[[Warning! Warning! System Overheating.]]
The more the creatures regenerated, the higher the concerntration of magnetic energy in the cave. Soon the Tech suit of He Yuan, the two other soldiers and Jin Qi began giving out error meesages with He Yuan's being the most intense with flashing red light on the interface.
It was also impossible to communicate with the soldiers in Space due to the high interference.
SCRRREEEE!
One of the cockcroach beings managed to slip past the range of He Yuan's laser and latch onto the leg guard of his Tech suit. He was quick to dislodge it and blast it away but not before a fist sized hole had been eaten through the leg guard.
[[Warning! Warning! Warning! Engine Compromised!]]
SCRRREEEE!
The warnings became more intense and more of the creatures began aiming for the hole in He Yuan's leg guard, effectively increasingly the pressure on him but he hitheadedly held on and grit his teeth as he focused on blasting his laser gun both ways.
888 eyes blazed and the sound of his clenching teeth spread throughout his host's mind space. He was honestly becoming more and more impatient. He knew He Yuan was doing this because of him but that did nothing but highlight his own helplessness and worry and being worried and helpless only made him very angry.
Although he would definitely face punishment if he interfered on such a large scale, it was much better than dying because of his host's stubborness!
He Yuan's chest slowly became hotter again and he groaned through gritted teeth when he caught onto what his system was doing. "888, behave!"
BOOM!
BANG!
He released another shot at the roof and took out a wave of insects. His eyes quickly darted to Jin Qi's Tech Suit before addressing his system, "You know I'm not stupid. If it came down to it, I would choose the most practical approach to ensure that we survive and that would be letting you use your energy. Things are bad but not to the point where there is no hope." His eyes trailed to Jin Qi again. "Just give me a little more time alright?"
888 retracted his energy at that bit he was in no way calm. He was very much aware on how much toll this situation was taking on Yang Xue's fragile body.
At that moment...
RUMBLE!
RUMBLE!
CRASH!
Rocks, dust and grey mud rained down from the roof and the entire cave trembled tremendously.
[IT'S OPEN! I can see light!] The soldier who had initially complained, cried out with his voice filled with relief and shaky from what the other three suspected were tears. He sent out a huge blast towards the insects in front of him before turning and rushing towards the narrow hole in the roof with no hesitation.
SCCRREEEE!
SCCRREEEE!
SCRRREEEE!
The insects that had been in the trajectory of the natural light screeched in pain and scurried towards the shadows. Thereby showing the true reason they had returned to the dark moist cave instead of spreading throughout the mountainous area.
BANG!
BANG!
The second soldier who had been quick to support He Yuan was a step closer to the roof so took his leave but instead of turning around like the first soldier, he kept blasting the insects as he operated his Tech suit backwards.
SCCRREEEE!
BANG!
BANG!
Jin Qi's eyes briefly trailed to He Yuan at that moment. Yang Xue was much closer to the hole than she was. What to do?
He Yuan, on the other hand, had a triumphant smirk on his face as he issued a command to Dom206 to equip him with a nose plug. The atmospheric air of Aer had 15.5% Oxygen, 75% nitrogen, 4% thelm and 5.5% magnetic energy. The minimum amount of oxygen required for the survival of humans and mandrons was 19.5% and 20% for andronians.
That being said, the nose plug had the function of increasing atmospheric oxygen thereby preventing the soldiers from suffocating in the event that they are seperated from their Tech suits.
With the nose plug in place, He Yuan issued another command. "Initiate self destruct sequence in sixty seconds."
[[Initiating Self Destruct In 60, 59...]]
And then,
BAAANNNG!
He Yuan let out a huge blast at the insects before him before turning and heading for the hole.
Jin Qu's eyes lit up. In fact, she had been hoping for Yang Xue to go first. The appearnce if these insects disrupted her entire plan but at least she could still handle him.
BAAAANNNG!
She also let out a huge blast at the insects before her and rushed as He Yuan. With both Tech suits going up the hole, the stream of light coming from the hole was blocked so the insects quickly rushed after them.
He Yuan operated the Tech suit with all his effort and when he was a few inches away from the exit, he felt Jin Qi grab onto the leg guard of his Tech suit with force. He looked down and smiled. The fish had caught the bait.
Jin Qi smirked in triumph, the insects were still some distance away, it was perfect. She forcefully tugged on He Yuan's leg guard with considerable strength.... And then she froze with wide eyes staring at the exit in horror.
He Yuan had ejected himself from the Tech suit and used the force of the automatical dislodge to forcefully propel himself out of the hole so Jin Qi was left with just the empty Tech suit.
Worse, since He Yuan hadn't offered any resistance like she'd imagined, the Tech suit simply gravitated towards her due to her forceful pull and she was pushed down a few inches.
Jin Qi was quick to react. She quickly pushed the Tech suit out of her way and leapt for the exit but she had unfortunately wasted time and twenty or so little cockroach beasts managed to latch onto the thigh of her Tech suit.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
A heart rending scream tore through the otherwise peaceful mountain area as the leg guards of Jin's Tech suit and subsequently, her legs, were chewed off cleanly by the little creatures.
Jin Qi's upper body was already at the edge of the hole and she stared at He Yuan fiercely with a mixture of both pain, hot tears and hatred.
He Yuan remembered something at that point and, putting on an appearance of confliction, he rushed over to Jin Qi and pulled her body out and drag her some metres away.
SCRRREEEE!
The insects scurried away from the light once Jin Qics Tech suit was no longer blocking the hole. At that moment,
BOOM!
RUMBLE!
CRASH!
Yang Xue's Tech suit exploded at the bottom of the cave and the ground beneath He Yuan's feet trembled.
"YANG XUE, YOU CURSED BASTARD WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST DIE?!!"
Jin Qi screamed as fresh hot blood sprayed from her knees. Her two legs were gone and there was even savage bite barks on what was left of her knees. Her head spinned both from the blood loss and the intense pain. It hurt so much she couldn't think straight.
He Yuan barely paid her any mind but instead walked over to her knee area.
Jin Qi tried to drowsily sit up and push him way and that was when she saw the full damage that had been done to her. She fainted.
He Yuan subtly adjusted Special one No. 2's position and took out his silver needles. The other two soldiers had long left, hopefully to call for back up so he did not have time. He swiftly inserted his needles into several points in Jin Qi's bleeding leg and severed her tendons.
This way, even if she got a prosthetic limb, she would never be able to merge with the limb and walk. Technology was great at this period but tendon regenerating technology did not exist. Jin Qi was not the type that deserved death as punishment no. Death was a mercy for her kind. Living -especially deformed, was much worse for her.
After placing the used needles in a different slot on his storage space, he ripped apart a part of military scrubs and wrapped both of Jin Qi's legs to staunch her bleeding. The upper part of her Tech suit was still worn by her.
It was impossible for him to deactivate it without the owners's command so he had no choice but to heft Jin Qi on his back with the Tech suit. Obviously, that didn't work. Yang Xue was a mandron so He Yuan settled on holding unto Jin Qi's thighs and dragging her along.
He frowned. He didn't want to be inappropriate with her but there was no other place he could hold her. If he dragged her by her arm then the bleeding knees would have to be in contact with the swampy ground. The best way to keep her knees from greeting into contact with the ground would be to elevate the knees by... yes, dragging her by her thighs.
In He Yuan's mind space, 888 -who had been taking note of his host's actions- narrowed his eyes and then they slowly widened in realization. He grit his teeth and decisively relocated to the system space with his chest full of rage.
He Yuan felt it the moment 888 left his mind space but he didn't dwell on it too much. 888 frequently alternated between his mind space and the system space afterall. It wasn't surprising if the system needed some time alone after all the craziness that just happened down in that cave.
After walking for almost two hours, the soft hum of Tech suits finally arrived in the air above He Yuan.
The AO20 had received some info before the interference of the magnetic energy so they had dispatched a rescue team of 500 soldiers. The two soldiers who had escaped earlier had also met up with the remaining 180 soldiers of the AO20 Scout Platoon. So everyone was on their way to the cave when they found a grimy looking mandron with nothing but a nose plug and tattered military scrubs laboriously dragging with him what appeared to be a wounded person in half of a Tech suit.
The rescue soldiers and 180 platoon soldiers frowned but the two soldiers who had escaped from the cave had their eyes wide in horror. The mandron was clearly whole and fine so the bleeding person in half of a Tech suit was??.... "Lieutenant Colonel Jin!"
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