When Shen Feng met Yu Renshu, she was using her remaining left arm to direct her subordinates to quickly build a camp. To survive in the mountains, a protective camp was essential. The camp was being established by the water, as proximity to a water source would allow her abilities to be utilized to their fullest extent.
“Doctor, I’m late. What exactly happened? Tell me everything. I also see that many people have lost their equipment and suffered heavy casualties. What is the current extent of the losses? You need to tell me that too.” Shen Feng immediately began questioning Yu Renshu upon seeing her.
Upon seeing Shen Feng, Yu Renshu’s expression turned considerably grim. Her eyes welled up with tears, and her lips trembled. After a long moment, she finally spoke, “While we were setting up camp, we encountered danger. It happened this morning. Xu Xing said something was moving rapidly in the forest. We initially thought it was a snake, but then countless vines appeared, grabbing many soldiers and dragging them into the forest. It was incredibly fast; most people couldn’t react in time.”
“What happened next?” Shen Feng pressed.
“Seeing the vines in the forest, Xu Xing immediately led his men into battle. They carried torches, knowing that fire was the weakness of these plants. They intended to use the torches against the mutated plants, but unexpectedly, many earth dragons burrowed out of the ground and began attacking the humans,” Yu Renshu said, her eyes red.
“So, the mutated insects have begun cooperating with the mutated plants. This coordinated attack on humans is definitely not a coincidence,” Shen Feng surmised upon hearing this.
Yu Renshu nodded. “That’s right. There is indeed a cooperative relationship between these insects and plants. Otherwise, there would be no reason for these earth dragons to leave after killing people. We still don’t know where the mutated insects and plants came from. We could only try to stay away from the original location, following the water flow until we reached here. We are now preparing to establish a camp, but we have almost no tools left.”
Hearing this, Shen Feng felt the situation was incredibly棘手. He had originally planned to lead a contingent of elites to deal with many of the insects and then proceed downstream to Mian Dian to kill the tiger-headed bees there. He hadn’t expected that his elite force would be fine, but the larger, main force would encounter problems.
“What can we do now? The subsequent plans will also be affected,” Shen Feng murmured to himself.
Yu Renshu, upon hearing Shen Feng’s words, became agitated. “This is all my fault. If I could have been more useful in the battle, I could have saved more people. The heavy casualties suffered by the main force are all my fault. Blame me if you must; I didn’t do enough!”
“I’m not blaming you. After all, facing such an unexpected situation, few people could escape unscathed. Even if I encountered such a difficult situation, I might not be able to handle it well. So, please don’t blame yourself,” Shen Feng quickly reassured her.
Yu Renshu stubbornly insisted, “I insisted on coming with you earlier, and yet I haven’t accomplished anything here. Instead, I’ve become a burden to you, failing your expectations. I deserve to die.”
As she spoke, a look of regret appeared on her face. It was clear she was blaming herself for the situation.
Shen Feng knew that Yu Renshu had a very strong sense of pride. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have stayed away from him for so long during the apocalypse, choosing instead to fight alone and care for her family. The only way to resolve her inner turmoil was to let her achieve significant accomplishments, so others would look at her with greater respect, and her pride could be satisfied.
However, at this moment, she had encountered this predicament and failed to resolve it properly, ultimately having to lead a large group of people into the river to escape.
Upon realizing this, Shen Feng quickly comforted her, “This is not your fault. The situation had already deteriorated so badly, and I even took Lu Xian with me. Without him, you couldn’t have detected the danger in advance and responded. So, this is all my fault for the arrangements.”
As they were speaking, Xu Xing arrived. There wasn’t a speck of water on him, but there was a lot of dirt.
“Doctor, what should we do next? Hurry and think of a solution. The two thousand people you took with you still have combat strength, but we have no equipment, no combat strength, and no morale. We can’t even leave this place now. You need to come up with a plan quickly!” Xu Xing urged.
Shen Feng looked at Xu Xing and said, “Everyone else is soaked, but why are you not wet at all? And that dirt on you, go wash it off. You were such a beautiful young woman, and now you look like an ugly monster.”
Xu Xing explained, “Because I didn’t jump into the river. I fought my way out of the camp. I killed all the enemies blocking my path along the way. Even when there were many earthworms in the ground following me, I stepped on them, and they all turned into meat paste!”
It turned out that Xu Xing was unwilling to flee like that. He had been fighting continuously, carving a path through the enemy encirclement. The dirt on him was actually the fluids from the earth dragons he had killed, which had stained his clothes and eventually turned into the grime.
Shen Feng nodded upon hearing this explanation. He saw that Xu Xing still had significant combat power. While others were helpless and had to jump into the water, he had managed to fight his way out. It was truly remarkable.
“So, what should we do now? We have no equipment, no food. Surviving in the mountains will be a problem. We don’t even know how to retreat!” Xu Xing continued to inquire.
Shen Feng pondered for a moment before saying, “All of you have lost your combat effectiveness. If we continue to fight under duress, it’s very likely to lead to instability among the troops. Therefore, you should take the remaining people back to Yuzhou.”
“If we take the main force and leave, what about you? You only have over two thousand people. If you go south, how will you fight? Those tiger-headed bees are ferocious. Not only are they huge, but one bite can sever a person’s arm,” Yu Renshu asked urgently.
“Although my current troop strength is insufficient, I will be able to stop at Dali for a while and wait for other soldiers from Yuzhou to arrive. You take these remaining new recruits back. I will then draw soldiers from other cities to fight,” Shen Feng replied.
“But this way, our plan’s progress will be very slow,” Xu Xing pointed out the drawback.
“There’s nothing that can be done about it. I will return to my own unit and have them contact the outside world using their portable radios to arrange for supplies to be air-dropped to you. Once you have firearms and ammunition, you’ll be able to break out. We must continue fighting,” Shen Feng said.
Yu Renshu could not object to Shen Feng’s decision. The only thing she could do now was to follow orders and take these soldiers back to Yuzhou, replacing them with veteran soldiers. Drawing soldiers from various cities would inevitably lead to a shortage of local troops, but there was no alternative.
After understanding the situation, Shen Feng flew directly into the air and soared into the distance.
As night fell, the sound of aircraft suddenly echoed from the sky. Everyone quickly lit bonfires. The large bonfires attracted the attention of the aircraft in the sky. The planes, having located their position, dropped numerous supplies from the sky. These airdrops landed on the ground and were immediately collected by the soldiers. Among them were steaming hot flatbreads, essential supplies that the soldiers desperately needed, as starvation was a real threat without food.
When Shen Feng returned to his small team, after briefly assigning tasks, he took to the sky again.
“Where are you going? Shouldn’t you stay with us? They won’t be in any immediate danger anyway,” Chu Chaoyan asked when she saw Shen Feng’s actions.
Shen Feng then said, “Since I’m idle anyway, I’m going to the Hengduan Mountains to find those damned things and get revenge. Whether it’s the mutated insects or the mutated plants, I’ll kill them all!”
Upon hearing Shen Feng’s declaration, Chu Chaoyan quickly said, “Then take me with you! I can help you. How can you leave me here?”
When Chu Chaoyan heard that Shen Feng was going for revenge, she immediately wanted to participate in the plan. How could she hide behind and enjoy the comfort? Yu Renshu’s hard-earned confidence had been shattered by those creatures. As she and Yu Renshu were like sisters, she couldn’t stand by and do nothing.
Shen Feng hesitated. Having Chu Chaoyan by his side would indeed be a great help in combat. As long as she could gather poisonous gas, it would be a disaster for the insects. Insects needed to breathe, and without oxygen, they would suffocate. The presence of poisonous gas would further corrode their respiratory systems.
However, Shen Feng was still filled with worry. In this situation, if Chu Chaoyan were to go into battle and accidentally strain herself, it would be problematic.
As Shen Feng hesitated, Chu Chaoyan spoke, “If you are concerned about my health, then you must take me with you. We are in urgent need of speed, and every second counts towards the success of the plan. Therefore, we cannot waste any time. Since I can help you, you must take me. Otherwise, as time drags on, more people will die, and our plan will become even more difficult to achieve.”
After hearing this explanation, Shen Feng finally understood and agreed.
“Then let’s hurry into the mountains to find these detestable creatures. We didn’t sense their presence before, but now that we’ve left, they’ve already attacked our army,” Shen Feng also harbored deep resentment towards the mutated insects and plants.
His main force had now suffered heavy casualties, which meant he had to mobilize more troops from Yuzhou. Otherwise, his soldiers would be insufficient. After all, the scale of the mutated insects on the opposing side was immense. Without thirty to forty thousand troops, it would be impossible to win this battle. Moreover, many mercenaries, if they sensed danger, would not truly exert themselves and would constantly think of escaping, thus failing to form an effective fighting force.
It could be said that Shen Feng’s grand plan had already been disrupted by these damned earth dragons, and how could Shen Feng not resent these insects?
At that moment, Shen Feng returned to the ground, carried Chu Chaoyan on his back, and flew off towards the dense jungles of the Hengduan Mountains to search for those damned mutated plants.
As for Yang Chang and Lu Xian, they were tasked with controlling the soldiers and blocking all the caves on the hillside in the coming days. This way, even if any insect kings survived, they would not be able to escape.