nownovels Chapter 238 The Troll Princess's Lament, Mutant Zombie!
Chapter 238 The Troll Princess's Lament, Mutant Zombie!
Chapter 238 The Troll Princess's Lament, Mutant Zombie!
Su Xinyan's jade-like feet do indeed possess such charm.
She has always paid attention to her image since childhood and has always maintained her figure well. In addition, she is naturally beautiful.
Her little feet were not covered in any dead skin; they were smooth, soft, and fair, almost glowing.
Even when taken out of high heels, there is not a trace of odor; instead, there is a faint fragrance that comes from long-term care.
Just those two jade-like feet alone are enough for Fangzhou to admire for a lifetime without ever getting tired of them.
Fangzhou held his ankle with his left hand and "removed" his shoe with his right hand, giving a thorough massage from his cute toes to his soft sole and smooth arch.
"That's enough!"
Su Xinyan's pretty face flushed, her legs trembled slightly, and she scolded softly.
"Huang Qiuyue and Shen Ziwei are still waiting in the operating room!"
A strange sensation came from Fangzhou's massage, making her feel inexplicably hot.
He had originally intended to mock the other person for being so interested in women's feet, but he had to stop him beforehand.
Otherwise, if she continued, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to handle it and would embarrass herself in front of Fang Zhou, her junior apprentice.
Fang Zhou smiled gently and released the little foot that he loved so much.
"Instructor Xinyan, you want to take off your own shoes? You should have said so earlier."
Instructor Su Xinyan remained silent, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
After a long while, she glanced at Fang Zhou shyly and timidly, then took two steps forward in her surgical slippers, keeping a certain distance from him.
With Instructor Huang Qiuyue inside, Fang Zhou stopped teasing Instructor Su Xinyan.
He followed Instructor Su Xinyan into the operating room inside the laboratory, where he immediately saw Instructor Huang Qiuyue, who was dressed in a white dress and had a gentle and charming demeanor.
Dressed in a neat outfit and equipped with mechanical prosthetics, Shen Ziwei stood silently to the side.
Beside them, a massive apprentice-level juvenile troll lay in a large iron cage.
At this moment, the young troll was clearly under the control of some kind of paralysis skill.
Despite its wide-open eyes and low growls, it displayed a strong will to survive.
However, the body is tightly bound by some unknown force, making it weak, powerless, unable to move, and unable to exert its due power.
Instructor Su Xinyan, who had been teased instead of flirted with, had now regained her composure.
She pointed to the young troll in the iron cage and said to the Ark, "I have already checked it."
Its vital signs are very stable, and it is in the most perfect experimental state.
You can conduct experiments according to your own ideas at any time.
Fangzhou has been discussing many experimental ideas about the topic of bone regeneration for professionals with Instructor Su Xinyan over this period of time.
Based on the previous experimental records provided by Instructor Huang Qiuyue, coupled with their understanding of troll regeneration abilities and the principles of life crystals,
The Ark has already developed a preliminary experimental direction.
The first phase of the experiment was to thoroughly test the regenerative limits of this young troll.
They will then focus on the process of troll bone regeneration, attempting to unravel the mystery behind this supernatural self-repair ability.
Ultimately, by simulating the skeletal structure of a young troll and utilizing necromantic power, they hoped to find the source of that mysterious regenerative power and unveil the mystery of life's miracle.
Fangzhou changed into his experimental suit, then took out the [Regeneration Amulet] he had previously seized from the Ice Troll Leader in Cave 1 from his spatial storage capsule, and officially began the experiment.
He first summoned two skeletons as assistants in the experiment.
The two skeletons opened the iron cage and carried the paralyzed troll onto the operating table.
A flicker of fear crossed its eyes, but it was quickly replaced by numbness, leaving it no choice but to resign itself to its fate.
Fang Zhou took a deep breath, gripping two exquisite scalpels tightly in his hands, the blades gleaming coldly under the light.
As he moved his hands, a bloody and horrific experiment began.
puff.
puff.
The sound of sharp blades piercing flesh rang out continuously.
Instructor Su Xinyan watched Fangzhou's operation with great interest.
Instructor Huang Qiuyue calmly recorded the troll's various vital signs.
Her pen left behind a series of precise data on the paper.
The troll's heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate.
She meticulously recorded every vital sign, ensuring that every detail of the experiment could be scientifically analyzed.
Only Shen Ziwei, a new recruit who had only awakened a few months ago, had her brows slightly furrowed, seemingly not quite comfortable with such a bloody scene.
However, although she looked a little unwell, she still stayed by Fang Zhou's side, providing him with all the support she could.
Young trolls are only at the apprentice level, and their regenerative abilities are relatively limited.
Ordinary skin injuries can heal quickly with sufficient food and energy.
However, severe injuries like broken bones are extremely difficult to heal in a short period of time.
This is where Instructor Huang Qiuyue's role comes into play.
As a Silver-ranked Light Priest, she is proficient in a variety of simple and effective Light-based healing spells.
As she chanted the incantation, warm rays of light enveloped the troll's wounds.
Each treatment was like the soothing spring sunshine on the troll's damaged body, greatly stimulating its life potential.
It accelerated the healing process of bone injuries.
Since the dawn of the mythical era, the pioneers of the Human Alliance discovered, in the cycle of battle and healing, the extraordinary power of the three attributes of light, nature, and water in healing pain.
Although the healing skills of the three types of professions differ slightly in their manifestation, their essence is to use external energy to greatly stimulate the life potential of the target, thereby achieving rapid healing and eliminating pain.
For creatures like trolls, who possess extremely strong innate regenerative abilities, the powerful stimulation of healing skills with the light attribute can indeed restore their bones.
However, for ordinary creatures like humans with average physical constitutions, due to the special nature of professional bones being difficult to regenerate, coupled with their generally ordinary recovery abilities, even if healing skills are used to stimulate their life potential, they cannot regenerate.
This is the fundamental reason why the previous bone regeneration project of the Light Attribute Professionals Association failed.
But what Ark needs to do now is to draw inspiration from the trolls' super regenerative and recovery abilities, collect data, and understand the patterns.
Then let's see if we can simulate this regenerative and restorative ability using the life crystal.
According to Fangzhou and Su Xinyan's calculations, this line of thinking is logically sound.
However, this requires exceptional talent and inspiration to complete such a deduction.
At least Su Xinyan, an instructor who is a gold-rank necromancer, admitted that she could never do that.
But Fangzhou has that confidence.
With his unparalleled talent, and with the slight help from the attribute panel, it is still possible to achieve this grand goal.
Sure enough, as Ark conducted repeated trauma recovery experiments on this troll, the attribute panel kept sending notifications.
"Skill materials are being collected and can be used to deduce unknown skills."
With these hints, Fangzhou felt more confident.
Fangzhou repeatedly tested his hypothesis on this rare, living troll.
Two hours passed.
The life force of this young troll was originally like a surging river.
Now, under the continuous stimulation of the energy of the light attribute, it is gradually drying up, like the earth being scorched by the merciless sun on a summer afternoon.
Each of its breaths seemed exceptionally heavy, and its once fierce eyes now revealed weariness and helplessness.
Instructor Su Xinyan, who had been watching from the sidelines for a long time, couldn't help but stop Fang Zhou's increasingly skillful movements.
She said, "Fangzhou, let's stop for now."
If this continues, you're going to kill this troll today.
Young, living trolls at the apprentice level are not so easy to find.
Don't exhaust the resources; strive for sustainable experimentation.
Fangzhou then snapped out of his trance-like state of being engrossed in the surgical experiment.
He glanced at the troll on the operating table, now bloodless from the continuous activation of its regenerative abilities, and realized something was wrong.
He put down the scalpel with some embarrassment and said to Instructor Su Xinyan and Instructor Huang Qiuyue, "Thank you for the reminder, Instructor Xinyan!"
Many thanks to Instructor Qiuyue for casting spells and helping me complete the experiment.
That concludes today's experiment; let's conclude this section for now.
Upon hearing this, Shen Ziwei, the assistant who had been quietly helping Fang Zhou, breathed a sigh of relief.
She asked with some anticipation, "Fangzhou, have you discovered anything?"
Fangzhou looked at his attribute panel.
Although some skill materials have been accumulated, there is no accurate strategy yet.
It is estimated that a large amount of further experimental data collection is still needed.
Therefore, Ark did not make any boastful claims.
He shook his head slightly, directing the two skeletons to move the dying troll from the operating table into the iron cage, and replied, "I have some ideas, but they're not yet systematic."
I will need to conduct many more of these experiments later.
The young troll, who had initially felt relieved to be inside the safe iron cage, suddenly shuddered as if it had understood Ark's words.
Two lines of clear tears slowly slid down her twisted face.
Fang Zhou glanced at the suffering young troll, then looked at Instructor Su Xinyan and said, "Instructor Xinyan, if possible, could the military academy provide our research group with a few more live young trolls?"
This mere one couldn't withstand my cruelty.
And life crystals, in my view, this resource is also indispensable.
Instructor Su Xinyan nodded slightly; she naturally understood this.
At this moment, Instructor Huang Qiuyue also asked, "Fangzhou, besides trolls, do you have any other needs?"
"Regardless of the type of organism, as long as it can advance your research, we will do our best to accommodate your needs."
Fangzhou thought for a moment and said, "I also need some other monsters at the apprentice stage, such as lesser demons, demon children, kobolds, goblins, and so on."
Their physical regeneration ability is not as exaggerated as that of trolls; it is similar to that of humans.
This can be used as a control group against this troll.
After listening, Instructor Huang Qiuyue nodded, immediately took out an exquisite notebook from her side, and accurately recorded every requirement of Ark. Then she said, "Ark, don't worry."
While trolls are hard to find, there are plenty of other low-level monsters.
Just go ahead and experiment according to your own ideas.
"Leave the preparation of materials to us."
Fang Zhou nodded gratefully to Instructors Su Xinyan and Huang Qiuyue, and said with a serious expression, "Thank you, Instructor Xinyan and Instructor Qiuyue."
You've put a lot of effort into the experimental materials.
The group chatted for a few more minutes.
Fangzhou also shared his findings and insights from today's first troll regeneration experiment with everyone.
Some of these are supplements to existing data, while others are new discoveries made by Ark from its own perspective.
Instructor Su Xinyan had long recognized Fang Zhou's talent.
Therefore, although she was somewhat surprised that Fangzhou could make so many discoveries and reflections in a mere two-hour surgical experiment, her expression remained relatively calm overall.
Instructor Huang Qiuyue and Shen Ziwei are quite different.
They didn't actually know that much about the Ark.
All I know is that Ark might have some talent in the necromancer class.
But to everyone's surprise, his creative thinking and practical skills were also so amazing.
During her conversation with Fang Zhou, Huang Qiuyue, the instructor who had initially held little hope for Fang Zhou's application for the human professional bone regeneration project, gradually developed a faint sense of hope.
Bone regeneration has long been considered the "holy grail" for professionals, but has yielded little success.
However, as the sharing of knowledge in the Ark deepened, Instructor Huang Qiuyue's eyes gradually brightened.
With Fang Zhou's extraordinary talent and inspiration, this young necromancer may indeed be able to find the key to bone regeneration through his unique perspective and gift.
Shen Ziwei, who already had a blind confidence in Fang Zhou, developed an even stronger sense of unwavering trust in him.
After chatting with Instructor Su Xinyan and the others for a while, Fang Zhou had already controlled the skeleton to clean the blood-stained operating room.
Subsequently, Instructor Su Xinyan decisively ordered Instructor Huang Qiuyue and Shen Ziwei to leave.
She stretched slightly and gracefully strode towards the lounge.
Fangzhou returned to his office, went straight to the comfortable sofa, and sank into it.
He curled up on the sofa and started another game of "Total War: Demon Extermination".
This time it's a fairly standard classic battle mode.
Fangzhou chose the Dragon Summer Federation series of strategy games, which he was most proficient in.
The opposing team, on the other hand, chose pieces from the Purple Iris Alliance.
It seems that the opponent is very likely a soldier from the Purple Iris Alliance.
Fangzhou suddenly became interested.
Instructor Lu Hu once said that the development and operation of the All-Out War to Destroy Demons was led by the General Staff of the People's Alliance.
Its internal testing qualifications are also selected and issued to all UN military personnel.
Therefore, as a first-year seed student at the Haicheng Military Academy of the Dragonxia Federation, Fangzhou will naturally encounter many foreign soldiers in the game world of the total war against demons.
This simulated battle still follows the familiar battle rules of Ark.
The maximum combat value for each player is 5.
Furthermore, he transformed into a high-ranking commander of the Gold rank.
This time, Ark is facing a fire mage with extremely powerful attack capabilities.
Furthermore, Fangzhou could sense that he also had a strong understanding, mastery, and application of the advanced skills of high-level fire mages.
His attacks were like hellfire, and each spell he cast put unprecedented pressure on the Ark.
The battle lasted for a long time.
The pieces from both sides collided constantly on the board, and every clash was breathtaking.
Finally, after a hard-fought battle, Ark found the enemy's weakness.
Without hesitation, he commanded his trump card, the [Heavenly Dragon Blood Heavy Cavalry] strategy game. Under the cover of the overwhelming skeleton army summoned by the [Undead Scourge] spell, he launched a final charge, shattering the opponent's defenses and winning this hard-fought battle.
However, this battle rating was lower than before, only showing a slight advantage.
This assessment, while not a complete defeat, was like a heavy blow, waking Fangzhou from his euphoria of consecutive victories and making him more aware of the situation.
In the past few all-out wars against demons, he almost always won easily by relying on his tactics, command ability, and his trump card, the undead scourge spell.
However, as it turns out, Fang Zhou was not the only genius among all humankind.
After watching his battle replay again, Fangzhou summarized his three major command errors and seven minor formation flaws that could be avoided. He felt that he had made significant progress.
It was already close to evening.
After two hours of experimental work and this intense simulated battle, Ark was feeling a bit hungry.
He greeted Instructor Su Xinyan, then left the necromancer research group and hurried to the cafeteria.
After a hearty meal, he returned to his dormitory feeling refreshed and resumed his nightly practice.
A blood moon hung in the endless night sky, casting an eerie red light that dyed the earth a deathly rusty color.
After several nights of exploration, Ark and his skeleton servants finally arrived at the even higher and more precipitous Skeleton Hills.
To Ark's surprise, the soul flame of Terramir, the decapitating giant swordsman, was becoming increasingly restless.
Through the soul link established by the Skeleton King's skills, it frequently conveyed to the Ark a mixture of emotions, including anger, excitement, and eagerness.
Ark realized this.
He soothed Tryndamere through a soul link, engaging in a brief telepathic exchange. During this brief interaction, Ark gleaned a clue and formed a hypothesis.
Perhaps tonight, they will find the mutated zombie that drove Tryndamere out.
This thought caused the Ark's soul fire to tremble slightly. Standing atop the towering hill, he raised his skull and gazed towards the southeast.
Although the surrounding area was filled with a more concentrated necromantic energy than ever before, he did not find any other obvious signs.
Fangzhou shook his skull, calming his somewhat agitated emotions, and as usual divided his forty-odd skeleton servants into more than ten small teams, launching a net-like search in the southeast direction.
He had only one thought in his mind: to find the mutated zombie ruler and the white bone crystal cluster that it occupied.
As the Skull Squad gradually approached the southeast direction, the surrounding environment became increasingly treacherous.
Occasionally, huge cracks would appear on the ground, like wounds splitting open in the earth, emanating a putrid stench. According to Tryndamere's memory, although this decapitating giant swordsman was defeated in its battle with the mutated zombie, it was still able to put up a fight for a while.
Tryndamere recalled that battle; although his opponent was enormous and indestructible, its attack power and corrosive abilities were not superior to Tryndamere's.
More importantly, the zombie race's fatal weakness—slow movement speed—was not improved in this mutated zombie either.
Tryndamere remembered that during that battle, he used his agility and quick reflexes to dodge the zombies' attacks multiple times and look for opportunities to counterattack amidst the zombies' clumsy swings.
Although Tryndamere ultimately failed to defeat the zombie ruler, he managed to escape using his combat skills and agility, leaving the zombie helpless as it disappeared into the darkness.
After searching through Tryndamere's memories, Ark made a rough estimate based on Tryndamere's combat strength.
If this mutated zombie's strength doesn't increase significantly in a short period of time, then with my current strength, I should be able to easily kill it.
Of course, Fangzhou was well aware of the principle that "a wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall."
Therefore, he intends to adopt a more conservative strategy.
Today, Ark not only has powerful warriors like the Berserker Olaf and Tryndamere, but also a massive army of skeletons.
Leveraging these advantages, the Ark Project will employ the "Bone Sea" tactic, which involves gathering the strength of all the skeleton warriors to jointly besiege the mutated zombie, using overwhelming numbers to compensate for the lack of individual strength.
After formulating a rough battle plan, Ark reconfirmed the location of the Demon Squad and commanded them to explore out in a fan shape.
Afterward, he personally chose a direction and led one of the squads on a killing spree that night.
In this land shrouded in death, hunting, devouring, and evolution constitute the main theme of the underworld.
Soon, several hours passed.
Ark, immersed in the thrill of killing, was suddenly awakened by a notification from the soul link.
He immediately realized that Skull Team Number 1 had made a major discovery.
Following the soul connection, he shifted his perspective to Archer Number 1.
From Archer 1's perspective, the Ark's soul fire blazed brightly, and a surge of joy welled up inside him.
The mutated zombie has been found!
Bathed in the crimson moonlight, the mutated zombie perched atop a low hill of corpses, occasionally roaring towards the sky.
It was much larger than a normal zombie, almost twice the height of a normal human. Its body was covered with a thick, hard layer of keratin.
Under the glow of the blood moon, this stratum corneum gleamed with a faint metallic sheen, clearly a product of mutation, which greatly enhanced its defensive capabilities.