As Zhou You was preparing to strike back, suddenly a familiar ripple entered his mind. The clarity of the sensation and its blunt demand left him frozen in place.

If he was not mistaken, were those insects crying out in hunger?

But what did they want to eat? Humans or flesh? Surely, he wasn't expected to fetch a mutated creature for them right now?

Chapter 206: Return to Yangcheng

Zhou You took out the glass bottle, hesitated for two seconds, and uncapped it. One by one, beetles flapped their wings and struggled out. Though their flight seemed laborious, they eventually all emerged.

Shao Qi frowned at the sight. If it wasn't for his trust in Zhou You's intuition, he might have been preparing to deploy his parachute.

"How will this work? Can these tiny bugs really combat the numerous mutated birds?" By volume, all these insects combined weren't even as big as a single bird feather.

"I'm not sure, let's test it. Xiaoluo, hang on a little longer." The helicopter dodged agilely in the sky like a real bird. Zhao Xiaoluo was the top in air force skill competitions; otherwise, he wouldn't be piloting for the Marshal.

The insects landed and slowly congregated, then lined up to climb the helicopter's windshield.

"What are they doing?"

"Maybe they're setting up formation? Just kidding." Zhou You joked, clueless about the bugs' intentions. The exterior was dominated by large mutated birds, and the bugs' numbers seemed too small to replicate their earlier feat of killing a large mutated beast with psychic power.

At that moment, Zhou You noticed the blue light on the insects' backs shining brighter than ever before. There were only a few dozen bugs, yet the blue light combined to form a sphere the size of a basketball.

"A psychic ripple. They're making a move," Zhou You said.

Shao Qi felt the psychic ripple too, while Zhao Xiaoluo, caught off-guard, was almost struck by a mutated bird in his efforts to evade.

A shaggy mutated falcon hurtled directly towards the helicopter, looking as though it aimed to crash into it. Zhao Xiaoluo quickly maneuvered to gain altitude, but the air currents slowed them down, and a collision seemed imminent.

Zhou You prepared to deploy a psychic attack he had recently learned. In such altitudes, conventional weapons wouldn't work. He had to try the psychic attack.

Before he could release his psychic energy, the mutated bird emitted a shrill cry and plummeted downwards.

"Was that a psychic attack?" Zhao Xiaoluo asked in astonishment, wondering if it was the Marshal's wife's doing.

Shao Qi shared the same doubt and looked at Zhou You for answers. Zhou You shook his head, "It wasn’t me. I hadn't acted yet."

"Then it must be their doing," Shao Qi said with mixed emotions. He had planned to use the insects for experiments, but now they had saved lives. Retaining them for experiments seemed ungrateful.

Zhou You shifted to the front for a clearer view, never taking his eyes off the insects. He reached out with his psychic power and felt the bugs eagerly absorbing it.

Zhou You's intuition kicked in again. He believed these insects had become so formidable because they had absorbed his and Xuan Jue's psychic energies earlier. They seemed to be harnessing this power, but for how long?

His question was soon answered. Another mutated bird charged towards the helicopter's wing. Its long, sharp talons aimed directly at the wing. If it made contact, the aircraft would be doomed.

Yet, it didn't succeed. Like the previously mutated bird, it too plummeted. As it fell, the swarm appeared agitated, even resorting to using their large pincers to slice at the glass windows.

"Damn! Are they upset because they couldn't get their prey?" Zhou You remembered how they used to drain the blood from mutated beasts after subduing them.

However, up here at this altitude, when the mutated birds faint, they plummet, not even leaving their carcasses behind.

"Is it possible? But there's nothing we can do. We can't open the cabin door to let them out. Besides, can they even fly at such a high altitude?" Shao Qi laughed at the end of his question, doubting such formidable insects exist.

Zhou You pulled out a bottle of nutrient fluid, red in color and similar to plasma. He wondered if the developers had vampiric ancestry to come up with such a terrifying food.

He poured the nutrient fluid into a small dish. Seeing this, Shao Qi commented, "Aren't they going to tell the difference between blood and this fluid?"

Just after his sarcastic comment, the bugs, as if they had discovered a new world, flew straight from the window and circled cautiously around the dish.

Within three seconds, the bugs transitioned from tentative sips to fully immersing themselves, quickly draining the dish of the nutrient fluid.

"So, does this mean they don't necessarily feed on blood? Why then do they drain their prey of blood?"

"Could it be that they're after a specific component found in the blood, which is also present in the nutrient fluid?"

"Let's try another flavor." Zhou You then opened a blueberry-flavored nutrient fluid, pouring it into a dish. The insects quickly drained it again, seemingly confirming their hypothesis.

What they crave isn't necessarily blood but a component within it. By researching along this line, there might be a way to prevent the swarms from causing harm in the future.

Two mutated birds, including the lead one, have been taken out. The remaining birds circled the helicopter, not willing to leave but not attacking either, seemingly assessing what had harmed them.

After evading for so long, the helicopter had veered off course. Shao Qi instructed Zhao Xiaoluo to find a place to land, hoping to shake off the mutated birds.

Zhao Xiaoluo consulted a map and reported, "Marshal, we are currently in the direction of Yang City base at 11 o'clock, at 5,000 feet. We can land at Yang City base's airstrip or the clearing by the river below."