Chapter 334: Ancient Flesh
Even if the other party was firmly bound by the Dragon Imprisoning Lock, Jiang Li did not let down his guard at all.
As an Armored Troll n.o.ble, Jiang Li did not believe that the other party was really powerless.
Gallonfran shook the shackles in her hand but was not angry.
She pushed open the door at the side and brought Jiang Li into another laboratory.
Fortunately, this laboratory was not the pure white laboratory that Jiang Li had imagined. There were no cla.s.sic scenes like nutrition liquids, clones, and formulas.
Otherwise, Jiang Li would really suspect that this person was also a transmigrator.
Although it was called a laboratory, this place was more like a cell. The hygiene was just slightly better.
Inside, there were many standing cages similar to the one Jiang Li had seen earlier. However, the spikes in the cage had already been removed and were locked inside, so it should be slightly more comfortable.
There were more than ten Armored Trolls locked inside.
As soon as the Trolls saw someone enter, they started to claw at the cage and roar. They stretched out their claws and tried to attack and bite them.
This was completely different from the Armored Trolls Jiang Li had seen before.
Was this how Trolls looked after they lost their minds?
“Behave.”
Gallonfran stepped forward and comforted them gently as if they were children.
After feeding the few Trolls who were the most noisy, she brought Jiang Li through these cages. Then, she picked up a porcelain fish tank from the corner and handed it to Jiang Li.
“This is our original appearance.”
Jiang Li opened the lid. There was a pool of red flesh in the fish tank?
As if sensing the change in light, after opening the lid of the fish tank, the red flesh began to squirm slightly, producing some tentacles that crawled towards the sides.
It seemed like it wanted to crawl out of the tank.
This thing did not have a fixed body and could change shape to move. Jiang Li even saw a primitive pipe structure similar to blood vessels on its surface.
Lingzhi[1]? Taisui?
The first thing Jiang Li thought of was the mysterious creature in the legends. From the looks of it, it was indeed very similar.
“I spent a lot of effort to get this from the forest. Big Brother, don’t you think it’s very cute?”
As if petting a pet, Gallonfran reached out and touched the piece of flesh, not minding the disgusting mucus on it at all.
[Name: Ancient Flesh Lingzhi]
[Type: Compound Mucosa]
[Age: Ancient]
[Reproduction Method: Splitting]
[Life Structure: Multicore Cell]
[Source of Nutrition: Diverse]
[Description: An easily influenced ancient creature]
“This thing… How did it become your race?”
Jiang Li could not understand how this thing was cute.
However, according to the other party, this ancient lingzhi was secretly gathered from a very important place like the Armored Troll.
Gallonfran had specially come to the front line to study the secret of the ancient lingzhi.
Viscount Gallonron came to eat wild Nourishment, while she came for this reason.
Jiang Li had only seen two Troll n.o.bles, but their motives were not pure.
This was a good thing. The worse the other party’s internal situation was, the easier the war here would be.
“This kind of flesh is very interesting.”
With her shackled hand, Gallonfran picked up an egg from the side.
After opening the eggsh.e.l.l, she threw away the yolk inside and only poured the egg white into the fish tank.
The ancient lingzhi in the fish tank immediately grew many tentacles, inserted them into the egg white, and began to suck.
“This kind of sacred lingzhi can eat anything, but if it does so, something very interesting will happen.”
When Fran spoke about her research, she seemed very happy and excited.
She tore open a black cloth at the side, and immediately, more than ten iron cages were revealed.
In the cage were many familiar but strange animals.
There were bald hens with armored faces, ugly fish with armored faces, armored mountain leopards, and armored poisonous snakes.
In these cages, half were ordinary wild beasts, and the other half were common demon beasts.
One could still see some of their former appearances from their forms, but without exception, their faces had grown masks, and their physical characteristics were transforming into Armored Trolls.
According to Gallonfran, she had only separated a small piece of the ancient lingzhi and fed it with the flesh of these creatures. Slowly, they grew to this size.
This change was very similar to what the Trolls had done to the merman race, but the meaning was different.
Storing flesh and blood into the bodies of other creatures was essentially corrosion and a.s.similation.
After eating the corpse, it would grow like this in a short period of time. That was evolution, a super-speed evolution after robbing a useful gene.
This was a kind of creature that was somewhat similar to the “Aliens” in the movies in his previous life, but also more terrifying.
The racial advantage of casually seizing the genes of other creatures that had evolved for countless years was self-evident.
“Interesting, right? That’s how we started.”
“After an unknown period of time, all the animals on the continent grew such a carapace.”
Gallonfran knocked on the white bone armor on her face and spoke about the history of her hometown.
She spoke lightly, but Jiang Li listened with a heavy heart.
Especially the word “continent”, it made him feel pressured.
It turned out that the Armored Troll race was not only a dangerous race in the Eastern Region of the Azure Cloud Continent.
They were terrifying monsters that thrived on another continent.
Of the continents of the Nine Provinces, there was actually one that was completely ruled by the Armored Trolls.
The size difference between the two was two completely different concepts.
The higher-ups of the Eastern Region of the Azure Cloud Continent definitely knew this news, but they did not tell anyone below.
If the people below knew that they were fighting a war with another continent of the Nine Provinces, many people might be frightened to death.
“Then why did you attack us?” Jiang Li continued to ask.
“Big Brother, all creatures have the instinct to pursue wisdom.”
“The only thing that can bring us wisdom is eating Nourishment.”
Gallonfran blinked her two vertical eyes as if she was curious why Jiang Li did not even know about this.
To them, that should be common knowledge.
Jiang Li followed Fran’s finger and looked at the standing cages in the room.
“Whether or not they have intelligence before they are converted…”
“After being transformed, they will become such wild beasts. They will live without rationality and dignity.”
“I know that on Big Brother’s continent, the simplest creatures will also obtain intelligence after cultivating to become demons. However, the Armored Race is different.”
“Only by eating it can you obtain wisdom and become one of us.”
There was still a box in Fran’s laboratory, but she did not feed the Trolls the food.
“Big Brother, there were originally many people on our continent. However, many years ago, because of some accidents, there were only a small number of them left.”
“Apart from the n.o.bles, everyone was tortured by the pain of about to lose their minds. That was why there was this war. Later, they built a farm.”
When Jiang Li heard this, he could not help but feel a little disappointed.
Coupled with what he had seen on the island, what Gallonfran said did not seem to be false.
In that case, the two races and two continents would really fight to the death.
The Armored Trolls would not be satisfied with farms, and humans could not tolerate this either. A group of monsters reared their own kind like livestock.
Moreover, how could thousands of years of hatred end just like that?
Of course, such a huge matter was not something that a small rural alliance leader like Jiang Li could worry about.
His first goal now was to join the Divine Judgment Hall. Everything else was pointless.
“Miss Fran, what are you doing here?”
Jiang Li returned to Fran’s laboratory. When he talked about this, the Troll smiled again.
“About this, I want to try and see if I can create a species that can maintain intelligence without eating Nourishment, like us n.o.bles.”
Jiang Li stared at Gallonfran’s face. This was really a great experiment.
However, no matter what, he could not let this Armored Troll leave.
Kill her? That was a waste.
It might be more useful to keep her alive.
If used well, this kind of scientific talent could match thousands of super soldiers.
“Miss Gallonfran, it’s a waste of your talent to stay here.”
“I sincerely invite Miss Fran to join the Great Mountain Alliance.”
“If Miss Fran is interested in this piece of flesh, I have many other creatures that don’t exist in this world. Perhaps I can develop something more interesting.”
Jiang Li released the Yin Burial Coffin, and a few monsters from the Asura World walked out.
As expected, when the strange doctor, Fran, saw the few creatures she had never seen before, her face clearly revealed intense curiosity and excitement.
Now, if she was given a small knife, she could dissect these guys on the spot.
Jiang Li could roughly tell from their short interaction.
Gallonfran was a typical research fanatic. There were no unnecessary emotions in her mind. In her eyes, nothing was more important than studying new things.
As long as he could a.s.sist in the research she wanted to do, Jiang Li felt that she could agree with anything.
Of course, as insurance, Jiang Li still needed to give her a gift.
Gallonfran thought for a moment before finally taking the fruit from Jiang Li and eating it.
On the one hand, she had come to the front line to study the ancient lingzhi without any reservations. On the other hand, the biological plants in the Azure Cloud Continent that were different from her hometown were fatal to her.
Now, in Jiang Li’s hands, there was an entire unknown world placed in front of her.
The strange doctor, Fran, was about to drool.
The Armored Troll had never thought that a mere food would sneak into their island and secretly kidnap a n.o.ble.
They did not expect Jiang Li to do something even worse.
A few hours later, the sky gradually lit up.
The mermen imprisoned in the cage of the standing people were a little anxious. Under the influence of the sea fog, the sun that had just come out could not harm them.
However, if the sun rose above their heads, the situation would be different.
It was said that there was once a mermaid princess who insisted on staying on the sh.o.r.e in order to marry a human prince on the sh.o.r.e. In the end, she was incinerated and turned into foam.
This was a story pa.s.sed down by word of mouth among the mermen. Although it might not be the truth, its goal was to warn the descendants of the tribe how dangerous the fierce sunlight was to them.
Under the cover of the sea fog, although it would not be as serious as shooting directly, it would still cause them to fall into an extremely weak state.
At that time, they would no longer have the strength to resist the corrosion of the Armored Troll’s flesh.
Now, all they could hope for was for their master, Jiang Li, to find the antidote in time to save them.
Namur: Wait? Why am I calling him master?
As for the Jiang Li they were looking forward to, after changing his clothes, he swaggered into the Armored Troll’s fortress.
Now, this layer of skin on his body emitted the aura of a Troll at all times. The slightly throbbing blood vessels under the skin were clearly visible. Even if he leaned close and observed carefully, there was no problem.
This was much better than the spell technique that Jiang Li had created himself.
This skin that was fake and real was the version that Gallonfran had helped him modify after the upgrade.
Jiang Li had also seen her ability with his own eyes.
The strange doctor, Fran, had personally combined an entire set of blood vessel systems with her skin. She could actually let a piece of skin maintain her life alone.
This change made the effect of Jiang Li’s appearance changing technique undergo a huge change. Even if he really stood in front of Gallonron, he would not easily discover any clues.
With this leather skin and the n.o.ble token of Gallonfran, Jiang Li could be said to be swaggering without anyone daring to stop him.
At this moment, he carried another jar of food and walked towards the bottom of the fortress.
Below this fortress building, as the bas.e.m.e.nt, was a wide cave lake.
In the day, some of the Trolls transformed from mermen stayed in the sea while the rest of the higher-level ones came to rest.
This referred to Namur’s father, the former leader of the merman tribe, Natier, and his three wives.
“Sir Natier, this is your Nourishment.”
Jiang Li picked up a rock on the sh.o.r.e and knocked it a few times beside the lake.
The sound of collision spread throughout the entire underground lake.
The calm water surface quickly rippled.
Four mermen Armored Trolls floated out from the water.
The merman in the lead had stronger armor, and he wore a crown that was similar to Namur but clearly much larger.
This was the culprit who had repeatedly launched the beast tide and suppressed the Great Mountain Alliance’s Mechanism City.
“Didn’t I say that no one should disturb me during the day?”
Natier appeared very unhappy, but when he saw the jar Jiang Li was holding, he clearly eased up greatly.
A postnatal Troll like him was far inferior to a n.o.ble in terms of status. Although he had contributed greatly, he was not qualified to enjoy the delicious Nourishment.
He did not expect that the organization would actually prepare such high-end ingredients for him today.
“Viscount Gallonron asked me to bring this high-grade food to Sir Natier. Of course, if it’s not convenient, I’ll come back later.”
“Wait, help me thank Viscount Gallonron for his generosity. Put the thing down.”
Natier swayed his fishtail underwater and eagerly swam to the sh.o.r.e to open the Nourishment that he had been waiting for.
[1] In Chinese mythology and folklore, this was an edible monster that resembles a two-eyed lump of meat and magically grows back as fast as it is eaten. Early Chinese texts also referred to this legendary food with the names like s.h.i.+rou, Rouzhi, and Taisu