Ying Wenjie's pupils suddenly contracted, and he instinctively ducked into the crowd. He had practiced a little taekwondo, but he had never seen anything like this.
"Holy shit!"
Whoosh! A sharp, clean whistle cut through the air as a silver flash swept in from the side. The sword sliced cleanly through the mosquito, severing its body in midair. Both halves fell onto the dead leaves, splashing dark green bodily fluid across the ground.
Its wings still twitched, giving a few final buzzes. Qin Xiaoyu sheathed her sword in one brisk, fluid motion.
A faint, composed smile rested on Qin Xiaoyu's refined face. She turned toward Ying Wenjie, who was hiding behind her, and teased him. "Young Master Ying, it was only a mosquito. You ducked for cover faster than a mouse spotting a cat."
Ying Wenjie gave an embarrassed smile. "I didn't fancy getting stabbed by that thing."
Wu Qingya crouched and prodded the mosquito's corpse with a stick. Its proboscis was three inches long and as hard as iron. The veins on its wings were several times thicker than those of an ordinary mosquito, resembling an intricate map.
"Keep moving." He stood up.
Along the way, they encountered several more mutated insects... fist-sized beetles, spiders as large as washbasins, and centipedes as long as an arm.
They were all dozens, even hundreds of times larger than normal.
Wu Qingya and his team dispatched several with their blades. Qin Xiaoyu, Ye Chendong, and Wu Tian also stepped in a few times. Unable to help, Ying Wenjie could only hold up the detector at the rear like a human stand.
The most dangerous encounter was a giant python. Thicker than an adult's waist and covered in dark green scales, it lay coiled in the middle of the path, its triangular head