Upon hearing Ding Yi's cold reply, the middle-aged Hou was annoyed. Although he had already expected such an answer, he still felt uncomfortable.

"Captain Jiang, what's your opinion?" Hou Dingkun looked at Jiang Lius.h.i.+ with a trace of hope.

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ just lowered his head, but he didn't say anything as Sta.r.s.eed's notification sounded in his mind, 'The mutant queen ant's egg produced a h.o.m.ologous resonance reaction, which caused it to act aggressively.'

Right after, the minibus' holographic image appeared in Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s mind, through his mental connection with Ying. And then, he saw clearly that the egg, which had been stored in the storage s.p.a.ce, was vibrating like a heart.

The previously small mutant queen ant's egg had expanded to the size of a football, and a blue-colored meridian was entangled in the epidermis of the egg, from which a stream of strong blood flow could faintly be heard. Not only that but it would shrink back for some time, and then expand again. It seemed that something was creeping slowly inside.

'...resonance response comes from the depths of the earth. The source of the location is unknown, and it needs further exploration...'

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was astounded by the sight. Not even Sta.r.s.eed could detect the egg's energy as it was a higher energy lifeform, and one could imagine how surprised Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was when the egg acted like that. This proved that in the depths of the earth, was a monster with the same level of energy as the mutant queen ant's egg.

'What exactly is in the depths of this area? Higher levels of energy... Is it a mother beast?' Jiang Lius.h.i.+ pondered in his mind.

Mother beast was the generic name of a creature that could give birth to countless mutant insects or beast, and it was the military government's prime research goal. A mother beast could be considered as beast nests' heart. It could control a large number of mutant insects, and may even have a certain ability to control mutant beasts. It was definitely a very high-energy organism. And the most terrifying point was that mother beast could split itself into smaller mother beasts, which would then search for other areas to occupy and create new beast nests. According to the government's investigation, the nest under Yang Chang City, which they were attacking at the moment, was a beast nest built by a split mother beast.

'If it is a mother beast, then the source of the mutant queen ant's egg is indeed very suspicious. Under what circ.u.mstances did Professor Yang Guanqing find the mutant queen ant's egg?' Jiang Lius.h.i.+ thought carefully.

Hou Dingkun had shouted several times while Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was thinking, so he had to raise his voice one and yell louder at him, "Captain Jiang!"

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ looked up immediately. "I'm sorry. I was thinking about something."

Hou Dingkun felt helpless, and then he quickly repeated what he had just said, adding, "Captain Jiang, we have already identified the beast nest's core area. We just need to clean it up, so the risk is not high. If we run into the mother beast, we will run immediately." Hou Dingkun weighed it down and tried to put it mildly. He knew that those people were only cooperating for the sake of benefits. If the risk was too high, n.o.body would be willing to take it.

"So, you know where the Beast Nest is? Well, let's go there!" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ answered at once. He believed that many surprises would be awaiting them in the beast nest, and he was also curious about a few things.

Hou Dingkun was overjoyed and praised Jiang Lius.h.i.+ in his mind.

"Captain Jiang, didn't you hear me? I'm against this plan! s.h.i.+ Ying Squad is prohibited from going to the beast nest! Have you considered Miss Li Yuxin's safety at all!?" Ding Yi asked.

In his mind, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was indeed a rash fellow. The government had once sent soldiers to investigate it, but none of them had made it back safe. As a result, it had been categorized as very dangerous.

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ frowned. He truly hated people who threw their weight around. "Let me remind you that s.h.i.+ Ying Squad is not yours or under you to command, so you can't stop or prohibit us. Put that in your head! And I'll repeat it for one last time. Li Yuxin is one of my members, meaning that she'll be under my protection! If you're really worried, it will be enough for you to follow behind our minibus!" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ retorted.

Ding Yi felt annoyed as ever since he had joined the Eagle Guard n.o.body had dared to speak to him in that way.

Hou Dingkun looked around and secretly cheered.

At that time, an earth-shattering sound came from the distance. Even if it came from afar, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ could feel that the ground under his feet was shaking.

The entire eastern sky was red as if it were burning. Deafening heavy sh.e.l.ling continued for more than a full quarter. Accompanied by the heavy bombardment, mutant beasts' guttural roars could also be heard. However, those roars actually overshadowed the sound of gunfire.

With such a terrible volume, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ could tell that it must be a very powerful mutant beast. He looked up in the sky and saw a huge group of monsters looming on the eastern horizon.

'Huge bird monsters!'

The strange birds were like a group of dark clouds. They were many times larger than attack helicopters, and they were das.h.i.+ng to the ground!

'Uh?' For a moment, Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s expression turned ashen because he saw a huge bird actually clutching a cross-country vehicle and flying high. At the same time, the soldiers in the vehicle were falling like dumplings, and as they were in the air, many mutant black birds attacked them in a frenzied manner.

'There are 23 mutant black eagles. It's terrible!' Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was shocked by the number of the mutant black eagles, and he suddenly got an ominous feeling. 

According to the booklet's contents, there should only be seven or eight mutant birds. How could there be as many as 23 now? One of them was enough to destroy a Level C elite survivors' team. It seemed that the military government's information was not detailed enough.

Suddenly Jiang Lius.h.i.+ heard someone shouting his name, "Brother Jiang, a monster is coming!"

A few tens of meters away from the wilderness stood several skewed concrete poles. Two SUVs whistled out from the densely covered tall gra.s.s, with the body of a small mutant monkey hanging on it.

Little Seven and Ling Feng's team members were sitting on those SUVs. They were holding rifles in their hands and hurriedly shouted to Jiang Lius.h.i.+.

The weeds behind them fell flat, and the wind whistled. A huge shadow appeared. The beast was running on the ground with both hands and feet, and its fur was erected like steel needles. It roared wildly, showing its canine-like sharp teeth, and chased the off-road vehicle where Qi Liang was sitting. Its bloodshot eyes betrayed how angry and hungry it was.

It was a stunning adult ape!

One of its leaps could reach a hundred meters, as fast as the wind. Although Qi Liang's vehicle had been madly launched, the distance was still reduced by 10 meters at once.

"Brother Jiang, save me! Help! This thing is invulnerable. It's too hard to fight with it!" Little Seven was almost scared to death. He really regretted his choice now!

While Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was discussing with Hou Dingkun, Ling Feng Squad and other teams had sneaked out to hunt some mutant beasts. However, little did they expect that killing the small mutant ape would lead to the huge mutant ape chasing after them.

'F*ck, are they coming here!?' Jiang Lius.h.i.+ cursed in his heart because he had only brought a Type 54 gun in a hurry. How could that be enough?

"Quickly jump!" Seeing that scene, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ shouted to Little Seven and the others, and then he ran to his minibus.

'Uh?!' After seeing Jiang Lius.h.i.+ ran away, Little Seven was stunned. Fortunately, all members of the Ling Feng Squad jumped out of the car, after Jiang Lius.h.i.+ warning. As soon as they jumped out of the car, the vehicle they had been in was slammed into a pile of sc.r.a.p metal by the ape.

"Captain, do we need to help?" At that moment, three armored vehicles were quickly driven to Ding Yi's side.

"As long as that minibus is fine, we don't need to do anything," Ding Yi gave a glance at Jiang Lius.h.i.+ and said coldly. Actually, he hoped that the minibus would get attacked so that he could jump in and rescue Li Yuxin directly.

"Brother Jiang, take!" Zhang Hai shouted and threw two Type 95 rifles to Jiang Lius.h.i.+.

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ took them and then jumped up to 5-6 meters, aiming at that mutant ape.

"Stupid!" Seeing Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s action, Ding Yi sneered.

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was in the air, but that mutant ape was also moving at high speed! Under such a circ.u.mstance, it was undoubtedly a dream to shoot.

'Two guns?' Ding Yi thought that Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s plan would backfire!

It was a pity that the scenario in Ding Yi's mind would never come to be. To his surprise, the mutant ape's eyes were hit and then it came to an abrupt stop to touch them. And right after, two long lines of blood flowed from the mutant ape's large thick palms.

Every member of the Eagle Guard drew a cold breath of air and remained silent for some time. They were all the military's cream of the crop, so they naturally knew what those two wounds represented. They could not help but look at Jiang Lius.h.i.+ with astounded expression. They all wondered how he had pulled it off.

"Little Seven, it can no longer see. Don't go near it, and just shoot from a distance," Jiang Lius.h.i.+ shouted to Little Seven.

In fact, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was speechless because he didn't expect that the ape would still be alive…

"Yes!" Little Seven became excited again. Brother Jiang was Brother Jiang!

The other members also quickly took up their rifles and showered the mutant ape's vital parts with a hail of bullets. The mutant ape had become a practice target now that it could not see. Even if its body's resilience and fighting ability were stronger, the nose, lower abdomen, and other places were still weak. It did not take long for Ling Feng Squad's firepower to kill it.

"Oh, it is a level-1 mutant beast, but it's almost at level-2…"

"Brother Jiang, I also want to lead a mutant beast here now, I hope you can help me too!"

"Hurry to pack your things! We'll be leaving shortly! Hunting mutant beasts is considered a part of the mission, but it is useless! Just as President Hou said, we must go to the beast nest!" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ ordered.

Before even the sound of Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s voice faded away, everyone had started carrying his orders. 

At the same time, Ding Yi felt perplexed.