Cairns was the first to notice something was wrong.
He had been with a wounded companion since they descended from the warship. Before Claire found them and directed them to the gathering spot where Aaron was, they had managed to find several of their fellow students already.
Yet Cairns didn’t cluster around the injured Aaron after coming here like the others. He stayed away from the crowd and leaned by the door, silently taking up guard duty.
Cairns stood up. His uniform jacket had been taken off and tied around his waist like usual. Beneath was not the standard issue shirt of the uniform, but the form-fitting vest he always wore. It was truly practical, easy to move around and durable to boot.
He stared at the barely visible black wave approaching in the distance for a few seconds before turning around and shouting, “Run! Run upstairs! Set up barricade along the way as you go–”
The speed and endurance of humans were nothing compared to the tireless insects. The Empire conducted drills for emergency insect evasion beginning in elementary school. Everyone knew to look for high, stable buildings to take shelter in and await rescue.
The people in the lobby didn’t hesitate to start carrying the wounded upstairs.
The only one a beat slower was Rat, who had just woken up bewildered from a nap.
“Wha? Why are you guys running? Where are you going??”
He scrambled to keep up with the group, his mouth still running at a mile a minute.
“Did the pirates come looking for us?”
Cairns did not answer. He turned to close the front doors behind him. Instructor Aaron came over to help him push cabinets and other things against the door. Bringing up the very rear of the group, they barricaded each stairwell as they passed by. Finally, everyone was by the roof.
Access to the rooftop was through a lowered ladder.
When Rat finally climbed up the ladder, Aaron drew the machete at his waist and turned back to face the corridor. He had come to his own conclusions.
His back was to Cairns.
“Go over there and block the entrance with them.”
Cairns was halfway up the ladder when he heard Aaron. He grabbed the rung with one hand and turned back to look at the man.
Aaron held the blade with both hands. His legs were slightly parted and bent, his thin figure firmly blocking the way up. Both instructors were only a decade older than them at most, the same age or younger than the students’ own older siblings.
Cairns let go and jumped down from the ladder, landing lightly. He pulled off the jacket tied around his waist and threw it aside, following Aaron’s example and positioning himself behind the man.
Aaron glanced at him and was about to say something when the sound of shattering glass came from the other end of the hallway. From that narrow opening quickly scurried in several insects.
The opening was only large enough to let one in at a time.
Aaron and Cairns could cope fairly easily at the beginning, but the swarm was endless. They would latch on and not let go even after death. In order to maintain mobility, the duo had to tear them off and make their wounds worse. They were soon bleeding all over.
It was at this time that the door at the end of the corridor finally failed and completely collapsed. Wave after wave of insects poured in at once.
This was no longer a quantity they could deal with.
Aaron and Cairns slowly backed up, shoulder to shoulder as they defended the entrance.
“I have one last bomb on me.”
Aaron whispered.
Claire also had one on him. Graduates all received one when they were officially enlisted. It was used to end themselves and deal a heavy blow to the enemy in desperate times.
Cairns spat out a mouthful of blood-laden saliva.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Ah, not bad. Let’s wait a little longer.”
Fcali atf wbwfca wbgf lcrfmar rkjgwfv bnfg ab ajraf atflg oifrt jcv yibbv.
Cjgbc’r olcufg kjr jigfjvs bc atf agluufg. Lf cffvfv ab qgfrr la bc tlr ijra ygfjat.
Dea atf lcrfmar revvfcis rabqqfv qbeglcu lc. Ktf yijmx kjnf rajucjafv. Xgjvejiis, atf fzla kjr fzqbrfv, ogbw ktlmt rfnfgji tfjnlis jgwfv rbivlfgr qffgfv lc. Ktfs lwwfvljafis olifv lcrlvf.
“There are people here! Call the medical team over!”
Then more people came in wearing protective suits that protected them from the insects’ mouthpieces. They unloaded high firepower weaponry into the corridor until nearly all the insects were wiped out. The few remaining ones all fled.
Aaron let go of the trigger and dropped to one knee. He leaned against the wall and gasped for air.
“We’re saved.”
Cairns also collapsed to the floor. His dagger clanked to a stop a distance away.
Several people came over and helped them both up by the arms.
Meanwhile, the warship Mother Bear was surrounded. It had many more wounds on it than before. A steady stream of galactic pirates were escorted out from within and sent to the holding cells on the other warships.
Warship after warship entered the floating port of the abandoned planet. More than a thousand fully armed soldiers jumped off the starships and began to search the abandoned city beneath.
New warships were still arriving, carrying high firepower weapons as well as emergency medical kits. Their orders were to exterminate the insects and search for students.
Orders continued to flood in through their earpieces, allowing them to adjust course at a moment’s notice and maximize search efficiency.
Another message sounded in everyone’s ears.
[Attention all squads, the king insect has not yet been found. If you find the king insect, please retreat and report immediately.]
King insects were intelligent. If allowed to mature, they were much more difficult to deal with than other types of insects. Annihilation of an entire squad of soldiers was child’s play to them.
One squad went into the factory at the city’s outskirts. They searched every building until only the tallest structure remained.
There was no entrance outside into this building. It was completely sealed off aside from the ladders on the walls.
After the squad were unable to find an entrance after scouting all around, one member’s eyes immediately widened. He was on the younger side with a mop of curly hair, but he was the squad’s gunner and carried the heaviest weapon, a machine gun.
He tried to persuade the leader.
“There shouldn’t be anyone over here, right? What fool would go hide in here?”
The tallest building was obviously the most conspicuous, not to mention the lack of alternate exits. If you got cornered in there it was game over.
The leader firmly waved his hand.
“Let’s go.”
The squad started to climb. At the very top, they finally found a small door.
They took the spiral staircase down.
At the bottom, the leader at the forefront stopped.
“Corpses.”
Three at that. One hung out the window, the other two were stacked on top of each other. None of their faces were visible.
There was no need for communication. The girl with a ponytail at the leader’s side stepped forward and flipped each body over with a boot.
Everyone sighed in relief when they got a good look. The solemn atmosphere dissipated.
“They’re just pirates.”
A faint smile appeared on the ponytail girl’s face.
“The knifework wasn’t bad. As expected of students of the First Military Academy.”
The curly haired boy was relieved. He perked up as he chattered with the ponytail girl.
“There are really people hiding here. Thank goodness we came. Shen-jie, can I go with the leader this time? I have plenty of firepower.”
The squad deputy was generally the one by the leader’s side. They stepped in to do a variety of tasks, like checking corpses just now or going to rescue people.
He was a little embarrassed.
“Just once, I want to save people too. I heard Squad Three already ran into students twice.”
The ponytail girl sniffed and moved back a spot. Someone else in the group grumbled.
“You just want an opportunity to show off, right?”
The curly haired boy didn’t deny it. He kept up with the leader while tooting his own horn.
“Hehe. That’s right, I’m going to come down from above like a superhero and save the panicked students. Don’t be afraid, kids. I’m coming!”
When they reached the entrance to the lowest part and scanned around, there was only an empty bag by the railing.
The curly haired boy was a little disappointed.
“There’s no one here and no exit either.”
……
The bottom of the well was full of insect eggs and adult carcasses.
Ye Yun did not know what was going on. He was still too young and not yet through his development period, so he didn’t have the acuity to perceive changes in psychic power.
But he couldn’t care less at this point.
Ye Muo’s breathing was gradually growing faint. His body was already soaked through with blood.
This kind of black insect was not venomous, but the wounds from their bites went very deep. The mucus they secreted would additionally prevent the wound from clotting.
Fresh blood kept seeping out.
Ye Yun has been trying to stop the bleeding this whole time. In a futile effort, he tore his relatively clean clothes to strips and bandaged the wounds.
He wiped his face haphazardly and struggled to his feet.
“Don’t fall asleep, Ye Muo. I’ll carry you out.”
Ye Muo opened his mouth to say something, but only fresh blood gushed out.
The scarlet liquid was in sharp contrast to his pallid skin.
Ye Yun frantically fell to his knees again and held Ye Muo in his arms. He had the other boy lean against him so he wouldn’t asphyxiate.
He wiped the blood from Ye Muo’s chin and cheeks with a faintly tembling hand to no avail. The blood just kept seeping out.
Ye Yun, who was able to persist in encouraging and leading other no matter what before, felt despair for the first time.
The wounds just wouldn’t stop bleeding.
He tried to get Ye Muo to hold on just a little longer.
“Don’t be afraid, Ye Muo. I’ll carry you home–”
It was then that footsteps came from above.
The crisp, messy sounds indicated seven or eight people.
Ye Yun held Ye Muo close and clenched his fists. He raised his head to stare unblinkingly at the mouth of the well.
Who was it? The galactic pirates?
He didn’t care at this point.
Someone, anyone, come save Ye Muo…
The footsteps quietened, as if the people were leaving.
Ye Yun clutched his gun and shouted for help as loud as he could.
Then, the footsteps that had been fading away approached again before stopping. Someone’s head could be vaguely seen poking in before shrinking back.
The curly haired boy was the first to run over. His fellow squadmates warily aimed their guns at the mouth of the well. The galactic pirates had precedence for pretending to be civilians in danger.
The curly haired boy grumbled as he reached for a light source.
“I can’t see a thing, ah.”
A strong beam of light shone down from above.
“Don’t be afraid, we’ll be right–”
The curly haired boy’s voice cut off. His pupils dilated at what he saw down there. His squadmates also slowly put down their guns.
The tragic sight at the bottom of the well was fully illuminated now.
On top of countless insect carcasses and eggs lay the twisted body of an obese, white king insect.
And in the midst of it all were two boys.
Ye Yun held Ye Muo, his upper body clad only in a white undershirt with blood blooming all over. Bruises lined the corners of his mouth. Practically all of his exposed skin was covered in congealed blood.
Especially Ye Yun’s hands. They were stained completely red with Ye Muo’s blood.
Ye Muo was even harder to look at. Blood seeped through the bandages originally fastened around his upper body. Fresh blood covered his forehead, mouth and chin.
Were they saved? Ye Yun loosened his grip on his gun.
His tears drew lines down his bloodstained cheeks as he roared.
“Help!!”
Our poor boys!!! Finally this thing is over man, now quickly get Ye Muo treatment! I know he won’t die ofc but still it hurts 🙁
Ty for the chapter!!💜💜💜
Man, I can’t imagine being Ye Yun being so helpless seeing his brother bleeding like that. Poor boys…
+1 the grief and frustration he must’ve felt for not being able to save his brother alone makes me sad ಥ‿ಥ
Thanks for the chapter! Poor kid, tough thing to face, watching your brother bleed out
Omg my poor Ye brothers qaq
Thanks for the chapter! <3
I’m not crying….I think someone in the neighborhood is cutting onions 😭
Whew. Not going to bleed out… Thanks for the update ❤️
T^T
Ye muo saved the day !
Also ye yun , such a protective brother ❤️
Poor bbys 😰
he really is a good brother QAQ! you’re saved!!