Chapter 453: Chapter 453: Surprise

He soon arrived at the massive entrance of the Insect Nest.

Long Ming stopped to observe his surroundings. The rock face at the edge of the Insect Nest was irregular, with no path leading down.

His nerves taut, he floated downward with his back to the rock face.

Along the way, Long Ming spotted various kinds of insects and meticulously avoided them.

BZZZZ~

At that moment, a mosquito-shaped Type II insect flew in front of Long Ming.

Long Ming froze, calmly staring at the insect in front of him.

Fortunately, it didn’t notice him and wandered off after a moment.

Long Ming took a deep breath and continued his descent.

「Five minutes later.」

Long Ming landed at the bottom.

Before him lay a silent, seven-kilometer-long, arrow-shaped starship, its outer armor riddled with holes.

Swarms of writhing insects crawled across the ship’s surface. Some were even laying eggs on the Feixiang’s hull.

Long Ming breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing the Feixiang.

’Good thing this ship was only dragged to the bottom edge. If it had been pulled into the depths of the Insect Nest, this would be a real mess.’

’But the current situation is bad enough as it is.’

Long Ming carefully observed the bottom of the cavern. It was covered in slime, shed exoskeletons, and all manner of nesting insects.

Although he hadn’t yet seen any Type IV insects, there were plenty of Type III ones among them.

Furthermore, the cavern walls at the bottom were riddled with the entrances to countless large insect burrows.

’If I make the slightest sound, tens of millions of them could come pouring out.’

Just imagining the scene made Long Ming’s scalp crawl.

However, he showed no fear or hesitation. He moved stealthily across the cavern floor toward the Feixiang.

Just then, Long Ming noticed that the Lurker suit he was wearing was maintaining a constant state of micro anti-gravity. As his boots touched the slime-covered ground, they left almost no tracks, and the viscous fluid didn’t stick or become stringy.

This made Long Ming all the more grateful that he hadn’t sold this Mechanical God.

The seconds ticked by.

Relying on his animal-like instincts, Long Ming successfully made his way to the Feixiang.

He slipped through a breach in the hull and entered a long, narrow corridor.

The entire corridor was extremely dim.

The metal floor was littered with mangled remains, and the walls were pockmarked with bullet holes and blast marks.

Long Ming proceeded deeper into the ship.

Along the way, he spotted bloated, greasy corrosive insects, their bodies covered in black bristles, gnawing on the remains.

Frowning, Long Ming skirted around these insects, continuing toward the signal’s source.

...

「At that moment, inside a dim emergency shelter.」

A petite, cute-looking girl with an oval face and pink skin clutched a distress beacon, her expression full of fear and unease. She wore red exoskeletal mechanical armor and was muttering to herself.

"Come on, Yuri," she whispered. "You’re going to be rescued. You have to be."

CREAK~

Suddenly, the security door to the emergency shelter made a strange noise.

Yuri’s pupils dilated as she stared in terror at the security door.

CLICK!

The security door swung open.

Extremely tense, Yuri looked at the open security door, only to see nothing there.

She cautiously walked to the doorway and stuck her head out to look around, but still saw no one.

As Yuri turned around in confusion...

A pitch-black figure appeared out of thin air right in front of her.

Yuri’s vision went black, and she collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

Long Ming saw her collapse and quickly went over to the unconscious Yuri. He knelt and tapped her helmet.

THUMP THUMP~

"Wake up."

Yuri groggily opened her eyes and spoke.

"Where is this? Am I dead?"

"If you were dead, all my effort to get in here would have been for nothing, wouldn’t it?"

Long Ming said with a sigh.

"I’m not dead!"

Yuri exclaimed excitedly.

"Shh!"

Long Ming quickly gestured for Yuri to be quiet.

Yuri immediately clamped her mouth shut.

"Keep your voice down. What’s your name?"

Long Ming asked.

"Yuri. Medic, Seventh Reconnaissance Squad, Second Legion."

Yuri replied obediently.

"Are you the only survivor from this ship? Is there anyone else?"

Long Ming asked calmly.

"There are no other survivors. Captain Apiduo gave me the last chance to survive."

Yuri replied, her eyes welling with tears.

"I know you’re a recon team, but how did you get this deep, all the way to the Insect Star? That’s far too reckless."

Long Ming looked at Yuri, puzzled.

"It’s because we discovered something was wrong with this star sector."

"What was wrong?"

"This planet we’re on contains vast veins of Energy Crystals, and even Level 4 Energy Crystals."

Yuri told Long Ming.

He sucked in a sharp breath. "There’s a vein of such high-grade Energy Crystals here?"

"And that’s not all. The nearby planets all have veins of Energy Crystals. That’s why the Insect Race has cordoned off this entire star sector."

"Are you sure all the nearby planets have Energy Crystal veins?"

Long Ming was stunned.

"Positive. We were discovered during our survey."

Yuri said with absolute certainty.

"I see."

Long Ming immediately realized the gravity of the situation.

’This information has to get back,’ Long Ming thought. ’Setting aside the value of the mines, we can’t let the Insect Race have them, even if the Second Legion can’t take them. If they’re allowed to use these Energy Crystals to rapidly expand their forces, we’ll be the ones facing disaster.’

"Mm-hm!"

Yuri nodded repeatedly.

Long Ming looked at Yuri, wondering how he could possibly get her out of here safely.

But an idea quickly came to him, and he asked,

"Can you pilot a Mechanical God?"

"I can. I learned how, but I was too timid, so I switched to being a medic."

"Good. Wait here for me."

"O-Officer."

Yuri called out to Long Ming, her voice full of anxiety.

"What is it?"

"Officer, what’s your name?"

"Red Ghost. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon."

Long Ming could see the anxiety in her eyes.

"Okay."

Yuri nodded quickly.

Long Ming turned and left. He found a secluded spot, removed the Lurker suit he was wearing, and activated his Blade Blood Demon symbiotic armor, which enveloped his entire body.

He raised his wristband to store the Lurker, then walked back toward the emergency shelter.

Inside the emergency shelter, Yuri waited nervously for Long Ming.

Soon, the sealed door was pulled open again.

"Red..."

Yuri had only half-shouted his name upon seeing Long Ming walk in when she was confronted by the sight of a terrifying, skull-like head. Her body instantly went limp, and she fainted again.

Long Ming sighed.

He walked helplessly to Yuri’s side, knelt down, and shook her body, shouting,

"Wake up."

Yuri groggily opened her eyes.

When she once again saw Long Ming’s terrifying face and her expression filled with utter panic,

Long Ming quickly said,

"It’s me."

"Mr. Red Ghost, it’s you! I thought you were a monster."

Yuri immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

With a sigh, Long Ming raised his wristband and released the Lurker Mechanical God.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.