Chapter 1139 - 1139 1138 Meat Mountain

Chapter 1139: Chapter 1138: Meat Mountain Chapter 1139: Chapter 1138: Meat Mountain Three bio-wasteland-style transport vehicles were speeding across the polar ice surface.

Each transport vehicle was loaded with an exact number of wooden crates, no more, no less.

The vehicles had been made on-site by members of the exploration team.

They were primarily composed of a biological nucleus and a magnetic shell:

Biological part: A brain cockpit with a consciousness detection device (the nervous synapses within the cockpit allowed for control over any fleshy area of the transport vehicle to undergo transformations), as well as a series of ‘muscular tentacles’ engines in a tandem arrangement.

This part had been single-handedly completed by an overweight female engineer from the team.

Magnetic part: The outer shell of the vehicle, with spike tires, provided protection and stability on the glacier surface.

The magnetic materials were supplied by the robust man who received Han Dong and the others.

Since Han Dong had formally collaborated with their exploration team, this man also revealed his real name—Gant Rock.

The three transport vehicles moved forward in a straight line.

The vehicle driven by Gant, carrying Han Dong and others, was sandwiched safely in the middle.

Due to the biological material vision system in the cockpit, which also had consciousness detection capabilities, Gant Rock removed his metal diving helmet, revealing his facial features for the first time.

He had a head composed of regular magnets, his rock-like tentacles laid out in strips on the surface,

and a lone eye, like a crystal stone, embedded in the middle of the rock layer. His mouth, resembling a cave, oddly reminded Han Dong of Brother Green,

and he was classified as a Mature Body.

Of course, Han Dong and his companions had already concealed and restrained their own aura upon their initial meeting, also classified as Mature Bodies.

The same.

Han Dong had also removed his Crow coat, presenting himself in human form before Gant.

“Indeed, you all have human genes mixed within you… No wonder a Mature Body like you, feeling rather average in strength, could become a Deep Sea Envoy. It turns out you belong to the ‘Hybrid Kin.’

Was it the exploration of Fate Space that granted you the status of a Messenger?”

There was an evident scorn in Gant’s words, perhaps not intentionally so.

“Yes,” Han Dong nodded.

“Messenger, it will take at least two more days to reach the Meat Mountain. If you’re bored, you might take in the scenery outside… Not many venture this deep into Antarctica.”

Gant, with his free right hand, was manipulating a curved muscle tendon on the control panel.

Smack!

A flesh-like soft tube, similar to a periscope, descended in front of Han Dong.

Its suction cup-like opening could attach precisely over the eyeball, feeding Han Dong external visual images.

It was no longer the white expanse of Antarctica he had in mind.

The first things to catch his eye were the figures of “frozen corpses” standing on the ice surface.

These subjectively imaged “Possession Monsters” all appeared in human form to Han Dong, even projecting some of the characters from his subconscious, including students he had taught at school and even passersby he had encountered.

This time Han Dong observed more carefully… and he detected a sense of despair on the faces of these “frozen corpses.”

During the drive towards the Black Flesh Mountain, the exploration team would occasionally stop to capture some high-quality “Possession Monsters.”

Besides that.

The glacial ground also had many raised black lumps, the tallest of which could be described as ‘small hills’—all extensions of the Meat Mountain at the edge of Antarctica.

Although the main body of the Meat Mountain was in the center, in actuality, it covered the entire continent of Antarctica.

“What is the Meat Mountain?” Han Dong wanted to hear the answer from the exploration team.

“It is a grand nation created by the Elder Race in Antarctica, once corresponding to the highest-ranking Land Deed… When it was not yet affected by the cataclysm, it could be described as one of the most powerful nations on Earth.

Even after the Land Deed was destroyed, the Meat Mountain continues to operate normally and is even growing slowly.

It is the existence of Meat Mountain that ensures the stability of Antarctica… cough cough cough!”

Gant Rock suddenly coughed as he reached this point in his story.

For humans, coughing might be a normal occurrence, but for demons, it was an unnatural condition, very likely indicating a problem with their bodies.

“Strange…”

Gant immediately conducted a check of his body but found no issues.

However, Han Dong, who was sitting to one side, observed a wisp of green breath escape Gant’s mouth with that cough.

Considering that Eugenes had requested to join this group, Han Dong thought of an unsettling possibility.

“Mr. Gant, the ‘Possession Monsters’ here shouldn’t be a real threat, should they?

For you, whether it’s your observation equipment or capture devices, everything is quite advanced, making dealing with these creatures seem effortless.

Is the main reason this place is called a Forbidden Area because of the Meat Mountain?”

“Yes.

To us, as well as other explorers, ‘Possession Monsters’ are nothing more than experimental materials. As long as we pay a little attention, there is not much danger.

The real danger is the Meat Mountain—the lost kingdom of the Elder Race.

Even though we frequently operate in the Antarctic, we have never truly entered the core of the Meat Mountain; we only collect monetizable items from the Meat Zone.

Let me tell you something else.

Our squad’s personnel are not always the same. Initially, there were twenty people in our team… Only Ribinsey, Akin, and I have survived until now.

The others joined later on.

Since it’s your first time here, Messenger, you must stick close to me when we enter the mountains and never act on your own.”

“Understood.”

Thus, the transport vehicle traveled across the ice plains for a full three days.

As they drew closer to the central body of the Meat Mountain within the polar circle, their connection with the outside world dwindled… The ice fields began to display some ridge-like small mountain ranges and solitary black flesh-like towers standing on the ice field.

In addition, there was an extremely bizarre sight.

In the ice field area near the main body of the Meat Mountain, they encountered some explorers who had been possessed.

Most of them lay on the surface of the Meat Mountain, ceaselessly gnawing at the flesh, a behavior that persisted for years, or even decades.

This resulted in one outcome—[Engorgement].

The demons, having been possessed and continuously eating without any movement,

had their limbs and external tentacles severely degenerated, while their stomach sacs and bellies, in order to accommodate the relentless intake of the black flesh, kept expanding, becoming extremely distended.

The stomachs of the possessed approached an average size ten times that of a normal individual.

Some demons’ bellies were as large as a detached villa, even merging with the Meat Mountain to become a unique scenic feature on it.

According to Gant’s explanation, this was the only method the ‘Possession Monsters’ could think of to escape Antarctica.

They believed the Meat Mountain to be the heart sustaining the thin Barrier… and the only thing they could do was to eat away the Meat Mountain through feeding.

Unfortunately, the growth rate of the Meat Mountain far exceeded the rate of consumption.

Hearing this explanation, a sense of ‘despair’ welled up… Han Dong couldn’t help but pity this group of ‘frozen corpses’.

“We’ve arrived…”

With Gant’s reminder,

The grand main body of the Meat Mountain now lay before their eyes, markedly different from the smaller hillocks, ridge-like mountain ranges, or protruding blocks that had branched out from it.

The main body of the Meat Mountain had existed since prehistoric times, going through construction and refinement by the Elder Race, its exterior lacking any flesh-like texture, but rather a texture between metal and stone, resembling an impenetrable colossal castle.

At the mountain’s base, there were also geological structures of strange shape, such as short castle ramparts, towering structures resembling watchtowers, and circular platforms etched with peculiar magic arrays.

The exploration team’s location was at the foot of the main body.

Before them stood a cave with a battered stone door…