Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 173: Parasitic Silkworm

Zhao Chen nodded, then led Jax and the others toward the core area of The Forgotten City.

Jax pointed to the spiked road and asked, “Did you install these to prevent Insect Swarm attacks?”

Zhao Chen nodded: “Yes! The Insect Swarms attack our outpost periodically, so we had no choice but to make all the nearby roads like this!”

“Actually, firstly, we did this to slow down the Insect Swarms’ advance. Secondly, it’s to trap people like you who try to rush in, using this terrain to hold you back!”

Zhao Chen was quite straightforward, not hiding his secrets at all.

Jax found this person very interesting. Although he was the leader of this area, he didn’t put on any airs.

However, thinking back to the careless act Zhao Chen had put on earlier still made Jax find it somewhat amusing.

“I say, you should stop acting so careless in the future!”

Upon hearing Jax’s words, Zhao Chen was taken aback for a moment, then turned to look at Jax.

“Why?”

“Ahem! Don’t you think doing that is a bit too foolish? That careless demeanor makes you look like a street thug; anyone who sees you would want to beat you up! I’m saying this for your own good! If you want to keep acting like that, I can’t stop you, but I’m just giving you some advice!”

Zhao Chen scratched his head: “Ahem! Actually… mainly, acting like that helps me relax and allows me to better gauge the other person’s mindset!”

“Haha! Looks like you’ve gained some insights from being a bandit!”

“Not at all, it’s all forced by this damn apocalypse! Do you think I want to do this? I have hundreds of people here waiting to be fed! I don’t want to starve them either. As their leader, I have to provide for them!”

As the two chatted and walked, the deeper they went, the stronger the foul smell in the surroundings became.

Jax couldn’t help but frown: “The stench of the insect monsters here is too strong! Are we about to reach Skysea Tower?”

“Yes! That’s right! When we get there, I hope you can endure it! The smell there is really unbearable!”

Zhao Chen had clearly adapted to the living environment here and didn’t have much of a reaction.

Thus, the group continued forward. Finally, at a corner ahead, Jax saw the road surface densely covered with sharpened steel bars again.

“This road is basically where the Insect Swarms appear most frequently. We’ve set up a large number of Defense Towers on both sides of this road. With these Defense Towers, we can hunt the Insect Swarms more quickly!”

Then, Zhao Chen pointed to the tall buildings on both sides.

“There! And there, those are all Defense Towers!”

Jax looked in the direction Zhao Chen pointed. Sure enough, on the third to fifth floors of the buildings, the walls had been turned into open-air balconies.

And outside the balconies stood rows of Defense Towers.

The appearance of the Defense Towers looked even older than those in The Sprawl.

Some Defense Towers even had their frames removed, leaving only a core device and the firing mechanism inside.

“Looks like your life really isn’t that great!”

Zhao Chen felt slightly embarrassed but still insisted stubbornly: “We got all this through our own efforts! They might be broken and old, but at least they can deal with these Insect Swarms! I’ve heard about your The Sprawl too! That place doesn’t seem much better! What right do you have to laugh at me?”

Jax waved his hand: “I’m not mocking you, don’t take it to heart! I’m just stating facts! Also, you might not know this now, but The Sprawl is no longer the same as before!”

After saying this, Jax entered a building. This building was the closest one to Skysea Tower.

However, the outside of this building was covered with various types of barbed wire, and there were spikes on the barbed wire, clearly used to defend against these insect monsters.

Jax walked into this barbed wire area and could vaguely see some body parts of insect monsters still hanging on the barbed wire.

It seemed this place had suffered many Insect Swarm attacks before; it was even bloodier than the walls of The Sprawl.

“Whew! I didn’t expect you to really have some skills! The defenses here are quite well done!”

Hearing Jax’s praise, a flash of pride appeared on Zhao Chen’s face.

“Of course! I’m a Psionic Awakener! Most of these Defense Towers were designed and modified with my involvement!”

After saying this, he pointed upward.

“My lab is on the top floor! Do you want me to take you for a visit?”

Jax waved his hand: “Let’s talk about that later! I want to see where that insect monster is first!”

The other nodded, then took the binoculars handed by an assistant, aimed them at the top floor of the distant Skysea Tower, and said.

“That’s where the Parasitic Silkworm lives! All its eggs come down from there! Basically, any Insect Swarm passing through here gets parasitized by its eggs.”

Jax took the binoculars handed to him and looked toward the top floor of the distant Skysea Tower.

He saw that the top floor of Skysea Tower originally had a helipad, but now it was completely covered by dense white net-like material.

Through this net-like material, Jax immediately saw a large silkworm moth.

This silkworm moth lay motionless on the top floor, with an excretory pore on its rear end continuously spewing out dark green eggs.

The appearance of these eggs looked very strange, densely intertwined together, somewhat resembling caviar, but compared to caviar, they looked completely unappetizing.

And this was from a distance of over 300 meters from Skysea Tower. Jax had a vague feeling that these eggs were definitely not small.

Some were even as big as a fist.

“Whew! Looking at this thing is giving me trypophobia!”

Just as Jax was about to put down the binoculars, a plume of thick smoke rising from a place further away caught his attention.

“What’s that place over there? Do you have another outpost there?”

Zhao Chen looked in the direction Jax pointed and explained: “Oh! That’s an abandoned nuclear power plant! But we can’t go there now! Because the entire route is covered in eggs! If we try to pass through, we’d probably get parasitized by these eggs!”

“Then where does your electricity come from?”

Jax pointed to a hanging lamp above them and asked: “You still have electricity here; does that mean there’s still a power plant?”

“Yes! The city’s power plant is still operational! We use electricity for all the steel bars and various mechanical equipment here! Fortunately, the coal reserves at that power plant are relatively abundant! We can use the coal there to generate electricity!”

After saying this, he pointed to the back of a nearby building again.

“It’s right there! What? Do you need something?”

Jax pinched his chin and began communicating with the system.

“System, can I build the High-Energy Tesla Tower here?”

[User, to build the High-Energy Tesla Tower, you can choose a Temporary Construction Token! It’s available for purchase in the System Mall!]

Upon hearing this, Jax was momentarily stunned.

“What! There are Temporary Construction Tokens? How come I didn’t know about this?”

So he quickly opened his system space.

After The Vault was upgraded to Tier 4, it became the System Mall in Jax’s mind.

He originally thought there was nothing good here daily and had basically given up on buying items from the mall.

But he didn’t expect the system to say there were such good items for sale.

Thus, Jax quickly opened his system interface.

Sure enough, he saw several new items in the mall.

And the mall’s refresh mechanism had also changed.

[Mall Refresh Mechanism: After reaching Tier 4 Bastion, the System Mall supplies several fixed items daily, refreshing weekly! For specific details, please check the more detailed system rules!]

After reading this, Jax felt a surge of joy.

“This is great! Much more user-friendly than the previous The Vault! Refreshing weekly gives me more choices!”

After saying this, Jax opened the mall’s item list.

He saw that besides Augmentation Serums, there were also exchanges for Stardust Stones and Refined Iron.

But then something good appeared.

[Temporary Construction Token]