I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

He peeked over.

Chapter 732 Parasite

"There's no equipment, just this lump of iron and this meat."

Zhou Changqing heard a player say with a hint of disappointment.

"You don't know anything! This game is so realistic, do you think you'd find armor in a corpse? You'd only get materials!"

Another player immediately retorted.

"We came here for these ores, so let's dig them up quickly."

Other players have already begun using their weapons to separate the flesh from the ore shell, taking the lead.

Seeing this, other players also rushed to climb onto the iron lizard's carcass, mining for ore amidst the stench of blood and the burnt smell of wounds scorched by Drizzt's [Mimetic Sunfire].

Zhou Changqing arrived at the cut surface of the fatal wound. The area had been charred by the intense heat of that moment. Not only the flesh and blood, but even the outer shell of the ore had melted and turned into lava that rolled onto the ground.

But in deeper places, the flesh and blood were preserved, and due to the high temperature, the Maillard reaction occurred, producing a charred aroma similar to barbecue.

Animal viscera have a high fat content, especially iron lizards, which usually remain motionless like wooden figures, but have a belly full of fat intestines. When roasted at high temperatures, the aroma makes Zhou Changqing's mouth water.

He came to the vicinity and saw the fragrant roasting meat, and a bold idea popped into his head.

Picking up his sword, Zhou Changqing cut off a piece of the slightly blackened roasted meat.

The surface of the meat was a slightly yellowish-black caramel color, while the cut surface was a lighter color. The aroma of the meat was rich, and even in the virtual world, it made Zhou Changqing salivate.

What are you going to do?

The player next to Zhou Changqing looked at him and sensed that something was wrong with him.

"I'll just try it."

Once the thought arose, Zhou Changqing could no longer suppress it.

He stuffed the piece of meat into his mouth, and his teeth first touched the crispy surface. The sensation brought tears to Zhou Changqing's eyes. He hadn't eaten such roasted meat in a long time. As his teeth moved further in, the slightly soft meat contrasted sharply with the crispy skin. Although the lack of salt made the flavor bland, the texture was superb.

"good to eat!"

He quickly ate the piece of meat in no time.

The virtual satisfaction brought Zhou Changqing pleasure, and he quickly picked up his sword again, preparing to cut more flesh.

In reality, he might not be able to fully enjoy himself due to dietary restrictions, but in the game, he can eat and drink whatever he wants!

Are you alright?

The players watching Zhou Changqing happily eat another piece of iron lizard meat also felt a little envious and were eager to try it themselves.

"Here, have a taste."

Zhou Changqing handed the meat to the player, and the two quickly began to enjoy the barbecue.

Seeing this, the surrounding players followed suit, and in an instant, the originally fierce battlefield suddenly turned into an open-air barbecue party.

Zhou Changqing continued to cut downwards with his sword, trying to dig out more flesh, but suddenly, he saw something trembling slightly inside the already somewhat raw flesh.

He poked it with his sword, but the thing retracted, forming a small hole.

"Holy crap?"

Zhou Changqing peeked over and observed carefully.

He saw something white inside the hole, slowly wriggling. Just as Zhou Changqing turned to call the other players over to look, the thing suddenly started wriggling faster.

Zhou Changqing turned around and saw six eyes glowing with light in the hole, staring at him menacingly.

The next moment, the thing darted out of the iron lizard's fleshy cave and pounced directly on Zhou Changqing's face.

That's an insect!

The insect's front end was spherical, but it had countless slender segmented legs. At this moment, those sharp-tipped legs were tightly gripping Zhou Changqing's head, causing him to fall backward.

The lower half of the insect is soft, long and slender like a sausage, dangling behind its hard head like an elephant's trunk.

Holy crap!

The player who had just been sharing the iron lizard meat with Zhou Changqing suddenly panicked and almost fell off the iron lizard. He forgot that he still had a weapon in his hand, and just shouted a few times, attracting other players to come over.

One player, who appeared to be a tester, didn't hesitate and slashed at the insect with his longsword, cutting open its fat abdomen.

*Pfft*

Pale yellow liquid spurted out and splashed onto the two players, filling the air with the stench of incompletely digested, rotting flesh.

The insect twitched a few times, then stopped moving.

The player used his sword to pry open the already dead insects, only to see that Zhou Changqing's head had been gnawed away, a bloody and gruesome mess. Soon, Zhou Changqing's body turned into dust and scattered with the wind.

"This looks like a parasite; everyone should be careful."

The player shouted.

The players, who had been greedily dividing up the Iron Lizard, witnessed this tragic scene and immediately became much more restrained, beginning to carefully explore the Iron Lizard's body.

In the live stream, Zheng Li, who had just witnessed this scene, gasped in shock.

The worm was similar to a facehugger, parasitizing the iron lizard's body and burrowing into its flesh. And for such a large creature, the parasite was also very large and extremely dangerous.

In the blink of an eye, such a large chunk of his head was bitten off. If I were in that situation, I'd probably be gone in a heartbeat.

He noticed that the monster didn't seem to drop equipment, only materials. Although he was a little disappointed, upon closer reflection, he realized that in such a realistic world, it would seem strange for monsters to drop equipment, and this realistic way of extracting materials was quite reasonable.

Moreover, every part of the iron lizard is valuable.

After the outer shell of the ore is smelted, it becomes iron. Its flesh is edible, and its bones are refined iron that has been condensed and tempered over a long period of time. Such a large monster is enough to carry for a while.

The live stream ended quickly, but Zheng Li felt that it wasn't enough.

This game fulfilled all his longings and expectations for fantasy games; it was like another real world, which captivated Zheng Li.

On the internet, there are often topics that are just for show and to get free replies, such as what book you would read if you could only read it once in your life, or what game you would choose if you could only play it once in your life. The replies are all over the place and come in all sorts of random answers.

In the past, Zheng Li might have thought about it more carefully.

But now, if he could only play one game for the rest of his life, he would definitely choose [The Cage]!

It must be said that the effect of this live broadcast was quite good. On the same day, the email server of Silent Media crashed because too many people sent emails asking when the third batch of tests and public beta would be. Even the comments under the official Weibo account exceeded the maximum display digits and caused a bug.

But for the players, all of this is irrelevant. They have just gone through a fierce battle and gained a lot of resources, which is the perfect time to develop.

The construction of the Grey Tower has been put on the agenda.

Chapter 733 Contamination Core

Zhou Changqing is very troubled lately.

A week has passed since the battle against the Iron Lizard.

The arrival of the third batch of test players only excited him for a moment.

For an even longer period, Zhou Changqing will have to deal with complex magic.

As a core member of the team, he has recently been studying the magic web structure in Jost's laboratory.

Zhou Changqing used to think that as a senior engineer, if he could travel back to ancient times, he could easily farm and develop many technologies that were ahead of their time.

But now he finally understands that he is not an omnipotent person after all. He only knows what he is capable of. If he wants to advance in technology in ancient times, even with modern knowledge, he still needs to use cheat codes.

Without qualified smelting technology, it is impossible to manufacture parts that can withstand stress. Without mining technology, even ore cannot be found. There are also various petroleum-related chemical materials, tools, and equipment, all of which are indispensable.

The transition from agrarian civilization to modern times cannot be achieved overnight.

Therefore, even though he possessed advanced communication theories, he still needed to learn magic little by little and understand its characteristics in order to play a role in the design of the magic network.

At this point, learning ability is the most crucial factor.

For example, Joster has already basically understood and mastered modern communication technology. Although he lacks practical experience, he is certainly no less than a master's student in a related field in theory. However, Zhou Changqing is still at the level of a junior high school student in magic.

"...I originally thought magic was simple, but now it seems that magic is much more complicated and troublesome."

Zhou Changqing sighed, looked up from his book, and glanced out the window.

Thanks to the iron lizard's steel supply, the foundations of a fortress have begun to be built in the newly reclaimed black forest on the outskirts of Sunset Town. Looking at those concrete structures, Zhou Changqing suddenly felt as if reality was shining into an illusion.

"In fact, according to some ancient records and speculations, the magic used now has already been modified."

Jost said without looking up.

"Is the original one more complicated?"

Another player couldn't help but ask.

"No, it was originally much simpler, much simpler than it is now. The modern magic we are talking about has already been categorized, and at the same time, the mages have stipulated that magic requires rituals and incantations to be used, which has raised the entry threshold for mages."

Jost answered.

Zhou Changqing was initially thinking that this was unnecessary, but after carefully recalling the concept of magic, if magic is a kind of pollution that can harm the human body, then raising the entry threshold is indeed quite reasonable and is a kind of protection for this world.

“In my world, there was a time when the church or the upper class controlled knowledge and prevented ordinary people from learning it. But later, the monopoly on knowledge was broken, and ordinary people were able to learn that knowledge.”

Zhou Changqing sighed.

He was grateful to live in a peaceful and tranquil era; in times of war or even greater darkness and ignorance, his life would probably have been a thousand times more miserable.

"In your world, knowledge seems to be pollution-free, which is wonderful."

Jost said with a hint of envy.

"I don't know, haha, maybe we've already been contaminated."

Zhou Changqing joked.

At that moment, Drizzt pushed open the door and entered, holding a crystal that was crystal clear, reflecting the sunlight and projecting seven colors.

"Here's what you wanted, the Iron Lizard's core."

Trist placed the crystal on the table, and Jost hurriedly picked it up and examined it closely.

What is this?

Zhou Changqing inquired.