Chapter Forty-Eight: Different Kinds of People in This World

Not a single insect was found inside the monastery. This shrine stood unguarded by any bugs; it felt somewhat like a sacred site, yet entirely lacked any austere or holy dignity.

Qi An recalled what she had learned in textbooks: corrupted insects obeyed a collective will, and their beliefs or thoughts were completely unified.

They probably had no need for religious sites, nor for specialized clergy, did they?

Was painting the shrine merely an expression, and was desecrating human religion not even considered a deliberate humiliation to them?

The mental fortification ratings of both Yang Yuning and Li Yi were 5, but after merely glancing at that mural, Yang Yuning's contamination level had already reached 55%, while Li Yi's had soared to 60%! Qi An immediately grasped Li Yi's wrist to initiate mental resonance.

Purification proved unexpectedly difficult; Li Yi's emotions were filled with extreme anger, disorientation, and even terror!

Deep within his most profound memories were the recent events—the defiled Buddhist hall and that malevolent pilgrimage mural!

His memories also contained the time, after being infected with the Black Tide virus, when he was rescued by the military as a survivor, only to encounter corrupted insects along the way.

The young man had fled desperately alongside the crowd. In a panic, he glanced back and saw a slender wisdom insect catching up to the group, leaving a trail of screams and grotesque mutations wherever its tentacles touched!

He tripped! His head and face plunged into a muddy puddle, his breath stalling for an instant. Fear instinctively caused him to tightly grip a jade Buddha statue hanging from a red cord around his neck!

The Buddha statue was ice-cold, just as the young man's heart and entire body were chilled by despair.

His memory paused here, then looped, and the despair Qi An experienced grew more profound with each repetition.

Her mental power transformed into a freezing tide, completely encasing the slender tentacles surging from all directions within Li Yi's mental world in ice, freezing his terror as well!

After repeating this cycle several times, Li Yi's emotions finally stabilized, and his contamination level dropped.

Yet he still clung desperately to Qi An's hand, refusing to let her go.

Both of Qi An's wrists were bruised purple, and Li Yi was only forced to release her after Yang Yuning slashed an arm with a blade.

Yang Yuning's contamination level was also very high. He pulled Qi An behind him, glaring at Li Yi with mutated pupils, radiating hostility and a desire to attack!

Disregarding the pain in her wrists, Qi An immediately purified him, finally managing to soothe the young man.

Normally, Yang Yuning had a very easygoing and cheerful temper, but at this moment, he refused to give Li Yi a single pleasant look.

After shifting his gaze away from Qi An, Li Yi wore an even gloomier, almost dejected expression.

Qi An did not remove her headset while purifying the two of them. She maneuvered the drone to wobble and scan the entire grand hall inside and out, recording both the murals and the graffiti.

Fifteen minutes later, the drone flew back to the small hilltop, and the three of them sat in silence, buffeted by the mountain wind.

"The Buddhist temple was truly beautiful. There must still be many ruins this magnificent across the continent," Qi An, usually a quiet person, broke the silence first.

She spoke with absolute sincerity; she could have spent an entire day just looking at the relief carvings on the mountain gate archway.

"Of course there are many! Before the apocalypse, many cities had famous historical sites, as well as landmarks built with countless human and material resources. These are symbols of civilization! That is why the corrupted insects deserve to die!" Yang Yuning remained furious.

Li Yi, however, let out a cold sneer.

Yang Yuning truly detested this man, his gaze shooting toward him like an arrow: "What are you sneering at?"

"Laughing at your desire to be a guardian of civilization, a hero of humanity?" Li Yi remained indifferent to his anger, offering only mockery.

"You mock heroes, so what do you wish to be?" Qi An asked.

Faced with Qi An's question, Li Yi reined in his hostility, though his reply felt somewhat evasive: "The insect oil we are transporting this time is semi-purified."

Qi An was slightly startled. "And so?"

"It's not that we couldn't carry fully purified oil, but semi-purified oil is much better at attracting corrupted insects.

After we set out, transport teams will successively depart from North 1 and various other bases in the east. We are the bait meant to lure the corrupted insects, the sacrificial offerings paving the way with blood... at least, we are the largest batch of sacrifices," Li Yi said flatly.

Qi An suddenly understood.

She had already sensed that the oil from North 1 was semi-purified when they set out.

On the night they rested at the ranch, Qi An had also heard the team leader mention that the convoy commander was required to report encounters with corrupted insects in a timely manner, especially road conditions, the distribution of strongholds, and so on.

Could it be that the command headquarters—their superiors across the various bases—never expected them to return alive at all?

"Making it this far can already be considered our good luck, but we have only completed two-thirds of the journey," Li Yi cast a mocking glance at Yang Yuning. "Be a hero for the people who are hoping you'll die? How truly noble."

Yang Yuning, however, showed no signs of shock or dejection. Meeting Li Yi's gaze without flinching, he said as a matter of course, "I know."

Li Yi was taken aback, and Qi An looked at him in astonishment.

"I know one of our convoy's missions is to pave the way," Yang Yuning frowned. "We can protect the other transport teams; what's wrong with that?"

His uncle had urged him not to join this mission on the grounds that the transport team served as bait and was far too dangerous.

Yang Yuning had not hesitated for a moment. Protecting more people—wasn't that the very meaning of joining the army?

His eyes, far too clear and bright, gazed at Li Yi, actually causing Li Yi to shrink back under the intensity.

Qi An felt that familiar sensation of seeing starlight, though this time it was daytime. The rain had cleared, the sun was shining brightly, and Yang Yuning was bathed in the brilliant, blazing radiance of a spring noon.

There truly were all sorts of different people in this world.

Li Yi's eye contact with Yang Yuning lasted only two seconds before he averted his gaze. "Lunatic!" he muttered, then strode briskly down the mountain.

Qi An slowed her pace slightly, having suddenly discovered that the scenery on this small hill was quite lovely.

Brightly colored wildflowers bloomed all over the ground, a herd of wild horses scattered in twos and threes among the grassland, and a few marmots stood in a row on the rocks, curiously appraising the bipedal creatures.

Qi An watched for a moment, couldn't help smiling, and leaned down to pick a bright yellow wildflower.

Yang Yuning raised an eyebrow and immediately said, "It doesn't matter if we waste ten minutes."

With that, he began picking wildflowers as well, quickly gathering a large, colorful handful and handing them to Qi An with a somewhat awkward demeanor.

Qi An hesitated for a moment before accepting them. Clutching the flowers, her spirits relaxed as she walked all the way down the mountain.

The trip there and back took an hour and a half, exceeding the estimated time, but it was of little consequence. The members of the convoy had endured a grueling drive, and any chance to rest a bit longer was more than welcome.

Qi An tied the bouquet of wildflowers together with a thin cord and hung it on the side of the passenger-side door, filling the vehicle with fragrance.

Yang Yuning wore a smile on his face throughout the entire afternoon.

After driving for another full day, the convoy was nearly out of the mountainous region, having completed two-thirds of the entire journey.

Qi An thought to herself that although they were bait with a low survival rate, human effort could change things; perhaps they could return to the base safely after all?

Just as she was thinking this, they had almost reached the edge of the mountains, where the road ahead forked into two directions leading south and north.

This time, both directions were completely unknown, and by a consensus of intuition, everyone voted for the northern route.

The convoy drove onto the northern road, and Qi An's spine suddenly straightened.

She sensed a corrupted insect... overhead?

Qi An removed her headset and looked out the car window. Atop the mountain peak where the two roads intersected, a small cluster of buildings was faintly visible.

Could it be another Buddhist temple?

Her field of vision was limited, and the structures quickly vanished from sight. She hurriedly put her headset back on and adjusted the drone.

In the drone's view, it was a complex of buildings half-embedded into the mountain, possessing simple lines and a sturdy, heavy appearance.

Drawing on her meager knowledge of pre-apocalyptic architecture, Qi An wondered if it might be a military base.