Chapter 97: The Insect Swarm Loli
After spending four or five minutes in the sewer, getting used to her new body, Lin Jiayao checked the extraction point again.
「Extraction Time 2:49:22」
【Extraction Point: 10km】
A short distance, and plenty of time, unlike the fourth zombie, whose speed had resulted in a distant extraction point.
Plenty of time to confront the corn cob.
She looked towards the sunlight filtering through the sewer opening.
She was just outside the beam of light.
This was the first time Goldie had seen sunlight since the rain stopped in China.
She suddenly realized she hadn’t tested Goldie’s resistance to sunlight.
If she was immune, then she would have an advantage against the corn cob.
At least the zombies under its control would be weakened by the sunlight.
Thinking this, she slowly raised her left hand.
Her left arm, now gelatinous, with multiple tentacles, was different from before. The previously thick, green fluid within the tentacles was now a golden, translucent liquid.
A different color, somehow less disgusting.
She touched the sunlight with a tentacle tip. The light passed through the translucent gel, creating a faint, iridescent glow.
Besides making the tentacle shimmer, the sunlight seemed to have no effect.
She then moved closer to the sunlight and extended her right hand.
Before it even reached the light, she felt a sense of foreboding.
But she continued, her hand entering the beam of sunlight.
“Hiss—”
A wisp of smoke rose from her fingers, a burning sensation.
But before she could retract her hand, tiny golden tendrils emerged from the burned fingertip.
The tendrils writhed, covering her hand like a golden glove.
Now, protected by the “glove,” her hand was unaffected by the sunlight.
She extended her hand further, the golden layer thinning, spreading up her arm and across her body, while her damaged finger continued to exude the gel-like substance.
After about thirty seconds, her entire body was covered in a thin, almost transparent, golden layer.
Now she could move freely in the sunlight.
Standing at the bottom of the sewer maintenance hole, Lin Jiayao flicked her right wrist upwards. The golden tentacles extended, hooking onto the street above and pulling her out.
Emerging from the sewer, she saw the carnage around her.
Scattered bones covered the area within a four or five-meter radius of the maintenance hole, but there were no blood crystals.
What happened here?
The system’s autopilot after extraction? Or had the corn cob’s subordinates been scavenging here?
She couldn’t tell. She would ask the system later.
Lin Jiayao looked towards the street where she had observed the battle earlier and started walking in the opposite direction of the extraction point.
She wanted to see who had cleaned up the battlefield.
If it were humans, then she wouldn’t bother with the corn cob; if the humans had scavenged its territory, it meant they had defeated it.
If it were zombies, then she might be able to find some usable weapons.
Distinguishing between the two was easy; just check for any discarded firearms or ammunition.
After the evolution, Goldie’s previously unsteady legs were now strong and agile, the deep bite marks completely healed.
But her clothes, torn and shredded in the previous battle, were barely hanging on.
Passing a clothing store, she picked a large, round-necked t-shirt and discarded her rags.
Finding well-fitting clothes was difficult. A4 could cover her body with scales, but Goldie could only generate a thin, almost transparent layer of “skin,” practically the same as being naked.
The black t-shirt, far too large for her small frame, hung down like a dress, surprisingly practical.
But it wouldn’t last long in a fight.
Moving faster than before, Lin Jiayao quickly reached the devastated street where the battle had taken place.
The scattered limbs and gore were gone, replaced by charred and yellowed bones, smoking in the sunlight.
The bodies had been completely consumed.
And she also saw several empty ammo vests and a burned, twisted armored vehicle on the ground.
As if crushed by a five-meter-tall Armored zombie.
Seeing the scattered firearms, Lin Jiayao could guess who had scavenged the battlefield.
She started searching through the debris.
Most of the firearms were crushed, but she found a few grenades in the torn ammo vests.
She chose a relatively undamaged beige vest, stuffed the four grenades inside, discarded the magazines, and put on the vest.
After searching a bit more, she found a loaded FN-57 with armor-piercing rounds but nothing else usable.
She put the pistol in the vest, stood up, and headed towards where the horde had come from.
She vaguely remembered where she had triggered the Hive Zombie’s territorial boundary, the overturned cars at the intersection a distinct landmark.
Following her memories, after about two kilometers, she slowed down.
Her enhanced vision had spotted something ahead: several cars blocking the road like a barricade.
And on top of one of them stood a swaying, all-black Sprinter.
Its dark muscles seemed to protect it from the sun’s rays.
If Lin Jiayao remembered correctly, there had been a Biter standing on that car the other night.
They were clearly placed there deliberately as lookouts.
As she observed the Sprinter, it seemed to notice her blood crystal aura.
It turned its head and opened its mouth, about to roar.
“Buzz—”
Lin Jiayao’s eyes instantly shifted, the surfaces with the holes rotating into position.
Three golden insects, their wings a blur, shot out from the holes, embedding themselves in the Sprinter’s throat and eyes.
The Sprinter, about to roar, suddenly convulsed violently, blood oozing from its orifices.
Then, as if its strength had been drained, it slowly knelt down and then tumbled off the car, its face hitting the ground.
Blood, pus, bone fragments, and yellowish brain matter oozed from the holes in its face, forming a disgusting puddle.
The three golden insects emerged from the gore, their bodies clean, their wings buzzing as they shook off the viscous fluid, and then, like golden streaks, flew back into Lin Jiayao’s eyes.
From launch to return, just seven seconds.
From Lin Jiayao’s perspective, it was just a flash of gold from her eyes and then a quick return.
The three insects, having consumed the Sprinter’s 5g of blood crystals, like bees returning to the hive with their nectar, deposited the crystals in the hives within her eyes, nourishing the countless eggs waiting to hatch.
Lin Jiayao continued walking. This time, eliminating the “scout” hadn’t attracted more zombies.
This would make it easier to find the corn cob Hive Zombie.
Something that large, almost ten meters tall, couldn’t hide easily.
The lack of footsteps meant it was stationary.
“Click—”
Lin Jiayao’s eyes shifted again, the single large hole now facing forward.
Her eyes bulged slightly, as if something was trying to emerge.
Fueled by the blood crystals, an egg was rapidly forming inside the hive connected to her eye.
A small, sickle-shaped bone claw emerged, followed by a white, triangular, eyeless head, a long, segmented abdomen, and then damp wings.
“Buzz—”
Two white insects, almost as long as an adult’s index finger, resembling praying mantises, crawled out of her eyes, too small to fully extend, and clung to her face, their wings buzzing.
They unfolded their almost skeletal wings and, hovering a meter above the ground, extended thin, needle-like bone spikes from their abdomens, which dragged along the ground.
As the bone needles touched the ground, a detailed map of the surrounding terrain, within a fifty-meter radius, formed in Lin Jiayao’s mind, as if she’d activated Lv.3 Bone Spike Lurker.
These bone insects were like scouts, exploring the area for her.
Their only weakness was their inability to hear, but their advantage was their ease of production, like warding totems in a game.
Feeling she had enough blood crystal energy, Lin Jiayao summoned another bone insect, sending the three in different directions.
After deploying her scouts, her eyes shifted again, revealing the six medium-sized holes.
Twelve red insects, similar to the ones summoned by the corn cob, emerged, also flying off in different directions.
These red insects carried Goldie’s pheromones, able to interfere with the controlled zombies and even seize control.
And from the eight smaller holes emerged the familiar small green insects, swarming around her, providing a 360-degree view.
Four types of insects: white, red, green, and gold, for scouting, control, searching, and attack, covering all her needs.
Lin Jiayao switched her eyes to the concentric circles, ready to deploy the golden insects.
She noticed that Goldie’s evolutionary path was different from that of the “corn cob” and the “green fatty.”
After this evolution, she didn’t feel any connection to human brains or any mental enhancement from consuming them. It seemed her mental strength increased by creating insects.
Unlike their strategy of accumulating brains, Goldie was specializing in insect control.
Insects… better than brains, at least.
As she directed the white scout insects, she continued walking.
The bone insects were fast. Within half a minute, they had located the corn cob.
According to the images they transmitted, it was inside a large theater with a broken wall, leaning against the wall, seemingly dormant.
Lin Jiayao quickly directed the red insects towards the theater and then followed, running as fast as she could.
She knew Lurkers would have detected her by now, but they couldn’t roar like Biters or Sprinters; the information wouldn’t spread quickly.
She had to launch a surprise attack before the horde gathered.
The red insects had reached the theater, buzzing around it, their pheromones creating a perimeter.
This would slow down other approaching zombies, giving her a buffer zone.
“Crash—”
Bursting into the theater, Lin Jiayao’s right hand gripped the pistol, chambering a round, while her left tentacles reached into the ammo vest and took out the four grenades.
“Buzz—”
Only after she entered the darkened theater did the giant corn cob awaken.
An earsplitting buzz of wings filled the theater, accompanied by the growls of approaching zombies from outside, like a gruesome orchestra.
Lin Jiayao looked at the towering corn cob and the swarm of red insects flying towards her.
“Buzz—”
Several golden streaks shot from her eyes, piercing the swarm and hitting the corn cob’s outer layer.
And Lin Jiayao charged, her gunfire punctuating the scene.
“Bang, bang, bang, bang—”
After emptying a magazine into the swarm, she saw a small hole in the gelatinous membrane covering one of the corn cob’s legs, created by a bullet.
And a golden insect had burrowed into the hole, preventing it from closing.
Facing the overwhelming swarm of red insects, Lin Jiayao didn’t hesitate. She discarded the empty pistol, took out a Blood Crystal Combat Stimulant from the safehouse, and injected it into her chest.
Discarding the syringe, she charged towards the corn cob.
She had simulated this many times; she wasn’t afraid of the swarm.
As long as she reached the corn cob before being overwhelmed, threw a grenade into the wound she’d created, and burrowed inside, the swarm would be useless.
Having successfully infiltrated the theater, the scales were tipped in her favor.
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