novelhk Chapter 2: The entire internet urged him to run away, but he raised a shovel at the monster!
Chapter 2: The entire internet urged him to run away, but he raised a shovel at the monster!
The live stream from Da Xia was synchronized with the system panel in Su Chen's field of vision.
Three hundred million people saw the words "swamp devourer" at the same time.
The live chat exploded.
[Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!! There's a monster buried under his feet!!!]
How big is this thing? Its back alone is two meters wide???
[He's still trying to pry it away? Run!!!]
[Dude, wake up!!! That's a monster, not a sweet potato!!!]
Su Chen didn't read the comments.
He went around to the other side of the mud pit and continued digging.
Beneath the acidic mud, the head of the swamp devourer gradually emerged.
The flattened head was about the size of a small refrigerator, covered with a grayish-green hard shell, which was pitted and scarred.
Its mouth was slightly open, not fully closed, and three rows of intersecting fangs extended from its upper and lower jaws, the longest of which was 15 centimeters long, with undigested bone fragments hanging from its roots.
Mucus kept seeping out from the inside of my mouth, trickling into the mud between my teeth.
This thing was just four meters away from his feet, and he had been sleeping for who knows how long, with crumbs from the previous meal still in its mouth.
Su Chen stared at the three rows of teeth for two seconds.
Without an intelligence system, he would never have known that something was buried beneath his feet. By the time it woke up naturally and swallowed the tricycle and its inhabitants whole, he wouldn't even have had time to react.
But he found out.
Moreover, he knew where its weaknesses lay.
This is enough.
In the live stream, the chat was so dense that it was impossible to see anything.
[Holy crap, three rows of fangs!!! I'm about to smash my phone!!!]
There are bone fragments in her mouth... What has she eaten before?!
Please, run, bro! I'm begging you!
[Where can we go? The tricycle won't move, and we're surrounded by mud. Which way can we go?]
Separated by different roads, each going their own way, no one can save anyone else.
The last comment paused the panic for a moment.
In the US livestream, James Hall had switched from champagne to beer.
He leaned back on the studio stage with his legs crossed, pressed a button on the remote control, and the big screen displayed three side-by-side images.
"Everyone, I'm going to show you something interesting."
He held up three fingers.
"Three drivers were selected for Da Xia this time. Number one, an off-road vehicle, was born in a Class B danger zone. Number two, a heavily armed pickup truck, was born in a Class C alert zone."
He shook his last finger.
"Number three, tricycle, S-class disaster zone. Guess who the whole world is watching?"
The studio was filled with laughter.
Bullet comments from the United States, the "beacon of light".
[Da Xia was so lucky to have chosen the worst option out of three, haha!]
When will he die? I bet it'll be within ten minutes. Open the betting!
The live stream from Japan is also providing simultaneous analysis.
The commentator, who wore glasses, spoke very quickly.
"Among the more than two thousand drivers worldwide, the driver of Great Xia No. 3 is currently the only one born in an S-class disaster zone and whose vehicle is a non-motorized vehicle. In other words..."
He adjusted his glasses.
"His probability of death is the highest among all participants."
The screen was flooded with comments from people from Japan who love cherry blossoms.
The Great Xia Dynasty is finished! They were the first to be destroyed!
[The Legend of the Tricycle! The Eternal Tricycle!]
These screenshots from overseas live streams were transmitted back to DaXia's live stream room almost in real time.
Domestic audiences' emotions shifted from panic to anger.
What are those bastards at the Lighthouse laughing about? Try throwing their SUVs into an S-Class and see what happens!
What's the point of cursing? They're just stating the facts... tricycles are just no good...
[1.4 billion people, is that all?]
Pessimistic comments began to drown out angry voices, scrolling up one after another.
In the official live broadcast room of Da Xia, the host Lin Xiaotang sat behind the studio. She was in her early thirties, with her hair tied in a low ponytail, wearing a dark blue suit jacket, and her makeup couldn't hide the sweat beading on her forehead.
The director was yelling through my headset: "Connection ready, answer!"
She pressed her earpiece and spoke into the camera.
"Dear viewers, we are now connected with Professor Zhao Mingyuan from the National Defense University. Professor Zhao will provide a tactical analysis for you."
A video window pops up on the right side of the screen. A middle-aged man with a buzz cut, wearing an old military green jacket, has an iron shelf filled with books behind him.
Zhao Mingyuan didn't exchange pleasantries and spoke in a loud voice.
"Don't panic. I watched fifteen minutes of the live stream, and I'll highlight a few key points."
Lin Xiaotang continued, "Professor Zhao, Su Chen's health is still decreasing, and there's a Class D aberration about to awaken beneath his feet..."
Zhao Mingyuan interrupted her.
"I saw it. But you should notice his actions. He never tried to drive the tricycle from the beginning, nor did he blindly run away. He dug straight into the ground, and in a very precise direction, he hit his target in five shovelfuls."
He moved closer to the camera.
"This wasn't random digging. He had already determined there was something down there before he even started digging."
A few comments scrolled by.
Professor Zhao, are you trying to find fault...?
[Are you sure there's something down there? How did he know? Did he develop a sixth sense from pedaling a tricycle?]
Zhao Mingyuan ignored the comments.
"When a person is in an S-level disaster zone, their vehicle is wrecked, they are surrounded by mud and poisonous gas, and their health is steadily declining. In this situation, most people's first reaction is panic, struggle, and futile survival attempts."
He paused for a second.
"But this person didn't waste a single move from beginning to end. Not a single one."
The sentiment in the chat room of Da Xia shifted slightly.
Indeed... he didn't seem to panic at all?
Professor Zhao is right. He kept digging, and his movements were very steady; he didn't look like he was frantically digging around.
But what's the use of staying calm? That monster will wake up in five minutes!
The scene then shifts back to Su Chen's perspective.
Health: 78.
The countdown to awakening has less than four minutes left.
Su Chen's hands were soaking in the acidic mud, and his fingers were covered with blisters and red, swollen skin. Some of them had broken and were oozing blood.
He didn't stop.
The intelligence gave him three pieces of information. The first was the monster's location and weaknesses.
The breathing hole at the back of the head is three centimeters in diameter.
He has already cleared the entire head; now he needs to find the back of the head.
Su Chen stepped onto the back of the Swamp Devourer. Its scales were surprisingly hard, making it feel solid and stable underfoot, much better than walking in the mud.
He took two steps down his spine toward his head, squatted down, and brushed away the sour sludge covering the back of his head.
Beneath the grayish-green hard shell, between the folds connecting to the neck, there is a depression.
It is round, with a ring of soft flesh around the edge, and is slowly contracting and expanding.
One moment, one moment.
Breathing hole.
Three centimeters, exactly as stated in the intelligence report.
Su Chen straightened up, pulled the rusty shovel out of the mud, turned it upside down with the tip pointing downwards, and gripped the end of the wooden handle tightly with both hands.
He raised it above his head.
The shovel tip was aimed directly at the fist-sized dent.
Health: 76.
[Remaining awakening time: 3 minutes and 01 second]