Chapter 28: Heteromorphization
The parasitic creature inside the glass tube was still alive, yet it remained completely motionless.
“What are you planning?”
King Kong asked with some confusion. His principle was, if he could solve it with force, he generally wouldn’t use his brain. Only when things were truly beyond him would he start thinking.
“I’m going to let this thing parasitize me, so I can infiltrate the Heteromorphs.”
The Mad Doctor pushed up his frameless glasses, still appearing refined and cultured, but a different light flickered in his eyes.
“I’ve studied…”
Hearing this opening, the Dean’s heart sank. He knew it was over—the Mad Doctor was about to launch into another lengthy monologue.
“There’s an essential difference in biological structure between Ground-Walkers and us. Parasitic Creatures are different; they have strong adaptability and biomimetic properties. If they want to parasitize a human, they must first connect to the human’s nervous system, then mimic a brain similar to a human’s, to prevent neurological imbalance after the host’s brain death…”
“Get to the point.”
Su Xiao interrupted the Mad Doctor’s speech, and the Dean beside him let out a low chuckle.
“The point is, six hours ago, I tried to have this Parasitic Creature parasitize me under semi-anesthesia. The result was, during the stage where it was mimicking a human brain, Widow West extracted it from my body. After that, I removed its prefrontal cortex.”
The Mad Doctor opened the glass tube, took out the small white snake inside, and rolled up his sleeve. On his forearm was a metal device fixed tightly against his skin. Transparent threads were hidden within his clothing, with electrode pads attached to both sides of his spine at the other end.
“I connected my nervous system mechanically. After that, it became much simpler.”
The Mad Doctor pressed a button, and the metal device on his forearm clicked open a slot. He placed the small white snake inside.
Buzz~
The metal device began to operate. The Mad Doctor’s face twitched, his pupils dilated, changed color, and the whites of his eyes darkened.
After more than ten seconds, the Mad Doctor’s pupils became radial, identical to those of the Heteromorphs.
“Mad Doctor, who the hell am I?”
King Kong asked tentatively, looking ready to knock the Mad Doctor out with one punch at any moment.
“You’re a dumbass.”
“Wrong answer.”
King Kong’s fist, the size of a sandbag, came down, but the Mad Doctor raised his hand and caught it.
“You idiot, don’t break my glasses. Give me two hours. Within two hours, I’ll infiltrate the Heteromorph fortress, and then we’ll coordinate from inside and out.”
The Mad Doctor could not only disguise himself as a contractor from other Paradises; after some research, he could even disguise himself as a Heteromorph. He was now a genuine Heteromorph, with no flaws in his aura or appearance.
The Mad Doctor had used that Parasitic Creature with its prefrontal cortex removed to heteromorphize himself. His nervous system was now connected to that Parasitic Creature, but he hadn’t suffered brain death. In other words, only his body had become heteromorphic; his mind was completely unaffected.
Such a wild operation—many might think of it, but very few would dare to try it. As for using themselves as test subjects, that was practically unheard of.
“Bai Ye, two choices: you either guard the base camp, or infiltrate the Heteromorph fortress to seize the Space-Time Force Condensates. My personal suggestion is that you guard the base camp…”
“I’ll infiltrate the Heteromorph fortress.”
“Then… fine. Leave ten people at the base camp to guard the tail hatch.”
The Mad Doctor began arranging the counterattack strategy. Su Xiao had his reasons for not guarding the base camp. In his estimation, even if the Heteromorph army launched a surprise attack on the base camp while their main force was away, the ten people left behind could hold the tail hatch for a long time.
The base camp wasn’t easy to destroy. Within two to three hours, the Heteromorph army couldn’t break through the outer alloy armor layer.
If the base camp was attacked, the worst-case scenario was that their main force would break through from the front lines and return to defend the base camp.
Even if something unexpected happened, there was still Beini as a safety net. The [Shelter Gem] she carried could teleport Su Xiao to her side. This way, Su Xiao could directly return to the base camp, hold out for an hour, and then be sent back to his original position.
In fact, Beini had previously considered using the [Shelter Gem] to teleport Su Xiao to her side and seize those nine Space-Time Force Condensates with lightning speed.
After some observation, Beini abandoned the plan. If she activated the [Shelter Gem] and opened a spatial rift, she would have to wait an hour before Su Xiao could be teleported back to his original location, after the spatial rift disappeared.
An hour was too long. In such a dangerous place, even for Su Xiao, the survival rate under siege for an hour was very low. The weakest guards there were Fission Variants with around 130 points in three attributes, essentially sixth-rank mini-bosses. There were also two Parasitic Creatures in the sixth-rank big-boss tier—one had parasitized a human, the other a Overlord creature.
Besides these, there were eight Heteromorph commanders, elite Fission Variant units, and so on, all nearby. That damn place—without careful planning, even a squad of seventh-rank contractors would die within a short time.
Under the Dean’s arrangement, 146 contractors formed an assault team. They would launch a frontal attack on the Heteromorph fortress to divert the Heteromorphs’ attention. The vanguard of this team was Amu and King Kong, charging ahead with great momentum.
The second team was the infiltration team, consisting of Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Baha, and the Autistic Brothers.
Among the Autistic Brothers, the younger brother was a support type. He could block and mislead enemy perception, buff allies, and so on—a true jack-of-all-trades.
The elder brother was a long-range assassination type. His gun, which looked like a fire poker, could deal instant damage intensity no lower than Baha’s.
As for Baha, he was a space-type melee assassin, very suitable for infiltration.
As for Bubu Wang, if it wasn’t in the infiltration team, they simply couldn’t infiltrate.
Su Xiao was the main combatant. At critical moments, he would choose to actively expose himself, drawing enemy fire and creating an opportunity for Bubu Wang to steal the Space-Time Force Condensates.
Bubu Wang alone had absolutely no chance of obtaining the Space-Time Force Condensates. Those nine condensates weren’t placed in a box or a secret chamber; they were embedded in a special Heteromorph. Beini had sensed spatial fluctuations near it.
There was only one chance. The only one who could instantly snatch the nine Space-Time Force Condensates from that special Heteromorph was Baha. He would need to use high-speed spatial movement to achieve this.
The third team was the home defense team, consisting of ten people, all battle-hardened lone wolves. With them guarding the base camp, Su Xiao and the Dean felt relatively assured.
The fourth team was the spy team, consisting only of the Mad Doctor. He had already set out. He needed to infiltrate the Heteromorph fortress within a short time, learn the terrain inside, and at the critical moment, assist the assault team in retreating from within, or assist the infiltration team. Which side to assist would depend on the Mad Doctor’s own judgment of the situation.
After waiting two hours, the Dean was the first to speak.
“Everyone, if this plan fails, rest assured, I will be the first to die. This is my explanation to all of you.”
The Dean slowly stood up, his gaze fierce. After being suppressed and beaten for so long, he was filled with rage.
“Let’s move out.”
King Kong led the way out of the base camp. The expressions of their contractors were calm. Looking at some of them chatting and laughing, who would think they were about to attack a war fortress with hundreds of thousands of Heteromorphs?
This time, it was the Heteromorphs’ turn to defend their position.