Monster Paradise

Under Lan Ling’s control, the giant decaying beetle headed toward the winding tunnels.

The five of them hid in the beetle’s back. They hid their auras and stopped breathing as well as they patiently waited.

No matter what, there were only two possibilities in the end.

They would either be discovered, or they would pass through successfully.

The giant beetle they were hiding in was called a Tank Beetle in the Bug Tribe. These beetles were usually beginner-stage to intermediate-stage heavenly god-level. They were a type of bug with powerful defenses and incredible biting ability.

They were usually the vanguards of the Bug Tribe, the defensive formation that would attack the enemy.

Meanwhile, the one they were hiding in had clearly been contaminated with Abyssal energy to the point where it had become an undying species.

Its body was in advanced stages of decay, and an intense rotten stench wafted out from it. Even the odor particles it exuded contained definite concentrations of Abyssal energy.

However, it was the perfect cover for Lin Huang and the others who were hiding inside its body.

The Tank Beetle took the group through several intersections; everything went very smoothly. Even several demonic bugs contaminated with Abyssal energy that they encountered along the way did not sense anything out of the ordinary.

However, Lin Huang and the rest could do nothing apart from shielding their aura.

They began chatting through voice transmission from sheer boredom.

“The plan is going pretty well so far. Have you all done any rough calculations on our chances of being able to successfully make it out of here?” Lin Huang could not help asking Virtuoso, who had come up with the idea.

“Theoretically…” Virtuoso paused and turned their head to look at Lin Huang, “The success rate is close to zero.”

“???” Lin Huang looked utterly bewildered. He had not expected Virtuoso to give such an answer.

However, the rest did not seem to be surprised at this reply.

“We’re not even entirely sure if the Tank Beetle is going in the correct direction,” Lan Ling delivered another piece of bad news.

“Didn’t you investigate the nearby distribution of the bugs earlier?” Lin Huang was even more puzzled now, “I think it shouldn’t be too hard to ascertain the general direction according to the rules of the bug distribution in the Demonic Bug Maze, right?”

Although the internal passages in the Demonic Bug Maze were complex, the distribution of bug beasts in the Maze followed the habitat rule of the Bug Tribe in the hive—the higher the level and combat strength of the bugs, the deeper their habitat would be in the Demonic Bug Maze.

Conversely, the lower their combat strength, the closer the bugs’ habitat would be to the maze’s exit.

Many people actually knew about this rule. However, as most probing techniques were restricted in the Demonic Bug Maze, not many were able to discover the distribution of the bugs.

Meanwhile, Lan Ling had used a spell to probe as soon as they were teleported here and had found out the distribution of monsters nearby.

This was also why Lin Huang was doubtful when Lan Ling said she was not sure of the general direction.

Lan Ling knew why Lin Huang was doubtful, so she explained immediately, “This Demonic Bug Maze is massive, and the interior is extremely vast. The distance between bugs is also very wide. My spell probe is a probing technique for short to medium distances. Moreover, as it’s affected by the Maze, the probing range becomes very limited.

“The probe I did earlier was only able to obtain information from five distributions. Although there is a mix of combat strength levels, I can’t be entirely sure that the two tribes with low combat strength are in the direction of the exit.

“Theoretically, the distribution of bugs follows the rule that the lower their combat strength, the closer they are to the exit. However, in reality, there’s a definite complexity to the bugs’ distribution in this Maze. The bugs are very close in terms of ability, so they might be in the same region.

“For instance, we’re currently going toward the Scarlet Centipedes. Although their average combat strength is merely third-rank heavenly god-level, they might be in the fourth-rank heavenly god-level bugs’ region, or even close to the fifth-rank heavenly god-level bugs’ region.

“We’re only judging based on partial distribution now. Scarlet Centipedes have rather low combat strength on average, so it’s possible that they’re closer to the exit. However, if we’re looking at this from the standpoint of the entire bug distribution, we might be going deeper into the maze.”

Lin Huang only understood what Lan Ling meant now. The bugs were not neatly distributed in the Demonic Bug Maze. It was just that as a whole, the habitat of the lower combat strength bugs would be closer to the exit. However, if they were looking at only a partial distribution, bugs that were close in combat strength would be mixed in the same region.

Therefore, they could not determine the actual direction just by looking at the bugs’ combat strength in a partial distribution.

Lin Huang also immediately understood why Virtuoso said the success rate for this escape plan might be near-zero.

This was because they might go through a lot of trial and error.

Given that the partial distribution of bugs according to combat strength might not be the same as the overall Bug Tribe combat strength, Lan Ling would have probe all over again every time they got to a certain distance.

If the probing result came out the same after many tries, it would prove that the Tank Beetle was going in the correct direction.

If the result was different, they might need to use another tunnel to go in another direction, until the result of multiple probes came out the same.

It was a process of constant trial and error.

However, the longer they stayed in the Demonic Bug Maze, the higher the chances of them being discovered.

“Fortunately, we’re currently in the Demonic Bug Maze’s outer region. Moreover, our situation is much better than those who have their probing techniques completely prohibited,” Tu Tong, who was off to one side, could not help commenting.

However, nobody knew whether he said this to console himself or to console others.

“Better my a*s, who comes into the Demonic Bug Maze to play around just because they’re bored?” Virtuoso ridiculed, not standing on ceremony. Clearly, they were pissed to have been teleported into the Demonic Bug Maze for no reason, “They’d better not let me find out who’s been pulling a fast one on us!”

“They better not let me find out who’s been pulling tricks!” The adjacent Saber9 also had a flash of killing intent in his eyes.

Both their Primordiums were big shots in the Club—big shots who might even have surpassed Lords.

If their clones died, they might really go into battle to avenge themselves.

Lan Ling and Tu Tong fell as silent as the grave when they heard that and did not dare say anything more.

Lin Huang, on the other hand, had no idea how powerful Virtuoso and Saber 9’s Primordiums were, so he did not really feel anything.

The Tank Beetle continued advancing, under Lan Ling’s control. After some twenty minutes, they finally arrived at the first destination of the plan – the gathering grounds of the Scarlet Centipedes.

The Scarlet Centipedes were not Bug Tribe beasts contaminated by Abyssal energy, but demons that were born in the Abyss.

These monsters bore some resemblance to bugs with many legs, like giant centipedes. Their bodies measured between eight to twelve meters and were wreathed in toxic red mist.

From birth, they had innate mastery of the Toxic Sequence of such poisons. A handful of gifted ones could even derive other sequence powers and Rule Bending Powers.

This was the first bug territory in the route Lan Ling had planned. They had to pass through this area anyway; there was no way of avoiding it or circumventing it.

She could only carefully control the Tank Beetle to get nearer to the Scarlet Centipedes’ territory.

When they arrived close to the Scarlet Centipedes’ territory, a few Centipedes soon surrounded them.

Lan Ling controlled the Tank Beetle to stop.

This was a routine check.

The several giant Centipedes lifted their massive, ugly heads and clustered around the Tank Beetle, sniffing. It was as if they did not register the rotten stench coming from it; instead, it looked as though they enjoyed it.

After circling the Tank Beetle a few times and sniffing at it, the several Scarlet Centipedes retreated.

Just when Lan Ling was about to control the Tank Beetle to leave, a Scarlet Centipede that was much bigger than the previous few barred the Tank Beetle’s way.

Not only was it much bigger, but it also had three heads.

The scarlet eyes on its three heads were staring at the Tank Beetle. A viscous purple liquid was flowing out of its three large mouths…

It did not discover anything unusual and merely thought the Tank Beetle was rather delicious.

Lin Huang and the rest were anxious; they were even ready to fight.

However, right at that point, a strange low hum sounded.

The three-headed Scarlet Centipede turned its head and glanced at the Scarlet Centipedes’ territory. It only hesitated for a moment, before retreating into the shadows…

Lan Ling hurriedly controlled the Tank Beetle to leave.

What Lin Huang and the rest did now know was that in the Scarlet Centipedes’ territory, a pitch-black centipede raised its head and glanced at the layers of hive walls, looking in the direction of where the Tank Beetle had departed…