The speaker was called Bingzi. Pointing through the window at a spot near the top of the hive, he exclaimed, "Captain, look! That person can actually move around inside the hive. The S17 Squad really had rotten luck, running into such a huge hive."
The other person was Lulu, the S11 Team's pilot. Hearing this, Lulu said, "Just what you'd expect from someone under Captain Xue's brother. If we were trapped in that hive, we wouldn't have such an easy time getting out, but this person can even signal the outside."
Captain Qi Xue immediately located Sang Luoluo through her observation goggles and ordered, "Get her out first. The people in the back will provide cover."
Inside the hive, Sang Luoluo heard the helicopter drawing closer and closer until it gradually came to a steady hover before her, its side door opening.
"What are you standing there for? Come over!"
A young man inside urged her on. Sang Luoluo looked over and immediately spotted him and a beautiful young woman behind him.
This must be the rescue team.
Sang Luoluo took two steps outward. The helicopter door was more than two meters away, with a bottomless drop below. Her legs trembled as she called out in a shaking voice, "I... I don't dare jump. It's too far. I can't make it."
She used to be able to barely manage two meters in a standing long jump, but with her current body, jumping that far wouldn't be easy. And at such a height, her legs really did go weak.
The beautiful woman behind him wore a clean team uniform. She stepped forward and said helplessly, "If you don't jump, we can't save you."
Waaah...
She really was scared.
But if she didn't jump, she would still die here. Sang Luoluo steeled herself, backed up a few steps for a running start, and leaped from the edge of the hive.
She jumped toward the helicopter's side door.
Just as she had expected, she couldn't jump that far. Her feet fell a dozen centimeters short, and her whole body began to plummet.
At that moment, she felt as though her heart would leap out of her chest, and despair instantly flooded her.
The next moment, someone caught her shoulder. The beautiful woman above caught her arm and, together with another person, hauled her into the helicopter.
Sang Luoluo's legs gave out, and she slumped straight onto the floor, still shaken.
"You're so weak. How did you end up going on a mission with my brother's team?" Sang Luoluo looked up to find the beautiful woman's face close to hers. Not a single pore was visible on her smooth cheeks.
Her features resembled Captain Qi's somewhat. Could the brother she was talking about be Captain Qi? Sang Luoluo asked, "Are you Captain Qi's younger sister?"
Qi Xue nodded. "Yes, Qi Feng is my older brother. My name is Qi Xue. I received his distress signal and rushed back from outside. You still haven't answered my question."
Sang Luoluo briefly explained what had happened. She hadn't been involved much; her job was simply to come along and store things for the S17 Squad.
Qi Xue had the pilot fly toward another level of another hive as she said, "Your ability is very unusual. No wonder my brother's team brought you along."
Sang Luoluo smiled without saying more.
It was dangerous here. The mutant bees had detected the intruders and already begun fighting back.
The helicopter hovered outside the other side of the hive, where the heavy armor inside the honey was visible at a glance.
Getting the person out wouldn't be easy.
Qi Xue turned back to look at Sang Luoluo. Ignoring her unevenly cut short hair, her dark, grape-like eyes were exceptionally bright. She asked, "Sang Luoluo, how... did you dig a hole in there? And how did you get out?"
Sang Luoluo's heart lurched. She answered honestly, "I just dug a passage with a shovel and stored the honey I dug out. It's edible."
They would discover that the honey was edible when they tested this hive later anyway, so she might as well tell them early.
Qi Xue exchanged a look with the young man behind her and said, "Bingzi, go with her. You dig the person out and have her clear the space."
Sang Luoluo blurted out, "Seriously? I have to jump again? I... I'm scared..."
Bingzi said with some disdain, "I'm here. What are you scared of?"
With that, Bingzi, wearing a somewhat lighter suit of armor, held Sang Luoluo with one hand and jumped straight down. He caught hold of the outside of the hive securely and said, "Store however much I dig out."
"Okay."
At that moment, the mutant bees in midair spotted the people here and swarmed toward them. Behind them, Qi Xue led the others in opening fire from the helicopter's side door, killing every mutant bee that flew over.
Bingzi extended his mechanical arm and dug out a huge chunk of honey in less than two seconds.
Sang Luoluo reached out to touch it and instantly stored it in her space. The two jumped inside and steadied themselves.
The moment Sang Luoluo landed, she tested it with her wristwatch.
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 99. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
It wasn't edible, so Sang Luoluo placed this honey with the pile of inedible things in her space's time-frozen zone.
Bingzi worked quickly, operating his powered armor far more skillfully than she could. He dug out a chunk almost every two seconds, while Sang Luoluo only had to keep storing them behind him.
After digging several meters, they finally pulled out the S17 Squad member inside. Honey had seeped into his armor, causing its drive system to malfunction.
Bingzi dug an opening for the person inside to come out first. Only then did Sang Luoluo realize it was Wei Xing. His wrist had already been injured, and stranded here, he would have had a very hard time getting out.
Seeing his dry, peeling lips, Sang Luoluo wondered how long he had gone without water. Remembering that all the team's water was with her, she quickly took out a bottle and handed it to him. She reached out and stored his armor in her space.
Wei Xing hadn't drunk any water for three days, surviving entirely on nutrient solution. Had the rescue team come a few days later, he really would have died here. Now that he had water, he opened it and gulped down the entire bottle.
Bingzi urged, "Get out of here, quickly. Captain Xue can't hold out much longer."
Wei Xing knew Bingzi. Hearing that, he said, "Captain Xue is here? Then I can relax."
Sang Luoluo hurried out after them and asked, "Is Captain Xue really strong?"
As they withdrew, Wei Xing explained, "Captain Xue is our Captain Qi's younger sister, and she's an Evolved Human too. Her ability is the same as the captain's, an agility type, with every aspect of her body enhanced. She's much stronger than us. He Fei and the others only have one aspect enhanced, just their eyes. As for you, you only have a spatial ability. Those siblings are all-rounders."
Sang Luoluo gained a little more understanding of Evolved Humans.
Wei Xing still had strength left. With a light leap from the edge of the hive, he jumped into the helicopter. Beside her, Bingzi held her with one hand and jumped across just as easily.
Sang Luoluo asked, "Does that highly radioactive honey have any uses?"
Wei Xing said, "It's useless. Why do you ask?"
Once Sang Luoluo knew it couldn't be used, she felt reassured.
She looked at the mutant bees flying up from below.
Sang Luoluo took out a chunk of highly radioactive honey and tossed it down.
The mutant bees suddenly struck by it flew down after the honey.
Their buzzing summoned the other mutant bees to join in "rescuing" the honey.
Seeing that it worked, Sang Luoluo grabbed a dozen or so small chunks and threw them all down.
She successfully drew the mutant bees' attention.
Qi Xue laughed at the sight. "Not bad. Your ability is powerful. Your constitution is just a little weak."
Without needing Qi Xue to say anything, the pilot seized an opening and flew the helicopter away.
Wei Xing asked, "Captain Xue, have you seen Captain Qi? How are the others?"
Qi Xue said, "My brother went to rescue the others. When I met up with him, he was the only one left from the S17 Squad."
Wei Xing said, "There were too many mutant bees. We couldn't handle them."
Qi Xue said, "That's why I'm here with reinforcements. Oh, and Yan Lang brought people too. The base is taking the mutant bees very seriously and ordered us to wipe them all out."
As she spoke, Qi Xue had already switched to a laser cannon and blasted the mutant bees rescuing the honey below.
Wei Xing hurried to join the fight too. The laser gun in his hand never stopped firing, taking down one with every shot.
Lulu was a skilled pilot and evaded the mutant bees' attacks every time.
Sang Luoluo was still shaken, but she didn't want to hold them back, so she continued tossing highly radioactive mutant honey down.
More mutant bees came after them from behind.
The other two helicopters attacked the mutant bees directly with their powerful onboard weapons. For a time, all Sang Luoluo could see were mutant bee corpses raining down.
Qi Xue was the first to notice something wrong and stopped her. "Luoluo, stop throwing for now."
Sang Luoluo immediately stopped and looked outside, but she hadn't noticed anything wrong yet.
"Retreat! Retreat, now!" Qi Xue shouted into her headset.
The pilot immediately changed direction, firing the laser cannon while retreating at full speed.
In just a dozen seconds, huge numbers of mutant bees poured out of the hive in succession. Sang Luoluo's scalp prickled at the sight. Every single one was enormous.
Qi Xue urged, "Quick, land in the dense forest below."
These mutant bees' attacks were also terrifying. They rammed straight at them without regard for their lives. These humans had invaded their territory, and they would retaliate viciously.
The helicopters were already fleeing very quickly, but the vanguard mutant bees still rammed them, damaging their rotors. All three helicopters were forced to land.
Sang Luoluo felt an intense, swaying sensation of weightlessness and clung tightly to her seat. Fortunately, they had dodged in time and landed safely.
But the three helicopters were badly damaged and could no longer take off.
Qi Xue directed the other S11 Team members over her microphone. Her group would hurry over soon as well.
"Bring your things. We're going to support them."
After saying that, Qi Xue glanced at Sang Luoluo. "Can you take the helicopters?"
Normally, damaged helicopters couldn't be brought back, but now they had someone with a spatial ability. Bringing them back would reduce the base's losses somewhat.
Looking at the nearly wrecked helicopters, Sang Luoluo stored all three in her space. There was some ammunition inside, and Qi Xue told her to supply them with ammunition whenever they needed it.