Mu Fan grabbed White Hair, and the two of them, leveraging the strength of their Exoskeleton Armor, leapt up on the spot.
Mid-air, they saw a row of gigantic spikes surge out from a deliberately opened gap among the swarm of insects! The huge brown spikes burst from the ground, over two meters high, spanning a distance of over ten meters!
"What the hell is that?!" White Hair, still airborne, fired off a burst, but the bullets hit the protruding spikes with no effect whatsoever!
A group of Zeg continued to pursue the two men as Mu Fan, upon landing, kept his eyes fixed on that spot. Indeed, he saw that strange Zeg emerge from the ground again!
It was definitely it causing trouble!
"What kind of insect is this?" Mu Fan asked Black, speaking softly so that White Hair couldn't hear.
The recent battlefield recorder had already captured the scene Mu Fan saw, so naturally Black had seen it too.
"This is a Lurker! A type of Zeg that has no attacking power above ground, but when buried, can easily slaughter swathes of human soldiers. Underground, it uses its organic exoskeleton to extend, activating its internal macrophage cells using the soil, reproducing and spreading in an instant. The sharp spikes that emerge can penetrate muscle, steel, even reinforced Armor!"
"To deal with them, we must force these creatures out of the ground or pinpoint their burrowing location to a diameter of 50 centimeters and execute a drilling blast attack. It is a relatively High Tier soldier among the Zeg Clan. Remember, never let Lurkers amass!"
Mu Fan sighed in relief because, up to now, he had only seen one Lurker.
If they had encountered this creature during the battle the other day, the Expeditionary Army's squad would have faced certain annihilation!
"Do you need me to help you target and destroy it?" As Mu Fan was hesitating whether to throw his final laser long spear, Black suddenly spoke.
"I do!" Black wasn't even putting in his full effort yet.
"Run faster, your Exoskeleton Armor's magazine stock is already low."
As soon as Black finished speaking, the automatic gun mounted on the mechanical arm behind Mu Fan fired instantly!
The sound was sharp and forceful, muzzle flashes obscuring the barrel.
But upon closer inspection, one could see the muzzle constantly fine-tuning its aim.
The result was a line of bullets shot directly into the mouthpiece of the Lurker, with hundreds of bullets entering the body within seconds.
Moments later, amidst its sprint, the Lurker's body exploded into pieces.
"Holy shit, how did you control that!" White Hair, who heard the gunfire and saw the scene, was dumbstruck.
"Luck." Mu Fan lied effortlessly without batting an eye.
"What's the plan, Mu Fan, fight or flee?" White Hair asked the young man beside him, who now served as his pillar of strength.
Mu Fan charged ahead.
"...I respect this tactic!"
White Hair briefly pressed a milky white button, and his body instantly shot forward over ten meters!
"Ha ha ha, good thing I loaded a jet pack!"
Seeing his comrade's smug look, Mu Fan felt a mix of resignation and amusement. He then powered up his legs, bursting to speeds he had held back to stay with White Hair, and like a rampant Chimpanzee, Mu Fan finally deployed his signature all-muscle bounding sprint.
After two leaps, Mu Fan caught up with White Hair, they exchanged glances, nodded.
And continued to run!
It would take Luo Jianjin's team at least fifteen minutes to arrive and provide support!
Their sole mission for these fifteen minutes was to run, just run.
The two men swiftly passed over rolling hills, fallen giant trees, dense underbrush, even vaulting directly over a few concealed swamps.
Back in the lead, Mu Fan with his outstanding dynamic vision, guided White Hair past all obstacles in their path.
"Hang in there, ten more minutes!"
Hearing his companion's encouragement, White Hair nodded.
During their ten-minute run, the Zeg Clan had fallen behind in several layers, due to speed issues.
The first wave was made up of the Tiger Worms, the fastest runners, followed closely by the Guards, and then it was unclear who was behind them.
Black's control of the automatic machine gun, except for a few rapidly approaching Tiger Worms that were precisely repelled, had ceased firing. Without any resupply, every bullet was exceptionally precious.
Ahead was a gentle slope.
Mu Fan took a deep breath, ready to use the slope to jump and pull away once again.
White Hair also prepared his backpack for a second jet propulsion.
One step, two steps, three steps–jump!
Once Mu Fan was midair, he realized their escape led them into a previously explored depression, very similar to the terrain of their last encounter.
"Let's get over it." The two exchanged a glance and made the decision once more.
Now, their collaboration had become more and more in sync.
As the two reached the center of the depression, the Zeg group had just begun to climb the slope they had leapt from.
"If we push a little more, they won't be able to catch up." White Hair finally relaxed, but his pace didn't break.
Mu Fan was about to nod, but the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of several yellow-green Zegs scrambling over the high slope after the Tiger Worms' sprint.
Black had fired the bullets almost the moment he saw them, but even that didn't prevent the jet tiger insects from spraying several patches of green liquid directly out.
Mu Fan was about to dodge, but then saw the green curtain soar over his head and arc down to the edge of the depression ahead.
Their path up the gentle slope was...
White Hair came to a sudden halt, his foot very nearly stopping at the edge of the bubbling green toxic liquid.
His face turned ashen, as he clearly saw a few pebbles lifted by his footfall drop into the poison and dissolve instantly.
"Damn it, that's really damn crafty!" he exclaimed, shuddering with hindsight dread.
Had he been a step slower, wouldn't his foot be gone?
At this moment, the machine gun controlled by Black finally showed astonishing effectiveness. Before those jet tiger insects could muster their mouth apparatus for a second spray, their oral sacs were all burst.
The oozing green poison even corroded their own appendages.
This moment of triumph came at a cost, as the machine gun's rate of fire had overloaded, and now the red-hot barrel couldn't perform any more shots in the short term.
Staring straight at the dozens of Tiger Worms charging towards them, Mu Fan drew the massive Alloy Broadsword and held it up before his chest. His tone at that moment had an indescribable calmness: "Prepare to counterattack!"
At those words, White Hair's heart also steadied, as he muttered, cursing under his breath, "Finally no need to run, today I'll die here if I must, but I'll take out as many of these disgusting creatures as I can."
With a double click, the modified gun modules on both hands entered combat mode, and the ammo belts adjusted the bullet feed to peak efficiency as the modules transformed.
"I'll take the left, you the right."
Mu Fan swung the Broadsword, sending the simple four-word order with a ferocious momentum charging back at the enemy.
The intense wind raised by this charged White Hair's standing fur.
"Why do I suddenly feel so pumped up after hearing that! Disgusting Zeg insects, I'm going to curse your ancestors!"
Three tongues of flames fiercely burst out!
And Mu Fan raised the Broadsword high as he leaped, powered by the Exoskeleton Armor. The heavyweight Alloy Broadsword was lifted aloft in midair, then came crashing down with roaring intent!