Chapter Fourteen: Adventure

The corrupted insects had been brought by Yu Shuang and the others. Just minutes later, Qi An heard gunfire and saw Yu Shuang’s figure burst through the swirling sandstorm, charging toward them.

“There are corrupted insects collecting water on that ice sheet too! We ran right into them! Get in the vehicle, let’s move!” Her voice was muffled beneath the tactical mask, yet the grit and determination were unmistakable.

Qi An knew their water source was within the ravines of the plateau—a perennial shadowed area, where spring water had formed an ice waterfall.

Sure enough, in this cursed weather, everyone desired clean water.

The wind was about level five, and the sandstorm was not too dense. Qi An could already see the corrupted insects pursuing the three of them.

A massive swarm—at least thirty in number!

Were they planning to hollow out that ice waterfall?

This was a death sentence! Qi An immediately grabbed her rifle, scooped up the blocking agents she had just laid out for counting, and rushed into the vehicle.

Zhuang Xiao had finished processing the intermittent messages from the other side. After muttering “damn” twice, he buckled his seatbelt, slammed the accelerator, and led the charge onto the narrow path of the ravine.

But an even more pressing problem arose.

“The battery is low! We can only go another twenty kilometers at most!” Zhuang Xiao shouted.

“They don’t have vehicles! If you drive five kilometers, you’ll lose them!” Yu Shuang replied sharply.

Qi An quickly interjected, “We just got a message from Jiu! Zhuang Xiao, where’s the rendezvous point? How far away?”

“It’s not far in a straight line, less than twenty kilometers, but the route is winding and who knows how long it will take! And he doesn’t seem to be in good shape,” Zhuang Xiao realized the gravity of the situation.

Yu Shuang cursed under her breath.

Zhao Bohan eased off the gas, took the radio, and asked, “Can we kill those corrupted insects?”

Everyone froze momentarily. Qi An’s mind raced and she suddenly realized the question was directed at her.

They had plenty of ammunition and, given their squad’s strength, should be able to face them head-on.

But direct confrontation would inevitably increase everyone’s contamination levels—a heavy price to pay. The deputy leader’s real aim in wanting to kill the insects was probably to harvest their oil.

Qi An had inquired earlier and knew that both their vehicles were actually hybrid-powered.

The “oil” in question was insect oil, not gasoline. The insect oil generators charged the battery packs.

They couldn’t charge directly with solar panels, so the battery shortage was essentially an oil shortage.

Their trunks contained simple insect oil purification devices, but thorough purification required large equipment.

They could kill the corrupted insects to extract the oil, but burning unpurified insect oil to travel a long distance to the rendezvous point—and then face unknown challenges there—would dangerously raise contamination levels.

Qi An had already established a tacit understanding with the squad: any contamination risks now fell squarely on her.

She glanced back at the corrupted insects rapidly closing in.

Oppose the plan?

If they rejected extracting the oil on-site, they could use the remaining battery to shake off the insects, but then they wouldn’t be able to reach Jiu in time.

Zhuang Xiao had said earlier that Jiu’s first message was about finding the mother nest; the intelligence was delivered.

But intelligence is intelligence, and lives are lives!

“I agree to fight,” Qi An said.

“Good.”

Zhao Bohan pressed the accelerator again, overtaking Qi An’s vehicle to form a triangular formation with the other two cars.

The three vehicles came to a sudden halt. The corrupted insects, about to abandon the chase, hesitated.

But in the next second, one of the insects, its abdomen swollen and slender, raised its tentacles.

“Switch your headsets to full noise cancellation!” Yu Shuang shouted sharply.

From the mouthparts of this clearly sentient corrupted insect came a piercing, eerie, almost maddening song—like a dance of fear and rage deep within the human subconscious.

It sounded like a battle horn, rallying all the insects to swarm toward the convoy again!

As they ran, their curved spines bent lower, all tentacles and short, stout legs scraping the ground, resembling a twisted fusion of centipede, octopus, and cheetah, moving with terrifying speed!

But they immediately encountered the first line of defense—Tang Long hoisted a light machine gun onto the roof of the middle vehicle, unleashing a relentless storm of bullets!

The insects’ charge faltered; thick green blood splattered in the wind.

Among the corrupted insects were “infants,” as large as a Pekingese dog, fast and agile—children mutated from humans.

One infant dodged the hail of bullets with its height and had already leapt to the front of the convoy in the blink of an eye.

“Bang!” Yu Shuang’s sniper shot caught it mid-air, exploding it like a rotten tomato!

The machine gun cut down a layer of insects; the rest scattered, lowering their bodies and crawling from all directions.

Inside Qi An’s vehicle, Zhuang Xiao had already left, climbing an outcropping on the loess cliff at an unknown time. From this vantage, he picked off insects one by one with his sniper rifle.

Everyone else held their positions, firing from the protective formation of their vehicles. Even Su Qingran, in such cursed weather, maintained over 90% accuracy at two hundred meters!

After just one exchange, the team had killed two-thirds of the insects, despite their fat layers greatly hindering bullets from penetrating vital organs. Without hitting key targets, dozens of shots were needed.

Qi An was immensely impressed but knew the real danger was yet to come.

On her wristband, the contamination levels of the other five were rapidly rising, climbing 3%-5% every minute.

Tang Long’s contamination rose from 40%... to 46%... already at Stage 2 mutation. His veins bulged as his hand gripped the machine gun’s wheel shaft while reloading.

Zhuang Xiao and Yu Shuang both hit 40%, and Su Qingran’s contamination was soaring.

Qi An moved between positions, injecting Yu Shuang with a blocking agent, then leapt onto the roof of the middle vehicle, pressing her hands on Tang Long’s head.

A psychic resonance! In the ever-shifting chaos of the battlefield, Tang Long’s contamination had exceeded 50%. Qi An could not waste a second and initiated deep purification.

She resonated with Tang Long’s icy fear.

He feared everyone leaving him—comrades killed or scattered, his mother and sister either consumed by contamination or perished in the war—leaving him utterly alone.

He feared his low mental resistance would drag the team down, that one day his complete mutation would doom them all.

Qi An’s mental power was a pure white tendril, a brushstroke that covered all tragic scenes like an oil painting, a gentle yet firm whisper—no one will die, as long as I am here, you will not mutate!

Within three short minutes, Tang Long’s contamination dropped from 50% to 47%... then to 35%!

Only two corrupted insects remained, now within fifty meters of the squad!

Zhao Bohan and Zhuang Xiao each fired a shot; Zhuang Xiao’s missed.

Qi An rushed to Yu Shuang and embraced her from behind.

Yu Shuang’s contamination dropped even faster, falling below 30% within two minutes.

Only Zhuang Xiao remained, chasing the last corrupted insect that had slipped past his gunfire. Despite several shots, he failed to hit a vital spot.

His contamination neared 50%. Yu Shuang’s shot finally took down that insect.

“Zhuang Xiao, get down!” she shouted.

His body recoiled reflexively but then stiffened, sensing something wrong. He twisted his neck sharply, looking toward the cliff above.

At the same moment, Qi An sensed it too. Driven by fear, she lunged forward and fired a shot at the cliff!