503. The Insects Have Come

The swarm of insects has arrived.

Upon realizing this fact, Frostheart felt much calmer.

Having witnessed how humanity in the Old Era marched towards destruction and became these insectoids, and having witnessed the bridge connecting to another world, Frostheart, for some reason, found her fear of the insectoids somewhat lessened.

As a researcher, she might be able to explain these issues using certain philosophical approaches, but ultimately, it's because she has already understood the characteristics, origins, and purposes of these insect swarms.

When something changes from unknown to known, or from unknown to knowable, the sense of oppression and fear it brings will be much less.

When a calamity with absolute power, devastating and unstoppable, sweeps in, and humanity has no way to analyze, understand, or explain it, that is true terror.

In ancient times, when technology and civilization were underdeveloped, these calamities were referred to as deities by humankind.

However, with the development of human civilization, the unknown has become the knowable, the knowable has become the known, and humans can even predict these disasters and thoroughly analyze their causes, processes, and ends.

Then these calamities lose their divine status and become ordinary natural disasters.

The same principle applies to insect swarms.

Although the overwhelming swarms of insects still filled every wasteland dweller with dread and fear, Frostheart saw these insects as nothing more than pitiful creatures suffering in the face of the apocalypse, just like herself.

"The swarm may be heading towards the wormhole; we must leave immediately."

Frostheart said.

Once found by the swarm's scouts, it means the swarm's army will follow. The swarm usually covers more than several kilometers of desert, burrowing into the ground, soaring in the sky, and winding through the sand, searching for anything it can devour.

Once a prey is found by one insect, it means it has been spotted by the entire swarm. The swarm's core will then guide the insects to surround and devour it.

Although these insects may not damage the wormholes and buildings here, their passage would be a disaster for the humans living in them.

She and the Singer immediately ran towards the house where Lu Ban was.

But after running only two steps, the wall beside the road suddenly collapsed.

Frostheart saw an insect stumbling and crawling out of the rubble of the collapsed wall.

This insect has eight long, thin legs and a body about the size of a human head. Its surface is covered with a layer of fine hairs, just like a giant spider. Only its mouthparts are covered with tiny, dense tentacles that extend outwards, trying to catch things in the air.

The insect's body surface is pitted and has many wounds, some of which have even completely torn apart the insect's exoskeleton, revealing the dark flesh underneath.

It's obvious that this insect was swept here by the sandstorm earlier.

Besides the insect, Frostheart also saw some insect corpses nearby. Those corpses were hit by the supersonic sandstorm, leaving behind some broken remains scattered among the ruins of the industrial park.

Presumably, those insects encountered a sandstorm during their journey, and many of their kind perished in the natural disaster.

Even so, in such a storm, these insects were able to preserve their relatively intact corpses, and some even survived, which makes one marvel at their strong vitality.

For Frostheart, this also meant something else.

"These insects have discovered us."

Without Frostheart, Shuangxin grabbed one of the insect's legs before the insect could fully react.

The countless tentacles inside its mouthparts immediately twitched, trying to entangle Frostheart.

But its movement quickly froze.

A white frost rose from the insect's body surface, as if it were seeping out from under its skin.

The next moment, the entire insect froze into an ice sculpture, standing out starkly against the dark yellow desert.

In the distance, the dark swarm of insects suddenly paused for a moment.

Immediately, the swarm of insects became frenzied, like hunters who had discovered a treasure. There were insects with a dozen legs, insects with three pairs of wings, and insects that lurked under the sand like long Great Serpent.

All the insects moved toward the ruins of the industrial park, rustling and leaving messy traces.

Frostheart and the Singer arrived at the bottom of Lu Ban's house and called out to the two of them.

"What's wrong?"

He peeked out of the house in Shana; he was covered in dust and dirt, clearly indicating that the sandstorm had also affected the area.

"The swarm is coming."

Frostheart's simple words made Shana's expression suddenly turn serious.

"Swarm of insects".

She said something to Lu Ban inside the room in Shana.

Lu Ban was still printing documents at this moment, and he nodded.

Although he didn't know how the swarm of insects found this place, Lu Ban had expected that he would definitely encounter those insects somewhere.

After all, this mission should have involved contact with the insect swarm, but the fact that so much time had passed without any sign of it made him wonder if the insects had already hidden beneath the sand.

He put the documents into Shana's bag and patted the boy on the shoulder.

The two tumbled down the stairs destroyed by the sandstorm, and Lu Ban glanced in the direction the swarm of insects had come from.

Visible black dots have been scattered across the distant desert.

According to Lu Ban's plan, he still really wanted to make contact with the swarm. After all, he had [Cat Poison] in his bag, which could control the swarm to some extent. Moreover, Lu Ban needed to obtain the Heart of the Swarm, which would inevitably require him to go deep into the center of the swarm and find the Queen.

But if they stay here, the others will certainly suffer.

"We have discovered a wormhole."

As she walked toward the Camel Insect at the edge of the ruins, Frostheart recounted her discovery.

"Wormhole?"

Lu Ban quickly understood what this discovery meant.

He stopped.

"The wormhole must be destroyed. If it is not destroyed, the swarm will come to this world endlessly. We can run now, but our mounts cannot travel for long. Moreover, Future City is nearby, and those robots may also be attacked by the swarm."

What he said was indeed true. When the swarm passed through, nothing grew. They might have been lucky not to discover Future City before, because Future City's exterior was all concrete, and the swarm wasn't interested in Stone. But now, after the sandstorm, Future City's solar panels must have been damaged. Perhaps when those robots came out to repair and inspect them, they would attract the swarm's attention.

Needless to say, once the solar panels are damaged, the robots will also run out of energy and be unable to turn on again.

What can you do?

Frostheart clearly disagreed with Lu Ban's statement. At this moment, she was thinking about protecting everyone as much as possible.

"I have some things that I found in the ruins that can attract swarms of insects. I'm trying to lure them near the wormhole and then destroy them all at once."

Lu Ban explained that when he saw Frostheart and the others still wanted to object, he did not hesitate and directly took out Silver Pen to Last Words.

In Lu Ban's hands, the [Last Words] changed shape and became a long-barreled revolver.

Thump thump—

Lu Ban hit two teammates with two shots, and they immediately flew out of the ruins and landed on the ground in the blink of an eye.

Frostheart wanted to say something, but Lu Ban had already smiled at her.

"Don't worry, I'm going to attend the New Year's Eve bonfire party tonight."

Thud—

Frostheart felt dizzy and was pushed out of the ruins by a tremendous force.