“That’s good.” Qin Hao nodded. Pang Meng’s recovery was beneficial for their journey. If they were to go on at this pace, it will take a few days for them to reach Coales Valley.
As they walked, Qin Hao and Lucia chatted all the way. As Pang Meng knew too many military secrets, and to avoid misspeaking, he generally did not interrupt them, and at the same time, Qin Hao and Lucia kept away from asking him.
After walking for four to five hours, Qin Hao felt that something was wrong. An ominous feeling lingered in his heart as if something bad was about to happen.
So, Qin Hao raised his vigilance. He held his long knife in hand and paid attention to the movements around him as he proceeded cautiously.
Rustle… Rustle… About half an hour later, Qin Hao’s ears twitched as a faint rustling came from behind him.
Kriek! Blackie called out too. Clearly, it had also noticed something.
“Sh*t!” As soon as Qin Hao turned his head, he saw a giant beetle squad approaching from the distance!
“Damn it! They caught up!” Qin Hao frowned. If it was just himself, then these giant beetle squad would not faze him, him riding on Blackie was much faster than these guys.
Now, however, it was not possible. Qin Hao had Lucia and the wounded Pang Meng by his side. With their speed, it was impossible for them to shake off the giant beetle squad.
“Ahh!” Lucia screamed as she had also noticed the giant beetles behind her.
Krik krik… At the same time, the giant beetles had also noticed Qin Hao and the rest, so they rushed over amidst the insectoid calls.
“Lucia, keep on going with Blackie! I’ll stop them!” Qin Hao took a deep breath. As a soldier, fleeing while leaving a woman and a wounded behind was not something he could do.
“But you…” Lucia was a little worried. First, she was afraid that something might happen to Qin Hao, and secondly, she was a little afraid of going alone with Blackie.
“No buts! Go!” Qin Hao roared.
Perhaps it was Qin Hao’s roar that scared Lucia, or that she had felt his determination. This time, the girl did not say anything else and quickened her pace to follow Blackie.
Kriik! At that moment, the giant beetle leader shrieked, and Blackie involuntarily stopped at the front.
“What’s going on?” Qin Hao was stunned.
The insectoid had an extremely strict hierarchy system, and while Blackie’s combat power was far above the average giant beetle, but it was not highly ranked. A higher-ranking Insectoid could emit an aura, and this strange chemical substance could induce lower-ranking Insectoids to obey them. So, Blackie subconsciously wanted to obey the giant beetle leader!
“Qin Hao, it’s not moving!” Lucia exclaimed.
“Argh! Climb up a tree and wait for me!” Qin Hao frowned. He did not know if Blackie would change sides because of the appearance of the giant beetle leader. So he had to get Lucia to climb up a tree first. As for Pang Meng, it was up to fate.
At this moment, Qin Hao was confronting the giant beetles. It was impossible for him to leave to look after the immobile Pang Meng. While Lucia had a medical exoskeleton on her, it was impossible for a girl like her to carry Pang Meng up a tree. So Pang Meng’s survival was really down to luck.
Kriekk krikk… Under the giant beetle leader’s command, a small group of twelve giant beetles surrounded Qin Hao.
Whoosh! After feeling the deadly threat, Qin Hao’s eyes once again radiated bright blue light!
Kriekk! Blue light also flashed in the eyes of the giant beetle leader, but it was far dimmer than Qin Hao’s.
At the same time, an aura imperceptible to humans radiated from Qin Hao. It was a strange chemical substance that would not directly affect anything, but instead, it was releasing some sort of information.
Grruuhh… Blackie let out a strange cry before laying on the ground, its eyes staring straight at Qin Hao’s back, no one knew what it was thinking.
Criik… Like Blackie, the ordinary giant beetles, upon sensing the chemical aura, retreated to the sides one after another before falling onto the ground and emptying the battlefield in the middle.
Kriik! Unlike the ordinary giant beetles, the bronze beetle with the single horn did not flinch. It had higher intelligence than ordinary giant beetles. If Blackie and the ordinary giant beetles have the intelligence equivalent to that of cats and dogs, then the intelligence of the leader was almost the same as humans.
Qin Hao, being able to release that chemical substance was obviously thanks to the genes of the giant beetle prince. So the ordinary giant beetle and Blackie, which possessed lower intelligence thought that Qin Hao was one of the higher-ranked Insectoid, so they expressed their submission to him.
The giant beetle with higher intelligence did not think so, though. It knew of the young prince’s death, and this human was obviously the culprit.
Therefore, the giant beetle leader with an intelligence no weaker than a human would of course not bow to Qin Hao just because of the aura he exuded. After all, the chemical substance only induced the lower-ranked Insectoids to submit, but there was no coercive effect. As long as one was intelligent enough, it would not be affected by it.
In this way, once the giant beetle leader saw Qin Hao, it would only want to avenge the dead prince, instead of mistaking Qin Hao as the prince.
Tap tap tap… The giant beetle leader stepped into the arena and waved its sharp forearm at Qin Hao provocatively.
Cring… Cring… Qin Hao walked into the circle without showing any weakness. As he walked he dragged his long knife on the ground, kicking up sparks in his wake. A battle was about to commence.
“What is he doing? Dueling with the giant beetle leader?” Pang Meng was a little dumbstruck. Everything he saw today was beyond what he knew.
First of all, Pang Meng had been studying the Insectoids for very long now, but he had never seen a giant beetle choosing to duel someone. In the past, if they were to encountered single targets, these giant killers would swarm forward together, and a single mano-a-mano duel like this would not happen, much less the provocative moves.
Even so, at the same time, Pang Meng was even more sure that the Insectoids possessed intelligence no weaker than humans, but he did not know when dealing with humans, the Insectoids would not duel with them because humans were just prey in their eyes. Only when there is an internal conflict among the Insectoids would they duel, just like today.
At this moment, while the giant beetle leader itself did not regard Qin Hao as a member of the Insectoids, but its underlings were all of low intelligence, and would never attack an Insectoid that was high-ranked than themselves. So it could only duel like this.
“Qin Hao! Fight!” Lucia had already climbed onto a tree and cheered Qin Hao loudly from there.
“Die!” A blue light flashed in Qin Hao’s eyes again, he then charged at the giant beetle leader with his long knife!