Chapter 9

The faint sounds of people on the Broken Bridge could be heard, and occasionally a glimmer of light would streak across the water, repeating three times before the sounds gradually faded away.

Tang Fang clung to the stone edge, turned his head upward, and with a burst of effort, leaped onto the stone platform.

"Swish, swish."

The ripples struck the rock walls, and a layer of bluish-purple moss spread across the ground, above which were layers of rock insect eggs.

The light swept over, revealing a line of snow-white in the corner.

Tang Fang was startled and raised his gun to take a closer look. It turned out to be a palm-sized larva, delicate and pink, with snow-white limbs, looking like a finely carved jade artifact, vastly different from the adult insects.

Under the light, several larvae gathered together, nibbling at the sticky, white secretion on the surface of the eggshells.

He had initially found the larvae's appearance somewhat appealing, but at the sight of this scene, he felt a wave of nausea. With a determined heart, he pulled the trigger.

"Click, click, click."

Flashes of fire erupted one after another, and one by one, the larvae were pierced by bullets, their transparent bodily fluids splattering several feet high.

"Life energy collection complete, quantity: 2."

Is this possible? Tang Fang was taken aback. He calculated the number of dead larvae, which totaled 10, meaning each one was worth 0.2.

Damn, the system is too stingy! The program even calculates to the first decimal place.

Unable to hold back a curse, he turned his attention to the ostrich-egg-sized insect eggs.

"Click."

An egg was shattered into fragments, but the system showed no reaction.

"Click." Another one, "Click, click, click"...

It wasn't until the tenth egg exploded that the emotionless female voice spoke again: "Life energy collection complete, quantity: 1."

Stimulated by the number 149, Tang Fang refrained from complaining, opened fire at full power, and left a trail of larval corpses wherever the light passed.

150, 151, 152...

"Click, click." Until the magazine was empty, he came to his senses, and the crystal value had increased to 178. In a short time, over a hundred larvae had died at his hands.

Choosing the hatchery and issuing the command, a larva transformed into an egg. Soon, a new worker drone emerged. Tang Fang issued a new command at lightning speed, and the worker drone burrowed into the fungal mat. After a moment of writhing flesh, a spine crawler hatched.

Six short, powerful hook-like legs supported a body that was thick at the bottom and tapered at the top, capable of extending and retracting freely. At the top was a jagged anchor-like spine, which was intimidating to look at.

He nodded in satisfaction, and with a slight thought, the spine crawler's fearsome body appeared on the platform.

Tang Fang was startled. Compared to the game, the spine crawler in reality was much larger, almost taking up half the platform, with a base the size of a living room firmly adhered to the ground. The spine, which gleamed with a cold, eerie light, was even more terrifying from a distance, causing goosebumps to rise.

As a defensive structure for the Zerg base, the spine crawler had a terrifying attack range of several thousand meters and equally formidable firepower. A piece of quartz several meters long and wide in the corner of the platform was shattered by a single strike. That was quartz! Its hardness was comparable to the hull of a warship. What amazed Tang Fang even more was that it didn't need the support of the fungal mat; as long as the anchor point was stable enough to withstand the recoil, it could launch a spine attack.

After testing the spine crawler's power, Tang Fang cleared the platform of larvae and used the harvested life energy to hatch two zerglings. Feeling that his combat strength had increased several times, he tidied up his weapons and equipment and slipped into the cave on the opposite stone wall.

"Grosso, thanks to your gift, I've turned a disaster into a blessing." A cold light flashed in Tang Fang's eyes: "Hmph, since you like Chinese culture so much, the next time we meet, I'll teach you a new word: '来而不往非礼也' (If you don't return a favor, it's impolite)."

Bending down, he moved forward. The cave grew wider the deeper he went, and before long, he arrived at a spacious cavern with many passages. A salty, fishy wind blew, diluting the pungent smell of rock insect excrement.

Tang Fang's nostrils flared as he sniffed the air. The wind came from the cave on the right, carrying a faint, distinctive, putrid odor of adult rock insect fluids.

After a moment's thought, he turned off the flashlight on his automatic rifle, put on his night vision goggles, and slowly moved forward.

After about ten minutes, some rock insect corpses and colorful bodily fluids appeared underfoot, accompanied by faint gunshots.

Tang Fang quickened his pace, raised his gun, and turned a corner. The space ahead opened up into a vast underground cavern.

Gunfire and flashes of light were everywhere. He crouched down and slowly poked his head out to look down.

Dense burrow entrances extended deep into the earth, and on the open ground beside the pit, a gunfight was taking place.

On the left were eight people, their rifle bullets like a swarm of locusts, their trajectories weaving a curtain of light in the air, suppressing the two people on the opposite side, who had almost no chance to fight back.

The continuous whizzing of bullets and the red glow of muzzle flashes illuminated their faces. The group of eight was clearly Grosso's team, and the two people on the opposite side were undoubtedly Aros and the woman.

After Tang Fang fell into the water, the two had called out for a long time without a response, assuming he was dead. They returned to the fork and chose another cave to continue. Their goals were the same, but they ended up running into Grosso.

If Tang Fang were still alive and the three Laurences hadn't died, Grosso wouldn't have dared to act rashly. But now, with only Aros and the woman left, how could he let them go?

Grosso was a ruthless man. His thinking was simple: anyone not on his side didn't need to live, to avoid being betrayed one day.

Eight against two, the disparity in strength was too great. No matter how fierce Aros was or how strong his personal abilities were, there was no way he could turn the tide.

"Simpson, Pritt, Dica, you three flank them from the side and surround that pair of dogs."

The three men nodded, crouched down, and slowly flanked Aros and the woman, using the rocks for cover. Grosso watched the two, who were unaware of the danger, and a cruel smile spread across his scarred face.

Aros and the woman were pinned down by the dense gunfire. Even if they knew about the flanking maneuver, what could they do? Since they chose to follow that kid, their fate was sealed.

At that moment, he could almost see Aros crawling like a dog under the double barrage of gunfire and the woman's desperate screams before she died. Of course, if she surrendered, he wouldn't mind keeping her as a pet, a sex slave with a collar around her neck. After all, during his time in prison, he had grown tired of men's behinds and was ready for a change.

However, fate is not only a scriptwriter with a head full of absurd ideas but also a diligent Santa Claus. You never know what gift will be in the stocking, whether it's a delicious strawberry cake or a bloody human head.

"Ah..."

"No... no... uh!"

Just as Grosso was gloating, two dark figures suddenly darted across the opposite rock wall, followed by two piercing screams and Dica's shrill cry.

"What's happening?"

"Simpson, Pritt?"

"Dica, what's going on?"

The light revealed Grosso's frozen smile. The man who was supposed to be dead emerged from behind the rock, his right hand clamped tightly around Dica's neck.

Dica's feet kicked and struggled on the ground, his hands gripping the man's wrist, trying to say something but only managing to gasp and wheeze.

"Thud."

The dagger plunged into his chest without resistance and was quickly pulled out, the blade spraying a shower of blood, like a brilliant firework.