Ahead of them was a river flowing down from higher ground.
Captain Qi waved a hand. "He Fei, keep watch. Everyone else, wash up."
He Fei stood nearby holding his sniper rifle. Sang Luoluo took out crate number four and watched Fatty operate it. He took out a machine with a hose, drew water from the river, and ran it through a box before spraying it over them.
Once Sang Luoluo had washed, she waited off to the side. The river water looked far from clear, and who knew what mutated animals lived in it.
Everyone rinsed the filth and butterfly powder off their clothes, then found a relatively safe, shady spot nearby to rest.
Their small packs contained nutrient solutions. Sang Luoluo watched them each take one out to drink. She had secretly eaten earlier and was not hungry yet, so she took out a bottle of Spirit Spring water to hydrate.
Lei Qi said, "Sang Luoluo, take out a pack of bottled water. We haven't had a chance to drink all morning."
Sang Luoluo waved her hand, and a pack of water appeared in front of them.
She watched them take out bottles and drink in small sips, looking as though they treasured it.
Captain Qi noticed that Sang Luoluo was drinking different water from theirs. Thinking she did not dare drink their water without permission, he said, "The water we brought for this mission includes your share. Nine bottles per person."
Nine bottles per person for three days was already quite a lot. Drinking water was limited at the base, and they were sparing with their everyday water use too.
Sang Luoluo did not need it, but she still said with delighted surprise, "There's a share for me too!"
Drinking water with one hand, Wei Xing asked, "Your water's different from ours."
Sang Luoluo said, "I brought it myself. How much does your bottled water sell for? How many points per bottle?"
Sang Luoluo saw that the label clearly stated: low-radiation purified water, purified using the base's equipment, with a radiation level below 10.
Wei Xing said, "Five points a bottle. Mission supplies include three free bottles a day."
Well, she had sold hers to the scavenger Asuo far too cheaply. But now that she had a source for the bottles, she could raise her price a little. In any case, the Spirit Spring water in her space flowed endlessly. She had plenty, making it essentially a business with no costs.
Sang Luoluo asked, "I brought enough water for myself, so I don't need my share of the bottled water. You can split it among yourselves."
Several of them looked over at once.
Seeing that she did not look well-off, Captain Qi kindly reminded her, "If you don't drink it, you can take it back and exchange it for points."
Sang Luoluo shook her head. "No need. This is my first mission, and I've caused everyone plenty of trouble. You've all taken care of me, so treating you to some water is only right. Besides, I'm on my own now. The points I earn from missions will be enough for me to live on."
Her words made everyone happy. Usually, people hoarded their water for themselves, sometimes even fighting over the tiniest gains. This young girl really knew how to get along with people and was easy to be around.
Lei Qi smiled. "All right. We won't drink your water for nothing. If you need help in the future, just ask."
He had only just received two strawberry-flavored nutrient solutions from Sang Luoluo that morning, and now he had another bottle of water. Whatever else, he was pleased.
Sang Luoluo smiled and stayed quietly to the side.
Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Sang Luoluo put away the water-pumping equipment and empty bottles as requested. Hu Tian said he needed to relieve himself, and Captain Qi told him not to go too far.
"There are so many wildflowers around here." Fatty went over to test them and see whether any were edible.
Seeing this, Sang Luoluo also looked around nearby. Some of the enormous wildflowers had mutated bees the size of sparrows gathering nectar inside them.
Honestly, the sight of bees that large made Sang Luoluo's scalp prickle. She kept bees in her space too, both to produce honey and to pollinate the fruit trees. By comparison, these huge bees gave her the creeps however she looked at them.
Seeing one fly toward her, Sang Luoluo hurried out of its way.
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 41. Moderate radiation. Recommended for consumption!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 102. High radiation. Not recommended for consumption!"
"Beep, beep, beep..."
She actually found an edible giant flower. Sang Luoluo took out her machete, easily cut it down, and put it into her space. She had no use for it herself, but she could take it back and exchange it for points.
Just then, alarms suddenly sounded from everyone's wrist devices. Sang Luoluo looked down and saw a distress signal from Hu Tian.
Captain Qi realized something was wrong. "Lei Qi, go check first. Fatty and Wei Xing, guard Sang Luoluo. Get the armor out."
Sang Luoluo waved her hand and took out all the armor.
The others immediately put on their heavy armor and hurried in the direction Hu Tian had gone.
Fatty hurried back, staring worriedly toward where they had disappeared.
Sang Luoluo was puzzled. "Did Hu Tian have to go that far just to relieve himself?"
Fatty had experience and explained, "It's not about relieving himself. Hu Tian probably disturbed something nearby and got trapped."
A loud buzzing rose.
It was loud, but Sang Luoluo immediately recognized what it was. "Bees?"
Fatty exclaimed, "Oh no, mutated bees! Get inside your armor, quick, and don't come out."
They could already see bees flying toward them.
Drawing on his experience, Fatty threw a jamming grenade toward the swarm, temporarily confusing the bees.
Sang Luoluo hurriedly jumped into her armor and secured it.
The next instant, mutated bees rushed straight at her, trying to sting her.
Through her helmet, all Sang Luoluo could see was a dense mass of bees. She could not see anyone else at all.
"Run!" Fatty's voice came through her earpiece.
Sang Luoluo panicked for a moment. "How do we deal with these bees?"
The markings on these bees differed from those she kept in her space. Perhaps they were a different species. They gathered into a mass and rammed into her. Sang Luoluo lost her footing and fell, hitting the ground hard.
The bees kept attacking, hurling themselves at her with brute force. If she had not been inside her armor, she would probably have been done for.
She turned over and tried to get up, raising her right hand to activate the drill and thrusting it toward the charging swarm. With a rumbling crash, the bees collided with the drill, and those it struck fell in showers.
But the mutated bees quickly reacted, avoiding the drill and attacking her from behind.
"Fatty, how do I kill the bees?" Sang Luoluo asked over the microphone. She waited several seconds without a response.
Taking a closer look, she found no sign of Fatty or Wei Xing anywhere around her.
She had just climbed to her feet when a swarm of bees slammed into her and knocked her down again.
She felt that these bees had not only grown larger, but smarter too. Now they were pursuing her, trying to kill her.
"Where is everyone? Where did you all go?"
After being knocked down again, Sang Luoluo rolled and rolled across the ground. Even lying there, she was still under attack.
This could not go on. The heavy armor simply could not handle so many bees attacking at close quarters.
There was water nearby, but she did not dare jump in. She had no idea what mutated animals were underwater and did not dare take that risk.
Thinking of the soil and Spirit Spring water in her space, she immersed her consciousness in it, mixed some mud, and took it out to smear over the outside of her armor.
The bees detected the smell of soil, and sure enough, their attacks weakened. After battering her a few more times, they gave up for the moment and flew around her in a dense cloud.
The next instant, she saw a distress message on her wrist device. This time, it was a request for help that the S17 Squad had sent to the base.
Just as Sang Luoluo was wondering about it, she saw even larger bees not far away, each a full person and a half in size, flying toward her in a dense mass.
So the ones attacking me just now were all juveniles?
Bees can grow this big?
Before Sang Luoluo could puzzle over it, a group of giant bees lifted her straight off the ground. The heavy armor might as well have been decoration before them. She only felt herself suddenly rise into the air and land on a giant bee's back, carried along at speed. She raised her electromagnetic cannon and fired at the surrounding bees, but killing those few made no difference at all.
At that moment, all she wanted was to cry for help.
She finally knew what real danger was.
Her view was pitch-black. After what felt like several minutes of flight, she was thrown into a sticky, soft space.
It was pitch-black all around. Sang Luoluo switched on her armor's light and wondered, Could this be a hive? Did the bees throw me into honey, armor and all?
Fuck!
How is this any different from being buried alive?
Chapter 21: What Was That Thing? Sang Luoluo Lit Ten in a Row...
The armor shifted, enveloped in the thick liquid around it, unable to move at all.
She raised her wrist device and tried to contact the others, only to discover there was no signal.
Well, it'd be strange if there were a signal in all this honey.
With her slender limbs, Sang Luoluo could still move inside the armor, but the armor itself was difficult to move. Every movement pulled at the seemingly endless honey around her.
After struggling for a while, she grew tired. She would eat something first to replenish her strength.
She slipped into her space, sat at the dining table, drank a bowl of pork rib soup, and ate several dishes she had prepared earlier. Only after she was full did she think about how to escape.
When she left her space, she was still inside the armor.
Before being thrown here, she had seen the S17 Squad send a distress signal to the base. Presumably, the base would send rescuers.
She could not contact anyone else now and still did not know how large this hive was. Thinking about how huge every one of those bees was, the hive certainly could not be small either. Getting out would be far from easy.
But waiting like this made her terribly restless.
Her only reliance was her space. She wondered whether she could put this honey into it and dig a passage out from inside the hive.
She tried operating the armor. Her right hand was still in drill mode, and she used it to cut into the honey in front of her. After rotating it in a circle, she cut out roughly a cubic meter of honey. Sang Luoluo stored it in the time-frozen area of her space, and it actually worked.