Free Web NovelChapter 166: Chapter 166: The Insect Clan Appears Again
Right now, Shi Lan and her two companions were heading forward. Xiao Du had told her that the energy fluctuation was just ahead and currently stationary.
Shi Lan quietly picked up her pace. Just then, her chip vibrated faintly. Confused, she opened it. To her surprise, He Hanshi had sent her a message: [Lanlan, stay home today. Don’t go out.]
Shi Lan’s pace slowed ever so slightly. [What’s wrong? Jiang Xia, Mu Tangfeng, and I are already out.]
He Hanshi quickly replied: [We’ve detected Insect Clan fluctuations on Yaoxing for the past two days. Be careful. The Insect Clan might be there, so especially avoid any remote areas.]
Shi Lan stared at the message, freezing for a moment. She scanned her surroundings, a bad premonition washing over her.
This Pine Forest was, indeed, very remote.
’Could they really be so unlucky as to run into the Insect Clan?’
Shi Lan quickly relayed what He Hanshi had said to Mu Tangfeng and Jiang Xia. The two had already been on high alert, and at her words, they moved in a little closer to her.
Mu Tangfeng said with uncharacteristic solemnity, "Lanlan, since Vice Admiral He said so, and we don’t know how many of the Insect Clan there are, should we retreat for now?"
’If he were alone, he would have fought the Insect Clan to the death as usual. But now, he had someone to protect. Shi Lan’s safety had to come first, no matter what.’
After a few seconds of hesitation, Shi Lan nodded quickly. ’The energy is important, but our safety is more important.’
Upon hearing her agree, Mu Tangfeng was about to lead Shi Lan away when a piercing screech echoed from the woods. It sounded like coarse gravel being ground together, a grating noise that seemed to drill right into his mind and made him frown.
"This is bad."
"The Insect Clan really is here."
Mu Tangfeng had his fair share of run-ins with the Insect Clan, so he recognized the sound immediately. Shi Lan had also encountered them several times, and the sound was seared into her memory.
At her side, Jiang Xia took Shi Lan’s hand, his gaze fixed warily on the direction of the sound.
The three of them had no time to retreat. Having caught the scent of humans, the Insect Clan quickly locked their sights on them.
Mu Tangfeng said, "Jiang Xia, you protect Lanlan. I’ll go take care of the Insect Clan."
’He glanced over. There were only a few of them right now, all belonging to the Flying Insect Race. As a Land Beastman, Jiang Xia wouldn’t have a distinct advantage against them.’
At a time like this, with Shi Lan’s safety on the line, the two stopped their usual bickering. Jiang Xia didn’t insist on fighting the Insect Clan just to one-up Mu Tangfeng.
He nodded. "I know."
Shi Lan said, "Be careful. I’ll protect myself."
Reassured, Mu Tangfeng charged forward. Meanwhile, Shi Lan quickly messaged He Hanshi, telling him the Insect Clan had appeared.
He Hanshi was already en route to the Insect Clan’s coordinates. When he saw her message, a hint of worry flashed in his eyes. He immediately gave an order to his crew, "Push the hovercar to maximum speed! The Insect Clan has appeared."
Afraid of distracting Shi Lan, he didn’t send any more messages after that. He just sent back a single reply: [Okay. Protect yourself. Rescue is on the way.]
After sending that one instruction, He Hanshi took personal control of the hovercar, pushing its speed to the maximum.
"Hold on tight."
He said to the other soldiers inside the hovercar. Bai Feng, already experienced with this, was gripping his seatbelt for dear life.
The next moment, the hovercar shot forward at a speed the naked eye couldn’t follow. The street scenes that were once visible at the side of the road blurred into a single, stark white line.
Meanwhile, Mu Tangfeng was locked in a fierce battle with the Insect Clan. Some of the insects even tried to sneak-attack Jiang Xia and Shi Lan. Jiang Xia transformed, his cute, fluffy Pallas’s cat form swelling into a small mountain several meters tall. He carefully sheltered Shi Lan at the softest part of the back of his neck, letting her grip his fur to keep from falling.
With Jiang Xia at this size, Shi Lan was half-buried in his fur, truly nestled in a world of fluff.
Every so often, long strands of fur would tickle her cheeks and neck. Shi Lan’s nose began to itch, and she couldn’t help but sneeze. Gripping his fur tightly, she replied, "Okay, you be careful too."
"Yeah, yeah. Lanlan, hold on tighter."
Jiang Xia urged her one more time before using Thousand Miles Ice Seal to temporarily freeze the nearby members of the Insect Clan. He then swiftly raised a paw, swatting them away one by one.
These members of the Insect Clan were powerful, however. Shi Lan remembered they looked very similar to the ones she had encountered on Black Star. Jiang Xia’s ice didn’t hold them for long. Soon, the ice layer cracked, and the insects charged at them again.
There were about eight insects. Hidden in the fluffy fur on Jiang Xia’s back, Shi Lan’s vantage point was much higher. So, she didn’t find the creatures majestic or imposing—just disgusting.
Afraid of jostling Shi Lan, Jiang Xia kept his movements small. He wouldn’t attack unless the insects provoked him. The division of labor between him and Mu Tangfeng was clear: his primary role was to protect Shi Lan.
Shi Lan felt perfectly safe. But just then, she heard Xiao Du’s shocked voice in her mind: [Master, the energy is gone! I can’t feel any fluctuations!]
She had already planned to give up on it for the time being, figuring she could check if the energy was still there and absorb it once things were safer. So, hearing Xiao Du’s words, Shi Lan just assumed the energy had dissipated. ’It was a shame, but not entirely unexpected,’ she thought, not dwelling on it.
Just then, she happened to look up and caught sight of a dark, gaping portal in the sky. An instant later, she saw a member of the Insect Clan flying toward it.
Shi Lan’s gaze lingered for a long moment on the large-bellied insect being cradled beneath it. ’It looks exactly like the one I saw on Black Star,’ she thought.
This one’s abdomen, however, seemed even larger than the one she’d seen before. On the skin of its bloated belly, she could make out the shapes of bulging eyeballs, as if the things inside were ready to burst forth at any moment and take a look at the outside world.
The creature was moving fast, and she didn’t have time for a closer look. In just a moment, it vanished into the dark portal.
Down below, the remaining members of the Insect Clan were clearly powerful. Mu Tangfeng could handle three at once, but not five or even eight. Jiang Xia had to help out more, but he never stopped worrying about Shi Lan. He would ask her a question every so often, terrified she might have vanished from his back.
Shi Lan always responded promptly. She also sent out her own vines to help Mu Tangfeng entangle the Insect Clan.
The three of them coordinated seamlessly. With intermittent freezes from Jiang Xia and binding vines from Shi Lan, the remaining seven insects—apart from the one Mu Tangfeng had already killed—couldn’t seem to gain any ground against them.
The members of the Insect Clan were clearly growing agitated. They could sense the Insect Mother departing, yet the three delicious-smelling humans before them kept making them salivate.
Usually, when the Insect Clan landed on a planet with the Insect Mother, they would always grab a few humans for a snack. This time, however, they hadn’t had a chance to act, so they could only focus on the people in front of them. Besides, the higher a human’s spiritual power, the better their flesh tasted—more fragrant, more delicious.
They were unwilling to let these three go.
