Monster Dismantling Company

There was definitely something moving. But the source of that movement only lasted for a moment before disappearing.

"..." The colonel stared silently ahead. The road ahead was illuminated, but he couldn't see very far.

"Old Wang," he said, beckoning towards Master Wang while staring at the screen, "does this remind you of anything?"

"Dragon maggots? Impossible! Are there really dragon maggots that big?"

Dragon maggots are giant maggots that live inside monsters, but they usually only appear after the monster dies.

Thanks to increasingly sophisticated methods of handling monster carcasses, dragon maggots have become rare in recent years. However, if a monster dies in the wilderness unseen by humans, it can only be decomposed by dragon maggots and other carrion-eating organisms. In such cases, humans naturally cannot see the dragon maggots.

Li Lin had never seen one in person; he had only seen what dragon maggots looked like in textbooks—their shape was basically identical to maggots, their size was as large as a python, and they used mouthparts the size of daggers to tear apart flesh. The holes they drilled were roughly the same size as ventilation ducts, slightly wider than shoulder-width.

The tunnel they were in could indeed have been gnawed by dragon maggots. But it's difficult to connect a pipe the size of a dog hole with a tunnel the size of a train. Because a dragon maggot capable of gnawing out such a large cavity...

Master Wang looked around and said, "If this was gnawed out by dragon maggots, it must be as big as a train."

He gripped the short knife at his waist tightly.

Dragon maggots aren't difficult to deal with. While maggots the size of pythons could indeed pose a threat to humans, they are still just maggots, and dragon maggots have very limited mobility. As long as they don't crawl into a narrow pipe (like a dog hole) to their deaths, they are unlikely to cause any harm to humans. Generally, you can just chop them up when you see them.

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Furthermore, there are defense soldiers behind them, whose presence is not merely to prevent the monster decomposition companies from killing each other. They will also help deal with the parasites inside these monsters.

However, generally speaking, a whole squad of soldiers wouldn't come in like that. This is a highly specialized task, and the defense soldiers who come in must be at least as skilled as the decomposition company's agents. Otherwise, the situation could become awkward. Even setting aside whether they could provide protection, if they lagged behind, they might end up becoming the ones needing protection themselves, adding unnecessary trouble to the job.

So generally speaking, only two or three people usually follow them in. Within the defense force, those with similar skills are about the same number.

It's easy to imagine that two or three people are sufficient for maintaining order internally. However, if some parasites were to infest the outside, it would be difficult for two or three people to handle everything, so the Monster Decomposition Company usually deals with them on the spot. After all, those heavy demolition tools were designed to deal with huge creatures, so dealing with parasites the size of pythons is a piece of cake.

If all else fails, a dagger will suffice. With skillful movement, one strike can cut through the opponent's flesh.

However, if this thing were as big as a train, the situation would be different.

"I have a question..." Li Lin glanced back, "Could that white, slimy substance from earlier have been secretions from maggots?"

"Is that your guess?" The colonel thought for a moment. "It's not impossible. But we haven't observed the ecology of maggots enough—mainly because we didn't have time to sort out these things when the beast plague was at its worst in the past. By the time we had the energy to dissect each monster, the maggots were hard to find. In the last two years, finding a dragon maggot has been harder than panning for gold. And given the size of a dragon maggot, it's hard to find any traces that can be observed."

But if that's really the case...

He also looked up to see the entire tunnel. The maggots on the train were enormous; these were no ordinary parasites, and heavy weapons would be needed to deal with them.

"Let's continue," Master Wang suggested. "Whether it's dragon maggots or whatever, we have no other choice but to keep going."

At this time, the map survey was also completed. This time the distance was shorter than before, and even at a distance of 50 meters, it was quite blurry.

pat-

A depleted energy cell lay discarded on the ground. These ultrasonic detection devices required a considerable amount of energy to effectively probe inside the monster, and the cell that had been continuously powering the entire team had just been used up.

Even when the batteries were depleted, they were still heavy. They abandoned the batteries and continued moving forward.

However, after they disappeared, the sound that had been heard earlier reappeared, and a huge mouth appeared on the ground, swallowing the battery they had left behind. The ground immediately returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.

...

A noise came from behind, causing Li Lin, who was walking at the front, to suddenly stop.

"What's wrong?" Master Wang asked from behind.

"It's nothing..." Compared to what's behind, the road ahead has a bigger problem.

According to the survey results just now, there should be a road ahead. But the road in front of us has turned into a dead end.

A wall of flesh blocked their way, and the laser drill began its operation.

Carried by operators and soldiers wearing exoskeletons, Fire Raven and the Defense Force each had one unit, aiming at the same point and activating the beam.

These laser drills are as big as chainsaws just from the firing part alone, requiring two hands to hold, and the other equipment integrated into the backpack takes up the entire load space of the exoskeleton.

But its power is also astonishing. Like concentrating the power of the sun at your fingertips, dazzling light bursts forth from the beam drill. Its focused point is precisely locked 2 meters in front of the terminal machine, but it is destructive to people within a hundred meters.

Where the beam of light focused, a spot of light was formed. And wherever the spot of light touched, flesh and blood melted away like ice and snow.

The monster's flesh began to boil and vaporize, turning into black smoke along with the carbonized parts, filling the air with the smell of burning.

However, everyone had already put on a breathing mask before the cutting began.

While the smoke and dust could be blocked, the intense heat from breathing was unbearable. Therefore, the person leading the drilling rig had to be changed every few minutes.

Li Lin stood to the side with his hands behind his back, staring directly at the laser's working surface.

As [Taba]'s flesh and blood dissolved, what rose with it was not just black smoke, but also information—all of which conveyed a powerful will:

salty

Or rather, it's nauseating.

A throbbing, uncomfortable sensation spread through its body. The surrounding seawater created excessively high osmotic pressure, causing Taba immense pain; it felt as if it were melting.