Chapter 171 Brood
Sentry Robot Nana's feet sprayed long tail flames, cutting through the sky and steadily advancing in the air above the Atlantic Ocean.
"Master," Nana's distinctive voice came.
"We have arrived near our destination. I sense a large number of zombies approaching us. Please prepare yourselves."
"I feel it too, Nana," Franklin revealed a cruel smile.
"I will give them a good welcome."
As Franklin finished speaking, the sea surface, which had been relatively calm, suddenly churned like boiling water, with countless foam appearing.
With a loud bang, the sea surface exploded, and the tattered Atlantean residents rushed out of the sea surface in a frenzy.
Just like the terrifying legends whispered among sailors in the last century, deep sea sirens who devoured flesh swarmed towards Nana in the air like schools of sardines.
They scrambled, fearing that this rare delicacy might escape, some zombies even crushed into mincemeat by their ravenous partner.
Seeing such a disgusting scene, even Franklin, who had lived in the apocalypse for several years, couldn't help but frown.
Franklin snapped his fingers, and the originally hideous and terrifying Atlantean residents all transformed into harmless flowers, gently falling from the air and landing on the sea surface, drifting with the waves.
"Once I resolve everything, I will return you to your original form," Franklin murmured softly.
Suddenly, an even louder sound of water breaking echoed, and three sea beasts, already terrifying in their original state, now even more horrifying after zombification, burst out of the sea surface. Their long bodies allowed them to overtake Nana, who was flying in mid-air, surrounding her. Yet, no one showed fear.
"Leave this to me!" Nana picked up her modified rifle and aimed it at one of the sea beasts.
Since Franklin had regained his ability, his gun was certainly no longer needed. Valeria naturally accepted it with delight and combined the two guns into one.
Valeria shouldered the wildly designed rifle, and as she pulled the trigger, both gun muzzles simultaneously lit up. Two orange-red light beams shot towards a sea beast.
The sea beast had just emerged from the sea surface, about to open its mouth in a threatening roar, when the two light beams pierced into its mouth, blasting straight through. Two charred holes appeared in its head, emitting a nauseating meat fragrance. The sea beast fell straight down, utterly lifeless.
Valeria laboriously lifted the modified rifle, pretending to blow on the gun muzzle in a theatrical gesture, clearly imitating Western gunslingers from movies. With some effort, she lowered the modified rifle, wanting to check on the other two's progress.
However, the other two had finished even faster than her.
Yang Le, transformed into **Gutrot**, extended five hands that morphed into five flexible blades, flinging them towards the sea beast. He sliced the lengthy sea beast into several sections, which then plummeted into the sea.
Franklin was even more effortless. The sea beast he dealt with was turned into a plaster statue, a genuine plaster statue. Franklin directly converted flesh into plaster.
Namor, hidden at the seabed, witnessed the entire process. He watched Franklin with apprehension. Facing Franklin, who had recovered his strength, he was still no match.
It was best to hide for now and rendezvous with the other hungerers. They couldn't afford to waste any more of their living strength.
However, his attempt to escape was already too late.
Franklin's eyes swept across the sea surface and instantly located Namor concealed beneath.
Franklin snapped his fingers again, and Namor, who was still diving deeper, was abruptly teleported to mid-air, floating beside Franklin.
"Wow!" Valeria jumped back, startled by the sudden appearance of the Sea King, not just by his sudden arrival, but also by the close-up view of Namor's gruesome appearance.
"Don't worry, Little Va," Franklin comforted his younger sister.
"He can't move now."
"Couldn't you have caught a better-looking one?" Valeria complained, wrinkling her nose at Namor's disemboweled, sore-covered body, and the accompanying stench of decay that made her stomach churn.
"My mistake." Franklin waved his hand, and the stench of decay emanating from Namor vanished, replaced by a soothing lavender scent.
"This is even weirder," Valeria muttered, "a corpse emitting a pleasant fragrance, what kind of horror story is this?"
Franklin shrugged, blue light faintly glowing in his eyes. Valeria fell silent upon seeing this, knowing her brother was using telepathy.
Of course, Franklin didn't need any outward signs when using telepathy or most of his ability. This was a deliberate gesture from Franklin, a subtle way of telling his sister:
*I'm busy, don't bother me right now.*
Yang Le was indifferent. He lacked respiratory organs now and couldn't smell anything. Furthermore, the Alien Hero transformation influenced his heart, so he felt no discomfort at Namor's repulsive sight.
The reason Alien Hero transformations affected their users was Azmuth's belief that transforming into an alien meant embracing and unleashing their instinct, which Yang Le also agreed with.
Albedo, however, was different. His alien transformations retained his own nature. Even when transforming into Rath, he wasn't inherently violent – except, perhaps, in Ben Tennyson form.
The blue light in Franklin's eyes faded, indicating he had finished reading the other's mind.
"Unexpected," Franklin blurted out.
"What is it?" Yang Le asked.
"These guys are more complex than we anticipated." Franklin waved his hand. Having obtained all the message, Namor was no longer of use.
With Franklin's wave, Namor also turned into a plaster statue and plunged into the sea.
"Just as we suspected, they are not ordinary viruses."
Franklin turned to face the two, slowly offering an explanation.
"Their original name is Brood. You should be familiar with this name, right?"
Franklin looked at them both, inquire, mainly concerned that Yang Le might not know.
Yang Le nodded, indicating his awareness. Although the Brood were somewhat obscure, they fell within his range of knowledge.
Seeing this, Franklin didn't waste words and continued his explanation.
"Fortunately, they are a hive mind entity. Reading one mind reveals everything. In their awareness, they originally laid brood eggs on a planet, intending to invade that planet after hatching."
"However, before they could even be born, Galactus found that planet. He, like them, had his sights set on that resource-rich planet. Galactus devoured and absorbed that planet. By a coincidence, a brood egg was accidentally sucked into his body."
"This was fortunate for the Brood. Thus, unnoticed by Galactus, the Brood began to reproduce and evolve using the ability within his body, until they became powerful enough to devour their host – Galactus."
(End of Chapter)