Chapter 327: Beetle Kingdom
Wearing heavy protective suits, the two held a huge scoop net in their hands and slid toward the deep pit with safety ropes tied on.
An foul odor ten times more intense than on the ground immediately surged forth, but both wore filter masks.
Qi Zhenbang used his ability to scan repeatedly for possible dangers, trudging with difficulty through the corpse pit filled with slurry.
The two cooperated to scoop up large chunks of corpses with the scoop net, dragging them to the edge, where people on the shore would use hooks to pull them up. Though troublesome, in the situation where engineering equipment was completely insufficient, the efficiency was already quite good.
Construction is always harder than destruction.
By the time most of the floating corpses on the deep pit were cleared, everyone felt much more relieved.
While working, they chatted about the fresh news on the train.
Whether it was the Tier 3 zombie impervious to guns and cannons, or the train conductor whose strength was immeasurably deep, they were all topics everyone eagerly discussed.
After finishing the big topics, they inquired about salaries, then chatted about women, often accompanied by a sentence like “that so-and-so is really pretty,” allowing the topic to continue indefinitely, making even the foul-smelling work environment seem sweet.
Although Qi Zhenbang was the youngest among the three brothers, he was also in his early forties. If not for this damned apocalypse, he would have both sons and daughters, so he naturally had no interest in the young men’s topics and just listened silently on the side.
Suddenly, he felt something was off and adjusted his mask’s field of view with his relatively clean shoulder.
He discovered that the blood plasma filth around his waist had dropped by about thirty centimeters.
‘Could it be because there are fewer corpses?’
Qi Zhenbang was puzzled in his heart. Even if there were fewer corpses, it shouldn’t have dropped this much.
Before he could speak to warn, a series of bubbles suddenly emerged a meter to his right. Qi Zhenbang’s vigilance reached its peak as he thrust the scoop net directly to the bottom, propping up his body to avoid being sucked in.
Bubbles increased, rapidly forming a small whirlpool there, with the filth in the deep pit dropping at a visible speed.
Either a natural cavity or an underground well.
Either way was synonymous with danger. The squad leader also noticed the situation and quickly responded.
One person hurried off to report, the rest stood on the shore holding guns on alert, while Qi Zhenbang and the other vigilantly stared at the whirlpool in the middle.
As the whirlpool expanded, things at the bottom were exposed. Though extremely terrifying, it was nothing to the two with their endurance. What truly made them face it like a great enemy was the hole beneath the whirlpool, emitting a “heh heh” sound like a dying person.
“Something seems to be crawling out!”
A gun-holding team member on the shore shouted nervously.
“Stay calm, don’t shoot yet, let me and Old Qi get to shore first!”
Qi Zhenbang nodded, staring at the hole as he slowly retreated, only to see a creature covered in filth emerge from the hole, basin-sized, overall oval-shaped, with a smooth hairless body. It should be some kind of beetle.
It turned left and right, then crawled toward the two in the large pit.
The squad leader hesitated no longer and shouted sternly, “Open fire!”
A dull sound instantly rang out on the beetle’s back, some bullets visibly bounced off, the rest brutally embedding into the beetle’s body. The beetle was like a small car that lost power, stalling in place.
The two breathed a sigh of relief and turned to run quickly toward the shore.
Qi Zhenbang hesitated, then used the scoop net in his hand to scoop up the nearby beetle corpse and retreated toward the pit edge.
From his perception, it should be an unranked mutated beast, but with extremely strong defense, only dying after taking dozens of 7.62 rifle bullets. It definitely had research value.
“Another one out! Open fire! Open fire!”
The team member on shore shouted.
The squad leader, just pulled ashore, saw Old Qi not up yet and urgently said, “Forget the thing, get up first!”
But it was too late. Heads of basin-sized beetles crawled out from the pit hole, charging rapidly toward Qi Zhenbang in the large pit.
Qi Zhenbang didn’t dare look back, only laboriously pulling his feet from the muck. His mask was filled with vapor from his breathing, obscuring the limited view, but he sensed a team rapidly approaching them—likely the nearby patrolling combat group.
As long as he held on a bit, rescue would come!
The large pit was almost occupied by blood-red beetles, the foremost one standing on a corpse and leaping into the air.
Its hard carapace deflected bullets, pouncing straight at Qi Zhenbang’s back.
With his strength as an unranked “collector,” being hit would spell doom.
At the critical moment, a heavy steel figure flew directly into the mud pit, raising its left hand. A pale red general energy barrier instantly unfolded, forming a two-meter-high, one-point-eight-meter-wide great shield that blocked the pouncing beetle.
At the same time, its right hand lifted, two 12.7mm caliber muzzles vibrating slightly, issuing a death knell to the beetle swarm.
The beetle swarm that could withstand rifle bullets was directly shredded mid-air by the ammunition belt. In an instant, the large pit was once again littered with corpses. A [Guardian] power armor sealed the cave opening tight.
Heavy footsteps sounded as five or six power armors arrived for support.
……
When receiving the message, Su Huan was at the ultra-high voltage hub substation on the edge of Zhijin, the backbone transmission network of the entire Zhijin.
High-voltage current generally starts from the power plant, passes through the hub substation, then undergoes multiple step-downs, entering city underground cables or overhead lines. For rebuilding the base city, these basic constructions could be slightly adjusted and used directly.
Professor Ma said, “As long as we infuse current here, turning this hub into a power generation end, it can supply electricity to the entire Zhinnán District…”
“Of course, ordinary ‘energizers’ definitely can’t provide enough power in the early stage. Small-scale power supply can be done, letting them gradually increase later.”
Su Huan nodded. He was just here to see how to build city infrastructure and absolutely wouldn’t stay to be a power plant worker.
He turned to look at Shu Wei behind him, “Mutated beetles, a lot of them?”
Shu Wei’s voice was cold, “They came out from an underground well opening. After one Tier 1 beetle was killed, Old San directly blew up the well opening, but Zhijin’s underground pipes are connected. We estimate there are more below, even developing into a large nest.”
Su Huan frowned, “I’ve scanned underground Zhijin. Though there are scattered general energy fluctuations, there shouldn’t be any large mutated beast groups…”
Shu Wei suddenly lowered her head, then held up the tablet in front of Su Huan moments later, “Latest news: this beetle’s carapace can shield general energy fluctuations.”
Su Huan looked at the rock-like large beetle on the screen and instructed Professor Ma, “Postpone checks on underground cables and pipes for now. Continue after clearing them. Have He Jie and Yu Yue come see me.”
……
Several relatively intact beetles were placed around the large pit, all killed by evolvers using abilities, so their exteriors were undamaged.
They had long been rinsed clean with high-pressure water cannons: three unranked, one Tier 1, awaiting high-level inspection.
Su Huan, being a bit farther, was the last to arrive. The entire large pit area was under armed corps blockade. He Jie and Old San squatted beside the beetles, watching Director Xu’s research personnel dissect them.
Yu Yue held a sniper rifle in her arms, standing solemnly in the shadow of a street-side building.
Seeing Su Huan land, everyone stood and gathered around.
“Continue.” Su Huan looked at the half-dissected beetle on the ground and said in a deep voice.
The rinsed-clean beetle wasn’t so ferocious and terrifying. Its body was made of a single piece of yellow rock-like carapace. The dissectors used an electric saw to cut it open, with a shocking thickness of 3cm. Ordinary rifle bullets could only cause cracks; only two or three hitting the same spot could ensure a kill.
“This thing is way harder to kill than zombies.”
Old San muttered beside him.
“What about the underside?”
Su Huan asked.
The dissector flipped the beetle over, “The bottom is still very smooth, mostly tough connective tissue, with only two pairs of strong legs, though not as hard as the carapace. Ordinary handgun bullets can penetrate.”
“This is still an ordinary unranked beetle. For a Tier 1, the carapace thickness could reach 5cm. Ordinary soldiers lack effective means against them. I suggest pausing the base city plan and first confirming the scale of the underground bugs.”
He Jie said seriously.
With so many people here, He Jie didn’t spell everything out, but Su Huan understood his meaning.
This was very likely another large pit left by Black Kite!
Without discussing extreme cases like Tier 3, even if all unranked and Tier 1, if the numbers were too great, the armed train’s current state would directly collapse.
The armored train followed an elite strategy: lock onto enemy positions, gather full strength, and hit hard.
But now the train had just had a fierce battle with the zombie tide, supplies were severely consumed, spoils of war not yet fully recovered, and this was against underground targets. Rashly going to war could lead to total defeat.
Of course, with the train conductor present, there wouldn’t be defeat, but once Su Huan acted, the barely cleaned-up Zhijin City would be leveled flat, all plans disrupted. Better to find a wasteland and start over.
Su Huan didn’t answer, his calm gaze turning to Yu Yue beside him, who shook her head.
“Harder to monitor underground sounds, and they’re chaotic, hard to discern.”
Su Huan looked at the large pit before him, eyes narrowing slightly, then resolutely said moments later, “Fill it first, ground cleanup continues. You two determine the bug swarm’s numbers and positions in the next couple days. Even if there’s a city underground, I’ll build this base city right on top!”
Seeing Su Huan’s mind made up, He Jie no longer insisted and had Goat direct the soldiers to bury the large pit.
The two walked to a secluded spot and communicated using Yu Yue’s “shared sound field.”
“Time to expand the troops.”
He Jie said concisely.
“Can’t keep that many on the train.” Su Huan said calmly, “But can under the train.”
He Jie was stunned, “Then what about city defense forces?”
“They’re all our own before leaving, and you’re expanding troops by screening from these hundred thousand anyway.”
“Then I’ll tell Old Er to prepare opening a recruit camp.”
He Jie thought about it—yeah, that made sense.
“Control the training intensity. City defense forces, garrison corps, armed corps need different training gradients. If two more deserters pop up, you’ll go back to recruit camp too.”
Su Huan glanced at him and said flatly.
“Rough!”
A plan affecting a city’s people was decided in just a few words.
Big meetings for small matters, small meetings for big ones—truly golden advice.
……
“July 15th, gale.”
“There really is a city underground Zhijin: Beetle Kingdom.”
After laboratory testing, the beetles’ carapace hardness was comparable to marble, Tier 1 even to basalt.
Director Xu named them giant rock beetles.
And worse, after Yu Yue’s scouting, the entire Zhinnán District underground was riddled with beetles, not only filling the underground network but dug who-knows-how-many layers deep.
Even Tier 2 giant rock beetles appeared. The entire Zhijin was like a smokescreen built over the Beetle Kingdom.
“But unexpectedly, giant rock beetles’ aggression isn’t high, feeding on soil, rock, plant roots, and to some extent, they have high affinity.”
Director Xu observed the feeding giant rock beetle in the huge glass tank, eyes full of surprise.
Su Huan stood behind Director Xu and saw a glass jar labeled ethanol on the shelf, filled with amber liquid. Unable to resist, he opened it and sniffed—a rich wine aroma hit his nose, carrying strong general energy fluctuation, making every cell in his body leap excitedly, clamoring for him to drink it.
Su Huan cautiously used general energy to lift a strand of ethanol-mixed wine liquid, while counter-asking, “Affinity?”
“Their obedience is high; we just don’t know if they obey a bug queen or something else. But once we figure out the logic, we can even domesticate them.”
“Like the iron-eating tree?”
“About the same.”
Su Huan felt a wave of dizziness hit, which quickly receded, his whole body steaming hot.
With his inhuman constitution, for it to dizzy him even briefly, this jar of wine could be arrogant.
“…Pretty good taste.”
He muttered softly.
“What?”
Director Xu turned back in surprise, laughing wryly, “Don’t drink randomly. That’s something Wan Xing and I cooperated on—using alcohol to amplify life potion effects, but still in testing phase. We don’t even know exactly what effects it has.”
Su Huan waved it off, eyes clear again, “My intuition tells me the stuff succeeded.”
Director Xu came over to cover the jar, teasing, “My research experience tells me there’s still room for improvement.”
Su Huan shrugged, “Speed up beetle research, or I’ll just have to blow them up.”
Director Xu put the glass jar back on the shelf, adjusted its label position to align neatly with all other glass jars, then secured it with a small clip to prevent falling during train travel.
“Got it. I’ll assign two more people. Observing habits isn’t hard; it just needs patience.”
“Funny.” Su Huan smiled faintly, “What I lack most is patience.”
Director Xu returned a helpless smile.
“Let’s go, test vitality. That feeling wasn’t comfortable.”
“That bad?”
Director Xu said calmly, “Two more Chongying experimental subjects died, only seven left.”
Su Huan followed Director Xu to the next laboratory, where a silver-haired girl sat in the middle of the room, Sato leading six devout Chongying people kneeling at Lin Xi’s feet.
“Oh wow, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?”
