Chapter 878

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

Visible to the eye, they were all termites!

Are there this many termites here? Then what do they eat to survive?

Everyone who saw this scene sucked in a breath of cold air, never expecting it to be like this. Could the plan originally arranged by the Commander-in-Chief still be completed smoothly?

"Quick, go!"

Shen Chengyi urged the dazed Wei Ran not to linger. With so many termites, they were outnumbered; they should find a place to settle first before discussing anything else.

Wei Ran belatedly said "oh oh" twice, then directed the other team members to get on the vehicles and retreat.

Because their journey here had already been very rough, they had basically encountered every kind of problem. The truck had pockmarks all over its body, and it shook even more while driving than when they came, and its speed never picked up.

"Lighter, ability user, flamethrower..." Wei Ran muttered the attack methods they currently had, thinking that with so little, they really couldn't do anything to the termites that ate everything and had such strong vitality.

Tsk

Wei Ran had a headache and looked at Cheng Nan beside him with a wronged expression, afraid the mission would fail.

"I didn't originally plan to solve it immediately," Cheng Nan raised his hand and patted Wei Ran's shoulder, thinking their luck today was truly terrible. They should have encountered the termite swarm first, but instead, they first ran into hibernating mutant snakes.

The weapons they brought were used up bit by bit, and the remaining ones couldn't solve the termite swarm.

"If only they could fight among themselves," if the mutant creatures fought each other, they would just beat the drums on the side and see if they could pick up some leftovers.

Wei Ran's eyes lit up for an instant then dimmed. "This possibility is too low." Although the ant swarm wasn't picky and ate anything, mutant snakes liked to hide.

There were also mutant pine trees that shot people and hurt a lot; Wei Ran could still feel the tears in his clothes even now.

Speaking of clothes, Wei Ran was still worried about their protective suits. After being targeted by the mutant pine trees, some team members' protective suits were damaged. Although they had changed into new ones brought along in time, they didn't have many protective suits. If they finally couldn't solve the termite problem, they would have to leave in dejection.

He raised his hand and scratched his hair (actually there was none, completely wrapped by the protective suit), and Wei Ran continued to ponder how to do it so there would be a glimmer of possibility to complete the mission.

Unbeknownst to them, other squads on their side weren't going smoothly either. The difficulty in the wild increased bit by bit, and combined with previous battles leaving them physically and mentally exhausted, whether it was the west side with Shen Chengyi or the east side full of ability users, everyone looked worried.

The truck finally drove to a hillside and stopped. There were no tall buildings around to block anything, so they could only set up tents themselves to rest.

Wei Ran led people around the hillside in a circle, then had the ability users confirm there was nothing inside the hillside, before he felt much more at ease.

Shen Chengyi still moved around by herself. If Wei Ran didn't come to find her, she would do her own thing.

"Chengyi"

Wei Ran felt deeply that at this moment only Shen Chengyi could give her the plan she wanted. Others were just tool people who followed orders. She urgently needed a brain to bring her new ideas and plans.

Shen Chengyi:...

"Speaking of the termite swarm problem, it's simple. As long as you gather them together, whether it's fire or lightning, striking down can solve a large area."

But the key is how to gather them. The number of termites was terrifying; they could even gnaw the hillside flat, showing their appetite and strength.

These termites were products of evolution. Compared to before, their bodies were smaller, easier to hide, and they moved at flying speed.

The reason they escaped to this hillside right now was because the termite swarm was too large. If they confronted them head-on, they simply couldn't win.

Wei Ran pinched his chin. "Perhaps we can use bait to lure them over in batches."

Not seeking to solve it all at once, as long as we take it slow, being able to solve them is good enough.

Shen Chengyi mentioned that for termites, the best bait was creatures of flesh and blood, meaning using themselves. "The danger of doing this is that it's easy to not be able to get out."

And just because the plan goes well doesn't mean execution will definitely succeed. What if the number of termites chasing out is too huge?

Ant swarms are gregarious creatures. Inside there is a queen ant who says one thing and means it, commanding everything. So a large swarm of white termites—one dare not imagine what kind of Pangran Giant the queen ant inside would be.

Wei Ran raised his hand and rubbed his chin, his expression also very strange. Obviously he had thought of some sanity-losing scenes.

"I'll go back and discuss it with Cheng Nan. Things can't be dragged on forever." Because in the end it was still up to them to solve it. To prevent too many sacrifices later, they should come up with the plan first.

Wei Ran turned his head to find Cheng Nan and mutter. The two huddled together, heads touching heads. Shen Chengyi just glanced at it twice and withdrew her gaze.

Mm

Actually she had other methods that could quickly solve this group of termites, but this required exposing her strength, and the danger would increase greatly.

Shen Chengyi wasn't so selfless as to sacrifice herself for the Official. She raised her hand and rubbed her eyebrows and eyes, turned around, returned to the set-up tent, and chose to put on clothes and sleep.

Rustling sounds

What movement?

Shen Chengyi didn't sleep very soundly. Moreover, the north side of the hillside couldn't block the cold wind blowing in. Even though she wore the protective suit without taking it off, she was wrapped in a sleeping bag, and the tent isolated the cold air outside. But she was still awakened by a cold that seemed to soak into her bones.

Opening her eyes, she first surveyed the surroundings. The pitch-black environment made Shen Chengyi a little uncomfortable. Her hand had already reached out of the sleeping bag and touched the long blade beside her. Shen Chengyi slowly and carefully crawled out of the sleeping bag. Relying on the lightness and speed of an ability user, she went around the sleeping team members on the ground one by one and went out.

The tent only revealed a crack. Shen Chengyi used the long blade to slice it open and poked out a pair of snow-bright eyes.

Unexpectedly, outside was pitch black, invisible even when stretching out a hand. Ordinary people couldn't take a single step.

Shen Chengyi held her breath, quickly left the tent range and came outside.

The bonfire lit nearby had long been extinguished. Even with fire-type ability users, it was useless. The temperature was too low. Around the tent, besides a few dim lights that were hard to discover, there were no other lighting devices.

Creak creak

She raised her foot and stepped on the snow pile on the ground, making a familiar sound.

Shen Chengyi couldn't say why she didn't sleep but chose to come out instead. Perhaps it was a kind of intuition, an unexplained nervousness and lingering fear. But because she couldn't say why, she couldn't wake Wei Ran for advance warning.

Walking forward step by step, Shen Chengyi secretly surveyed everything around. The furnishings here were all very ordinary. Even behind the hillside, it was bald with nothing at all, as if pushed over by a large bulldozer.

Boom boom boom

Her heartbeat became violent. Shen Chengyi raised her hand and touched her chest. Then her expression changed slightly, and she suddenly ran toward where the truck was parked.

The Official's truck was originally military green, but after various modifications and upgrades, now the truck was pure black in appearance, with a symbol unique to the Shelter printed on the body.

The truck was no longer black at this time, but covered in a dark layer that writhed.

There's something on it?!

Most of their supplies and weapons were loaded onto the truck.

Cursing under her breath, Shen Chengyi raised her hand, condensed a bolt of lightning, and hurled it over.

The originally writhing dark layer instantly became even more frenzied and disorderly, and where she had just struck, debris began to fall constantly.

Hmm.

It wasn't debris falling, but corpses!

Raising her hand to shine a specialized flashlight over, Shen Chengyi saw the mutant snake swarm that had wrapped around several trucks.

Shen Chengyi:...

Goosebumps instantly covered her whole body; Shen Chengyi noticed mutant snakes writhing on the ground too, though they were concentrated in a circle, their tents were some distance from the trucks, and for now no snake could reach them.

Bang bang bang!

"What what? Fighting outside?" And there's lightning and thunder!

Wei Ran sat up from her sleeping bag with dark circles under her eyes, Cheng Nan had already run out with a sniper rifle in her arms, and the other team members in the tent bumped into each other in twos and threes, at a loss, until the light inside the tent came on and calmed the chaotic situation.

"Get dressed and get out quickly," something happened outside; although they still didn't know what it was, if it attacked the tents they'd know it wasn't anything good.

Wei Ran put on her protective suit in two or three moves, the clothes over it she put on while walking, until she lifted the tent flap and saw the constantly writhing mutant snake swarm.

Wei Ran:...

Aaaaaah!

How did these snakes get in? She had clearly checked very carefully before, how could they let this group of snakes slip in.

Not only did they slip in, the key was this group of snakes had surrounded their trucks; one must know that after evolving, mutant snakes' venom could not only poison people to death but also corrode any metal product.

Although the trucks provided by the Official could take a beating, they were still metal products; as long as those mutant snakes bit them one by one, their trucks would all be scrapped.

"Concentrate firepower, protect the things on the trucks," inside there were tools for spraying fire, important equipment used to deal with ant swarms.

Team members who ran out one after another tidied up their belongings; they began to attack the snake swarms around the trucks and on top of the trucks according to Wei Ran's instructions.

The effect was naturally there, just not as obvious as they imagined; the main attack methods were still the abilities of the ability users.

The most eye-catching was naturally Shen Chengyi's lightning ability that blasted the snake swarm away; then there were fire ability users roasting, wood ability users binding and tying up, metal ability users charging forward, and earth ability users blocking.

Wei Ran raised her hand and rubbed her face; what she was most worried about now was the things on the trucks; going at it like this with both sides, let alone the things on the trucks, even the trucks couldn't be saved.

Turning around to take out communication equipment to contact the temporary camp, Wei Ran requested support from the Commander-in-Chief without courtesy; they had run into a troublesome big problem here; without backup supplies, it was very likely all would be lost at the last moment.

The good news was that when Wei Ran sent the message, the temporary camp happened to not be resting and could respond in time; but the bad news was that Wei Ran sent the message rather late, and of the remaining three Volunteer Squads, two had already left in advance; the remaining squad was used to protect the safety of the temporary camp and could not leave.

Wei Ran:...

Hanging up the communication equipment with great helplessness, Wei Ran could now only rely on herself to hold the situation, while praying that the support squad of the temporary camp would give it their all and come to the west side to help them after finishing with others.

"Don't even think about it; obviously we're isolated and without aid," because the west side was a location far from the Official; wanting to support the west side would require other directions to have no great risk, otherwise they would easily be surrounded like dumplings.

The sniper rifle in Cheng Nan's hands was already sparking; the bullets inside hadn't stopped; basically every shot hit a mutant snake; pity the snake swarm was too huge in number; despite fighting so hard, they still couldn't clear the area around the trucks cleanly.

Other team members without abilities also began to take out firearms to help.

The crackling sounds completely brought the whole area around the tent to life; the flashlights used for lighting were turned to maximum; others, with the impulse of losing sanity, dealt with the mutant snakes.

Such a conflict was fought straight until daybreak; the remaining mutant snakes writhed their soft bodies, hissing as they left the trucks, merged into the surrounding environment, and finally disappeared from sight.

Several trucks they brought were completely scrapped; the worst was that the entire outer shell was corroded clean, and the things inside could no longer be used.

Wei Ran felt heartache and kept sucking in air; the things they had left now couldn't last a few days at all; and with the trucks scrapped, if they encountered a large-scale ant swarm attack next, they could only rely on their two legs to run.

"Don't think so much for now; there are wounded in the team; I'll arrange people to handle it; you go quickly check the truck side; if there's anything usable, bring as much back as possible."

Cheng Nan expressed that in terms of managing the household, she still had it very well in hand; rather than still expecting help from the temporary camp's support, it was better to prepare in advance herself; that way they could hold on a bit longer.

Wei Ran:...

Tacitly giving a thumbs up, she felt Cheng Nan had no problem; she took several team members who looked to be in okay condition to the side of the truck to observe several circles; after confirming there were no residual mutant snakes and that the venom had been completely used up, they were willing to rummage through the things inside the truck.

The tools for starting fire were mostly broken; the weapons for replenishing firearms were also melted into a mess; the only thing that was okay was the bullets pressed at the very bottom; except for the crates being broken, most bullets could still be used.

"Quick, move them back to the tent;" Wei Ran called people over to hurry up and work.

Others didn't rest either; only Shen Chengyi, it was she who first discovered the problem and solved the problem; right now she was leaning against the tent resting with eyes closed; others, upon seeing her, not only didn't go to disturb her, but also quietly stepped lightly.

Shen Chengyi:...

Actually she hadn't fallen asleep at all; the excitement from taking action earlier kept Shen Chengyi's energy focused; right now she just didn't want to continue getting involved.

Her ears twitched up and down; Shen Chengyi opened her eyes again; she went around the other busy crowds nearby and quickly came to Wei Ran's side.

Hmm?

What's wrong?

Wei Ran blinked; she didn't feel Shen Chengyi would talk nonsense at this time.

"Distribute the things as soon as possible;" Shen Chengyi pointed at the land under her feet; "don't you feel this place is very dangerous?"

Wei Ran:?...!!!