Bugs, especially the hopper bugs. Their attacks were horrifying. A quick glide with a hopper bug’s wings cut off a dozen heads from the warriors of Anubis and turn them back into sand. Fortunately, there were several hundreds of these warriors that a dozen wasn’t a big deal. Numerous big swords slashed at it and soon cut this bug to pieces. Then another one charged into them.

The scene depicted the fight of quality versus quant.i.ty. As long as the difference in quality wasn’t night and day, like that of humans against ants, or humans with guns against monkeys, then there was no possibility of a single being destroying countless other lives. Even with Zheng’s power, dead was the only thing that awaited him if he were to fought thousands of hopper bugs.

Similarly, when the number of bugs had become so little in contrast to the hundreds of warriors, those dozen remaining bugs got cut to pieces as soon as they charged into the army. Their agility and strength were futile in front of such numbers.

On the other side, Xuan finished the hundred bugs that swarmed him. Kampa and Gando shredded dozens with their coordination. Only two bugs left but before they got to do anything, bang! A powerful bullet shattered both of them.

Zheng made an effort to absorb the remaining Qi and blood energy from the two rings. A few seconds later, he stood up. He recovered about 20% of Qi and 30% of blood energy by now. Not enough for a whole fight in Explosion but enough for him to move.

Zheng quickly ran back to the cave and yelled. “w.a.n.gXia, take out the Sky Stick! f.u.c.k, more bugs are coming!”

Under the psyche scan, several larger bugs were coming their way. Fortunately, rocks blocked their large bodies. They could also see that all the hopper bugs were cleared. Now they just had to levitate within a minute to free themselves from danger.

Kampa rushed out from the cave carrying Lan on his back. w.a.n.gXia and Zero followed carrying the Sky Stick and basket on top. As soon as they threw the two items on the ground, Zheng stepped on the Sky Stick. Lan, w.a.n.gXia, and Zero entered the basket. Right at this crucial moment, the damaged robot suddenly rolled on the ground and cried in Fumoffu.

Lan yelled. “It’s bad! Gando unlocked the genetic constraint in the fight and he’s suffering the after effect. His whole body is spasming. He can’t breathe, almost going to suffocate. He can’t even get himself on the basket!”

Zheng was going to get down but then he saw Xuan’s action and lifted off. “Lan, spend some attention to scan the surviving squads. We need to find a target to merge into. Oh, and don’t ease on monitoring the sky. Tell me when you find the rescue s.h.i.+ps.”

The bear robot was facing their side as it rolled. Gando clenched his teeth tightly. The extreme pain had made him bite them so hard that his mouth was full of blood. His muscles twitching violently. He couldn’t even find the strength to move. His breathing was getting shorter and shorter. He was almost going to faint. The pain from unlocking the genetic constraint for the first time wasn’t something a normal person could withstand.

Gando slowly closed his eyes in this pain. He could only breathe when his body twitched from the pain. Then he felt the c.o.c.kpit shook and opened his eyes to look at the screen. Xuan and Kampa were carrying the robot from both sides to the basket. This robot was small but it still took them twenty seconds to walk the eight-meter distance. Kampa gave a shout and threw it into the basket. Xuan then stepped onto the Sky Stick and flew up. The ground began trembling.

Kampa laughed out loudly. He had returned to normal from the werewolf transformation and slapped the bear robot on the shoulder. “Nice kid. Never expected you to unlock the genetic constraint in your first fight. It seemed like chasing you with the electric stick for so long didn’t go to waste. Haha. That was thanks to you or we wouldn’t have been able to kill so many bugs in such a short period.”

Gando didn’t reply. He adjusted the screen to look down at the ground. A mound rose from the ground after the trembling. Then a seven-meter-tall and ten-meter-long huge red bug dug itself out. It aimed its mouth at the air and shot out a pillar of fire. The fire got up to fifteen meters. They could feel the heat despite being so far from it.

Kampa and Gando looked at each other. Then he aimed the overheated EMP rifle down. Xuan said. “There’s no need. Five more seconds.”

The two were confused for a moment then looked below. Aside from the first tanker bug, countless bugs also dig out from the ground. If they were just twenty seconds slower, these bugs would have devoured them.

“Time’s up!”

“Time.” On the other Sky Stick, w.a.n.gXia was holding onto the pulse on his wrist and said to the others. At almost the same instant, blue light flashed and numerous blue plasma spheres shot out. All the bugs that got in contact were vaporized and anything nearby was burned to ashes. These plasma spheres were much more powerful than lightning or electrical attacks. They were a phenomenon of highly concentrated electricity.

The bundle of one timed bomb with several plasma mines created enough spheres to fill a hundred-meter area. The heat extended up to two hundred meters. Two more tanker bugs dug out from the ground. Then the series of explosions wiped a large area of them. w.a.n.gXia’s points suddenly jumped in hundreds and was nearing a thousand. They were still in danger but he still couldn’t contain his laughter.

Zheng was controlling the Sky Stick. He received the explosion images through Lan. He let out a sigh of relief seeing so many points were killed. Then asked. “Lan, have you found any surviving squads? What about Platoon 6?”

Lan sighed. “Platoon 1 landed first and had been wiped. Then Platoon 2 and 3 followed. Our Platoon 4 only has a thousand remaining behind a hill. Platoon 5 is almost done. Though there’s a group of a few hundred gathering scattered troopers. They are moving toward Platoon 6. Platoon 6 has the most people but also a lot of bugs chasing them. They are heading our way.”

Those who landed first died the earliest. Zheng nodded. He knew they underestimated the bugs. Over a hundred thousand casualties within just a few hours, most were from the ground units. This was partially caused by abnormality in their weapons. This sci-fi universe didn’t have a mechanical ground unit. Furthermore, it was dangerous for the seven of them from just several hundred hopper bugs.

“Zheng, I found something interesting. Where do you think the team that just scanned our location is at?” Xuan voice appeared in his mind. He knew Lan had connected Xuan through soul link.

Zheng thought for a moment. “Platoon 6? You think we are going to meet them when we arrive at Platoon 6?”

Xuan said. “No. They can’t be in Platoon 6 because this will lead them to meet us face to face. You have to know that their biggest advantage is arriving in this world earlier than us and was able to create their ‘influence’, not in fighting us directly. We are stronger than them. The most likely outcome in a direct team fight is we wiping the two teams.”

“If I am in their place, they won’t want to enter a team fight now nor expose their location so we can find them. The battlefield is also dangerous. We can barely protect ourselves here so as the weaker teams, they won’t be able to survive the sea of bugs easily while fighting us. The only possibility that made them search for us under such situation is they believe they are currently safe. If that’s the case, the safest place in this battlefield isn’t next to the main character but rather among the bugs!”

Zheng as shocked. A safe place among the bugs? What did this mean? He quickly said. “Do you mean that G.o.d put them&h.e.l.lip;”

Xuan said with certainty. “Yes. G.o.d put them on the bug’s side, just like how team India was on the side of Imhotep. One of the teams is an ally of the bugs!”

Zheng exhaled deeply. “If that’s true then are those hopper bugs sent by the team after they scanned us? Aren’t we in great danger now?”

Xuan shook his head. “There wouldn’t be too much danger. They probably shouldn’t have the influence to order an army of bugs. Or it wouldn’t have been just several hundred bugs. My speculation is they belong to the bugs but don’t have the authority to order any bugs. All they could do was give the results of their scans over to the brain bug via soul link. We are in danger because the brain bug knows our location but it won’t give up the lives of the rest of the federation force for us. So once we reach Platoon 6, we will be much safer. However, there are two questions that can’t be answered.”

“One is where’s the other team? Are they not in this battlefield?”

“Two is G.o.d wants us to survive twenty days. Under what conditions? Can we just live through these twenty days like a trip? No, based on our understanding of G.o.d, something that wasn’t in the movie is bound to happen. Something that will force the three teams fight. But what is it? There’s definitely a detail that I haven’t found out. I can’t continue the a.n.a.lysis without it. What is this detail?”

The conversation between Zheng and Xuan happened in their minds so the others couldn’t know about it. Everyone else was focused on the battlefield. Such a b.l.o.o.d.y and deadly battlefield was never seen by even Kampa. Blood, corpses, and broken body parts spread throughout the ground like a collection center of human bodies. Occasionally a few bugs dug themselves out but got shot down by Kampa and Zero.

“This is too brutal. The number of bugs is way too much. No wonder they wiped the human army in just several hours.” Kampa stared at the ground. There weren’t many bugs visible but the surface was rippling. No one knew how many bugs were hidden under the surface.

Zero stood his rifle up and asked Zheng. “What are we going to do? We can’t just fly into Platoon 6.”

Zheng had come out of the conversation. He thought for a bit and replied. “Lan, how is the group of several hundred troopers now? They got wiped yet?”

Lan closed her eyes for a moment. “No. Their number is increasing as they gather the scattered troopers on the way. The leader is actually quite good. They chose the hard surfaces to walk on so the bugs couldn’t attack from beneath. They also focused fire when attacking the bugs and killed a few on the way. They are close to Platoon 6, about ten more minutes before meeting up.”

Zheng said. “Ok. We will land behind them then follow the path they cleared to catch up. Merge into this group then meet Platoon 6.”

Lan pa.s.sed the message to the three people on the other side then said. “Ok, I have pa.s.sed the message. I will send their location, a map of the terrain and the spread of bugs to you.”

Zheng nodded. The images appeared in his mind. On the other side of a hill not far from them was a group of about a thousand troopers. Their conditions were not good. Most troopers were wounded. Some without an arm or leg. However, the baptism with blood cleared away some of that fear they had. They could now fire back against the bugs in coordination. Small groups of bugs became less of a threat to them.

“Let’s land here. It’s a hill so they can’t see us. Put away our equipment then head over. We should catch up to them in five minutes.” Zheng chose a hill from the map that couldn’t be seen from the other side. This hill was not far away from the group.

The dim atmosphere of this planet helped them. Normal people could only see one to two hundred meters away. The troopers weren’t players with enhancements. So no one saw the Sky Stick. After they landed, everyone put the weapons back into the dimensional bag. Then Zheng brought out the weapons from the federation. Kampa complained as he received the weapon. These garbage rifles were actually the weapons in a sci-fi world.

“Ok. Run up the hill. It should only be a few minutes. There are some bugs on the way but these guns are enough to kill them. Let’s go. We are basically safe after meeting Platoon 6!” Zheng patted Kampa on the shoulder and looked at Gando. His body was still s.h.i.+vering.

Xuan said. “Zheng, if the group happen to encounter a swarm of bugs, you should show strength equivalent to the maximum a normal person can achieve. It’s fine even if you go over by a bit. It’s best if you can lead some of the troopers like you usually do. If you can become a sergeant or lieutenant, our plans will be much more convenient. You get what I mean?”

Zheng nodded. He checked the gun then carried Lan on his back.

The seven of them moved very fast. Lan and Gando had weaker bodies so they were being carried. Kampa got Gando on his back. They ran after the group of troopers and killed several bugs on the way. The federation’s weapons were just so weak. Hits on the bugs’ exoskeletons only caused flares. The only effective targets were the eyes and mouth. Fortunately, their focus fire was good enough and Xuan had the gauss pistols hidden under his sleeves. He was the only person that retained power. If too many bugs came, he would just use the gauss pistols to clear them.

They caught up to the group after a few minutes. Or one could say the troopers at the back noticed them. These ten troopers aimed their guns at them in the beginning until a sergeant shouted them to stop. When the troopers found out that these seven people were humans, everyone let out a sigh of relief. Zheng and the others could tell that this group had been startled. They could still fight but their mental states were breaking apart. This was a sign of struggling before death.

The sergeant waved his arm at Zheng’s group. He let out a sigh of relief after they came over. “What a miracle you survived with just seven people. You, the heavily injured one, go get bandaged in the center. The five of you report to the lieutenant. You head to the center too. All women are taking care of the injured in the center.”

The sergeant had Zheng go get bandaged. His body was covered in blood but in reality his wounds were almost fully healed. The wound did look a bit scary. Zheng thought for a bit then gestured them to go. He headed to the center of the group with Lan.

It felt rather magnificent when a thousand people gathered together. Zheng said to Lan in a low voice. “Connect me to Xuan and pay attention to the spread of bugs. Tell me immediately the bugs are gathering in a large group. It’s fine if we clear this area again with our weapons. The most important thing is our safety.”

Lan nodded. Zheng connected with Xuan’s mind. Xuan was heading to a group of officers who were arguing. An officer with a metallic arm shouted. “We Roughnecks killed our way out of the sea of bugs but we have lost over 70% of our people. The majority of troopers joining the group are new recruits. Our only hope is to meet up with Platoon 6 and defend until the rescue s.h.i.+ps come using our advantage in number. And you want me to go save a squad from Platoon 5? Why don’t you just go die?”

Xuan frowned and said to Zheng. “Heard it? This is the Roughnecks. They killed the most bugs in the movie and one of the units that got back alive. If the other team isn’t inside these thousand troopers, we have over 80% chance of returning to the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.”

Zheng also frowned and said to Lan in a low voice. “Is there a psyche force user in this group? Or anyone that can mask your scan?”

Lan shook her head. “No. Only normal people. I don’t sense any scans or masks. If there’s someone like that, I wouldn’t have been able to find this group. He could just mask the whole area.”

Zheng let out a sigh of relief. He told the others not to move and wait for him to get there. In the center of the group were about three hundred people who could still move and ten barely staying alive. A representation of the destructiveness of war. The ten critically injured lost all their limbs. Their stomach torn open exposing the intestines. But they were lucky to be still alive. About two hundred female troopers on acting as sentries or providing the medical aids. However, fear was obvious on their expressions. Any little change would rack up their nervousness. This group seemed like disowned dogs. The troopers covering the retreat at the back were elites in comparison.

Zheng bandaged himself up then he heard a racket coming from the left. The group was turning into a chaos over there. A pillar of fire shot up and a tanker bug appeared.