In the face of the massive swarm of bugs, the bombers dropped a large payload of high-powered incendiary bombs. The grounds below High Ground Z3 was ablaze, and tens of thousands of bugs were burned to death, suddenly forming a ring-shaped death zone around the high ground.
No longer needing to concern themselves with the attacks from outside, the soldiers of the 106th Division fought their best against the bugs inside the perimeter. However, as they were unable to kill the giant Hollowborer, a large part of metal flooring were overturned, and the hole got increasingly bigger as more and more bugs rushed out from the ground beneath High Ground Z3.
Buzzzzz… The transport ships appeared above High Ground Z3.
“We can no longer hold this place! Prepare for evac!” James roared loudly. He had already communicated with the battleship earlier, and due to High Ground Z3 was breached the inside by the Insectoids, they can no longer hold the place.
Groups after groups of soldiers left High Ground Z3 on the transport boats, leaving only the Gauss cannons and defense equipment, which were too late to be transported away, behind.
“Qin Hao! Evac now!” When the 106th Division had almost evacuated, only did James boarded the transport ship, and at the same time shouted towards the direction of Qin Hao.
“Coming!” Qin Hao nodded, as he suddenly broke away from the attack range of the Hollowborer, and tried to board the transport ship.
Creeeeek!!” Just as Qin Hao left, the Hollowborer launched its sonic attack!
Booom!! The transport ship that had already left the ground suddenly lost control and plummeted. Fortunately, it was less than two meters above ground, so it was not destroyed.
“Sh*t!” Qin Hao cursed to himself. This Hollowborer was such a nuisance. As long as he did not deal with it, it will launch its sonic attack. The transport ship’s structure was simple, and the pilot’s cockpit was not soundproof, so the moment the sonic attack hit, the pilots were wrecked with headache, and could not pilot the transport ship at all.
“Looks like I’m fated to never return to the battleship!” Qin Hao sighed inwardly. He then turned around to fight the Hollowborer again. The long knife in his hand continued to add wounds on the Hollowborer, the pain caused the Hollowborer to give up its sonic attack.
“Commander, you guys leave!” Qin Hao shouted. It was not like he did not want to leave, nor did he wanted to play hero, but he could not leave regardless. If he left, then under the Hollowborer’s sonic attack, the transport ship would not be able to take off, and in the end, all of them will simply just die, with Qin Hao not being able to leave in any case.
So Qin Hao could only choose the most sensible plan. He would stay behind to hold the Hollowborer back and win time for his comrades to evacuate.
“Hummmm….” The transport ship once again took off. Without the sonic attack of the Hollowborer, this time, the transport ship managed to flew up high and escaped Alpha’s atmosphere.
“Huff…” Qin Hao heaved a sigh of relief. Now that all of his comrades had withdrawn, he no longer needed to waste his time there. It would be impossible for him to kill the Hollowborer with this long knife.
At this moment, there were swarms of bugs on High Ground Z3, and the only human left was Qin Hao. Qin Hao, who was without any allies knew he could not stay here any longer. He needed to retreat into the jungle. Only there he would have a chance of survival. In such an open area, even if he was made out of steel, he would not be able to stop the bugs numbering in tens of thousands!
Thinking of this, Qin Hao turned around abruptly, and quickly got out of the Hollowborer’s attack range, before rushing to the bottom of High Ground Z3 without even looking back.
Creeeeikk!! The Hollowborer launched a sonic attack, but it had no effect on Qin Hao. Moreover, most of the giant worm’s body was still underground, so it could not pursue Qin Hao.
“Trot trot trot….” On the way down High Ground Z3, Qin Hao’s long knife sang, and any giant beetles that got close to home were all felled, but more and more were converging around him.
With the power of the exoskeleton, Qin Hao’s speed increased to the maximum, and even the six-legged bugs could not catch up to him. After a few minutes, Qin Hao had rushed down High Ground Z3.
“Hufff!” Qin Hao glanced back. Although the swarms of bugs behind him were still pursuing him, with the power of the exoskeleton, he was faster than the bugs, and he was beyond their reach.
Plus, right then, there were no foes before Qin Hao. The plain below High Ground Z3 had been cleared by the incendiary bombs earlier. While the flames have already been extinguished, the ground was still boiling hot, and the air extremely dry. Qin Hao felt that his skin was about to crack under the heat.
The bugs were extremely sensitive to their surroundings, so before the ground cools down they would not enter such a dangerous place, and that gave Qin Hao time to escape.
The direction where Qin Hao and the rest had returned to High Ground Z3 could no longer be used. The jungle there was also struck by the incendiary bombs, with its trees ablaze. Running in there meant certain death. So Qin Hao could only choose another direction and ran with all his might.
After running wildly for more than half an hour, Qin Hao hid inside the jungle. The trees were very dense there and were not suitable for the giant beetles’ large-scale march. Hence, the possibility of encountering a foe was low, and that gave Qin Hao a respite.
“Huhhhh… Uhhhhhh…” After Qin Hao slowed down, he started to replenish his energy. Fortunately, he had the habit of storing bug legs for food, or else, in this rain forest here, he might not be able to find food at all. After all, he was not part of the special forces.
Bib bib bib… Not long after Qin Hao relaxed his mind, his battlefield recorder rang.
“What the f*ck?!” Qin Hao turned his head to look at the battlefield recorder, but that sight almost scared him to death!
“Tactical nuclear bombs will be launched on Coordinate XXX. XXX! All personnel in the area, please evacuate immediately, time to launch, 10 minutes!”
“F*ck me! You monsters!” Qin Hao could care less about the bug leg in his hand. Tossing it away, he started to run wildly again.
It turned out that after the 106th Division had completely evacuated, the battleship’s radar had detected a massive concentration of bugs near High Ground Z3, so the fleet high command decided to launch tactical nukes to wipe out all these bugs in one fell swoop.
As for Qin Hao, in everyone’s eyes, he had already KIA-ed, and even if he was still alive, what was sacrificing a soldier when it meant the destruction of hundreds of thousands of bugs?
From the perspective of the war command, the commander’s decision was completely reasonable, but Qin Hao did not think so, because he was that sacrificial lamb. So as he ran, he cursed the ancestors of those commanders from back to forth, and back again.
As the countdown from the battlefield recorder drew closer and closer, Qin Hao was running till he saw stars. With the help of the powered exoskeleton, he was more than ten kilometers away from High Ground Z3 and was outside the epicenter of the nuclear bomb. However, he was still within the range of its destructive shockwave!
“Five… Four… Three… Two… One…” Seeing the impending explosion, Qin Hao leaped forward and jumped into a pool of water.