After Lu Xinghe stepped off the plane, he looked around but still couldn't find any trace of the mutants, and there was no sign of the winged aliens in the sky either.
This is not a good situation.
He picked up the communicator: "Group Three, immediately refuel the plane; Groups Four and Five, ground guard."
"Now that there are no more mutants, can we start mining?" the mining team leader asked dutifully. This batch of ore was very important; it was needed to manufacture instruments for the laboratory.
"Non-combat personnel are not allowed to leave the aircraft. We will observe for a while before making a decision." After Lu Xinghe finished speaking, he looked at the mine not far away, suddenly thought of something, and then immediately returned to the aircraft.
He walked over to the drone operator and whispered, "Send one drone into the mine."
"Yes." The operator immediately landed the drone. Still no heat source was detected, but some skeletons of former mining workers could be seen.
Luo Ning couldn't sense the presence of those mutants either, and was also puzzled as to why they had suddenly left.
After confirming that there were no alien species in the vicinity, the mining team entered the mine shaft under the protection of the safety officer. Only Du Lu, who was repairing the sonic machine, and another group of safety officers guarding the aircraft remained on the plane.
For two days in a row, Luo Ning did not see Lu Xinghe again. Only An Xiaoruo brought her water and food. There was nothing for the alien species to eat on the plane, and the animals were specially caught by An Xiaoruo.
At this moment, Luo Ning saw a steady stream of ore being loaded onto the plane, which was already more than half full. Once the plane was full, it would definitely be ready to leave.
"Xiao Ruo, are you going back soon?" she asked softly.
An Xiaoruo nodded: "We should leave the day after tomorrow morning. Don't worry, sister. We will definitely let you out before we leave, but the timing is not right yet."
"Yes, I believe you." Luo Ning smiled.
An Xiaoruo looked around carefully, and after making sure no one was around, she said, "Sister, I got married last month. It's not a big deal, but I still wanted to tell you."
Luo Ning was stunned for a moment, then became excited, tears welling up in her eyes: "You...you're really married?"
An Xiaoruo nodded shyly.
"Congratulations! Happy wedding!" Luo Ning was both happy and worried: "Did Song Pei...did he bully you?"
An Xiaoruo was a little surprised, wondering why Luo Ning suddenly asked, "He didn't bully me, so what's wrong?"
"Do you like him?" Luo Ning asked again. If An Xiaoruo had fallen in love with Song Pei now, then the genes that suppress the alien species in her body would have already awakened, and once extracted, they could directly kill the alien species.
An Xiaoruo was a little confused: "I don't know either. I don't know what it feels like to like someone. Do you know, sister?"
Luo Ning was also a lifelong single, and she couldn't explain it, but for some reason, she couldn't help but think of Lu Xinghe.
“I guess liking someone means… thinking of them first no matter what you’re doing,” she replied.
An Xiaoru thought for a moment and said, "No matter what I do, the first thing I think of is my sister and uncle, and then him."
Luo Ning realized that the little girl hadn't quite grasped the concept yet.
"An Xiaoruo, what are you doing?" Du Lu's voice came.
An Xiaoruo immediately closed the window: "I'll give the test subject some food and water, and then I'll leave now."
Luo Ning heard An Xiaoru run off to do her business, and then she heard Du Lu's footsteps approaching. Du Lu opened the window, glanced at her, checked the latch, and was about to close the window when Luo Ning called out to him, "Major Du, wait a minute, how is Wen Xi now?"
Du Lu looked at her. Normally, he wouldn't have interacted with an experimental subject like her, but she had been with Wen Xi for the past two months, so he replied, "She's fine. What's wrong?"
Luo Ning replied, "It's nothing, it's just that she's different from other mutants. Her body is very weak right now. If possible, please give her more water and food."
Du Lu closed the window, but stopped when he passed Wen Xi's metal cabin. He hadn't seen her for the past two days. After hesitating for a while, he opened the window and saw her sitting on the ground with her knees drawn up to her chest.
Upon seeing him appear, she gently lowered her hands, but made no other movements. She looked at him without saying a word, and then silently lowered her head.
The woman who had captivated him that night now appeared innocent, naive, and pitiful, as if she had never used those seductive and alluring tactics.
He slammed the window shut with a bang and strode away.
Inside the cabin, Wenxi's hands clenched nervously again. She could tell he was genuinely angry. Was it because she hadn't done enough? Or was it because he was holding onto past grievances?
He took off his gloves, the first time he had ever taken them off in front of her. Before, he always wore gloves even when he touched her. The leather gloves were always cold, and she would tremble uncontrollably when she touched them. He would press his fingers into her mouth and scrape them, even pushing them straight into her throat, until saliva kept spilling from the corners of her mouth and she was about to vomit before he would let her go.
She had always thought it was a way for him to torture her, until she saw the teeth marks on his hand the night before last, and then she realized that he was retaliating.
She retaliated by biting him.
I didn't realize I bit down so hard that it left such a deep tooth mark.
On the afternoon of the third day, the plane was finally loaded with ore, and Du Lu also repaired the sonic machine. After the last truckload of ore was loaded onto the plane, they could leave.
Lu Xinghe finally reappeared in front of Luo Ning. His hair and clothes were covered in dust, and his face was so dirty that its original color could not be seen. Only his eyes remained clean and clear.
"Are you leaving?" Luo Ning asked.
Lu Xinghe looked at her seriously: "Yes, the plane will take off in half an hour. I will open your cabin door five minutes before takeoff. Once the plane takes off, it will not stop, so you don't need to worry about anyone coming to arrest you."
"Okay, thank you." Luo Ning lowered her head after saying that, her heart feeling as if something had tugged at it again.
"Don't linger here; those mutants might come back."
"Okay, sure."
Lu Xinghe wanted to say something, but seeing that she kept her head down, he didn't know what to say.
The atmosphere quieted down. When Luo Ning looked up again, Lu Xinghe was no longer in front of the cabin. She felt a little disappointed. Did he leave without saying goodbye? Had they become so distant?
All preparations before takeoff were proceeding smoothly. The drones flew back into the cabin one after another, and personnel moved around inside the aircraft. Soon, it was time for takeoff.
Luo Ning was very nervous, and then she heard the latch click, like the sound of a lock being opened.
She tried pushing it, and sure enough, the door opened. Because the metal compartment was in the corner, and the ore blocked the view, no one was looking in their direction for a moment.
She immediately walked to Wenxi's cabin and pulled the door open. Wenxi looked at her in confusion. She immediately made a shushing gesture to Wenxi, then took Wenxi's hand and walked through the gap between the ore and the cabin wall towards the cabin door.
The cabin door was still open, and most of the people had already boarded. There were also seven or eight security officers outside doing security work. They would board the plane at the last minute before takeoff.
As they approached the cabin door, Luo Ning felt a faint tremor in the ground. Thinking the plane was starting up, she grabbed Wen Xi and quickly ran over and jumped out of the cabin.
The moment they jumped, they were spotted by the security officer on the plane, and someone immediately gave chase.
"The alien has escaped! Stop it!" someone shouted to the security officer who was still at the airport.
However, none of the security officers responded; instead, they stared blankly into the distance.
The earth trembled more and more violently, as if a tide was surging in this direction.
"The beast tide is coming!" someone cried out in terror.
"Take off immediately!" Lu Xinghe shouted from the airport. They immediately retreated to the plane. Besides him, there were An Xiaoruo, Song Pei, Du Lu, and four other security officers at the airport.
But it was too late. Hordes of winged aliens swooped down on them, instantly halting their advance.
Luo Ning also looked back and saw countless alien species rushing in from the north. Although there were many of them, she knew that this was not a beast tide. The beast tide was thousands of times more terrifying than this.
The plane began to taxi, and the security officers on board were helping Lu Xinghe and his group clear out the winged aliens that were attacking them, but even so, the plane was getting further and further away from them.
The airport runway is very short, so it's impossible for them to slow down and stop to wait for them, otherwise they won't be able to take off. They have no choice but to run at full speed.
To buy them time, Luo Ning ran towards the winged aliens with all her might. She jumped high, grabbed the claw of one of the winged aliens that was attacking Lu Xinghe, slammed it to the ground, and crushed its head with her foot. Then she grabbed another one and killed it in the same way.
She was faster than the winged aliens. Although she couldn't fly, she could jump high. In just a few seconds, she blocked most of the winged aliens, but their sharp claws and beaks also injured her, leaving her covered in blood.
But it wasn't enough; Lu Xinghe and his group's speed was still slowed down.
As Luo Ning watched them get further and further away from the plane, she ran towards them without hesitation. She was fast enough that she might be able to catch up with the plane and get them on board. Although she couldn't save everyone, she just wanted Lu Xinghe and An Xiaoruo to survive.
However, the security officers on the plane thought she was going to harm Lu Xinghe and the others, and the bullet mercilessly pierced through her body, causing her to fall heavily to the ground.
"Don't hurt her!" Lu Xinghe shouted into the communicator upon seeing this.
The people on the plane thought he was too concerned about the test subjects, but at that moment it was clear that human lives were more important than the test subjects' lives.
When Wen Xi saw that Luo Ning had been injured and that the people on the plane were about to fire, he rushed over and pulled Luo Ning away without hesitation.
The surging mutants were only a few hundred meters away from them when she saw that the leader was the mutant who had been chasing them all along. It turned out that he hadn't launched an attack these past few days because he was using the mutants to create a small beast tide.
If they don't leave now, they will surely be trampled to death, but where can they hide here?
"Luo Ning, wake up!" she cried anxiously. The force of the bullet had knocked Luo Ning unconscious.
Luo Ning groggily opened her eyes, looking at the approaching swarm of aliens and Wen Xi's tearful face, and weakly said, "Quick...run!"
But Wen Xi held her tightly. If they were destined to die here, then they would die together with Luo Ning.
Just as she closed her eyes and awaited death, her body suddenly felt light and she was lifted up. She turned her head and saw that it was Du Lu. She looked at him in disbelief. He was almost on his way to catch the plane, so why was he standing next to her?
Not only him, but also Major Lu and some other security officers she didn't recognize, all came.
The transport plane also left the runway and soared into the sky.
Lu Xinghe picked up Luo Ning and ran quickly toward the nearest mine. Du Lu also carried Wen Xi on his shoulder and followed. The mine was their only hiding place, but it could also be their final resting place. They had no choice.
Everyone ran towards the mine with all their might. The alien creature was less than twenty meters behind them. Seeing that they wanted to hide in the mine, it sped up.
Luo Ning opened her eyes amidst the shaking. She saw Lu Xinghe with veins bulging on his forehead and neck, unleashing his ultimate strength. Beside him were An Xiaoruo, Song Pei, and four other security officers. Wen Xi was being carried on Du Lu's shoulder.
"Come in quickly." Song Pei, who was in the most advanced mine, immediately used firepower to suppress the alien species behind him.
Lu Xinghe carried Luo Ning in first, followed by An Xiaoruo, Du Lu and Wen Xi, and finally the other four security officers. After they entered the mine, Song Pei immediately closed the door. In an instant, the alien creatures that rushed over crashed into the door, and the people inside desperately held the iron door open and lowered the bolt.
But this still didn't put them at ease, so they used the iron pipes left in the mine to barricade the door, which finally stopped the alien species.
Luo Ning's wounds were still bleeding; the damage humans inflicted on her each time was no less than that inflicted by the alien species.
Looking at the numerous wounds on her body, Lu Xinghe recalled how she ran towards him. He knew she wanted to see them off at the airport, but she had misunderstood.
Without hesitation, he cut his wrist, collected the blood into a kettle, and handed it to her. She had only eaten once in the past few days, and she had shared her food with Wenxi, which was why she was so weak.
Luo Ning was startled by his actions and subconsciously looked at the people around her. Sure enough, apart from An Xiaoruo, everyone else had a shocked expression. Even Du Lu and Song Pei, who already knew about Lu Xinghe and Luo Ning's relationship, almost lost control of their expressions.
It's utterly unbelievable that humanity's strongest security officer would give his own blood to a mutant.
The other security officers immediately pointed their guns at Luo Ning and Lu Xinghe. They were all very young children, and this was the first time they had seen such a situation. They thought Lu Xinghe had betrayed humanity.
Luo Ning didn't want to cause Lu Xinghe any trouble, but Lu Xinghe had already pointed the spout at her mouth. Smelling the sweet blood, Luo Ning couldn't resist and began to swallow large gulps.
Wen Xi, who was standing to the side, was also swallowing because of the smell of human blood, but Du Lu covered her mouth.
Seeing this, An Xiaoruo also wanted to give her blood to Luo Ning, but was stopped by Lu Xinghe. Song Pei was stunned by this scene, wondering why she was also so concerned about this experimental subject.
While stopping the bleeding, Lu Xinghe said to the young security officers who were holding guns, "Put down your guns. If they wanted to kill you, they wouldn't have rescued you from the winged aliens' attack."
The four security officers looked at each other, recalling the scene just now. It was indeed this experimental subject who helped them stop the winged alien, and Song Pei and Du Lu had not reacted. So they slowly put their guns away.
After drinking the blood, Luo Ning immediately regained her strength, and the wounds on her body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
She struggled to suppress her urge to bleed more blood, slowly calmed down, wiped the blood from her mouth, and looked at Lu Xinghe: "Why didn't you guys get on the plane?"
"I missed it," Lu Xinghe replied calmly.
"Oh, what a pity." Luo Ning thought he had come back to rescue her, but it turned out he hadn't caught up with the plane.
"Will the plane come back?" she asked again.
Lu Xinghe shook his head: "Not at the moment, the fuel supply is insufficient to support a return trip."
In other words, these eight people are trapped here with no food, no radio, and few guns and ammunition left. They are also surrounded by hundreds of alien creatures. The chances of them returning to the base alive are almost zero.
"Aren't we going to die here?" a young boy said fearfully.
Everyone remained silent; the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.
Luo Ning then raised her hand: "Don't worry, I can support you. I have experience."
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