Light is the Prelude to Victory

"AAAAAAAH!!!"

Seeing that face again, Fang Ye was scared out of his wits and screamed desperately for help. "Help! Save me!!!"

A monster wearing a human face lurked in the darkness. However, the people standing above the pit had limited visibility and could only see Fang Ye shouting wildly while Cao Hongyi kept firing.

Just as everyone hesitated over whether to go down and save him, Feng Ling jumped down with a flashlight—

The beam swept across a massive creature. Feng Ling's heartbeat quickened, and she felt a long-forgotten thrill of excitement!

Before she could get a clear look at the target, her two Bone Blades slashed out the instant she landed!

Piercing the human face, sinking into the carapace, slicing through muscle—those tangible sensations sent a tingling rush through her, and it felt incredible!

Like a lion that had tasted blood, she wanted to press her advantage after landing a hit. But the monster swiftly crawled beyond the flashlight's reach and vanished from her sight.

Feng Ling swept the flashlight around. Aside from several pitch-black openings, she saw nothing.

Had it fled into one of the tunnels again?

She frowned and examined the blood left on the ground. Unlike those insects from before, this monster's blood was actually bright red.

A heavy thud sounded behind her. She turned and saw Zhou Diao had jumped down.

Xiao Li and Qin Liang slid down on ropes right after him. Huangfu Miaomiao came last, cautiously following behind the Special Forces members.

"Why did you come down too?" Feng Ling walked over and asked.

Qin Liang wiped the sweat from his face and raised the black box in his arms. "I checked with the Detector just now. We can get around from below."

Xiao Li added, "Besides, most of our lighting equipment is in Old Cao's pack. Even if we stayed up there, we'd still need enough light to move."

Zhou Diao frowned at Cao Hongyi. "How are you? Can you still walk?"

Cao Hongyi sat on the ground, holding his calf as he shook his head. "I can't move. It's probably fractured."

Zhou Diao's frown deepened. There was no signal in the cave, so he couldn't call for backup. They still had a long way to go to get out. What were they supposed to do?

"You go on ahead. Don't worry about me," Cao Hongyi said, unwilling to become a burden to the team. "I can find a smaller tunnel to hide in. Those bugs might not find me."

"Hide?" Zhou Diao snapped irritably. "You think hiding means you'll be fine? If we can't eliminate this Contaminant, the worst-case scenario is that they bring in heavy weapons and bomb the whole area! If you stay here, you'll be buried alive!"

Cao Hongyi moved his lips, then lowered his head without saying anything.

Every Special Forces member considered the mission more important than his own life. Now that he was holding the team back, he felt worse than anyone.

Zhou Diao probably understood how his teammate felt. After roaring at him a couple of times, he fell silent, still fuming.

Xiao Li silently set down her bag, took out an emergency medical kit, and began treating Cao Hongyi's leg.

Qin Liang also put down the Detector in his arms and gathered the remaining lighting tools one by one. "...There are four flare sticks left, two headlamps, and two small flashlights."

"That's all we have left?" Zhou Diao said irritably.

Qin Liang explained quietly, "There were more flare sticks in my backpack... but it fell into that big cavern earlier."

That only made Zhou Diao more annoyed. Beast Claw swung weakly through the air.

One problem after another had cropped up since entering the cave. How was he supposed to carry out this mission now?!

Once he was frustrated, everything looked wrong. He caught sight of the blood still flowing down Qin Liang's back and immediately cursed, "Your back is bleeding and you don't even know it?! Are you planning to make me carry you out after you bleed dry?!"

Qin Liang froze.

To protect the expensive Detector, he had been bitten by an insect earlier. Although the pain had been unbearable at the time, he had been too focused on retreating afterward and forgot about the injury on his back. Now, he did not even feel any pain.

Xiao Li tossed him a small spray bottle and said gravely, "Not feeling pain is more troublesome than feeling it. It could be a paralyzing toxin. We don't have an antidote right now, so spray some disinfectant first."

Qin Liang's face tightened. Without another word, he took off his shirt and struggled to spray disinfectant onto his back.

The Contaminant was hiding in the tunnels and refusing to come out. The team had lost supplies, and two people were injured. Their morale was at rock bottom.

Even Feng Ling could not help feeling discouraged—

The terrain here was far too favorable for the Contaminant. Combined with the terrible lighting conditions, she suspected that even if it appeared again, she might still be unable to take it down.

What should they do?

Xiao Li said, "Vice Captain, I believe lighting is the key to this mission. When flashlights and headlamps are used, their overly intense beams create shadows, causing visual blind spots. They also produce halos while moving, which is extremely disadvantageous in combat. We are critically short on flare sticks. If we enter a large cavern, we'll need to light at least two at a time. That means we have, at most, two chances to fight."

She took a deep breath and stared solemnly into Zhou Diao's eyes. "We only have two chances. After those two chances, we must find an exit, or we'll be dragged into a grueling battle!"

"I know all that!" Zhou Diao said, agitated. "But that thing runs too fast every time! And even if I can catch up to it, I can't see it. Unless we can lure it somewhere with light, I can definitely kill it!"

Listening to their conversation, Feng Ling sank into thought as well.

The Contaminant had appeared twice in total. The first time, it bit Super Strong Super to death. The second time, it tried to attack Fang Ye but was stopped by her. From that, it seemed the Contaminant was not as mindless as Huangfu Miaomiao had said. In fact, it possessed a certain degree of intelligence and was skilled at creating opportunities.

"Doesn't something seem strange to you?" Feng Ling said slowly as she thought it over. "Every time the Contaminant appeared, it was alone... What I mean is, why didn't it attack together with those insects when they assaulted us?"

Zhou Diao frowned and considered it. "That really is strange. Whenever the Contaminant appeared, the swarm had already retreated. And when the swarm came back, the Contaminant disappeared again. Its odds of winning would have been better if it attacked us in the chaos. Why insist on attacking alone?"

Feng Ling recalled another detail. "If I remember correctly, when the swarm first appeared, nearly all of them went straight for the lights and flashlights. At first, I thought it was simply insects being drawn to light. But thinking about it now, those bugs may have done it deliberately—deliberately destroying our lighting equipment and putting us at a disadvantage. We entered the wrong tunnel precisely because it was too dark, giving the Contaminant an opening."

"Have these bugs become demons or something?" Qin Liang asked in astonishment.

"They were never ordinary insects," Feng Ling said. "They are products of genetic fusion. It isn't strange for them to possess intelligence. Besides, the mission prompt Little Skeleton received said, 'Silence is the Overture to Death, Light is the Prelude to Victory.' 'Light' is easy to understand. Fighting in an environment without daylight like this, we truly cannot win without light. Then what does 'silence' refer to?"

Feng Ling paused. She could feel all her scattered thoughts gradually coming together, pointing toward an unmistakably clear answer.

Everyone looked at her.

Zhou Diao could not help asking, "What does silence refer to?"