Chapter 457 - Bug


    Xiao Lou turned on the navigation system and set the destination as the bug. The screen showed that it would take half an hour to reach the destination. Xiao Lou looked at the meteors outside the window and thought quickly about countermeasures.


    At present, Ye Qi and Shao Qingge’s Bug King cards had been used. Ye Qi’s card was used to heal Tang Ci’s legs and Shao Qingge became the bug king thest time theynded on the bug. These two cards could only be used once a secret room. Now the bug king skills were on cooldown and it was even more difficult for them to sneak onto the bug.


    The bug queen had great hostility toward humans. Once she called the bugs to attack them, the six of them alone wouldn’t be able to face countless bugs. The number of bugs on this was far beyond that of 8 of Spades. Lu Jiuchuan led an army to eliminate the bugs and was almost wiped out. There were six of them and it wasn’t enough for the bugs to fill their stomachs.


    The cockpit suddenly quieted down. Yu Hanjiang found that Xiao Lou was frowning and asked him in a low voice, “What are you thinking?”


    “I have a question about Chu Huaying...” Xiao Lou came to his senses and turned to Yu Hanjiang. “Huaying should be on the bug. Uncle Qin must’ve reached an agreement with the bug queen. As a hunter, why didn’t Uncle Qin kill Chu Huaying?”


    “......” Yu Hanjiang heard this and also felt puzzled in his heart.


    Xiao Lou turned back to Lu Jiuchuan. “Brother Jiu, I remember you said that previously Huaying killed too many hunters and became first on the wanted list. The reward for killing her should be very high, right?”


    “Yes.” Lu Jiuchuan shook his cured left hand and walked up to Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang. “In fact, Huaying isn’t the type of female devil who kills people without blinking an eye. Most of the hunters she killed were to help cover for me. During my six months undercover in the league, I have experienced the World Weekly secret room many times. She will follow me to the same world and help me eliminate the hunters who doubt my identity.”


    “Of course, we know this. Previously in Endless Sea, Chu Huaying killed the hunters with you so you could meet me.” Yu Hanjiang answered softly.


    “Since Huaying is first on the hunter’s reward list, why hasn’t Uncle Qin killed her yet?” Xiao Lou was puzzled. “Doesn’t Uncle Qin want to receive the high bounty?”


    “Could it be that they want to do some research with Sister Ying’s genes?” Ye Qi actively ran to participate in the discussion.


    “The bugs have already taken Huaying’s genes to clone Chu Huaying version 1.0. There should be no need to continue studying her genes. If they were afraid that Huaying’s name would disappear from the contract, they would first keep her until the starship crashed and then kill her... but now that the starship has crashed, Huaying is still alive?” Xiao Lou was puzzled by this.


    “It is a bit strange.” Yu Hanjiang frowned. Then after a few seconds, he thought of a possibility. “Perhaps the hunters discovered that we aren’t dead? Therefore, they didn’t kill Chu Huaying and want to use her to lure us in?”


    “I can read the team contract book to judge the life or death of our teammates. How do the hunters know if we are alive or dead?” Xiao Lou paused before a chill went down his spine. He couldn’t believe it. “Do you think they have an item that can determine the survival of challengers?”


    “Let’s assume the hunters and challengers are opposing factions. Our goal is to clear the secret room while the goal of the hunters is to kill us. Will the system show them a message like ‘12 survivors among the challengers’? It is just like how we can see how many bosses are left when ying a game instance.” Ye Qi scratched his head and made a guess.


    “...This also makes sense.” Xiao Lou pondered on it. “If Uncle Qin can see something like ‘12 survivors among the challengers’, he would know that we didn’t die when the starship crashed. Therefore, he didn’t rush to kill Chu Huaying who has lost consciousness. Instead, he wants to use Chu Huaying as bait and lead us to save her.”


    Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang and asked the other person’s intentions with his eyes.


    Thetter nodded at him. “We have to jump in even if we know that it is a trap. Chu Huaying is our teammate. We can’t just let her die. She alone can’t cope with an entire of bugs. In addition, if the bug really has a cloningboratory then we must destroy it to pass the instance. We have to go to the bug.”


    Yu Hanjiang’s words were exactly what Xiao Lou thought. There was a trap. If they had a choice, they would make a detour. However, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and force their way through it.


    Tang Ci said calmly, “Huaying’s cards are mainly physical enhancement cards. If she wants to escape then she can only use the invisibility cloak. I’m worried that if she is unconscious, it will be more difficult for us to save her. In addition, there were countless bugs on the. I agree about saving Huaying but we have to make full preparations in advance.”


    The was full of bugs.


    Once theynded on the bug, the sensitive bugs would definitely report the news to the bug queen. Forget finding the cloningboratory to save Chu Huaying, they might find it even difficult to move before they were drowned in a sea of bugs.


    How should theynd on the bug to minimize damage?


    The group fell into contemtion again.


    After a while, Xiao Lou said, “The invisibility cloaks can be used for 30 minutes. During 8 of Spades, we once wore the invisibility cloak and passed through the square at night. The bugs didn’t find us. The bugs in 8 of Spades have the same origin as these bugs so the invisibility cloak should also be effective against these bugs.”


    “Still, the cloak onlysts for 30 minutes. Is this enough time?” Lu Jiuchuan pressed a hand to his temple. He had a headache when thinking about these bugs. “The size of the bug is sorge. If we want to find the cloningboratory, we could probably search for a month and not find it.”


    “Brother, do you remember that the first time we came here, we circled the and didn’t find any buildings protruding from the surface of the. This indicates that the cloningboratory isn’t on the surface but underground.” Yu Hanjiang said. “More than 90% of the bug is ck. The ck part is the fungus nket used by the bugs for reproduction. We shouldn’t need to search these areas.”


    “That’s right!” Xiao Lou’s eyes lit up as he looked at Yu Hanjiang. “The fungus nket will provide nutrients for the development of the bugs. It is of great significance to the bugs, just like soil necessary for the growth of nts. It is impossible to dig a deep pit under the fungus nket to build a secretboratory. Then we only need to search the areas of the without them.”


    “So there is less than 10% of the area left? This can save a lot of time.” Lu Jiuchuan touched his chin and looked at Yu Hanjiang in aplicated manner. “There is the presence of you and Professor Xiao. Why do I always feel that I’m not smart enough?”


    “Brother Jiu, just get used to it! I used to follow Group Leader Yu and Professor Xiao through the Hearts secret room and I even felt like I didn’t have a brain!” Ye Qi seriously agreed with him.”


    “It is veryfortable to lie down and win,” Shao Qingge said with a smile.


    “The cloning n must be carried out in secret. If the queen really cooperated with the merpeople to study the clones, it is impossible to ce theboratory in an area with too many bugs. She should find a rtively remote ce to build the undergroundboratory.” Tang Ci didn’t joke around or engage in the teasing of his teammates. His face was always cold and he was like a talking robot.


    Nevertheless, his words made sense.


    “Yes, a remote ce without the fungus nket and suitable for the construction of a secretboratory. It is probably the vein we foundst time.” Xiao Lou concluded.


    “That mineral vein has been mined by the star thieves and there are many precious ores piled up in the mines. At that time, the bugs rushed over so we didn’t have time to check if there were any hidden mechanisms to go underground.” Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou. “The secretboratory is probably under the veins that have been mined.”’


    “Six months ago, Brother Jiu led the Arrow Corps to the bug. The merman Xiao Lou passed by and reached an agreement with the queen to study the cloning project. After the bugs built the cloningboratory...” Xiao Lou paused before wondering, “The bugs shouldn’t be good at constructing underground structures, right?”


    “They might have a consciousness but they are just bugs after all. They live on a fungus nket and don’t use the equipment that humans need. How can they build undergroundboratories?” Yu Hanjiang thought about it. “Will the merpeople help? The merpeople can buildbyrinths in the ocean so their level of construction must not beckingpared to humans.”


    “The merpeople have lived in the sea for a long time and might not be able to adapt to the environment of the bug. Moreover, they used many materials such as shells when building the pce in the sea. This isn’t the same as digging at the ground. The difference in building something underground is quite big,” Xiao Lou answered seriously.


    “......” The team members were stunned. Were the two people discussing ‘architecture’?


    “Digging underground is best done by humans.” Yu Hanjiang paused before wondering, “Could it be the star thieves helping?”


    “Uncle Qin should’ve been in contact with the bugs very early and sent Huaying’s genes to the bugs to create a clone. However, Huaying and the star thieves didn’t go to the bug half a year ago. Uncle Qin has been staying with the starship the whole time. How can he help the bugs build a left.” Xiao Lou frowned and thought carefully. Then a key point shed through his mind and he trembled. “There is another possibility. The previous captain of the star thieves might not be dead!”


    “...The previous captain?!” Ye Qi heard this and his eyes widened. “20 years ago, General Lin captured him and brought him back to Capital Star. His gene fragments were extracted and used in the Noah’s Ark project. By the way... there seems to be no record of his ending!”


    “Yes, based on the information we found in the merpeople, it was only said that the scientists extracted his genes and found they were different from human genes. After research, these genes were fused with human genes. However, the information never stated from beginning to end what happened to the previous captain.”


    Xiao Lou paused and looked at Ye Qi. “In addition, Ye Qi, your words just now were very important. He was taken back by General Lin.”


    “So he could’ve also been taken away by General Lin?” Yu Hanjiang thought about it.” General Lin took his daughter and all the information on the Noah’s Ark project with him when running away. If the previous captain was still alive, it is indeed possible for General Lin to take him as well.”


    “He has the bug genes in his body so he didn’t die when the Egret crashed into the sea.” Shao Qingge’s eyes narrowed slightly as he finally reacted to the reason for Xiao Lou’s spection. “IF this is the case, the previous captain not only knows the specific location of the bug but also the cloning n. He also saw the merpeople in the deep sea?”


    “I have always been wondering how the merpeople could suddenly upgrade and transform the clones. They aren’t familiar with human and bug genes and might not necessarily be able to do experiments with the data. Yet if the previous captain was alive, he could indeed work together with the elder Kareen to help the merpeople develop the clone 2.0 version.” Tang Ci spoke calmly.


    “At that time, the clones had juste out of the petri dishes and their IQs were like babies. Even if Elder Kareen of the merpeople rescued them, it would be hard for him to get much information from them. As an adult, the previous captain knew a lot and he survived in the deep sea. He worked with Elder Kareen to create a lone 2.0 version with a tail. Later, he took the merman prince Xiao Lou to visit the bug. He and the queen are old friends. If hees forward to negotiate with the queen then she can easily agree.” Ye Qi followed everyone’s thinking and found that after adding this key clue, everything became more reasonable.


    How could the prince of the deep sea merpeople suddenly visit the bug and save Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci?


    Apparently, there was a ‘middleman’ who led the way for the prince.


    This person had lived on the bug for several years—the original captain of the star thieves!


    “After the queen gave her consent, the captain stayed on the bug and assisted the queen in building the cloningboratory. He also contacted his old subordinate, Uncle Qin on the Dark Night starship and asked Uncle Qin to steal Chu Huaying’s genes?” Lu Jiuchuan finally sorted out the logic and frowned. “It seems there is more than one boss in this instance. We missed the previous captain who is the key!”


    The mysterious captain had been secretly promoting the Noah’s Ark project.


    He worked with the merpeople in the deep sea to create the version 2.0 clones, he saved Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci and instructed his old subordinates to steal Chu Huaying’s genes. He cloned a copy of Chu Huaying on the bug...


    Maybe he was also a hunter?