Chapter 169: Spoils: Inventory of Alien and Parasitic Species

Just as he had this thought, cracks appeared on the ceiling wall, accompanied by continuous creaking sounds, and various attached objects trembled and fell off.

Clearly, it was about to collapse!

Michael's eyes went blank, then he suddenly grabbed the radio and screamed, "Fuck! Notify everyone, retreat in order!"

"Hello? Anyone still there? Get out now, get out right now!"

At that moment, he saw people running out of the building, waving at him, "Captain! We're evacuating already! But there are wounded!"

Michael immediately directed people to carry the wounded out.

Louis, meanwhile, returned to the vehicle with the items—yes, the big pickup truck, chosen specifically for easier transport.

In the vehicle, Haley, Jiali, and David were all present—they had come with Louis tonight; the business partner and his son Casey had gone home overnight yesterday.

Even the school had been forced to shut down at the Bureau's request, with everyone required to go to the hospital for checks to determine if any infection remained—no one knew when classes would resume.

But none of this concerned Louis; Haley also happened to have a convenient opportunity to transfer schools—though he wasn't sure whether her father would agree to let his daughter move to Florida.

"Alright, the matter's settled. Let's go."

Louis said, watching Michael frantically directing operations on-site—he had already informed his second uncle about the situation; his second uncle would now negotiate with Michael.

As for himself, he would naturally return and inspect the spoils and results.

He was very curious about the mother body and the meteorite.

At that moment, David, sitting in the driver's seat, seemed dazed—he looked at Louis, then at himself, then turned back to glance behind, as if staring at the monster corpse covered with cloth.

Then he turned forward and slammed his foot on the accelerator.

Louis sensed David had something he wanted to say, but he didn't know what David was thinking right now—whatever, he'd ask when they got back.

After the vehicle started, Louis faintly heard a thunderous collapse behind him—it had clearly caved in.

Soon, the vehicle arrived at the motel.

After checking in and dropping Haley off, Louis finally had a chance to rest.

Lying on the bed, Louis took a deep breath, then suddenly smelled a fragrance—he turned his head and saw Beth, who had just bathed and applied some perfume, stepping out of the bathroom, her long golden hair dripping wet, clear water tracing down her snow-white, partially exposed shoulders, a faint smile on her lips as she watched him.

A beauty emerging from the bath, eyes teasing—the signal was unmistakable.

But…

"Don't cause trouble. You're a worm. Behave yourself."

He scolded irritably—he wouldn't ever get aroused by a worm. He didn't want to be some reckless knight; an angelic knight, maybe.

Louis sat up and got down to business, laying out the lip-sucking worm, the meteorite, half the mother body's remains, and the soldier ant without limbs.

Looking at these items, Louis rubbed his chin, then pulled out the golden cross and golden pistol from his person.

These items, plus the toy house, the ruby ring, and Beth—these were all the treasures he had acquired on this trip. Notably, there were plenty of them, and some held considerable value.

Louis already had a rough plan for these items—first, the worms.

After returning, he would attempt to use gu shu techniques to eliminate the egg-laying side effects and the influence of the magnetic field. Oh, and he could combine it with technology—technology wasn't bad; applying it here might lead to entirely new breakthroughs.

If successful, a trillion-dollar blue ocean market would open before him.

If not, he could still use them as food for the centipedes in his Centipede Sack.

Either way, nothing would be wasted.

As for Beth—the hybrid mother body possessing parasitic control, water absorption and recovery, and bodily manipulation—she was equally valuable. With these three abilities, she could be used for anything.

For example… artificially creating supernatural entities.

Even if a parasitized person had their head cut off, they'd be fine—the neck would sprout tentacles to reattach the head, fingers could turn into tentacles, and their strength and recovery were enhanced.

What if the parasite didn't dominate the host, but instead existed as a "weapon" or "symbiont"?

That would be an entirely new form of power.

Louis had already envisioned how to use it: in the future, his outer circle of the Fa Sect could possess this power—a major supplement for those who hadn't learned Qi Gong.

As for using it to guide human evolution—he didn't dare think that far. For one thing, the risk of failure was high; for another, accidents would be inevitable. He also felt such behavior in movies always turned the user into a villain.

In this world fused with multiple horror films, it was best to avoid anything with too strong a déjà vu.

It was his instinct.

In a way, Louis now controlled a newly born monster species. Oh, and if he used it, what about numbers?

"Beth, how do you reproduce? What's your efficiency?"

"Master, strictly speaking, I don't reproduce—I split. The offspring are me, but I am not them."

"As for splitting efficiency… with sufficient water, I can split about 288 per day—that's one every five minutes. But if I grow stronger, I could reach one per minute."

???

One every five minutes, 288 per day, 8, 40 per month—that's still at five-minute efficiency. If she truly evolved to one per minute, that'd be 43, 00 per month.

With such efficiency, if she went dormant and spread from schools to households, point-to-surface, she could truly cause massive chaos—enough to plague an entire state.

But don't even think about controlling all of humanity. Given how easily she's countered by happiness powder or diuretics that promote dehydration, America could never be controlled by her. Why?

Because in a few years, marijuana will be legalized here!

Even so, her significance is immense—she must be tightly controlled. No, after returning, he must first train the Centipede Sack to use its insect-controlling ability to subdue this monster.

Until then, he wouldn't use her.

Louis's eyes shifted, glancing at Beth, still dripping water and waiting for his command. "Does your species have a name?"

Name?

Beth shook her head.

"From now on, you'll be called the Parasitic Species. You are the Parasitic Queen."

"Yes, Master."

"Hmm, continue washing."

Beth nodded expressionlessly and turned back to the shower, leaving a trail of wet footprints on the floor.

The worms—lip-sucking worm and Parasitic Species—now had their handling plans. Next came…

Louis turned his gaze to the soldier ant and the half-remains.

After several hours of restraint, the soldier ant's body had changed—it was growing larger, its form shifting toward the mother body, covered in a cocoon-like layer. Seeing Louis watching it, it emitted a sharp hiss, its eyes now noticeably more alert.

It seemed Louis's guess was correct: because it possessed ant genes, upon sensing the queen's death, some worker ants matured sexually and gradually developed into new queens to continue the species.

This monster, fused from queen ant and queen wasp, clearly inherited this trait.

So, once it gained a bit more intelligence but wasn't fully intelligent yet, he could try tricking it into submission. If it refused, he'd use it as a production vessel for these monster soldiers.

Too bad the Centipede Sack couldn't forcibly control non-cultivated insects—otherwise it'd be much simpler.

But regardless, this was a brand-new monster species. Its mother body possessed five abilities: mimicry, sonic control, bulletproofing, high speed, and spawning monsters. Its produced soldiers were weaker, but still easily handled ordinary people.

Its threat level was comparable to the Parasitic Species.

Louis stared at the monster transforming into a mother body, pausing for a moment. "This species will be called the Alien Species."

Then Louis turned to the upper torso remains—missing its head and massive abdomen.

He had deliberately preserved this part for a reason: its lower body's blood had been absorbed into the Blood River Pearl, becoming the fourth monster essence. The remaining upper torso couldn't be wasted.

Though its combat power was mediocre, it was genuinely useful. If fused into his Ten Illusions Robe, how much of its abilities would remain?

Five abilities: spawning monsters was weak, bulletproofing was already inherent in the Ten Illusions Robe, sonic control was somewhat useless, but high speed and mimicry were excellent.

Louis planned to choose high speed—to enhance his own short-range mobility. He couldn't rely solely on the Divine Step of the Armor Horse; that technique excelled in endurance but had inherent limits in burst speed and agility.

Thus, the utilization paths for the insects were fully decided.

Now, the remaining items.

The toy house, ruby ring, golden pistol, and golden cross.

Of these, the toy house had the highest prestige, imbued with the life force of the Feathered Serpent God—but it was also the most dangerous. Who knew what might happen when used, especially with that cursed demon head still inside?

Still, Louis felt confident—he wasn't powerless. Though the red old priest's power exceeded his own, he wasn't without means to resist. The items the priest produced, he could handle.

As for the ruby ring, it indeed amplified fire—he'd used it many times these past two days, and the effect was excellent. It also had the function of sending signals to the red.

Perhaps he could study how it was made upon returning.

Finally, the golden pistol and golden cross.

Of the two, the golden cross held the highest value. The golden pistol could fire holy water and salt bullets, but its power was merely average—Louis already had alternatives.

But the golden cross was extraordinary: used by three consecutive cardinals, capable of resisting true-form demons.

Louis couldn't currently craft a talisman of such power.

It was an important item.

(End of Chapter)