novelraw Chapter 599 518: Night of the Poisonous Bramble Path (3)
Chapter 599 518: Night of the Poisonous Bramble Path (3)
"Is that so." Jiang Miao nodded and said, "I will remember that."
The transport vehicle continued heading deeper into E Peak Mountain. Meanwhile, on the other side, in the camp area, the bright light of tactical flashlights illuminated the path of several figures advancing. A few captain instructors found a row of shadows in the bushes before the barbed wire.
"You in front, crawl and squat down immediately!"
"What's... going on?" Members of the Far Traveler Team were suddenly taken aback by the light and couldn't understand what was happening.
"Report, all members of the Far Traveler Team have been found, numbers confirmed correct."
"After hearing the assembly whistle, why didn't you head to the training ground? What are you doing here, and where is your officer!?"
"Wait a minute, there must be some misunderstanding." The Far Traveler Team captain, Xilin, realized something was wrong and stepped forward.
"Before the training, our team received orders to head to these coordinates and wait. We're just executing orders as instructed."
The captains exchanged glances, and one nodded, walked up to Xilin, and took the terminal from the young woman's hand. After seeing the task directive, his eyes flickered.
They weren't lying; they had indeed received task orders, and the orders were from... headquarters?
But for these teams, individual orders would usually be notified in advance. However, even Thistle Xuedong hadn't received any special directive for the Far Traveler Team.
In that moment of distraction, another instructor beside him lifted his gun and, with an indifferent look, shot him in the head.
Blood splattered, and the other three snapped back to reality, trying to summon Mimicry, only to be swiftly taken down. The abrupt scene left the Far Traveler Team members at a loss, their minds suddenly ringing with a voice:
"Run!!"
Xilin, who first perceived the seriousness of the situation, shouted at her team, as if a starter's pistol had been fired at their heads, belatedly running out of the barbed wire area.
"Dispose of the unimportant brats quickly; we've been exposed. Make it quick—tonight, we have only one objective."
The sky resounded with a roaring sound, a violent explosion occurred at the rear, and a piercing alarm echoed in the camp area.
Xilin watched as a once-familiar instructor silhouette approached. The indifferent outline was illuminated by the firelight, making her feel strange.
Just as she pulled out her gun, intending to buy her companions time to escape, a rustling sound echoed in her ears, similar to cicada cries. The man's lips trembled at a specific frequency, and the eerie noise came from him.
"Xilin, have you forgotten us?" the man said.
"*Return to the swarm* return to the embrace*"
The ethereal voice from far-off Tower City reverberated in her ears, washing her consciousness to a blank state. Her body began to lose control, eyes abruptly rolled up, bloodshot, rotating, speeding up, and eventually returning to their original position.
Her expression became equally indifferent. Without a word, she looked at the two men and nodded, then drew her gun and aimed at the backs of several fleeing team members, firing. Three fell in response.
The last two were dragged before her.
"Captain! Captain!" One cried, tears and snot mixing, a pained expression, "Damn it, Captain, what's wrong with you, snap out of it."
"Just them." Xilin's voice was cold as iron.
Seeing a creature in one man's hand wriggling frantically, resembling a monster combining a scorpion and centipede, the second team member's face twisted in horror. He screamed and struggled but was pinned to the ground, forced to watch as the creature leapt onto his face and burrowed through his eyes.
In an instant, another team member became parasitized, both of them standing dazed, then their expressions returned to calm.
"How do you feel?" Xilin asked.
"Very warm."
"Very happy."
They responded.
"Damn it, what's going on over there? Answer me immediately, Far Traveler Team!" Thistle Xuedong's voice came through the ground radio.
No one spoke. Xilin bent down to pick up the radio, her indifferent expression suddenly becoming animated, visibly terrified and suppressed:
"Help us, I'm the captain of the Far Traveler Team, Xilin. There are Syndicate agents among the instructors. I'm hiding now; they haven't found me yet, I'm so scared..."
The trembling, crying voice came through. Thistle Xuedong frowned slightly at her radio. The person seemed to be in an enclosed space, and from her tone, it didn't sound like she was lying, but something felt wrong.
"Where are you?"
The call was disconnected.
"Damn it, to hell with the Syndicate!"
The woman slammed the table in anger; just then, teams fighting outside started losing contact one by one in the communication channel. Their markers on the screen dimmed in succession, floating cursors disappeared, and then, a prominent red exclamation mark dominated the entire screen.
Communications were intentionally cut off.
Thistle Xuedong was not new to such events; she quickly deployed people to investigate the situation as her heated mind cooled down.
This occurrence indicated that the camp, inside and out, had been infiltrated by the Insect Race. Even decision-makers were part of the Syndicate. These guys usually appeared normal, lurking in the camp, but suddenly moved en masse tonight. What was their objective?
Suddenly, a figure flashed in her mind, and a sense of unease bred in her heart.
Thistle Xuedong immediately asked loudly:
"Where is the Red Glow Team now!?"
...
"This is really strange, why does it feel like we've driven this road before?" Yin Yusheng glanced at the fast-moving road signs beside him, speaking with confusion. "Why is it still so far to the mission destination?"
"Don't you think it's strange?" A boy in the corner spoke with a trembling voice. "We've left the camp so far that we should've entered the range of the Insect Race's watchtower, yet there's not even a shadow of the Insect Race to be seen..."
Chichu Chun had long noticed this issue; it was clearly abnormal. Beside her, Jiang Miao tightened his grip on his weapon without showing any emotion.
After driving a short distance further, the protruding branches and Ring Mountain Road signs flew by on both sides.
Until suddenly, Chichu Chun's ears twitched, sensitively capturing an abnormal sound in the wind, not loud, a rustling... like the buzzing of a gigantic insect's wings.
"Wait, stop the car immediately..."
Before the words were finished, calamity struck. The transport vehicle was hit, violently ramming into the guardrail, plummeting off the cliff, exploding. Glass shattered upon impact, fire tongues and howling wind pouring in for an instant; balance turned to weightlessness, out of control, the world inside the car began rotating, flipping, inverting.
The sound of panic-stricken screams rose in her ears, white noise filling her world. Chichu Chun watched it happen; Yin Yusheng's head was pierced by iron-black limbs, then ripped apart... his upper skull torn asunder...
An unending fall was suddenly paused, her consciousness was stripped away by a massive impact, and her vision turned pitch black.