I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 504 - 504 503. Bugs are coming_1

Chapter 504: 503. Bugs are coming_1 Chapter 504: 503. Bugs are coming_1 The swarm was coming.

When Shuangxin realized this fact, her heart instead became much calmer.

Having witnessed how the humans of the old era stepped into destruction and became these bugs, having witnessed that bridge to another world, Shuangxin didn’t know why, but her fear of the swarm had even dissipated considerably.

As a researcher, she might be able to use some philosophical thinking methods to explain these issues, but ultimately, it was because she had come to understand the characteristics, origins, and purposes of these bugs.

When something unknown becomes known, or rather when something unknown becomes knowable, the oppression and fear it brings greatly diminishes.

When a disaster with absolute power, capable of destroying everything in its path, comes sweeping over and humans are utterly incapable of analyzing, understanding, or explaining it, that is the true horror.

In ancient times, when technological civilizations were underdeveloped, humans called these catastrophes Divine Beings.

But with the development of human civilization, the unknown became knowable, the knowable became known, and humans were even able to predict these disasters, thoroughly analyzing their causes, processes, and ends.

Thus, these disasters lost their divinity and became common natural calamities.

It was the same with the swarm.

Even though the sea of bugs that covered the sky and land still made every Wasteland person feel a shiver of terror from the bottom of their hearts, in Shuangxin’s view, these bugs were merely pitiable people who, like herself, suffered hardships when Doomsday came.

“The swarm might be headed towards the Wormhole, we must leave here immediately,”

Shuangxin said.

Being found by the scouts of the swarm meant that the large forces of the swarm would soon follow. The swarm usually covered several kilometers of the desert, burrowing underground, soaring in the sky, winding through the sandy ground, searching for anything it could devour.

Once you were found by a single bug, it meant the entire swarm had set its gaze upon you, and the Heart of the Swarm would guide those bugs to encircle and consume the prey thoroughly.

Although these bugs might not destroy the Wormhole and structures here, for humans caught within, bugs passing through equated to a catastrophe.

She and the Singer immediately ran towards the house where Lu Ban was.

But after just two steps, the wall by the road suddenly collapsed.

Shuangxin saw a bug stumbling out from the collapsed debris of the wall.

This bug had eight long legs, with a body only about the size of a human head, covered in a layer of dense fuzz, resembling a giant spider, save for the part where the mouth was, which was packed with tentacles. Those tentacles extended, trying to capture something in the air.

The bug’s body was pitted and scarred, with many wounds, some of which had completely torn through the bug’s shell, exposing the dark flesh underneath.

Clearly, this bug had been carried here by the recent sandstorm.

Apart from this bug, Shuangxin also spotted some other bug corpses nearby. Those bodies had been subjected to the sandstorm moving faster than the speed of sound, leaving behind some broken remains scattered amongst the ruins of the industrial park.

It must’ve been these bugs that encountered the sandstorm while on the move, and many of their kind had perished beneath the natural disaster.

Even so, to have their bodies relatively preserved in such a storm, and even surviving it, one couldn’t help but marvel at their strong life force.

For Shuangxin, this also meant something else.

“These bugs have already discovered us.”

Without hesitation, Shuangxin reached out and grabbed one of the bug’s legs while it had yet to fully react.

Countless tentacles from its mouth immediately started to twitch, trying to entangle Shuangxin.

But its movements quickly froze.

Frost began to emerge on the surface of the bug’s body as if seeping out from beneath its skin.

The next moment, the entire bug turned into an ice sculpture, glaringly conspicuous upon the dark yellow sand of the desert.

In the distance, the pitch-black expanse of the swarm suddenly paused for a moment.

Immediately after, the swarm became frenzied, like hunters who had discovered treasure—bugs with ten legs, bugs with three pairs of wings, and those hidden beneath the gravel, snake-like in form.

All the bugs moved towards the direction of the industrial park ruins, rustling noisily, leaving behind chaotic traces.

Shuangxin and Singer arrived beneath the room where Lu Ban was, calling out to the two people present.

“What’s happening?”

Moment poked his head out from the room, his face covered in dust, clearly affected by the recent sandstorm that had hit the area.

“The swarm is coming.”

With Shuangxin’s simple phrase, an expression of grave seriousness crossed Moment’s face.

“The swarm.”

Moment relayed the information to Lu Ban inside the room.

At the time, Lu Ban was still printing materials, nodding his head in acknowledgment.

Even though he didn’t know how the swarm had found this place, Lu Ban had anticipated that he would encounter those bugs somewhere eventually.

After all, the mission was bound to involve contact with the swarm, and it was somewhat surprising that he hadn’t encountered them sooner, which led him to wonder if they had already been hiding beneath the sandy ground.

He placed the materials into Moment’s knapsack and patted the young man on the shoulder.

Both of them clambered down from the stairs destroyed by the sandstorm, and Lu Ban glanced in the direction from which the swarm was coming.

The visible black dots were already scattered across the distant desert.

According to Lu Ban’s thinking, he was quite keen to make contact with the swarm since he carried “Cat Addiction” in his bag, which could control the swarm to some extent, and because he needed to get to the Heart of the Swarm, he had to penetrate the center of the swarm and find the Queen Bug.

But if they stayed here, the others would surely suffer.

“We’ve found a wormhole.”

As they walked towards the camel bugs at the edge of the ruins, Shuangxin shared her discovery.

“A wormhole?”

Lu Ban quickly grasped what this discovery implied.

He stopped.

“The wormhole must be destroyed, if we do not destroy the wormhole, the swarm will keep coming to this world endlessly. We can run now, but our mounts can’t travel long distances, and Future City is nearby. The robots there could also come under attack by the swarm.”

What he said was indeed true. Wherever the swarm passed, no grass would remain, and perhaps Future City had been spared so far due to luck. It was mainly made of concrete structures, to which the swarm was indifferent, but now, after the sandstorm, the city’s solar panels were surely damaged, which could attract the swarm’s attention when robots came out to check and make repairs.

Not to mention, once the solar panels were damaged, the fate awaiting the robots could only be energy depletion, leaving them unable to power on again.

“What can you do?”

Shuangxin clearly did not agree with Lu Ban’s argument; at a time like this, her priority was to keep everyone safe as much as possible.

“I have some things that I found in the ruins before, which can attract the swarm. I’ll try to lure them near the wormhole and destroy it in one go.”

Lu Ban explained briefly, and seeing that Shuangxin and the others were still opposed, he did not hesitate and promptly took out the silver pen “Testament.”

In Lu Ban’s hands, “Testament” changed shape, turning into a long-barreled revolver.

Bang bang—

Lu Ban fired two shots, hitting two teammates who immediately flew out of the ruins and quickly landed on the ground.

Shuangxin wanted to say something, but Lu Ban just smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, I still need to attend tonight’s New Year’s Eve bonfire party.”

Bang—

Shuangxin felt the world spinning as she too was propelled by a massive force out of the ruins.