Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 176: The Parasitic Silkworms

Vance fell silent, weighing the insanity of the request against the potential payoff. Finally, he made a decision.

“Fine! I’ll see this through to the end. I’ll help you.”

He turned sharply to his guide. “Get ready. We’re heading to the nuclear plant.”

The guide’s jaw dropped, color draining from his face. “Boss… are you out of your mind? You know how dangerous that place is! Why would you go there?”

Vance waved his hand dismissively. “Enough! No more questions! Just lead the way! You only need to get us there! Don’t ask about the rest!”

The guide looked helpless but finally nodded in agreement.

“Alright. I’ll go pack up. By the way, how many of us are going?”

Vance glanced at Jax. “I think the fewer, the better! A small target is less likely to attract the Parasitic Silkworms’ attention! What do you think?”

“Good! Then let’s do as you say! I’ll bring two people!”

After saying that, Jax thought of another question. “By the way, is that nuclear plant still operational right now?”

Vance nodded. “Yes, the nuclear plant is still running! It’s just operating at minimum power to keep it going!”

Jax was stunned upon hearing this.

“You mean this nuclear plant has been running since the Apocalypse began until now? That’s simply unbelievable! How many years has it been without management? How is it still operating?”

Vance smiled slightly. “You don’t understand this! You have to know, nuclear plants are different from other power stations. For such high-risk facilities, their reliability is extremely high. As long as there’s no human sabotage, they can keep running on their own for hundreds of years. Of course, we can’t consider line aging for now!”

Jax nodded gently. “Alright! In that case, this power plant is really too important for us!”

“Mm! Good! Then let’s set off now! By the time we return, the Cores should be almost tallied! Then we can smoothly start our plan to hunt the Tier 7 Parasitic Silkworms!”

What excited Vance most now wasn’t the Cores they would get from hunting the Parasitic Silkworms; he was more eager to see the Defense Tower Jax had mentioned.

If it was really as Jax said, and this Defense Tower’s attack power was proportional to electricity, then hunting Tier 7 insect beasts would be no problem, and they might even have the strength to fight higher-level insect beasts.

So, with an excited heart, Vance followed the guide forward.

Jax walked at the back of the group, with Elena by his side.

Elena’s eyes were filled with curiosity as she kept looking at the nearby buildings.

“Wow! Look! The woman on that poster is so beautiful! I wish I had clothes like hers!”

After saying that, a hint of envy flashed in Elena’s eyes.

Jax looked at her. “What’s there to envy? She probably has dozens of pounds of hyaluronic acid in her body! She’s all artificial! What’s to envy?”

“What? What acid?”

Jax was momentarily stunned, then realized that over ten years had passed since the Apocalypse began.

Over ten years ago, Elena was just a few-year-old child; how would she know what hyaluronic acid was?

And Jax wasn’t sure if people on this planet used such expensive hyaluronic acid to modify their bodies.

“Nothing, just a type of cosmetic!”

Elena pouted. “Eww… so gross, using acid as a cosmetic! Wait, how do you, a man, know this so clearly? Could it be… you’re a girl disguised as a guy?”

Seeing her words getting more and more outrageous, Jax helplessly flicked her forehead.

“What are you thinking! If you’re interested in my body, just say it straight; it’s not like you haven’t seen it before!”

Elena’s face immediately flushed red, and she spat at Jax. “You pervert! Who looked at your body! You wish! If I had seen your body, I’d probably have been blind for years by now!”

The two bickered as they walked when suddenly, the guide ahead stopped and shushed them.

“Shh, quiet! Ahead is the insect beasts’ gathering ground! We can only go this far now! We can’t go any further!”

Hearing his words, the group instantly fell silent.

Jax quietly moved forward and took a good look into the distance.

In the distance was an open area; the buildings disappeared from here.

Ahead was a large patch of grassland, but the grass here was somewhat yellowish, looking as if it had been sprayed with too much pesticide.

However, beyond the grassland was a wall over ten meters high, with some large words spray-painted on it.

“Ahead: Nuclear Plant, Danger Zone, Do Not Approach!”

After reading it, Jax felt a surge of joy.

“Haha! We’re finally here! By the way, are there insect beasts inside the wall?”

“Yes! They’re densely packed with insect beasts, but most of these insect beasts have Parasitic Silkworm eggs inside their bodies. These eggs are constantly sucking their bodies, and once the Parasitic Silkworms completely devour their hosts’ bodies, they’ll become adults!”

Since there was a wall ahead, making it impossible to see inside, Jax spoke up.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go take a look quickly!”

Vance quickly stopped him.

“Are you crazy! Don’t you value your life! That place is full of insect beasts! Right now, we only have five people total! If we alert them, we probably won’t even have a chance to escape!”

Jax was slightly taken aback, then pointed at the wall. “Isn’t there a wall blocking it?”

“Sigh! Have you forgotten? Among these insect beasts, there are many Rodent-Maw Creepers! These Rodent-Maw Creepers have already dug tunnels through the ground! This grassland ahead looks ordinary, but underneath it’s all insect beasts!”

As soon as Vance finished speaking, Jax immediately saw movement in the distant grass.

“Not good! Get back!”

The guide was so scared his legs trembled; he had no courage to stay here any longer.

Elena looked at him with disdain.

“What are you afraid of? That’s just a Tier 2 Rodent-Maw Creeper! Watch me deal with it!”

After saying that, Elena immediately raised her Soul Collector Rifle to aim and shoot, but Jax stopped her.

“Wait! Gunshots are too loud and might attract these insect beasts’ attention! We need to be careful!”

Elena sheepishly put away her Soul Collector Rifle.

“Fine! So boring! You can’t see anything here! What’s the point?”

Vance thought for a moment and asked the guide.

“Is there a building nearby where we can see inside the nuclear plant’s compound?”

The guide pondered, then pointed to a building not far away.

“To observe inside the nuclear plant, probably only that tall building can do it!”

Jax looked in the direction the guide pointed and, sure enough, about two blocks away, there was a towering building—an excellent observation point.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go quickly!”

The guide hesitated. “That place is also occupied by insect beasts! Although not many! But it’s not something a few of us can handle!”

Elena immediately asked, “Roughly what level are the insect beasts?”

“Uh… the highest level I’ve seen should be Tier 3 insect beasts! Those insect beasts mostly came out of the nuclear plant, but there aren’t many; they prefer occupying these buildings, lurking inside!”

After hearing this, Jax immediately made a decision.

“Since the number of insect beasts isn’t high, let’s go take a look first! See if we can occupy this building! Then we can rest easy!”

So, everyone nodded and followed Jax toward that building.

Along the way, they encountered a few scattered insect beasts. Every time they met an insect beast, Elena displayed her precise marksmanship.

Basically, the others didn’t need to act; Elena had already dealt with all the insect beasts.

Finally, everyone arrived in front of this building, but the area in front of the building was covered with various insect beast corpses.

Jax walked up to one insect beast corpse, crouched down, and examined it.

There was a crack on the insect beast’s back. Jax took out his dagger and gently opened the crack.

Instantly, everyone stepped back in fright.

The insect beast’s body was intact on the outside, but its internal organs and such had all disappeared.

“Hiss! There are Parasitic Silkworms here too! Everyone, be careful!”