Chapter 372: Changes at Night |
"These insects have low intelligence. Unless there's a specialized insect-rearing building, I still don't recommend it," Zhao Pu shook his head. "Otherwise, even if you tame an Insect Queen, the ordinary insects have insufficient intelligence and act on instinct, making it easy for them to injure people. If the Home were crawling with insects everywhere..."
He didn't finish the sentence, but everyone understood his implication.
"Guild Leader, do any of your pets have abilities that can counter insects?" Cao Biansheng asked curiously.
Qin Ziwen thought about his several pets. Based on their abilities, the only ones that could somewhat counter the Black Beetles were the Crowned Eagle and the Little White Dragon.
The Crowned Eagle could control air currents to blow the insects away, but due to the limited height of the underground cavern, it would be difficult to kill the Black Beetles by dropping them.
The Little White Dragon's Frost Touch could freeze the insects, but it was still developing and its power was limited. It could handle a few insects, but would struggle against large numbers.
If they had a Superhuman who could create high temperatures or fire over a wide area, that would be the true strict father to counter this group of Black Beetles.
Qin Ziwu said, "Actually, a single insect isn't hard to deal with. An adult can easily handle one. The problem is their sheer numbers."
"It's getting late. Everyone should head back and rest early," Qin Ziwen proposed ending the meeting. "Get your condition in order, and we'll continue using Insight tomorrow."
After everyone grew quiet, this mysterious underground cavern world quietly became lively.
One by one, subterranean creatures hidden deep within various caves, rock crevices, and underground karst caves quietly became active.
Deep within the underground dark lake to the south of the residential complex, undercurrents stirred as something quietly awakened.
Within the patrol team, the short, sturdy man walking at the front rubbed his ears and looked around.
He wasn't sure if it was a sixth sense, but he kept feeling like something in the darkness was watching him.
"Gao Dazhuang, what are you dawdling for here? Did a bug bite you and make you itchy?" Jiang Shan, following behind him, poked his lower back through his down jacket.
"No, Brother Jiang. Don't you guys feel like something in the darkness is watching us?" Gao Dazhuang looked left and right.
Zhao Xiao, walking second to last, laughed, "What thing? We've walked this route three times. It's all rocks around here. If there really was something, it would have eaten you first."
"Shut up, do you understand caution?!" Yang Lu, walking at the very back, cursed. Being at the rear already made him feel insecure, and these bastards talking nonsense made him turn his head frequently.
Jiang Shan, unusually, didn't speak, instead discreetly surveying their surroundings.
"Brother Jiang, what's wrong?" Hu Luosheng noticed the captain's actions.
"Nothing... everyone stay alert." A shadow flashed in Jiang Shan's eyes.
He also kept feeling like something was watching him.
What Gao Dazhuang sensed might not be an illusion.
Hearing Jiang Shan's words, the other four fell silent.
"There's something ahead!" Gao Dazhuang stopped, using the torch in his hand to see a slender black figure slowly emerging from around the corner of the cave ahead, hugging the wall.
"A snake?" Hu Luosheng tightened his grip on his spear.
Under the torchlight, the thing's back had alternating black and red ring patterns.
"No, it has legs. It looks like a millipede."
"This millipede is damn huge. The insects in this underground cavern are all like they've been pumped with hormones, their volume increased tens of thousands of times," Yang Lu spat.
Hu Luosheng said, "Uh, Old Yang, tens of thousands of times is an exaggeration, right? Yesterday's centipede was only five or six meters at most."
Yang Lu rolled his eyes, "Did you fail elementary school math? I'm talking about volume, not length. Tell me, what's the mathematical formula for volume?"
"Length times width times height..." Hu Luosheng answered instinctively.
"You do the math yourself."
"Are you two sick? What's with the math problem now? The millipede is coming over," Gao Dazhuang cursed, then thrust his spear at the millipede crawling toward them!
The thrust landed right on the millipede's head.
The millipede paused. The spear tip scraped across the top of its head, landing on the slanted ground beside it, scraping up a shower of sparks.
"This millipede has incredible strength!" Gao Dazhuang was shocked. He could confirm that when his spear tip came down, a much greater force pushed it back.
"Let me." Jiang Shan stepped forward, his two-pronged fork descending to clamp onto the millipede's head.
The next second, his expression changed drastically.
From the other end of the fork came an irresistible, immense force. This millipede's strength was greater than his.
He was, after all, at the peak of five-star physique.
"Be careful." As soon as the words were spoken, the attacked millipede moved its densely packed legs, charging toward the five men.
The five dispersed according to their combat formation to meet the charging millipede.
Suddenly, a black shadow descended from above!
Instantly covering the millipede!
Its body patterned in black and white, its slender, elongated legs like steel needles, pinning the millipede firmly to the ground below.
Upon seeing the true form of this black shadow, all five men present instantly felt their scalps go numb and their hairs stand on end.
"This..."
"What is this?"
"My trypophobia is acting up."
"It looks a bit like a spider, a bit like a centipede, and also like... what exactly is this thing? It's so ugly."
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be a house centipede," Yang Lu swallowed hard. "I remember house centipedes are beneficial insects. It shouldn't eat us, right... ehh..."
The millipede pinned beneath the house centipede had its body pierced, green blood flowing from the wounds.
The two large antennae, nearly half a meter long, on the house centipede's head swayed slightly. Combined with its densely packed segmented legs, the five men slowly retreated backward.
The house centipede didn't seem to mind their departure. Its attention was entirely on the millipede.
A faint mist emanated from the millipede's wounds.
Jiang Shan smelled it and felt dizzy.
"Let's go."
Jiang Shan faced forward, pulling the others back as they retreated. On the way back, Gao Dazhuang covered his nose. He had accidentally inhaled a bit of the foul odor released by the millipede and his head was still somewhat dizzy.
"Brother Jiang, look at the wall." Gao Dazhuang tugged Jiang Shan's arm.
Following the direction Gao Dazhuang pointed, Jiang Shan's pupils contracted.
On the rock wall about ten meters away, a house centipede that looked almost identical to the previous one was quietly clinging to the wall. This one was even larger than the last, its legs spread out exceeding four meters in length, like a small car stuck to the rock face.
The five men held their breath, carefully detouring around it, and returned to the residential complex.
"Should we report this to the higher-ups? They're all asleep," Gao Dazhuang asked.
Jiang Shan calmed his emotions, thought for a moment, and said gravely, "We should. These insects are more active at night. Better safe than sorry. We'll report it first."