Chapter 172 - Ancient Remains (VI)
Editors: Humu & Kitty
“We have no choice but to escape. From the beginning, this chamber had not left us with any s.p.a.ce to fight. As long as we face these monsters, we have no possibility of survival.” Xing Yan simply judged the current situation and made a preliminary a.s.sessment of their team’s situation.
“But the map is in w.a.n.g Yue’s hands. This place is so big that I can’t even tell southeast from northwest,” John said dejectedly. He suffered a great blow because he could not use his magic power. John always liked to rely on magic to distinguish direction. He believed that the wonderful spirits in nature would show him the way.
“Let’s just head down. I’ve looked at the map twice. Although this s.p.a.ce is very large, the structure of this place is not much different. First, we need to find the elevator leading to the next floor.”
Xing Yan said this with an unruffled expression on his face. He was the captain of the team. If the captain of the team was fl.u.s.tered as well, the team would soon meet their extinction.
“Then, should we ignore w.a.n.g Yue?” John got nervous and asked.
Xing Yan glanced at John. “Don’t worry. If that fellow wants to escape, he will definitely be the fastest one to escape among us. With his investigative ability, we should let him come to us rather than let us go to him.”
“You’re right.” John nodded approvingly, and suddenly thought of something. He asked the captain, “What about the child…… well, I mean our new team member.”
Xing Yan did not answer for a while. He was silent for a moment. He frowned, deliberating: “Don’t worry, that child is very strong, and he should be the one among us most likely to survive.”
Jiang Li suddenly interrupted: “Captain, I want to know something while there is still time…”
“What’s the matter?”
“That kid, Captain, do you really trust him?” Jiang Li’s voice under the mask was very low. “According to previous regulations, every new member of our team must be monitored and inspected for a certain period of time so that we can completely trust that person. It was the same for me when I joined Team Ghost Shadow, but Captain broke the rules this time. I was very puzzled by your actions.”
After listening to what Jiang Li had said, Xing Yan seemed to have thought of something. His face appeared cold under the dark blue light. Then he answered Jiang Li: “Actually, I don’t understand my actions as well.”
Jiang Li felt theirher doubts arise: “What?”
Xing Yan seemingly helplessly shook his head. He said to Jiang Li and John, “Have you ever felt this way? One day, you meet a stranger who has never appeared in your recollections. However, you have a very good impression of him and want to protect or even rely on him……”
Before Xing Yan finished speaking, Jiang Li said, “Could it be that…… Captain, are you……?”
“I know it’s puzzling, and I think so myself.” Xing Yan’s face became darker. He continued, “I had even wondered ifdoubted that the child used some means to control me, but this kind of doubt…… As long as he stands in front of me, it disappears, and I feel like my emotions are out of control. ”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” John immediately exclaimed, “I knew that child was not anything good! They are all little demons in the sh.e.l.ls of angels! And he used insects to scare me!”
Jiang Li speechlessly glanced at John, “Come on, you’re the only one that’s afraid of insects.”
“Listen, gentlemen,” Xing Yan said calmly, “You don’t need to trust the child. I have a hunch that he won’t stay in the team for long. I don’t feel any hostility from him. So to some extent, we can use him.”
At another corner, Luo Jian and w.a.n.g Yue were still following the alien on their way to the control room. They were both ordered by the alien to wear something like a gas mask because the alien, Noen, told them—
“These monsters will spread plagues and unknown viruses. Among them, there’s a green insect, about the size of a palm. Like a parasite, it will crawl on you and release toxins that make you immobile. When necessary, they scratch your skin, hatch the larvae in your body, and turn you to a nest, and you will be eaten alive from the inside.”
Noen explained, supplementing a sentence, “That’s how many of my companions died.”
“How terrifying. Are there any other types of insects?” w.a.n.g Yue who had merely listened to Noen’s narratives already felt his hair stand.
“There are many different kinds, but I don’t know the specifics.” Noen said: “With our technological standards and combat level at that time, this s.p.a.cecraft was still occupied by those insects in less than 24 hours. Although there were a lot of unexpected elements, we did not have effective means to deal with those insects now.”
“No other survivors other than you?” Luo Jian questioned.
“I don’t know. At that critical moment, I escaped to the living area and headed for the cryochamber. I froze and sealed myself up. Maybe because of my being frozen, I lost all signs of life, so the insects ignored me.”
“Wait, you mean these monsters can identify us through our signs of life?”
Noen slightly smiled: “Of course, there seem to be scouts among the insects. They are well organized, like an army. I believe one of them can control the whole swarm, which is similar to the existence of a queen bee.”
“And the queen will lay a lot of eggs.” Luo Jian touched his chin and thought, “Afterwards, these insects will roam to find a large s.p.a.ce for the larvae to hatch, and they will find some worker bees to take care of them.”
“There’s a point in that.” Noen seemed to have been reminded by Luo Jian of something. He also tilted his head to think, “Big s.p.a.ce…… the biggest s.p.a.ce on our s.p.a.ceship is the bottom dock, which is our docking area.
“Because it’s a place to dock all kinds of small ships and lifeboats, when it’s not opened, the dock is completely sealed. It is protected by doors and walls made of thick materials. It’s also the safest place when the s.p.a.ce station is attacked.”
When w.a.n.g Yue heard this, it seemed that he also understood something now. In unbearable agony, he said: “Heavens! That’s the most unfortunate news I’ve ever heard. It means that if we want to find a lifeboat and escape from this s.p.a.ce station, we’ll have to worm ourselves into the insect nest, right? ”
Noen nodded. “Yes, that’s what it means.”
Luo Jian said: “I have already imagined that the docking area would be full of insect eggs…… What if the lifeboat is filled with insect eggs?”
“Don’t worry; certain small lifeboats purposed for special use need permission to open. The outer wall is a seam-free, automatic defense energy cover. Without instructions, the door of the lifeboat can’t be opened in any way, so there’s no need to worry about these insects stuffing their eggs into the lifeboat.”
“Do you have the right to use the lifeboats?” Luo Jian asked a vital question.
Noen turned back to look at Luo Jian and replied, “Our authority is separated layer by layer. As soon as the people of the upper levels die, the s.p.a.cecraft system will automatically hand over the authority to their subordinates, so…… I was just a guard on this ship, but now I have the highest status and authority.”
“It means that everyone above you is dead.” w.a.n.g Yue bitterly listened to what the alien said, and he couldn’t help but come to such a sad conclusion.
Noen did not answer. He was originally walking at the front, but now he had stopped walking quietly. At the same time, both Luo Jian and w.a.n.g Yue could clearly hear the dense rustling sound ringing in the corridor in front of them, and it was very close.
“It’s very difficult to defeat these insects in a face-to-face confrontation. They are large in numbers, and they are not afraid to die. As long as you are targeted by them, they will bite you until you are gnawed into a skeleton by them!” Noen sped up his speech and drew his weapon out—the rocket launcher on his shoulder.
“Can we really beat those bugs?” w.a.n.g Yue was so timid that he began to shiver. He drew his pitiful crossbow. He was not good at dealing with large-scale targets, especially swarms of insects. Not only that, but he had slight trypophobia. When he saw swarms of insects, he would feel his legs go weak. Moreover, with so many targets, Even in the best-case scenario, he could only kill two insects with one arrow.
At this time, Noen positioned and postured himself appropriately and pointed the barrel of the launcher at the entrance of the corridor that the rustling sounds travelled from. He raised his volume and said to Luo Jian and w.a.n.g Yue, “We don’t need to fight them head-on, we just need to pa.s.s by them! At my command—!”
Luo Jian cooperated with his commands and arched his back. He postured himself into a position as if he was ready to run at any time. w.a.n.g Yue next to him also plucked up his courage to follow him. And then, almost at the same time, at the entrance of the corridor, the swarms of insects swarmed in! With that, they rustled on the ground, walls, and even the ceiling. Their figures appeared in Noen, Luo Jian, and w.a.n.g Yue’s sights!
It was a swarm of insects the size of a fist with big black sickles as their mouths, and their outer sh.e.l.ls appeared to be entirely pitch black! They appeared like a tidal wave from the entrance of the corridor in front of them, and they immediately swarmed towards Noen and the others.
With his ‘bazooka’ on his shoulder, Noen directly fired. The deafening sound of the firing of the bullet roared in the entire broad, open s.p.a.ce! The sound was so loud that the eardrums of Luo Jian and w.a.n.g Yue began to tremble!
It seemed that Noen’s bullet was not an ordinary bullet but was one that would emit high temperatures. All the insects turned into soot under the high temperature. The high-temperature bullet blasted a huge hole through the entrance of the corridor, and the surrounding walls were turned into black ashes!
“Run! Carry on running forward!” With his weapon on his shoulder, Noen led the group, followed behind by Luo Jian and w.a.n.g Yue. w.a.n.g Yue was still worried, but when he saw the powerful high-tech weapons of the alien, a lot of worries in his heart were put to rest, but soon, he began to worry again.
Although Noen killed a lot of insects with one shot, very quickly, something that contributed to how terrifying the insects were soon manifested. A large wave of insects came out from nowhere again. There were still that many of them, densely packed together, that they came from all directions. The insects were so crowded together that there were almost no s.p.a.ces one could see in their sight! They could only see insects other than insects!
And Noen, lugging along the two humans, blasted a path through the swarm of insects using his bazooka. While he was shooting, he shouted: “The control room is in front of us! We just have to hang on a little longer—”
But it was completely impossible to hang on. Even if the control room was just steps away from reaching as long as they walked through the corridor and took a turn, it seemed that time was infinitely lengthened in that few seconds. w.a.n.g Yue was running behind at the rear, but he didn’t dare to look back because he felt that the insects were right behind him. They were crawling too fast, and the crawling sound of these arthropods was so incredibly close to him that it was inconceivable. He knew he was going to be inundated by insects soon!
Within a few seconds’ time, w.a.n.g Yue knew that he would be gnawed by this group of insects, and maybe not even his bones would be left!
The G.o.d of death was right behind him!
What should I do? What should I do? At that moment, w.a.n.g Yue’s mind was full of these thoughts, but within moments, his brain formulated several solutions to rid himself of his current predicament. He was good at lurking and scouting. He could use his pet.i.te body to drill into any possible pa.s.sageway available and had the ability to set traps. He also had a crossbow, and he could be considered to somewhat be a sniper……
But all the abilities he could use and advantages that he possessed required time for him to set up. At this moment that could decide his life and death, w.a.n.g Yue couldn’t think of any way to save himself. If his companions were still around, he would not cut such a sorry figure—
At this time, Luo Jian, who was running in front of him and closely following Noen, suddenly stopped and eyed w.a.n.g Yue.
“Get down!” Luo Jian roared.
w.a.n.g Yue obeyed the orders of Luo Jian and instinctively flew to the ground. At the same time, Luo Jian held his weapon, the flamethrower, and a huge flame lunged towards the swarm of insects in front of him.
Luo Jian’s flamethrower was also a weapon copied from a player in the Asura Realm.
There was also a player in the Crimson Asura Realm who controlled insects as a weapon. However, the player’s insects were not as big as the ones they encountered now. The insects were all small creatures the size of nails, and they could not spread any plagues or viruses. However, the insects were very, very large in numbers, and their breeding speed was extremely fast. The number of insects was uncountable. Moreover, they could also parasitize human bodies and kill a human within a few seconds. They could gnaw their skeletons—
Yes, Luo Jian had experienced dying in this manner, being gnawed alive into slag by a group of insects.
That person who controlled insects was also one of the most hated enemies Luo Jian had in the Asura Realm. In fact, people in the Asura Realm all hated this fellow. In the Asura Realm, death was too common, and no one would complain about it. However, to torture someone before killing someone would be too f*cking disgusting.
However, the person controlling the insect swarm was too terrifying. As long as you were a little careless, once one or two of these insects crawled onto your body, you would be almost half dead.
In order to deal with the person controlling the insects, Luo Jian specially went to find such weapons that could suppress the insects. And he finally found a flamethrower that was wielded by a certain character who wasn’t particularly powerful. That was the best weapon to deal with them.
The owner of this flamethrower was a typical arsonist. His flame had a special effect—infection.
As long as something was touched by his flame, the flame would continue to spread everywhere, turning all the surrounding terrain into a sea of fire. A cla.s.sic representation of what people said: a single spark could start a prairie fire.
However, there were many other players who used fire in the Asura Realm. To curb fire…… naturally, one would use water. In addition, the arsonist was not particularly powerful. Therefore, conversely, no one knew of him.
But the flamethrower in Luo Jian’s hands showed a completely different effect.
The fire swept across a large area of insects behind w.a.n.g Yue. The high-temperature flame seemed to be the most frightening thing for these insects. Their sh.e.l.ls seemed to be stronger than ordinary insects, but they were still unable to resist the power of Luo Jian’s flamethrower. They all curled up on the ground and began to howl bitterly.
Luo Jian immediately pulled w.a.n.g Yue up to catch up with the alien in front of them.
However, when Luo Jian turned back, he was surprised to find that although the flame had burned some of the insects, there were still more insects continuously crawling out. They covered the trembling insects that were burned by Luo Jian with his flamethrower and also covered the burning flames with their bodies.
“Not powerful enough,” Luo Jian murmured, seeing this scene. w.a.n.g Yue found that there was a trace of excitement on the face of the child. Yes, he carried a look of excitement. The child said to himself, “But it is effective. I just need to exert a little more power.”