Chapter Eighteen: The Final Tribulation
Another wave of Fallen Insects arrived from the power plant; they had vehicles and clearly came from a distant stronghold.
The approach of this wave of insects to the power plant was a probing move, seemingly testing whether the war god within was still strong or had mutated.
At this point, the three vehicles of the squad had been gone for less than 5 minutes, and their rear ends were still within sight when they were quickly spotted by the Fallen Insects, who then attacked them.
"With this wind speed, can we even launch a drone?" Yu Shuang shouted.
"Not really," Zhao Bohan replied.
"Let's see what happens, everyone hold on tight!" Yu Shuang stepped on the gas.
Most of the vehicles belonging to the Fallen Insects are of poor quality, and there is no advantage in chasing them. However, this area is still within the inner circle of the Hualin County stronghold. Without drones to clear the way, who knows if we will encounter highway robbers ahead?
Qi An gripped the safety handle above the car door, staring at the pollution level monitoring bracelet on his wrist.
Their mission was complete. This was their last push. Once they shook off the pursuers and escaped the enemy's territory, they could go home!
But as it turns out, the last of the eighty-one tribulations is the one that cannot be taken lightly.
They were driving on an old road on the Loess Plateau, with ravines and valleys ahead, connected by a beam bridge.
The wind is subsiding, the dust is dissipating, and the bridge, which has stood firm for 20 years, is revealing its full form.
"There are Fallen Insects ahead too!" Zhuang Xiao shouted.
The bridge is only 300 meters long. On the other side of the bridge, in the visible range, there were already moving insect-like objects, which Zhuang Xiao could see clearly with his eyesight.
“We can’t go back,” Yu Shuang said, without letting up on the accelerator.
Their car was the lead car, and it roared onto the bridge.
There's a stronghold on the other side of the bridge—there's bound to be one in such a strategic location!
The stronghold was on both sides of the road, and on the right side, there were fallen insects filling mortars on a mound of earth! But Zhuang Xiao fired a shot that cracked the skull of the fallen insect gunner.
Tang Long fired a rocket right after it hit the mound of earth, sending blood and fire flying everywhere.
The throttle was pressed down, and the shells kept coming. The firepower was so strong that the enemy didn't even dare to show their heads. Yu Shuang's lead vehicle was about to land!
Even though he was exhausted, Qi An still sensed something. His heart clenched, and he shouted, "Captain, watch out ahead!"
A loud bang!
A baby insect, which appeared out of nowhere, suddenly stuck to the windshield of the car!
Its mouthparts pressed against the glass, fully opened, layer by layer, with a sharp point in the middle that looked like a bone spur gathering its strength before piercing the tempered glass and heading straight for Yu Shuang's eyes!
Yu Shuang is an A-level warrior with a speed enhancement value of 8. In times of crisis, she reacts extremely quickly, tilting her head slightly.
The bone spur grazed her face and then pierced the driver's seat!
Yu Shuang kept her eyes tightly closed, but still managed to pull out the dagger and sever the fleshy thorn.
At the same time, she slammed on the brakes.
The steering wheel remained out of control amidst the accident, and the car veered violently toward the side of the bridge, crashing through the guardrail before finally coming to a stop thanks to the resistance of the brakes.
But the front of the car was already hanging on the edge of the bridge!
The infant worm whose flesh had been severed was indeed an intelligent being. It screamed, its body left the glass, and slammed down hard!
This caused the already precarious car to plunge downwards, but the insect used the momentum to jump away!
As expected, the last of the eighty-one tribulations was the one that could not be taken lightly. Qi An leaned forward, and if it weren't for the support, she would have already fallen out of the windshield and into the hundred-meter-deep ditch!
But a seatbelt can only delay death by a few seconds; now the entire car is going to be driven into the ditch!
Yu Shuang seemed to be shouting something, but Zhuang Xiao's terrified screams were too loud for Qi An to hear.
But suddenly she felt the car stop!
The downward tilting trend stopped, and the car regained its balance!
Qi An suddenly looked back and saw someone holding onto the car through the gaps in the messy, overturned supplies in the trunk!
He managed to stop the car with his bare hands!
It was a dove; he grabbed... or maybe he grabbed the bumper, and single-handedly brought down the raised rear of the car!
Veins bulged on his forehead, but he also saw Qi An. Their eyes met, and a reassuring smile seemed to appear in his icy, dark eyes.
Qi An was shocked!
Shock from all sides, my heart pounded wildly with fear, shock, and the life-or-death situation that was so close!
Tang Long also rushed over. With his physique and a strength enhancement value of 7, he and the boy together pressed the car down and then pulled it backward with all their might.
The car was secured, and Yu Shuang immediately slammed open the front door.
Zhao Bohan reached out his hands at the edge of the bridge and caught Yu Shuang as she jumped over.
The vice-captain's arm muscles tensed up, almost dislocating due to the impact, but Yu Shuang was extremely fast. After a slight sway, she immediately ended the relay and landed steadily on the shore.
Zhuang Xiao's heart, which had leaped out of his chest, returned to his throat. Like a nimble monkey, he squeezed through the sunroof and rolled back onto the roof of the car.
As for Qi An, the steering wheel and the car door were deformed and stuck firmly after being hit by the bridge railing.
She pulled out a dagger from her tactical vest, broke the seatbelt, and clung tightly to the back seat headboard to steady herself.
Jiu stared intently at her, his hand already loosened, poised to pounce at any moment.
Qi An gritted his teeth, freeing half his body, and slammed the butt of his gun hard against the car door glass.
The glass shattered, but not completely! However, Qi An was quite petite; he shook off the magazine and managed to squeeze through!
She was caught as soon as she crawled out and was gently carried back to the bridge.
With a deafening crash, the camouflaged military off-road vehicle plunged into a deep ditch and was smashed to pieces!
Before everyone's hearts had calmed down, Qi An also felt the heartbeat in the chest she was pressed against, which was like a drumbeat, even more intense than her own.
He looked down at her, then stepped back, and turned around to shoot a fallen insect in the head with a single, precise shot!
With his second shot, he hit the infant worm that was trying to launch a sneak attack, striking its open mouthparts right in the core!
Without firepower, the Fallen Insects from the bridgehead stronghold charged in. Just now, all those people were suppressed by Su Qingran alone.
The two sides were now at bayonet range, and everyone was engaged in battle.
Qi An caught her breath and knew it wasn't over yet. She grabbed Yu Shuang's hand and began to cleanse it.
Burning unpurified insect oil for so long, and Yu Shuang getting so close to a spy insect, the pollution level is 47%. It will be difficult to suppress the pollution after a short while!
Yu Shuang felt guilty, but this was not the time for apologies and heart-to-heart talks. She turned around and stood guard in front of Qi An.
Because the speed of the Fallen Insect vehicle was so slow, even during the few minutes it stopped, the Fallen Insects chasing behind still hadn't appeared in sight.
This outpost of less than a hundred insects was slaughtered by a ghostly young man at the forefront... truly a massacre! The young man held a pistol in one hand and a silver dagger in the other, leaving no survivors in his wake. His efficiency in close combat was nothing short of an art!
The stronghold was wiped out within ten minutes.
With a pollution level of only 35%, Qi An determined that this person's mental enhancement value was at least 6, which was enough to qualify him as a purifier!
She forced herself to lower the pollution levels for Zhuang Xiao and Tang Long, then drifted off to sleep.
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