Chapter 527: 387 Returns
After confirming there was no way to find other members of the Rooster Group through boiled chicken, Dong Tianyu stopped paying attention to the situation there.
By then, the vehicles they had hidden nearby had either been driven away by the members who had returned early or were destroyed by the Soldier Bugs during the swarm; either way, when they arrived at the place where they had stored the vehicles, they saw no sign of them.
Looking at the chaos of the ruined environment, Yara said somewhat helplessly to the others, "It seems like we can only run back now."
Hearing what Yara had said, everybody felt quite depressed, as Kyoto was still some distance away. Although, besides the three Awakeners, the others’ top running speeds were not slower than a car driving through the forest, nobody wanted to exhaust themselves by running back on foot if they could easily drive back.
As the others were feeling speechless, Dong Tianyu suddenly spoke up to remind everyone present, "When we came out of the tunnel, the Rooster Group had just dealt with the Plasma Bugs. Based on this, the battle in Kyoto must still be ongoing.
If we drove back, it would likely attract attention from the Bug Race at the rear. Keep in mind that even we encountered over a dozen Plasma Bugs, so you can imagine the scale of this swarm must be far beyond the previous ones.
If we drove back so carelessly, we might draw the notice of many from the Bug Race. Without a car and returning on foot, though slower, is safer. After all, we just fought our way out of the tunnel — I think nobody wants to experience being surrounded by countless bugs a second time."
Reminded by Dong Tianyu, and recalling their previous enclosed experience in the tunnels, the group immediately felt that relying on their legs to return was actually not so bad — it could be considered a form of physical training.
With Dong Tianyu’s warning in mind, they intentionally slowed their pace on the return journey to ensure their bodies always had ample energy.
Even so, their pace was still much faster than the running speed of ordinary people, considering that the person with the lowest Cultivation Level among them was in the Energy Refining Realm, besides the three Awakeners.
Dong Tianyu used his Divine Sense to observe their surroundings constantly, to prevent them from unawares entering the midst of the insect swarm.
As they drew closer to Kyoto, they could faintly hear the booming sounds of cannons coming from there.
As they continued to approach Kyoto, scattering members of the Bug Race appeared around them. After dealing with a few easily, Yara immediately stopped in her tracks, turned around, and said to the others, "It looks like the battle over there is still ongoing. Do we get closer to observe, or do we take a detour back?"
Faced with Yara’s question, the others were left speechless. The answer was obvious — no one was foolish enough to take the risk of attracting the Bug Race’s attention, even just for a look.
Having just gone through one encirclement, they didn’t want to experience another breakout.
Seeing the expressions on everyone’s faces, Yara understood what they meant, and thus quickly said, "Alright, alright, I get it. We’ll take a detour around the battlefield."
After speaking, Yara pulled out a compass from her pocket and selected a direction for their return journey.
Since they chose to take a detour, they didn’t encounter any danger on the way back. Not only that, but they also observed a strange phenomenon during their return.
After taking a long detour from the battlefield, they still encountered members of the Bug Race, which did not join the attack and instead seemed to settle down in the forest like ancient creatures.
These members of the Bug Race not only attacked humans but also hunted and preyed on ancient creatures and mutated plants. Meanwhile, ancient creatures and mutated plants seemed to coexist peacefully, not fighting even when close together.
When they finally arrived at the outskirts of Kyoto after a big detour, they found the Patrol Team periodically patrolling on bicycles.
Due to the habits of the nation’s people, and despite having gone through several natural disasters, Kyoto didn’t lack oil supplies. Considering that planes still took off daily to various cities, oil was not yet a scarce resource.
Although they had substantial reserves, domestic oil fields had stopped production, and the channels for purchasing crude oil from abroad had vanished. Theoretically, the domestic oil reserves were dwindling over time.
The current absence of usage restrictions was partly because they had previously reserved too much, fearing natural disasters like earthquakes that might damage storage facilities, and partly because research on alternative energy sources was progressing well, so there were no restrictions on oil usage.
As for why the Patrol Team patrolled on bicycles, it was because Martial Artists were actually better suited to riding bicycles compared to driving cars. After all, bicycles adapted better to all terrains, and in certain special terrains, Martial Artists on bicycles could achieve speeds faster than cars.
When the Patrol Team saw Dong Tianyu and his group returning in a ragged state, they did not display any mocking expressions. Instead, they came over and asked if they needed any help.
Due to the Bug Race attacking the city, the sight of Hunting Teams like Dong Tianyu’s, looking disheveled and taking detours back to the city, wasn’t uncommon. Their appearance was actually one of the better conditions among the Hunting Teams that had recently returned; they at least made it back in one piece. As for whether the whole team returned, that was not within their scope of concern.
