When the two turned and ran, the huge underground nest behind them...erupted.
Countless Guards mixed with hundreds of Tiger Worms began climbing up the rock walls and swarming upward.
Additionally, Zeg waking up from hibernation joined the chase sequence one after another.
Listening to the sharp, piercing cries forming a wave of sound behind them, and the rustling noise continuously overlapping, made both Mu Fan's scalps tingle.
"Did we just stumble upon Zeg's lair? Fuck, why didn't these bugs send a scout for a warning? I would never have come here if I'd known! Mu Fan, we're really screwed now!" White Hair wished he had more legs, embarrassed that he was outrun by Mu Fan.
"Stop talking and run faster."
"I would run faster if I could, but I dare not exert much force on such a slippery surface," complained White Hair to Mu Fan.
Zeg chasing them through the tunnels were fast approaching, less than twenty meters away.
Mu Fan's hurried steps suddenly paused, then when White Hair raced past him, he grabbed him and dragged him along; surprisingly, his speed did not decrease at all.
"Good brother, I knew you wouldn't abandon me. Mu Fan, I'm sticking with you forever."
"Save your energy and just run!" Unable to endure the endless complaining, Mu Fan roared, and White Hair immediately became much quieter.
Luckily, they both remembered the way they came in, and unfamiliar terrain didn't slow them down.
"Quickly call Captain Luo! We need backup, loads of Zeg, dammit, I can even smell the stench from behind."
Several yellow-brown Tiger Worms were running the fastest, perhaps because of staying at the bottom of the nest, their stench was far more intense than those encountered above ground.
White Hair almost threw up as he tried to speak.
"No signal for the communication! Let's get to the surface and then try."
"Oh, forgot that, damn!"
"No, I can't stand this stench behind me any longer!" White Hair suddenly yelled, then fired a volley of bullets backward.
Da da da!
Loud gunfire echoed through the tunnel, severing limbs of the leading Zeg.
But the Zeg behind did not slow down at all, the swarm completely engulfed the few with severed legs.
The gunfire even incited their ferocity, speeding them up even more.
"Damn it, these bugs are going insane!!"
White Hair's cursing trailed through the tunnel.
During the run, Mu Fan glanced back momentarily.
The leading ten or more were all Tiger Worms! The ones slightly smaller behind must be Guards, and as for those even further back... they couldn't be seen anymore, as the dense pack of bugs had completely blocked the tunnel.
"Mu Fan, where are we? How come we're still not at the end?"
"Almost there, just three more turns."
Mu Fan exerted force on his arms and pushed the slowing White Hair forward again.
"Mom, I don't want to stay here another moment. Who said there were few bugs here and it was just an experience... Damn, I feel like after killing these bugs, I'd earn at least a silver medal."
While urging him to run, Mu Fan suddenly inquired, "Does killing these bugs count towards military merits?"
"Yeah. Oh hell, don't tell me you want to go back and fight these bugs?" Realizing what he said halfway, White Hair shouted like a startled rabbit.
"Get out first!"
Mu Fan uttered three words, although his desire to escape persisted.
"Mu Fan, don't mess around. The Zeg's combat capabilities are greatly enhanced on the Fungus Blanket! Don't think of anything else right now, just run, and if we have to fight later, pick a battlefield away from the Fungus Blanket."
Mu Fan said nothing, his fleeting thoughts extinguished by the suddenly agitated Black.
Just run!
However, at that moment, an accident occurred with White Hair. As they turned in the winding tunnel ahead, he suddenly slipped.
Mu Fan, who had been running normally, stepped into the Fungus Blanket and was thrown off balance by the falling White Hair.
Rustle, rustle.
The bugs behind saw their prey slowing down and their yellow-brown compound eyes gleamed cruelly, ready to impale the humans in the next second!
"I'm going down fighting!"
With a piercing roar, Mu Fan saw a kind of resignation in White Hair's eyes.
"What are you waiting for, run!"
With enormous force surging from his left hand, enhanced by the Exoskeleton Armor, White Hair, who had slipped, was unexpectedly spun around by Mu Fan and hurled five meters ahead.
"What are you doing, Mu Fan?"
White Hair, who had managed to stand up again as if riding on clouds, looked back in shock at Mu Fan behind him.
"Do you remember the favor of five million you owed me?, I just returned it," Mu Fan said, grinning in White Hair's direction.
The laser long spear in his hand instantly emitted ion beams from both ends. As the first Tiger Worm turned around, he thrust the spear directly, impaling it.
The Tiger Worm let out a piercing scream before being firmly pinned to the rock wall.
The subsequent Zegs, unable to slow down in time due to the sudden blockage around the corner, crashed into the rock walls one after another.
What an opportunity!
Mu Fan exerted force in his legs, and the power truly beyond human limits began to erupt.
With just two steps, he caught up with White Hair again.
"Do you have any grenades?"
"Yes."
"Blast open the shale entrance in a moment; we have no time to climb!"
"Alright!"
Their conversation was brief and to the point, making their tactics clear.
Now, tears filled White Hair's eyes—Mu Fan was the first person to give him a chance to live. Growing up in a sprawling business empire, the true test of friendship in adversity was something he had never understood until now.
But now was not the time for such reflections as they were racing against death.
The flow of insects, momentarily halted by Mu Fan's spear, surged again, but as the two turned right once more, they finally spotted a sliver of light.
The entrance!
They had finally reached the entrance!
"Mu Fan, move away!" Seeing the long-awaited entrance, White Hair, with tears in his eyes, raised his hand and fired a salvo of high-explosive missiles.
Boom!
The not-so-thick shale was blasted open, creating a large hole.
Fresh air and bright light poured in instantly.
"Let's break out."
"You go first, shoot when you're out."
With a swish, Mu Fan drew his Alloy Broadsword and whispered a caution.
"Be careful."
There was no time for sentimentality—White Hair, exhausted, leaped through the hole and immediately screamed into the temporarily restored signal of their team channel, "We've found Zeg's nest, don't know how many Zegs are following us, we need support, we need support!"
By the time White Hair leaped through the entrance, the leading Tiger Worm was already close to Mu Fan's body.
With both hands on the heavy Alloy Broadsword, he made a horizontal chop, slicing two attacking Tiger Worms in half with the afterimage of the blade.
He then swiped his Broadsword horizontally again, fiercely knocking back another charging Tiger Worm; leveraging the reaction force, Mu Fan also leaped out of the tunnel.
Back under the daylight!
However, the rustling sounds behind him didn't cease for a second.
"Mu Fan, Yin Shuai! Run to the Spider Car, we're on our way, even if it kills you, don't stop!"
"Yes, boss!" White Hair responded, seeing Mu Fan nearby, and...
The endless swarm of Zegs emerging behind him sent chills down his spine.
And Mu Fan's eyelid twitched as he saw familiar Zegs—the jet tiger insects.
Following the jet tiger insects, there was another type of creature he hadn't seen before—a larger, flatter creature covered in spikes, with a pair of cold, glinting pincers.
As soon as that creature burst out of the entrance, its head dipped down and immediately burrowed into the ground.
Simultaneously, a great sense of threat washed over them!
**********
PS: Recommending a friend's work "Master of the World," which he's trying out this week. Why not go over and boost the popularity?
Ding Dong, the foremost Apostle in Myriad Realms, after surviving the ultimate test—a twenty-year survival trial in a Heavenly level difficulty copy—finally earns a chance to exchange worlds, obtaining a realm in the vast world chain noted for high magic and low intellect. But will this world, belonging solely to Ding Dong, be that simple?