Chapter Ten: Battle

Two vehicles were parked deep within a poplar grove, camouflaged into inconspicuous mounds by layers of withered branches and fallen leaves. Zhao Bohan, still suffering from tinnitus, and Su Qingran stood guard by the cars, while the remaining four members split into two teams, moving stealthily toward a hillside that overlooked the service area.

They remained at a significant distance, visible only through binoculars. Zhuang Xiao, whose sensory enhancement value reached seven, possessed long-range vision comparable to a four-fold magnification scope; he and Yu Shuang were positioned at the forefront. Qi An and Tang Long occupied a smaller hill further back, serving primarily as lookouts and extraction support. Clad in brownish-yellow field camouflage and wearing hand-woven ghillie hoods, the two groups of four blended perfectly into the hillside, appearing as little more than a patch of the terrain itself.

Yu Shuang’s voice crackled through the earpiece: "Damn it! This isn't just a stronghold; it’s a checkpoint!"

The remark startled the group. Zhao Bohan immediately asked, "What makes you think it’s a checkpoint?"

"Because another convoy is coming through, and those bugs are stopping them for inspection! Damn... they're searching so thoroughly, they might even find our tracker!"

This realization sent a shiver through the team. Yu Shuang hurriedly checked her tablet. Although their tracker was a second-hand, pieced-together device, it was fully functional; despite its bulky size, it was more reliable than the standard-issue units provided by the base. It was equipped with a pressure-sensing system, designed to trigger an alarm on remote devices if touched.

The device remained silent, and the red dot resumed its movement, indicating the convoy had cleared the checkpoint and was back on the move. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but it was clear the squad could track no further—beyond the checkpoint surely lay a large-scale stronghold, and continuing would be a death sentence.

Zhuang Xiao shifted forward and observed through his sniper scope, clicking his tongue. "There’s even a sheep pen at the foot of the hill; no wonder the heat signatures are so dense. Judging by the number of sheep, there are plenty of bugs at this checkpoint—at least fifty, if not more!"

With a large number of bugs and such rigorous inspections, the scale of the stronghold behind the checkpoint suggested significant strategic importance. Qi An and Tang Long took turns scanning the area with binoculars. The sun gradually dipped toward the jagged peaks of the western mountains, the twilight fading away. Yu Shuang and Zhuang Xiao moved to a new vantage point, which offered less cover but a superior line of sight.

Reconnaissance opportunities were rare, and they hoped to identify the model of the machine gun mounted on the balcony of the two-story building to better assess the strength of these "Fallen Bugs."

Suddenly, Qi An’s voice cut through the earpiece: "Captain, it seems like some Fallen Bugs are approaching us!"

Zhuang Xiao’s spine stiffened. "Huh?"

Yu Shuang pressed against her earpiece. "Which direction? How many? How far?"

Tang Long was also alarmed, instinctively reaching for the binoculars in Qi An’s hands, but she didn't hand them over. In truth, there was nothing to see in the binoculars; the direction she was looking toward was filled only with jagged rocks. Her conclusion that Fallen Bugs were approaching came purely from an inexplicable intuition.

Qi An began to understand: whenever the time and space were sufficiently close—like now, within a one-kilometer radius—if a "Polluted" entity was present, her senses flared, tracing their movement trajectories within her mind.

She closed her eyes for a moment. "Nine o'clock position, on the hillside. Two Fallen Bugs, about 600 meters away. Your position is likely obstructed; it’s difficult to observe them from there."

Yu Shuang looked back, seeing only rocks and shrubs in the direction Qi An indicated. However, her trust in Qi An had grown significantly. She grabbed Zhuang Xiao and pulled him into a blind spot among the rocks where she could observe without being seen. When she raised her binoculars again, she spotted what looked like tentacles moving between the crevices of the rocks.

"They're actually there!" Zhuang Xiao, relying on his superior vision and keen sense of smell, also detected them, pressing his body lower to the ground. "Hide or run?"

Yu Shuang took another look. The Fallen Bugs had emerged from the rocky area, their forms fully exposed. There were indeed two, one behind the other, moving at a leisurely pace, their tentacles aimlessly sweeping through the withered grass while the eyes covering their bodies rotated randomly.

At a glance, Yu Shuang determined that the bugs weren't coming for them; they were patrolling and hadn't spotted the team yet. However, the positions of Qi An and Tang Long were dangerous—the slightest movement would surely give them away.

Yu Shuang’s hesitation lasted only half a second. She mounted the scope onto her rifle and told Zhuang Xiao, "I’ll snipe the one in front, you take the one behind. Ensure the interval between shots is no more than two seconds."

"Understood." This was a formal order. Zhuang Xiao’s baby-faced expression instantly went cold.

The dark barrel rose from the grass, startling a foraging mouse. The two Fallen Bugs were moving down the hill toward Qi An and Tang Long. One of the eyes on a tentacle narrowed slightly, fixating on Tang Long’s bulky frame and tactical backpack.

But in the next second, an armor-piercing round tore through the glowing, cyst-like tissue on the bug's forehead. It was like piercing a rotten tomato; thick, green fluid exploded outward, and the bug collapsed. The moment it fell, another shot pierced the head of its companion behind it.

The two sharp, brief sounds merged into one, swallowed by the evening wind. Qi An and Tang Long sprang up and bolted down the mountain. There were two more bugs, but they were further away—one at least a kilometer off, and the other, based on Qi An’s faint perception, likely on the other side of the mountain.

Su Qingran and Zhao Bohan had already started the vehicles; they could reach the foot of the mountain in five minutes to extract them. All they had to do was run. They couldn't be spotted by the other two bugs; if those creatures used their long-range sonic language to notify the service area stronghold, the team would be doomed.

However, the full field gear weighed 40 kilograms. Even though Qi An’s load was the lightest in the squad, she only weighed 43 kilograms herself; sprinting down the mountain under such weight was grueling. Tang Long had already dashed ahead several dozen meters, but he looked back to see Qi An struggling, and was taken aback. He had never seen a soldier with such poor physical stamina.

"Carry her!" Yu Shuang’s figure flashed past as she barked the command.

Tang Long realized what he had to do. He turned back and hoisted Qi An onto his shoulders. Qi An nearly vomited her lunch, but their pace quickened significantly. Within five short minutes, they reached the foot of the hill.

Behind them came a faint, shrill roar; it seemed the distant bug had finally discovered them.