Brother Zhang's ability had only awakened not long ago, so the range he could sense was very limited. For these insects to already be within his perception range meant they were frighteningly close.
But they had been charging forward just a moment ago. How could they suddenly freeze in place?
No one could answer this question. Meanwhile, among the heavily injured ability users, one teammate collapsed from exhaustion.
The person behind him immediately grabbed him without a word and carried him straight into the base, rushing him to the infirmary.
Brother Zhang watched their retreating backs and complained, "Why did you drag them out here in the first place? With such heavy injuries, making them fight these things is the same as sending them to die."
Brother Li was nowhere near as kind-hearted. He retorted, "And what else can we do? These mutant creatures can only be handled with abilities. If they don't fight, we can't do anything at all."
Brother Zhang gave him a glance but could not be bothered to argue. Instead, he turned to the rest of the squad and asked, "Have you finished spraying insecticide? Make sure it covers the whole area around the base. Maybe these insects froze because of the insecticide."
But the truth was otherwise. While Brother Zhang was speaking, a faint roar echoed from within the base, and the frozen insects suddenly surged forward again.
Brother Zhang instantly felt the danger and shouted, "They're coming! Everyone, be careful!"
The insects were already close to begin with. Before he had even finished speaking, the sharp-eyed among them could already see the swarm racing toward them.
The sight was overwhelming, a black tide of insects stretching like a mountain and sea of crawling bodies. Brother Zhang swore that apart from the great insect plagues of the past, he had never seen so many insects at once.
But when he got a clear look at what they were, his face changed at once. "Back to the base, retreat to the base now!"
Brother Li did not understand. He immediately objected, "Retreat? What retreat? There are so many of them, and these mutant insects can climb walls. Going back inside will be useless. We have to block them here!"
Brother Zhang dragged Brother Li backward as he said, "I have seen these before. They eat people alive. When there are this many, we cannot resist. Retreat now!"
As they fell back, one wounded teammate also recognized the insects. His voice shook as he cried, "It's them, it's them! So many of our squadmates were eaten by these! It didn't even take a minute. After they finished, not even a drop of blood was left. I don't want to be eaten, I don't want to!"
As soon as he spoke, he bolted for the base. Those who had been lagging behind quickened their pace at once.
The base gates slammed shut just as the swarm reached them, blocking the insects outside.
Even inside, Brother Zhang did not relax. He pulled out his radio and asked the guards on top of the defense wall, "What's the situation? Have they started climbing?"
The man replied in panic, "They're climbing! They're already climbing, Captain. What do we do?"
Brother Zhang immediately recalled how Ling Jiang and Huang Jinghe had dealt with them before. He shouted, "Spray water, pour water! Water and ice ability users, get up here with me. Freeze them. Wind users, too—use wind to make the freezing faster!"
Brother Li asked anxiously, "Will that even work?"
"When we faced them before, the four of them dealt with it this way. But the numbers back then were nowhere near this many. Right now, just try it first." Brother Zhang then added, "Raise the second defense gate now. If necessary, raise the third one too."
As the second defense gate rumbled up, Brother Zhang led the water, ice, and wind users onto the wall.
There were twelve of them in total. Together, they unleashed torrents of water, blasts of wind, and waves of ice. A large number of insects were frozen solid against the walls. However temporary, it was still a victory.
But that only dealt with the ones on the walls. What about those swarming on the ground? There were too many, and the gap between the ground and the top of the wall was too wide. They could not reach both at once.
As Brother Zhang was racking his brain for a solution, several insects squeezed through cracks in the first gate. Soon, more and more of them followed, rushing inside through the gaps.
This was where the second gate had its role. But it also had a fatal flaw: the gate only covered half the height. Everyone remembered how they had to stand on chairs to attack snakes earlier? That same flaw made this gate almost useless against a horde.
Before long, insects swarmed up the glass of the second gate. Their tiny bodies made climbing effortless. Inside the hall, the ability users fought desperately.
Their attacks worked, but the majority of them were still injured from before. They had not recovered properly, and now forcing their abilities drained what little strength they had left. Their weak bodies gave out quickly, and they collapsed one by one.
The problem was that only a few insects had been killed.
Just as Brother Li rushed forward to drag the fallen back, the swarm broke through. The insects dove onto the collapsed bodies. In an instant, the victims were stripped to bare white bones, not even blood remaining.
The sight made Brother Li's hands tremble violently as he gripped his rifle. Hearing about such horrors was one thing, but seeing it firsthand was something else entirely. Now, he truly believed the fearsome nature of these creatures. He shouted, "Quick! Raise the third gate!"
The third gate sealed vertically, top and bottom closing in unison. It locked shut swiftly, and with fire ability users blasting flames to hold the line, they managed to secure it for now.
When the locks clicked tight, Brother Li finally exhaled. He took out his radio to contact Brother Zhang, who was still on the wall. "Captain Zhang, we raised the third defense gate. We've held them off for now, but it won't last long. How's your side?"
Captain Zhang replied, "My side is holding. We've frozen all of them on the wall. I'm planning to take people down with ropes, clear the ones at the gate, then open it to clean out the ones inside. You keep the fire users guarding there. If anything breaks through, burn it. If that fails, blow them up. These insects are too dangerous. Survival comes first, no matter what."
"Understood."
Brother Li answered solemnly.
Meanwhile, Captain Zhang had already gathered his people and was slowly descending the wall with ropes.
===
Handbook Update!
My third guide, "The Webnovel Handbook: A Guide to Slang, Tropes, and Inside Jokes" has passed vetting and is now available on my profile!
It's your go-to for decoding slang like "tea art" or "golden thigh," understanding popular tropes, and all those fun cultural footnotes. For now, the entries are still few, but I'll keep adding more as I find interesting misc info!
Add it to your library so you don't miss updates! Happy reading! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ