Chapter 57: The Communication Method of an Illiterate

On the third night, it remained calm and uneventful.

As soon as morning arrived, Yang Yi boarded the plane heading to Sichuan Province.

It was not until the plane she was on ascended into the sky that the faint, lingering sensation of being watched vanished from her body.

Another evening arrived; Wuming City was about to welcome another night. The protection of the "God of the Human World" had disappeared, and amidst curses and complaints, people hurried home with helmets on.

Night fell once again, and the entire land of Wuming City seemed to exude an ominous aura. In the sweltering air, everything was drawn taut, like an arrow nocked on a bowstring, ready to shoot forth something terrifying at any moment.

On a small path in the city center, a slender figure walked slowly; she strolled leisurely through this city that everyone else avoided.

Moonlight struck her face, revealing unmistakably Yang Yi, who had somehow returned alone to Wuming City again without anyone noticing.

At this moment, there was not a single fluctuation of dark matter on her entire body; she was no different from an ordinary person.

Yang Yi's gaze drifted around, quietly waiting for something.

The Brain-Sucking Beasts had been hungry for three days; surely, tonight would be the day they went on a killing spree.

Come, come! Let me see your true faces, you cunning, cowardly little things.

Yang Yi retracted all her telekinetic power, walking through the streets and alleys just as she had before awakening. It was a strange experience, for ever since awakening, using dark matter had been like using another hand, obeying her every command.

She had grown accustomed to observing everything with telekinesis and to wrapping herself layer upon layer in telekinetic power like a silkworm in its cocoon, erecting thick barriers that gave her a sense of security, like an infant in its mother's womb.

But tonight, she kept her telekinetic power beneath her skin; on the surface, she was now no different from an ordinary person.

Suddenly, she heard a rush of wind in the silent air, and something swiftly attacked the back of her head from behind.

Finally here, she thought silently.

It was a white, tube-shaped object, with layers of sharp teeth inside its circular mouth; the instant it neared her side, the tube was frozen in mid-air, unable to move.

Yang Yi slowly turned around, carefully observing the thing for a moment, after which the ground gradually cracked open, revealing its entire form to view.

It was a giant long worm resembling a sandworm, its body composed of ring upon ring of flesh segments; its head was small while its body was large, the head only as thick as a child's arm, growing thicker the further down one went, with the thickest part being as wide as a water bucket, and its total length approximately seven or eight meters; right now, it was being pulled out of the ground by her and manipulated in the air by her telekinesis.

Rather than calling it a Brain-Sucking Beast, it would be better to call it a Brain-Sucking Worm.

It emitted a hissing sound from its mouth, its whole body struggling violently.

It did not look like it possessed a brain.

Yang Yi released it; the moment this giant worm hit the ground, it immediately burrowed back underground at high speed and vanished, the earth actually closing up automatically, indicating it possessed some ability to control soil.

Yang Yi let out a cold laugh, a strand of telekinetic power firmly attached to it; only after it had run a certain distance did she calmly split the ground open and pursue it.

Flying underground was a novel experience; she most often flew in the sky and also enjoyed swimming in the sea, but she had never burrowed back and forth underground like an earthworm.

Following the trajectory of the Brain-Sucking Worm, her telekinetic power split the soil layers ahead, and she drilled a long, winding tunnel through the ground like a drilling rig; the surrounding scenery consisted of nothing but earth, stones, mud clods, and darkness.

Fortunately, she no longer needed to use her eyes to see but could perceive using telekinesis; otherwise, being underground would truly have been like groping in the dark.

There was a strong smell of earth all around; she did not know how long she had been burrowing underground following this thing—perhaps half an hour, perhaps an hour—but because it was so dark and stifling underground, time seemed to stretch on formlessly and very slowly.

After circling several times, this Brain-Sucking Worm finally began moving in a straight line, rapidly heading in one direction.

A smile touched the corner of Yang Yi's mouth, and she continued to follow.

After burrowing for another hour or so, she felt she had reached a depth of three to four kilometers underground; at this depth, unless it was a continental scientific engineering drilling project of research-grade scale, ordinary manpower and resources would be unable to reach such depths.

This thing was hidden so deep; it seemed that even if they had decided to turn the entire city of Wuming upside down back then, they still would not have been able to find these creatures.

Suddenly, her telekinetic power sensed a warm, humid breath, and a vast space suddenly appeared before her.

In the darkness, a huge hive-like nest sat four kilometers beneath Wuming City; countless oval grooves had been drilled into the surrounding earthen walls, within which white flesh cocoons were wriggling, and through their translucent cocoon walls, one could faintly see juvenile Brain-Sucking Worms hatching.

And in the very center of the nest, a giant white worm, larger and fatter than all its kin, lay on the ground like a small mountain, diligently laying eggs.

This must be the queen of the Brain-Sucking Worms.

Ahead, several other Brain-Sucking Worms were feeding it from their mouths; the substance was a viscous, tofu-brain-like material streaked with blood.

Yang Yi's expression turned cold; all the telekinetic power on her body surged forth, and the entire nest was instantly frozen in place by her, coagulated like a paused image.

For Yang Yi, killing alien creatures was not difficult; the most difficult part was actually finding the alien creatures without hindering humans.

Yang Yi strolled as if in her own courtyard, wandering through the Brain-Sucking Worms' lair and carefully observing the ecological environment of these creatures; she even took out her mobile phone, turned on the light and camera, and began filming, preparing to provide first-hand data to the Alien Creature Research Institute.

If only there were a signal here; she could connect directly with Director Zeng, and surely, upon seeing the Brain-Sucking Worms' lair, they over there would go mad with excitement.

Just as Yang Yi held her phone close to the worm queen, its head, which had been forcibly frozen by telekinetic power, seemed to tremble slightly, and an unfamiliar, immature voice entered her ears:

"My lord, I did not know this was your pasture; please spare me, and I will leave immediately..."

It was another unheard-of language, yet she could understand it; regarding this, Yang Yi was not as surprised as she had been the previous two times.

"Oh? So it has been you watching me these past few days?" Yang Yi said.

Excitement rose within her heart; she felt that today, perhaps, she could find answers to many unsolved mysteries.

But the worm queen seemed to have no reaction to her words, holding its mouth upright and looking at her in confusion.

Only then did Yang Yi remember that the Soul-Hosting Demon from before had fused with Amy's soul, which allowed it to converse with her and use human language; during the Fire Demon incident, she could only unilaterally understand the Fire Demon's language, and in reality, no actual communication had taken place.

She had never hated being an illiterate person unable to communicate through language as much as she did at this moment.

Having finally encountered a treasure mountain, she was about to return empty-handed.

Seeing she made no move, the worm queen spoke again: "My lord... I have only just arrived in this region and know nothing of the local powers; I accidentally offended you, so please spare me... I will leave immediately..."

Its voice was still young, one could even say immature, like a half-grown child, cautious and careful.

Yang Yi remained silent, pondering how to communicate.

If she drew pictures, would the other party understand?

Seeing she still made no sound, the worm queen trembled slightly; it struggled to lift its mouth upward, its fat flesh segments writhing layer upon layer, and a black object about the size of a palm, containing dark matter so dense it was unimaginable, was excreted from its body.

"My lord, this is Black Stone, something only the queen of our Brain-Sucking Worm clan can condense; I offer it respectfully to you, please forgive my sins..."

Yang Yi used her telekinetic power to take the black stone wrapped in mucus; its texture was somewhat like stone, incredibly hard, and she had to form a blade out of her telekinetic power just to cut a few marks into it.

This was likely the object that allowed the worm queen to sense the presence of Awakened ones, enabling them to evade natural enemies in time.

The concentration of dark matter in the Black Stone was extremely high; if an ordinary person carried it on their person, it might aid in awakening; if an Awakened one carried it, it might help with breakthroughs; as for any other effects, she could not guess.

Yang Yi still remained silent, waiting to see what else this thing could produce.

The Insect Mother saw that Yang Yi still had not spared it, and her whole body trembled violently, but because she was controlled by telekinesis, only her white flesh rings shook wildly.

Just as Yang Yi was growing impatient and about to destroy everything here, a thought suddenly appeared in her mind.

She gazed at this Insect Mother, recalling the sensation when the Soul-Devouring Demon abandoned its body and attacked her soul directly with its spiritual form.

Moreover, it was not difficult; it was as if she had known it since birth. The Insect Mother's spiritual form was forcibly drawn into her sea of consciousness.

"Where did you come from to reach this place?" Yang Yi asked through direct mental communication.

"Replying to my lord, I do not know. I had just been born when our nest was attacked by another force. When I awoke, I was already in this desolate world... Energy is scarce here, so I grew very slowly... But here we have no natural enemies, and delicious food is everywhere. Gradually, I prepared to take root here..."

Yang Yi had a host of questions waiting to be asked when suddenly, the Insect Mother seemed to see something terrifying beyond measure, and her entire spiritual form began to tremble violently.

Yang Yi then discovered that her own figure within her spiritual world had involuntarily begun to transform into a vortex, constantly spinning and changing shape...

"Please forgive me, the Supreme..."

This pitiful Insect Mother's spiritual form, as if encountering the most horrifying sight of her life, was thus unconsciously sucked into the vortex by her...

When Yang Yi came to her senses and returned her spirit to the nest, she found that the Insect Mother before her had turned into a pile of dried, shriveled corpse.

And she, unconsciously, let out a burp full of the smell of earth...