Chapter 6: The Abandoned Village

The land of the vast northwest stretched endlessly. After leaving the base’s support range, the squad drove on for another two hours without incident, turning Qi An, the rookie, from nervous excitement into a dull, vacant stare from watching the same scenery repeat itself.

Yu Shuang kept an eye on the newcomer’s condition and couldn’t help but smile. “Little Qi, be cautious but don’t get tense. Just keep observing. We’re almost there.”

Qi An hurriedly nodded.

Zhuang Xiao, their driver, was startled by the words. “Almost there? Isn’t it still over a hundred kilometers away?”

Yu Shuang flipped through the portable satellite signal receiver resting on her long legs, resembling a tablet.

“I’m just about to synchronize the mission information with everyone,” she said. “Two hours ago, the satellite captured images of a corrupted insect convoy moving through the wilderness. Two vehicles: one off-road and one light truck. The location where the images were taken is quite close to us.”

The radio crackled with Zhao Bohai’s voice: “Changing course?”

Their original intelligence was vague coordinates for two suspected contaminator strongholds, the closer one still over 200 kilometers away.

The suspected bases were distant, and evidence was insufficient to confirm them as actual bases. Reconnaissance would be both difficult and dangerous.

Yu Shuang replied, “Yes, change course.”

Su Qingran also said, “Agree to change course.”

Zhuang Xiao gripped the steering wheel. “Definitely changing! Those images are just two hours old—there’s still a strong scent. We have to track and tail them all the way!”

Qi An thought for a moment in the back seat, finally grasping Zhuang Xiao’s meaning.

Humans transformed into contaminators couldn’t simply be called a regression; contaminators remained intelligent beings.

Most contaminators had the intelligence equivalent to that of human children aged 11 to 13, capable of using tools and following orders.

High-intelligence contaminators, known as “witsbugs,” had intellects comparable to humans, engaging in cunning tactics and counterplots.

Contaminators retained human vocal organs and additionally possessed a low-frequency language beyond human hearing.

They lacked individual will, much like the insectoid species in science fiction that obey the queen or zealots devoted to their dark deity. Each contaminator was subject to a collective will intent on contaminating all life, making them highly social and organized.

Therefore, contaminators could drive vehicles and operate firearms.

If there was a contaminator convoy in the wilderness, they were surely on a mission like Squad Two, and would return to their base after completion.

This was a tracking breakthrough.

“The bugs are pretty generous, even sending pillows when you’re sleepy!” Zhuang Xiao chuckled.

Yu Shuang cautioned, “Stay steady, don’t act rashly! The coordinates have been synced to the vehicle’s navigation system. There’s a village there, likely where the corrupted insects spent the night. We need to investigate thoroughly.”

“Got it!”

Half an hour later, they reached the outskirts of the village. Zhao Bohai maneuvered a drone to carefully scout around and, after confirming safety, the two vehicles entered.

The village was small. From outside, collapsed walls and roofs sagged under rampant vegetation, like tombstones swallowed by wild grass.

All was quiet, even peaceful under the sunlight. Yet as soon as the vehicle rolled onto the street, Qi An was deeply shocked.

On every remaining wall and courtyard fence not yet toppled, twisted and glaring unclean symbols were painted everywhere!

The terrifying, serpentine lines, the patterns defying human comprehension—though faded by weather—they still appeared alive, dripping downward in spreading red paint toward them...

Qi An immediately looked away—not out of avoidance, but to check her contamination monitoring wristband.

Her wristband had linked to all squad members’ contamination data upon enlistment. At that moment, all six values remained stable, except Zhao Bohai’s, which had risen by 3%.

She realized only Zhao Bohai was looking at those unclean graffiti!

Everyone else was experienced and knew that ruins visited by corrupted insects in the wild often bore such markings, so they averted their gaze. Only the deputy leader, who was almost a purifier himself, dared to look.

This was clearly the squad’s unspoken combat tacit understanding—all contamination risks were borne by Zhao Bohai.

Zhao Bohai got out of the vehicle. Qi An hesitated but requested to disembark as well.

Yu Shuang was momentarily surprised, then quickly pulled up her mask and put on glasses and headphones that filtered contamination signals. “Alright, I’ll come down too. More people means faster checking.”

Qi An was taken aback.

Though unspoken, the captain was clearly trying to protect her.

She quickly understood that although she was considered capable of bearing battlefield risks and had performed well in last night’s team training, she was still a missing link in their combat harmony. In everyone’s eyes, she was like a precious porcelain doll needing extra protection.

Qi An said nothing and quietly got out of the vehicle with Yu Shuang.

Once steady, Qi An could look directly at the unclean symbols without issue, but Yu Shuang still avoided meeting their gaze.

Her mental reinforcement level was four, not low, yet she still tried to avoid contamination sources when possible.

“Judging by the paint’s fading, these were drawn at least six months ago,” Zhao Bohai said. “This village isn’t far from the base. During the Northwest Legion’s major summer offensive last year, they probably used this place as a temporary camp.”

“Any new ones?” Yu Shuang asked.

The drone flew low, sweeping over rows of collapsed houses.

“None detected so far. The village has a heavy residue of insect oil, but no slime,” Zhao Bohai’s voice held some puzzlement.

Qi An followed them, watching Zhao Bohai’s contamination readings while absorbing their words.

“Insect oil” referred to high-energy biofuel extracted from contaminator corpses.

Due to its astonishing energy release efficiency, biofuel had become one of humanity’s main energy pillars in the apocalypse.

Many vehicles had been retrofitted with biofuel engines.

Contaminators’ vehicles were mostly stolen from humans. They had their own fuel refining methods but without purification.

This caused their vehicle emissions to be especially toxic, lingering in the air for hours.

High-end reconnaissance drones integrated chemical detection modules specifically designed to “sniff” insect oil and identify corrupt insects.

This was the kind of advanced equipment their squad had brought this time!

A strong insect oil scent naturally indicated that a contaminator convoy had recently stayed here. But according to Yu Shuang, corrupted insects loved to “mess around,” always leaving plenty of slime excrement and unclean graffiti to spread pollution wherever they went.

There was no slime residue here. Had they not defecated, or had they carefully buried their waste?