Chapter 79

Chapter 79

A nocturnal insect simulated by a mechanical insect, it lurks during the day and emerges at night to seek light and heat. Its carapace is extremely hard, and its key point is the black belt-like area on its abdomen.

The attack method of this night crawler is very simple. It usually hits the target hard first, and then pierces the prey completely with its sharp long chest horn while the prey is dazed and unstable.

"Although the attack method is single, because they are very powerful, the lethality they cause is not low."

An observer said: "I have read information that this kind of night crawler is responsible for building nests in the Zerg. Once they form a swarm, they can change the landscape of an area overnight, break up an entire forest, or destroy mountains and hills.Push them all to the ground.”

All the active-duty troops have the right to access these Zerg information, so it is not a secret.

The person on the side nodded and added in a low voice: "Although it is unlikely...but if there is an invasion of Zerg, it is most likely that this kind of Zerg will take the lead."

Decades ago, their galaxy had encountered this situation.

The detection technology at that time was not as developed as it is now. The nightcrawlers evolved shells that could shield ordinary radar detection. Hundreds of nightcrawlers acted as the vanguard of the insect tide and wiped out an entire mid-level city in one night.

Countless people were even still sleeping and were buried under the devastated ruins before they had time to react.

The Zerg, which evolved through radiation in the universe, possess all kinds of weird and terrifying abilities, and their combat effectiveness is astonishingly powerful.

It was also from that time that ordinary weapons could no longer meet the needs of fighting the Zerg, and a combat system with mechas as the core came into being.

"If it's a small-scale insect swarm, it won't be a problem with our numbers and combat power."

The mecha operator on the side said: "The mechanical insect swarm we encountered before was not very large, only a few dozen."

"The ones we encountered are larger, there should be hundreds." An observer said, "There is also a particularly large one with three chest horns, which should be the insect king."

Someone on the side answered: "We also encountered an insect king, but it only has two chest horns and bright spots on its back."

"We didn't encounter the insect king, but we encountered a particularly large one. There were about ten of them. They should have been simulated giant mutant individuals."

"We also encountered it over there..."

Everyone was still exchanging information, but the more they talked, the more they couldn't help but frown. After looking at each other for a long time, they gradually fell silent.

...They were not from the same assessment area. They were found one by one by Shi Ji and brought together.

Therefore, the insect swarm they saw was undoubtedly not the same group.

This exercise was divided into more than twenty assessment areas. In each area, there were dozens to hundreds of insect swarms. It didn't seem like a lot, but when added together, this number was enough to make people think behind the scenes.Chills.

Not to mention, there are also insect kings and mutant populations with doubled combat power.

"Based on the number we've seen."

The team leader of the alliance's direct military region who persuaded people earlier was named Wu Ming. He simply noted the number and calculated on the ground: "The most conservative estimate is that there are thousands of mechanical insects in this war zone."

Wu Ming threw down the small wooden stick and smoothed the numbers on the sand: "...and there are thousands of mechanical insects looking for their companions."

Everyone knew what this meant. No one spoke, but their hearts sank uncontrollably.

Different types of bugs may have different characteristics and abilities, but once a bug wave forms, at least one thing is absolutely certain.

They keep coming together.

This tendency to gather in groups stems from their racial instinct and will not be interrupted by any external interference.

"We got something wrong."

One observer whispered: "Last night... we were not their targets at all."

Those bugs are searching for each other. Before forming a unified bug wave, they have no time to distract and attack their prey.

What they thought was an encounter was, at best, an unexpected collision. The trainees happened to be blocking the Zerg's migration path.

When the mechanical bugs gather to a large scale and become a real bug wave...if a lone person or team is encountered by them, the consequences can be imagined.

The mecha operator who had just been knocked down by Shi Ji was pale, and the strong fear made his back feel cold. He swallowed hard and could not utter a single word of complaint.

Wu Ming raised his head and happened to see Shi Ji walking over: "What should we do? Our strength alone may not be enough to defend against their attacks..."

Shi Ji nodded: "It's not enough."

Shi Jigang made a topographic map of the entire war zone, turned on the Dolphin's virtual imaging projection, and showed the red dots marked on it: "There are more than two thousand mechanical insects in the entire area, and there are two insect kings, one of whichIt has only grown to the third level.”

Wu Ming was a little surprised. He almost thought Shi Ji had just come over quietly to listen: "How do you know?"

"I took a look on the road." Shi Ji said, "Can I invite everyone over?"

Wu Ming: "..."

He decided to slightly modify this paragraph to read, "Trainee No. 7 spent a whole day conducting a comprehensive, detailed, and carpet-like reconnaissance of the entire war zone."

After figuring out the scale of the Zerg, the chill lingered in everyone's hearts. When they heard that precautionary arrangements were being made, many people quickly gathered around the Dolphin.

Shi Ji did not go over immediately.

He bypassed the crowd, walked up to the special operations team member who had been attacked, and handed over the wound medicine he had reserved.

The faces of the special forces members were all smeared with combat paint. If you look carefully, you can find that the special forces member who was attacked was also very young, as if he had just graduated from the military academy.

He squatted on the roadside, holding his firearm, and said in a low voice, "No need."

Shi Ji sat down next to him.

The others were discussing around the holographic map. Shi Ji did not go over immediately and thought for a while: "This is my first time playing the Blue Army, and I felt sad after letting others go out."

The special forces member frowned.

He raised his head and looked at Shi Ji in disbelief: "How old are you, and you have participated in exercises and been a member of the Blue Army?"

Shi Ji said: "My captain took me there."

"The captain said that the exercise is not for meritorious service, but for getting results. It is for us to adapt to the real battlefield under virtual casualties."

"The captain also said that if we are soft-hearted and fail to do what the Blue Army should do, the battlefield will use more cruel methods to do this."

Shi Ji looked at him seriously: "The casualties on the battlefield are not virtual."

The young special operations team member heard him say "captain" and couldn't help but ask: "Is your captain also saying this?"

"I made up this sentence myself." Shi Ji said, "The captain said it... more colloquially."

Zhuang Yu, while banging S7 on the head, told his subordinates who tend to be soft-hearted to remember, "If you don't beat them to the ground, they will be beaten to the ground by the Zerg. If you don't scrap their mechas, the Zerg willI'll take off their mecha heads and kick them as balls."

The young special operations team member raised his head and studied him for a long time. When he saw that Shi Ji's expression was so serious that he didn't seem to be faking, his face became slightly better.

"I need help from the Special Forces team."

Shi Ji asked: "Come?"

The young special forces member nodded, waved to his comrades behind him, and took the initiative to walk towards the crowd next to the mecha.

When he reached Shi Ji, he stopped and stretched out his hand towards Shi Ji.

Shi Ji was startled for a moment, realizing that the other party was not trying to shake hands, so he tried to reach out his hand and shake his hand.

"My name is Sui Qi." The special operations team member said, "I am nineteen years old and I just joined the special operations team last month."

"I originally thought I could set a record... but our team leader said that there used to be a god-level observer who joined the team at the age of seventeen. With his strength, he was able to defeat our group and treat us like a windmill."

Sui Qi said: "I didn't believe it at all at first, but after seeing you, I started to believe it a little bit."

It was the first time that Shi Ji heard someone praising him like this. He opened his eyes slightly, felt a little embarrassed, and his ears turned red uncomfortably.

Sui Qi tidied her training uniforms and walked to the holographic map with her teammates without saying anything more.

…

In the sea of consciousness.

Zhan Chen put down the freshly baked biscuits. He looked at Shi Ji, who was making combat arrangements, and was reminded of something: "Team Zhuang sent a message before, asking how to write Shi Ji's military status."

Yu Tang looked up from his fight with the cuttlefish: "Can't you just write it?"

"In principle, it's okay." Zhan Chen said, "In the age column, he wants to ask your opinion."

Yu Tang understood what Zhuang Yu meant and nodded: "Just write nineteen years old."

He smoothly exported Shi Ji's body data and stuffed it into the printer nearby: "The stagnant time on Shi Ji's body has been restored."

Zhan Chen raised his eyebrows slightly.

He took the pieces of printing paper that were still warm and looked at them. He walked to Yu Tang and wiped the face of the little mecha who was racing against time to fish and had ink sprayed all over his face by the squid.

"Don't set the hook too fast." Zhan Chen held his hand, "You have to predict that the squid will swim one third slower than other fish."

Yu Tang knew this in principle, but various problems would always arise in actual operations.He leaned back and simply handed the fishing rod to the person in charge of the mall to direct: "I want to catch that fire-breathing fish."

Zhan Chen nodded, aimed at the swimming dark bream, and lowered the hook.

The originally ordinary little fish was startled, and its body suddenly became translucent, spitting out a ball of sparkling blue mist.

Zhan Chen picked off the fish he caught and put it in Yu Tang's fish basket: "Are you not feeling any discomfort?"

"Don't worry, it wasn't stripped out in one go."

Yu Tang shook his head: "Besides, I have a lot of particles now, just as good as him."

Zhan Chen touched the little mecha's forehead.

Yu Tang squinted his eyes in comfort, leaned on his arm, and looked up at Shi Ji who was calmly assigning tasks on the light screen.

Time in Shi Ji's body almost stagnated because he stayed in the eye of the storm for too long and exchanged too many particles.

He was separated from the flow of time and left alone for the long nineteen years.

Shi Ji, who was programmed and transformed into a so-called "bionic human", had not undergone any restorative training like Pu Ying after waking up, and was almost a completely blank shell.

After being brought back to the Sheng family, Shi Ji has been under the high pressure of Sheng Tiancheng and the system, repeatedly trying to find the blocked and obliterated version of himself. It is only now that the missing parts of him have finally been completely completed.

During the time they shared the sea of consciousness, Yu Tang had stripped out all the particles exchanged into the eye of the storm and returned them all to him.

"Looking for an opportunity to celebrate someone's birthday, he will be twenty years old."

Yu Tang said: "When the task of this book is completed, as soon as we leave, Shi Ji will continue to grow up well, and we will continue to do the task well without delaying anyone."

Yu Tang: "By the way, what is the mission of our book?"

Zhan Chen: "..."

Yu Tang really forgot. In the past, the system reminded him to do tasks, but now it has almost taken away the back door of the mall. Without the pressure of performance, he almost forgot the task list of this book.

Yu Tang stood up, brought up the light screen, and flipped through the records: "I remember it was here..."

"The mission is to eat cookies, drink milk, and sleep well."

Zhan Chen turned off the message record for him and put the fishing rod back into the little mecha's hand: "Fishing, occupying Chuan Bookstore, and redeeming asteroids."

Yu Tang: "?"

He felt that Senior Zhan was going to be led astray by him and little S7.

There must be at least one rational person in the family. Watching Zhan Chen get up, Yu Tang was a little worried that he was going to prepare ammunition for occupying Chuan Bookstore: "Senior Zhan?"

"I'll get two sunglasses."

Zhan Chen gestured to the light screen: "The one who is going to exchange for the asteroid has collected thirty boxes of flares in order to achieve his small goal."

Wu Ming looked at the thirty boxes of flares and couldn't help but wonder: "If these things explode together...can the eyes be donated?"

"You know you're scared, why don't you put out your cigarette quickly?"

The people on the side also looked nervous: "Be careful, stay away... You're the one with black eyes, who would want to donate it?"

Wu Ming's hand shook and he quickly smoked out his cigarette: "You still have the nerve to say that? It was you who persuaded him to come out of the wingman in the first place!"

"Didn't you say that we have to find a way to beat him to death without surrendering? After being beaten, he surrendered faster than anyone else!"

"This is about adapting to circumstances. A man can bend and stretch."

"Stop stretching and apply it to your face quickly. It's really hindering your fighting ability..."

…

People from different departments, different levels, and different identities are mixed together, and it is inevitable that they will bicker with each other, but the atmosphere is no longer as tense as before.

Facing the high pressure of the insect tide, the previous wariness and barriers were temporarily put aside.

The operator of the Western Military Region put down the last two boxes of flares and walked up to Shi Ji: "That's all... We are mainly based on the mecha division, and we don't have many observers."

Shi Ji recorded it carefully: "Thank you for your hard work."

The operator saluted him and returned to his defensive post.

Flares are the basic configuration of the wingman. They have no real offensive power and their only feature is that they are bright.

The medium-caliber flares they are equipped with are as bright as 500,000 candelas and can last for 30 seconds at a time. Just one or two can completely turn the night within a kilometer into day.

If these flares really explode together, they may not be able to cause much damage, but they will definitely create a world-destroying explosion effect.

Wu Ming carefully put out the cigarette butt with water. He was really curious and couldn't help but come back to find Shi Ji: "What are we going to do with this thing... blind the night crawlers, can we take advantage of the opportunity to kill them one by one?"

"It's also a plan." Shi Ji said, "I will set off flares in different directions to interfere with the direction of the Zerg's advance."

Nocturnal insects have phototaxis. Even in the overwhelming insect swarm, they will still be instinctively affected by their nature and tend to things that glow.

When the position of the light source is contrary to the direction of the insect tide, in theory, it can cause chaos within the insect tide.

"No, it's too dangerous." Wu Ming couldn't help but frown, "What if the insect swarm is really attracted by the flares, and they all come towards you?"

"You didn't bring a mecha operator, did you?"

Wu Ming didn't trust the so-called "intelligent AI driving mechas" very much. He glanced at the crowd and whispered: "I remind you, don't trust us who drive mechas too much... I am also an operator myself.I feel like we’re not good enough.”

In recent years, there have been many sayings that each generation of mecha operators is inferior to the last.

Wu Ming twitched the corner of his mouth: "Brainless, impulsive, motivated, and lacking in judgment... The military region requires improving the quality of operators every year, but it's a pity that we don't live up to expectations and can't improve."

Shi Ji shook his head.

Wu Ming was stunned for a moment: "Isn't it?"

"It's not that the operators lack ability," Shi Ji said, "it's that there's something wrong with the selection and training mechanism."

According to the old combat system, the training of mecha operators has always been focused on individual combat, using a large amount of resources to maximize personal combat power.The selection plan supporting this training system will naturally favor those with stronger individual qualities.

In this kind of screening, all qualities except individual combat effectiveness are not considered.

The emergence of mechas has indeed increased the ultimate combat power of human beings for a period of time.

The mechas are getting stronger and stronger, and the mecha operators are getting stronger and stronger. The power-type mechas can tear apart steel beetles more than ten meters tall with their bare hands, and the assault-type mechas can single-handedly destroy a small insect swarm.

But year after year, the insect tide continues to evolve in its battle with humans, becoming more and more terrifying and difficult to resist.

Facing thousands of out-of-control night crawlers, no matter how powerful the mecha is, there is nothing they can do.

"The core concept of mecha is to turn a person into a powerful weapon."

Shi Ji said: "It shouldn't be like this."

Wu Ming had never heard this statement before. After thinking about it carefully, he couldn't help but frown.

...This statement may not sound nice enough, but it is not wrong at all.

Because talents are selected according to the standards of weapons, those with stronger combat effectiveness and more willing to fight based on intuition will naturally have an advantage in training.

Of course, among those selected in this way, there will also be all-round geniuses who are calm and rational enough, have enough judgment and have an overall view of the situation.But more people with these qualities were quietly diverted during their student days and took the initiative to choose observer majors that could better utilize their talents.

"The Zerg fight based on instinct. We should not be like the Zerg and degrade ourselves to only instinct."

Shi Ji: "I haven't thought about this clearly yet. I want to wait until I come down from the sky to think about it again."

Wu Ming: "..."

"Are you going up now?"

Wu Ming glanced at the Dolphin, which was carrying flares, and took a few steps after Shi Ji: "What are you going to do if you don't tell us? How can we protect you? Is there any coordinated combat plan..."

He didn't control his voice this time, and many people heard him and looked over.

Shi Ji stopped.

He said seriously: "I don't need protection."

Wu Ming heard for the first time that there were observers who did not need protection. He was stunned for a moment and looked at Shi Ji who jumped neatly into the cockpit of the wingman.

"I have a mecha." Shi Ji said, "Both the Dolphin and I will protect ourselves. All you have to do is fight."

Shi Ji: "I will observe and evaluate your battle, and according to your fighting habits, I will disperse the insect tide as much as possible and guide it to the most suitable position for your attack."

"This could take ten to fifteen minutes."

Shi Ji put on his goggles: "It will be a while, I will try my best to shorten this time."

…

The overwhelming hum of the insect swarm was already close at hand.

Wu Ming watched the wingman hovering and taking off, and couldn't help but ask the special operations team member beside him: "He really doesn't look down on us... right?"

"No." The young special operations team member whispered, "This fighting method has appeared before."

It was already ten years ago.

Ten years ago, a team used this fighting method to turn the tide and win a fierce battle.

The main observer of that team has now returned to the special operations team and became their new person in charge.

I heard that the deputy observer was extremely young.

"The deputy observer's wingman... I have an impression."

Sui Qi whispered: "I have watched his training and battle videos many times."

They were all arrogant geniuses. He didn't believe how strong a seventeen-year-old observer could be. He was once unconvinced by the team leader's evaluation and looked through many old videos saved by the special operations team.

...Those videos completely changed his understanding of the observer hand.

Sui Qi remembered that wingman very clearly.

The wingman that appeared in front of him had undoubtedly been modified and strengthened many times, repainted, replaced with a polymer carbon composite shell, and its weapons had also been updated and upgraded.

But when Shi Ji raised the joystick and let the silver wingman break through the blood-red flaming clouds on the horizon, the scene in the video suddenly jumped out of his mind.

"I've seen this wingman in the video." Sui Qi said, "It's called 'Venus'."

Around daybreak, at dusk, that star on the horizon stands firmly between the boundaries of darkness and skylight.

Sui Qi jumped on his mecha. He accessed the control cabin, pulled down his goggles and put them on. All weapons were on standby.

Wu Ming shrugged, wasting no more time, and entered the mecha neatly.

Dazzling flares cut through the darkening sky.

The insect swarm filled half of the sky.

Shi Ji didn't take ten to fifteen minutes.

Those mechas that were once unconvinced and were persuaded by him to come back and cooperate with each other, Shi Ji had already mastered the combat method that the operator was most accustomed to in just a few minutes of battle.

Flares were dropped one after another, just right to disrupt the direction of the insect tide.

Each war zone that the mecha is responsible for will be "assigned" by flares to mechanical bugs with extreme strength that can cope with it. Once someone cannot support it, the excess bugs will be lured away immediately.

Teams of special operations personnel shuttle around to fix leaks, and will quickly join the battle as soon as they find the situation is tense.

Shi Ji watched the entire battle.

He led the Dolphin to shuttle between the worm tides. The silver streamlined mecha silently followed Shi Ji. The sharp blades penetrated the abdomen of the mechanical worms without mercy, protecting him firmly from the dense rain of attacks by the worms.Its wingman.

…

Such a fierce battle undoubtedly alarmed the abandoned factory that was waiting for danger.

Ye Hanfeng raised his head, walked out of the bunker quickly, and looked at the sky brightly reflected by the flares.

Many students had already rushed over and gathered at the lookout. The sight in front of them shocked them speechless and they looked at each other with pale faces.

The black, overwhelming insect swarm was locked by an invisible line of defense, and it was constantly struggling to break through.

This time, the mechanical bugs have completed the adjustment of their appearance. Ye Hanfeng recognized the mechanical bugs and gave a stern order: "Turn out all lighting equipment and no ignition is allowed! Turn off the engines of all mechas!"

The students quickly followed the instructions, turned around and dispersed.

Ye Hanfeng squeezed the cold sweat from his palms. He was about to check the defense when he saw Sheng Yi still standing there. He frowned and walked over: "Turn off the mecha and go back to the bunker!"

"It should be the trainees and special forces of the active forces. They are blocking the insect tide for us. We can at least not put any more pressure on them."

Ye Hanfeng urged in a deep voice: "Move quickly -"

Next to them, a student from the preparatory grade took courage and whispered: "Senior Ye... that wingman seems to be Senior Sheng's former observer."

Ye Hanfeng raised his head suddenly and looked over by the light of the flare.

The distance was too far, and the bright light that could blind people temporarily could not catch up with their location, but it was still enough to illuminate the wingman very clearly.

"Is Senior Sheng's observer so strong in the past?"

The student didn't know what was going on: "With this kind of strength, he should have joined the special forces team a long time ago. Why do he still stay in the military academy and serve as an observer for Senior Sheng?"