Su Mo felt she was moving at the fastest speed she had ever managed. The Sky Tree towered into the sky, and the wood vine thrown over by Lu Chen had been hung by Peng An to a point very high above the river.
Upon arrival, she stood on the thick trunk and looked down. Her pupils dilated as they focused on the scene below.
The first soldier to be stricken had already stopped breathing. Countless insects moved in and out of the corpse. She silently counted the time in her heart; the body visibly shriveled but then, within a few seconds, it was filled by the insects and stood up, wobbling.
"Body-snatching," for some reason, Su Mo thought of this term.
"Sis, let’s get moving!" Jianxiong, witnessing the scene below, felt his scalp tingle as well. Behind him, Fang Xia, Peng An, and the others all looked uneasy.
"One minute," Su Mo snapped back to reality.
"From consumption to rebirth, it only takes one minute. It’s even more terrifying than zombies and highly infectious," Su Mo said as she threw her backpack into the System Bag, took off her coat, placed it over the rope, and tested its strength before glancing back, "I’ll go first."
No sooner had she spoken than she steeled herself, running forward along the sturdy tree trunk, her feet lifting into the air as her coat, now a makeshift zipline, slid rapidly towards the other side on the wood vine.
Beneath her, the river churned, and countless crocodiles leaped up, desperately trying to bite her down. Fortunately, the wood vine was tied high enough. Lu Chen’s face grew larger and larger before her until she crashed into the Sky Tree on the opposite bank, caught in his arms.
"Are you hurt?" Lu Chen pushed her back slightly, inspecting her inch by inch.
Su Mo shook her head repeatedly and put her coat, which had served as a slide, back on: "I’m fine."
She poked her head out from a dense collection of branches, waved towards the other side, and the remaining survivors slid over one by one.
"What are those insects on the other side? In just one minute, they took over the bodies," Su Mo tugged at Lu Chen’s sleeve, her gaze meeting with those wobbling figures on the riverbank. Her heart ached; just a second ago, all of these were living people, but in the next, most were dead.
Lu Chen’s brows furrowed, his expression grave: "The lab will have the answers."
As each of their people made it across, the swarms of insects and crocodiles on the opposite bank began to slowly shift direction, heading towards them.
Lu Chen immediately led his team down the tree and hurried into the depths of the rainforest without daring to linger.
Only when they were sure the crocodiles would not pursue them did they stop. During this brief respite, Su Mo gasped for air, sweat dripping from her forehead. She wiped it carelessly and gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, soothing the dull pain in her throat caused by the desperate running and panting.
During this brief moment of rest, someone suffered a breakdown – a superpower user.
"If I’d known it was this dangerous, no matter how good the reward, I wouldn’t have come," he complained as he sat down on the ground, his whole being radiating a sense of defeat.
As if influenced by him, several of those who had died were friends and brothers of the survivors, and the atmosphere became heavy, tinged with a touch of despair.
"Yes, we’ve already lost half."
Lu Chen’s brows were tightly knitted. He stood tall and imposing, his presence emanating pressure as he coldly rebuked: "If you want to finish this and get out alive, stow that loser attitude now."
At times , affecting morale was not good.
Under his oppressive presence, nobody even dared to lift their heads.
The man who had complained wanted to retort, but he was brought up short by a sharp reprimand from Su Mo: "Don’t move!"
"What... what?" He looked into her solemn, wide eyes and instantly panicked.
"Keep your distance from him," Su Mo raised her voice slightly, her pretty face growing stern.
As soon as Sun Cheng, who was sitting next to him, heard this, he immediately stood up and took a few steps back to face the man. Upon seeing his face, his own expression turned to one of horror: "Ah Qi, you..."
The man frantically touched his own face, his voice losing color: "What is this! What are you all looking at!"
Suddenly, a small bulge appeared on his face, then swiftly moved across and disappeared.
"Did you come into contact with some bugs?" Su Mo pursed her lips and asked.
"What? No... I didn’t!" The man named Ah Qi felt his legs go weak. He sat on the ground, at a loss, having no recollection of when he might have been invaded by bugs.
Su Mo gave Jianxiong a meaningful glance,
He nodded, stepped forward, and tore open Ah Qi’s clothes in one swift motion.
Everyone took a collective step back, their expressions varied but all clearly filled with fear and horror.
"What is this! What are you all looking at!" Ah Qi, no longer able to control himself, tried to stand and move closer to them, but Lu Chen exerted his pressure to keep him pinned to the ground.
The man’s broad back was covered with numerous bulges, similar to the belly of a crocodile, marked with terrifying lines. Countless bugs were scurrying inside, stretching the human flesh of his skin to near transparency.
Sun Cheng clenched his fists tight, not daring to meet his eyes: "Ah Qi... your back is covered in bugs."
"No! It’s not!" Ah Qi frantically reached back, and as his fingers touched the uneven surface of his back, his whole body began to twitch. His eyes rolled wildly in their sockets, and he mumbled, "No... not so, I haven’t mutated."
"He’s going to burst!"
On one side, the cautious voices of some soldiers and superpower users could be heard.
Desperate, yet without any solution, Sun Cheng could only turn his plea-filled gaze toward Lu Chen: "Admiral Lu... What should we do?"
"Leave him here, and let’s go," Lu Chen stepped back two paces, his eyes veiling helplessness, his facial contours turning exceptionally cold and hard.
Su Mo sighed, "There’s no way to help him. He’ll be entirely consumed by the bugs in a few seconds."
Nobody wanted to joke with their own lives at this moment. The people around kept their distance and followed Lu Chen’s lead.
Sun Cheng, feeling helpless, could only offer Ah Qi an apologetic look before slowly following the others.
After the group had moved a certain distance away, Ah Qi, now completely consumed and overtaken by the bugs, shakily stood up.
Having traveled for an entire day, they finally neared the laboratory, but as the sky darkened, Lu Chen had no choice but to find a deep hole beneath a canopy of dense leaves to spend the night.
Before entering the cave, Lu Chen had everyone strip off their clothes for inspection, except for Su Mo, the only woman, who stepped aside for the time being.
After confirming Ah Qi was the only infected person, he allowed the rest into the cave. Fang Xia stood next to Lu Chen, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Admiral, for the safety of everyone, please check Miss Su as well."
The man glanced at a piece of clothing peeking out from behind a tree and nodded slightly.
Hearing footsteps behind her, Su Mo turned around: "Is the inspection over?"
Lu Chen took her hand, his voice emotionless: "Everyone but you."
Su Mo nodded her head knowingly, her keen hearing having caught the conversation between the two just now.