In an instant, the ground cracked open, and a large fissure appeared where the central fountain had been. Countless black, mutated snake-headed cockroaches surged out of the ground like a tide.
The rustling sound of cockroach limbs crawling was incessant, instantly enveloping everyone!
"Aaaaaah!"
Before one of the team members could react, he lost his footing and fell into the swarm of insects, and the sound of flesh being devoured filled the air—fortunately, an evolved human was standing next to him and quickly rescued him.
"How can there be so many!"
Some team members instinctively reached out to swat at the cockroaches that were rushing towards them, but as soon as they killed one, a second, a third, and a fourth would immediately pounce on them, while a continuous stream of cockroaches continued to charge upwards from the collapsed fountain opening.
The sheer number of cockroaches was truly terrifying.
So many that it evokes despair.
"There are too many! How can there still be so many mutated cockroaches in the city!"
"Fire! Fire!"
Dingxiang dodged a mutated cockroach that tried to attack him, charged up his electromagnetic gun, and fired with incredible accuracy, hitting a brown cockroach that was injuring someone.
"Don't panic! Move closer to me!"
Most of the team members were experienced in combat. Upon hearing the order, they reacted quickly and the group surrounded each other in a well-trained manner, taking turns charging up their laser guns to attack. They managed to tear an escape route through the horde of mutated cockroaches!
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
"squeak!"
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
The mutated cockroach, struck by the laser, screamed as it fell to the ground, its dozen or so black limbs struggling on its chest. As the sound of laser beams being fired rang out, the air was filled with the acrid smell of burning protein.
Before long, a thick layer of cockroach corpses had piled up on the ground, but the hole was like a monster-making machine, still spitting out mutated cockroaches.
The only saving grace was that the dead cockroaches slowed down the cockroach swarm's attack, thus slowing down the overall speed of the insect attack.
As an unofficial member, Xu Milu was naturally not issued electromagnetic weapons by the dispatch team, but the cockroach corpses under her feet were almost piled up into a small mountain.
She had somehow acquired a three-inch-long single-edged dagger in her hand. Whenever a mutated cockroach pounced, she would simply flick her wrist, effortlessly turning the hilt of the dagger, and a cockroach corpse, split in two, would appear on the ground.
The movements were fluid and the techniques skillful; despite being a bloody massacre, it strangely presented a somewhat bizarre aesthetic.
At that moment, everyone was on edge, and no one paid any attention to the unassuming young man, so naturally no one saw what was happening.
"Damn it, how could there be such a large-scale mutated cockroach nest here?! Are the reconnaissance team members incompetent? How could they not have discovered such a massive mutated cockroach nest?"
Dingxiang gritted his teeth, his facial muscles tense from the exertion. He glanced at the supplies that hadn't been delivered yet, seemingly hesitant and unsure whether to abandon the mission.
"Squeak..."
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
"Ah! These cockroaches! These cockroaches are attacking the Scorpion robot!"
A team member standing on the outermost edge screamed. She seemed to be trying to salvage supplies and broke away from the group. The next second, she was knocked down by the rampaging swarm of cockroaches and fell into the cracked ground with the unlucky Emil next to her!
"Liu Na! Emil!"
Dingxiang roared and instinctively rushed into the burrow to save people, but someone else was a step ahead of him and jumped into the burrow where the insect swarm appeared!
—It's that new guy, Yu Lu!
Dingxiang belatedly realized.
His face was ashen. He immediately directed his squad to retreat in an orderly manner, and then tapped on the communication system in his ear to call for help:
"Captain, this is the Seventh Dispatch Team. This is Dingxiang. A mutated cockroach nest has been discovered in GH78. The supply team is under attack by a large number of mutated cockroaches! Two...three team members are missing! Requesting backup! I repeat, three team members are missing. Requesting backup!"
...
...
Surprisingly, it doesn't smell bad.
This was Xu Milu's first feeling after falling.
The hole was very deep, and it took three or four seconds to fall to the ground. Emil and the female team members who fell in first had disappeared without a trace.
She looked around. The surroundings didn't look like a basement or a parking lot. Tall stone pillars stood tall, and the thick vines of the mutated banana trees climbed up the pillars. The brown roots were intertwined in a dense pattern, like a curtain hanging down from the sky.
This place looks like a natural underground cave, with small puddles scattered on the uneven ground, and the air is filled with dampness and the fragrance of grass and trees.
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
"Squeak..."
A group of snake-headed cockroaches were climbing up and down the mutated banana vine, and there seemed to be living creatures moving in the thick vine.
A moment later, the vines split open, and one by one, slightly lighter-colored mutant cockroach larvae hatched. At first glance, one might mistake these snake-headed cockroaches for the offspring of mutant bananas.
Every now and then, cockroaches would carry the corpses of their dead companions back and pile them at the base of the mutated bananas. These white, hair-like, delicate roots seemed to possess intelligence, inserting their tendrils into the corpses to absorb nutrients.
These corpses were bizarre and varied, including cat carcasses, dog carcasses, bird carcasses, and even a large number of human skeletons, with hair-like fine hair roots clinging to the white bones, which was quite horrifying.
If you disregard the horrifying aspect of the scene, this place can actually be seen as a cockroach "ranch".
Xu Milu understood after watching for a while:
"The mutated bananas use ripe bananas on the ground as bait, while providing a breeding ground for insect swarms. The mutated cockroaches take the place of the immobile mutated bananas to hunt prey. No wonder this mutated banana plantation has grown to such a scale."
She noticed something was wrong as soon as she entered. There were hardly any zombies in the area, and even large mutated animals were scarce. And this large patch of ripe bananas was hardly being eaten by any animals.
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
"Rustle and rustle".
As she pondered, swarms of cockroaches crawled past her, but Xu Milu concealed her presence, so no one could detect her.
"Cough cough cough... Damn bugs! Get away from me! Liu Na! Are you awake? Damn it, what is this thing? I can't breathe, cough cough cough..."
A familiar voice came from behind. Xu Milu took a few quick steps, deftly avoiding the mutated banana roots that crisscrossed like a net on the ground. Sure enough, she saw Emil and Liu Na tied up like dumplings behind a stone pillar.
The two were in a sorry state. One had broken his leg, his right leg twisted in an extremely strange position, with the white bone fragments visible. The other was covered in blood and appeared to have passed out.
Seemingly hearing footsteps, Emil turned warily toward Xu Milu, his eyes full of suspicion.
Who's there?
After seeing what the two looked like, Xu Milu paused slightly, realizing that there was no light in the cave and the other person couldn't see her:
"It's me, Yu Lu."
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