Seeing Blackie inch closer and closer toward the graveyard, Qin Hao felt extremely anxious. But he could not stop Blackie, which had been hypnotized. Calling out at this time would only expose himself to danger.
Qin Hao had been enhanced by the insectoid blood. But he knew that he was no match for the silver-horned giant beetle. Let alone there were more than one silver-horn giant beetle here.
Damn it! What should I do? What should I do? Qin Hao looked on like a cat on hot bricks. He could do nothing as Blackie had come beside the silver-horn giant beetle.
His heart was in his mouth at that moment. But what happened next made his jaw drop to the ground.
Instead of eating Blackie like it ate other creatures, the silver-horned giant beetle brushed Blackie aside impatiently. Blackie was left alone, eating the leftovers dropping from the silver-horned giant beetle’s mouth.
What is going on here? Qin Hao was dumbfounded. Now, he was not so sure if Blackie came here because it was hypnotized or the insectoids called it out to have dinner. He could not explain what he had just witnessed.
Qin Hao was overthinking. Blackie had nothing to do with those giant beetles, and those insectoids did not invite Blackie to the feast. They had hypnotized Blackie. The thing was, Blackie’s body construction was too different from others.
Blackie had a chitin exoskeleton, which was black and thick with little meat underneath this exoskeleton. This made Blackie not very appetizing to the silver-horn giant beetle.
Even if the silver-horn giant beetle wanted to eat Blackie, it had to break through the tough chitin exoskeleton, and that was an exhausting job. Not to mention how little meat was underneath. With ample food supply now, it was not worth the while eating Blackie.
So that silver-horn giant beetle shoved Blackie aside and ate those other creatures lured by the sound wave.
Also unknown to Qin Hao, that bug that looked like a brain with legs was what the insectoids called Shephard. Its job was to help the giant beetle catch their food by emitting a mixture of low-frequency brain waves to hypnotize most other animals and lured them over.
It was feasting time for the giant beetles. The hypnotized creatures would not feel a thing even though they were eaten alive. So the giant beetles could eat as much as they like and did not have to worry that the prey would fight back.
Coales Valley was close to the lair of the giant beetles. The Shepherds often chose a particular place, using their ability to lure as many creatures as possible to feed the giant beetles.
The humans made a grave mistake by building a base there. Those 20,000 soldiers had been hypnotized and turned into dinner for the giant beetles.
The giant beetles ate a lot. Countless creatures had thus died. Qin Hao had only realized that he had lost track of time when he saw light first appear in the sky. The Shepherd stopped luring more creatures and the silver-horn giant beasts dispersed.
Another ten minutes had passed, and Blackie came out of its hypnotized state. It looked around and could not remember how it had ended up out here.
Blackie raised its head and sniffed for a moment, then turned around and looked in Qin Hao’s direction. Apparently, Blackie had spotted him.
Qin Hao’s heart skipped a beat, glad that those giant beetles did not possess a sharp nose and bring along the bugs that hunted using their sense of smell. Otherwise, the insectoids would have discovered him.
Blackie ran up to Qin Hao, who jumped onto its back, and together they quickly headed back toward the base.
Blackie moved like a whirlwind. Before long, they arrived at the base and sneaked back inside through the gap in the metal wall.
“Help!”
“Where are you, Qin Hao?”
“Qing Hao?”
Qin Hao heard Lucia’s voice as soon as he was back inside the base. Apparently, she had also come out of the hypnotized state.
He ran back into the command center.
“You’re finally back, Qin Hao!” Tears flowed down her cheeks as soon as Lucia saw him.
“What happened last night? Why are we being tied up?” Palmer was a lot calmer and rational as a scientist. He knew that it was not the insectoids that tied them up—bugs did not do such things.
“You two had been hypnotized last night.” Qin Hao briefly told them what had happened last night as he untied them.
“That means all the defending troopers have died?” Palmer looked dismayed.
“I’m afraid so!” said Qin Hao.
“I will contact the fleet now!” Palmer ran to the communication equipment as soon as Qin Hao untied him.
While Palmer was contacting the fleet, Qin Hao comforted Lucia, who was scared.
“It is all right now. Don’t worry!” Qin Hao patted Lucia on her head.
“I’m still scared. I want to return to the battleship.” Lucia cried in his arms.
“Did you record what happened last night, Qin Hao?” Palmer had successfully contacted the fleet.
“Let me have a look!” Qin Hao’s battlefield recorder looked intact and should be functional.
However, Qin Hao frowned when he turned it on. There was a recording of what happened to Palmer, Lucia, and Blackie with clear footage. But the footage of the silver-horn giant beetles and the bug that looked like a brain with legs were extremely blurry and dimmed with shadows barely visible in the dark.
The battlefield recorder did not possess Qin Hao’s kind of night vision and low-power telescope ability. Also, Qin Hao dared not get too close to the silver-horn giant beetles last night. He stayed five kilometers away from the graveyard to prevent from getting spotted. No way the battlefield recorder could capture footage from such a distance.
“It’s better than nothing!” Palmer nodded. He needed this precious data. If humans wanted to defeat the insectoids on Alpha, they would have to study and understand the enemy and did not want to end up like the troopers in the Coales Valley.
“Have you contacted the fleet?” Qin Hao asked.
“Yeah. They were supposed to send a landing craft last night. But the signal was lost halfway and we couldn’t make it. We have reestablished communication again. They promise that the transport ship will arrive in thirty minutes!” said Palmer.