Chapter 25

Their bodies alternated black, yellow, and brown, with semi-transparent, elongated wings. They had the standard insect structure of head, thorax, and abdomen, three pairs of legs and one pair of antennae. A deadly stinger jutted from the tip of the abdomen. Their compound eyes were black, and their mouthparts were well-developed—those stout mandibles like two sharp, hard sickles that looked capable of chewing through anything with ease.

Su Xing took one look behind and felt a shiver run down her spine. It was a swarm of giant hornets, far more aggressive than ordinary wasps! Their stingers could pierce repeatedly. Even normal-sized hornets had venom lethal enough to kill; she dared not imagine what these clearly far more swollen bodies could do.

Their flight was also incredibly swift. In the blink of an eye, they were directly above Su Xing’s car, the deafening buzz drowning out everything else. She felt a shadow pass overhead as the blue sky was blotted out by the hornet swarm. Some hornets dove down and began attacking the cars speeding along the road.

Straight ahead, Su Xing watched the car in front of them become surrounded by one hornet after another landing. Their fat, black-and-yellow bodies covered the windshield; the car lost direction, swerved violently, and suddenly decelerated, veering backward toward them. Wen Ruyao reacted quickly, swerving at the last moment and skimming past the other car’s body.

They scraped off one hornet clinging to that car’s window—the width of the giant hornet’s abdomen alone nearly filled an entire window.

Su Xing gasped. She knew this type of hornet was notoriously aggressive, but for them to outright chase and attack vehicles was rare. Maybe someone had destroyed their nest? Any hornet nest couldn’t survive for long away from it, but with these enormous hornets, how huge would their nest have to be?

Her gaze swept forward. Apart from the ones swooping down to attack vehicles on the road, the majority were flying toward the stadium.

Boom—

A massive artillery blast shook the very ground they were on. A column of fire erupted, followed by an unrelenting string of explosions. Not far ahead, rows of armored tanks were firing directly in front of them, shooting at the hornet swarm in the sky. The hair-raising sound of machine guns followed, countless guns concentrating fire above their car roof.

The world-shattering barrage exploded right next to Su Xing’s ears. In that instant, she instinctively clutched her head. The vehicle beneath her lurched, speed dropping drastically, nearly losing control and slamming into the roadside barrier.

Wen Ruyao gritted her teeth and kept driving through the gunfire.

Wasp after wasp plummeted from the air, struck, landing on the road. Some crashed right onto the roof. Severed limbs and tattered wings pattered like rain against the car glass. Some wasps, not killed, could rise from the ground and turn to attack vehicles instead. The scene was utter chaos.

Dodging the falling giant hornets made driving difficult; the car lurched unsteadily. Just after avoiding one on the ground, there was a heavy thud as an especially huge hornet smashed onto their roof. Its massive head crashed against the Land Rover’s front windshield, and the hornet’s mandibles, hard as pincers, shattered the glass directly.

Crack—

A gaping hole was punched right in front of Wen Ruyao’s driver seat.

The hornet’s three pairs of legs clung tight to the roof, its head thrusting through the broken hole. Its long antennae swept toward the steering wheel inside. Wen Ruyao slammed the brake. The giant hornet’s body lurched forward but its hooked claws still gripped the roof tightly. Its two thick “pincers” at the tip of its mouthparts twitched, and its compound eyes fixed on Wen Ruyao right in front of it. The next second, its body lunged forward, and its huge jaws shot straight toward her head!

Sitting in the passenger seat, Su Xing reacted purely on instinct. Her long leg shot up, kicking the hornet’s head aside. Then, in a flash, she raised her gun and shot it in the head.

The giant hornet promptly tumbled off the car.

“Are you all right?”

Su Xing immediately turned to look. Wen Ruyao’s face was drained of color, barely holding onto the steering wheel. Her pale lips parted slightly as if she didn’t even have the strength to speak.

Su Xing’s gaze dropped and she saw a long, narrow bloody gash on the back of Wen Ruyao’s hand. Her heart clenched. “You…”

At that moment, the wheel hit something. The world spun, and their Land Rover flipped onto its side, coming to a stop by the roadside.

Her body felt like it had tumbled through the air. Her head throbbing, vision swimming, Su Xing didn’t know how long it was before she forced her eyes open. From an odd angle, she saw the road surface outside the window. For a long moment, her body had no sensation at all.

Rat-tat-tat—gunfire approached from nearby, accompanied by footsteps coming this way. Su Xing collected herself and scanned the situation. There was nothing unusual outside, no giant hornets in pursuit. She paused two seconds, then forced open the seatbelt that bit into her. She tried kicking the shut door nearby. At first, she was just attempting to free herself—the doors and windows were locked, the area dangerous, and no one would come to help them. But on the second kick, she sent the entire door flying off. She blinked, then dragged herself out.

She crawled out first, then quickly moved to the other side to get Wen Ruyao out.

Footsteps sounded behind her.

“Survivors, retreat to the rear!”

A squad of fully armed soldiers in combat gear passed by her, firing into the air as they advanced forward.

“It’s too dangerous here—take her to the stadium first.”

In the chaos, someone tugged at Su Xing, intending to escort her to the stadium not far behind. Su Xing shook her head and strode urgently to the car, anxious. “There’s still someone trapped inside!”

“We only rescue those with a high survival probability.” The soldier assigned to escort her barely glanced inside the car and was about to lead her away.

This place was extremely perilous, and there were many more survivors on the road waiting for rescue. Healthy, uninjured people were their first priority for rescue.

“She’s just trapped—she’s still alive!”

This was the female lead; how could her survival odds be low?

Su Xing grew frantic and reached for the door herself. “Please, help get her out quickly—”

But in her desperation, she yanked with force and actually tore the entire door off.

“…”

The soldier shot her an astonished look.

Su Xing herself was stunned, but with the situation urgent, she didn’t dwell on it. She tossed the door aside, bent down, and lifted Wen Ruyao out of the car.

The other woman seemed still unconscious. Apart from that single gash on the back of her hand, there was no bleeding anywhere else, no head wound. She merely slumped limply against Su Xing.

“…Then hurry up and follow me.”

Without wasting further words, the soldier and Su Xing together supported Wen Ruyao and quickly withdrew toward the stadium.

Along the way, many tanks and armored vehicles drove past Su Xing. There were also large numbers of soldiers armed with heavy machine guns guarding the stadium entrance.

Once inside with Wen Ruyao, the escorting soldier left. Su Xing followed behind other survivors, queuing up—though she didn’t know what for—in the long line, slowly moving forward.

“Haven’t the hornet swarms outside dispersed yet?”

“…How many survivors are still on the road?”

“Orders from above: deploy bio-pheromone interference immediately!”

“All incoming survivors must be screened.”

“…”

Voices clamored inside the stadium.