Chapter 125 Chapter 125 Can you handle the change?

"Be careful."

"good."

The two of them couldn't help but slow down their pace.

Leah occasionally raised the tester in his hand and said, "The temperature is almost 40 degrees."

Ning Hanzhu and the others were wearing military boots, and even stepping on the dirt felt a bit hot to the touch. "High temperatures can speed up the hatching of insect eggs. If larvae take over a hundred days to hatch under normal temperatures, then high temperatures will shorten that time."

Leah was curious, "How do you know so much about the Zerg?"

Ning Hanzhu had a wooden face because she hated mosquitoes and insects, but who hasn't encountered a few insects in life, such as cockroaches.

Where there are insects, there are ways to get rid of them.

Even if they become taller than humans after the passage of time.

Crunch.

"Wait a moment."

"What, what happened?"

Ning Hanzhu lifted her foot and accidentally stepped on a rotten board. The board was very solid and the slightest movement caused the creaking sound to be particularly loud there.

There shouldn't be such neat wooden boards in this place.

She circled the obtrusive board. It was hidden beneath the leaves, making it difficult to spot. But after measuring it, she realized it was a full three meters wide and four meters long. "Come on, give me a hand! Help me lift this board."

Leah didn't understand what was going on, but she still stood on the other side. The two of them easily moved the thick wooden board weighing several dozen pounds away.

"Bug shit."

"There's a hole."

This doesn't seem to meet the conditions for insects to hatch eggs.

The insects will probably find a moist and warm place to hatch their eggs, and it's quite damp underground...

But nothing is absolute.

After all, the interstellar Zerg have started to eat humans.

Ning Hanzhu found that the entrance to the cave was quite large. She gestured and decided that she and Leah could fit in.

Leah was excited, "There really are traces of Zerg here. Should we notify them?"

Ning Hanzhu couldn't look directly at the black thing in Leah's hand. She moved aside unnoticed and said, "Since we're here, let's go down and take a look."

The underground cave was more spacious than they had imagined, probably enough for two people to crawl side by side, and the passage was not as damp as Ning Hanzhu had imagined. The two crawled forward, one in front and the other behind, and soon came to a fork in the road.

"There are three forks in the road. Which one should we choose?"

"Hmm."

Ning Hanzhu released all her five senses, and faintly smelled a foul odor and the fragrance of grass and trees from the cave... In addition, she heard a rhythmic sound of "dong, dong, dong".

The sound was quite dense, with countless "dong" and "dong" sounds converging into a strong sound, like the sound of a drum.

"This way."

"But I think it's on the left. I smell insect feces."

Ning Hanzhu, "..."

She held her breath tightly. "Is it possible that the road on the left is where they defecate, like our restroom? Are you sure you want to go to their restroom and check?"

Leah froze. "A dedicated passage for excretion?"

He looked terrified, "These bugs are quite hygienic."

Ning Hanzhu thought that it was more than that. Maybe the Zerg had their own aesthetic sense. She didn't answer him. She felt that every time she opened her mouth, she was inhaling the stench in the air. She quickly crawled towards another passage.

The two of them crawled for more than ten meters. Ning Hanzhu could clearly feel his own heartbeat and the thumping sound, gradually synchronizing. "Hurry up, I think they can't wait to come out."

Climbed two more bends.

The narrow passage gradually widened, and a circular underground square appeared in front of them. Then white mosaics appeared on the wall, a whole wall that was three meters high.

Leah reached out curiously, "What is this?"

Ning Hanzhu said, "Don't touch it." She looked at the densely packed white oval insect eggs on the wall. The thumping sound before came from them. "This is what we are looking for, insect eggs."

An insect egg was as big as a rugby ball, much larger than she had imagined.

"Fuck, no wonder we couldn't detect them, they're all hidden underground."

The position on the stone wall seemed to have been professionally measured, and was specially used to place insect eggs, one by one. Ning Hanzhu initially estimated that there were at least thousands of insect eggs placed here. Once they hatched, they would become thousands of flying winged insects.

"Quick, pour the oil."

"ah?"

Liya once thought that the oil was for cooking. When he brought it out, he thought Ning Hanzhu was going to cook for him, so he carried it all the way excitedly, "Where to pour it?"

Ning Hanzhu unloaded a bucket from his back and quickly poured it over the plump insect eggs. These eggs looked clean and must have been taken care of by someone. "Today, I'll show you the taste of roasted insect eggs."

Liya had also tasted the king worm meat. When he heard Ning Hanzhu say this, he also quickened his pace. The two of them divided the work and worked together, one on the left and one on the right. As he worked, he thought, saliva flowing from the corner of his mouth. He smacked his lips, "Is it as fragrant as the king worm meat?"

Ning Hanzhu, "You'll know later."

After saying that, she pulled Leah behind her and threw a handful of fire at the wall.

boom--

Flames shot up into the sky, enveloping the insect eggs. Sizzling, they burned for a short while until the entire wall was ablaze. The flames quickly flew in front of them. "Hurry up!"

Leah moved her nose and said, "I think I smell meat."

There was a rapid rustling sound coming from the underground passage, like the flapping of wings, or the sound of insect limbs rubbing against the passage.

Ning Hanzhu's scalp tingled when he heard this, and he kicked Leah, "You can eat it if you have a chance, hurry up."

The two quickly returned. Halfway through, Ning Hanzhu noticed the rustling sound behind them. She quickly switched places with Leah and said, "Don't look back. Keep climbing."

After that, she drew her lightsaber.

A queen insect crawled towards her at a rapid speed.

In this narrow space, a particle cannon would probably collapse the entire passage. Various countermeasures flashed through Ning Hanzhu's mind quickly.

Mental power.

Ning Hanzhu didn't know how to use his mental power to attack, so he just kept waving his lightsaber, then retreated while waving, his mind full of the thought of killing the king insect.

Dangdangdang——

Leah yelled, "Ning Hanzhu, hurry up, there are bugs coming from the front."

The rustling sounds from the other two passages became increasingly frequent.

These insects must have discovered the culprit who destroyed their eggs, so they surrounded and besieged them.

Ning Hanzhu stared fiercely at the king insect's head, trying to crush its brain with her mental power, but in fact, her eyes were tired from staring. The other party seemed to be particularly energetic and even made a sound that she was familiar with.

Who is this message intended for?

Zerg Queen?

No, at least not now.

Ning Hanzhu was anxious, and in her haste, a strong pheromone smell swept across the entire passage. At this moment, the rustling sounds around disappeared, and even Leah's anxious cries gradually faded away. The only thing in her eyes was the king insect in front of her.

Ning Hanzhu even looked through its shell and accurately found a mass of red, wriggling flesh, which was wrapped in beating nerves. She thought that this was the brain of the king insect, which looked like a heart.

She couldn't help but raise her hand.

Click.

The whole insect lay motionless in the passage.

Ning Hanzhu's eyes turned blood red, "!!!"

She didn't have time to look back and check, she turned around and crawled out. The sounds around her suddenly rushed into her ears, along with the turbid air, "Hurry up, go, what are you doing lying there?"

Leah shivered.

However, after being kicked from behind by Ning Hanzhu, he finally realized what was happening and used his hands and feet together, "Just now you——"

In just a few minutes, Ning Hanzhu's clothes were damp. The high temperature was burning them. She carefully calculated the distance to the exit and said, "Hold on, we're almost there."

Lia, paralyzed by the lingering pheromones, was only now regaining consciousness. He chuckled for fun and said, "I've never killed so many bugs at once. It feels so good."

Ning Hanzhu thought of what the King Bug did before it died, "There's still a tough battle to fight outside, don't let your guard down."

Killing insect eggs and killing queen insects are two different things.

However, Ning Hanzhu carefully recalled the mysterious feeling just now. She felt like she was standing from God's perspective, looking down at the king insect.

Hmm, did she really smash the king insect’s brain?

If it weren't for the time constraints, Ning Hanzhu really wanted to go back and drag the king insect's corpse back to dissect it.

In a short while, the two of them climbed to the entrance of the cave.

Just as Leah was about to stick her head out, Ning Hanzhu dragged her away, and her head just brushed past the king insect's sharp forelimbs.

"Damn, there are so many Overlords! We're surrounded by them."

"Um."

The queen bugs were waiting outside, guarding the exit, but this also indirectly confirmed Ning Hanzhu's guess, "The queen of the Zerg must be nearby."

Leah touched her chilly scalp and asked, "What should I do now?"

Ning Hanzhu looked at him. Both of them had varying degrees of injuries, most of which were caused by their own anger. "Senior Lou must have noticed something is wrong here. They will be backing up soon."

She guessed right.

When she was fighting the queen insect in the passage, Lou Cheng knew that they had really found the insect. The roar of the queen insect not only alerted the Zerg, but also made Lou Cheng alert.

"So, we need to take care of this a little bit before they come."

Leah had never felt so happy before. She hadn't considered the numerous Overlords outside. Usually, it would take several of them to kill one. Now, it was unrealistic for the two of them to fight alone. Her blood was boiling. "I'll be on the left, you on the right."

The two divided the work and rushed out with their lightsabers. Leah chopped them down while making strange noises, "Why do I feel like their fighting power isn't as strong as the flying winged insects?"

Ning Hanzhu, "If I'm not mistaken, they are probably male king bugs, responsible for raising young. Their combat power is definitely not comparable to the king bugs we encountered before."

The hierarchy among the Zerg is also very strict.

Useful flying insects and the king insects that act as commanders are picked out of a hundred, and the remaining male insects are responsible for reproduction with the Zerg queen, and these male king insects should act as nannies for the larvae, raising and feeding them, etc.

“Are they edible?”

"That should work."

When Lou Cheng arrived with a group of people, he heard the two discussing how to cook. He almost laughed out loud, "Are you kidding me? You still have the leisure to think about eating at this hour?"

Both of them were covered in dust and dirt, after all, they had been smoked by the flames, and their clothes were torn, which looked very bad. But in fact, apart from inhaling some smoke, they had no external injuries.

Ning Hanzhu, "Then you won't eat later?"

Lou Cheng, "That won't do."

"I want to eat too."

"Don't be so partial. Let's kill a few more Overlords. Hey, why do I feel like I've become stronger?"

With the participation and help of Lou Cheng and others, the male insects besieging them were soon wiped out, but thick smoke and fragrance still came from the cave.

Lou Cheng's nose twitched slightly, "What smells so good?"

Ning Hanzhu, "Charcoal-grilled insect eggs."

Leah was excited. "You don't know, we found thousands of insect eggs down there. Unfortunately, the situation was too urgent and we didn't have time to bring them back."

He even gestured to measure the size of the eggs.

Ning Hanzhu felt that this couldn't be the only place where the Zerg hatched. "I suspect there are more in this area. How about we look for them somewhere else?"

Lou Cheng agreed very much.

"Leave a few of them when you find them this time. We'll eat the roasted eggs later."

“I’ve never tasted this.”

“…”

They split into two teams and searched in two different directions. Liya stayed with Ning Hanzhu, as he thought Ning Hanzhu was very good at finding insects.

"Could they all be hidden underground?"

"uncertain."

Luck was not on Ning Hanzhu and the others' side this time, and they searched for a long time but couldn't find it.

Leah leaned against the tree trunk to rest and drank a sip of water. "Let's rest for a while."

Ning Hanzhu didn't even break out in a sweat. She leaned one hand on the tree trunk and put the other on her waist. "If we keep searching like this, I don't know how long it will take us to find it."

And it all depends on luck.

Ning Hanzhu was afraid that the situation here would be reported to the Zerg Queen, and their revenge would be—

"Huh."

"What's wrong?"

Ning Hanzhu had not withdrawn her five senses. Just now, when she was regretting not letting the male insect go, a very slight frequency suddenly came from the tree. She had heard that short frequency sound before.

"Get up for a moment."

"ah?"

Leah looked at her, puzzled, as she suddenly hugged the tree trunk, even pressing her ear against it. The trunk was as thick as five or six people could wrap their arms around it, and it looked very old. "Did you find something?"

Ning Hanzhu looked up. The tree was very tall. She hadn't noticed it just now, but now looking closely, she could see that the tree seemed to have been dead for a long time. The lush vitality had disappeared at some point, and there were no new buds on the branches.

"Look at this tree and see if there is..."

"There's a hole behind it."

Ning Hanzhu gestured the height of the tree and the size of the cave entrance.

If the size of the eggs just now was the basis of their distribution, Ning Hanzhu suspected that the tree trunk was filled with eggs. Thinking of the densely packed things inside...

She couldn't help but shudder. "Let's just burn this tree."

"OK."

Complete the familiar process.

Leah rubbed her hands in anticipation, "Why not take this opportunity to dig out an egg or two?"

Ning Hanzhu shook his head, "Let's wait a little longer."

Lou Cheng and his group arrived at their destination. "We found insect eggs in another place. You'd better come and take a look."

They found insect eggs scattered on the ground in a cave in the valley. One of the brothers was so careless that he even broke the shell of the eggs and took out the larvae that were about to hatch.

When Ning Hanzhu arrived, he saw a pool of sticky liquid and a dead larva on the ground.

"This stuff is disgusting."

"So this is what I looked like when I was little."

Ning Hanzhu touched the stone under the insect eggs and asked, "What is this thing? Why is it emitting heat?"

Lou Cheng had already surveyed the entire cave. It was very clean, and they even found several old clothes. "This place should be considered a safe house. The stone on the ground is a specialty of Planet 5143, called Warm Stone. The stone contains extremely powerful heat, specially provided for cold planets."

If this is laid on the ground, wouldn’t it have the same effect as underfloor heating?

No wonder the temperature in this area is so different from other areas. It turns out that it is a natural mining site.

Ning Hanzhu suddenly realized that it was no wonder she felt so warm in the tunnel. It turned out it wasn't just an illusion. "So these insects are using the natural environment in the safe house to hatch their eggs."

Lou Cheng nodded. After the Zerg attack, few people came to the forest to scavenge. Even if they did, they would probably not return alive if they encountered the Zerg. So until now, they had no idea that the Zerg had actually settled here and hatched their eggs. "That should be it."

Someone couldn't help but curse, "These bugs are so thieves."

There is a feeling of being frustrated that I am doing something to help others.

Ning Hanzhu touched his chin and asked, "Don't you think this place is too small?"

Small?

The others were stunned.

Lou Cheng pondered for a moment and said, "It's indeed too small."

Ning Hanzhu scraped the computer screen, singled out this area, and marked the spot where they had just discovered the insect eggs. Lou Cheng propped up his chin and tapped the screen with his finger, "Here."

Ning Hanzhu nodded, "This place is worthy of its status."

The two looked at each other and nodded.

"Captain Lou, what are you talking about?"

"Change place."

"Burn all of this."

While they were burning the insect eggs, Ning Hanzhu motioned Lou Cheng to the side and recounted her experience of killing the male king insect. "Have you ever been in this state?"

Lou Cheng shook his head. "Never. What were you thinking at that time?"

Ning Hanzhu remembered how anxious she was at that time. "I wanted to kill it. I absolutely couldn't let it pass on any information."

Lou Cheng, "If I snatch Miss Yuqing away from you, do you want to kill me? Try to attack me."

Ning Hanzhu, "..."

"Senior, stop making trouble."

"Since you have such an opportunity, it means you can use your advantages to kill them. Why not give it a try? Just treat me as those despicable bugs."

In order to arouse Ning Hanzhu's previous state, Lou Cheng even started to speak without thinking, "When Miss Yuqing abandons you, I will take her back to the capital to get married. Then I will ask her to give birth to a few Alphas for me..."

Ning Hanzhu endured and endured, got angry and angry again, and finally swung his fist and punched him in the face.

Lou Cheng's face was knocked sideways.

Others watching nearby, “…”

"What's wrong? Let's talk it out."

"Captain Lou, what's wrong with you?"

Lou Cheng glared at Ning Hanzhu, angrily saying, "I kidnapped your wife, and you just punched me. Ning Hanzhu, are you capable of that?"

Ning Hanzhu also felt that he was not very good.

If that kind of thing really happened, she thought she would be angry and sad, but she would never have the urge to kill the other person. She could beat someone to the ground and unable to get up, but she would never want to twist his head off and kick it like a ball.

She wiped her face, but for a moment she couldn't muster up the intention to kill.

"Hey, don't eat anything."

“It smells weird, but it doesn’t taste very good.”

“…”

Ning Hanzhu was a little impressed by them. "It hasn't been processed yet, so of course it doesn't taste good. You guys are really not picky. I'll treat you all to a meal after this is over."

"Then I'll be waiting."

"We agreed, you can't forget it."

Everyone knows that Ning Hanzhu is an excellent cook. Being able to eat a bite of the food she cooks is a life without regrets.

The group arrived at their destination in a lively atmosphere.

"Why are we here?"

“This place is such a mess.”

This is the largest piece of land that Ning Hanzhu could find in this area. It is a warm stone processing plant, which can also be regarded as the economic lifeline of Star 5143.

The messy stones were rolling everywhere. You can imagine how panicked everyone was when they were running away.

Lou Cheng suddenly hushed, "Everyone, be quiet."

Ning Hanzhu felt that this place was a little too clean, unlike the processing plant she had imagined. "There wasn't a trace of anyone left behind. It was too clean."

Lou Cheng stepped on the warm stone and jumped to the highest point. From his position, he could clearly overlook the battlefield in the distance. He squinted his eyes, turned around and waved to Ning Hanzhu, then suddenly felt dizzy and his eyes went black.

He fell headfirst.

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The author has something to say: The final chapter was not easy to write. I wrote and revised it intermittently for several days. [Melt down]