Chapter 101 New Discoveries and the Great Crisis
Lin Jiaran denied ever controlling Qi An's emotions, and there was no substantial evidence to prove it.
Lie detectors have no effect on someone with a mental enhancement level of 10.
Besides, where would we find a lie detector while on the march?
Qi An and Yu Shuang, who had just returned from their mission, spent half the night discussing how to guard against Lin Jia Ran's special ability.
But to everyone's surprise, the next morning, when Chen Yuezhou was on patrol and passed by the team's tent, he told Qi An directly that he had submitted an application to his superiors.
The application stated that the purifier Lin Jiaran had conflicts with key members of the action team and showed a tendency to use her powers to attack team members. The application requested that Lin Jiaran be transferred to the front lines.
The reply just came from above: Approved.
The front lines are even more lacking in purifiers.
Once a certain unit retreats to a safe location and is selected by the command, Lin Jiaran will be sent away!
Qi An was honestly a little shocked.
Lin Jiaran is a chief purifier! How could Chen Yuezhou bear to send her away?
Moreover, Lin Jiaran is the chief purifier of a large base! Can Chen Yuezhou just sue her like that?
But Chen Yuezhou said, "She is not the chief. The chief purifier of the new student base is named Lin Ran, not Lin Jiaran."
Qi An: "Huh?"
Yu Shuang and the others: "Huh?"
Everyone was puzzled, but Chen Yuezhou didn't explain much, only inviting Qi An and the others to join the patrol team of the mother nest.
Everyone's thoughts were in turmoil, but there were more important things to discuss at the moment.
“If that rabbit-like thing from yesterday was a Fallen Insect, its mimicry ability should be the reason why the command post’s location was exposed earlier,” Chen Yuezhou said.
Qi An shared the same idea as him.
"You'll have to stay at the command post more often from now on. Only you can catch that bug," Chen Yuezhou said, looking at Qi An.
Qi An nodded, but considering how weak his previous senses had been, he didn't give a guarantee.
As dawn broke, the group completed a full circuit around the entire 5-square-kilometer mother nest.
Back in the command tent, Chen Yuezhou asked the question that concerned him most:
Approximately how many underground worms are left?
"Around 1500." Qi An knew he would ask, and had already been silently counting in his mind.
"How many queen worms are there? How many are guarding them?" Chen Yuezhou asked again.
Qi An shook his head: "I still can't distinguish between the mother insect and the guardian."
Chen Yuezhou was slightly disappointed.
Qi An raised an eyebrow: "But I can distinguish the Wisdom Insects. There are at least three more high-level Wisdom Insects underground. I mean those at the Yellow-Robed Priest level or above."
Chen Yuezhou was slightly taken aback, but then smiled: "That's still very strong."
The number of advanced wisdom insects could partially indicate troop strength, and Gu Liansheng's expression turned somewhat grave.
"With three high-level wisdom insects, there must be three or four hundred guards underground, right?"
Yu Shuang replied, "Not necessarily. Your group must have killed a hundred, and the main force killed over a hundred more yesterday. Can this underground hold that many insects? Just the supplies alone would bankrupt this whole mountain!"
She estimated there were 100-200 guards.
If it's just these guards, they don't have much ammunition left, but they have the advantage of terrain, so they can still fight.
Yu Shuang is always optimistic, but Zhao Bohan reminded her: "Everything depends on the progress of the main battlefield."
If the human forces advance smoothly on the main battlefield, they probably won't be able to get reinforcements from the Mother Nest, and the Zerg underground will be no threat even if they fight to the death to break out.
However, if the human side is defeated first on the main battlefield, their only option is to try to destroy the mother hive and then run away.
Whether they can escape or not is another matter!
However, Chen Yuezhou's voice was calm and resolute: "On the main battlefield, we have the upper hand, and a significant one at that. Rest assured, everyone."
Upon hearing this, everyone's anxiety about the shortage of supplies and their worries about the upcoming battle subsided considerably, and they all smiled, boosting the morale of the entire team!
......
However, the high morale only lasted for a short while. By noon, Qi An was calm and even somewhat listless.
She spent the entire morning in the command tent, intently exploring the surroundings, but several times she seemed to have an inspiration, yet couldn't find anything.
She also had another uncertainty: ever since she took that walk in the morning, she had felt unusual activity from the deep underground, like the activity of fallen insects.
At depths exceeding 1 kilometer, instruments struggle to detect them, resulting in blurry, blank areas on structural diagrams!
Uncertain about this, Qi An told Chen Yuezhou after eating his compressed rations at noon, and then wandered around the ground of the mother nest again under the sun.
The car chase ended yesterday, and the entire team is now camped here. Qi An's every move still attracts a lot of attention.
She was still at the top of the gossip list in the camp, but the public opinion had changed.
Besides the fact that Lin Jiaran is not the chief purifier of the freshman base, and that Zhuang Xiao's big mouth spread the news that Lin Jiaran was going to be transferred, the onlookers who witnessed the confusing incident at the military doctor's tent yesterday will also reflect and have doubts after they are no longer influenced by Lin Jiaran.
After all, Lin Jiaran cannot erase people's memories, and everyone still remembers Chen Xi's identification.
The discussion shifted from "Dr. Qi has a terrible temper," and "Is Dr. Qi's relationship with those S-class soldiers complicated? How did she get into the reconnaissance team?" to:
"Was Lin Jiaran jealous of Doctor Qi because of that handsome guy who was suspected to be the commander's brother?" and "Did you feel happy after being purified by Lin Jiaran because Lin Jiaran controlled your emotions?"
Lin Jia Ran's ability to control her emotions made everyone uneasy, so they all consciously kept their distance from her.
Throughout the morning, Lin Jiaran either sat on a piece of waste coal ash in a daze, or squatted quietly by a small, peripheral ventilation duct, picking grass leaves.
Chen Xi was responsible for keeping an eye on her, and once there was a clear transfer order, he would send her away.
Seeing this, Qi An paid less attention to Lin Jiaran and focused on sensing.
This time, she didn't need to count anymore; she only sensed the deepest underground layer, and the feeling gradually became clear.
There should be a mine tunnel at the bottom, and dozens of fallen insects lined up to pass through the mine tunnel and head south.
They were moving very slowly, seemingly stopping and starting as they went... were they digging as they went?
Qi An straightened up, thinking he should immediately report to Chen Yuezhou and then follow the group of fallen insects.
But as soon as she got up, a thought struck her. She immediately drew her gun, turned around, and fired a shot at the ground that had just been bombed and was now pitch black!
A creature, equally black and resembling a small lump of coal, suddenly sprang up and fled forward!
Good heavens, we spent the whole morning at the command post without any results, but we stumbled upon this place!
Qi An fired another shot, and Gu Liansheng and Zhuang Xiao beside her also fired at the same time!
Both of them are Qi An's current bodyguards. Gu Liansheng was assigned by Chen Yuezhou, while Zhuang Xiao was sent by Yu Shuang.
Zhuang Xiao's marksmanship was no worse than Gu Liansheng's. Even as the mimic insect continued its zigzag escape, he hit its core with a single shot!
The insect trembled in the air, splattering green blood, but it still bounced up and fled upon landing!
This gap allowed Gu Liansheng to get close to the mimicry insect.
He yelled "Hey!" and reached out to grab it!
Gu Liansheng caught the mimicry insect! But a large amount of mucus suddenly gushed out from the insect's body, and countless tentacles as thin as hair extended from all parts of its body, wrapping around Gu Liansheng's hand!
Gu Liansheng's hand trembled, and the pollution level soared by 30% in an instant!
The mimic insect cried out as it broke free from his grasp.
Extremely fine, like a needle falling to the ground, or the buzzing of a mosquito, a sound almost inaudible unless you listen carefully, yet it caused the pollution level of Gu Liansheng, and Zhuang Xiao who followed closely behind, to rise by another 20%!
Qi An caught up and, without bothering to pursue, immediately purified Gu Liansheng, who was on the verge of turning into a level 4 mutation!
The coal ball traveled a long way forward, but before it could plunge into the ground, it was shot by Chen Xi, who was hundreds of meters away, and fell to the ground!
Chen Xi immediately fired several more shots, turning the coal ball into a black and green mess!
Qi An had just finished purifying himself, breathed a sigh of relief, and walked towards that spot.
She really wanted to know what level this insect was, and how it could grow to be like that!
But as she passed a ventilation shaft, a white rope... no, a tentacle, emerged from the opening, which was sealed by several bags of heavy sand, through almost the only gap, and swiftly wrapped around Qi An's leg, pulling her backward!
Qi An fell to the ground! His head hit the ground hard, and his mind went blank.
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