Alien Species Invasion? I Kill Them Back.

Chapter 28: Chapter 26: Light is the Prelude to Victory

"AAAAAAAH!!!"

Seeing that face again, Fang Ye was scared out of his wits and screamed for his life, "Help! Help me!!!"

A monster wearing a human face lurked in the darkness. However, the people standing above the pit had a limited view; they could only see Fang Ye yelling and Cao Hongyi firing nonstop.

Just as the others hesitated over whether to go down and save him, Feng Ling jumped down, flashlight in hand—

The flashlight beam swept over a behemoth. Feng Ling’s heart raced, and a long-lost excitement washed over her!

Without waiting to get a clear look at the target, her two Bone Blades slashed out the instant she landed!

Piercing the human face, plunging into the carapace, slicing through muscle—the visceral sensations sent a tingling numbness through her. It felt incredible!

Like a lioness that had tasted blood, she wanted to press her advantage after the successful strike, but the monster quickly scurried out of the light and vanished from sight.

Feng Ling swept the flashlight beam around, but she saw nothing besides a few pitch-black cave entrances.

’It escaped into a tunnel again?’

She frowned and examined the bloodstains on the ground. Unlike the blood from the insects earlier, this monster’s blood was bright red.

She heard a heavy thud behind her and turned to see Zhou Diao jump down.

Xiao Li and Qin Liang followed, rappelling down on ropes. Huangfu Miaomiao was last, cautiously trailing behind the Special Attack Team members.

"Why did you guys come down too?" Feng Ling asked, walking over.

Qin Liang wiped the sweat from his face and held up the black box in his arms. "I just checked with the detector. We can find a way out from down here."

Xiao Li added, "Besides, most of our lighting equipment is in Old Cao’s pack. Even if we stayed up there, we’d need adequate light to move around."

Zhou Diao frowned and asked Cao Hongyi, "How are you? Can you still walk?"

Cao Hongyi sat on the ground, clutching his calf and shaking his head. "I can’t move it. I think it’s broken."

Zhou Diao’s frown deepened. There was no signal in the caves, so he couldn’t call for backup. They still had a long way to go to get out. ’What do we do?’

"You guys go on ahead. Don’t worry about me," Cao Hongyi said, not wanting to be a burden to the team. "I can find a small hole to hide in. The insects might not even find me."

"Hide?" Zhou Diao snapped irritably. "You think hiding will keep you safe? If we can’t eliminate this Pollution Body, the worst-case scenario is they’ll bring in heavy weaponry for a wide-area bombardment! Staying here is a death sentence—you’ll be buried alive!"

Cao Hongyi’s lips moved, but he lowered his head and said nothing.

Every member of the Special Attack Team valued the mission more than their own life. Now that he was dragging the team down, he felt worse than anyone.

Zhou Diao probably understood how his subordinate felt. After his outburst, he just grunted angrily and fell silent.

Xiao Li silently put down her pack and took out a first-aid kit to treat Cao Hongyi’s leg.

Qin Liang also set down the detector he was holding and laid out their remaining lighting equipment. "...Four flare sticks, two headlamps, and two small flashlights."

Zhou Diao said in frustration, "Is that all we have left?"

Qin Liang explained in a low voice, "I had some more flare sticks in my backpack... but I dropped it in that big cavern earlier."

This only made Zhou Diao more irritated. He swung his Beast Claw through the air in frustration.

Everything had gone wrong since they entered the caves. ’How am I supposed to continue the mission now?!’

Overcome with frustration, everything started to annoy him. He glanced over and saw that Qin Liang’s back was still bleeding, and he lashed out, "Your back is bleeding, didn’t you know?! Are you going to wait until you’ve bled dry and expect me to carry you out?!"

Qin Liang froze.

He’d been bitten by an insect while protecting the expensive detector. The pain had been excruciating at the time, but in the rush to retreat, he’d forgotten about the wound on his back. Now, he couldn’t feel any pain at all.

Xiao Li tossed him a small spray bottle. "No pain is more trouble than pain," she said gravely. "It might be a paralytic toxin. We don’t have an antidote, so spray it with antiseptic for now."

Qin Liang’s face tensed. He said nothing more, taking off his shirt and struggling to spray the antiseptic on his own back.

The Pollution Body was hiding in the tunnels, the team had lost supplies, and now two members were injured. Morale was at an all-time low.

Even Feng Ling couldn’t help but feel a bit dejected—

The terrain here gave the Pollution Body too much of an advantage. Coupled with the poor lighting, she suspected that even if the creature reappeared, she might still be unable to take it down.

’What should I do?’

Xiao Li said, "Deputy Captain, I believe light is the key to this mission. When we use flashlights and headlamps, the intense beams create shadows, causing localized blind spots. They also create a halo effect when we move, which is terrible for combat. We’re critically low on flare sticks. If we enter a large cavern, we’ll need to light at least two at a time. This means we have, at most, two chances to fight."

She took a deep breath and looked Zhou Diao squarely in the eyes. "We only have two chances. After those two attempts, we must find an exit, or we’ll be in for a desperate struggle!"

Zhou Diao was agitated. "Of course I know all that, but the damned thing is too fast! And even if I could catch up to it, I can’t see it! Unless we can lure it into the light, then I could definitely kill it!"

As Feng Ling listened to them talk, she too became lost in thought.

The Pollution Body had appeared twice. The first time, it bit Super Strong Chao to death. The second time, it tried to attack Fang Ye but was stopped by her. From this, it seemed the Pollution Body wasn’t completely mindless like Huangfu Miaomiao had said. In fact, it possessed a certain degree of intelligence and was skilled at creating opportunities.

"There’s one thing... don’t you guys find it strange?" Feng Ling said slowly, pondering. "Every time the Pollution Body has appeared, it’s been alone... I mean, why doesn’t it attack us at the same time as the insects?"

Zhou Diao frowned in thought. "You’re right, that is weird. When the Pollution Body appeared, the swarm had already retreated. When the swarm came back, the Pollution Body was gone. Its chances of success would be much higher if it attacked us during the chaos. Why does it insist on attacking alone?"

Feng Ling thought of another detail. "If I remember correctly, when the swarm first appeared, they went almost exclusively for the lamps and flashlights. At first, I thought it was just insects being drawn to light, but now that I think about it, maybe they did it on purpose. They deliberately destroyed our lighting to put us at a disadvantage. It’s because it was so dark that we entered the wrong tunnel, giving the Pollution Body an opportunity."

"Have these insects become sentient or something?" Qin Liang asked, astonished.

Feng Ling said, "They were never ordinary insects to begin with. They’re products of genetic fusion, so it’s not surprising they’d have intelligence. Besides, the mission prompt Little Skeleton received said, ’Silence is the prelude to death, light is the overture to victory.’ ’Light’ is easy enough to understand. Fighting in an environment with no natural light, we’d have no chance of winning without it. But what does ’silence’ refer to?"

Feng Ling paused. She could feel all her scattered thoughts gradually converging, pointing toward a single, unmistakably clear answer.

Everyone was looking at her.

Zhou Diao couldn’t help but press, "What does ’silence’ refer to?"

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