Last Totem Novel - Chapter 316
Chapter 316 Trouble
After receiving the order to rest on the spot, Mu Qianhe got out of the car and leaned against the stone wall inside the platform with his hands crossed, closing his eyes to rest. From the moment she left Dawn Stronghold, she hadn’t closed her eyes. In addition to the previous battles and her continuous journey, she was already a little tired. But now was not the time to sleep, so she could only take a nap and recover a little bit of her energy.
Actually, Tie Zha originally didn’t agree to her following because she couldn’t use mecha in the bottomless abyss. Moreover, she was an ordinary woman. Not only could she not play the role of an ace pilot, she also had many inconveniences. However, she insisted on coming. Tie Zha only tried to persuade her a few times but failed to convince her, so he didn’t say anything else. It was considered tacit consent. She knew him. She knew that he was used to having women by his side, so as long as she insisted, she could get his approval.
At the same time, she also knew her own advantages. She was not as weak as Qin Ke’er, nor was she as elegant and noble as Eva Green and Muyu Qinxin. To put it bluntly, her performance-price ratio was high, her life wasn’t that valuable, and her strength was not bad. She was just like the Wilderness Heavy Industries’ Wildwolf-type mecha, which could run, jump, fight, and resist. Although her overall performance was average, it was better than the price, and it was worth it. In terms of self-awareness and identity positioning, she is a smart woman, both realistic and clear. It was also because of this self-aware wisdom that she was able to maintain a long and stable relationship with Assistant Green, who was much higher than her.
But what she didn’t know was that she was very similar to Ye Xinling in this aspect, and thus won Tie Zha’s trust and intimacy. If the similarities between her and Lena were an opportunity for them to get to know each other, then the similarities between her and Ye Xinling were the reason why they could finally get together and climb onto a bed. However, compared to the former, she was a bit more kind and less ruthless.
In her thoughts, she suddenly heard a rustling sound behind her ears. Originally, she didn’t care and thought it was just an illusion. However, as time passed, not only did the dense sound not disappear, it became more and more intense and clear. She quickly realized the problem and frowned. She listened carefully, wanting to find out where the source of the sound came from.
‘”Da la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la.”
“Da la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la.
“Dalala … Dalala … Dalala … Dalala … Dalala … Dalala … Dalala … Dalala … Dalala … Dalala …”
As time passed, the movement in the stone wall became more and more intense, as if thousands of bamboo strips were striking hard objects at the same time. At this moment, Mu Qianhe finally recognized it. His face immediately turned pale. He instinctively took a step back and shouted, “Careful! There are abyssal termites! Repeat! Careful! There are abyssal termites!”
“Prepare the flamethrower! Hurry up!” Mu Qianhe shouted anxiously.
However, before she could finish speaking, the stone wall in front of her suddenly trembled, and with a “crash” sound, it actually pounced on her head to cover her face and collapsed. She hurriedly jumped back, avoiding the falling sand. Then, with the stone wall in front of her as the center, the landslide rapidly extended to both sides.
“Hualala … Hualala … Hualala … Hualala … Hualala … Hualala … Hualala … Hualala …”
In an instant, the sand and stones collapsed, smoke and dust pervaded the air, and the surrounding stone walls continuously spanned over a large area.
“Chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi”
Along with the collapse of the stone wall, dense screams came from inside, piercing people’s eardrums. At the same time, a large number of termites poured out from the landslide. The number was indescribably large, causing one’s scalp to go numb.
They were about the size of newborn calves, dragging their bulging milky bellies out of the deep pits behind them one after another. Squeezed together layer upon layer, swaying its long tentacles, shaking its triangular head, its mouthpart cracked in four lobes, covered in fine fangs, and brandishing its scythe-like forelegs, it let out ear-piercing screams at the humans with its open teeth and claws.
Looking at the seeping scene, a panicked Marine pulled off the broken grenade hanging in front of his chest and was about to bite open the pull ring and smash it out.
“Don’t use grenades!” The moment before the former attacked, Mu Qianhe, whose face was slightly pale, happened to see it. He hurriedly shouted to stop. Using grenades in such a place could cause even more landslides at any time. As long as he wasn’t careful, everyone would be buried here.
At that same time, the termite swarm assemble at the landslide began to surge toward the humans.
“Flamethrower! Flamethrower!” After stopping the soldiers from dropping the bombs, Mu Qianhe looked at the swarm of termites and shouted as he retreated.
However, just as she took a few steps back, a figure flashed past her and crashed into the termite colony. In an instant, the golden figure used both his fists and legs, like a reaper that broke into a flock of sheep. The termites around him were shattered, and broken limbs flew everywhere.
Then, Jerome, Match, Tuoba San, Marcus, Hillman, Billy, and Eudith joined the battle, quickly suppressing the termites that had rushed out of the gap. These abyss termites looked terrifying, but in reality, they were like lambs in front of the power-armored warriors, unable to resist.
Afterwards, the Marines with fuel bottles and flamethrower on their backs returned to the hole in the collapse. They stood in a row, lifted a meter-long nozzle, and sprayed high-pressure fuel into it.
“Mighty Mighty Mighty Mighty Mighty …”
With a violent eruption, flames poured into the darkness, burning the interior of the stone wall red.
“Chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi”
A fierce scream echoed across the platform and traveled far away. Not long after, there was no sound inside the collapse point. After the temperature dropped, the Marines brought their flamethrowers into the gap and spat out at the holes in the surroundings for a while.
Afterwards, Tie Zha demobilized the Marines and brought Bai Xiaoyun and Jerome in to investigate the situation. The abyss termites weren’t very destructive, but they were one of the most troublesome species in the abyss for humans.
More precisely, they like to dig nests on cliffs, just like humans. As the saying goes, the abyssal termites are like enemies, and they are a major threat to the human fortress. This place was less than twenty kilometers away from the Thinker Stronghold. According to the textbook, the Abyss Termites’ nest could extend for hundreds of kilometers. This meant that if left unchecked, the nest was likely to be dug through.
“What do you think?” Tie Zha pretended to be observing the termite tunnels and asked casually. His knowledge of the Abyss was limited to Eva Green’s individual tutoring. On the one hand, the latter didn’t have much private time, so he didn’t spend much time with him. On the other hand, since the two of them were in the same room and were lovers, they naturally had to do something else.
Therefore, his abyss course only went to the “introduction” part, not to the specific “content”. He knew what most creatures in the bottomless abyss looked like, how they could be named, and how they attacked, but he didn’t know anything about habits.
“Mm” Jerome stared at the passageway and pondered for a moment before saying, “Judging from the number and width of the passageway, this is a medium-sized ant nest. I think it is very likely that it will endanger the stronghold twenty kilometers away.”
“I agree. We must find a way to eradicate them. Otherwise, it will be very troublesome in the future.” Bai Xiaoyun squatted on the ground and flipped through a relatively intact, charred-black termite corpse. “This is the second stage of the abyss termite, and judging from the level of development of the worker ants, they will soon enter the third stage of the abyss termite. I’m afraid it will be even more troublesome at that time.”
“Huh?” Tie Zha glanced at Bai Xiaoyun, who immediately understood and explained in detail.
The termites in the third stage of metamorphosis are also called iron-devouring termites. Not only could they devour iron ore and grow iron insect shells, they could also slowly dig hard rock areas. They were natural enemies of human strongholds.
In order to avoid being blamed, Bai Xiaoyun gave a brief explanation of the termites’ subsequent form.
The Abyss Termites in the fourth stage of metamorphosis are also called Spirit Devouring Termites. As its name implied, it was a termite that could devour psionic ores, absorb psionic energy, and grow psionic wings. The fifth stage of metamorphosis was called the oil-devouring termites, which could devour black oil and spit out high-temperature flames.
Under normal circumstances, the termites in the first and second metamorphosis stages posed relatively little threat to human fortresses, while the termites in the third and fourth metamorphosis stages posed the greatest threat. As for the fifth metamorphosis stage, there was no threat whatsoever. The reason for that was because the Abyss Termites of the fifth stage had gained some intelligence. They would take the initiative to avoid the domains of powerful creatures, such as demonic dragons, Great Abyss Devils, human strongholds, and so on.
“And then?” Tie Zha asked. What he cared about was how to deal with the current situation, not what the high-grade abyss termites could do.
“Guild Leader, this is not a problem that can be solved in a short period of time. I suggest we return to the stronghold first and send people to explore after we have settled down.” Jerome explained, “The specific method of exploration is to shoot the tracker into the bodies of the surviving termite workers to investigate the structure and condition of the entire nest.”
Tie Zha thought for a while and agreed with Jerome.
Actually, he had other thoughts. He had scouts, trackers, and so on. There was no need for him to do so. After the personnel had been arranged, he would come alone, but it would be more convenient.