As long as you have the courage, fierce ghosts go on maternity leave.

Chapter 347: Grab your brick and charge

Since the establishment of the survivor base, it had become a fixed routine—every three days, a small wave of beetles would emerge.

Previously, these beetle waves consisted of merely twenty to thirty thousand insects. This time, however, their numbers had increased tenfold.

These beetles weren’t like those forsaken creatures; though individually not very strong, they could easily take on survivors of the same rank, either one-on-one or even one against several with bare hands.

What was more terrifying was that the strength of the beetle swarm was considerable, with the majority being of soldier rank, but the number of Imperial rank and above was definitely ten or even a hundred times that of the survivors.

Every arrival of the beetle wave was a disaster for the survivor base.

Base One was the first established and had the largest population, initially boasting three million people. Now, barely one-tenth remained, just three hundred thousand.

The situation for other survivor bases was even worse, with only tens of thousands or even just thousands of people left, and there were even cases of complete annihilation.

The intensity of the beetle wave corresponded to the number of survivors in the base, making it pointless to merge forces.

"Defend! Assemble all combat squads and organize personnel for defense!" Paul and others shouted, assisting Lucy in issuing orders and organizing the survivors for defense.

However, because the survivors were so concentrated, although this put them farther from the direction of the beetle swarm’s emergence, the combat squads scattered among the crowd found it difficult to assemble quickly.

Instinctively, Lucy looked towards Alexander.

"Defend my ass!"

Alexander roared, his hands channeling Ghost Energy into a huge ghostly hand. He did not use his Underworld Sword, instead lifting a soldier-rank giant brick:

"Everyone, grab a brick and follow me!"

With that, Alexander charged out, his brick aimed at the densest part of the black beetle swarm, and slammed it down.

Bang!

With a thunderous crash, countless black beetles were squashed like mosquitoes. A multitude of soldier, general, and even king rank beetles were smashed to death on the spot.

The remaining Imperial and Emperor rank beetles were also severely injured, dazed, and unable to stand up from the ground.

"Damn it! A bunch of little beetles, what’s there to fear! Grab your brick and charge!"

Someone bellowed, seizing a brick and rushing toward the beetle swarm.

The other survivors finally snapped to their senses.

Yeah, what was there to fear?

Even though the number of beetles had increased tenfold, they were no longer the barehanded survivors of old!

Each had a brick, what was there to fear?

The beetle swarm, which had once rampaged unchallenged, suddenly faced the most terrifying disaster since their invasion of reality.

More than three hundred thousand survivors, each wielding a brick over a meter long, charged out.

With each thud reverberating through the swarm, an Emperor-level beetle was effortlessly flung aside by a brick smacked by a soldier-level survivor.

However, what awaited it next was a downpour of massive bricks, a veritable brick storm descending upon it. The Emperor-level beetle, along with dozens or even hundreds behind it, was stunned.

Under such onslaught, the outcome was clear. A relentless barrage of bricks rained down, burying the Emperor-level beetle into the ground.

Five minutes later, it was impossible to count exactly how many beetles had perished, but those still able to take flight numbered only in the tens of thousands.

Then came the second, third, and fourth rounds... The beetles tragically never even had the chance to attack. Even the weakest survivors, with a single hurl of their brick, could knock a King-level beetle off balance. To lose balance meant to be smashed to death by the bricks.

After the third round, there were no more beetles below King-level, leaving only ten thousand.

After the fifth round, all Imperial-level beetles were annihilated, leaving only a few hundred Emperor-level ones surrounded by thousands of brick-wielding survivors, who, red-eyed and swinging their arms, vigorously pummeled them with their bricks.

Ultimately, the brick army triumphed decisively. Only a few survivors were inadvertently bitten by leftover beetles, but they were quickly rescued by other Emperor-level survivors.

"Damn satisfying!" exclaimed a survivor, bare-chested, brick in hand, laughing heartily. Any previous grievances against Alexander vanished like smoke.

Initially, he had used his own weapon, a soldier-level long knife. But once the battle commenced, he decisively tossed aside his knife, picked up a brick, and rejoined the fray.

The environment, the atmosphere, it just didn’t feel right not to be wielding a brick!

"Now is not the time for sentiment," Alexander bellowed. "Everyone, immediately clean up the battlefield, prioritize using the beetles for survivors who need to advance!"

Everyone moved on his command, showing complete obedience to Alexander.

The haul wasn’t specifically tallied, but Alexander had already made a rough estimate when he looked over the swarm.

Four hundred and thirty Emperor-level, two thousand Imperial-level, ten thousand King-level, thirty thousand Prince-level, and the soldier and general levels together should be around one hundred thousand. This was a tremendous harvest, but this time Alexander didn’t take a single piece for himself.

"To receive, one must first give," he knew.

To extract significant value from these minions, he had to first boost their strength. After all, there were many more minions waiting for his rescue, waiting to be recruited.

Moreover, these black beetles were fresh, not abandoned, thus they couldn’t be refined into Ghost Pills.

"The intensity of this black beetle emergence was much more than expected, ten times the usual numbers, but even more in quality! Previously, at most a dozen Emperor-levels would appear, but this time there were hundreds! The other bases will have serious troubles," Lucy said, her complexion ashen as she approached.

Following her were all the team leaders who had reached the Emperor level.

Following Alexander’s orders to limit beetle supply only to survivors in need of advancement, they refrained from collecting for themselves.

"We’ll divide into teams of two to three people, thirty thousand people into thirty big teams, and immediately go to support the other bases!" Alexander wouldn’t miss this chance; he was all in. With a wave of his hand, thirty storage Ghost Treasures were tossed out.

"Each person gets one, each containing five million bricks of evil spirit-level or higher, along with contract items. Save people first, then sign contracts! You, you! And you guys!" Alexander ordered, not even waiting for a few to react.

He turned to the crowd absorbing the beetles and said, "Those of you in the middle, after you’ve absorbed the beetles, come with me to Base Two!"

With the aid of Ghost Nerve, the absorption of the black beetles was astoundingly fast. Soon, the tens of thousands of survivors Alexander had selected finished absorbing the beetles.

Alexander, Lucy, and the newly born Ghost Emperors, along with many survivors, stepped onto the transport stone, heading straight to Base Two.