The Advancing Insect Swarm

This discovery put everyone on high alert. Locals had long said that this mountain range was fraught with danger, and although they had lived at its foot for generations, they had never had the courage to venture into this forbidden zone.

Those who had the courage to come in have already died on the way.

The sight of the dead insects and the lingering fragrance was unsettling. Without hesitation, Brother Sun shouted, "Quick, let's get out of here!"

"Good!"

No longer conserving their energy, the eleven people quickly moved forward in the predetermined direction. Yu Xing tightened his backpack and walked at the forefront with a speed that impressed his teammates.

Everyone here has a certain amount of experience, especially in shady professions, which gives them a more acute sense of danger than the average person.

The fact that a strange, aggressive insect emits a fragrance after it dies can only lead to two possible outcomes.

First, this fragrance is harmful to the human body; it is either a toxic gas or a hallucinogenic gas.

Second, this is a signal sent by the gray insect to its companions.

Either way, it indicates that their team seems to have gotten themselves into serious trouble, and sitting idly by would be tantamount to suicide.

Alice couldn't work while moving quickly. She put away the syringe she was going to use for local anesthesia and patted Ade was sweating profusely. "We have to go first. We'll treat you in a safe place. Tell me immediately if you feel any discomfort on the way."

Ade gave a weak reply, feeling somewhat uneasy. He then told himself that this was because he had been poisoned by an unknown toxin, which caused his many doubts, and he needed to remain calm.

In fact, he can't even see the wound on the back of his neck. So far, he can move around freely and has no discomfort except for a slight itch in the wound, which is good news.

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The team ran forward for two kilometers without stopping, and everyone was soaked in sweat. Even the naturally cool mountain environment couldn't save them.

Because it's more stuffy in the mountains than in the city.

Yu Xing was the same. He was now just like an ordinary person with good physical fitness. His perception of the temperature of the environment was no different from others. His bangs were wet and clumped together on his forehead. When Brother Sun announced that they should rest on the spot, he sat down on the ground and shook his hair like a dog shaking off water before he felt breathless.

Brother Sun was also exhausted. He sat down on a raised tree root, panting, after unloading his gear. "This place is some distance from where we were before. I don't think it's dangerous for now. Let's rest here! We still don't know what's so strange about that bug. Be careful later, everyone, don't get bitten again. Alice, quickly check Ade's injury."

This time, the team members weren't in the mood to gather around and watch. They all found places to sit down and drink water to replenish their fluids, without any regard for their image. Only Brother Sun came to Ade's side and watched.

Yu Xing thought for a moment, and since he was a little bothered by the insect, he also went over to it.

The dark bluish-black lesions that had been creeping up like tree roots at Ade's wound had spread considerably in a short period of time, looking quite horrifying.

Alice frowned; she had never seen such a toxin before. After administering the anesthesia, she took out a small knife, sterilized it in the flame of a lighter, and said, "I'm going to cut the wound open to let it bleed. Just bear with it."

"Wasn't he given anesthesia?" Ade asked, embarrassed.

"Won't you still be in pain after the anesthesia wears off? Couldn't I have told you beforehand?" Alice said irritably, but thankfully her hand was steady, and with her there, Ade felt much more at ease.

Yu Xing watched coldly as Alice used a knife to cut a small cross, slicing open the small red dot. Instantly, dark black blood flowed out, and the bluish-black color that had been lurking under the skin began to recede.

Brother Sun and Alice both breathed a sigh of relief. This was a good sign, indicating that after the poisonous blood was drained, the poison was cleared and there would be no aftereffects. This kind of poison was considered the easiest to cure. Alice even joked, "Deep black, this poison is really potent."

She held out her hand. "A towel."

Yu Xing took the towel out of her open bag and handed it to her.

Alice used a towel to wipe away and catch the flowing black blood to prevent it from getting on her clothes and causing infection through friction with her skin.

Brother Sun comforted Ade, "It's not a difficult poison to cure; you'll be fine soon."

The other team members breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. They didn't know how many such insects there were in the vicinity, and they were all quite happy to hear that "the insects are not very harmful." Ade should have been the happiest one.

But for some reason, when Alice released the poisoned blood, all his strength drained away.

He began to feel dizzy, as if something was stuck in his throat, preventing him from making a sound. In a panic, he grabbed at Yu Xing's arm.

Yu Xing could tell from his expression that this wasn't over, so he immediately asked, "Are you alright?"

"I..." Ade murmured, "Help..."

Alice noticed the change in surprise, but before she could do anything, the poisonous blood had already flowed out completely.

Immediately afterwards, a fragrance identical to that emanating from the insect corpse wafted out from the open wound.

"Holy shit!!" Brother Sun blurted out a curse. What were they running for in such a hurry just now? Wasn't it to get away from the area covered by the fragrance?

The reality is that the bite wound either gets left to spread, causing uncontrollable consequences, or it emits a strange fragrance, like a dead insect.

There's no way to avoid it then.

Brother Sun said gravely, "We can't escape this scent. Everyone be on high alert. As we move forward, we must always be aware of whether anything is being attracted to us."

Ade was in bad shape. The poison was gone, and he had lost all vitality. He sat there blankly, his face pale, and he didn't respond to anyone's voice.

"Oh no, I'm afraid the most dangerous thing about this bug isn't the blood-infecting poison, but the psychotoxin! It's damaged a part of Ade's nervous system." Alice gritted her teeth, took out several Yu Xing couldn't understand, and injected them into Ade's body. Ade quickly fell asleep.

"Everyone, please be careful not to get touched by the bugs. It's better to kill the bugs than to get bitten." No one could disobey Alice, a doctor, and they all nodded in agreement.

"What about Ade now?" Shi Jiu asked.

"Let's... let's carry him for now. I'll try my best to find a solution. Once he wakes up, I'll know if the medicine I just injected worked." Alice hesitated, looking at Brother Sun. "Can we carry him?"

"How about we bandage him up first, and then put something with a strong scent on his bandage? That kind of fragrance will cover it up for a while," A Long suggested in his gentle-sounding accent.

Alice nodded and did as she was told, hoping the fragrance wouldn't attract anything too soon.

But as the saying goes, what you fear most is what comes to pass.

Before they had even rested for five minutes, Yu Xing keenly heard a buzzing sound.

The sound was very faint, as if it came from a distance, but it was very dense, clearly coming from a cluster.

The most terrifying thing is that Yu Xing just heard the same sound of insect wings vibrating before that dead insect died!

It's a swarm of insects!

Yu Xing immediately stood up and called out to everyone, "The swarm of insects is coming! Take cover!"

Brother Sun, Finley, and Shi Jiu also had good hearing. The three of them quickly got up, called the others, identified the direction of the swarm, and ran in the opposite direction.

"There's a river a few hundred meters ahead, let's cross it first," Brother Sun directed, looking at the map.

Ade was handed over to Luke with the bushy beard to carry, and the two backpacks were carried by two team members. The group ran wildly toward the river marked on the map.

Yu Xing ran in the middle, and the buzzing behind him grew louder and louder. As he got closer, he realized how terrifying these vibrations were. Just by listening to the sound, he could tell that at least two hundred insects were chasing after them!

This is outrageous... Is this supposed to be Differentiation Tier investigator simulation? It's this thrilling right from the start!

One insect is manageable, but if a swarm of insects that swarms onto a person after it dies... the toxins could cause that person to die instantly, their entire body turning black.

Swarms of insects can fly faster than a human leg, let alone in an undeveloped forest. The tangled tree roots, scattered rocks, and even the bones of some creatures on the ground could trip them up, so they had to be extremely careful.

When the group saw the river, they were less than fifty meters away from the swarm of insects behind them. The insects did not crowd together, but chased after them in a slightly scattered manner. They were large and at first glance, they looked like a huge, dark mass.

Scarface glanced back, his legs went weak, and he almost knelt down.

"Quick, take off the bag and jump into the river!" Brother Sun made the decision immediately.

They dropped their bundles and plunged into the water like arrows released from a bow. At that moment, no one cared whether the river was clean or not. They went in so fast that they almost all swallowed a mouthful.

Yu Xing only threw away his bag; the painting tube was waterproof. He jumped into the river with the painting tube in his arms, opened his eyes underwater, and looked at the surface of the river.

The river wasn't deep, only a little over a meter. Everyone could squat down and immerse themselves in it. And the good news was that, since there was no human intervention, the water was very clear. Yu Xing even saw a few fearless fish swimming past his legs.

The swarm of insects quickly flew to the river and hovered on its surface.

Through the clear water, Yu Xing could see the insects' sharp mouthparts. They were like a combination of mosquitoes and flies, except that flies were not a fifth the size of them, and mosquitoes sucked blood instead of spitting venom.

In fact, they would jump into the river because the coping methods for being chased by bees were deeply ingrained in their minds. Flying insects are basically not afraid of water, and if there is a water source nearby when encountering a swarm of flying insects, it is a lifesaver.

The group held their breath underwater. They had all learned to swim for the expedition, so holding their breath wasn't difficult. They all wondered in their minds when the insects would leave.

Yu Xing didn't know what these insects were called, so he decided to give them a beautiful name: Big Gray Bugs.

The large gray worms seemed very aggressive; several even tried to cross the water's surface, but none of them succeeded. Their wings got wet, preventing them from flying, and they struggled in the water and drowned.

Seeing their miserable end, the other insects became intimidated and showed signs of retreating.

The strange fragrance emanating from Ade was also blocked underwater. The insects buzzed around for a while, then got bored and finally left.

"Ha..." The team members stood up, their chests and above floating on the surface. They breathed greedily to relieve the dizziness caused by lack of oxygen. No one noticed Yu Xing and composure.

He had previously eaten the Water Ghost Shiwei.

After that, his breath-holding time became extremely absurd; even if it was reduced, he still couldn't hold his breath for more than three or four minutes.

After a while, the group suddenly shouted, "We're doomed, Ade!"

Ade was taken into the water while unconscious and couldn't hold his breath on his own, remaining submerged for more than three minutes...

They looked at Ade, who lay motionless on the ground, their faces grim. Brother Sun, his face dark, waved his hand. "Quick, first aid!"

Alice immediately lifted Ade's head to keep his airway open, then straddled him and began CPR, saying to Yu Xing, who was closest to her, "Help me with artificial respiration."

Yu Xing: "..." Sorry, Schrödinger's germaphobia suddenly kicked in at this moment.

Before Yu Xing could speak, Finley shoved him aside with a disdainful look, knelt down next to Ade, and, while cooperating with Alice, let out a mocking laugh, "Ha, relying on him?"

This time, Yu Xing was quite grateful for his mockery, so he didn't sit idly by either. He squatted down, looked at Finley, and whispered, "Go, go, go!"

Finley: "..." Damn it, are you fucking crazy?

Finley shooed Yu Xing away with a look, and Yu Xing didn't object. He silently walked to where he had dropped his backpack, picked it up, and the others came over to get their equipment.

This time, it was a close call, thanks to the river. However, everyone finally gained a clear understanding of how dangerous these mountains were.

"Based on experience, the closer we get to the tomb, the more moths we'll encounter." Shi Jiu, catching her breath and wiping the water from her hair, looked at Alice and Finley, who were rescuing people. "Everyone needs to be careful; this is only the first mountain, there are two more to come."

"That's right! I checked before, and on Brother Sun's map, there's a huge blank area for the tomb palace. Even if we get to the third mountain, we still have to find the entrance to the tomb palace. Ugh, just thinking about it makes me feel awful!" Everyone got goosebumps as soon as A Long spoke, as if they could feel the unease themselves.

Luke sighed, "Well, every tomb has some really weird stuff in front of it. Sometimes I'd rather encounter zombies, ghosts, and traps down there than face these mutated beasts and insects from nature."

Brother Sun didn't participate in this pointless discussion. He looked at Ade lying on the ground and suddenly asked, "Shi Jiu, when your men were scouting the area, didn't they encounter any of these bugs?"

His words immediately silenced everyone.

Yes, the people who scouted the place first were all from the Shi Jiu; they even drew up a map. How could they not have encountered any bugs?

If Shi Jiu knew about the insect's existence, why didn't he warn them sooner?

Faced with the questioning looks from the group, Shi Jiu said helplessly, "When we came here to scout the location before, we only used aerial photography and some legends and historical records to estimate the approximate area of the tomb. Didn't you see that the route on the map is discontinuous?"

She sighed, "There aren't any roads in these mountains. They're just pieces together from a few barely passable paths identified by aerial photography. In other words, you can take any route you want, as long as you're willing. The tomb area won't change anyway; with a compass, you can go anywhere you want."

That makes sense.

Yu Xing glanced at Shi Jiu and spoke up for her, "She's right. Machine reconnaissance and on-site investigation are completely different. At this point, don't doubt your teammates; it won't do you any good for the upcoming operation."

Brother Sun remained silent for two seconds, then suddenly laughed apologetically, "Haha, that's right, I got stuck on this. Sorry, Shi Jiu, I apologize."

Shi Jiu waved his hand dismissively and walked towards Alice with the others. Yu Xing followed behind and noticed that Shi Jiu subtly gave him a thank you gesture.

A suspicion was nipped in the bud, but Ade's condition was not optimistic. Alice was already exhausted. Suddenly, just as Finley was taking another breath, Ade reacted.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Everyone was stunned, and quickly gathered around to check, only to smell the strange fragrance in the blood.

"..."

"It's no use, he's beyond saving." Alice shook her head sadly and explained to the stunned crowd, "The black blood at first was just a disguise. The real poison is very cunning; it seeped into Ade's internal organs while disguised, and I missed the best time to treat him."