Chapter 109: The Hive Mind: Where Is My Lycat??

The surrounding light and shadow began to warp unnaturally; an invisible blade like wind stabbed out from behind Zhou Yun, aimed at his neck.

The creature hidden within the flowing light and shadow had calculated everything perfectly.

Its movement, timing, and position were flawless.

It would take the life of this creature before it.

Ssschhh!!

A sharp stiletto shot from the shadows and clashed against its claw.

The clang of metal echoed endlessly through the junk mountain.

The shadows and light on the Tyranid attempting to assassinate Zhou Yun rippled violently, revealing its true form in an instant.

It was a slender, light Tyranid bearing a massive scythe-like claw, its mouth covered in tentacled mouthparts.

Its eyes glowed like rubies, flashing with malice and fury.

Lycat!

One of the finest assassins among the Tyranids.

It had come to decapitate Zhou Yun, General Droste, and Leina.

As expected,

one of the Tyranid Hive Mind’s greatest strengths was precisely this.

When all three appeared together, it would never let the opportunity slip.

But unfortunately, Zhou Yun also had an outstanding master assassin.

Dici appeared like a shadow beside Zhou Yun, clad in pitch-black leather and wielding two sharp stilettos, her gaze cold and brimming with lethal intent.

She was the finest creation forged by the Asford Death Cult, an assassin acting as the Death God’s agent.

Long before, she had followed Zhou Yun’s orders, hiding in darkness, waiting for Lycat to reveal itself.

Moreover, Zhou Yun had applied the Speed Gear to Dici.

This already swift assassin had become even faster, even sharper.

Lycat’s form appeared for less than a second before the light and shadow shifted again, and it prepared to vanish once more into its chameleon shell.

Dici gave it no chance.

The injector hidden beneath her leather suit activated, flooding her body with drugs and hormones nearing the human tolerance limit.

Veins bulged across her modified body like cursed runes, filled with blood that surged into the capillaries of Dici’s eyes.

In an instant, Dici’s eyes turned a horrifying crimson.

The three present saw only Dici flash like a shadow, then ripples in the light and shadow, the sound of clashing metal ringing through the air.

Between the ripples, Lycat’s form reappeared.

Its razor-sharp scythe claws clashed against Dici’s slender steel stilettos.

On Dici’s manic face, cold killing intent surfaced—she was holding her own against this perfect biological weapon refined by the Great Devourer.

“Death! Only sacrifice death! Only worship the Death God and Doraemon!”

A mad roar tore from Dici’s throat.

Her muscles tightened violently, visibly straining beneath her skin.

Her modified body surged with power, more drugs injected into her system.

She roared, forcibly wrenching Lycat’s two scythe claws apart.

“Thunder! Hacimi!” Leina shouted, her voice laced with chaotic syllables.

A bolt of psychic lightning pierced from the void, striking Lycat’s exposed chest.

“Roar!!” The beast bellowed, twisting its body to evade.

It realized now—the hunter and the hunted had switched roles.

This was a trap meticulously laid for it.

“Hmph! Think you can run? The Great Lion’s Flying Head Punch!”

In the instant it dodged, Zhou Yun’s figure flashed beside it.

Zhou Yun, wearing his Psychic Hat, had teleported right next to Lycat.

No matter how fast Lycat was, it couldn’t outpace teleportation.

Lycat frantically raised its claw to block Zhou Yun’s punch.

Its scythe-like claw exploded into meaty fragments, flying through the air.

“Above the Death God! Above the Chosen of Doraemon!”

Dici seized the moment, stomping hard onto Lycat’s chest. Her blood-red eyes found the weak point between bone and carapace, and her stiletto plunged deep into Lycat’s flesh. The injector hidden in the blade released a potent neurotoxin into Lycat’s body.

The neurotoxin, refined over generations by the Death Cult’s daughters, could kill a human in agonizing screams with just a drop.

But against Lycat, a Tyranid, its effect was far weaker—Lycat merely froze for an instant.

Leina seized the opportunity, slamming her psychic-energy-wreathed arm onto Lycat’s head.

Directly piercing one’s consciousness into a Tyranid’s mind was extremely dangerous.

But Leina had no intention of doing so. Her nerves were enhanced by psychic energy; a brief, intense burst of psychic-charged neural impulses stabbed into Lycat’s brain.

Lycat’s body shuddered violently.

Yet even so, it only froze for a fleeting moment.

As one of the Tyranids’ most dangerous creations, it was this strong, this terrifying.

Moreover, death was not an end for Lycat.

Its consciousness would not vanish; its memories would upload to the Hive Mind, and it would reassemble this failure, and hunt again.

Zhou Yun seized the moment of Lycat’s paralysis, grabbed its thigh, and dragged it toward his fourth-dimensional pocket.

Before Lycat could react, Zhou Yun forcibly shoved it inside.

Lycat’s crimson eyes stared in confusion at the deep, hollow void before it.

It realized its link to the Hive Mind had been severed.

Then it vanished into the dark, boundless void.

[Item Name: Lycat]

[Origin: Underworld Shield System—Asford Star—Tyranid Hatchery]

[Evaluation: A Tyranid assassin, a top-tier hunter hidden in gaps of light and shadow, patient and dangerous. Sweet, salty, warm in nature; effective for calming convulsions and detoxifying swellings; used to treat pediatric seizures, hemorrhoids, and athlete’s foot. Not for consumption.]

[Production Time: 998.M41]

[Status: Disabled, Alive]

[Value: 500,000]

The Hive Mind loomed like a shadow over the entire Underworld System.

Its will extended like tendrils, seeping into every node creature’s body, then branching from each node creature to every Tyranid.

Whether it was a bio-ship or the tiniest ripper, every Tyranid was a part of it, an extension of its tendril.

Driven by hunger, it moved these tendrils, consuming biomass from five planets in the system.

So hungry, so hungry, so hungry.

The Hive Mind writhed anxiously; its tendrils met resistance on all five planets.

Especially on the planet with the richest biomass.

Through Tyranid eyes and ears, through the memories of gene-thieves,

the Hive Mind learned the planet’s name.

On this planet, the Hive Mind encountered a rival.

Another entity, equally greedy, consuming biomass meant for it.

Was he also hungry? Did he also crave to feed?

To counter him, the Hive Mind first hatched a Tyranid Winged Monarch.

But it was deceived—he seemed to understand the swarm intimately, setting a trap that consumed the precious Monarch.

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So this time, the Hive Mind hatched Lycat to oppose him.

It would devour his flesh.

Yet Lycat failed too—but this was expected.

Though biomass was lost, Lycat’s memories would return to it.

It would gain combat experience and use it more effectively next time.

Hm?

Hm???

Hm!!!

Where is my Lycat’s memory? Where is my Lycat’s consciousness? Where are the experiences I could have used next time?

The Hive Mind sensed, bewildered, that its link to Lycat had been severed.

Is it dead?

Why did its memory and consciousness not return to me?

Through Lycat, the Hive Mind felt only that it had been swallowed by some cold, deep, dark, pocket-like maw—perhaps his feeding apparatus.

But why, after being consumed by him, did no memory or will return? Could it be…

Could it be he eats memories and consciousness too?!

The Hive Mind was deeply shaken.

On Laxi, Grand Sister Magda raised her bolt pistol, aiming at the head of the grotesque Tyranid before her.

The battle-sisters assisting her severed the creature’s claws with power swords; Grand Sister Magda left a fatal gash across its chest with a chainsword.

Yet the monster showed no fear—it locked its gaze upon her.

Its ruby-red eyes, like precious gems, burned with malice and hatred.

It indeed recognized her.

Grand Sister Magda thought to herself.

This monster was surely the Lictor she had killed twice before.

“Third time.”

Grand Sister Magda whispered:

“There will be a fourth.”

“You, alien, may return again and again.”

“But in the Emperor’s name, we shall punish you again and again.”

The bolt pistol fired, and the profane alien collapsed.

Grand Sister Magda exhaled involuntarily.

Though she had said so,

had it not been for Lord Zhou Yun’s prior warning,

Grand Sister Magda might never have realized the Lictor had been lurking beside her all along.

“Grand Sister, a communication from Asford,” a battle-sister approached Magda and said.

Grand Sister Magda nodded slightly, then walked to the comm unit.

On the circular screen, static flickered—and the faces of General Droste, Zhou Yun, and Leina appeared.

Grand Sister Magda gave them the Eagle Salute.

“How goes the battle, the three of you?” Grand Sister Magda asked.

(End of Chapter)