Chapter 393: Underground Insect-People |
Underground forest.
A team of twenty people was felling trees.
Because the underground forest was full of dangers, the minimum size for a Gathering Team had been increased from ten to twenty people.
A boy who looked about fourteen or fifteen, with a layer of fuzz on his upper lip, held an axe and chopped at a vine.
The vine hanging in the air swayed slightly, its surface only suffering a scratch.
"Pfft." An old man next to him couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you laughing at!" the boy snapped, embarrassed.
The old man chuckled and said, "Whose kid are you, not even an adult yet, right? Is this your first time out chopping things?"
The boy kept a straight face and didn't reply.
The old man smiled but didn't expose him. Situations like this kid's were not uncommon within the Qin Alliance.
Many families had children stuck in that awkward age of fourteen or fifteen. The residential complex's journey was progressing rapidly; waiting a year or two would mean missing the boat entirely.
Kids nowadays developed fast and matured early. Plus, with training at the Martial Training Ground, their bodies developed quickly. Many kids had shot up in height in just a few short months.
So, many parents lied about their children's ages to get them into the teams.
Everyone tacitly understood.
Age wasn't the issue, as long as they could do the work.
The old man pointed at the vine and said, "For vines like this, if you want to chop them, you have to cut them at the root."
"Cut the root?" The boy's ears perked up, his clear eyes full of confusion.
The old man hefted the sickle in his hand, squatted down, grabbed the vine with one hand, and with the other, hooked, pulled, and yanked with the sickle.
The vine, as thick as a wrist, was cleanly severed.
"And you're not using the right tool either. An axe is good for hard wood. For soft stuff like this, you need a sickle. Here, try using my sickle."
The boy's fingers were pried open, his fingertips brushing against the old man's rough, hard calluses as a dark, hard object was shoved into his palm.
He lowered his head, gripped the wooden handle tightly, squatted down, grabbed a vine, and pulled back hard. The sickle's blade hooked into the vine's body.
The old man's eyelid twitched, and he quickly grabbed the boy's wrist. "You reckless kid. You didn't understand my movements at all. If you used any more force, this sickle would have sliced right into you."
Under the old man's hands-on guidance, the boy quickly got the hang of the work.
Looking at the boy's serious profile as he worked, it overlapped with a certain youthful, vibrant face in his memory. The old man was lost in thought for a moment, letting out a faint sigh. If his own grandson were still alive, he'd probably be about the same age.
"Everyone, work properly. We'll transport the vines back in a while. Don't wander off; work right here. There might still be dangers around. If you discover anything, report it immediately." The Gathering Team captain's voice rang out from nearby.
A little over half an hour later, the sound of rolling wheels came from behind.
A patrol team pushing a Vehicle-mounted Crossbow passed by. A member from the outside team walked over and chatted familiarly with the Gathering Team captain. "If everything's fine, remember to send a message promptly. Your patrol teams are basically on constant patrol. It's almost every ten minutes a team comes by. If you encounter danger, prioritize your safety above all else."
The Gathering Team captain smiled. "Alright, you be careful too."
The boy swung his axe down, chopping off a small section of the vine's root. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had returned the sickle to the old grandpa long ago.
That tool was good to use, but it belonged to someone else.
He looked up, and his pupils suddenly dilated. "Huh?!"
...
"You saw it right here just now?" Qin Ziwu held a spear, a gray rope tied around his waist.
The boy quickly explained, his voice extra loud as if worried others wouldn't believe him. "I was standing right here, and I saw something standing behind that crevice up ahead, something standing like a person, just staring at me. I shouted, and it ran away immediately."
"What did the thing look like?"
"Kind of like a Kamen Rider."
"Huh?!?" Qin Ziwu turned his head. "Do you know what you're saying?"
"Bro, I know, I've watched Kamen Rider," the boy nodded repeatedly.
Qin Ziwu's lips twitched, his brow furrowed tightly. "Which way did it run?"
"Back there, straight back," the boy pointed ahead.
Qin Ziwu led the team, cautiously advancing a short distance. He discovered that where the boy pointed, there were indeed traces of footprints.
Moreover, many of the surrounding plants had been broken, clearly indicating the target had fled in a panic after being discovered, moving very quickly.
"Like a Kamen Rider, humanoid, and intelligent... Could it be another type of intelligent humanoid creature?" Qin Ziwu muttered to himself.
"I think it's possible," Deng Guang said. "Just like those fish-men. This area has a lot of insects. Do you think it could be related to insects?"
"Insect-people? Possibly. Many Kamen Riders are based on insects as prototypes," Qin Ziwu narrowed his eyes. "If there are other intelligent races in this underground forest, then everyone needs to be careful."
Wild beasts and intelligent races are two completely different matters.
Qin Ziwu said, "If there's one, there's likely a second. Have everyone prepare and be cautious."
He lifted his spear, turned around, and his hand fell to his waist.
His five fingers grasped the whip handle. The soft whip coiled around his waist, like a startled snake, suddenly snapped straight and shot out!
It trailed a long afterimage, arcing through the air, aiming at a spot behind a Stone Pillar.
"Whoosh—"
The dense forest shook.
A pitch-black figure nimbly sprang out.
The soft whip in mid-air abruptly lengthened! Extending forward five or six meters.
A miss is as good as a mile.
The figure that had sprung out never expected that the whip, which had already reached its limit in length and force, could extend a second time.
In an instant, the soft whip coiled around it like a spirit snake.
Qin Ziwu flicked his wrist. A section of the snake's body detached, transforming into a rope that bound the creature.
"Thump."
The target fell to the ground, rolling over several times.
It still couldn't break free from the whip-rope.
"Did a grasshopper become a spirit?" Qin Ziwu stared at the humanoid black figure on the ground. Its head resembled a grasshopper magnified countless times. On either side, two large oval eyes were particularly striking.
On the left and right sides of its torso, a pair of grasshopper-like arms were bound. At the reverse-jointed elbows, there were some fine white spikes.
"Chirp—"
The grasshopper-person emitted a sharp, urgent sound from its mouth.
Not far behind it, another figure darted out from the dense forest.
Its speed was extremely fast, exceeding the reaction time of everyone present.
"One got away." Qin Ziwu lowered his gaze to the grasshopper-person on the ground. He didn't rashly approach. Instead, he waited until the Twin-Tailed Cloud-Probing Whip grew a new whip body, then he flicked the long whip again, adding another layer of coiled rope to the grasshopper-person lying on the ground.