Chapter 136: A Forbidden Military Base
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Between the sparks, a bamboo-like, green insectoid rushed out of the maroon insectoid’s body, slas.h.i.+ng at Xia Fei with its two, knife-like arms.
Who would have guessed that there was another insectoid within that insectoid?
The violent aura was coming from this green insectoid, not the maroon insectoid that was a mere dummy.
Xia Fei abruptly bent his body backward, ending up on his back. The two, green knives whooshed right past Xia Fei’s nose, slicing his freshly lit cigarette in half.
Bending his right knee, he slammed it to the green insectoid’s abdomen. A resounding *thunk* was heard when it connected, as if his knee had hit a steel plate.
Xia Fei knitted his brows as he started to rotate sideways. Chasing Light followed a perfect semi-circle from top to bottom, slas.h.i.+ng right toward its brain.
A sound could be heard as the sharp blade cut through the air.
This was completely unexpected. In such a difficult situation, not only did Xia Fei manage to dodge the opponent’s attack, he even utilized his Crafty Approach and counter-attacked in 0.01 second.
People who practiced Crafty Approach aimed to surpa.s.s the limits of the human body and relied on their explosive power as well as their flexibility to execute completely abnormal movements, turning the impossible possible.
The green insectoid curled itself accordingly like a shrimp after taking a blow from Xia Fei in the front, making an attempt to block the attack from Chasing Light with a raise of its arms.
*Clang!*
Chasing Light was wedged between the arms of the green insectoid. The green insectoid used this opportunity to hastily retreat, occupying a corner of the cave while staring at Xia Fei with its dark eyes.
“c.r.a.p!” Xia Fei regained his balance before spitting the remaining cigarette b.u.t.t in his mouth. “That’s not good. I almost got ambushed by a bug.”
Judging from the speed that the green insectoid ambushed Xia Fei, it was moving at least 500m/s. Although it was not as fast as Xia Fei, it could be described as inconceivable. It was just an insectoid, after all, not a speed ability user, so it was shocking for it to possess such incredible speeds.
If Xia Fei did not have the a.s.sa.s.sin’s ultimate move, Crafty Approach, to protect himself with, that attack would likely have decided the battle.
Crafty Approach was indeed quite powerful and could be used to bail Xia Fei out of trouble during the most critical junctures, allowing him to turn his pa.s.sivity in any given situation into aggression, but it should be mentioned that behind that incredible move was an inconceivable amounts of practice and sweat that made it possible that could be calculated in tons.
Years of training were for moments like this. Regardless of what it was, Xia Fei’s knowledge, which he spent time and put effort gaining, would always prove itself useful each time.
The two of them stayed at their corners in the cave, keeping on each other’s every move.
Xia Fei held Chasing Light at the ready, moving by taking slow and soft steps as he scrutinized the insectoid.
The green insectoid, which resembled a mantis, had a body akin to thin bamboo, dark orbs—cunning and violent—on top of its triangular head. Its two arms were like scalpels, sharp and st.u.r.dy.
Chasing Light did not manage to cut through its arms and only left behind two obvious indentations. Evidently, the mantis-like insectoid had an incredible defense.
“Again!” Xia Fei yelled before rus.h.i.+ng toward the mantis-like insectoid anew.
As he was right in the middle of an insectoid’s nest, there could be reinforcement anytime, so Xia Fei planned to end the battle as soon as he could.
*Ping ping ping!*
Chasing Light was wielded to its full potential as Xia Fei used everything he had learned in his life to launch vicious attacks one after another.
Xia Fei was pus.h.i.+ng the limits of his capabilities with Crafty Thrust as he stabbed and slashed with Chasing Light, the flurry of attacks falling in rapid succession like a machine gun upon the mantis.
The mantis-like insectoid was not as fast as Xia Fei, but it was still able to react in time. Using its inherent defensive abilities, the mantis-like insectoid managed to block each of Xia Fei’s attacks but could not retaliate.
Its body was now riddled with blade wounds. Although Chasing Light was unable to kill the insectoid in one blow, it could still continuously deal damage. If this went on, its death was only a matter of time.
The arms of the mantis-like insectoid suddenly twisted and began spinning wildly in a spiral; steps away from dying, it went crazy.
“Die!” Xia Fei did not retreat; instead, he used his superior speed and went head-to-head against that insectoid.
There were no immovable mountains, and it was the same case with his abilities.
Xia Fei circled around the mantis-like insectoid in the smallest radius possible at his highest speed, stabbing the latter whenever he found a gap in its defense.
These were the tactics of a wolf: unwavering, never once giving up, and patiently waiting for every opportunity.
A few seconds later, ten or so more wounds appeared on the mantis’s body. Its green blood started gus.h.i.+ng out and slowly got covered in it.
Noticing that the fight was not in its favor, the mantis-like insectoid quickly tried to retreat.
“You can’t run!”
Xia Fei yelled as he rushed toward it with killing intent. The insectoid with super speed triggered his hunger for battle.
He had long forgotten that he was facing an insectoid, treating it as a fellow speed ability user.
Chasing Light struck a heavy blow on the insectoid’s back. The mantis-like insectoid staggered as it collapsed backward.
Its two knife-like arms pierced the ground. Could the mantis-like insectoid have actually gone mad, attacking the rocks on the ground?
Xia Fei did not have time to consider its weird antics; stamping on the ground with one of his legs and leaving behind a huge footprint on a rock, Xia Fei used the force from this to plunging his blade at the neck of the mantis.
*Boom!*
Two sounds were heard almost simultaneously. The sound of the mantis-like insectoid hitting the ground was dull and murky, yet the sound of Xia Fei stabbing its neck was clear and crisp.
The huge rock that made up the ground beneath them shattered to reveal a cave leading downward. At the same time, the neck of the mantis-like insectoid was sliced into half by Chasing Light and dangled in front of its chest.
*Cras.h.!.+*
The body of the mantis-like insectoid finally landed in the cave after a few moments.
Xia Fei put away Chasing Light as he looked down from the cave entrance.
The vertical hole was about two meters wide. Because of how far down it went and the lack of sunlight in the cave, he could not see what was down below at the bottom of the hole his night vision goggles still worked.
The hole, which was covered by another layer of rocks, only got revealed following the strikes of the mantis-like insectoid. It seemed that it had known about this cave entrance long ago, which was why it was. .h.i.tting it as it got desperate, hoping to escape via it.
Xia Fei took a drag after lighting another stick, letting the smoke marinade in his lungs before slowly exhaling.
“Have you seen this kind of insectoid?” Xia Fei asked after tending to his addiction.
Phantom had watched the whole fight. Hearing Xia Fei’s question to him, he shook his head. “No. The mantis-like insectoid was actually living in the stomach of another insectoid—unbelievable. You should keep its carca.s.s; insectoids like this should have great research value.”
Xia Fei agreed as research value meant it could fetch him a high price. Xia Fei would definitely not give up any opportunity to make money, especially when he needed it the most.
Xia Fei pulled out an environmental monitoring instrument, then used it to scan the air at the bottom of the cave. Turned out the air was indeed a bit more contaminated, but the radiation levels were still manageable.
Putting away the instrument, Xia Fei threw his cigarette b.u.t.t down the vertical shaft before jumping into it.
He was descending quickly, right behind the light of the cigarette. He had his eyes on it, checking if the stick had reached the ground yet. With the light from the cigarette as well as his night-vision goggles, his surroundings were bright as day. It was a great choice to use it as a reference object.
Ten or so seconds later, the bright light bounced off the ground before settling in place. Xia Fei quickly extended his arms and legs, using the spikes on his gloves and boots to slow himself down.
The spikes were abnormally hard, leaving behind countless deep grooves on the cave walls, which caused tiny pebbles to fall everywhere.
As Windshade Mark IV combat suit had defensive capabilities at the Legendary rank, making it safer to descend like this. With little to no effort, Xia Fei reached the bottom of the cave.
There was a long pa.s.sageway, angled in such a way that led even further down. The body of the mantis-like insectoid was right by Xia Fei’s feet, long dead.
The pa.s.sageway was in the shape of a semi-circle welded using black alloy plates. Obviously, this was not made by insectoids but humans, instead.
There was also a bright spotlight illuminating the surroundings every twenty or so meters. The lights quickly turned on as they sensed a human nearby, illuminating the pa.s.sageway so brightly that it was blinding.
Xia Fei put away the night-vision goggles. Although they worked very well in the dark, their effect would be greatly reduced under strong lighting. It may even damage the eyes if worn for an extended period.
“What is this place?” Xia Fei stared at the pa.s.sageway for a few seconds before muttering.
Somewhere ahead, there was a huge line of writing: Military Restricted Area; bear weapons with caution
Xia Fei was filled with happiness as he saw this. He did not expect that he would accidentally stumble on a military base belonging to the ancient civilization. Judging from the automatic lights just from sensing his presence, the base was likely to be in great condition.
An ancient military base in good condition did not need any introduction. The army of the ancients was incredibly advanced, and much of their technology was priceless. It was not impossible for him to find a few valuable items here.
“Many of those who spend their lives excavating ancient ruins would never be able to encounter ruins this well-preserved. Luck is on your side!” exclaimed Phantom.
Xia Fei pouted. “Don’t celebrate too soon; if such a place did exist, why haven’t the Adjudicators, who previously explored it, found it?”
“Maybe they failed to notice it or they didn’t know about it; Quick, just deal with the insectoid and get inside,” urged Phantom.
It was thanks to the mantis-like insectoid that Xia Fei had managed to find this place. Trying his best to contain his excitement in exploring the ruins, Xia Fei squatted down and started dealing with the carca.s.s of the insectoid.