Chapter Seven: The Pursuit

The sunlight was exceptionally brilliant, and the sky was an unblemished, deep blue. Yet, due to the graffiti scattered about, the small village remained steeped in a ghostly, unsettling atmosphere.

The squad crept up to a house at the edge of the village. A drone shattered a window and flew inside. Zhao Bohan reported, "There are traces of what appears to be a fire."

He pulled on his filtration mask, leaving only his stunning, peach-blossom eyes exposed, and led the way into the house.

"Contamination levels up by 6%. The deputy captain is truly resilient!" Qi An marveled to herself before following him inside.

Dust danced in the shafts of sunlight. The furniture in the living room had not yet completely rotted away, and on a small table beside the sofa, a yellowed photograph of a family of five leaned quietly against the wall.

"The furniture hasn't been damaged, and the ashes from the fire have been cleaned up. However, the dust distribution is uneven in many places, and then there's this smell... There is no doubt that this is where that squad of Corrupted Bugs spent the night."

"The convoy includes a light truck, and since the Corrupted Bugs were on a long-distance mission requiring an overnight stay, it can be inferred that their task was more likely the collection or transport of supplies rather than patrolling or combat."

"Based on the area of the house, the disturbance of the dust on the floor, and the concentration of the slime's odor, I estimate the number of Corrupted Bugs to be between four and seven."

"Because they possess anti-tracking awareness, the supplies they are transporting must be very important. There is likely a 'Wise Bug' accompanying them."

Zhao Bohan spoke like a human AI, his conclusions flowing rapidly after a quick sweep of the room.

Qi An, lacking experience, had been too busy looking at the family portrait and checking Zhao Bohan's contamination level. Although she had also arrived at the conclusion that there were about six Corrupted Bugs, it had been based on nothing more than an inexplicable intuition.

*No wonder everyone trusts the deputy captain,* Qi An thought, impressed.

Yu Shuang also placed total trust in Zhao Bohan’s assessment. "Understood. Take Xiao Qi and withdraw from the house first. Tang Long, prepare to change the drone batteries. Starting from the courtyard gate, calculate the trajectory of the Corrupted Bugs' convoy."

Even though the Corrupted Bugs had tried to conceal their tracks, they were no match for human technology and ingenuity. The trajectory was quickly calculated: heading north from where the convoy had been captured on camera at the village entrance.

However, just before they set off, the versatile deputy captain called a halt, squatting down in the grass at the village entrance.

Yu Shuang asked with a puzzled look, "Did you eat something bad this morning? Is five minutes enough?"

Zhao Bohan shot her a glare as he looked back. "I’ve discovered traces of plants being harvested in this area!"

In the early spring, patches of green were already emerging in the sun-drenched wasteland. Upon closer inspection, one could indeed see the soil turned over around the greenery, indicating it had been dug up. Hidden among the withered yellow grass, these signs were far from obvious, and Qi An was struck by Zhao Bohan’s powers of observation.

Tang Long stepped out of the vehicle and moved closer. "Looks like shepherd's purse and dandelion... There are even Chinese toon buds on the trees over there; they've all been picked!"

The burly man spoke of the ingredients with the familiarity of a connoisseur. Seeming delighted to have reached a useful conclusion, his voice was quite spirited.

"There’s residual slime; the Corrupted Bugs definitely picked them. Maybe the supplies they’re searching for this time are wild vegetables!"

The Corrupted are omnivorous, though their range is much broader than that of humans; they can digest raw grass and carrion. While they can eat almost anything, different foods provide different nutritional values. The Corrupted are known to raise animals and harvest edible vegetables and fruits.

With food scarce in winter, the idea that the Corrupted would send a convoy out to dig for wild greens, while absurd, was entirely possible. This served to verify the hypothesis that there was a sizable settlement of the Corrupted nearby.

Zhao Bohan stood up. Qi An, however, noticed a patch of withered yellow grass stems that had clearly had their roots dug out. The scent was somewhat peculiar, and she couldn't help but linger on it.

"Is that also a wild vegetable?" she asked.

Tang Long scratched his head. "Doesn't look like it... I don't recognize it."

If he didn't recognize it, it was likely inedible. Su Qingran took a look, picked one up, and sniffed it. "It looks like licorice root?" she said uncertainly.

Zhao Bohan paused at this. Medicinal plants were a doctor's domain, but in early spring, the stems and leaves of licorice above ground were withered and bore little resemblance to textbook descriptions; Su Qingran was guessing based on the scent.

Whether it was licorice or not didn't change the big picture. Yu Shuang pulled everyone's attention back to the task at hand. "The key is the tracking, everyone! If we delay any longer, the smell in the air will dissipate!"

Following her urgent call, the group returned to their vehicles. This time, Yu Shuang drove, with Zhao Bohan in the passenger seat controlling the drone. Qi An sat in the second vehicle with Tang Long and Zhuang Xiao.

With a stomp on the gas, the lead car darted off like a startled rabbit. Zhuang Xiao whistled and floored the accelerator in pursuit. The two military off-roaders roared across the wasteland like violent beasts. The drone was even faster, disappearing from their sight in a moment.

"Increased exhaust concentration detected. Estimated distance from the Corrupted convoy: 10 kilometers... 5 kilometers, 3 kilometers. The convoy has been spotted."

In the drone’s field of vision, the two vehicles were merely unremarkable gray dots on the landscape, but as the distance slowly closed, their outlines became clear. The vehicles were filthy, covered in suspicious organic flesh and tentacles.

Zhao Bohan’s voice was calm and steady. "The vehicle models match the satellite imagery perfectly. Confirmed as the target. Coordinates transmitted."

The basin-sized multi-function reconnaissance drone stopped 500 meters from the convoy and held its position.

Zhao Bohan took off his headset and handed it to Su Qingran in the back seat. He quickly retrieved a soft cap lined with dense sensors from an equipment box and put it on his head. This was a wearable neural control interface, paired with a micro-spy drone the size of a quail egg.

As Yu Shuang had put it, their team wasn't what it used to be—the equipment they brought this time was all state-of-the-art.

The spy drone started up almost silently, its stealth coating providing excellent camouflage. Su Qingran commanded the reconnaissance drone to return, and the spy drone took over, flying silently onto the roof of the Corrupted Bugs' truck.

The sequence of operations was incredibly smooth. Even though the Corrupted were covered in tentacles, each tipped with an eye that granted them 360-degree, dead-angle-free vision, they remained inside the truck, completely unaware of the tiny device maneuvering with Zhao Bohan's pinpoint precision.

A restrained smile appeared on Yu Shuang’s face. "Deploy the trackers. On both vehicles."

Zhao Bohan pressed a key on his tablet. Several kilometers away, the spy drone's circular base opened, and a needle-like robotic arm inserted a pill-sized tracker into a gap on the truck's roof.

After a two-minute signal delay, red dots appeared on the navigation screens of both their vehicles.

Zhuang Xiao gave a shout. "Technology is the primary productive force. Which great figure said that again?"

"A great figure from our great-grandfather's generation! Stop messing around and stay focused on our advantage!" Yu Shuang laughed.

The spy drone flew away from the truck, preparing to land on the roof of their off-roader. Everything was going smoothly; Zhao Bohan’s micro-control was top-tier. But suddenly, the drone jerked in mid-air and began to plummet!

Zhao Bohan sat bolt upright, concentrating intensely as he tried to pull the drone back up. He did manage to stabilize it, but the tiny "quail egg" began to flutter erratically, and the red light on top, signaling a device failure, flashed frantically.

Zhao Bohan fought to control it, narrowly avoiding the truck's windshield! But immediately after, a high-pitched screech, like that of audio equipment with a loose connection, erupted from the control unit. The drone, now several kilometers away, lost power entirely and tumbled into the grass.

This top-tier piece of gear, requisitioned from the Special Operations Equipment Bureau, had been broken all along.