Chapter 156

Chapter 156

Xiao Huai nodded in acknowledgment. Na Ran tried to heal the wound in his left leg with witchcraft, but the instant her hand touched it, a red System window appeared.

[Failed! Failed! Player is under a critical-wound effect.]

Xiao Huai shook his head. “It won’t work. I didn’t call you here for healing. Perhaps the injury is better. It makes me look harmless.”

Harmless? What did he mean?

Na Ran frowned. “What do you need me to do?”

“Legend says witches can communicate with all living things.” He raised his eyes to Na Ran. “If I asked you to speak with the insect race, do you think it would be possible?”

There was nothing to fear if the plan failed.

Whatever came, he would deal with it.

But if the plan succeeded, he could catch Ling Chen off guard once again.

Na Ran’s pupils widened slightly. She had been here for only a few minutes.

Yet as a witch, she was extraordinarily sensitive to her surroundings and could perceive the source of all things. An immense source of energy existed here.

And the insect race guarded it.

This place was an enormous palace resembling an ant colony’s nest, though these creatures were certainly not ants.

Their hierarchy was rigid. They possessed armies, social ranks, and even battle strategies. A player without an exceptional mind could never contend with the insect race.

Now Xiao Huai was asking whether she could speak with them.

She understood his intention instantly.

He wanted to win their hearts.

As the saying went, two warring sides did not harm each other’s emissaries.

Was the conflict between the insect race and humanity not a kind of war?

Language was the only obstacle to an emissary. Xiao Huai did not speak the insect race’s tongue, and the insects eliminated every threat in order to survive.

As a player, he merely had to survive for twenty-four hours. But there was more than one way to spend that time.

The choice was his.

Light shone in Na Ran’s eyes. Her fingertips trembled as she stared directly at Xiao Huai and nodded firmly.

“I can.”

Understanding, Xiao Huai smiled faintly. A cane appeared in his hand, and he forced himself upright.

He raised his head slightly and looked toward the northwest corner. “They’re almost here.”

Whether he lived or died would depend entirely on his tongue.

* * *

[Survival Mission Time Remaining: One hour.]

Only an hour remained before the players could leave, yet almost none of them still looked human.

If the System had not told them to hold on for one more hour before victory, they would have had no idea what time it was.

Commander? Heh. That was the flattering description. In truth, Ling Chen was merely a spectator.

He did not care whether the players lived or died. Apart from warning them several times about the insect race’s movements, he had retreated far away whenever a swarm surrounded them.

Fortunately, their team still had Xiao Qian.

Combined with the experience Xiao Huai had left them before his departure, they had repeatedly escaped disaster.

But the insect race did not consist of only two types of insects. It included many more varieties they could not even identify.

Some had wings, some had venom, and all possessed a different supernatural ability.

In the dark, damp environment, every player knelt exhausted on the ground. Staying awake for one night might have been no great feat.

But they had spent the entire night either fleeing or fighting. How many people could adapt to such intense exertion?

Ling Chen had said there would be three insect swarms, but in reality, there had been far more.

The so-called three waves probably referred to the swarms’ three daily group meals.

Whether human or insect, there were always those that remained hungry every moment and constantly wanted to eat.

Humans could order takeout. The insect race merely had to emerge and forage.

The crucial point was that many species in Insect Paradise were hungry.

They could eat their own kind, but human beings were a rare delicacy.

Even with the risk of being killed, the temptation of tasting one morsel of human flesh before death remained immense.
The married couple had suffered severe injuries. The woman had lost several patches of skin to the insects’ bites, leaving bloody, mangled flesh. She was almost delirious.

The more wretched the players became, the more Ling Chen’s leisure stood out.

He lay on a boulder as casually as if it were a bed, eyes half closed in contented relaxation.

Sweat had soaked Xiao Qian from head to toe. His shirt clung tightly to his skin, outlining every muscle.

He breathed in ragged gasps, his chest rising and falling violently. He had clearly just endured an exhausting battle.

He had already used up a large number of items, and their remnants lay scattered across the ground.

The players did not know how Xiao Qian possessed so many, but they understood how precious those items were in a horror game.

Xiao Qian bent over with one hand pressed to his abdomen. A massive blue insect had ambushed him. Caught off guard, he had not reacted in time, and the impact had caved in his abdomen and nearly shattered his organs.

He tried to steady his breathing, but each breath made his organs throb with pain.

The more pain he felt, the more vividly he remembered Xiao Huai’s determination from the very beginning of the game.

Xiao Qian had tried to contact Xiao Huai through Little Magician. Xiao Huai answered every time, but always with the same sentence.

[I’m fine.]

Then, three hours ago, Xiao Qian had asked how he was doing and received no response.

They had lost contact.

When no reply came, Xiao Qian did not hesitate. The moment no one was watching, he sent Little Magician away.

But once Little Magician departed, messages could no longer be transmitted in real time.

Little Magician could detect and evade danger, but it was still like a carrier pigeon. If something happened along the way, it might never return.

His fingers trembled slightly, sweat dripping from his face to the ground. He knew the game was not over until the final moment.

Ling Chen tilted his head and watched Xiao Qian calmly. He murmured something very softly.

No one else heard, but Xiao Qian did.

“Stop thinking about him. He’s probably already dead.”

Xiao Qian raised his head and looked at Ling Chen calmly. “There’s no way he’ll die.”

Ling Chen’s lips curved. “I never expected a player who cleared the tenth stage to be so naive.”

Xiao Qian shot him a cold glance.

This was the third time in recent days that someone had called him naive.

His naivete seemed to be connected to the same person every time.

Xiao Huai.

The first two times, Xiao Huai had said it. This time, it was Ling Chen.

Had he truly become naive?

No.

People did not change easily, but that did not mean they could never change.

Xiao Huai was like a lighthouse in the dark, his light shining through the gloom.

Trust the lighthouse. Walk toward the light.

Was that not human nature?

At that moment, he heard a faint noise. Everyone warily scanned their surroundings.

They had only just finished one battle. Was another about to begin?

The players had already fallen into despair. Would they truly die in the final hour?

They were so exhausted they could barely stand.

The sound grew louder. One insect… two? No!

It was not one or two, but an entire swarm.

The thunder of crawling was deafening, far louder than any of the three swarms that had come before.

Even Ling Chen sat up this time. Tilting his head, he looked into the distance. “Strange. There’s still another swarm?”

But at that moment, Xiao Qian’s eyes widened.

He saw a person.