Chapter 382: Way of Life

A long silence.

Lin An hesitated for a long time, but in the end he still did not choose to put these books into his ring.

He was afraid.

Afraid that he would not be able to resist opening the secret of immortality and walking through that door.

He is still young now and can still bear not to look.

If it weren't for the apocalypse...

Or rather, wait until the day he is about to die of old age.

I'm afraid... I'm afraid he would also proactively open these books and then follow the old professor's path.

And then become that amoeba worm.

Whether eating or being eaten.

After an unknown amount of time, the group finally broke free from the inexplicable emotion.

Gao Tian spoke somewhat hesitantly to Lin An, his eyes showing some loss.

"Lin Dui."

"This layer is already the last layer."

"Although we seem to have figured out what the amoeba worm means, it feels unrelated to this dungeon mission."

"The way to break the situation..."

"What exactly is it?"

"Outside the tower there are still 700 million second-level zombies, but the time left for them is running out."

"Every corner has been carefully inspected."

"The whole high tower, or rather the black tower."

"There is nothing here except these books."

"Is the answer in the books?"

"But Gao Tian is afraid, afraid that after reading he will fall into a meme curse like that and become the next old professor."

"Lin An was briefly speechless."

"Indeed."

"We risked our lives to charge into the high tower, but still haven't found a way to break the situation."

"We can't say we gained nothing."

"At least we have figured out why the zombies are getting stronger."

"If nothing unexpected, according to the notes, plane inspectors have repeatedly detected anomalies here."

"One or two occurrences of the old professor incident are still fine."

"Although the notes only recorded three times, since this group of people established the continent, a long time has probably passed."

"Therefore, the events of using the amoeba worm's traits for immortality must have happened more than three times."

"Combining the above."

"The high tower being abandoned shows that the main force that built it discovered the harm of using the amoeba worm for immortality."

"No matter how many new researchers come here, they will eventually all become one person."

"And the last batch of immortals likely improved the amoeba worm."

"They perhaps wanted to create a new way of immortality."

"Perhaps they wanted to resist the plane inspectors."

"For example, they could gain memory and strength without eating the opponent, or perhaps only eat part of it."

"The zombies of this world are likely the product of combining the amoeba worm, so they can gain strength, memory, or everything by absorbing the corpses of their own kind."

"Devouring... collective strengthening..."

"Using this as a breakthrough, we should be able to find a way to break the situation..."

"Before Lin An could finish speaking, a metallic sound like a mechanical object suddenly rang out:"

"No need to think anymore."

"The amoeba worm of this world is an unsolvable existence."

"Gang!"

"The long sword was drawn, the bowstring pulled."

"Almost at the same time, Lin An and the three others abruptly turned around and then pointed their weapons at the source of the speech."

"Someone!"

"Or a machine?"

"The alloy long sword, drawn for the first time, spat out a three-meter sword aura, with a terrifying tearing sound hissing."

"An extreme sense of danger."

"Lin An stared fixedly at the figure appearing from the entrance."

"Under his mental perception, this suddenly appearing voice had no fluctuation, like air."

"Who are you!?"

"A harsh shout."

"Zhang Tie instantly turned into a silver giant bear, red light flashing all over his body, ready to charge at any moment."

"The man before them wore a brown cloak, his size about that of an ordinary person."

"The face hidden beneath the cloak looked no different from a human's."

"Swords drawn and bows tense."

After a brief pause, the man lifted his cloak, his expression indifferent as he looked at Lin An and the others:

"Who I am is not important."

"I'm just curious—who exactly are you?"

"This plane has been sealed; how did you get in?"

He spoke like a machine.

Although he looked like a flesh-and-blood body, his voice sounded like electronic synthesis.

Lin An did not answer.

The system stipulates that revealing one's own or others' identities is forbidden; if spoken, the system will instantly erase them.

Not long ago, Huang Shao Hua suffered a system punishment, so he naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to violate the rules.

Moreover, this mysterious person before them has revealed too much information.

Plane?

Sealed?

With too many doubts, Lin An, sword pointed at him, did not choose to relax his guard.

Although the mysterious person's appearance was strange, he had not launched a covert attack, so he did not seem malicious.

But, one must be on guard:

"Who we are is not important."

"But, sir, why do you say the amoeba worm is unsolvable?"

"Are you the master of the high tower? Or a researcher left behind?"

The cloaked man gave a light chuckle, squeezing out a strange smile on his face.

Seeing that smile, Lin An inexplicably thought of someone.

That person's smile resembled Chu An's, equally stiff.

He blinked slightly, only hearing the cloaked man reply indifferently:

"It doesn't matter."

"It looks like you've already read the notes."

"I am a researcher of the Black Tower, Ke Lai En."

"I heard your guesses; they're not bad, at least they restored much of the truth."

"As for the amoeba worm?"

Ke Lai En flashed a mocking look in his eyes, then tilted his head toward Lin An:

"You can put away your sword; killing me would be useless."

"Have you not experienced the power of the amoeba worm?"

"The zombies and humans outside the Black Tower are actually parts of the amoeba worm."

"Unless you can kill all living beings in an instant, the amoeba worm will only grow stronger."

"When one dies, all zombies will strengthen their power."

"Hmm, it seems you've already strengthened the amoeba worm to the second level—more precisely, second-level intermediate."

"With your strength, you might as well give up..."

"Not human?"

"Everyone is an amoeba worm!?"

Gao Tian's hand trembled on his compound bow as he couldn't help shouting:

"Impossible!"

"I've seen pictures of the amoeba worm; the humans and zombies outside are clearly the same kind of beings as us!"

Unexpectedly.

Ke Lai En looked at Gao Tian as if he were an idiot:

"To be able to ask such a question..."

"It looks like you haven't mastered the ability to splice genes."

"Those things outside have already been spliced with the amoeba worm's genes."

"As an improved variety, they simultaneously possess meme and biological traits."

"Their outward appearance is human, but inside they are merely worms..."

"Have you not come into contact with them? Whether they turn into zombies or not, they like to devour their own kind."

Lin An's heartbeat skipped, and a series of images flashed through his mind.

The worm-eating Lin Ruo Lan, the Bolaka auction, soup ingredients, the humanity-lost high nobility...

They were all..

"Worms!?"

That's why they act so insanely?

As Lin An was in shock, Ke Lai En gazed with interest at the black dragon on his wrist:

"Are you explorers of the Shen Yuan world?"

"No, the Shen Yuan world is also a decent plane; how could you lack such basic knowledge?"

"But, it doesn't matter."

"I smell the apocalypse on you; in any case, you're probably not on the side of the apocalypse creators..."

Ke Lai En uttered a bunch of terms Lin An had never heard, then shrugged.

Compared to Chu An, he had a bit more of a human feel.

Although stiff, emotionally there was quite a bit more.

"Kid who signed a contract with the black dragon, are you interested in staying here with me?"

"Anyway, you can't go anywhere..."

"Oh, let me introduce myself."

"I am a senior apprentice of the wizard world, a planar researcher affiliated with Shelter No. 97, Klein."

"This world is a man-made catastrophe, probably not the same as the disasters you encountered in the Apocalypse."

"So."

"Give up..."

"It won't give you a way to live."

In an instant.

His whole body turned icy cold.

Lin An suddenly realized what he had been overlooking all along.