Seeing Mu Fan's wolf-like figure advancing, Wolf for the first time showed a surprised expression.
"So this kid wasn't kidding about being good at jungle warfare... it's true?"
When he saw Mu Fan using his hands and feet together, making high-speed direction changes with the least amount of force, his eyes narrowed. Such movements couldn't have been mastered overnight; he could imagine the muscle tension causing a tearing pain just by watching.
Yet, this kid was acting like it was nothing!
Three shadows sprinted on the ground, with Luo Jianjin, the most robust figure in the Exoskeleton Armor, leading the charge.
Another slender and lithe figure flickered through the trees, always landing precisely on the treetops tens of meters away with each flash.
A man in a black Combat Uniform sat on the Spider Car, looking down at the rapidly approaching green dots. When he saw that the five people were nearly at his minefield, he instantly pressed a button.
"Data synchronization, Three-Peak Wave Minefield, a total of 107 tactical landmines, make sure not to touch them! Spider Car ready," Deer's voice was inexplicably calm at this moment, contrasting sharply with his usual sarcasm and vitriol.
"This team is full of freaks! Mu Fan, kid, keep your feet steady. If you step wrong, I don't want to have to find a second host!" Black expressed high praise for the Tiger Hunting Team after seeing the dense mine layout.
Mu Fan ignored Black's irritating chatter. The minefield distribution map had already synced to the single lens of his tactical helmet.
"Mu Fan, keep close to me... uh!"
The forefront Luo Jianjin was about to turn back to remind Mu Fan but found the kid had charged into the minefield without slowing down. Each of his landing points was incredibly precise, and within three seconds of the minefield data synchronization, he had left Wolf behind.
"This kid is incredible!"
This was the shared sentiment among the team at the moment.
Tracy, bringing up the rear, released her second Hook Lock through the air and successfully landed on the Spider Car.
Deer slammed down the Spider Car's violent throttle pedal, and all four large wheels began spinning furiously.
"Retreat!"
Dropping the limp and unconscious White Hair, the Bearded man grasped the Fire God Cannon. As the six barrels began to spin, a thirty-centimeter flame roared out, and the swarm that had barely appeared was blasted into mush.
Under Deer's superb driving skills, the Spider Car's substantial front wheels slightly flattened after hitting a raised rock, and the vehicle bounced up again.
The vehicle's unique bouncing characteristic was fully utilized.
Just as Mu Fan was curious why the landmines hadn't been triggered yet,
Deer started to count down; "3, 2, 1!"
Boom, boom, boom!
Blinding flames, terrifying shockwaves, and a massive explosion hit simultaneously. Mu Fan could feel the airborne Spider Car being pushed sideways.
Clang!
A grating noise came from the driveshaft as the Spider Car landed heavily, then leaped again, reaching the riverside.
The explosions continued in the background. Mu Fan turned to look; unsure which mine had been triggered, a huge shockwave quickly approached, crumbling everything in its path, rapidly closing in on them.
"Deer, what the hell is this?"
Wolf, sitting in the passenger seat, straightened up, seemingly ready to jump out.
"I've tentatively named it Star Bomb, or the modified version of Nova Bomb... I've incorporated the Nova Bomb concept, miniaturized the requested portable nuclear warhead, and equipped it with a trademark lithium deuteride casing. So, this thing compresses the deuteride casing into a massive high-temperature, high-pressure center when it explodes, and then... bang!" He found time to gesticulate an explosion.
Seeing that pathological smile, Wolf slapped him, "Damn, you madman!"
"No worries, I've calculated the range; it won't reach us here."
Deer controlled the Spider Car with one hand, smiling and waving the other.
Then Mu Fan pointed blankly behind the combat vehicle, "We..."
Boom!
A blast of air, not a huge wave of water, slammed into the Spider Car, tossing the furious vehicle like a fly swatted away by a giant, crashing onto the opposite shore.
After bouncing four or five times in succession, the Spider Car finally came to a stop on the verge of being crushed and warped out of shape.
"Motherfucker, didn't you say you had calculated everything?" Wolf choked Deer by the throat and roared, his face a picture of sheer rage.
"Stop choking me... I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die. Cough, cough, cough. I forgot to calculate the impact of the shockwave on the water current," Deer gasped after his teammate let go of his neck.
Mu Fan shook his dazed head and upon hearing this, his once unreserved admiration for the Tiger Hunting Team members shattered for the first time.
Turns out, when these old soldiers got unreliable, they could truly be terrifying!
Eventually, it was the Bearded man who spoke up, putting an end to the dispute.
"Enough, Deer always has no major issues but a constant string of minor ones; after all these years, it's not like we don't know that."
With that, Wolf finally ceased his assault.
The Spider Car paused for a minute, and seeing no Zeg, Mu Fan and the others continued on their way, though the vehicle now creaked ominously as it moved.
Once they were certain they were out of danger, the faint black aura within Mu Fan's eyes finally receded, and he emerged from the 'Dark Breath' mode.
Without the 'Absolute Calm' analysis of landing spots, precise to a hair's breadth, he probably would have recklessly charged into the minefield, and been the first to die.
The group continued towards the base; because the area had been scorched at high temperatures, nearly all the surveillance equipment had been destroyed, so naturally, no one knew what was happening there...
The four or five hundred-strong insect swarm at the epicenter, a mix of Beetles and Guards, were instantly vaporized by the explosion of the Star Bomb; then, the shockwaves continued their relentless destruction, taking out successive waves of Zeg that were attempting to follow.
However, even as these Zeg saw their kin die in droves, the ferocity in their eyes did not diminish but, on the edge where the shockwave faded, they began to regroup.
More Zeg continuously emerged from behind.
Their slowly moving direction turned out to be the same as the one the Spider Car carrying Mu Fan and the others had taken. However, once Mu Fan had deactivated 'Dark Breath,' the nearly thousand-strong swarm's ferociousness in their eyes faded, replaced by a gradual sense of bewilderment.
As if an invisible ripple had passed through the swarm, the horrifying Zeg began to slowly retreat, heading back towards the shale entrance that Mu Fan's group had blasted open.
Mu Fan was even more unaware that in the underground platform space beneath the Insect Nest they had previously reached, in the deepest part of the ground, there was a crude heart-like organism about five or six meters tall continuously pulsating. At that moment, the pulsation rate of this ugly and gigantic heart suddenly sped up.
Thump, thump, thump-thump, thump-thump-thump!
Thump-thump-thump!
Bang!
A cloud of brownish blood mist exploded, revealing a slightly smaller heart-shaped creature about four meters in diameter, its body covered in muscle textures without skin, with several tentacles extending below.
As this strange creature appeared, dozens of oversized Tiger Worms guarding at the bottom of the nest prostrated themselves.
An invisible ripple, like a thought, spread out.
And this was merely the beginning...
Even farther away, and in the deeper parts of the jungle, the Zeg that were engaged in battle with the expeditionary soldiers paused briefly before their eyes shone with a fierce light.
The real soldiers of the Expeditionary Army, to their surprise, discovered that the Zeg they were facing... began to show signs of restlessness!
********
PS: (If another chapter is updated during the day, please vote for a monthly ticket for Dangdang, this seems to be the first time Dangdang has asked for a monthly ticket... hehe!)
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