Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 1011 - 57: Straight to the Queen’s Lair

Chapter 1011: Chapter 57: Straight to the Queen’s Lair

As the final mission began, all the Insect Race aboard the starship were startled and swarmed out, except for those guarding the Mother Empress’ Domain; the rest pounced on the survivors.

The Trojan would not let these toys rest, revealing their location in the language of the Insect Race.

Watching the endless swarm of insects chasing after the fleet, continuously launching attacks, the newbies were almost in despair. They had attempted to attack, but the outdated gunpowder firearms simply couldn’t harm them, and these creatures were like wildfire in the grass, impossible to burn out. Just when one batch was killed off, another would surge out from the passage, fearless in the face of death, their shrill cries and the sound of gunfire becoming the main theme of the battlefield.

Tang Zheng, holding an individual particle cannon, fired continuously. With each light beam shot, the passage was left with a swath of charred corpses, the acrid smell of burning flesh and the thick black smoke that was hard to dissipate poured into the nostrils, forcing the Conquerors to don gas masks.

The newbies didn’t have this luxury, and so they coughed, vomited, tears streaming down as they choked.

The fleet had just rushed through a crossroad when they were hit head-on by another swarm that burst out from a different path.

Bang, a dozen Camel Bugs, like high-speed tanks, crashed into the bus, instantly covering the glass windows with cracks, tilting the body of the bus.

"Help!" the newbies screamed, an endless sense of panic overtaking them, and they all instinctively dodged to the right side, trying to get away from the swarm.

"Don’t panic!" Dantai’s shout was completely drowned out by the bugs’ noise, the scene was in total chaos.

Teng Yuangxiang stayed in the Whale Hunting Vehicle, looking through the car window at the tragic state of the newbies in the bus, her face turning deathly pale, then feeling an intense gratitude towards Tang Zheng.

Five Hellfires were deployed, carrying out a massacre, but they were still half a step too late. One of the bugs smashed through the glass and entered the bus, its tail stabbing and killing a nearby newbie before pulling down the body and biting off half of his brain.

Just as it was about to kill another newbie, a beam of light shot through and blew up its head, the splattered viscous blood covering half the carriage.

"Drive quickly," Qin Yan ran past the bus, intercepting the swarm.

"The Insect race gene sample you’ve got might just be the trump card against the Mother Empress," Dantai communicated with Tang Zheng through the throat microphone, deliberating on a strategy.

"That still depends on meeting the Mother Empress," Tang Zheng replied while attacking, recalling the navigation chart and the coordinates for the spatial jump that Su Han had obtained. Of course, he had seen those things, trying to find some clues.

"There are too many bugs. By the time we clear the peripheral swarm, even if we don’t surpass the time limit, we won’t have the strength to kill the Mother Empress," Dantai analyzed the mission objective, "Other teams have even fewer people left. Following conventional thinking, they definitely won’t complete the mission before us. But the Silver Trojan with its twisted sense of humor would never set such a no-suspense challenge, so the Red-Clothed Woman must have found a shortcut to the Mother Empress."

"The only additional information she has is about the mission item she took," Lu Fan’s mind was racing, "Uncle, do you have a dictionary of the native humans? Maybe we can translate something."

The core members had all seen the mission item, even recording a copy of its contents, in preparation for such situations.

"Tang Zheng, Dantai, stop the killing. Leave the cannon fodder to us. You two get into the war chariot and study the coordinates," Qin Yan instructed. These two had the highest intelligence, so of course she entrusted them with this task.

In the past few days of rest, Pang Meiqin was lucky to have joined up with Ai Yixin and Tao Tao, who were nearby. They were far from the Mother Empress and not in the main team, so they avoided being attacked by a large number of insects. Any small fry that appeared were also killed by Ai Yixin. Moreover, with traps laid nearby, they were temporarily safe.

After some deliberation, the Red-Clothed Woman followed her intuition and chose a marked teleportation coordinate. However, after teleporting there, she realized that the situation was not as easy as she thought. Before she could reach the Mother Empress’ lair, she still had to fight with the swarm.

"Can only hope that Tang Zheng and the others take longer." The number of these bugs was too large, very annoying; not only did it consume all kinds of ammunition reserves, it also wasted time. The Red-Clothed Woman was irritated by this, but relying on her powerful strength, she was steadily getting closer to the Mother Empress.

"The fifth one, should be right," Dantai compared with the dictionary, writing the translated characters on paper, "How about on your end?"

"If we find the right way to use it, it’ll be fast, but right now one character can have several interpretations, how to choose?" Tang Zheng was simply relying on his memory to flip through the dictionary, comparing symbols that looked similar, and then using this to find the method of use.

"You’re not one to get discouraged so easily, right? And to think you even found the dictionary, really preparing for a rainy day," Dantai once again marveled at Tang Zheng’s meticulous mind.

"I saw it when I first got on the starship, looking for a map in the Beehive residential area, along with some other stuff," Tang Zheng had not expected that these things would come in handy.

"It’s poison blast bugs, don’t let them get close." Lu Fan threw out the Wisdom Sword and shot with a rifle. The poison blast bugs were killed, immediately causing a series of explosions, green corrosive blood splattering everywhere.

Jing Xiang shot with the East Sea Road First Bow, spreading speckled arrows, intercepting the poison blast bugs. A Blade Matriarch Bug rushed forward under the protection of Camel Bugs, its blade arm cutting into the side of the bus, tearing open the metal skin.

A newbie was unlucky, not managing to dodge in time, and was grazed, receiving two deep, bone-deep wounds, blood spurting out.

Qin Yan and Bai Guo flew over and killed it.

"Are you done? Can’t hold on any longer!" Teng Yuangxiang stood on top of the Whale Hunting Vehicle, attacking the swarm, only by facing these creatures directly did she realize how terrifying they were, looking at the monsters surging like a flood, she kept shouting, venting the panic inside her.

"We’ve got it, the nearest coordinate location is in the energy area, about a twenty-minute drive," Dantai announced to the team via the car radio, "Qing Shuang, release the Dragonflies for scouting. Ruan Feifei, Yu Manli, Sha Ou, Jing Xiang, you four take point and clear the way."

Dantai worried that the mature women among them would slack off during the BOSS battle, so he simply put them to work clearing out the lesser forces. Besides, with their level of skill, they wouldn’t be much use in the BOSS fight anyway. It would be better to let Qin Yan, Lin Weiguo, and the other core members conserve their energy.

No one objected, and the fleet cut through the swarm of insects, heading for the energy area.

The Red-Clothed Woman had just broken through the guard of insects outside the nest and encountered the Mother Empress, plunging into a fierce battle. Since she didn’t know that Tang Zheng had deciphered the location, she thought she had plenty of time and didn’t rush the attack, instead probing the Mother Empress’ various abilities.

It took ten minutes longer than expected, but upon seeing the transport gate built of rare metals, the team began to cheer.

"Establish defenses," Tang Zheng fired two more rounds, taking out the insect swarm that followed from behind.

"You two, get in first," Dantai jumped out of the car, rifle slung over his shoulder, and grabbed two newbies who had fled from a decrepit bus, dragging them toward the teleportation gate.

"No, I don’t want to," the male newbie struggled, but Dantai had no intention of respecting human rights, delivering a knee strike to his stomach. The man doubled over, vomiting bitter bile and coughing as he collapsed.

"Make sure you see exactly what’s on the other side and what kind of monsters there are, and come back immediately to report," Dantai yelled, then threw them into the teleportation gate.

The bodies of the two newbies disappeared instantly; this miraculous scene didn’t amaze the newbies but instead filled their faces with tension as they hid even further away, fearing Dantai might grab them next.

Dantai silently counted the time, a full thirty seconds, and they hadn’t come back.

"You two, go in," Dantai called out, expecting that with the newbies’ temperaments, they wouldn’t last a second before nervously running back. Since they hadn’t appeared by now, it was a sign they were dead.

"No, please no," the two unlucky ones named refused and turned to run, only to be shot by Dantai, breaking one arm of each.

"The place is surrounded by bugs; do you think you can run?" Dantai’s cold gaze swept over them, "In times like this, only the ruthless and those willing to risk their lives will survive; God only favors the brave."

"Sha Ou, throw them in," Dantai didn’t forget to indoctrinate these guys, "If you run into trouble, just run back, do I need to teach you that?"

"Don’t run, just go over to the teleportation gate," Teng Yuangxiang truly had a knack for wrongdoing as she used her gun to herd the newbies, pushing them to the side of the teleportation gate, ready for Dantai to grab as cannon fodder.

Dantai glanced at her, no nonsense.

Sha Ou unleashed telekinesis, flinging them into the teleportation gate; in twenty seconds, one of the armless newbies emerged covered in blood.

"Bugs!" The newbie had barely spoken when a bug chased out after him, biting off his head.

"That’s enough. Yu Manli, take your group with the newbies and go in," Dantai shot the bug dead, the Armed Hellfire, standing by the teleportation gate.

Yu Manli’s mouth twitched imperceptibly, but she wasn’t foolish enough to be the one to rush in first, instead pressing the newbies to go ahead of her.

"Wait, throw the bombs first, let’s have a bombing run," said Tang Zheng. Although the Old Soldier and Bai Guo were well-suited for an assault, Tang Zheng wouldn’t let them take the risk, so it was "sorry" to the newbies. Their value lay in being cannon fodder.

Another Camel Bug came out of the teleportation gate but was swiftly killed. Lin Weiguo and Dantai were more professional, so they were the ones doing this job, tossing several boxes of broadsword landmines and remote control bombs into the teleportation gate.

"I hope the teleportation gate isn’t blown up," Ruan Feifei’s concern was unnecessary. After they crossed through the intact gate, they saw a stretch of ground within a two hundred-yard range littered with insect corpses, the blood on the ground nearly up to their ankles.

"Establish defenses, attack!" Yu Manli yelled, and the swarms of insects, noticing the intruders, launched a frenzied assault.

"Move!" Tang Zheng was part of the second wave to enter, and as soon as his vision was restored, he leveled his Individual Particle Cannon and fired at the swiftest approaching swarm of insects on the left.

"Red-Clothed Woman might be battling the BOSS right now. If we get spotted, we won’t be able to ambush!" Lu Fan wanted the team to maintain silence, but fortunately, the howling of the swarm admirably masked the gunshots.

.......

PS, Finally finished writing, I’m so hungry, off to make dinner.

It seems there’s still a long way to go to reach five hundred votes, tearfully asking for monthly ticket support! (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets at Qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation.)