Chapter 40: The Power Structure Must Be Reorganized

The sky had already darkened, and the firelight surrounding the convoy grew more brilliant.

The Fallen Insects were split into two groups: the larger one launched a frontal assault, while the smaller, more elite group flanked them. Yuli Village was home to a full battalion of Fallen Insects, including two Psionic Insects: a low-ranking "Captain" and a low-ranking priest known as a "Singer."

Priests were generally more troublesome due to their high toxicity and superior intelligence. This Singer was hidden within the flanking party, remaining unseen since the start of the battle. After skulking through the dark grass for several minutes, it suddenly materialized behind Li Yi.

Li Yi’s combat instincts remained extraordinary. Overcome by a sudden, chilling dread, he rolled forward and fired back.

A burst of bullets failed to hit any vital organs, but the muzzle flash illuminated the Singer’s form. Priest Psionic Insects were usually smaller than an adult human, with pale, relatively smooth skin instead of the disgusting, wrinkled, tumorous hide of typical drones. Symmetrical golden markings adorned its head and back. The cyst atop the low-ranking Singer’s head was only the size of a peach, and it possessed four pairs of tentacles—one more than the average worker insect. Its face retained human-like features, and all its eyes stared coldly at Li Yi.

It was right upon him!

Li Yi’s barrage paused for a second, his posture suggesting he might retreat, but years of combat experience drove him to squeeze the trigger again, pouring out firepower.

The Singer, having missed its kill, fled at high speed. The bullets chased its trajectory, leaving only a trail of green blood behind.

Li Yi’s contamination level spiked to 45%. Wherever the Singer passed, the contamination levels of his squad members, who had lower mental resistance than he did, also shot up past 45%.

"Purifier!" he barked.

The purifier in Qin Tianshuo’s team was currently busy cleansing a member of North Squad 2. In the distance, Liu Weiyun, Qin Tianshuo, and Jia Wenxuan were closing in. Jia Wenxuan’s night vision proved vital; while still hundreds of meters away, he had already successfully sniped two insects.

However, the remaining dozen or so insects seemed to receive an order from the Singer, scattering to escape the battlefield.

A trail through the grass whipped past Qin Tianshuo and the others. It had already bypassed them, but the trajectory paused, seemingly hesitant, before turning and lunging at Liu Weiyun.

The Singer, having realized that its other group had been wiped out, had decided to retreat. Liu Weiyun’s reaction was far slower than Li Yi’s; when two tentacles entangled her legs, she failed to turn and fire immediately, instead tripping and falling into the grass.

Her scream alerted her teammates. Jia Wenxuan swung his muzzle toward the Singer and unleashed a torrent of fire.

The Singer’s shriek pierced the night sky as it scrambled to escape, but it was headshot by Qin Tianshuo, who had turned back to help. The Singer’s dying cry served as a final command—likely to protect it or avenge it—and the few remaining insects, which had already been fleeing, ferociously swarmed back.

Li Yi was frantically calling for a purifier, but Liu Weiyun’s legs were swollen, and a blood-filled hole had been gouged into her calf by the bone spurs on the Singer’s tentacles, leaving her unable to crawl to safety. Meanwhile, the purifier from North Squad 2 rushed toward Qin Tianshuo, who had also been contaminated by the Singer.

Li Yi let out a string of profanities. Just then, Qi An’s voice crackled over the public channel: "Do the comrades of North Squad 1 need any help?"

He went instantly silent.

"We are all working on the same mission. Let's ignore certain people's thoughts and actions; we have to help," Yu Shuang added immediately.

Su Qingran had already assembled a folding stretcher. Yang Yuning and Tang Long followed behind carrying Zhao Boihan. Yu Shuang and her team arrived at the convoy just moments after Qin Tianshuo’s group.

Yu Shuang was not like Liu Weiyun; when she said she would help, she acted immediately. She leapt onto the roof of a truck and sniped an insect attempting to ambush a member of North Squad 2.

Qi An used her visual assessment to gauge the contamination levels of those guarding the convoy, cleansing them one by one. When she reached Li Yi, seeing that his Level 2 mutation was quite advanced—over 50%—she still did not step forward.

"The commander has high resistance; he can take medication," she said before turning and walking away, leaving Li Yi so angry he nearly ground his teeth to dust. He barely suppressed the urge to drag Qi An back and force her to resonate with him.

The battle ended completely. North Squad 1 suffered two casualties—one seriously injured and one lightly injured. North Squad 2 had one lightly injured, but one member’s contamination level had hit 65%; by the time Qi An reached her, she was frantically tearing at her own face. Qi An cleansed her just before she could actually rip her skin off.

The truck drivers had remained inside their vehicles, ready to flee should the line be breached. The young driver from North Squad 1, who recognized Qi An, couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me... has your team already finished off the other group of insects?"

"Yes," Qi An nodded.

"Was that group... about 30 insects?" the driver asked.

Killing them so quickly—surely the main force of the Fallen Insects must have come to the convoy? Even though the Zhongyuan team had provided timely rescue, it seemed like their own front line hadn't intercepted many. The young man felt ashamed of his assumptions, but then he heard Qi An say, "The other group had about 70."

She glanced at his contamination levels and instructed, "Take a Ganning pill later and meditate for at least half an hour."

The young man was stunned into a daze by the number "70." After hearing her advice, he nodded like a bobbing bird, his face flushed red. But Qi An had already walked away.

The young man’s gaze followed Qi An’s retreating figure, and he excitedly spoke into their channel:

"Seventy! The Zhongyuan team killed 70 of them! They are so strong!! And they are such good people! Their purifier even talked to me!! She was worried about me!!!"

The young driver turned into an excited, squealing mess.

But the number remained hard to believe. It wasn't until Zhuang Xiao and Tang Long from Squad 2 returned from scouring the battlefield to recover gear that hadn't been too badly damaged, and members from the other two teams followed to see for themselves, that they were shocked into silence by the reality.

In the dark, devastated marshland, the soldiers, covered in blood and mud, gathered once more. The expressions on some of their faces were impossible to look at.

"We have successfully repelled the Fallen Insects. What’s next? Will there be even harder missions or more blatant provocations?" Yu Shuang leaned against the front of a truck, her opening salvo heavy with aggression.

This caused the awkward silence to drag on even longer.

Li Yi, who was still being cleansed by a persistent Liu Weiyun, stood in the shadows, saying nothing. His squad members also hung their heads in silence.

Yu Shuang sneered.

This group was always so active when it came to bullying, but now they were playing dead?

Qin Tianshuo, however, despite looking rather grim, gave his disheveled hair a fierce tug and said to Yu Shuang, "I misjudged you before and was disrespectful. I... I apologize! Your team is damn impressive!"

He said it with great difficulty. The young man, barely in his twenties, held his head high, eyes darting to the side, his handsome face flushed a deep red.

Yu Shuang raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Fine, we accept your apology."

She immediately followed up with: "I am going to submit a request to the high command to delegate Li Yi’s command authority to the three team captains, with specific decisions made by vote. Are you on board, Captain Qin?"

Qin Tianshuo’s eyes widened.

His first reaction was that this mission was under the direct command of the 9th Regiment of the North Squad 1 Morning Star Combat Team—how could that ever be approved? His second reaction was to look at Yang Yuning.

Before Qin Tianshuo could speak, his deputy, along with Sun Yiran, the female member who had reached 65% contamination and been cleansed by Qi An, were frantically tugging at his clothes.

"Agree! Agree!"

The road ahead was long. If they wanted to survive until they returned to the base, they had to stick with the strong!