Chapter 988: Devour

Lin An! Don't think anymore! )?

In the high sky, mutations suddenly erupted.

Among the twin death gods, the left death lord seemed lost in memory, a fleeting emotion appearing in their eyes.

At the same time, a death-energy thread like mucus instantly appeared between the two death lords.

As if transferring power, strands of death energy were rapidly moving from the huge body of the death lord lost in memory to the other one.

Frantically fleeing.

Taking advantage of the moment when Mo Ling's transformed twin death gods suddenly stalled, under the control of the Second Will, Lin An carefully concealed his form and flew low to the ground.

His brain raced into high gear.

The Second Will continually shifted its gaze back and forth between the two death lords.

("No matter whether you want to save Mo Ling or not, now you must find the Meme source, find the mission's key!")

("Go ask Chu An; Mo Ling coming in is definitely that guy's doing!")

A fierce shout.

Although Lin An fell into confusion for only a few seconds, in a battle of this level any emotional fluctuation is tantamount to suicide.

Hearing the Second Will's voice, Lin An snapped back to awareness.

Exactly.

Mo Ling's death indeed dealt him a huge blow, especially when he realized that little Mo Ling likely rushed in to save him, and he also considered this possibility.

Chu An!

With Zhang Tie's past lesson, this method of letting teammates die to break the situation fits Chu An's style perfectly!

Although Chu An is far away in the space city of Dongshan, it's obviously unlikely he could set up such a layout.

But with no leads for himself and the Second Will temporarily, he could only turn to Chu An.

Suppressing his chaotic emotions, he took a deep breath, and Lin An quickly pulled out the note inside the ring.

However, just as he wanted to contact Chu An, a line of text and a surprised shout from afar suddenly came.

"Captain Lin!?"

"Eat Mo Ling, and you can live."

The former came from Xiong Hanzi, the latter from Chu An.

Zhang Tie, who had been watching this situation from afar, waved his hands wildly, his face full of urgency.

Just as the Second Will had guessed, Zhang Tie, on the verge of going mad with anxiety, realized that since Lin An was no longer splitting, he might have regained consciousness.

Therefore, when he saw Lin An begin to flee, his expression changed dramatically.

A split-off wouldn't flee! Only the captain would run!

"Captain Lin! It was Colonel Chu who let Mo Ling in!"

"He said only Mo Ling can save you!"

"I... I really don't know what to do!!"

"Hurry up and save Mo Ling!!"

In his rough voice tinged with a sob, he lamented that whenever the captain or Mo Ling got into trouble, he could do nothing, wishing he could die and become a monster to take their place.

After seeing Chu An's prophetic-sounding words and Zhang Tie's description, Lin An's heart jolted.

Indeed, it's that guy again!

But he couldn't figure out what Chu An, far away in the Amoeba Worm, actually wanted to do!

Could it be that this guy already knew about this Meme inside the space city?!

Having no time to doubt Chu An, Lin An desperately pondered Chu An's last message.

After those last two words were sent, no matter what he asked, Chu An seemed to have lost contact, not replying with a single word.

"Can live!? Eat..."

"Eat what!?"

"Eat the Meme!?"

"Or let himself eat Mo Ling!?"

Those few words, hard to comprehend at a glance, instantly made Lin An furrow his brow.

However, the two words "can live" from Chu An's mouth instead let him breathe a sigh of relief.

As soon as the thought arose, the Second Will, seeing he had recovered, immediately handed back control of the body to Lin An.

("Lin An, start from the mission name!")

("Just as we thought, this Meme's effect should be to stimulate the deepest desire in the heart, then turn people into monsters with corresponding traits!")

("Like the Hawk and the Human-Insect.")

("From the fact that you can break free of the infection, we can see this Meme's power is limited, and it prioritizes transmitting the Meme to individuals who can absorb it better!")

Speaking rapidly, the Second Will looked at the other death lord in the sky, which had shrunk a bit, and spoke again:

("Look up there!")

("Did you notice the death lord on the right!?")

("Twin death lords... I suspect Mo Ling's situation is the same as ours.")

("The ghost infant inside her corresponds to me, while her true death lord body corresponds to your Aberrant Mutant.")

("Under the strengthening of the deep-heart 'dream,' the two thoughts split into two, producing different effects.")

Hearing the sound, he observed.

Under the True Eye, Lin An also instantly saw the death lord stalled on the right, obviously similar to the Second Will's "approach."

Does this death lord want to eat another self?

So, according to the logic of the Second Will, the one being eaten on the right, who is sinking deeper into memories, is Mo Ling; the one on the left is the ghost infant?

His gaze flickered.

After a moment, Lin An confirmed his judgment.

That should be correct.

On the right side, the suspected Undead Sovereign of Mo Ling is having its power drawn away; obviously, because the Meme requires her to constantly sink into the depths of thought, causing her power to be temporarily unusable.

The left side, meanwhile, shows no effect at all; it must have been produced by the memory-less ghost infant.

So...

The meaning of being eaten is to have Mo Ling eat the ghost infant!?

Mo Ling eats Mo Ling?

Amoeba worm dungeon.

Deep underground.

Cradling a headless infant, Chu An gently placed the baby on the smooth operating table.

Behind him, the bored Curien curiously watched the strange scene before him, his expression showing no abnormality.

As a qualified 【Wizard】, dissecting and creating various creatures is completely normal.

Sometimes, destroying a civilization just to make it easier to capture individuals for dissection is, to them, a perfectly normal thing.

Just looking at that headless infant still crawling about, Curien couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and speak out:

Is this your completion plan?

Will it work or not...

Even though you're separated by two worlds, aren't you afraid of killing that girl?

If I recall correctly, Lin An values that little girl a lot, right?

Nudging the glasses frame, Chu An paid no heed to Curien's doubtful tone, merely placing his hands steadily on the operating table, his gaze fixed on the prepared potion.

Dead is dead.

After failing so many times, we have to take a gamble.

If we don't gamble...

Maybe then it'll be too late...