Shen Yu wants to do.
Looking at the soldiers before him, Shen Yu spoke again:
"Just hours ago, a veteran commander held my hand and told me that our warriors lack neither courage nor the will to sacrifice, but we cannot let them go fight invincible enemies and die in vain.
This is something I deeply agree with.
I believe you all possess the courage to charge onto a battlefield destined for defeat, but in addition to courage, what we need most is victory!
Such victory isn’t something our allies can truly give us. What we can actually get from them is not strength to replace yours, but the power to arm you, so that the enemy is no longer invincible.
Do you all understand what I mean?"
In Shen Yu’s mind, given that current technological equipment and Martial Arts resources and techniques are inadequate, if there’s anyone who should first be armed with strengths from another world, it must be these people in front of him.
That was the reason he said all these things today.
To give them a bit more hope and motivation.
The effect was immediate.
Even though they hadn’t spoken yet, everyone could feel the atmosphere among them had completely changed.
Until Song Yao was the first to react, turning around and shouting: "Did you hear what the Commander just said? Do you understand?"
"Understood!"
In an instant, voices erupted across the square like an unbreakable tidal wave.
This time, though the momentum was a bit less tragic than before, it was even more inspiring.
Shen Yu didn’t say anything more, and opened the projection again to monitor the investigation ahead.
It was at this point that interstellar world Shen Yu spoke up: "Even in my civilization, automated robots and AI can’t replace the vital role humans play on the battlefield. The apocalypse is humanity’s apocalypse—victory can only be achieved by humans themselves."
Just that simple sentence gave the warriors even more confidence.
Their effort and courage, their awareness and strength, were most definitely not in vain.
But at this moment, Shen Yu’s expression had turned grave.
He glanced around and said, "Come closer—keep this confidential from noncombatants for now."
As soon as the words fell, Song Yao immediately turned and jogged away.
He was also a noncombatant.
The rest of the warriors quickly closed in, forming a simple human circle, and nearby engineers immediately moved away.
The reason Shen Yu did this was that what the detection devices had found was truly horrifying.
This was the area closest to the enemy, and while he trusted the engineers’ psychology, there was no need to risk causing panic unless necessary.
When all the warriors clearly saw the contents of the 3D projection, every one of their pupils contracted sharply.
The shock was apparent on all their faces.
On the 3D projection, all plants still looked like plants, and all animals and insects looked unchanged. However, underneath that unchanged surface, within, everything was already utterly different!
The projection marked things in a vivid, bloody red.
It was countless root-like or nerve-like things crawling through every tree, every blade of grass, even every single leaf, every flower, every animal, every insect—inside them all!
Even ants!
No matter how tiny, their bodies were crisscrossed with dense lines just the same.
Clinging tightly to bone, blood vessels, and flesh!
Some were very fine, some quite thick.
The insides of some trees could barely be called roots anymore—they’d grown into full vines.
It was as if these organisms had wrapped themselves in a layer of "false skin"—after invading every living thing, they suddenly became silent, as though nothing had happened at all.
This turned the whole forest into a horrifying trap!
It was as if behind this ordinary scene, infinite enemies lay in wait!
"Incredibly good at mimicry," interstellar world Shen Yu’s expression had also grown grim. "The enemies in my universe also have this kind of parasitic, disguised, dormant bioweapon—but not this strong. Look here, the density of some parasitic tissue is almost identical to the original. If it wasn’t for the strength of our detection devices, we probably wouldn’t have discovered it either."
What he meant was that with Mother Star’s technology, this level of mimicry was indeed almost impossible to spot.
Shen Yu instantly thought of those who had previously entered the forest to investigate.
"Mingshu." He immediately connected with his secretary, sending over the footage. "Report this situation at once! Everyone who’s been into that forest, and everyone they’ve come into contact with—all of them must be strictly controlled right now!"
What Shen Yu feared most at this moment was that this thing was infectious.
If it was, then this would be far more terrifying than any zombie virus!
After all, this thing was unbelievably stealthy.
"Already reported—the necessary measures are underway," Ji Mingshu quickly replied with good news, "Everyone who went into the forest had their movements restricted to some degree, and we took precautions against unknown viruses."
"Good." Shen Yu, whose nerves had been taut, relaxed just a little.
Of course—when faced with such diverse and mysterious monsters, there’s no way anyone would neglect precautions against parasites or viruses.
When facing the unknown, caution is the only thing that keeps you alive.
"The situation might not be as bad as it seems. I suspect its infectivity is weak or restricted in some way," interstellar world Shen Yu said at this moment. "Otherwise, there’d be no need to invade the city in an explosive fashion—they could’ve just quietly parasitized the whole world."
"Exactly." Shen Yu nodded, clearly realizing it too.
Still, as he looked at the projections from the detection device, worry gnawed at his gut.
There were too many.
There were just far too many of these unknown parasitic plants.
At a glance, nearly every plant, every living thing, was already infected.
He thought of the prophetic visions he’d seen before.
Longhua City was likely only the first city attacked nine days later—it wouldn’t be the only one.
When the enemy emerges en masse, shredding their disguises, why would they stop at just one city?
"First, collect some individuals, capture and bring them back under control," Shen Yu ordered, then gave the command to the detection device.
Collect specimens of insects, animals, and plants.
But then, something unexpected happened.