40
Unlike any other known insect on Earth, these bugs have enormous bite force and extremely strong mouthparts.
Tao Sai remembered that she had read a report on Weibo not long ago. Because the insect swarm was so destructive, scientists from an authoritative foreign institution tried to study the molecular structure of insect mouthparts.
They placed the insect's mouthparts under an electron microscope, constantly adjusting the magnification until it reached 100,000 times, and the surface of the mouthparts remained a smooth mirror.
This couldn't help but plunge everyone into shock and panic, just like the water droplet detector described in science fiction novels.
However, the mouthparts are not as exaggerated as those of water droplets with strong interaction force. When the microscope is magnified to 10 million times, you can see a material similar to a calcified layer on the surface, with molecules tightly bonded together.
According to authoritative testing by this scientific research institution, the density of insect mouthparts is 120 times that of diamonds.
Their incredibly hard mouthparts and immense bite force are the fundamental reasons why these insects are sweeping the world in an unstoppable manner.
But after [tempered], the body is actually stronger than the mouthparts of insects!
Tao Sai is now going to do a bold experiment.
She quickly ran ashore on the shallows, stepped on a rock on the shore and jumped, skillfully activating [Gravity Adaptation], jumping up to a height of seven or eight meters, then releasing gravity and falling from the air in free fall.
Tao Sai kept her feet pointed downward, performing a uniform acceleration. Directly below her was an endless swarm of insects. She lifted one foot, and the moment her other foot landed on a bug, [Temperature] activated.
Her entire calf was submerged in the swarm of insects, crushing dozens of them on the ground. Then she pushed forward with her ankle, and [gravity adaptation] was activated. Her entire body leaped in the direction she expected, throwing her dozens of meters away.
Just now in the village, Tao Sai had already used a similar method to jump and move, but she mainly used her ankles to generate power. And she had to take into account her fragile ankles. Landing too hard could easily cause a sprain and overload the Achilles tendon.
But now, [Tempering] gave her a pair of metal legs, allowing her to fearlessly fall from higher points, allowing the energy accumulated by gravity to converge on the soles of her feet. At this time, the force exerted by her ankles only served to adjust the direction; the real power to throw her out was the huge gravity difference.
It falls to the ground with great gravity and then bounces back with very little gravity. Tao Sai temporarily calls this phenomenon the gravity slingshot effect.
This is similar to the gravitational slingshot in astrophysics.
Another important point is that before assembling [Tempered], she didn't dare to step into the swarm of insects when she was suspended in the air, for fear that her entire leg would be swallowed by the insects if she was not careful.
But now it's different. With her legs protected by [Tempering], she can build more recklessly and freely. Even in the endless swarm of insects, she can come and go freely.
As for the timing to activate [Tempering], Tao Sai had also considered it in advance. Because the skill lasts only one second, her toes will first touch the bugs during the fall. She will step on the bugs first and then on the ground, which gives her a reaction time. This reaction time is the best time to activate [Tempering].
With this jump, Tao Sai leaped forward about fifty meters, as if a bullet was fired at an extremely fast speed.
If simply using [Gravity Adaptation] to leap forward previously gave her the feeling of leaping over eaves and walls in martial arts novels, then now using the gravity slingshot effect to leap forward is a bit like Spider-Man shuttling between the skyscrapers in the city.
Of course, nothing is perfect in the world. Adjusting gravity quickly and using two skills at almost the same time consumes a huge amount of body energy.
Tao Sai felt that even if she was in full strength, with the rate at which she consumed energy, she would be exhausted if she couldn't withstand five or six leaps.
It would be nice if it didn't consume energy.
"...It doesn't consume any energy." Tao Sai murmured.
At this moment, her mind was active, and she was able to draw inferences from one instance to another. Suddenly, a terrible, even perverted idea came into her mind.
After the ring of the explosive bomb is pulled, it will explode four seconds later, producing a huge shock wave.
If she holds the blasting grenade with the ring pulled, and waits until 3.5 seconds to activate [Temperature], the huge impact of the explosion will push her further, and this process consumes much less energy.
But Tao Sai stopped this idea in time. The 1 second duration of [Tempering] was too short. How could she possibly control the activation time of the skill to be just 3.5 seconds after pulling the ring? She was not a humanoid timer. If there was any deviation, she would definitely be blown to pieces.
She was actually very satisfied with learning how to leap using the gravity slingshot effect. There was no need for her to do anything dangerous anymore, as that would be courting death.
In short, the experiment was successful and the theory is feasible.
The principle of the gravity slingshot is actually not difficult. The key is timing. Before landing, grasp the timing of using [Tempering], and after landing, grasp the timing of [Gravity Adaptation].
What Tao Sai needs to do next is to practice the gravity slingshot more, use it more, feel the timing of those few tenths of a second, and then practice makes perfect.
Currently, Tao Sai only has two skill slots, but she has three skills, and she has to find a way to expand new skill slots.
After careful consideration, she decided not to equip [Clone] yet. Although [Clone] is far stronger than [Tempering] when taken alone, [Tempering] and [Gravity Adaptation] are combined, 1+1 is greater than 2, which can be called a magical skill.
She could only reluctantly uninstall [Clone] temporarily and put it in the skill list.
The last highlight of the mission reward is the star upgrade card. Tao Sai had long planned to leave the star upgrade card to Zhou Ning to upgrade her basic life-saving attributes, but now the situation is special and the enemy is at hand, so she must use it for herself first.
You used a Star Up Card. Your character, Tao Sai, now has a star rating of (★☆) → (★★).
【Tao Sai [female]
Star rating: ★★
Level: 6
Experience: 32768/131072
property
Intelligence: 7/100
Strength: 23/100
Physical strength: 9/100
Agility: 8/100
Resistance: 8/100
Skills: [Gravity Adaptation Level 1], [Tempering Level 1]
As expected, the strength attribute increased by 3 points. Tao Sai has learned to look at it calmly.
But what surprised Tao Sai the most was that his physical strength also increased by 3 points!
Using skills requires energy, and physical strength is directly linked to body energy. Increasing physical strength is equivalent to broadening her energy slot, which is equivalent to indirectly increasing the number of times skills can be used.
As expected, the moment the attribute value increased, a feeling of hunger came over me.
She is so hungry.
The reason is not difficult to guess. As her energy bar has been extended, her appetite must have increased.
Tao Sai thought desperately that she was now running towards a character with great strength, a strong body and a huge appetite.
Because of the increase in attribute values, Tao Sai's body, which she had finally adapted to, became unfamiliar again. She jumped back to the shallows on the swarm of insects, and then staggered onto the deck.
She opened the zipper of her backpack and found it was full of instant food prepared by Zhou Ning and Aunt Li, including bread, biscuits, sausages, and milk. She tore open the packages and stuffed them into her mouth.
On the other side of the deck, Cheng Cong was temporarily rescued, but he still needed to go to a professional medical institution for further examination.
"I ask you, why are you going back!" Seeing that Cheng Cong was not seriously injured, Tao Guohuai questioned him angrily.
They nearly died, all for a broken piggy bank, damn it!
"Don't be mean to my son!" Cheng Lihua protected Cheng Cong and turned to the other side.
"I'll just spoil you! Fuck!"
Tao Guohuai pointed at the mother and son and kicked a bucket away to vent his anger.
Several neighbors in the village hurried to comfort him, saying that they were lucky to have the child rescued, and nothing was more important than having no one alive.
Tao Guohuai put his hands on his hips and muttered to himself, then turned to look at Yuquan Village which had been engulfed by the insect swarm. He suddenly remembered something, and ran to the bow with a serious expression, and suddenly saw Tao Sai who was eating and drinking.
"Saisai, it's really you!" Tao Guohuai ran to her.
"Yeah." Tao Sai gnawed on the bagged braised chicken wings, glanced at him, and responded in a calm tone.
"You came to Yuquan Village specifically to find Dad, right? Did you encounter any danger along the way? Tell Dad about it."
Tao Sai: “…”
He really dares to think.
"I'm glad you're here. Dad was always thinking about you," Tao Guohuai said as he moved closer. "Saisai, there are bugs everywhere now. It's too messy. You should live with us from now on so we can all take care of you."
"What do you mean?" Tao Sai took the bone out of his mouth and looked at him puzzledly.
"It's too dangerous for you to be alone. Dad is worried about you."
Tao Sai's brain froze for half a second. He simply found it ridiculous. He hadn't fulfilled his fatherly duties for over a decade, and now, at the end of the world, he was thinking about her safety? A friend in need is a friend indeed. Who would believe that?
Tao Sai didn't refuse him.
"No, I'm a volunteer for the rescue team now, and we're going to Shijin City to carry out a mission."
"What a bunch of crap volunteers, you're just kidding," Tao Guohuai said, asserting his parental authority. "You're just a little girl, stop fooling around."
Tao Sai looked at him coldly: "Isn't it me who saved you?"
"I..." Tao Guohuai was choked and speechless.
Yu Wenfu returned to the cockpit and contacted the pilot boat by radio, reporting the current situation. The fleet instructed them to take the villagers to the Yangtze River base first, and then reinforce Shijin City after properly settling the survivors.
Tao Sai naturally did not plan to go back to the Yangtze River again. It would take too much time to go back and forth. She planned to change boats and rush to Feisha Ferry to complete the hidden mission first, which was her first goal now.
The fleet of fishing boats that were refueling and supplying set sail one after another. Tao Sai and Yu Wenfu waved goodbye and jumped onto another fishing boat in the fleet.
Tao Guohuai shouted, "Saisai, be careful on the road and stay safe!"
Tao Sai waved his hand perfunctorily, too lazy to pay attention to him.
But just as Tao Sai returned to the cabin to find a seat, her eyes suddenly lit up. She had been keeping the hidden quest in the corner of her vision, and now the coordinates of "Extremely Dangerous Player" had moved.
The coordinates actually changed before, but basically the changes were in the seconds position, and almost all of them were in the single digits. Now the numbers in the minutes position are also changing!
The coordinate values are still changing, and the numbers are updated every second.
Tao Sai quickly opened the map on his phone, wrote down several numbers and marked them on the map to confirm that the other party was heading towards the lower reaches of the Wolong River at full speed.
It was coming towards her direction, and its speed was getting faster and faster.
Tao Sai suddenly had a bad premonition. She felt that "Only Love Qu Wu Yi" seemed to be coming straight towards her.
The moment this thought flashed through her mind, she felt a chill on her back.
There is also new news in the world channel in another corner of the field of vision.
[Only Love Qu Wu Yi (Lv4)]: Do you have any friends in Wolong River?
[Only Love Song Without Memory (Lv4)]: There are so many bugs, please form a team
[Only Love Song Without Memory (Lv4)]: QAQ
Tao Sai forced himself to calm down, the current situation was hard to say.
He is a level 4 player and must have more skills than her. Perhaps he is equipped with some skill that can lock the player's position.
In the previous chat log on the world channel, the exposed player only mentioned a large geographical range at most, but was still quickly slaughtered by him. This is a strong argument.
Previously, the "Deep Sea Fish" and the "Only Love Qu Wu Yi" passed each other at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Tao Sai believed that the reason they were not discovered was not just because they were hidden.
Perhaps he could lock onto the player's position through larger energy fluctuations, like the explosive bomb she used in Yuquan Village, or by using a skill?
Tao Sai had no intention of staying on the fishing boat. Even though she wasn't on her own refugee ship, she looked no different from an ordinary person.
She decided to be cautious and go to land first. If "Only Ai Qu Wu Yi" could really lock onto her, she would become a sitting duck for the attack system of the Level 4 shelter ship on the fishing boat, and more innocent people would surely be implicated.
On land, there are more shelters, and at worst, you can escape through the gravity slingshot effect.
The insects that attacked Yuquan Village were distributed on the west bank, separated by the Wolong River, while the east bank was relatively safe.
Tao Sai quietly left the fishing boat and landed on the east bank of the Wolong River. It was deserted and overgrown with weeds. Half a huge rock lay exposed on the shore, likely having rolled down from the mountain behind it many years ago. It was still sturdy enough to serve as a shelter.
Tao Sai sat behind a huge rock and dug a hole in the weeds so that she could observe the situation on the river.
She focused her gaze on the upper left corner of her vision, where the coordinates were still approaching at full speed.
Time passed minute by minute, and when the coordinates gradually coincided with her location, Tao Sai finally saw the majestic fourth-level refuge ship in the distance upstream of the Wolong River.
He had seen the ship before at night, and it was too dark to see clearly. But at this moment, even though he was still quite far away, Tao Sai could still see three dazzling big words printed on the side of the ship: "Hanjiang City".
"Hanjiang City" is the name of this fourth-level refuge ship. Tao Sai asked Guo Niang, and in that online game, the game character Qu Wuyi is the leader of Hanjiang City.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the refuge ship in "Only Love Qu Wu Yi" is named "Hanjiang City".
Tao Sai crouched in the haystack behind the boulder, her heartbeat accelerating to an extreme value. She began to tear off the cockleburs that were accidentally stuck on her clothes and pants one by one, trying to divert her attention, but her eyes were fixed on the direction of the fourth-level shelter ship.
Tao Sai took a deep breath and told herself that she was the hunter.
As a hunter, the basic quality is to keep calm and wait for the best time to hunt.
The speed of "Hanjiangcheng" dropped significantly, and it indeed stopped at Yuquan Village. The anchorage was exactly the open space by the river where they had just stayed.
A large-scale insect swarm has invaded this place. Trees, houses, and crops are empty. There are still scattered insects crawling on the ground and some fragments of insect corpses.
The "Hanjiangcheng" stopped silently 20 meters away from the west bank, because if it moved closer to the shore, it would be on shallows and the ship would run aground.
Ten minutes passed, and Tao Sai was observing with a telescope, but there was still no one on the deck or the bridge.
Tao Sai kept his composure and waited for another ten minutes before someone finally walked onto the bridge.
Through the telescope, I could see clearly that the person who came out was a man, about thirty years old, tall and strong.
He looked around with a sharp gaze, then suddenly turned his head and looked towards Tao Sai.
Tao Sai subconsciously and quickly rolled over the rock, then quietly inserted one tube of the telescope into the gap between the straw from another angle.
The man was still looking around and didn't notice her.
At this distance, no matter how good his eyesight was, he couldn't have spotted the person in the bushes. His vision just happened to fall here.
Tao Sai calmed himself down and continued to observe the situation.
At this time, news came from the world channel again.
[Only Love Qu Wu Yi (Lv4)]: Who was the one who just killed bugs in Yuquan Village?
[Only Love Song Without Memory (Lv4)]: Are you human?
It was pretty much as Tao Sai had expected. He could lock onto the player's position through some kind of energy fluctuation, and it turned out to be coming for her.
But it seemed that after this energy fluctuation disappeared, he could only grope around blindly, otherwise Tao Sai would not be able to hide well now.
[Only Love Qu Wu Yi (Lv4)]: Hey, I'm not going to eat you, come out and talk.
Tao Sai stared at the telescope and followed the world channel, remaining motionless.
Two minutes later, the tall man on the bridge seemed to have noticed nothing and went straight back to the cabin.
Tao Sai relaxed his tense nerves a little and stretched his legs which had long been numb.
But before she could relax, new news popped up on the world channel again.
[Only Love Qu Wu Yi (Lv4)]: @(CX330), is that you?
[Only Love Song Without Memory (Lv4)]: You were speaking before, why did you suddenly become silent?
[Only Love Song Wuyi (Lv4)]: Don't be a coward
Provoking Tao Sai is useless. She will never show up unless she is sure.
The target of the hidden mission, the extremely dangerous player "Wei Ai Qu Wu Yi" is in the bridge of the fourth-level shelter ship in front of him. The straight-line distance between them may be only three or four hundred meters.
Although he is arrogant in the world channel, he is obviously not reckless in reality and has not shown up on the ship yet.
If he doesn't show up, unless we sink the entire ship, we will have no choice but to approach him and sneak into this level 4 shelter ship.
But sneaking in is not easy. The current situation on the ship is unclear. How many people are on board, what skills does he have, and whether there are traps set on the ship? Everything is unknown. Sneaking in rashly will only be the fastest way to death.
The hidden mission shows that the mission will last for more than 40 hours, which is still plenty of time. The level 4 shelter ship will not always be invincible. Tao Sai can wait until he reveals a flaw.
About half an hour later, the fourth-level refugee ship finally set sail again. Under the powerful power, the huge hull pushed the water surface, stirred up layers of waves, and headed downstream at a normal cruising speed, that is, towards the Yangtze River.
Tao Sai climbed up from behind the boulder. She didn't dare to use her skills easily, for fear that "Only Love Qu Wu Yi" would lock her position.
She looked at the map on her phone, crossed the dense weeds and got onto a riverside road, then jogged along, following the "Hanjiang City." She stopped to rest when she got tired, and took a ride if she saw one along the way. She could see his coordinates in real time, ensuring she wouldn't lose him.
The setting sun gradually disappeared into the horizon and the sky darkened.
Tao Sai was sitting in a three-wheeled motorcycle. The driver was an old man, and there was an old woman in the car. They were a couple and were going to the riverside to take refuge.
Tao Sai, who was hitchhiking, suddenly had his eyes light up when he discovered that the coordinate numbers of "Wei Ai Qu Wu Yi" had stopped ticking.
Tao Sai said goodbye to the old man and woman and quickly rushed to the riverside. Sure enough, he saw that the engine of the "Hanjiang City" had stopped and several men had dropped anchor on the deck.
After the refugee ship anchored, more people came out of the cabin and did their own things. Tao Sai counted and there were at least 12 people.
Through observation, Tao Sai further discovered that all the crew members were men, without a single woman. Although these men were of different ages, they all had one thing in common: they were all tall and strong.
As for why there are only men on the ship, it is easy to understand. When "Wei Ai Qu Wu Yi" added characters, he deliberately selected those with strong combat capabilities and excellent attribute values, especially attributes such as strength and stamina.
This is the idea behind playing the game "Insect Tide".
The people who appeared on the deck now should not be "Wei Ai Qu Wu Yi". Their ages range from twenty to forty years old, and they are all strong. Even from such a long distance, Tao Sai can see the outline of their muscles through the telescope. There is no puffiness or fat at all. These people either spend all year round in the gym or are professional athletes.
Tao Sai absolutely did not believe that they could come up with such an extremely childish and non-mainstream nickname as "Only Love Qu Wu Yi".
The "only love Qu Wuyi" she imagined should be a man of the same age as her or younger, with more or less fat otaku attributes. He must still be hiding in the cabin and not showing up.
A room in the cabin of the "Hanjiang City" is covered with posters of animation characters. Without exception, the characters on the posters are all Qu Wuyi.
Cao Yu has always considered the virtual world as equally important as the real world. The term "internet addict" seems like an understatement. After dropping out of high school, his parents had already semi-abandoned him. His quick game reflexes and hand speed allowed him to earn money simply by playing various games as a proxy.
Before this, Puyang had played many games, but when he played this traditional Chinese martial arts game, especially the moment when the NPC Qu Wuyi appeared, he found that the noise of the entire Internet cafe was swept away, and the smell of smoke in the private room was not the smell of smoke, but the smoke of the plum rain season in the south of the Yangtze River.
He was definitely a bit of a middle school kid, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he felt like Qu Wuyi was his wife, even though she was just a paper figure, just the code and program for the game system. He couldn't explain why he liked her, because liking someone was a very mysterious thing.
From that day on, the first thing he did every day when he turned on his computer was log in to the game and interact with Qu Wuyi. Even after he stopped playing this game that was almost outdated, he would still log in to interact with her. He knew every line of her dialogue by heart, and every movement and expression he made was familiar to him. But no matter how many times, he would still be mesmerized by her bright smile and wink.
He filled his small rental house with Qu Wuyi's peripherals, with posters covering the walls. He used his food money to make custom-made dolls when he couldn't buy them online, and fell asleep every night hugging her doll-shaped pillow.
Later, he stumbled upon the game "Insect Tide" in a game store. It was vast, with an intriguing setting, rigorous logic, and rich details—he rarely encountered such high-quality games. With years of experience, he picked it up quickly and thoroughly understood the game. Since there were no walkthroughs for new games, he even started recording his own screen to create them.
Later, Cao Yu had a nightmare. He dreamed that the insect swarm in the game appeared in the real world, and the black insects swept across the world.
The government issued an emergency evacuation notice, and sirens began to blare throughout the city. He tried to pack the entire room into his suitcase, but the posters, pillows, figurines, and other items in the room were too numerous to fit, and even after he finished packing, he couldn't take them out. He held on to everything, refusing to let go, tightly protecting her small body until the surging insect tide engulfed the entire building.
After rebirth, Cao Yu saw the game panel on his retina. He understood that he was bound to the system and vowed never to let the tragedy happen again.
With his understanding of the game, he quickly got into his role. He first moved, then bought a small boat from a fisherman on the riverside as his initial system vehicle if possible, and then frantically stockpiled supplies.
Cao Yu's choices were very clear. He collected everything related to Qu Wuyi, carefully put away the fragile peripherals, and tried not to fold the posters, because if they were folded, there would be ugly wrinkles on Mengmeng's flawless white legs.
At this time, Han Sanyou, who lived next door, suddenly entered the room and said, "Brother Cao, do you have anything valuable? Sell it and exchange it for resources."
"No." Cao Yu was busy packing his things and had no time to pay attention to him.
Han Sanyou looked around his room, hoping to steal some valuables while he wasn't paying attention, but they were all junk. He picked up the action figure placed in front of the computer desk.
"You're such a fucking idiot. You've wasted all your money on useless stuff. It's useless even when the apocalypse comes."
Han Sanyou angrily smashed the doll to the ground, and the doll instantly cracked, with the head completely separated from the surrounding area.
It was too late when Cao Yu heard the noise. He fell to the ground to pick up the fragments and tried to put them together, but the cracks could no longer be pieced together.
He whimpered, "...Mengmeng."
There is only one doll of this kind. He saved money and spent a huge amount of money to have it custom-made. The craftsman made it very similar to the original painting.
A slender, white hand pulled the trigger of the T7 pistol, and the bullet hit Han Sanyou's neck, causing blood to spurt out.
System subtitles popped up in front of Cao Yu.
You killed the character [Han Sanyou, Level 1] and gained 5 attribute points (which can be freely allocated).
[You have acquired the skill [Energy Steal·D-Rank]: After using this skill, you can choose a target to steal energy from. The target whose energy is stolen will fall into fatigue.]
[You killed the player [Han Sanyou], and the player's information has been erased.]
【You grabbed [gold coins x140]. 】
The name flashing on the subtitles made Cao Yu sober up a little. His hands were shaking wildly, and his pistol fell to the ground. He suddenly collapsed to the ground.
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