Chapter 103: Aerial Disaster
“Vroom—”
“Screech—”
An engine roared, then a car braked abruptly in front of the sand-covered airport.
The vehicle slid a considerable distance before coming to a complete stop, likely due to the sand on the runway.
A bald woman in a thin, white windbreaker jumped out of the driver’s seat.
The windbreaker was buttoned just below her navel, revealing that she was wearing nothing underneath.
Even in this “minimalist” attire, she seemed dissatisfied with her clothing.
A woman carrying a military equipment box emerged from the passenger seat and hurried after her.
“So you actually drove all the way back to the camp? Just for this crate?” Luo asked incredulously, watching the woman hurry after her.
“We were low on fuel… and I saw the pilot arriving… so I thought I might as well…” the driver chuckled nervously, not daring to argue.
The crate had been specifically sent for Luo by the Boss, containing things Luo hated: a cut-resistant windbreaker, a bulletproof vest, and several blood crystals.
Items meant for combat; the driver couldn’t disobey the Boss, nor could she argue with Luo, so she just accepted the blame.
“Why does the Boss always want me to wear clothes? It’s so much cooler without them,” Luo grumbled as they walked towards the center of the airport. “Before the apocalypse, I even proposed abolishing the law against public nudity. Too bad it failed; I would have stopped wearing clothes long ago.”
“Thankfully, no one can tell me what to do now.”
She continued to mutter, the driver nodding along.
Yes, Boss, who would dare tell you what to do now?
A B-rank Awakened, practically a god in this world, and with that prominent “V” symbol on her windbreaker, who would be foolish enough to cross her?
And those who’d opposed her proposal before the apocalypse?
Long dead.
Their money and power couldn’t stop the blood crystal rain; it even rained inside the military base.
The blood crystal infection made everyone equal.
Probably 99% of the world’s population had died on the day the rain started. The driver shuddered at the thought.
Five years later, it was likely even worse.
The abandoned runway was littered with wrecked aircraft, some burned down to their frames.
But the Voodoo Cult hadn’t bothered clearing them; the wreckage didn’t seem to affect their pilot’s ability to take off.
Finally, they reached the center of the airport, where a massive, white, jade-like creature stood.
It resembled a dragonfly, its body made of white bone plates, its hollow insides visible through the gaps.
It was folding its six black, iridescent wings. Its triangular head, covered in chitin, with two red compound eyes, seemed to notice Luo, shifting its massive body and emitting a loud screech.
The giant insect, over ten meters long, shaped like a dragonfly or a moth, its silhouette resembling a narrow B-2 bomber, seemed to be afraid of Luo.
A man jumped down from a gap in the giant insect’s abdomen and ran towards them.
“Boss Luo, you’re here.” The short man with center-parted hair smiled and rubbed his hands together nervously.
“Why is it you?” Luo asked, frowning, a wave of unpleasant memories surfacing as she looked at the giant insect. “Where’s the big beetle?”
“Haha… Old Zhang is on the… plantation burning mission. We switched. The Blood Crystal Beetle is a more stable flier, better for carrying explosives.” The man’s tone was placating. “And ‘Black and White’ here is much faster.”
“…Sigh, fine.” Luo sighed.
She wasn’t petty; she wouldn’t make a fuss over such a small matter.
And she knew what the “plantation” was; Donghai City. She knew more about this than anyone present.
The Boss had preserved the spores from her pet mushroom and had someone, disguised as an Awakened fleeing the Voodoo Cult, infiltrate that “Survivor’s Light” organization.
That organization had even broadcast the incident, using it as an example, telling people not to panic if they encountered the Voodoo Cult.
This had spoiled some of their fun, but the Boss’s plan had worked. Within two years, the mushrooms had spread.
Luo had never cared about such things and had ignored it.
And having one less large organization to compete with meant more freedom for her.
As for why she disliked this giant insect… it brought back unpleasant memories.
The high-frequency vibrations of its wings, the lack of oxygen at high altitude, the gaps in its bony plates… riding inside it wasn’t comfortable.
Pure torture.
That flight had turned her, someone who had never even been on a plane, against all flying mutated creatures.
She’d suggested several times that this giant flying insect become her personal “Pokémon,” but the Boss had refused.
Raising such a large, mutated insect wasn’t easy.
They had to feed it blood crystals from bone-type zombies and mutated insects, a costly process taking one or two years, and then it required a C-rank control-type Awakened to control it.
Even the Voodoo Cult, with its vast resources, had only managed to raise four in all these years.
And planes? Forget about it.
Few pilots had survived the initial blood crystal rain, and even if they had, those from the military wouldn’t join the Voodoo Cult.
They’d only heard about one: a military pilot at Survivor’s Light who could fly a helicopter. A significant threat, and one of the reasons the Voodoo Cult hadn’t attacked Survivor’s Light directly.
“So, are we ready to depart?” the man asked, rubbing his hands together. “Black and White can probably reach Southwest Province, but we have to bypass Yun Province, so we need to hurry.”
“No detours, we’re going straight. I’m on a tight schedule.” Without waiting for his reply, Luo walked towards the insect, climbed onto its bone legs, grabbed the edge of its open abdomen, and climbed inside.
The female driver followed, also entering the… “plane,” as these giant insects were called in the Voodoo Cult, right behind Luo.
The pilot, unhurried, took off his backpack, retrieved a blood crystal stone, and the insect, Black and White, sensing the scent, lowered its body, crawling towards him.
It lowered its head, its jaw unfolding like pincers, caught the tossed crystal, and swallowed it.
“Good boy,” the Voodoo Cult pilot patted Black and White’s compound eyes. “Fly steady, or you’ll get another beating.”
As if understanding, Black and White screeched and then, opening its bone plates, lifted the pilot with its legs and let him climb inside its abdomen.
It was the safest and most stable spot, shielded from the wind, and as long as the controller was inside, the insect wouldn’t go berserk.
With everyone in position, the pilot established his mental connection, and blood-red veins pulsed across Black and White’s black wings.
Its six wings, of varying lengths, unfurled, its silhouette resembling a segmented B-2 bomber.
“Buzz—”
The six wings began to vibrate rapidly, like a giant ornithopter, creating a sandstorm.
Pushing off the ground with its legs, it rose into the air, quickly gaining altitude, and then, reaching about two hundred meters, sped forward.
Its massive body couldn’t fly any higher with passengers; the energy consumption was too great.
The rapidly beating wings blurred, only the blood crystal veins clearly visible, streaks of red against the sky.
Black and White soared through the air, quickly leaving the desert behind, crossing Xin Province, heading towards Yun Province.
While the flight seemed effortless to the insect, the passengers inside weren’t so comfortable.
Luo clung to a hollow bone spike inside the insect’s abdomen with her left hand, her right arm around her unconscious subordinate, who had passed out shortly after takeoff, her hair whipping in the wind, her lips pale.
The vibrations and the wind were deafening, she cursed, but her voice was lost in the roar.
The agonizing flight continued for about twenty minutes, the landscape below changing from desert to green.
Ten minutes later, they saw cities, but the cities, too, were covered in vegetation, their original shapes barely discernible.
Luo, her initial annoyance fading, began to observe the landscape below, her eyes searching.
Nothing… unusual…
Why had the Boss warned her to avoid Yun Province, even when flying?
Was there some unstoppable monster hidden amidst these green cities?
The thought piqued her curiosity and her fighting spirit.
After completing this extermination mission, she would have to spend a few months in Yun Province, explore, and see what was so dangerous here.
After passing over several cities, Black and White seemed to be tiring… its blood crystal reserves were dwindling, unable to sustain this level of exertion for much longer. Perhaps another hour at most.
But they should reach Southwest Province within an hour, no problem.
“Sigh…”
“Almost over…”
Passing over another city, looking at the building-trees below, Luo sighed softly.
Just as she was closing her eyes, preparing to endure the remaining flight time, the inside of Black and White’s abdomen suddenly lurched violently.
It had abruptly ascended.
“What’s happening?”
The insect’s head blocked her view.
Another Corpse Bird?
Was Black and White trying to avoid it?
This had happened before. Luo, experienced, wasn’t panicked. She looked down.
A green blur zipped past below, incredibly close.
And as the two flying creatures passed each other, Luo’s eyes widened.
A ribbon-like appendage, trailing from the green blur, had snagged on one of Black and White’s abdominal plates.
“What the—?”
Before she could react, the two giant creatures, now tethered together, collided.
“Boom—”
“Buzz—”
Bone and flesh splattered as they tumbled through the air, falling towards the jungle city below.
As they plummeted, a single thought flashed through Luo’s mind.
“This fucking zombie doesn’t have a pilot’s license, does it?”
“Crash—”
Less than a second later, they slammed into a building-tree, spraying green, viscous fluid, which coated Black and White’s wings, preventing it from flying.
“Boom—Boom—”
They crashed to the ground, a deafening roar, scattering spores.
But the spores, in the humid air, fell quickly, unable to spread.
And inside the insect’s abdomen, just like the green, unknown zombie it had collided with, two figures lay crumpled, their fates uncertain.
…
“Hoo—”
“Roar—”
Lin Jiayao, controlling her second zombie, flapped its wings, gaining altitude, then, folding them, swooped downwards, pulling up just before hitting the ground, a graceful arc before ascending again.
If she could speak, she would have shouted, “Woohoo~!”
The feeling of flight was exhilarating.
And as she flew, she instinctively mastered the zombie’s flying abilities, her speed and agility increasing, performing aerial acrobatics.
Like a child with a new toy car, speeding down a hill.
She felt… she was becoming a skilled pilot.
“Whoosh—”
She pulled up sharply, preparing for another dive.
But as she climbed to about two hundred meters, she felt a sudden, powerful vibration ahead.
Her green, fungal eye turned, and she saw a red blur rapidly approaching.
“What the…?”
Another flying zombie?
Their speeds were incredible. By the time she’d registered its presence, it was less than fifty meters away.
Shit, I have to avoid it.
She ascended further, tilting her body sideways, preparing for a graceful aerial roll.
But the other zombie also ascended, even faster, and before Lin Jiayao could complete her maneuver, she found herself directly beneath it, attempting a “roll” under its abdomen.
The roll, however, wasn’t successful.
As her body spun, the vines trailing from her wings snagged on one of the other zombie’s bone plates, and she was pulled upwards, crashing into its tail.
Both lost control, tumbling through the air towards a nearby building, then crashing downwards.
“Boom—Boom—”
Two deafening crashes as they hit the building-tree, spraying green, viscous fluid, which coated Lin Jiayao’s wings, grounding her.
“Roar…”
The disorienting impact made her groan. She lay there for a moment, then, with effort, retrieved a blood crystal stone from the safehouse and swallowed it.
She wanted to keep this flying zombie; she couldn’t let it die yet.
And that collision… what had happened?
As she swallowed the blood crystal, her flesh began to regenerate, her previously withered body becoming fuller.
She pulled at the bone plates pinning her wings, freeing herself, and looked at the creature that had caused her “crash.”
It’s definitely that zombie’s fault, she thought; zombies are stupid.
But then, her crystalline eyes widened.
“Crack—”
From the wreckage of the larger, almost completely dismembered, insect-like zombie, a blood-soaked figure in a white windbreaker was emerging.
A string of bones hung around its neck. It looked at Lin Jiayao, its gaze intense, radiating a powerful, almost suffocating pressure.
An incredibly powerful Awakened… the strongest she’d ever encountered.
And then Lin Jiayao saw the prominent “V” symbol on its windbreaker.
Holy shit, run!
No, wait…
The direction it was flying…
Was the opposite of hers.
Towards Southwest Province, and a little further… Qingzhou City… This powerful Awakened was responding to the Voodoo Cult’s summons!
Lin Jiayao, who’d been preparing to flee, stopped.
If she let this person pass, if she was truly coming for her, she and her sister would be no match for this woman.
I have to stop her, somehow.
Even just injuring her would be enough.
If she couldn’t protect her main body, even a successful extraction was pointless.
“Roar—”
Strike while it’s down.
Lin Jiayao lunged forward, her maw gaping, ready to devour the white-clad figure.
The woman, seeing her approach, smiled, discarded her windbreaker, revealing her tattooed, blood-splattered body.
Blood-red veins pulsed on her shaved head as she clapped her hands together, and the grotesque bone necklace around her neck lifted, a sharp, tooth-like bone glowing red.
Just as Lin Jiayao lunged, her maw open, ready to swallow the woman whole, the glowing bone fragment shot out, trailing a blood-red tendril, a massive worm’s head forming at its tip, which slammed into Lin Jiayao, sending her crashing into the building-tree.
“Boom—”
The impact created a large crater in the tree’s tangled roots, spraying green, viscous fluid and white fungus everywhere.
And then, the massive, three-headed Sandworm, fully formed, lunged at the roots of the building-tree, as if to devour the green bird zombie.
But after a few bites, the woman seemed to realize something was wrong and pulled the Sandworm back.
She looked at the strange, green bird zombie, now covered in the tree’s sap.
Its mangled body was regenerating in the green fluid.
The sap filled the gaps in its flesh, its broken vines reconnecting with the tree’s, the white fungus on its body spreading rapidly.
As the fungus grew, it also corroded the zombie’s flesh, new vines and tendrils emerging from the wounds.
Was it… absorbing the building-tree’s energy, or was the tree absorbing its energy?
The strange sight made her hesitate.
And as she hesitated, the green bird zombie, inside the crater in the tree’s roots, spread its massive wings, tore away the remaining vines, and roared.
“Roar—”
She finally understood why the Boss had warned them to avoid this forest.
The zombies here weren’t alone; they had the entire building-tree as their… backup power supply.
And such building-trees covered Kun City.