The dazzling laser slowly swiped a circle above the skull, and Qi Lin immediately used the tip of the knife to pick off the separated Heavenly Spirit Cover.

Sure enough, in the pile of gray-white brains, which had become like rotting cotton wool, a fat worm was slowly wriggling inside.

“FU*K……”

Although they had known the outcome in advance, when the identity of the parasite was confirmed, thousands of alpacas were still galloping in their hearts.

Parasites are much more difficult to deal with than many common zombies in the last days...... After all, viruses can be dealt with with with vaccines and antibodies, but parasitic worms are more brutal and direct in their way of occupying the body - a corpse that has not yet rotted can hatch thousands of larvae, and each of these larvae can control an independent parasite.

The body of a parasite can even be reused multiple times, and if it cannot be completely destroyed, then it will stand up again and again.

Rapid reproduction, short juvenile period, tenacious vitality, etc...... These are the characteristics that should be found in the lower creatures, but this is where the most terrifying thing lies.

Among the parasitic worms, the "king level" has no less intelligence than humans, and above the king level, there are even higher controllers.

And this highest-level controller should be the mastermind.

The Parasite was originally a "by-product" of the Mastermind collecting documents from the old times and conducting biochemical experiments, but instead of discarding this by-product as a failure, the Mastermind transformed it into an army—a self-sufficient and virally expanding ...... Army.

Before the human race has developed the corresponding countermeasures, there is no way to defeat such an army except to clear the field and prevent the parasitic worms from finding a suitable host.

But that's an in-game strategy, and in the real world, the mastermind controls more than a billion humans in shelters around the world...... Kuroshio has never had the problem of lack of soldiers.

Even if you take 10,000 steps back, the main brain can also mass-produce a body that can be parasitized by parasitic worms through cloning and the like, and a parasite is enough to single-handedly pick up a first-level evolutionary, and in terms of cost, the resources required to cultivate an ordinary-level parasite may not be as much as the monthly subsistence allowance received by a slum resident.

"We should report this immediately!" Number Four said, turning on the electronic device he was carrying, but it didn't take long for a helpless expression to appear on his face.

"Electromagnetic interference, I suspect that the entire signal of Vault 444 is blocked...... Since the parasite is here, this matter must have nothing to do with the mastermind, and the brain of Vault 444 is not locked by the mastermind, it just cuts off the connection with the entire Vault network. ”

"Then we'll have to arrange for someone to go back the way they came." Qi Lin's gaze swept over the other four one by one.

Number Four is the only computer proficient hacker in the team and must stay, and Number Three is an architect who knows all the structures inside Vault 444 and cannot leave, so the only suitable candidates are Falcon Two and Four.

"Let's go back to Two." Five said suddenly.

"No, I think it's you who should go back and report the situation." The falcon's eyes narrowed.

"No, no, no, I don't want to climb that disgusting sewage pipe again."

To Qi Lin's surprise, the two actually pushed each other.

Knowing that there are parasites in Vault 444, staying is undoubtedly a more dangerous option, and returning the same way will not be without facing such a tricky monster at least before one mission.

"I've been on the Hellens Line longer than any of you, and I'm the most experienced with this kind of monster, so I should stay." The falcon picked up the hazmat suit that Number Five had taken off from the ground and threw it on him.

"Okay, okay...... However, if you're going to ask me to run errands for you, remember to ask me for a drink when you're done, and you'd better not hang up until then. ”

"Don't worry, even if you hang up, we won't be able to hang up."

Seeing No. 5 burrow into the sewage pipe again, Qi Lin suddenly had a very strange feeling...... A few hours ago, they were enemies of life and death, but when it came to the parasite and the mastermind, they were all on the same front.

The falcon seemed to see what Qi Lin was thinking, grinned, and said with a smile: "I don't want bugs to get into my head, and I don't want to be soaked in a jar made of human meat batteries...... However, I don't want my daughter to face these things in the future. ”

"Do you have a daughter?" Qi Lin glanced at him, although the falcon was tall and big, but it looked like it was in its early twenties, judging from the ordinary age of marriage and childbearing in the old era, young people like him, let alone children, many of them were not even married.

"Yes, she's only been a year and a half this year, and she can already call Dad."

"Your daughter was born in a vault?" Qi Lin asked, children like this, born in shelters, often referred to as the "gray generation", in their childhood, there was no real sunlight at all, only hunger, cold, and darkness filled the surroundings.

Speaking of this, Falcon's eyes darkened significantly, "When her mother gave birth to her, due to poor delivery conditions, difficult childbirth, coupled with heavy bleeding and wound infection, she died before she could finish delivery, and I cut open her belly with a short knife with my own hands and took out our daughter. ”

"Sorry, I don't know ......"

"It's okay." Falcon waved his hand, "This kind of thing was common in the old days, let alone in the Vault...... At that time, I was very poor, and in order to support my daughter, I joined the army of the consortium alliance in the game, and not long after I joined, I was sent to the front line of Herens, and later, because of my outstanding performance, the organization took the initiative to contact me...... I came here to make more money. ”

"If it's just to make money, why don't you work for some big conglomerates, maybe you don't have to face such a situation."

"I don't like to choose to work for a boss who may go bankrupt at any time, I know that many consortia will be annexed after returning to the surface, and war cannot be avoided, and the choice is like a bet, since it is a bet, then I would rather bet on the side with a higher chance of winning...... What's more, it's all come to this point, and there's no going back. Falcon continued.

"If you can't go back, then move on...... It's the worst I can predict, but the good news is that we're all alive, and if we're alive, we have to do something. ”

Qi Lin stomped down hard, trampling the parasitic worm to pieces.