Chapter 536: Chapter 391: News of the Loss_2
The Serpent members who were discovered were okay, but what made Dong Tianyu feel distressed were the five Serpent squad members he had failed to find.
After repeated scanning and searching, Dong Tianyu decided to return immediately when he confirmed that he could not find those Serpent members with his Divine Sense.
Just as Dong Tianyu was about to set off back, there was a change in the battle below. The Lone Wolf and the elite squad, who had been resisting without giving an inch, started to retreat as if they had received some message, fighting as they fell back.
Once they had put some distance between themselves and the pursuing Soldier Bugs, the Lone Wolf and the elite squad scattered like fireworks exploding in the sky, breaking into countless small teams and fleeing for their lives.
The Soldier Bugs in the rear, despite their eagerness to pursue, were fast for ordinary people but as slow as turtles to intermediate Martial Artists. The scattered survivors soon outran the chasing range of the Soldier Bugs.
When the survivors got a certain distance from the Soldier Bugs, the Soldier Bugs, like monsters in a game that had lost their aggro, suddenly became much lazier in their movements. The relentless chase turned into a leisurely stroll.
After observing this, Dong Tianyu once again used his Divine Sense to scan the surroundings. After repeated scans and detecting no abnormalities, Dong Tianyu began to head back.
What Dong Tianyu didn’t know was that in the underground space beneath the area where the Earth Support Squad was hunting the Plasma Bugs, the Brain Bug was continuously feeding on the brains of the survivors captured by the Soldier Bugs.
After consuming the brains of several survivors, the Brain Bug suddenly extended its limb, which looked as though it were crippled, and took out an emergency signal device from one of the captured survivors. Then, it slowly sent out a distress signal.
Once the distress signal was successfully transmitted by the Brain Bug, it ordered the carrier beneath it to leave the area with it.
The Brain Bug serves as the brain for the lower echelons of the Bug Race. Unlike other armored members of the Bug Race who focus their attributes on combat, the Brain Bug is soft and squishy, with its brain making up more than sixty percent of its entire body. Therefore, not only is the Brain Bug smart, but it also has an extremely strong learning ability.
After feeding on the captured survivors’ brains, the Brain Bug could opportunistically gain memory fragments of its victims. Using these acquired memory fragments to send messages, it deceives others into coming for rescue.
This was similar to the situation in Kidney City, where both places aimed to lure people in—only, one was to harvest kidneys, while the other was to consume brains.
The departed Dong Tianyu was unaware of the situation that would arise from the activation of the emergency device used by the Brain Bug.
When Dong Tianyu returned home, he noticed that there were several missed calls on his communication device from when he was away.
Just as Dong Tianyu was about to check who had tried to contact him, he sensed Yara hurrying over with his Divine Sense.
Seeing Yara coming alone, Dong Tianyu was also curious, as in this world, he wondered what could attract the young master of the Simon Family to come over at this time.
When Yara rang the doorbell at the entrance, Dong Tianyu finally went to open the door, pretending to be half-asleep as he spoke, "What brings you here at this time?"
Yara carefully checked the surroundings before quickly pushing Dong Tianyu into the courtyard. After ensuring that no one was around, he looked deeply troubled as he spoke to Dong Tianyu, "Brother, do you know? The space channel has opened again. According to my intel, this time there are dozens of Plasma Bugs from..."
Dong Tianyu didn’t interrupt Yara’s rambling. Instead, he turned and walked towards the living room. Yara watched him leave, hurriedly followed, and shared with Dong Tianyu the intelligence he had heard, just like he would have at the scene.
From what Yara said, it was clear that he hadn’t been to the scene; his knowledge must have come from one of the Lone Wolves or a member of the elite squad who had been there.
After the two sat down, Dong Tianyu poured a cup of boiled water for Yara and then casually asked, "Speak directly about why you’re here; I don’t believe you’d come just to gossip with me. After all, you’re aware that much of what you’ve previously said holds questionable truth."
Seeing that Dong Tianyu not only failed to play along with his act, but also directly exposed it, Yara felt somewhat disappointed and helpless, he sighed, and then began to explain his reason for coming:
"This time, the Bug Race’s attack is quite fierce. Although it has only just begun, I’ve received news that some places in the north have already fallen, and many escaping survivors are heading straight for Kyoto."
Upon hearing this, Dong Tianyu frowned and asked with a hint of uncertainty, "The north? The northeast provinces? That’s impossible. Even if I haven’t been there, the war potential in that region is no less than here in Kyoto. Before the calamity, there were numerous munitions factories there. It’s hard for me to believe that they’ve fallen.
Perhaps it’s not the major cities that have fallen, but the surrounding counties. If that’s the case, I could barely believe it."
Hearing Dong Tianyu say this, Yara shook his head repeatedly, "That’s the northeast, I’m talking about due north, the two places are different."
Curious about Yara’s clarification, Dong Tianyu asked, "You mean that place that was always advertised as the safest before the disaster? After all, their borders were secured by the two major powers.
Before the calamity, as long as they didn’t provoke the big brothers, neither we nor White Bear would deliberately look for trouble with them. In fact, we and White Bear tacitly treated their territory as a buffer zone.
Wait, now that you mention it, I remember that place didn’t really have any regular army. Their most famous was the navy - all fifteen members of it. And these navy members were all over sixty years old.
These were genuinely old soldiers, but what’s more outrageous is that even with only fifteen slots, this team was almost never at full strength."
Seeing Dong Tianyu’s digression from the topic, Yara hurriedly steered the conversation back, "Alright, let’s not discuss those irrelevant things. I’m here to talk about serious matters. The situation there is not good.
In the beginning, even without steel, they could still build walls from giant trees. But think about what the plains were like before and how the Soldier Bugs perform when they arrive.
Do you think a bunch of scattered fighters could really withstand the Soldier Bugs’ massive onslaught?"
After considering Yara’s words, Dong Tianyu guessed the situation there but still asked with some uncertainty, "Before the revival of ancient creatures, when the earth began to shake, massive trees sprung from the ground. Are you saying there wasn’t a single tree over there?"
Hearing Dong Tianyu’s half-joking words, Yara nodded in agreement and then continued to reveal the current situation, "The plains weren’t lying, for some reason.
The giant trees that wantonly destroyed buildings in our inland didn’t appear on the plains. However, despite the absence of towering trees, the wild grass grew as if mad. Eventually, the average height of the grasses surpassed two meters, taller than most people."
At this point, Yara suddenly realized that he was also getting off topic and immediately corrected himself, "You should be aware of the situation there. Before the calamity, it was mainly inhabited by nomads, hence sparsely populated.
Although they gathered together after the disaster, they didn’t build cities but lived in tents crowded together, so they lacked strong defensive measures.
While more and more military camps began to accept survivors, the situation there was not very good. This time, with Brain Bugs potentially in command, the Soldier Bugs did not destroy the pastures upon their arrival but used the grass to conceal themselves.
With commands from the Brain Bugs, they also began employing tactics, such as distracting on the surface and digging tunnels underground for surprise attacks."
