Chapter 241: Exterminate the Bugs! Exterminate the Bugs! |
Under the darkness of night.
The howling cold wind sounded like a high-frequency wailing chant from another world.
It was deeply unsettling.
In the distance, a towering figure in the forest looked like a humanoid mechanical being with oddly proportioned features but perfectly straight legs, its round hollow head standing abruptly in the fog with no reference points around it. Though completely still, it gave Lin Xian an instant sense of dread—
Indescribable, bizarre, absurd.
“Everyone, pay attention to the 11 o’clock direction.”
Lin Xian pulled himself together and immediately spoke on the channel.
At once, everyone turned their attention that way. Drones rose from the convoy, cameras rapidly zooming in.
“What the hell is that thing?” In the Big Eagle Convoy, Liao Ming looked at the monitor with a grim face.
Everyone in the convoys instantly changed expressions.
The moment they saw that figure, no one could escape the feeling of strangeness and horror.
On the Infinite Train, people in every carriage opened their blackout curtains and looked out the windows in that direction.
At that moment, all eyes were on that spot, the atmosphere tense and eerie.
Then, the round head of that tall eerie figure seemed to move slightly. The next second, a red light began to glow!
Its entire head was actually a giant hollow cavity. The red light shone like a searchlight, cutting through the fog brought on by the night chill. A swirl of crimson glowed—eerie and terrifying.
That glowing red head began to move. It bent down, reached out a whip-like long arm, and tore off the roof of a house in the woods. The red light scanned inside like a spotlight.
Then, the red-lit head slowly turned toward the train and the convoy.
WooooooOOO~~~!!!
A low booming call erupted from its body, like the horn of a massive ship.
The soundwaves hit. In an instant, everyone who heard it turned pale and covered their ears. A cold and eerie force surged in, chilling them to the bone.
Zzz zzz zzz.
A buzzing vibration echoed inside a carriage on the Infinite Train. Lin Xian looked around immediately.
“What’s that sound?”
“No idea. I think it came from over there.” Chen Sixuan pointed toward Car No. 1, her face contorted with discomfort. That sound just now seemed to cause physical nausea.
Lin Xian frowned and ran over. He quickly realized the sound came from the Eerie Cube!
“What’s going on?”
He grabbed it. The cube in his hand was trembling violently. As Mechanical Heart activated, a flickering screen popped up.
【Beep! Performing reflective scan using non-mechanical energy.】
【Detected a massive surge of fear energy!】
Lin Xian’s face changed. He immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie—
Shzzz!
But under the effect of that vibrating soundwave, all the walkie-talkies lost signal.
“F**k!”
He rushed into the cockpit and grabbed the loudspeaker, shouting outside—
“Everyone, back in your vehicles! That thing amplifies the fear energy of the Dark Invasion!!”
“AHHHHH!!!”
Just as Lin Xian’s voice rang out through the Infinite Train’s external loudspeakers, a wounded man standing guard with a gun in the main convoy suddenly let out a piercing scream. The bandages on his chest soaked through with blood, the veins around his eyes turned black, and his pupils were slowly swallowed by darkness.
Everyone around him recoiled in horror. His teammates shouted—
“Li Dong! Li Dong!!! Snap out of it!!”
“AHH! AHHHH!!!”
The man called Li Dong screamed like mad. When his eyes were completely consumed by blackness, he dropped to his knees, mouth gaping toward the sky. In the next moment, countless tiny insect limbs and tendrils started crawling out from his throat and eye corners. His entire body twisted out of control, muscles and joints crackling, his face morphing into something unrecognizable!
“AHH!! Kill me!!!” Li Dong screamed desperately. “Please... take care of my wife and son!! AHHH!!!”
“He’s mutating!!”
These survivors had seen it before—but none of them expected the mutation this time to be so fast, so sudden!
“End him.”
“Put him out of his misery!”
One teammate’s face twisted in agony. He clenched his teeth hard.
“Son of a b***h! AHHH!!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire rang out. Li Dong was shot in the head on the spot.
But right then, a mass of tendrils began oozing out. His exploded flesh pulsed with blood. Several people immediately opened fire again, blasting apart his upper body—only then did it stop moving.
“AHHH!!”
“Help!!!”
Just as they dealt with this, another mutation broke out elsewhere. Within seconds, signs of collapse erupted all across the convoy.
Luo Yang, being the closest, was the first to hear Lin Xian’s shout clearly. He immediately called out—
“Quick! Get back in the vehicles!!”
“Everyone back to your cars!” Wu Zhenhai also grabbed the vehicle’s broadcast system and shouted to everyone.
Clatter clatter clatter—chaos broke out instantly. Before the real fight even started, gunfire erupted as people shot at their own who had already mutated.
Countless combatants rushed back to their vehicles.
On the Living Carriage, women covered children’s ears, men held down injured comrades.
In the distance, the red light pierced through the fog, its humming still trembling the ground.
Just one exposure, and at least six or seven people had already mutated. Without exception, they were either wounded or weak.
BEEP!!
On the Infinite Train, the G3 Electromagnetic Railgun from Car No. 2 and the 1130 CIWS from Car No. 12 rose almost simultaneously.
Lin Xian’s eyes were icy. He clenched his jaw and, without a word, aimed directly at the red-light-headed monster.
BOOM! ZZZZ!
Electric arcs surged along the railgun. With a thunderous blast, a blinding blue beam tore through the darkness and smashed straight into the monster’s red-lit head.
DOOOOM!!
The 1130 opened full fire. A barrage of metal storms mixed with tracer rounds poured toward the monster.
BOOM!!
The electromagnetic railgun hit dead on. A chunk of the monster’s round hollow head blasted open, scattering black debris everywhere. Energy shockwaves followed as it burst into flames.
The humming stopped immediately.
Meanwhile, the 1130’s metal storm raised a dust cloud from the ground. The monster’s black skin and limbs shattered violently.
WHOOOSH!
A blast of black fog rose. The red-lantern-headed monster twisted its upper body and eerily floated into the air, then quickly vanished into the darkness. Only a distant trail of red light remained.
“F**k, that thing can fly!”
The comms came back online. Lin Xian immediately shouted—
“Don’t let that red light touch you! This thing’s attack methods are nothing like what we’ve seen before!”
“Roger!!”
“Back to base, now!”
In Car No. 11, KIKI held Sasa close, covering her ears. Her face was pale. When she heard Lin Xian’s voice, she snapped out of it, shoving Sasa into the Fire God Mecha’s cockpit. “Stay in there and lock the hatch.”
Sasa looked urgent: “But the Sally’s down, it can’t stand!”
KIKI smacked her on the forehead, pressed the hatch lock, and glared.
“You stay put. I’m going to help your Brother Lin. I’ll send you out when I need you.”
Without waiting for Sasa to speak, she flew toward the front car.
In Car No. 5, Daluo’s expression was grim. This was nothing like what she had expected. Beside her, Lu Xingchen lifted his blindfold, brows furrowed: “Seems like a demon. This one’s tricky.”
The eerie entities they’d fought before were mostly the kind that lunged and bit—just needed full firepower.
But now, that cruise-ship-horn-like sound exploded across the plains, carrying a terrifying infectious Dark Invasion. It caught everyone off guard.
Lin Xian put the Eerie Cube back, his expression extremely grave. If it weren’t for that device in his car, someone in the carriage might have already turned.
It was his first close encounter with a Dark Mutation. No wonder entire convoys could fall—these internal outbreaks rendered steel defenses useless.
Even the Big Eagle convoys returning to their cars could only reduce the effects, unlike the Infinite Train, which could block it completely.
“Lin Xian!”
Chen Sixuan came over. “That thing—it’s right above us now!”
WooooooOOO~~~!!!
The humming resumed from the sky, its vibrating waves numbing the entire space. Immediately, the convoy surrounding the train began firing at the sky. The firelight lit up the whole camp.
But this time, the sound carried a strange tone, enveloping the Infinite Train.
Sha sha sha sha~
Suddenly, rustling noises echoed from the darkness on all sides of the camp. The sound grew louder, closer—like a rushing tide, the rumble of waves crashing.
Wu Zhenhai, seated in a vehicle, heard it and his face darkened. He picked up the walkie-talkie immediately—
“Everyone, heads up—it’s a bug swarm!!!”
The Big Eagle Convoy knew that sound all too well—because they had just faced it last night!
The warning instantly spread to everyone.
“Form a defensive formation!” Liao Ming shouted immediately, revving the car to realign its direction.
“Xiao Bai, A Min, Luoluo, drive toward the Infinite Train! Li Guangwen, block the front with the defense vehicle!!” Luo Yang also issued orders without hesitation.
BZZZZ!
At that moment, several heavy engineering trucks rolled out in three directions, blocking the left, right, and rear of the Infinite Train and convoy. Liang Lei held up a walkie-talkie and shouted, “These are our unmanned fortress trucks! Heavy firepower in the back—front row, hold the line!”
CRACK~!
On the unmanned engineering vehicles, over a dozen 12.7mm high-power autocannons quickly deployed, while a few young men on one of Liang Lei’s trucks operated them remotely.
On the Infinite Train, KIKI entered Car No. 2’s Information Center and immediately began scanning for the red-lantern monster.
Meanwhile, Lin Xian activated the external Electric Blade system and shouted across the carriages, “Everyone, don’t let the bug swarm breach the convoy!!”
CLANG~!
In Cars No. 5 and No. 11, the Automatic Blast Doors opened. Daluo, Lü Chang, and three other teammates with Roarer K23 Electric Gatling Guns stood at the doors. Lu Xingchen took a lift to the train roof, cracking his knuckles as he swept a battle-hardened gaze toward the surrounding darkness.
SCREEEE~ RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE~!
Unknown insect screeches and the thunderous crawling of a wave of creatures filled the air.
KIKI’s scan finally caught the red glow again—hovering in the sky.
“There it is!”
“That thing must’ve triggered the bug swarm.”
She stood up immediately. “I’m flying up to get it!”
But as soon as she took off, Lin Xian walked over quickly and yanked her ankle mid-air, dragging her back down. “Get your a** down here.”
Without another word, he aimed the G3 Electromagnetic Railgun skyward and fired at that red glow again!
WOOOSH! ZZZT!
Electric arcs exploded, crackling ionization echoed around Car No. 2. A dazzling blue beam pierced the heavens, illuminating a massive dark silhouette above.
BOOM~!
A few seconds later, the explosion sound came crashing down.
That shot once again silenced the blaring horn.
“Set up a lock-on system. Let this railgun stay aimed at that red-headed freak. The rest of us—focus on blocking the bug swarm first!”
“Oooh, good call~”
Dragged down by her ankle, KIKI didn’t waste a second and started programming the railgun’s targeting system.
“Captain Lin!”
From the rear, Shu Qin stood at the door of Car No. 11, her eyes fixed on the distant darkness. She pressed her communicator.
“The bugs are coming!”
DOOOOOM!!!!
Equipped with radar and fire control systems, the 1130 CIWS was the first to open fire. A rain of metal projectiles fanned out like a storm, shell casings spraying wildly across the rooftop!
The tracer fire lit up a horrifying sight right before the eyes of every battle-ready unit.
Less than two kilometers away in the darkness, a tidal wave of giant mantis beetles, black carapace bugs, and massive dragonflies surged forward—like a plague of locusts or a flood bursting its dam. Even the ground trembled.
Even veterans of the Infinite Train who’d seen the siege at Yubei Spaceport gasped.
DOOM!
The 1130’s cannons roared across the entire camp. The air was suffocating, like the eye of a storm.
“Open fire!!”
Lin Xian, Wu Zhenhai, Luo Yang, and Liang Lei—all four leaders barked into their communicators, issuing the fire command nearly in unison.
BANG! BANG! BANG!! RATTATAT!!
All weapons opened fire at once. Four-way overlapping fields of suppression formed around the Infinite Train.
The front line of bugs was instantly blasted to pieces by the ferocious metal storm. The sheer force stifled the swarm’s momentum.
Meanwhile, each convoy’s heavy weapons—grenade launchers, rockets, flamethrowers, and missiles—unleashed hell on the densest parts of the swarm.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Explosions and fire burst like brilliant fireworks, erupting across the land, smoke and gunpowder filling the sky.
WOOOO~
In Car No. 11, Xiao Yuan and her squad were firing like mad. Just then, the Fire God Mecha behind her suddenly powered up.
“Xiao Yuan-jie, move aside.”
Sasa piloted the Sally, climbing out of the Automatic Blast Door in a crawling motion. Her control was sharp—leaping off the train, she opened fire with both hands.
“Watch me!!”
Inside the cockpit, Sasa clenched her tiny teeth, hands flying across the controls. She’d only been in this Heavy Mecha for half a day, but the Fire God Autocannon and main gun were already ripping into the insects in the dark with precision.
To the left, the Chasing Sun Convoy was small and under pressure. Sasa’s entrance with the Fire God instantly eased the burden.
Luo Yang looked back and saw the massive mecha. His eyes widened. “Holy crap, Brother Lin’s crew has a Gundam?!”
CRACK! ZZZT!
BOOM!
The Infinite Train’s Electromagnetic Railgun kept firing at the red silhouette above, never letting up.
With the terrifying soundwave silenced, Luo Yang took his shot. “A Min, Luoluo—go! Li Guangwen, suppress the front!”
SWOOSH SWOOSH!
Two agile figures leapt from the convoy, electric arcs trailing behind them. Each wielded a slender white chain blade. Mid-air, they crossed paths, forming a high-voltage arc, and then dove into the swarm like blenders. In seconds, dozens of bugs were sliced clean in half, the severed corpses searing with acrid smoke.
“Left’s mine.”
“Right’s yours!”
The two girls moved with uncanny coordination. Their armor’s Auto-Tracking Mini-Guns and Full-Spectrum Combat Awareness System locked onto everything around them. Like ghosts, they zipped through the horde, harvesting monsters with their blades.
SQUEEECH!
A massive dragonfly burst from the swarm, lunging straight at A Min.
Then, a brawny young man—like a jock turned beast—leapt in behind A Min and Luoluo. Wearing strange gauntlets, he landed with a THUD, swinging a wide arc of his arm.
BOOM!
The punch shockwave hit the dragonfly mid-air. Its hardened carapace exploded, guts spraying backward in a bloody mist.
“Li Guangwen, don’t burn all your ability at once! There’s a big one in the sky!”
Luo Yang shouted. Above them, a massive wave of black carapace bugs swarmed down. He pressed two fingers over one eye; the other flared with searing white light.
PEW!
A fine beam shot out. Explosions filled the sky above instantly.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
“Huff... huff...”
His power discharged, he gasped for air, eyes squeezed shut.
But the black-winged swarm felt endless. Even after a brief suppression, they surged again. A few dozen people were no match for such an overwhelming tide.
“Fire fire fire!! YAAAHHH!!”
Sasa pushed the Fire God Mecha forward, backing up A Min and Luoluo against the insect wave.
DOOOOM!
The mecha’s cannons swept across the front, instantly vaporizing another wave.
“There’s too many bugs!!”
Inside the cockpit, Sasa shouted, “You stinking fire-spitter, if you don’t show up, I’m tossing your teapot!”
BOOM!!!
Just as the Chasing Sun Convoy and Sasa’s mecha started to buckle, a pillar of fire lit up the sky—
“I have ARRIVED!!”
A blazing red flame shot out from the Infinite Train, flying past A Min and Luoluo and landing in the heart of the swarm like a meteor.
BOOOOOM!!
Flames erupted outward like volcanic eruptions, incinerating everything within hundreds of meters.
Lu Xingchen stood proudly in the inferno, half-turned, back to the two girls. He declared—
“The filth polluting this world—this god shall cleanse it today! Burn, you vile demons!”
TCH!
After two more blasts, Sasa paused and scowled.
“This guy just loves to show off in front of girls~”
Luo Yang, Li Guangwen, and the other Chasing Sun ability users were dumbfounded. They’d only heard from Liao Ming that the Infinite Convoy was powerful—but they never imagined they had such hidden dragons. A high-level fire ability user?!
“Is... is this the firepower Liao-ge was talking about?!” Luo Yang’s voice trembled with awe and excitement.
“Everyone—work together! We can hold the line!!”
That thunderous moment instantly reignited morale across the entire resistance force. Everyone pushed back with renewed vigor.
To the right of the train, the Big Eagle Convoy—the largest and most heavily armed—unleashed a storm of heavy machine guns, rockets, grenade launchers, mini-missiles, and flamethrowers. Over twenty elite fighters held the line, blasting back the insect tide.
Daluo emptied a full mag. Without reloading, she charged out wielding her Steel-Slaying Greatsword.
Ever since the last battle at the research lab, she found her ability grew stronger with each injury, both in power and recovery. Like Qiu Long from the Black Crow Four, she seemed to thrive in the chaos of war. So she started fighting close-quarters.
The Big Eagle Convoy saw Daluo charging into the swarm with a giant blade and their faces turned serious.
“She’s an ability user?”
CRUNCH CRACK!
Liao Ming, who had mutated into a scythe-armed monster, was a twisted-limb type ability user. Seeing Daluo dive in, he called out, “Careful, bro! These things are hard to kill with melee weapons!”
Daluo remained silent. As soon as she rushed in, she was surrounded by black carapace bugs. Wounds appeared across her body. Seeing this, Liao Ming prepared to rush in to help.
Bang bang!
A dark figure streaked past, beating Liao Ming to it. Under the terrifying power of the M96 Demon-Banishing Holy Flame, those black carapace bugs were instantly blown to pieces.
Shu Qin held a Remington Shotgun crafted by Lin Xian in each hand, firing alternately with both arms. In just a few shots, she had driven back the swarming bugs.
At the same time, a surge of crimson blood energy erupted around Daluo. With a burst of power, he lifted his Steel-Slaying Greatsword, took a heavy step forward, gritted his teeth, and swung both hands forward in a mighty slash!
VMMM!
The swing was so powerful the air around the blade ignited. Wrapped in red blood energy, the sword released a fan-shaped energy wave!
With a SHING and a loud crackling of bug shells, a huge cluster of monsters ahead exploded within meters, their bodies shattered by the impact wave. Bug corpses and limbs were hurled away like debris.
“Holy s**t!!”
Liao Ming’s eyes went wide. Just as he was about to help, he hurriedly retracted his scythe-blade arms, afraid he’d be caught in that slash wave.
“Ah!!”
Fueled by momentum, Daluo stood at the front of the unmanned engineering vehicle, raising his greatsword and charging into the bug swarm!
“I’ll help you!”
Liao Ming, blood boiling, charged forward with his elite squad.
Wu Zhenhai manned the vehicle-mounted Gatling gun, unleashing wild suppressive fire. Seeing Liao Ming and Daluo converge, he shouted into the walkie-talkie:
“Bombardment convoy—lay down suppressive fire! Cover them!”
“Roger that!”
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH! BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Missiles from the rear convoy provided overwhelming fire support. Since those in the front were ability users, the support fire was carefully tiered, exploding just ahead of Daluo, Shu Qin, and Liao Ming’s teams—clearing a wide battle path and pushing the formation into a spearhead.
At the rear of the Infinite Train, several buses full of people were protected in the center. Around them, modified heavy trucks and engineering vehicles formed a defensive barrier. Liang Lei and Li Yi’s convoys were half composed of women and children, so most onboard weapons were remotely operated by young men. Their only combat force consisted of Liang Lei and twenty or so able-bodied men and women.
But thanks to the 1130 CIWS and heavy support from the Infinite Convoy, they barely held off the first wave of the bug assault.
Liang Lei was a full-body alloy-type ability user. When activated, his size even surpassed Daluo’s. Under the cover of heavy firepower, he plunged into the swarm, gripping the mandibles of a massive crimson dragonfly.
The bug twisted around him, its razor-sharp legs scraping his metal body and sending out sparks, but doing no damage.
“AHHHH!!!”
With a roar, Liang Lei released one hand, jammed it into the insect’s maw, and yanked out a bloody chunk!
SQUELCH!
Tearing out a massive piece of flesh, the dragonfly shrieked in agony. Just as it tried to bite back, Liang Lei stomped it away with one heavy foot.
RATATATA!
At that moment, a perfectly timed burst from the rear support line blew the bug’s head to pieces.
Looking back, it was Li Yi standing on the roof, covering with a mounted autocannon.
“Lei-zi, behind you!!”
Li Yi shouted. Liang Lei barely turned when a massive beetle flew toward him.
SLASH!
At the last split second, a figure wielding an Electric Blade soared by, slicing off the bug’s chitinous head and carapace in one clean cut.
Lü Chang!
“One more, Captain Chen!” she shouted as she landed, head ducked.
BOOM!
A heavy sniper shot thundered. A massive carapace bug diving from above exploded mid-air—
Struck by a Meteor-3 Anti-Materiel Round!
On the roof of the Infinite Train, Chen Sixuan maintained a crouching sniper stance. Her face was ice cold, eyes sharp. She fired only at the biggest, nastiest targets, each shot deadly accurate.
Her Meteor-3 hit harder than the A33K, and the smart recoil system let her shoot faster and steadier. The optical scope locked onto targets in her sightline, unleashing death-dealing armor-piercing rounds.
Miao Lu stood behind her, dual-wielding rifles, fending off swarms of airborne carapace bugs and flying ants. The two of them had partnered before and were now moving with excellent synergy.
BZZZZZ!
Suddenly, a resonant gong-like hum filled the sky, the pressure pressing in like a rising tide.
Chen Sixuan’s brows knitted. She raised her rifle and activated the long-range night vision system.
BEEP.
The screen flickered—she immediately saw a massive swarm of flying bugs emerging from the darkness, thick as storm clouds.
The swarm blotted out the moon and stars, and the intense buzzing made everyone’s skin crawl.
“This is bad!”
Chen Sixuan’s face changed. She shouted down: “Watch the sky!”
Below, Li Yi instantly raised the mounted machine gun and unleashed hell.
“Lei-zi, fall back!”
Members of both the Chasing Sun Convoy and the larger convoys all sensed something was wrong.
BOOM!
The 1130 cannons sprayed fire into the sky. Tracer rounds lit up the cloud of bugs, and a bone-chilling dread fell over everyone.
“We’re screwed!”
“Flamethrowers!”
“Fire upward!”
“Reload! Reload!”
“We can’t hold the ground line either!”
“Fall back! Fall back!!”
Just as panic reached its peak, the air began to tremble. People noticed the dust on the ground rising—floating upward against gravity.
“Look!”
“That person…”
Li Yi turned his head sharply—and there she was.
Above the roof of the Infinite Train, a purple-haired girl hovered in the air. Her glowing eyes radiated with dazzling brilliance, hair billowing though there was no wind, her whole presence emanating sheer annihilation.
She rose into the sky.