<h4>Chapter 894: Worse Than Reported</h4>


    As though he had seen the uncertainty written on the disciples'' faces, Zhang Lie smiled. "Don''t worry. I''ve reviewed the list of rewards. Feel free to exchange your points for anything on the list—if you can obtain enough points, you can even get a dozen disaster-grade cores. I''ll find them somehow. This I pledge to you all."


    Zhang Lie''s pronouncement reminded the disciples of the Zenith Dojo that the man in front of them, their dojo leader, was the king of Limit. He was the monarch of the sole andrgest kingdom in the second realm, and he had the power to do as he wanted. Even though he had ascended to the third realm, he still had control of his kingdom in the second realm.


    The disciples grew excited fantasizing about the rewards they would be able to obtain by ughtering these bugs. They grouped up into parties as they discussed how they would take on these bugs.


    The expedition to Mars was, by this point, more a hunt than a rescue mission.


    Seeing the disciples'' greedy stares, Zhang Lie cautioned, "Don''t get overconfident. It''s not as easy as you think to deal with these bugs. They''ve managed to take over half of Mars in a matter of days. It''s clear that they have a strong leader and tactician, and even the foot soldiers will be stronger than anything you''ve faced to date."


    Sun Mengmeng added, "It won''t be easy to obtain these rewards—you''ll need courage, and you''ll have to risk your lives!"


    The disciples of the Zenith Dojo stood up and thumped their fists on their chests.


    Zhang Lie and Sun Mengmeng''s words didn''t dampen the hunters'' enthusiasm; if anything, they were fortified by the challenge.


    Zhang Lie led the hunters of Team Zenith and Hong Xi''s four-hunter party to a private conference room.


    "Hong Xi, the four of you will be responsible for leading the disciples of the Zenith Dojo into battle and protecting them. It''s fine for there to be wounded, but you have to make sure they don''t suffer too many casualties."


    Hong Xi and the others nodded.


    Zhang Lie turned to Sun Mengmeng. "Sun Mengmeng, I''ll task you with protecting the Zenith Dojo''s disciples as well. This won''t be difficult for you, will it?"


    Sun Mengmeng shook her head. "Leave it to me."


    Just then, the titan-ss shuttle''s robotic voice rang out, "Warning! Warning! Arge number of unidentified flying objects are approaching!"


    Zhang Hong grew rmed. "A swarm of bugs?"


    .


    Zhang Lie led the hunters of Team Zenith toward the shuttle''smand center, which hadrge screens from which they could see outside the shuttle.


    There, they saw an endless swarm of bugs approaching them through the void of space, their frightening probosces ttering. The bugs were ridiculouslyrge. Each was the size of an autobus, and thergest were even the size of cruise ships.


    Those bugs that were strong enough to survive in outer space had to be at least four-star—the equivalent of peak-grade second-realm lifeforms, or mutated-grade third-realm lifeforms. Some of thergest bugs might even have strength on par with superior- or peak-grade third-realm lifeforms.


    The crew that Zhang Lie had requested to pilot the ship opened amunications channel with Team Zenith. "A swarm of space bugs is approaching us up ahead. Yourmand, sir?"


    Zhang Lie shouted, "Get ready for a skirmish—we''ll barrel through their forces!"


    By then, Mars was in terrible shape.


    Hong Tianqi himself had told Zhang Lie that more than half of Mars had been taken over by the space bugs, but in truth, the situation was much worse than Hong Tianqi had described.


    Hong Tianqi didn''t hide any pertinent information; rather, the situation on Mars was deteriorating in real time, and it had been three whole days between when Hong Tianqi received the news and Zhang Lie set off. Quite a lot could happen in three days—by now, Mars was almostpletely upied by the space bugs.


    Despite the grievous wounds that had been dealt to the Marshal of me Li Pu, the ns and hunters of Mars continued to resist the bugs'' invasion, but to no avail. The bugs seemed toe in endless numbers, and the Martian ns were the first to retreat.


    Because they retreated without informing the rest of the hunters, the painstakingly constructed defensive lines on Mars fell apart within moments, and huge swarms of bugs overwhelmed the Martian military. The situation was far more severe than anyone could have anticipated—and there was worse toe.


    "Scram! I won''t stay here like the rest of you to be turned into fertilizer for these bugs!"


    As the situation on Mars grew worse and worse, the ns began to flee from Mars itself.


    The Martian ns took the lion''s share of the''s resources for themselves and reveled in the power they wielded—but now that Mars was beset by an overwhelming crisis, their first thought wasn''t to protect their, but rather to flee.


    The Martian military tried to stop them. "If you leave now, Mars will truly be destroyed! There are still about a hundred million hunters in the various settlements, and a few hundred million people on Mars overall!"


    "That''s none of our business! Why should we hunters of the major ns give up our lives for the chaff?!"


    The Martian military boasted little power to prevent their departure.


    "Even the Marshal of me was heavily injured. If we stay, we''ll die! Better to leave while we can."


    The Martianmander himself appealed to the two ns. "The Yang and Gu ns have lived on Mars for centuries! Are you really going to flee as your homeworld gets destroyed?!"


    The Yang n head spoke first. "Of course I''m upset. Everyone is—but no matter how important ournd and properties are, our livese first! We can rebuild once the worst of the disaster is over."


    The Yang n was among those ns that were departing from Mars.


    "Enough." Li Pu walked out of the military encampment, grimacing as he clutched his wounds. "If they want to leave, let them leave. I''ll stop these damned bugs myself!"


    The soldiers had no choice but to hold Li Pu back.


    "Marshal, you can''t go!"


    "Your injuries are too severe to allow you to fight. The situation on Mars is bad enough—if we lose you too, this will truly be the end!"


    Li Pu cried out, "If I don''t stop the invasion, who will?"


    Just then, a huge crash shook the entire settlement. The hunters turned to the source of themotion. Their faces turned pale; their eyes widened with shock.


    "This is the end..."


    A gigantic ck bug emerged from the ground. It had the body of a python—a long, sinuous body, with an engorged head that faced the sky. The exposed portion of its body alone was over five hundred meters long.


    The hunters, who had had to fend off countless waves of bugs over thest few days, could immediately identify that the bug that had just emerged was a five-star one.


    Li Pu''s face turned pale. "For the bugs to have evolved so quickly..."


    The bugs hadn''t been too dangerous at the start of the invasion. As time progressed and they devoured the''s resources and lifeforce, however, they began to evolve from one-star to two-star, three-star, four-star, five-star—a five-star bug was one that Li Pu would have trouble defeating even at peak strength, let alone in his current severely injured state.


    The fifth-star bug had destroyed the encampment''s underground security measures. With their defensive perimeter down, a swarm of bugs bore down on the encampment like a ck wave filling the horizon.


    Li Pu stepped forward. "All of you, leave! I''ll try to get you as much time as I can!"


    The soldiers called out, "No, General, you can''t! You''re ourst hope!"


    Li Pu''s face was stoic as he shouted, "This is an order from your marshal!"


    Despite their unwillingness, the soldiers immediately saluted him.


    "Yes, Marshal!"


    The Yang n head rushed back. "We''re trapped by bugs from all over! They''re swarming toward us—they want to take us down in one fell swoop!"


    Li Pu strode forward. "No need to panic. I''ll hold back their assault. The rest of you should form a vanguard and evacuate as many of the civilians sheltering in the encampment as possible."


    The Yang n head frowned. "Most of those civilians are ordinary citizens with nobat ability whatsoever. If we try to escort them out, we''ll all die!"


    The Gu n head advised, "Marshal, think carefully about the situation. It''ll be difficult enough for our ns and your soldiers to push through this endless swarm of bugs. If we have to evacuate the civilians as well, everyone will die!"


    The Yang n head continued, "Li Pu, Marshal Li, do you really not care about the fate of your soldiers?"


    The Gu n head chorused, "Li Pu, think carefully about your brothers-in-arms! You have to be responsible for their lives."


    The Yang n head advised, "Li Pu, there''s no need to risk your life or your soldiers'' lives for people you barely know."


    Li Pu grabbed both n heads by their cors. "Don''t be ridiculous," he spat out. "I''m a soldier, and my duty is to protect everyone on Mars. Among the civilians in the encampment are my soldiers'' families. If you don''t want my soldiers'' help, feel free to try to break out of the bugs'' enclosure yourself!"


    The n heads'' faces turned ugly. Even with the ns'' full strength, they would be hard-pressed to survive under such dire odds.


    The Yang n head struggled to detach himself from Li Pu''s grip. "Calm down, Li Pu, calm down!"


    Li Pu snorted as he threw both n heads to the ground. "Neither of you should have run while the military was setting up a defensive perimeter. If your ns hadn''t fled, we wouldn''t be in such dire straits, and my soldiers wouldn''t have perished! When I heard about what you two fools did, I had half a mind to court-martial you all—and I would have done so if not for these exceptional circumstances!"


    Desertion was a crime punishable by death, and Li Pu hated the idea of deserters.


    Li Pu shouted, "As soldiers, our first responsibility is to the civilians of Mars. What say you, soldiers?"


    "Yessir!" The soldiers remaining in the encampment stomped on the ground with their right boot, sending a tremor through the battlefield.


    "Do as you will!" Li Pumanded the two n heads, then soared into the sky.


    The two n heads talked it over beforeing to the inevitable conclusion that they had no choice but to agree to Li Pu''s terms. This was their only chance at survival. If they were to try to break out of the bugs'' enclosure themselves, they wouldn''t be able to seed.


    The n hunters'' faces were as pale as ash. "We should have fled long ago."


    The Yang n head consoled his family, "There''s no need to make such expressions. The situation isn''t as bad as you expect."


    The Meng n head asked, "Oh? Could it get any worse? We''re hemmed in by a swarm of bugs, and there''s no way we''ll be able to break out. If we have to protect these civilians at the same time..."


    The Yang n head''s eyes glinted maliciously. "If we have no choice, we can use those civilians as bait. Feed them to the bugs."


    The Gu n head reared back. "What would the soldiers say?"


    The Yang n head snorted. "Do you really think Li Pu''s working for the good of themon people? He''s just making a show of it! Don''t you see that he''s indirectly signaling what his forces should do? He''s telling them to use the civilians as bait—do you really think a simple-minded person could be the Marshal of me? Everyone in his position has trodden on the dead to get where they are. Their hands are fresh with blood!"