Chapter 2282 - Shocking Despair
Yi Taoyao wasn't able to raise her head at all, so she couldn't see the layer of sticky liquid that Tianming had described. It was the same sweet substance that tasted like honey.
"That isn’t the point. I have no reason to lie to you. Just think of it as me being able to see everything," Tianming said.
"Can you see through things?" Yi Taoyao said with an odd shift in her voice.
"Of cour—wait! What are you thinking? I can't see through clothes."
Yi Taoyao grew even redder.
"Serious. Oh, there's another change!"
"What is it?" Yi Taoyao wanted to know what was happening to the nest as a whole, as her life depended on it, so she resisted the humiliation of being pushed flat against him. When they’d first touched, her mind had blanked out. However, she seemed much better now, and Tianming's bloodied face no longer looked quite as punchable to her.
"Many tentacles appeared all over the nest! Each room has two of them. Whenever any participants approach, the tentacles pull them into these hexagonal rooms in pairs like us. So far, around three hundred have met the same fate as us."
"Three hundred?" Her voice was incredibly cold. With so many people experiencing the same thing, she was no longer as afraid of dying.
"That's right, and the number's still rising. Everyone that noticed the commotion is coming over right now. The longer tentacles are grabbing more people from ten thousand meters away." Yin Chen was reporting to Tianming in real time, and he was quite shocked to hear it. It was like this room was trying to take in all participants of the ranking event into the nest to raise them as little bee chrysalises.
"The question is why they're ignoring the seniors and only going after us."
"I'm guessing it's a matter of age. Perhaps the nest just doesn't like older people?"
"Why? What’re you basing your guesses on?"
Tianming also felt a chill. Why was the nest picking young meat and not old ones?
"Maybe it's trying to raise more bee-headed people!" Ying Huo said. It was much easier to raise things from young, after all. Perhaps that was the logic of how the nest picked its victims.
The blood drained from his face at that notion. "It's just a guess. There's no concrete proof."
He took a deep breath, breathing in both the fragrance of the honey and Yi Taoyao. She fell completely silent. "There’s around five hundred victims now and the enforcers aren't able to do anything about it. Even stronger elites from outside entered the Oldgod Domain. That means the appearance of this bees' nest isn't something the Infinitum Bodhimanda expected. It's an unprecedented incident."
The green skeletons, fingers, astral giants, and hexagonal rooms were all connected in some way.
"Weren't you the one that caused this nest to appear?" she accused.
"Hey, it's got nothing to do with me." He rolled his eyes. Apart from Lin Hongchen, nobody else knew how the tomb had been opened, so he didn't have to admit his fault. Otherwise, he would be blamed for any deaths that occurred as a result.
"What kind of eyes do you have that tells you about people coming in from all the way out there?" she questioned. It was no longer a secret that Tianming had an incredibly large detection range. He didn't bother giving her an answer.
"There’s eight hundred victims now." The enforcers used the Oldgod Rings to inform the remaining participants to not approach the nest, stay put, and keep their rings active at all times. Since they were unable to breach the nest, they turned to protect the participants instead. Most participants had a few people around them to guard them.
Yet the tentacles began stretching farther and farther, seemingly having better detection capabilities than Yin Chen. Tens of thousands of tentacles shot through the underground caverns, grabbing participants from right under the noses of the seniors that protected them. Distance didn't seem to matter to the persistent tentacles.
"This is ridiculous...." Tianming kept Yi Taoyao constantly updated, since that would hopefully delay her from killing him. He needed something to take her mind off the fact that they were rubbing against each other at every moment.
Argh, a heptastar cosmic physique is truly something else. Though her body was incredibly beautiful, it was as tough as the hide of a ferocious beast. Her thighs could easily crush his hips like the pincers of a giant crab!
"Lin Feng, are you saying that not even the Mundus Enforcers can prevent the participants from being captured?" The glow in her colorful eyes dimmed with fear. No doubt, everyone in this situation felt the same.
"That's right. There’s two thousand people now. More have already been captured and are being brought here. They're all crushed together like we are. I bet the nest can easily make us into minced meat with a bit more force," he said, helplessly laughing.
"Don't be so gross," she said with a soft voice. The thought of being turned into minced meat and mixed with the flesh of a complete stranger was utterly horrifying.
"Four thousand now," Tianming said after a while.
The number caused Yi Taoyao's body to turn cold from fright. "Didn't you say seniors from the outside have come in? Aren’t they able to do anything?"
"They're a little too slow. They won't be able to make it in time." The Oldgod Domain was incredibly huge. Lin Lingxiao and other seniors had immediately rushed in, but just being able to locate disciples from their own respective clans was proving rather difficult. The underground caverns were far too confusing. Yi Taoyao seemed to have surrendered to despair after hearing that.
"Don't give up just yet. Look at my face. It can definitely get much worse than this." His voice sounded much hoarser than before.
"You...." She was quite shocked and she struggled to move her head away from his to get a proper look.
"Eeek!" Even someone as capable of keeping calm as her loudly shrieked.
The expression of terror on her face proved Tianming's guess. He had become a bee-headed person! It was a truly weird experience. He didn't feel his flesh changing in the slightest, nor did his vision change from his new compound eyes. Everything felt completely the same as usual. However, he could tell that his white hair was no more. His head was completely green, like those of the bee-headed people he had seen!
He was only able to confirm that when he saw the incredible beauty before him sporting a green bee’s head as well. She had also transformed, and the sight of her head contrasted against her body made him want to puke. Knowing that he’d also changed in the same way had utterly horrified him.