Chapter 137

Chapter 137

"Wait, what queen bug? Aren't queen bugs extremely rare?" Cen Yuehuai gazed at the detector's display, eyes widening slightly, "Are we really so lucky to encounter one here?"

"Queen bug" refers not to a specific type of starbug, but a general term for the rulers of starbug colonies. The "queen bug" is the strongest in its species, crowned as such, commanding all starbugs within its influence. The presence of a queen bug becomes the military's top priority target.

However, the existence of queen bugs is exceedingly rare, usually appearing only in the most intense battle zones—firstly, it requires a large gathering of starbugs; secondly, the birth of a queen bug demands substantial nutrition... but starbugs are not willing to sacrifice themselves easily. Only when the swarm feels its survival is threatened do they start nurturing a queen bug, at the cost of sacrificing the majority of their kind to ensure the continuation of their species.

So, Cen Yuehuai's question was valid. The emergence of a queen bug on Death Star was an event of extremely low probability.

"Could it be that our military's sweeping of starbugs on Death Star was too ruthless?" Cen Yuehuai mused, "But that shouldn't be the case, right? They didn't exterminate the Crawling Roses completely, see? There's a pile of them here."

To prepare the competition arena, both nations indeed dispatched fleets to Death Star for a preliminary sweep. But as they knew, it wasn't the starbug infestation season, and the fleet's actions weren't excessive, mainly observing Death Star's environment and eliminating potential hazards. It seemed unlikely that they had pushed the starbugs to start nurturing a queen bug.

"Whether it's a queen bug or not is still uncertain," Baisha focused on controlling the detector's angle, trying to capture deeper images. But a huge starbug twisted its tail, blocking the little space left in the air, "…The detector can't get through, forcing it might wake them all up."

"We should inform the competition organizers," Xino sighed softly, "A gathering of Crawling Roses throwing a party is abnormal."

"We need to get out first," Cen Yuehuai's tone became lighter, as if afraid of awakening something, "There's no signal underground."

The communication conditions on Death Star were already poor, and being deep in the cave, it was impossible to send out any messages.

Xino agreed, "Exactly. We should take advantage of the current quiet to send a signal. If a storm hits, we won't even be able to send out signals in time."

Jiya glanced at him somewhat speechlessly, "Can you not jinx it?"

They planned to return the same way they came, but climbing back to the cave entrance was more challenging than descending. They carefully maneuvered their mechs, clinging to the rocks in the rugged cave. Before long, they realized they were walking in circles.

"Something’s not right. I distinctly remember there being a fork at the end of this passage," Baisha frowned, looking at the dark stone wall ahead, "But now there's nothing here."

"It’s not an illusion. We’re retracing our steps. But look around, all the signs of our fight with those mutated starbugs have vanished," Yu Yan’s voice echoed in the empty cave, "Even the corpses of those starbugs are gone."

"…Are we affected by the gas again?" Cen Yuehuai slapped her face, the special sweet and fishy scent seemingly still lingering in her nostrils.

Xino said, "But that shouldn’t cause us all to hallucinate together."

"Test to see if there's any signal," Baisha sighed, glancing at the nearly blank signal bar on the display.

"Nothing."

"Me neither."

They all answered in unison.

The structure of the cave should be unchanging. Unless…

Baisha stared at a section of the stone wall and fired several shots at it.

The bullets, trailing sparks, grazed the stone wall, which remained undamaged, not even a speck of dust dislodged.

Is the stone really that hard?

As they were caught in doubt, Baisha gripped her spear and charged forward, thrusting it into the stone wall. The next moment, she pulled out the spear, splattering blood—there was actually a bloody hole in the wall!

The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly.

A sound echoed from the deep tunnel, as if a massive creature was moving through the rocks. The sound was slow and continuous, sending chills down their spines.

They watched as the stone wall in front of them moved like a living entity. The color and texture that had blended with the rock rapidly faded, revealing a mesmerizing, psychedelic red-coral hue.

"Starbugs are blocking our way. No wonder we kept going in circles," Baisha said calmly, her voice tinged with obvious intent to kill, "Crawling Roses are sensitive by nature, and it's a crucial time for hatching the queen bug. How could they not notice us storming in earlier? They just wanted to lure us deeper and then trap us here."

Cen Yuehuai was astonished, "How big must these starbugs be to block the cave entrance—"

In an instant, many previously sealed passages 'came to life', transforming into undulating red-coral flesh walls. Soon, they began secreting pink mucus, resembling sweat beads oozing out of the skin, each drop emitting an intensely strong scent.

The previously dissipated sweet and fishy scent assaulted them again—far more intense than before, almost forcibly invading their nostrils. Cen Yuehuai couldn't help coughing, feeling the scent almost burrowing into her chest through her throat... The originally sweet and fishy odor became thicker, almost like a flowing liquid, filling her inside and out with a sense of rot.

The surroundings blurred, and her thoughts sank into chaos...

Just before losing consciousness completely, Cen Yuehuai thought angrily: Why didn't she even have a beautiful dream this time?

From the others' perspective, as they were holding their breath trying to cut through the flesh wall, Cen Yuehuai simply collapsed straight down.

"Why did she faint all of a sudden?" Jiya whispered.

"It might be due to her constitution; some are naturally more sensitive to these toxins. She was the first to be affected earlier," Xino flung his long sword at a flesh wall, which convulsed as if in spasms, oozing blood and organs, even smearing his sword with secretions, "Fainting might be better... saves us the trouble of stopping her from going mad!"

At that moment, a massive psychic ripple emanated from above Cen Yuehuai's mech. A translucent white falcon emerged from the void, its regal golden eyes expressing clear displeasure.

"Her psychic form has come out!" Xino exclaimed.

The falcon spread its enormous wings, its waist and belly feathers white as snow, while its grey plumage faintly glowed. It fixed its gaze on something, darting out like lightning, tearing apart a flesh wall with its talons.

Everyone was momentarily speechless. Xino finally spoke, "So it's her psychic form throwing a fit." No wonder Cen Yuehuai suddenly collapsed.

Normally, her excessively fierce psychic form could be a source of chaos. But at this moment, its presence was just right.

After all, they couldn't exactly stuff Cen Yuehuai's psychic form back in, could they?

Fortunately, the target of Bai Falcon was quite clear. It only attacked all star worms within its line of sight. With Cen Yuehuai's psychic form leading the way, they broke through several "meat walls," slicing several star worms in half. However, since they were initially led in the wrong direction, correcting their path meant a longer journey. As they inhaled more toxic gas, their movements gradually slowed down.

By the time they passed the fifth entrance, Cen Yuehuai's psychic form had fallen into a semi-dazed state. It crashed into the rock wall, dropping down weakly and fluttering its wings on the spot.

"It's okay—it's done," Bai Sha walked over and gently stroked its neck, "Go back, you've worked hard enough."

Bai Falcon seemed to understand Bai Sha's words, as its body lying on the ground gradually dissipated into light.

Xino leaped forward, intending to strike a wriggling star worm with his sword, but he lost his strength mid-swing, making only a feeble stroke.

He landed on the ground, supporting his upper body with his sword, panting lightly: "How many... Creeping Roses... are there exactly in here?"

The toxicity in this cavern was extraordinarily strong. There were probably hundreds, if not thousands, of Creeping Roses gathered underground.

Xino and Ji Ya were both adjusting their breathing to cope with the battle effort. Simply put, they were exhaling more and inhaling less. This method indeed reduced the intake of toxins, but they could feel their strength draining away.

Yu Yan remained silent, carrying the unconscious Cen Yuehuai on his back.

"You guys rest."

Bai Sha swung her spear, leading the charge, entangling with several star worms that had burrowed into the cave to attack them.

Bai Sha's strength seemed largely unaffected, her moves still sharp. However, the narrowness of the underground cavern and the sheer number of star worms made the cleaning process quite strenuous.

Behind her, a star worm burst through the rock and soil, its sharp, triangular teeth slightly protruding as it opened its mouth. It lunged at Bai Sha's lower back. Bai Sha, as if having eyes on the back of her head, leaped up to dodge the attack. She thrust her weapon into the rock wall, using it to swing around her spear, and crushed half the star worm's head with a kick.

She wanted to call out Little Bai Chirp for support. But her instinct told her that exposing it now might affect it with the toxic gas. The Creeping Roses wouldn’t fear Little Bai Chirp either — dealing with one or two Creeping Roses was manageable, but now with the star worms almost forming a swarm, they would go crazy over nutrients, and Little Bai Chirp would be the easiest prey to drive them mad.

Bai Sha remembered their goal was to call for rescue and let the Empire's fleet deal with the queen worm.

But smelling that thick, nauseating stench, her temples throbbed increasingly, as if something in her brain was struggling, trying to break through her skull and grow out.

Weren't the toxins of the Creeping Roses supposed to induce a beautiful dream?

Xino, Ji Ya, and Yu Yan were all struggling to control themselves, not to fall into the bottomless, beautiful illusions.

Only Bai Sha felt an excruciating headache.

She numbly slaughtered the star worms, with a vision filled with blood and gore. Her movements became faster, the star worms' shrill screams merging with her heartbeat, seeping into her marrow.

The filth blood soaked her spear and mech.

"We've made it—Your Highness, there's the exit!"

Clenching her teeth, Bai Sha listened to the excited shouts nearby and the distant blur of light, doubting: Had they really made it out? Was she trapped in an illusion, or were the people around her?

"Your Highness..."

"Bai Sha Your Highness!"

[Bai Sha!]

She suddenly heard a familiar call.

Was this shout from her friends, her colleagues, or...

[Bai Sha, your design proposal and blueprints have been approved. They say your project has great potential; just wait for the research funding to be allocated.]

Ah, that's really great. All those late nights hadn't been in vain.

[Remember to treat us to a meal.]

Sure thing. But it'll just be hotpot, take it or leave it.

[You're so stingy... You're the most promising among us. The lab supervisor highly regards you. Can't you be a bit more generous?]

Highly regards what? My supervisor produces legendary mechs. I might never achieve what he has in my lifetime... Wait, something's off. Aren't mechs high-tech stuff from science fiction novels? Hahaha.

Suddenly, those real and unreal, incessantly noisy voices started to fade away from her.

A gentle white light flashed before her eyes.

When her vision returned to normal, she found herself standing by a window.

She gazed into the distance. Far away, there was a beautifully poetic metal floating bridge. Many elegantly designed flying vessels drifted leisurely through the sea of clouds, seemingly in no hurry to go anywhere. From her high vantage point, she could see many quaint and adorable rooftops, shimmering with pearl-like gentle colors under the sunlight.

[What are you thinking about?] A man with an extremely gentle breath supported her from behind. Then, her vision dropped—she seemed to have been lifted by him, sitting in his spacious and sturdy arms.

[Still upset about the flying vessel? Mom is right, you're too young to leave the Solitude Number with a flying vessel. Traveling is for adults. You don’t even know how to read a star map; you’d get lost in space. Like a dandelion blown away by the wind, once you start wandering, you might never find your way back to mom and dad.]

Bai Sha didn't speak. But the room's door was quietly opened—apparently, the person opening it made no effort to conceal their intentions. The person, with silver hair like bright moonlight, leaned against the door, smiling, [Oh, you really are upset? You've been sulking for quite a while, even skipped lunch. Keep it up and skip dinner too, then turn into a little dwarf, and you'll never think about piloting a flying vessel again.]

Bai Sha: "..."

She decided to follow her body's instinct—starting to sob, then bursting into loud crying.

[Alright, alright. Look, what's this, hmm?]

A small scenic globe was pushed into her hand.

The globe's background was black, with a floating blue ocean inside. Little twinkling stars drifted in the sea. A silver-haired little girl piloted a glowing moon-shaped boat, gently rocking with the waves.

[Make do with this for now.]

[Mom promises you, when you grow two years older, I'll personally teach you how to pilot a flying vessel. I guarantee you'll be the youngest pilot on the Solitude Number—]

[Cough, cough.] The man coughed helplessly, then couldn't help but whisper to the woman, 【...Didn't we agree to teach her when she's old enough to get a flying license? Her health...】

[Alright, alright.] The silver-haired woman surrendered quickly, slightly turning aside to avoid the child hearing their conversation, and whispered back, 【But next time she fusses about wanting a flying vessel, you get to be the bad guy.】

The man widened his eyes slightly: [How come—]

[It's your turn now. No backing out.]

Bai Sha didn't pay attention to what they were saying. In fact, she couldn't understand or hear much of it.

She just held the scenic globe, wondering if she could take it apart. Although the moon boat was cute, she wanted to insert a little flying vessel model instead...

……

"Your Highness! Bai Sha Your Highness!"

Bai Sha suddenly snapped back to reality.

She realized she was already standing at the edge of the cave. Her teammates stood under the pitch-black night sky, safe and sound. Even Cen Yuehuai had awakened—clinging tightly to Bai Sha's hand, almost scrambling with hands and feet. And Bai Sha, with her back to them, was heading towards the interior of the cave...

"Yuehuai?" Bai Sha turned around, "You're awake."

"That's my line!" Cen Yuehuai collapsed onto the ground, still clutching Bai Sha's hand, "After you led us out, you didn't say a word and just tried to rush back underground, unstoppable! Your Highness, I know you don't want to let them go, but how can you deal with so many star worms alone? We should wait for reinforcements..."

Bai Sha slowly withdrew her hand, looking puzzled: "I was trying to go back underground just now?"

"You don't remember at all?" Cen Yuehuai said incredulously, "You don’t seem to be poisoned. Did you just go berserk?"

Bai Sha looked at her, silent for a moment, then chuckled softly: "You’re one to talk? You were the first to faint. Even your psychic form fought better than you..."

Bai Sha jested with Cen Yuehuai while trying to recall her blurry memories, subconsciously touching her cheek—

Indeed, it was wet.