kvmb Chapter 86 : Industrial Upgrade
Chapter 86 : Industrial Upgrade
Chapter 86: Industrial Upgrade?
They had humanoid limbs, yet were covered in insect-like carapaces. They had no facial features—only a circular mouthpart that took up half of their face.
With each breath, the egg sacs expanded and contracted.
Squish.
Squish.
The sounds gathered together, like tens of thousands of wet feet trampling through a swamp.
The sour bile in Lilia’s stomach surged upward again.
This scene was a hundred times more sanity-draining than that SM scene from earlier.
Anyone with trypophobia would die on the spot.
“Th-this…”
Even the hand Lilia used to pinch her nose was trembling.
What the hell was this, an alien hive?
Or one with a Resident Evil filter slapped on top?
If these thousands of monsters hatched and rushed out of the mine…
Forget Hera’s few hundred Royal Guards—even a proper legion would feel their scalps go numb.
This wasn’t a private army.
This was something meant to destroy the world!
Batori didn’t seem to notice Lilia’s horror.
Like a shut-in enthusiast proudly showing off a prized figure collection to a guest, she lunged toward the nearest egg with a face full of fanatic excitement.
Not minding the filth at all.
Her entire body pressed directly against it.
Her cheek rubbed back and forth across the slime-covered eggshell.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Master, look at these perfect lines, this vibrant pulsation of life!”
Batori stuck out her tongue and licked a streak of black fluid sliding down the eggshell, her face full of intoxicated delight.
“They are the greatest works of art in this world!”
Lilia took two steps back.
Her grip on the blade in her hand tightened.
“Speak like a human.”
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Lilia’s face turned cold as she snapped.
“These… what exactly are they?”
“A force to attack the Palace of Eternal Night?”
Batori froze for a moment.
She raised her head, that perverse smile still hanging on her face, seemingly confused by Lilia’s question.
“Attack the Palace of Eternal Night?”
“No, no, Master, you’ve misunderstood.”
Batori waved her hands repeatedly.
Those slime-covered fingers flicked droplets of black liquid into the air.
“They’re far too precious!”
She patted the massive egg beneath her, producing a dull, watery thud.
“They’re miners.”
“The most perfect ones—no need for rest, no need for wages, not even the need to breathe air… the ultimate miners!”
Huh?
Lilia’s brain froze for a second.
She suspected she had misheard.
“You’re saying they’re used for… what?”
“Mining, of course!”
Batori answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
She pointed at the endless army of insect eggs, her tone carrying an almost insane pride.
“Look at those abandoned mine tunnels!”
“They’re filled with toxic gas, collapses, and underground magical beasts. Ordinary goblin laborers die the moment they go in, and you still have to pay them wages, feed them, and even give compensation when they die!”
“It’s a complete waste!”
“But these beauties are different!”
The more Batori spoke, the more excited she became, gesturing wildly.
“Once they hatch, just implant a simple command chip into them.”
“They’ll pick up pickaxes and drill into the most dangerous, narrowest crevices.”
“Operating nonstop for twenty-four hours!”
“Even if their bodies rot or break, as long as that mouth can still move, they’ll keep digging! Keep digging!”
“They’ll extract every single Magic Crystal!”
“What incredible productivity!”
“This is an industrial miracle!”
Lilia: “…”
She looked at the hellish scene before her.
Then looked at Batori, who wore an expression of “I’m upgrading the industry.”
Her worldview shattered into pieces.
This was called industrial upgrading?
This was a biopunk version of the slave trade!
And it wasn’t even for rebellion.
Nor for destroying the world.
Creating something this grotesque, turning the entire mining area into a nightmare, even drawing Hera here—
All for the sake of saving a bit on goblin wages?
For automation?
This vision…
Should it be called too grand, or too small?
Even capitalists would weep at the sight—there wouldn’t be enough lampposts to hang all these people.
“Um…”
Lilia swallowed, pointing at those eggs.
“This technology… where did it come from?”
Although the Demon Realm was relatively straightforward in its culture, it was still in the stage of cold weapons clashing with magic.
This kind of clearly off-the-tech-tree bioengineering didn’t look like a native product at all.
And besides.
This thing looked extremely dangerous.
What if it went out of control?
The fanaticism on Batori’s face receded slightly.
She glanced somewhat warily at the cave ceiling, lowering her voice.
“It was sent from above… by that Lord, as ‘seeds.’”
That Lord again.
“As for the exact origin, a small figure like me doesn’t know.”
“That Lord said that as long as the experiment succeeds and production doubles, it can be promoted across all mining areas in the Demon Realm.”
“When that happens, the Batori family will become the richest in the Demon Realm!”
Batori let out a silly laugh.
Lilia only felt a chill spread through her entire body.
Promoted across the entire Demon Realm?
Letting these nightmare-inducing creatures spread across every mine?
That image was too horrifying to even imagine.
This was definitely not something good.
This kind of “efficiency” gained by overdrawing life and twisting rules must come with a massive cost.
“Hatching.”
Lilia suddenly caught a key point.
She stared at the wriggling egg.
The shadow inside seemed larger than before.
“You said they can be used as soon as they hatch.”
“Then what… do they eat to grow?”
These fleshy eggs couldn’t possibly rely on photosynthesis.
The black nutrient fluid flowing through the veins on the ground—where did it come from?
Batori’s smile stiffened.
That perverse excitement faded slightly, replaced by something called “guilt.”
Her gaze wandered, not daring to meet Lilia’s eyes.
“Well…”
“Just a bit… a bit of biological waste.”
“And… some special ‘fertilizer.’”
Special fertilizer.
Lilia’s heart suddenly tightened.
She recalled the conversation she overheard at the entrance.
That batch of “goods.”
Those human slaves.
“That shipment being transported tonight…”
Lilia stepped forward, her short blade sliding half an inch out of its sheath, its cold gleam reflecting on Batori’s pale face.
“Is it really being transported away?”
Or rather—
Was this the final destination?
Batori trembled.
Partly from the killing intent emanating from Lilia, and partly because her secret had been exposed.
Before she could even come up with an excuse—
Crack.
A crisp sound.
In this deathly silent underground cavern, it sounded especially sharp.
Lilia and Batori turned their heads at the same time.
Right beside them—
That giant egg which Batori had just kissed and licked—
Had split open with a crack.
A thick, sweetly nauseating smell of blood gushed out from the fissure.
Gulp.
A pale hand with black nails extended out from the viscous fluid.
It suddenly grabbed onto the edge of the eggshell.
Lilia felt her scalp explode.
The nails were black, sharp, and long—like iron hooks made for digging.
Creak—
That teeth-grinding cracking sound rang out again.
The claw gripped the edge of the shell tightly and tore outward with force.
The elastic, fleshy shell was forcibly ripped apart. More viscous fluid surged out like a breached flood, instantly submerging Lilia’s feet.
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Lilia leapt up on the spot, retreating three meters in rapid steps.
Her back slammed against the cold rock wall.