Alien Relic Hunter

Chapter 87 Nuclear

In terms of clothing and equipment, this remains should belong to the same unit as Sergeant Collins, but compared to Collins, his death is simply appalling... It looks like he was subjected to a famous torture of the Old Age." car crack".

However, after a cursory inspection of the remains, Ke Lan's doubts about this were mostly resolved - the ends of the extremities of this remains have a certain degree of mutation: a large number of fleshy tentacles from the gaps in the muscles When they grow, some of them are wrapped around blood vessels and nerves, while others penetrate the skin and extend toward the body... Ke Lan is not difficult to imagine, if this situation is allowed to develop, then this arm will definitely be Became like Ivan, and all human tissue except the bones was replaced by a large mass of tangled tentacles.

The alienation of this soldier is not as serious as that of Ivan, but it is only a matter of time.

In the absence of any means of suppression, amputation of limbs is the only way to prevent the mutation from spreading to the torso, but there are not enough medical conditions on this deserted island. Even if the amputation is successful, the infected soldier It's also hard to live past 24 hours.

"They're still a little slower..."

On the truncated surface of the torso, Ke Lan found a small number of tiny tentacles emerging like granulation. These tentacles were less than half a centimeter in length, and their diameter was not much thicker than a hair, but this meant that the alienated cells had invaded. into the torso of the infected.

Before that, when Ke Lan cut off the infected part of Ivan, there was no abnormality in the incision, but even then, the cells of the seed of erosion that could not be detected by the naked eye still spread into his body.

The cells of the Seed of Erosion are like viruses, and the speed of diffusion is unimaginable. Unless the contact part is cut off immediately after the direct contact occurs, the mutation will soon appear in various parts of the body. At that time, It's too late to think of a strong man breaking his wrist.

However, looking at the condition of the remains, the mutation seems to have stopped after the death of the host. Not only the torso, but even the amputated limbs still retain most of the human body tissue.

After the death of human beings, tissue cells will die within a few hours due to lack of oxygen supply, and the inactivated cells cannot be assimilated by the eroding seeds, so the progress of the mutation is stopped...

"That's not right... Even if human cells die, the cells of the Seed of Erosion will take the initiative to grab oxygen and nutrients from the outside world. Even if they don't occupy the entire body of the host, it should be stripped from the host as a brand new individual. , instead of being buried with the host... Could it be because..."

Ke Lan's gaze fell on the stalagmite that penetrated the body of the corpse... The piercing point of this stalagmite was not chosen at random, but just right where the heart was.

At first, Ke Lan thought it was to end the suffering of the infected as soon as possible, but now it seems that things are not that simple.

He pulled out a dagger, cut the chest of the corpse along the puncture point of the stalagmite, and then pryed it hard. With a crisp sound of broken ribs, the entire chest was directly exposed in front of his eyes.

The heart penetrated by the stalagmite was abnormally enlarged. Even in a dehydrated and shrunken condition, it was about four times larger than a normal human heart, occupying almost half of the chest cavity.

"Is this the mutated heart..."

It stands to reason that the more developed the heart muscle of a creature, the stronger the movement ability of the creature... But the problem is that the abnormally huge heart in front of us can no longer be said to be strong. This is a kind of morbid enlargement. When it grows to this size, not only the function of the heart itself will be affected, but it will also compress other organs in the chest cavity... There is only one result, and that is death.

"It looks like a tumor..." Ke Lan looked at the heart carefully, and glanced at the wrinkled envelope outside the heart, "There seems to be a foreign body inside?"

Naturally, it is impossible for this foreign body to refer to tumors. The incidence of cardiac tumors is extremely low, and malignant tumors that can proliferate indefinitely are even rarer... And these soldiers will have a general physical examination before each mission. If there is a tumor, it must have been discovered long ago.

"It should be the cells of the eroded seed invaded..." Ke Lan recalled, it seems that Ivan's heart has not undergone such changes.

He carefully stabbed the tip of the dagger into it, but the penetration depth was less than two centimeters, and the tip of the dagger came into contact with a hard object, and it was difficult to advance half a minute.

"There is indeed something."

Ke Lan cut open the cardiac capsule along the piercing position. Suddenly, a translucent egg-shaped object was revealed. It had a hard and smooth outer shell. The shell is blocked.

Through the pale yellow translucent shell, you can vaguely see that it is covered with blue-purple blood vessels. These blood vessels are wrapped with milky white nerve fibers, and on the periphery of the egg-shaped object, there are many withered and withered fleshy tentacles. .

And that stalagmite just pierced through this thing.

This egg-shaped object is no stranger to Ke Lan... He had already seen it once when he killed the first erosive seed, and not long ago, at the bottom of the abyss hatchery, those in the egg shell. The larvae that develop inside each of them also have one of these things in their bodies.

This thing is the heart of the Seed of Erosion—in the information left by the Alphas, it is called the "nucleus".

"It turns out that smashing a nucleus can also kill the Seed of Erosion... As long as this person can be replaced with an artificial heart, he might still be alive..." Thinking of this, Ke Lan was suddenly stunned, "If I can replace this person with an artificial heart, he might still be alive..." If the 'nucleus' in Ivan's body is found, it should be able to kill those mutated tissue cells without getting flesh-eating worms?"

It's just that Ivan's heart has not undergone this level of mutation. Is it because the eroded cells in his body have not yet developed a "nucleus"?Or, not all "nuclei" are generated at the location of the heart?
The Seed of Erosion in the exile settlement was taken away by DAS agents. This time another nearly complete "nucleus" appeared in front of Ke Lan. He naturally wanted to study it... When he pulled out the stalagmite, it suddenly mutated!
The pierced "nucleus" recovered almost instantly, and the blood vessels in the "nucleus" pulsated like a heart, pumping the black-red viscous plasma into the tentacles connected to the "nucleus". , these tentacles that were withered and withered suddenly became full and began to grow rapidly!
It's... resurrected! !
　Congratulations to the protagonist for his successful death

　　
　
(End of this chapter)