Boooom!!! The nuclear bomb exploded, and the entire High Ground Z3 was razed. Countless Insectoids, be it on the ground or under it, were killed or maimed, and even their bodies were instantly vaporized within the nuclear explosion.
Boooom… The shock wave swept across the land in a way that was visible, and Qin Hao immediately dived into the depths of the pool.
The assimilation of the insectoid blood provided Qin Hao with an astonishing lung capacity. About ten minutes later, he emerged from the water.
At that moment, the rainforest behind Qin Hao had been completely leveled by the shock wave, and there were broken trees, as well as torn branches, all around the pool.
“Huhhh… It looks like I’ve survived that!” Qin Hao breathed a sigh of relief. It was indeed a blessing that he was not killed after all that.
After climbing onto the shore, Qin Hao simply tidied up himself. He did not need to worry about water stains on the quick-drying combat uniform, but he still had to clean the sticky branches and torn leaves from his body. He then cleaned the joints of the powered exoskeleton to prevent gunk from getting stuck to them.
Once everything was ready, Qin Hao sat by the edge of the pool. He had to consider how would he survive next.
The Federation Army had already tossed a nuclear warhead on High Ground Z3, and that meant that they had completely abandoned this landing site. After all, the epicenter of the blast zone would have powerful nuclear radiation, and normal soldiers were not equipped with radiation protection equipment.
After High Ground Z3 was abandoned, there were no other landing sites within hundreds of miles from Isis Beach.
Pop! Qin Hao pulled up the battlefield map from the recorder.
“The nearest Federation landing side is the Coales Valley, about 520 kilometers away…” Qin Hao frowned. With the aid of the power exoskeleton, the normal marching speed per day would be about 200 kilometers, and he would need about three days to reach there. However, Qin Hao dared not walk across the plain for fear of being spotted by the Insectoids.
If he was advancing through the rainforest, then his speed will be greatly reduced. Qin Hao did a rough calculation, and the time he needed to reach Coales Valley would at least be doubled, and that meant taking five to six days to arrive. If he ran into trouble, then it may take even longer.
“Five to six days, huh…” Qin Hao furrowed his brows.
Groooo… His stomach rumbled again. Qin Hao felt his back, and there was a bug leg there.
Om nom nom… As he gnawed on the bug leg, Qin Hao started pondering. It was unrealistic for him to survive on Alpha alone, so going to the nearest federation landing site was necessary. But he had to solve one of the most important conundrums at hand: rations!
Sometimes Qin Hao found it annoying. While he was much stronger than before, he also got hungry very quickly. If he did not prepare food in advance, he would really starve in the wilderness.
Very soon, the last bug leg was eaten by Qin Hao. As his hunger disappeared, the well-fed Qin Hao felt that his body was full of energy again.
“Time to go! Let’s see if I can find anything to eat on the way.” Qin Hao stood up, and as there was a pool here, he reckoned that many animals would come here for a drink so he planned to see if he could hunt down anything.
After that, Qin Hao walked in the direction of Coales Valley. As the trees had all been felled, his speed was not bad.
“Oh! Looks like I’m not just cursed with bad luck!” Not long into his trek, Qin Hao saw something nice.
It was a beast that looked like an antelope, but it had been killed by a fallen tree, seemingly an unfortunate victim of the nuclear bomb’s shock wave.
“Well, well, good for me then!” Qin Hao walked over and pulled a small instrument from his pockets. This was an equipment when he was part of the cooking mess, and its function was to check whether if the food was safe for consumption, or either it was poisoned by someone. When the 2nd Company served as a suicide company, Qin Hao had unloaded it alongside the food items, and when he returned to High Ground Z3, he picked it up again.
Beep beep… Qin Hao inserted the tip of the detector into the flesh of the antelope carcass, and soon, the results appeared.
SAFE!
“Right! With you, I should be able to have enough food for two days!” Qin Hao was elated. This antelope at the very least weighed about 250 pounds, and while its bones and internal organs took up a considerable part of it, it was still enough to keep him fed for a while.
After that, Qin Hao drew his long knife and started to cut the antelope apart. He then started a fire to roast it. He had also peeled the antelope skin off fully intact and turned it into a sack. Once the meat was roasted, he’ll store them in there.
Not long later, the aroma of the roasted meat started to spread. After all of the meat was roasted, Qin Hao put a piece in his mouth and the rest into the leather sack before affixing them on the back of the powered exoskeleton.
“Let’s go!” While there were no signs of Insectoid activities here, Qin Hao did not want to stay here any longer than he needed to. The aroma of the roast may attract something over. Even if it was not a bug, it would be troublesome should a beast show up.
For the next two days, Qin Hao made his way through the primordial rainforest. After leaving the area affected by the nuclear explosion, the dense rainforest once again hampered Qin Hao’s speed. But fortunately, with enough food, and abundant strength, his speed was not too slow.
Two days later, Qin Hao was only about three hundred kilometers away from Coales Valley.
Hisss… Hissss… While Qin Hao was on his way, his ears suddenly twitched. He had keenly caught a very minute sound.
At the same time, a dangerous feeling appeared in Qin Hao’s heart. The numbing feeling on his neck and the cold feeling on his back appeared once again.
Upon sensing danger, Qin Hao immediately slowed down, and at the same time, carefully observed the surrounding situation.
“There!” Soon Qin Hao found the source of the danger. A bug that Qin Hao had never seen before.
This bug was about 1.5 meters tall, and about three meters long. Its head looked a bit like a stag beetle, with a pair of pincers. The black pincers shone with cold light and inspired fear. And unlike the giant beetles, it only had four legs, its body slender, its abdomen got slightly thicker before pointing upwards. Looking like it was sleeping at this moment.
“What kind of bug is this?” Qin Hao had never seen a bug like this in battle before and did not know what it was capable of. But following his principle of one less trouble the better, Qin Hao intended to go around it.
After quietly backing off a few steps away, Qin Hao started to walk around it, unfortunately, the trouble that Qin Hao did not want to court, found him instead!
Crack! A soft crack rang out as Qin Hao stepped on a branch, but the faint sound still startled the weird bug.
Crreeikkk! With the hiss of an insect, the bug rushed over. The speed it moved on the ground with its four legs was amazing, and the bugger did not seem to be hampered by terrain at all. Its agility was almost unimaginable to Qin Hao.