Rewriting My Fate in the Apocalypse

"That is where you and Little Vine come in."

Lu Zhen understood.

He would force the queen to expose its abdomen while Little Vine restrained its roots.

Leng Pan would then remove the crystal.

It would require precise timing.

If Leng Pan missed, she might damage the crystal or strike one of the captives behind the creature.

"Sonny, Vanish," Lu Zhen called.

Both men looked towards him.

"Move as many captives as you can away from the centre. Do not sever the roots yet."

"What are you planning?" Sonny asked.

"We are taking the crystal."

Sonny glanced at the glowing object inside the queen.

"That could make it angry."

"It is already angry."

"That is true."

Sonny and Vanish continued moving the sacs.

They could not detach them fully, but they could pull them along the flexible roots and clear a section of the chamber.

Chief Gao watched everything from inside the mist barrier.

"You cannot remove it," he said.

"No one asked for your opinion," Leng Pan replied.

"The Mother will destroy the village."

"The Mother is the reason your village needs saving."

"You don’t understand. The crystal protects us from the locusts."

Leng Pan paused.

"The crystal?"

Chief Gao nodded quickly.

"It strengthens everything around it. The houses, the well, and even the ground. If you remove it, the village will be destroyed."

"That does not sound like a water purification crystal," Lu Zhen said.

"It does both," Chief Gao insisted. "The gods said it was special."

Leng Pan and Lu Zhen looked at the blue crystal again.

Could one meteorite possess more than one function?

The crystal shard Leng Pan had found could purify water and increase water production. The diamond meteorite strengthened buildings.

However, the stone inside the queen seemed capable of doing both.

It could be a more complete fragment, or perhaps the queen had altered its energy.

"Even if removing it weakens the village, we cannot leave it inside that creature," Leng Pan said.

"What if the locusts return?" Chief Gao asked.

"We will deal with that after we deal with the parasites."

Chief Gao shook his head.

"You will kill everyone."

"You already tried to do that."

Chief Gao became quiet.

Leng Pan turned towards Little Vine.

"Can you hold its roots for a few seconds?"

Little Vine raised several tendrils.

It seemed confident.

"Don’t get carried away. We only need a few seconds."

The vine moved into position.

Lu Zhen spread his hands.

Fire gathered around him, but he did not release it immediately.

The queen sensed the change.

Its roots pulled tighter around its body.

"Target resistance exceeds prediction."

"Additional biological matter required."

The queen opened its circular mouth.

Instead of releasing parasites, it inhaled.

The roots attached to the captives pulsed violently.

Leng Pan strengthened the mist around them.

"You won’t be eating anyone else," she said.

The queen turned towards her.

"Leng Pan will be preserved."

"Lu Zhen will be consumed."

The flames around Lu Zhen surged.

It seemed that the queen had finally found the fastest way to anger her.

Leng Pan’s mist spread across the entire chamber.

"I changed my mind," she said.

"About what?" Lu Zhen asked.

"I was going to leave enough of it for the researchers to study."

"And now?"

"Now they can study the ashes."

Lu Zhen smiled.

"That can be arranged."

He released the fire.

Instead of attacking from the front, the flames travelled along both sides of the chamber.

They surrounded the queen and cut off every direction it could use to escape.

The heat forced the creature to lift its abdomen away from the ground.

The blue crystal became fully exposed.

"Now!" Leng Pan shouted.

Little Vine expanded.

Hundreds of green tendrils rushed forward and wrapped around the queen’s roots.

The pale roots fought back, but Little Vine divided its attention across all of them.

Some of its tendrils were torn apart.

Others held firmly.

The queen screamed and tried to lower its body.

Lu Zhen compressed the flames beneath it, forcing it higher.

Leng Pan formed a blade of water.

She concentrated purifying energy along its edge until the blade became almost transparent.

Then she released it.

The blade cut through the thick vessels surrounding the crystal.

Dark fluid sprayed from the wound.

The queen’s body shook.

The blue crystal shifted but did not fall.

One final vessel held it in place.

The queen twisted its body away before Leng Pan could attack again.

A thick root broke free from Little Vine and struck her.

Lu Zhen appeared in front of her.

The root hit his flame barrier and exploded.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I am fine. The crystal is almost free."

The queen knew it too.

Its remaining roots wrapped around its abdomen, covering the crystal.

At the same time, the energy flowing through the chamber became unstable.

Cracks spread across the walls.

The underground stream rose rapidly.

"What is it doing?" Vanish shouted.

"It might be trying to collapse the chamber," Sonny replied.

The queen released a furious roar.

Then, for the first time, its mechanical voice lost its calm tone.

"Preservation impossible."

"Initiating site destruction."

The ceiling shook.

Stones began falling onto the sacs.

Leng Pan spread her water barrier to protect the captives, but she could not cover the whole chamber and cut out the crystal at the same time.

Lu Zhen looked around.

If the underground chamber collapsed, hundreds of people would be buried alive.

"Panpan, protect them," he said.

"What are you going to do?"

"I will take the crystal."

"It is inside that thing."

"I noticed."

Before Leng Pan could stop him, Lu Zhen rushed through the flames.

The queen sent several roots towards him.

Little Vine caught some, but two slipped past.

Lu Zhen burned through the first and allowed the second to wrap around his arm.

The root tightened, trying to pull him towards the queen’s mouth.

Instead of resisting, Lu Zhen used the force to move closer.

He landed against the creature’s abdomen.

The blue crystal was only a few centimetres away.

The final vessel pulsed around it.

Lu Zhen covered his hand with fire and grabbed the crystal.

The queen screamed.

He tore it free.

A bright blue light filled the chamber.

For one brief moment, Lu Zhen felt a strange power rush through his body.

Then the crystal disappeared into his space.

Every pale root stopped moving.

The queen fell from the ceiling.

However, before it hit the ground, a wave of mental energy burst from its body and travelled upwards.

Leng Pan felt it pass through the walls and leave the village.

Her expression changed.

"It sent a signal."

"To whom?" Vanish asked.

Leng Pan looked at the weakened queen.

"Most likely, the aliens."

The creature’s red eyes began closing one by one.

Just before the final eye shut, its mechanical voice returned.

"Signal received."

"Recovery unit dispatched."

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