The star pirates ran toward the starship. The crouching crowd looked at one another, then immediately took off after them.
“Not good, get down!” Cheng Li saw the star pirates turn around, their gun barrels aimed straight at the people behind them.
Gunfire erupted. The star pirates were using the least lethal kind of ordinary bullets. The shots did not blast people into ashes, but they still tore open bloody wounds.
No one dared continue following them. Everyone stopped in place.
“To the mine tunnels!” Cheng Li made a split-second decision and ran toward the mine carrying Yuan Mu on her back.
Hearing her, the others also turned and rushed toward the tunnels. Cheng Li was carrying Yuan Mu, and before she could react, someone slammed into her shoulder. She nearly fell over. By the time she finally steadied herself, she had already fallen to the back of the crowd.
The tunnel entrance was packed with people. Carrying Yuan Mu, she could not squeeze inside.
Yuan Mu had been keeping an eye on both the sky and their rear the whole time. “The insectoid race is about to land.”
Cheng Li turned around and saw those hideous creatures. They were so densely packed that every hair on her body stood on end.
Their sizes varied wildly. Some were as massive as mountains, while others were only as big as a human head. Some had mouthparts dripping with slime, some had razor-sharp fangs and claws, some had wings, and others possessed countless legs…
Cheng Li felt like her eyes could barely take it all in. She voiced the question in her mind. “Do the insectoid race have names?”
There were so many different kinds. Even if they had names, how could anyone possibly tell them apart?
“They do,” Yuan Mu said. By now, he was already used to her lack of common knowledge, so he explained patiently, “Usually only scholars who specialize in studying the insectoid race bother memorizing their names. Most of us classify them by rank instead, from level one to level nine. The higher the level, the stronger the insectoid race.”
Cheng Li still wanted to ask how the ranks were determined, but the thick, nauseating stench was already drawing closer and closer to them.
Another batch of people descended on the lift. Cheng Li and Yuan Mu were the last group left behind.
Cheng Li stared at the insectoid army less than a hundred meters away, her eyes narrowing slightly. “There’s no time.”
“Put me down,” Yuan Mu said.
“Shut up.” Cheng Li sounded impatient as she carried him toward the mine entrance.
“A cripple like you, what are you shoving for? The lift just went down. Even if you squeeze in, it won’t help anyw-”
The man’s complaint cut off abruptly as he froze in shock.
Right before his eyes, Cheng Li grabbed the iron cable with her bare hands and slid down it.
That cable was as thick as a human wrist. The friction would make it scorching hot. Did she not want her hands anymore?
Not to mention she still had half a person strapped to her back!
Everything happened too quickly. By the time Yuan Mu reacted, they were already plunging downward at terrifying speed. The instant he opened his mouth, fierce wind poured in, making it difficult even to speak.
In only a few short seconds, Cheng Li landed on the ground, arriving even earlier than the people riding the lift.
Up above, the insectoid race had already reached the surface entrance. The man who had been scolding Cheng Li two seconds ago now simply shut his eyes, wrapped his sleeves around his hands, grabbed the iron cable, and slid down after her.
Seeing this, the others had no choice but to follow suit.
Between being devoured by the insectoid race and possibly falling to their deaths, they chose the latter. At least there was still a chance of surviving.
The moment Cheng Li landed, her body staggered violently. Yuan Mu loosened his grip around her neck and fell from her back, crashing hard onto the ground.
Cheng Li was startled and hurriedly turned back to look at him. “Are you okay?”
Yuan Mu’s nose tingled with sour emotion. At a moment like this, shouldn’t she be worried about her own hands instead? He had only fallen from a height of one meter. What could possibly happen to him?
“I’m fine,” Yuan Mu said softly, his gaze fixed on her hands.
Cheng Li held them out in front of him. “See? Nothing happened.”
Aside from being covered in dust, her hands truly were unharmed. Yuan Mu finally let out a breath of relief, though confusion still lingered in his heart. That had been a two-hundred-meter iron cable. How could she have slid all the way down without a single injury?
“Should we go find Uncle Zhao first?” Cheng Li asked.
Yuan Mu shook his head. “Find somewhere to hide first.”
Cheng Li was still worried about Uncle Zhao and wanted to say more, but then, splat, something landed on her face.
Yuan Mu’s expression changed instantly. “Move.”
This time, he did not let Cheng Li carry him. Instead, he went ahead on his own. Supporting himself with both hands, his body swung forward in quick, fluid motions. He moved astonishingly fast, no slower than an ordinary person.
Cheng Li followed closely behind him, staying alert for danger at every moment.
Just as a fierce gust of wind rushed toward them and Cheng Li was about to react, Yuan Mu had already moved first. He leaped upward, his long, powerful arms locking around the attacker’s neck as he hung from the person’s back.
“It’s you two!”
Another person stepped out from around the corner. Seeing his companion’s face flushed red from Yuan Mu’s chokehold, he hurriedly said, “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! We mistook you for star pirates.”
Cheng Li glanced at the two disheveled men, then reached out toward Yuan Mu. Yuan Mu released the man, grabbed her hand, and with the help of her pull, landed steadily on the ground.
“The insectoid army came down from above. The star pirates ran,” Cheng Li said.
The two men’s eyes filled with horror. “An insectoid army?!”
Before they could ask for more details, the foul stench had already rushed to their noses.
The insectoid race had arrived.
Run!
Cheng Li grabbed Yuan Mu and flung him onto her back in one swift motion.
The instant she started running, the two men moved as well, sticking close behind her.
Above the planet, the star pirates’ starship had barely emerged before several Alliance warships surrounded it. A barrage of photon cannons blasted toward them.
“Shit! Land now!” a star pirate screamed.
“There’s no time!”
“We’re done for!”
The desperate cries of the star pirates rang out as the searing heat reduced them to drifting ash.
The smoking starship fell from the sky, crashing straight into the center of the insectoid army below.
With a thunderous boom, the starship exploded. Even the ground trembled violently as shattered debris and chunks of flesh flew everywhere.
Cheng Li’s body swayed, forcing her to stop and brace herself against the wall. “What happened up there?”
“Something seems to have exploded,” Yuan Mu said.
“Could the star pirates have come back? No way.” Cheng Li refused to believe star pirates would care about the lives of people like them.
That could only mean one thing.
They could not bear to part with the Blue Key Stone.
‘Tsk tsk, risking their lives for money. With that many insectoids, they’re basically delivering themselves as food.’
Still, no matter what, with the star pirates drawing part of the firepower away, the chances of survival for the rest of them had increased a little.
In the skies above the planet, inside a warship.
“Commander, the star pirates’ starship has crashed. Should we descend and investigate?”
“What’s below?”
At the question, the soldier enlarged the screen projection in midair. The scene on the ground instantly appeared before the commander and the gathered officers.
“It’s the insectoid race!”
“Hm? Those facilities on the ground look like mining equipment.”
“Star pirates mining?”
“Commander, should we land?”
The tall, imposing commander stared at the screen in silence for several seconds. His cold, sharp brows furrowed slightly. “There are living people beneath the mine tunnels.”
The others froze for a moment and shifted the view toward the tunnel entrance, only to see the insectoid race pouring endlessly into the mine.
“The star pirates probably encountered the insectoid race and fled in a panic. The people they abandoned behind are most likely Alliance civilians they kidnapped.”
“I wonder how many are still alive.”
“Should we go down and take a look?”
“I’m curious about what they were mining.”
“Maybe some kind of rare metal. Or perhaps the Blue Key Stone everyone’s been talking about lately.”
“Hiss, you really dare to imagine things. That stuff costs a hundred thousand star coins per gram!”
“But what if it really is?”
“……..”