Chapter 172

The moment Su Jing's fingertip touched the "Herd Monitoring" button on the communicator, a glaring red alert suddenly popped up on the screen.

Accompanied by a sharp buzzing sound: [Emergency Warning: A heat storm is approaching, with wind speeds of up to level 15, carrying high-temperature dust. It is expected to arrive in the villa area in 5 minutes. Buildings in abandoned cities along the way have collapsed, and the animal herds are frightened by the storm and are fleeing haphazardly to safe areas.]

"Su Jing! There's a 'chaotic smell' in the air! It's a mixture of the 'dryness' of the storm and the 'panic' of the beasts! Lots of beasts are running this way, it's ten times more chaotic than before!"

Suddenly, Little Jin bristled, its short golden fur standing on end. Its little paws gripped the temperature control panel in the control room tightly, and its inner voice trembled with urgency.

"The stone-patterned insect swarm to the north is being tossed about by the storm, and a few iron-shelled beetles are charging toward the protective netting!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Su Jing gave a series of orders into the communicator: "Number 1, immediately close the outer sunshade of the villa and retract all retractable parts to prevent them from being blown away by the storm and damaging the protective netting."

On the 2nd, the 'folding and reinforcement' mode of the outer layer of the protective netting was activated, shrinking the manganese crystal strip woven mesh into a double layer to enhance wind resistance;

Number 3, close all exterior windows of the villa and check the sealing strips to prevent sand and dust from entering the control room!

The order had barely been given when the sound of wind whistling came from outside the villa—

The once relatively clear outline of the abandoned city in the distance was instantly swallowed up by the brownish-yellow sand and dust, and the plastic sheets on the ground were blown about by the wind.

Robot No. 1's robotic arm is retracting the sunshade at breakneck speed, the metal frame rubbing against the storm, making a creaking sound as if it might break at any moment.

"The sunshade has been retracted 80%! The remaining part is stuck by sand and dust and needs to be forcibly cut off!" Number 1's report came through the communicator, accompanied by static.

"Cut it off! Protect the protective netting first!" Su Jing responded decisively, and quickly walked to the monitor screen—

In the footage, dark shadows are vaguely visible moving rapidly through the sandstorm; these are a frightened herd of animals: three stone worms are being pushed by the storm towards the plastic safety barrier surrounding the villa.

Two more beetles were trying to squeeze through the gaps in the protective netting, clearly disoriented by the storm and having stumbled into the vicinity of the villa.

"Numbers 4 and 5, form a 'close-range defense team.' Number 4, aim your tracking laser gun at the head of the stone beetle. Number 5, activate your mineral mech arm and guard the gaps in the protective net to prevent the beetle from getting in!"

Su Jing's gaze was fixed on the herd of animals on the monitor, and her fingertip circled the key areas on the screen. "Prioritize dealing with those close to the protective netting. Visibility is poor in the storm, so don't let them stick to the netting!"

Robot No. 4 immediately moved to the blind spot of the surveillance cameras on the west side of the villa. The pale red light from the laser gun pierced through the sand and dust, precisely locking onto the head of a stone beetle.

With a "sizzle," the beam struck its target, and the stone-patterned worm instantly collapsed, its body still being tossed about by the storm.

Another stone-patterned insect took the opportunity to approach the protective net. Suddenly, the mecha arm of Robot No. 5 popped out, and pale blue energy enveloped its paw. With a "bang," it was swatted away and crashed into a nearby abandoned car. Its shell shattered, and its demon core rolled into the dust.

"Su Jing! The water pressure in the sprinkler system has dropped! The storm loosened the water pipe connections, and now only the inner water curtain is spraying; the outer layer is about to stop supplying water!"

Xiao Jin ran to the water pressure gauge in the control room, pointing with its little paws at the constantly dropping needle, its inner voice filled with anxiety, "If there's no spray, we won't be able to stop the ant swarm when it comes!"

Su Jing immediately opened the spatial transmission port—inside were hundreds of square ice blocks neatly stacked, which she had stockpiled to cope with extreme high temperatures. Each block weighed 10 kilograms and was enough to support the operation of the sprinkler system for several hours.

"Number 1, cut off the faulty water pipe, take 50 ice blocks from the space, put them into the furnace's 'low temperature melting' mode, and control the water temperature at 15℃ to avoid evaporation too quickly at high temperatures;

Number 2: Connect the melted ice water to the backup pipe of the sprinkler system, prioritizing the uninterrupted operation of the inner water curtain!

Robot No. 1's robotic arm quickly grabs ice blocks, the temperature inside the furnace slowly drops, and the ice blocks gradually melt into clear ice water, which flows through the backup pipe to the spray system.

A few minutes later, the pressure gauge needle rose again, and the outer spray head sprayed out fine water mist again, forming a double layer of protection with the inner water curtain, creating a transparent water wall around the villa and blocking some of the sand and dust.

Suddenly, the system chat area on the communicator exploded with messages of despair from survivors: "China - City West Residents: The heat storm has collapsed our makeshift shelters! Many people have been injured! And stone bugs have broken in. We don't have laser guns, who's coming to save us!"

“US-Mark: Our sprinkler system is completely destroyed, we've run out of water, and now it's hot and suffocating, we can't take it anymore! @I am the God of Wealth, can you give us some water?”

Su Jing glanced at the message but didn't stop what she was doing—she was checking the sandstorm situation on the monitor. In the footage, several Crimson Flame Ants were struggling to approach against the storm.

Its dark red carapace seemed brighter than before, and even when it came into contact with the spray of water mist, it did not retreat as usual.

"Xiao Jin, smell the Crimson Flame Ants in the surveillance footage. Do they have a different smell?"

Little Jin leaned closer to the screen, its little nose twitching slightly. A voice in its mind, filled with doubt, asked, "Their 'smell resistance' has become stronger! Their previous fear of water is almost gone, and they seem unafraid of spraying water anymore! Have they mutated?"

Su Jing felt a chill and instructed Robot No. 5 to fire a laser gun at a Crimson Flame Ant. The beam hit the target, and although the ant's shell was pierced, the rest of the ant colony continued to advance.

She gripped the mecha arm on her right hand and ordered into the communicator: "Number 3, strengthen the monitoring of the Crimson Flame Ants and report their movements every 10 minutes."

"On the 1st, melt another 30 ice blocks to store more ice water. If the spray isn't enough, we can use it to directly extinguish the ant colony."

As the sun set, the heatwave gradually subsided, and the dust storm surrounding the villa slowly dissipated.

The protective netting was intact, five beast carcasses lay on the ground, the water curtain of the sprinkler system was still running, and ice water was still being continuously transported from space to the furnace.

Su Jing stood in front of the monitoring screen, watching the approaching Crimson Flame Ants, her fingertips tracing the energy patterns on the mecha arm.