100. Conduction
Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake
The pollution source has moved…? Upon hearing You Su’s words, the other KID members referred to its original coordinates. This place was also on the edge of the forest, and differences in the environment around here weren’t very apparent on the radar map. However, when cross-referenced with the coordinates on the larger map, it was evident that the range of coordinates for this new S-level had shifted southward by nearly 5 kilometres.
“Oh, I see.”
Lin Yao pointed to the map and said, “So, it’s not as close to this area marked in red as it seemed.”
Further south from the coordinates was the location marked as a Restricted Zone on the map. Ying Chenlin looked at the nearby Female Mantis. Initially, the Female Mantis’s position was close to the Restricted Zone, but due to the Windblade Mantis’ movements, its position gradually moved away from the Restricted Zone.
There were three pollutants near the swamp forest, two of which were inside the forest, and the other was on the forest’s edge. Now, this pollutant wandering on the forest’s edge was even closer to the forest.
Huo Yan said, “Its movements seem a bit strange. I remember that, during the meeting, the Management Bureau said the displacement of the ones in the forest is relatively slow.”
This was also the reason for their specified rendezvous plan. According to the original plan, after clearing out the three pollutants in the forest, they should be closer to the mountainous region. However, with the changes in the Female Mantis’s position and the current movements of this unknown pollutant, a deviation in the initially planned ‘shortest distance’ occurred. Now, there was a large Restricted Zone marked in red between them and the mountain range, forcing them to detour.
Ji Qingfeng said, “It’s okay. After dealing with this pollutant, we can just cross the Restricted Zone.”
“You can’t enter the Restricted Zone.” Huo Yan suddenly spoke up. “When I was in the Frontier Army, I heard about that place. It’s extremely hazardous. Currently, it’s completely sealed off. Both the Frontier Army and the Mecha Alliance rarely venture there.”
Lin Yao was surprised. “So, it’s that dangerous?”
“It should be very dangerous. You can tell from the Coria Contaminated Zone’s distribution. As previously stated, the majority of the competition area is on the other side of the mountains, and the Restricted Zone’s location is now at the edge of this swamp forest. This area is surrounded by a special defence system. If you step inside, it will probably trigger one of the Management Bureau’s alarms.”
“What’s inside the Restricted Zone?” Ji Qingfeng looked at Huo Yan.
“Do you know, Old Huo?”
“I’ve heard a little.” Huo Yan looked in the direction of the Restricted Zone. “There was once a base station abandoned by the Frontier Army and the Management Bureau inside the Restricted Zone. It was one of the research locations for heavy weaponry many years ago.”
Lin Yao exclaimed, “Huh?! Establishing a research institute in such a high-risk contamination zone”
“The Coria Contaminated Zone was not at a high-risk level many years ago.” You Su’s tone eased slightly, and he looked towards the Restricted Zone with dark and mysterious eyes.
“The Frontier Army stationed troops on the outskirts of Coria not only because of the Frontier Contaminated Zone but also for another reason, which is to guard this Restricted Zone.”
Ying Chenlin listened to his teammates and lowered his gaze slightly, looking at the key in his hand.
The key’s luminance had not fully dimmed. When he infused his mental power into it, he could faintly sense a response from the key’s intelligence. You Su had told him, Theo pointed out that Yuan’s intelligence hadn’t entered a fully dormant state. Therefore, Ying Chenlin had never given up on injecting mental power into the mecha.
However, due to the disturbances in his mental power, even though the doctor said his mental power’s limit might be S-level, since the incident in Qiu Jin, he seemed unable to produce the same level of mental power fluctuations.
An ordinary A-level mental power could only provide Yuan with a brief charge, and only the shared frequency of an S-level mental power could maintain enough charge for Yuan’s use.
When using mental power, he had heard Yuan’s responses before, but its reactions were very weak. Each time, Yuan would say a few sentences and then enter a semi-dormant state.
This was the first time in this period that he had seen Yuan have such a strong reaction to the outside world.
Ying Chenlin glanced slightly in the direction of the Restricted Zone. Was it for some other reason, or was it related to the Restricted Zone…?
At this moment, Lu Xi suddenly said, “Wait a minute, it seems to have moved again.”
“This pollutant looks quite energetic, running around like this.” Ji Qingfeng shook the satiated Female Mantis he was holding.
“Where did it run off to?”
As he spoke, You Su suddenly raised his head. The Energy Cannon in his hand was aimed at a high place in the shadows of the trees, and without hesitation, he fired a shot.
The sound of this shot immediately alarmed everyone in the vicinity, and all members of KID entered a state of readiness.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on the center of the pollution source range.” Lu Xi looked at the coordinates, speaking cautiously, “It indeed moved, and it’s moving towards our coordinates.”
Ying Chenlin withdrew his thoughts, noticing that within the hazy purple mist, something seemed to be swiftly crawling high up in the trees.
All their attention had been focused on the Restricted Zone, and they hadn’t noticed such a significant change in their surrounding environment. Even the approaching pollutant had gone completely unnoticed. The creature moved incredibly fast, shifting its position from infront of them to behind them in just a few seconds, changing locations multiple times.
“The mist seems to be thickening,” Ying Chenlin frowned slightly.
Indeed, the mist was thickening, and it occurred unbeknownst to them. The entirety of their surroundings seemed to be enveloped in purple mist, and their visibility was no more than five meters. Ying Chenlin hastily activated the emergency system in the mecha to block out the interference caused by the mist. However, as soon as it was activated, he found himself surrounded by a reddish glow.
“No! This isn’t the forest’s natural mist.” Ying Chenlin shouted, “It’s the ability of the pollutant!”
Hearing this, You Su frowned, watching the rapidly moving shadows around them. He quickly spoke, “Ji Qingfeng, shift your position.”
“Shift my position? What do you mean—Oh, I get it!” Ji Qingfeng had just lowered his mecha and the Female Mantis when a shot from an Energy Cannon rushed over his head.
“Brother, if I hadn’t dodged in time, you’d have blasted me.”
The mist dispersed slightly with You Su’s shot.
This allowed everyone in KID to see the changes around them. Above them was a large spiderweb, and a hanging Black Spider was staring at them. The spider looked exceptionally terrifying, with long, black and sharp hairy legs, each hair stood up like an inverted needle, gleaming with a sharp cold light.
On its back was another spider.
The other spider had a purplish-red hue, was much smaller in size, and was stuck back to back with the Black Spider. Its legs were short and thick, with an exceptionally wide head. A faint sound emanated from its mouth, and you could vaguely see the mist spreading.
You Su’s Energy Cannon was an enhanced weapon originally on an A-level mecha, and when fired, it carried a small gust of wind. He intentionally reduced the energy usage and utilized its stored wind power to unleash an empty shot, unexpectedly revealing this entity.
The bizarre visual impact made everyone in KID shudder.
Ying Chenlin looked at the pollution source report on the detection system—6800, an S-level.
Ji Qingfeng, lying on the ground and looking up, commented, “Fuck, I’ve seen spiders, but I’ve never seen two spiders connected together.”
Lin Yao observed, “It looks kind of cool.”
“The Red Spider on its back is emitting mist! Be careful!” Lu Xi opened the detection system, urgently saying, “This mist has a certain paralyzing effect. Close the air filters, and be cautious of interference from poisonous gas.”
The spider at the back looked at KID’s group, and instinctively, Huo Yan opened his protective shield. He then saw the Black Spider starting to spit silk in their direction. The silk landed on the high-intensity protective shield without any change, but in the next second, it rapidly formed a web on the shield as the spider continued spitting silk.
Huo Yan: “!!!”
Ying Chenlin quickly said, “No, we need to leave this area first and go to a more open space.”
“We probably can’t get away.” You Su used the empty Energy Cannon to blast away the condensed purple mist around them. However, they discovered that their surroundings were now covered in spider webs, silently woven by these spiders. These silent and stealthy spider webs had an extraordinary toughness and even the compressed wind’s force, generated by the empty cannon, couldn’t tear through them.
“We can’t let it continue webbing.”
Ying Chenlin: “Huo, the protective shield.”
Dealing with this resilient spider web by making the use of the protective shield too passive.
Seeing the situation, Huo Yan had no choice but to retract the protective shield. The spider web stuck to his shield was extremely difficult to deal with.
“Be careful of its spider webs.”
“What? Isn’t this too troublesome for me?”
Ji Qingfeng was still holding the Female Mantis, completely immobile. Just as he moved a few steps, the Black Spider spotted him. Subsequently, he saw the spider silk coming towards him.
“Fuck!”
The spider silk precisely hit his mecha, and Ji Qingfeng had to use his other hand with his short blade.
“Damn, it still can’t be cut! This toughness is incredible!”
Lin Yao jumped to Ji Qingfeng’s side in an instant, and his Long Blade was charged with energy. With a swift movement, he cut through the spider silk for Ji Qingfeng.
“It can be cut; energy output 50%!”
Seeing this, Ying Chenlin fired, and the Thunder Magnetic Cannon’s shot flew through the air. However, while on the spider web, the spider had good mobility. It quickly dodged the Thunder Magnetic Cannon’s shot, and by the time the Thunder Magnetic Cannon’s shot hit the spider web, it had already moved a considerable distance.
Is its mobility that good? Ying Chenlin frowned slightly, intending to continue aiming when he suddenly noticed a momentary pause in its movement.
But it quickly resumed its actions, along with the Red Spider on its back, as its mist-emitting rate also increased.
The surroundings were already surrounded by spider webs, and the increasingly dense purple mist greatly affected the movements of all the mechas. Ji Qingfeng couldn’t move at all, and carrying the Female Mantis, his mobility was almost zero. He could only stay in place with Lin Yao, clearing the spider silk and protecting the Female Mantis.
Ji Qingfeng said, “It’s too touching. I need to protect myself and my son.”
Lin Yao replied, “Da Feng, it’s a female.”
“Gender doesn’t matter.”
Ji Qingfeng pulled the Female Mantis to a different position, saying, “Good child, your dad is protecting you so much. Later, if you don’t run fast enough, I won’t be able to protect you when you’re in the pot at night.”
The Female Mantis didn’t understand a word and lay on the ground, being dragged around by Ji Qingfeng.
Huo Yan suggested, “How about letting Da Feng relax his hold on Female Mantis and let it take us out of here?”
As soon as this suggestion came out, Ji Qingfeng suddenly realized that they had a displacement bug that ignored all environmental conditions. Why be afraid of spider webs? They might as well let the Female Mantis take them out.
Ji Qingfeng smiled and said, “It seems that our child won’t be on the menu tonight.”
“Wait, don’t release it.”
Ying Chenlin looked up and said, “Even if we can determine the Female Mantis’ displacement’s direction, we can’t judge its displacement’s span and location. Once it displaces away, it’ll be difficult to find this spider again.”
There was currently no response on the radar, and the people from the Second Star Domain probably didn’t want to be deceived by them a second time. However, they might have locked onto the coordinates of this spider. On Gale’s side, they were dealing with a pollutant, and there were only two pollution sources left in the swamp forest and in the mountains.
People from the Second Star Domain might split up again, with one team going to the mountains to seize the last S-class, while another team stayed near the spider. They could also act together, pushing towards one of the pollution sources.
Due to the geographical proximity of the two pollution sources, their maneuverability was advantageous in pulling away, and the people from the Second Star Domain also knew that they had a Female Mantis. In general, they wouldn’t follow, but when they moved away from this location to another one, the people from the Second Star Domain would definitely notice.
“We are here. They may be wary of the Female Mantis’s abilities and won’t come over. But if we move away, with the mechas moving at full speed, they could change their route to come and seize the spider, and that’s highly likely,” Ying Chenlin explained. “The Female Mantis’ ability can be used, but now isn’t the best time to use it.”
The Dawn mechas had a significant power gap with those from the Second Star Domain, and their likelihood of winning in a direct confrontation was low. At present, their opponents were wary of the Female Mantis’s ability, making it the best time to act.
“Huo Yan and Lin Yao, switch positions. Lin Yao goes after the spider, and Huo Yan protects Ji Qingfeng.”
You Su utilized his Energy Cannon to blast away the spider webs and mist.
“As long as the spider web can be broken, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Ying Chenlin also shared You Su’s idea. In this relatively narrow space, their range of movement was limited. Among everyone, the most agile were Ji Qingfeng and Lin Yao. Ji Qingfeng had to control the Female Mantis, making Lin Yao the best candidate for chasing the spider.
Seeing Lin Yao rushing up and randomly hacking at the spider, severely restricting its mobility, Ying Chenlin and Lu Xi didn’t stop either and began to clear the other spider webs. However, the spider was extremely agile. Once Lin Yao cut the spider web, it used silk to quickly move away. Not only that, but its silk-spinning ability was also extremely developed. In a situation with multiple people clearing them out, more spider webs fell to the ground, however the spider webs at the top barely decreased.
Ying Chenlin judged the spider’s ability. Its pollution value of 6800 kept changing, indicating that these two spiders probably had a symbiotic relationship. However, the ability of the Red Spider at the back was straightforward: it emitted a purple poisonous mist that confused vision, likely an A-class pollutant. The other Black Spider’s ability wasn’t as clear because while the spider silk was indeed very tough, this toughness didn’t reach the S-class threshold.
He had seen the toughness of the Eight Vine, which even carried a recovery effect. At that time, the pollution value of the Eight Vine should have been lower than 6800.
This meant that the Black Spider’s ability wasn’t in the toughness of its spider silk but something else.
Just at this moment, Lin Yao, who was chasing the spider, suddenly stopped moving. His entire mecha crashed to the ground, catching everyone off guard. The Black Spider seemed to be waiting for this moment. It quickly sprayed silk in Lin Yao’s direction, as if it wanted to wrap its prey tightly.
Watching the situation, You Su frowned. Without saying a word, he cut off his weapons. The concentrated Sniper Cannon aimed at the Black Spider and fired a shot. This time, the Black Spider couldn’t avoid it. Its body bounced on the spider web, and its gaze immediately locked onto You Su.
Ying Chenlin quickly arrived near Lin Yao.
“Are you okay? Is it the toxicity of the spider web?”
“No, right?” Huo Yan said, “I also touched the spider silk a moment ago, but I didn’t feel paralyzed.”
Lu Xi also said, “It seems like this spider’s silk isn’t very sticky. I used a water burst to wash away the spider silk just now. The silk shouldn’t be poisonous. The poison might be in its mouthpart. There shouldn’t be a problem as long as you don’t touch the spider silk directly.”
If it was venom from the spider’s teeth, and the others were not affected, while Lin Yao was affected, it indicated that the venom’s retention rate on the silk wasn’t high. It was only possible to be paralyzed when directly touched by the spider silk.
Lin Yao’s legs were numb, and he couldn’t lift his right hand with his weapon.
“Its spider silk should be poisonous, but I avoided it. I’m sure I cut all the spider silk off just now, but I don’t know why my legs and hands couldn’t exert force for a moment.”
Ying Chenlin scanned Lin Yao’s mecha and found no traces of spider silk entwining the hand holding the Long Blade. However, there were a few strands of residual spider silk sticking together and finally entangling around the weapon. His legs, which were numbed by the silk, were in a similar condition. However, these silk strands were mostly cut by his Long Blade, just accidentally falling onto his legs.
The only commonality was that these silk strands were sticking together.
Ying Chenlin suddenly figured something out. He raised his head and looked upwards. The Black Spider, within You Su’s Sniper Cannon, was moving rapidly. It wasn’t crawling on the spider web but using the free contraction of the silk to shift between the trees. Each time it moved, it disconnected the silk strands.
Ji Qingfeng: “Yao Bao, be careful!”
Lin Yao looked a bit aggrieved.
“But I really didn’t get hit by it directly!”
“Lin Yao wasn’t hit directly, but the reason for his paralysis is indeed the spider’s ability,” Ying Chenlin explained. “I seem to know what its ability is.”
Lin Yao: “Isn’t its ability poison?”
“Probably not. The toxicity caused by its poison only paralyzes you for two seconds. If it were an S-class poisonous spider, it would be too ordinary.”
Ying Chenlin surveyed the surrounding environment, noticed the direction of the poisonous spider’s escape, and quickly said, “Lin Yao, go north to intercept it. Don’t attack the spider from a distance. Push down all the trees around it.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ying Chenlin saw You Su’s Sniper Cannon hit a large tree.
He worked quickly, and pushing down the trees was effortless for him. With the rapid alternation between the Sniper Cannon and the Energy Cannon, in less than 10 seconds, all the large trees around them had been felled.
“Wait! If the trees fall—”
As the trees fell, the spider webs on the trees also fell, covering everything.
At this moment, You Su and Ying Chenlin quickly adjusted their cannons and fired into the sky just before the spider web fell. Their shots created a large hole, causing the trees to tilt outward, and the spider web, in the high-energy combustion, disconnected. In the chaos that ensued, the location where the KID mechas were situated remained safe, without any remnants of spider webs.
The spider, seemingly unprepared for the falling trees, calmly began weaving a web, intending to leave when it realized that its prey was more powerful.
“Lu Xi!” Ying Chenlin shouted.
Beside him, Lu Xi had already fired a water flow projectile towards the spider’s location. The water flow projectile dispersed the stickiness of the spider web, and several strands of the spider’s silk were cut off, causing it to fall onto the web it had woven.
Ying Chenlin was waiting for this moment. He adjusted the energy of the railgun and fired a shot towards the Black Spider’s position on the spider web.
Everyone watched as the Black Spider took a few steps forward, avoiding Ying Chenlin’s attack, but in the next moment, it seemed to be influenced by something, and its movements stopped for a second. Ying Chenlin immediately seized this opportunity and fired another shot at the spider’s location.
This time, the spider couldn’t dodge, and the temporary paralysis caused by the railgun affected its movements.
You Su squinted slightly, looking at the spider and the spider web beneath it.
“So that’s how it is.”
He also adjusted his weapon, compressed the energy output, and fired a shot towards the spider’s location. The spider had no ability to dodge.
The rest of KID’s team didn’t understand. Huo Yan noticed that both You Su and Ying Chenlin had adjusted their weapon energy outputs and quickly understood, “They didn’t destroy the spider web.”
Ji Qingfeng didn’t understand, “Ah? What’s the difference?”
“If I’m not mistaken, the spider’s ability should be related to conduction.”
Ying Chenlin’s railgun hit around the spider’s silk, also affecting the spider, “Its silk isn’t poisonous, but it possesses conductivity. So, as long as it touches where the silk is connected, once its venom is released from the mouthpiece, it will simultaneously affect a larger area.”
He finished speaking and used the railgun to bombard the spider silk again, causing an impact on the spider.
“Look, I clearly hit the silk, but it also affected the spider.”
Lin Yao suddenly understood, “Ah! No wonder I wasn’t hit directly just now, but I still got paralyzed. Was it because the venom from its silk touched my foot and then conducted away?”
Ji Qingfeng looked at the large spider, “What a good fellow! If it had just finished weaving the web, we would all be in the center. As soon as it released venom, all our mechas would have been paralyzed.”
This was probably the purpose of the two spiders: confuse prey with mist, quietly weave a web, include the prey in their control area, poison the prey, and then feed on it. The spider silk’s conductivity was rarely seen, making it effortless to gather a large amount of prey.
Ji Qingfeng, “Wait a minute, so it can’t move now because of the railgun?”
Ying Chenlin, “Yes, its venom doesn’t affect itself, but it seems that the control effects of our mechas can also be conducted through that silk. And it’s also very clever. Once it sensed that my railgun was effective against it, it cut off the webs it had woven.”
Hao Yan laughed, “So as long as we knock down the surrounding trees, it will be difficult for it to continue cutting the silk, due to its movement.”
Ying Chenlin fired another shot, “This is probably its way of self-restraint.”
“Spider silk with high toughness coupled with its conductivity, while this spider may not look strong, its ability isn’t very simple.” he said. “It seems like we’ve found another treasure.”
Pollutants knew how to use such abilities for hunting. If this ability were to be used by humans, its effects would be even more significant.
If turned into a mecha weapon, this ability could maximize its control effect.
Lin Yao pointed to its back, “Oh, also! If it’s a symbiotic relationship, does the one on its back also have an anomalous crystal?”
Ying Chenlin replied, “It should, but I estimate that the one at the back, the red one, is probably only at the A or B level.”
“Oh! Can we make a sprayer with that? Maybe spray a lot of mist around and hide ourselves from our opponents.” Lin Yao asked.
Ying Chenlin was momentarily stunned, explaining, “It can be done. This type of weapon has been used in other galaxies, blurring visibility with mist. I’ve seen it in team battle videos.”
Lin Yao happily exclaimed, “That’s cool!”
The Black Spider, trapped in its own spider web, couldn’t move and quickly lost its ability to resist under the consecutive attacks from KID. It struggled on the spider web, while Ji Qingfeng on the other hand, had already discussed how to disassemble it.
However, Ying Chenlin remarked, “But its other parts seem pretty ordinary. They should just be common S-class materials.”
Lu Xi, “Then, why not dig some of them up to feed the little bug?”
Ji Qingfeng, “Feed it? Feeding it with S-class materials is too extravagant!”
Lu Xi pointed to the motionless Female Mantis nearby, “But it was just choked by the mist, and it seems to be dying. Maybe it’s almost dead?”
As soon as they heard that it might be dying, everyone hurriedly looked at the Female Mantis.
Mechas weren’t afraid of poisonous gas, but the King Worm had been in the mist for a long time.
KID, “…?”
Was the mount going to be choked to death?
Ji Qingfeng hastily pulled on the Female Mantis, “Be good, hold on!”
“No need to worry about this. The King Worm is very tenacious.”
Ying Chenlin looked at it and said, “It’s probably just pretending to be dead in these conditions.”
KID, “?”
Ji Qingfeng wiped away his fake tears, “It seems like there’s no need to feed it. It has the strength to play dead, so it definitely has the strength to run away.”
Just as KID’s team was criticizing the Female Mantis for pretending to be dead, the communication channel inside the mechas suddenly rang with an emergency communication. When everyone reacted, they found that it was a communication from Shen Xingtang and the others.
Ji Qingfeng had just answered and said, “Tang Jie, we just found another treasure—”
Before he could finish speaking, they heard Shen Xingtang’s serious voice, “Something happened.”
The team paused, and You Su frowned, asking, “What happened?”
“Five minutes ago, there was a sudden outbreak of pollutants for an unknown reason in the mountains.”
The background noise in the communication was strong, and Shen Xingtang said, “Gale is under a massive attack by pollutants, and those from the Second Star Domain are also there.”
100. Conduction
Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake
The pollution source has moved…? Upon hearing You Su’s words, the other KID members referred to its original coordinates. This place was also on the edge of the forest, and differences in the environment around here weren’t very apparent on the radar map. However, when cross-referenced with the coordinates on the larger map, it was evident that the range of coordinates for this new S-level had shifted southward by nearly 5 kilometres.
“Oh, I see.”
Lin Yao pointed to the map and said, “So, it’s not as close to this area marked in red as it seemed.”
Further south from the coordinates was the location marked as a Restricted Zone on the map. Ying Chenlin looked at the nearby Female Mantis. Initially, the Female Mantis’s position was close to the Restricted Zone, but due to the Windblade Mantis’ movements, its position gradually moved away from the Restricted Zone.
There were three pollutants near the swamp forest, two of which were inside the forest, and the other was on the forest’s edge. Now, this pollutant wandering on the forest’s edge was even closer to the forest.
Huo Yan said, “Its movements seem a bit strange. I remember that, during the meeting, the Management Bureau said the displacement of the ones in the forest is relatively slow.”
This was also the reason for their specified rendezvous plan. According to the original plan, after clearing out the three pollutants in the forest, they should be closer to the mountainous region. However, with the changes in the Female Mantis’s position and the current movements of this unknown pollutant, a deviation in the initially planned ‘shortest distance’ occurred. Now, there was a large Restricted Zone marked in red between them and the mountain range, forcing them to detour.
Ji Qingfeng said, “It’s okay. After dealing with this pollutant, we can just cross the Restricted Zone.”
“You can’t enter the Restricted Zone.” Huo Yan suddenly spoke up. “When I was in the Frontier Army, I heard about that place. It’s extremely hazardous. Currently, it’s completely sealed off. Both the Frontier Army and the Mecha Alliance rarely venture there.”
Lin Yao was surprised. “So, it’s that dangerous?”
“It should be very dangerous. You can tell from the Coria Contaminated Zone’s distribution. As previously stated, the majority of the competition area is on the other side of the mountains, and the Restricted Zone’s location is now at the edge of this swamp forest. This area is surrounded by a special defence system. If you step inside, it will probably trigger one of the Management Bureau’s alarms.”
“What’s inside the Restricted Zone?” Ji Qingfeng looked at Huo Yan.
“Do you know, Old Huo?”
“I’ve heard a little.” Huo Yan looked in the direction of the Restricted Zone. “There was once a base station abandoned by the Frontier Army and the Management Bureau inside the Restricted Zone. It was one of the research locations for heavy weaponry many years ago.”
Lin Yao exclaimed, “Huh?! Establishing a research institute in such a high-risk contamination zone”
“The Coria Contaminated Zone was not at a high-risk level many years ago.” You Su’s tone eased slightly, and he looked towards the Restricted Zone with dark and mysterious eyes.
“The Frontier Army stationed troops on the outskirts of Coria not only because of the Frontier Contaminated Zone but also for another reason, which is to guard this Restricted Zone.”
Ying Chenlin listened to his teammates and lowered his gaze slightly, looking at the key in his hand.
The key’s luminance had not fully dimmed. When he infused his mental power into it, he could faintly sense a response from the key’s intelligence. You Su had told him, Theo pointed out that Yuan’s intelligence hadn’t entered a fully dormant state. Therefore, Ying Chenlin had never given up on injecting mental power into the mecha.
However, due to the disturbances in his mental power, even though the doctor said his mental power’s limit might be S-level, since the incident in Qiu Jin, he seemed unable to produce the same level of mental power fluctuations.
An ordinary A-level mental power could only provide Yuan with a brief charge, and only the shared frequency of an S-level mental power could maintain enough charge for Yuan’s use.
When using mental power, he had heard Yuan’s responses before, but its reactions were very weak. Each time, Yuan would say a few sentences and then enter a semi-dormant state.
This was the first time in this period that he had seen Yuan have such a strong reaction to the outside world.
Ying Chenlin glanced slightly in the direction of the Restricted Zone. Was it for some other reason, or was it related to the Restricted Zone…?
At this moment, Lu Xi suddenly said, “Wait a minute, it seems to have moved again.”
“This pollutant looks quite energetic, running around like this.” Ji Qingfeng shook the satiated Female Mantis he was holding.
“Where did it run off to?”
As he spoke, You Su suddenly raised his head. The Energy Cannon in his hand was aimed at a high place in the shadows of the trees, and without hesitation, he fired a shot.
The sound of this shot immediately alarmed everyone in the vicinity, and all members of KID entered a state of readiness.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on the center of the pollution source range.” Lu Xi looked at the coordinates, speaking cautiously, “It indeed moved, and it’s moving towards our coordinates.”
Ying Chenlin withdrew his thoughts, noticing that within the hazy purple mist, something seemed to be swiftly crawling high up in the trees.
All their attention had been focused on the Restricted Zone, and they hadn’t noticed such a significant change in their surrounding environment. Even the approaching pollutant had gone completely unnoticed. The creature moved incredibly fast, shifting its position from infront of them to behind them in just a few seconds, changing locations multiple times.
“The mist seems to be thickening,” Ying Chenlin frowned slightly.
Indeed, the mist was thickening, and it occurred unbeknownst to them. The entirety of their surroundings seemed to be enveloped in purple mist, and their visibility was no more than five meters. Ying Chenlin hastily activated the emergency system in the mecha to block out the interference caused by the mist. However, as soon as it was activated, he found himself surrounded by a reddish glow.
“No! This isn’t the forest’s natural mist.” Ying Chenlin shouted, “It’s the ability of the pollutant!”
Hearing this, You Su frowned, watching the rapidly moving shadows around them. He quickly spoke, “Ji Qingfeng, shift your position.”
“Shift my position? What do you mean—Oh, I get it!” Ji Qingfeng had just lowered his mecha and the Female Mantis when a shot from an Energy Cannon rushed over his head.
“Brother, if I hadn’t dodged in time, you’d have blasted me.”
The mist dispersed slightly with You Su’s shot.
This allowed everyone in KID to see the changes around them. Above them was a large spiderweb, and a hanging Black Spider was staring at them. The spider looked exceptionally terrifying, with long, black and sharp hairy legs, each hair stood up like an inverted needle, gleaming with a sharp cold light.
On its back was another spider.
The other spider had a purplish-red hue, was much smaller in size, and was stuck back to back with the Black Spider. Its legs were short and thick, with an exceptionally wide head. A faint sound emanated from its mouth, and you could vaguely see the mist spreading.
You Su’s Energy Cannon was an enhanced weapon originally on an A-level mecha, and when fired, it carried a small gust of wind. He intentionally reduced the energy usage and utilized its stored wind power to unleash an empty shot, unexpectedly revealing this entity.
The bizarre visual impact made everyone in KID shudder.
Ying Chenlin looked at the pollution source report on the detection system—6800, an S-level.
Ji Qingfeng, lying on the ground and looking up, commented, “Fuck, I’ve seen spiders, but I’ve never seen two spiders connected together.”
Lin Yao observed, “It looks kind of cool.”
“The Red Spider on its back is emitting mist! Be careful!” Lu Xi opened the detection system, urgently saying, “This mist has a certain paralyzing effect. Close the air filters, and be cautious of interference from poisonous gas.”
The spider at the back looked at KID’s group, and instinctively, Huo Yan opened his protective shield. He then saw the Black Spider starting to spit silk in their direction. The silk landed on the high-intensity protective shield without any change, but in the next second, it rapidly formed a web on the shield as the spider continued spitting silk.
Huo Yan: “!!!”
Ying Chenlin quickly said, “No, we need to leave this area first and go to a more open space.”
“We probably can’t get away.” You Su used the empty Energy Cannon to blast away the condensed purple mist around them. However, they discovered that their surroundings were now covered in spider webs, silently woven by these spiders. These silent and stealthy spider webs had an extraordinary toughness and even the compressed wind’s force, generated by the empty cannon, couldn’t tear through them.
“We can’t let it continue webbing.”
Ying Chenlin: “Huo, the protective shield.”
Dealing with this resilient spider web by making the use of the protective shield too passive.
Seeing the situation, Huo Yan had no choice but to retract the protective shield. The spider web stuck to his shield was extremely difficult to deal with.
“Be careful of its spider webs.”
“What? Isn’t this too troublesome for me?”
Ji Qingfeng was still holding the Female Mantis, completely immobile. Just as he moved a few steps, the Black Spider spotted him. Subsequently, he saw the spider silk coming towards him.
“Fuck!”
The spider silk precisely hit his mecha, and Ji Qingfeng had to use his other hand with his short blade.
“Damn, it still can’t be cut! This toughness is incredible!”
Lin Yao jumped to Ji Qingfeng’s side in an instant, and his Long Blade was charged with energy. With a swift movement, he cut through the spider silk for Ji Qingfeng.
“It can be cut; energy output 50%!”
Seeing this, Ying Chenlin fired, and the Thunder Magnetic Cannon’s shot flew through the air. However, while on the spider web, the spider had good mobility. It quickly dodged the Thunder Magnetic Cannon’s shot, and by the time the Thunder Magnetic Cannon’s shot hit the spider web, it had already moved a considerable distance.
Is its mobility that good? Ying Chenlin frowned slightly, intending to continue aiming when he suddenly noticed a momentary pause in its movement.
But it quickly resumed its actions, along with the Red Spider on its back, as its mist-emitting rate also increased.
The surroundings were already surrounded by spider webs, and the increasingly dense purple mist greatly affected the movements of all the mechas. Ji Qingfeng couldn’t move at all, and carrying the Female Mantis, his mobility was almost zero. He could only stay in place with Lin Yao, clearing the spider silk and protecting the Female Mantis.
Ji Qingfeng said, “It’s too touching. I need to protect myself and my son.”
Lin Yao replied, “Da Feng, it’s a female.”
“Gender doesn’t matter.”
Ji Qingfeng pulled the Female Mantis to a different position, saying, “Good child, your dad is protecting you so much. Later, if you don’t run fast enough, I won’t be able to protect you when you’re in the pot at night.”
The Female Mantis didn’t understand a word and lay on the ground, being dragged around by Ji Qingfeng.
Huo Yan suggested, “How about letting Da Feng relax his hold on Female Mantis and let it take us out of here?”
As soon as this suggestion came out, Ji Qingfeng suddenly realized that they had a displacement bug that ignored all environmental conditions. Why be afraid of spider webs? They might as well let the Female Mantis take them out.
Ji Qingfeng smiled and said, “It seems that our child won’t be on the menu tonight.”
“Wait, don’t release it.”
Ying Chenlin looked up and said, “Even if we can determine the Female Mantis’ displacement’s direction, we can’t judge its displacement’s span and location. Once it displaces away, it’ll be difficult to find this spider again.”
There was currently no response on the radar, and the people from the Second Star Domain probably didn’t want to be deceived by them a second time. However, they might have locked onto the coordinates of this spider. On Gale’s side, they were dealing with a pollutant, and there were only two pollution sources left in the swamp forest and in the mountains.
People from the Second Star Domain might split up again, with one team going to the mountains to seize the last S-class, while another team stayed near the spider. They could also act together, pushing towards one of the pollution sources.
Due to the geographical proximity of the two pollution sources, their maneuverability was advantageous in pulling away, and the people from the Second Star Domain also knew that they had a Female Mantis. In general, they wouldn’t follow, but when they moved away from this location to another one, the people from the Second Star Domain would definitely notice.
“We are here. They may be wary of the Female Mantis’s abilities and won’t come over. But if we move away, with the mechas moving at full speed, they could change their route to come and seize the spider, and that’s highly likely,” Ying Chenlin explained. “The Female Mantis’ ability can be used, but now isn’t the best time to use it.”
The Dawn mechas had a significant power gap with those from the Second Star Domain, and their likelihood of winning in a direct confrontation was low. At present, their opponents were wary of the Female Mantis’s ability, making it the best time to act.
“Huo Yan and Lin Yao, switch positions. Lin Yao goes after the spider, and Huo Yan protects Ji Qingfeng.”
You Su utilized his Energy Cannon to blast away the spider webs and mist.
“As long as the spider web can be broken, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Ying Chenlin also shared You Su’s idea. In this relatively narrow space, their range of movement was limited. Among everyone, the most agile were Ji Qingfeng and Lin Yao. Ji Qingfeng had to control the Female Mantis, making Lin Yao the best candidate for chasing the spider.
Seeing Lin Yao rushing up and randomly hacking at the spider, severely restricting its mobility, Ying Chenlin and Lu Xi didn’t stop either and began to clear the other spider webs. However, the spider was extremely agile. Once Lin Yao cut the spider web, it used silk to quickly move away. Not only that, but its silk-spinning ability was also extremely developed. In a situation with multiple people clearing them out, more spider webs fell to the ground, however the spider webs at the top barely decreased.
Ying Chenlin judged the spider’s ability. Its pollution value of 6800 kept changing, indicating that these two spiders probably had a symbiotic relationship. However, the ability of the Red Spider at the back was straightforward: it emitted a purple poisonous mist that confused vision, likely an A-class pollutant. The other Black Spider’s ability wasn’t as clear because while the spider silk was indeed very tough, this toughness didn’t reach the S-class threshold.
He had seen the toughness of the Eight Vine, which even carried a recovery effect. At that time, the pollution value of the Eight Vine should have been lower than 6800.
This meant that the Black Spider’s ability wasn’t in the toughness of its spider silk but something else.
Just at this moment, Lin Yao, who was chasing the spider, suddenly stopped moving. His entire mecha crashed to the ground, catching everyone off guard. The Black Spider seemed to be waiting for this moment. It quickly sprayed silk in Lin Yao’s direction, as if it wanted to wrap its prey tightly.
Watching the situation, You Su frowned. Without saying a word, he cut off his weapons. The concentrated Sniper Cannon aimed at the Black Spider and fired a shot. This time, the Black Spider couldn’t avoid it. Its body bounced on the spider web, and its gaze immediately locked onto You Su.
Ying Chenlin quickly arrived near Lin Yao.
“Are you okay? Is it the toxicity of the spider web?”
“No, right?” Huo Yan said, “I also touched the spider silk a moment ago, but I didn’t feel paralyzed.”
Lu Xi also said, “It seems like this spider’s silk isn’t very sticky. I used a water burst to wash away the spider silk just now. The silk shouldn’t be poisonous. The poison might be in its mouthpart. There shouldn’t be a problem as long as you don’t touch the spider silk directly.”
If it was venom from the spider’s teeth, and the others were not affected, while Lin Yao was affected, it indicated that the venom’s retention rate on the silk wasn’t high. It was only possible to be paralyzed when directly touched by the spider silk.
Lin Yao’s legs were numb, and he couldn’t lift his right hand with his weapon.
“Its spider silk should be poisonous, but I avoided it. I’m sure I cut all the spider silk off just now, but I don’t know why my legs and hands couldn’t exert force for a moment.”
Ying Chenlin scanned Lin Yao’s mecha and found no traces of spider silk entwining the hand holding the Long Blade. However, there were a few strands of residual spider silk sticking together and finally entangling around the weapon. His legs, which were numbed by the silk, were in a similar condition. However, these silk strands were mostly cut by his Long Blade, just accidentally falling onto his legs.
The only commonality was that these silk strands were sticking together.
Ying Chenlin suddenly figured something out. He raised his head and looked upwards. The Black Spider, within You Su’s Sniper Cannon, was moving rapidly. It wasn’t crawling on the spider web but using the free contraction of the silk to shift between the trees. Each time it moved, it disconnected the silk strands.
Ji Qingfeng: “Yao Bao, be careful!”
Lin Yao looked a bit aggrieved.
“But I really didn’t get hit by it directly!”
“Lin Yao wasn’t hit directly, but the reason for his paralysis is indeed the spider’s ability,” Ying Chenlin explained. “I seem to know what its ability is.”
Lin Yao: “Isn’t its ability poison?”
“Probably not. The toxicity caused by its poison only paralyzes you for two seconds. If it were an S-class poisonous spider, it would be too ordinary.”
Ying Chenlin surveyed the surrounding environment, noticed the direction of the poisonous spider’s escape, and quickly said, “Lin Yao, go north to intercept it. Don’t attack the spider from a distance. Push down all the trees around it.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ying Chenlin saw You Su’s Sniper Cannon hit a large tree.
He worked quickly, and pushing down the trees was effortless for him. With the rapid alternation between the Sniper Cannon and the Energy Cannon, in less than 10 seconds, all the large trees around them had been felled.
“Wait! If the trees fall—”
As the trees fell, the spider webs on the trees also fell, covering everything.
At this moment, You Su and Ying Chenlin quickly adjusted their cannons and fired into the sky just before the spider web fell. Their shots created a large hole, causing the trees to tilt outward, and the spider web, in the high-energy combustion, disconnected. In the chaos that ensued, the location where the KID mechas were situated remained safe, without any remnants of spider webs.
The spider, seemingly unprepared for the falling trees, calmly began weaving a web, intending to leave when it realized that its prey was more powerful.
“Lu Xi!” Ying Chenlin shouted.
Beside him, Lu Xi had already fired a water flow projectile towards the spider’s location. The water flow projectile dispersed the stickiness of the spider web, and several strands of the spider’s silk were cut off, causing it to fall onto the web it had woven.
Ying Chenlin was waiting for this moment. He adjusted the energy of the railgun and fired a shot towards the Black Spider’s position on the spider web.
Everyone watched as the Black Spider took a few steps forward, avoiding Ying Chenlin’s attack, but in the next moment, it seemed to be influenced by something, and its movements stopped for a second. Ying Chenlin immediately seized this opportunity and fired another shot at the spider’s location.
This time, the spider couldn’t dodge, and the temporary paralysis caused by the railgun affected its movements.
You Su squinted slightly, looking at the spider and the spider web beneath it.
“So that’s how it is.”
He also adjusted his weapon, compressed the energy output, and fired a shot towards the spider’s location. The spider had no ability to dodge.
The rest of KID’s team didn’t understand. Huo Yan noticed that both You Su and Ying Chenlin had adjusted their weapon energy outputs and quickly understood, “They didn’t destroy the spider web.”
Ji Qingfeng didn’t understand, “Ah? What’s the difference?”
“If I’m not mistaken, the spider’s ability should be related to conduction.”
Ying Chenlin’s railgun hit around the spider’s silk, also affecting the spider, “Its silk isn’t poisonous, but it possesses conductivity. So, as long as it touches where the silk is connected, once its venom is released from the mouthpiece, it will simultaneously affect a larger area.”
He finished speaking and used the railgun to bombard the spider silk again, causing an impact on the spider.
“Look, I clearly hit the silk, but it also affected the spider.”
Lin Yao suddenly understood, “Ah! No wonder I wasn’t hit directly just now, but I still got paralyzed. Was it because the venom from its silk touched my foot and then conducted away?”
Ji Qingfeng looked at the large spider, “What a good fellow! If it had just finished weaving the web, we would all be in the center. As soon as it released venom, all our mechas would have been paralyzed.”
This was probably the purpose of the two spiders: confuse prey with mist, quietly weave a web, include the prey in their control area, poison the prey, and then feed on it. The spider silk’s conductivity was rarely seen, making it effortless to gather a large amount of prey.
Ji Qingfeng, “Wait a minute, so it can’t move now because of the railgun?”
Ying Chenlin, “Yes, its venom doesn’t affect itself, but it seems that the control effects of our mechas can also be conducted through that silk. And it’s also very clever. Once it sensed that my railgun was effective against it, it cut off the webs it had woven.”
Hao Yan laughed, “So as long as we knock down the surrounding trees, it will be difficult for it to continue cutting the silk, due to its movement.”
Ying Chenlin fired another shot, “This is probably its way of self-restraint.”
“Spider silk with high toughness coupled with its conductivity, while this spider may not look strong, its ability isn’t very simple.” he said. “It seems like we’ve found another treasure.”
Pollutants knew how to use such abilities for hunting. If this ability were to be used by humans, its effects would be even more significant.
If turned into a mecha weapon, this ability could maximize its control effect.
Lin Yao pointed to its back, “Oh, also! If it’s a symbiotic relationship, does the one on its back also have an anomalous crystal?”
Ying Chenlin replied, “It should, but I estimate that the one at the back, the red one, is probably only at the A or B level.”
“Oh! Can we make a sprayer with that? Maybe spray a lot of mist around and hide ourselves from our opponents.” Lin Yao asked.
Ying Chenlin was momentarily stunned, explaining, “It can be done. This type of weapon has been used in other galaxies, blurring visibility with mist. I’ve seen it in team battle videos.”
Lin Yao happily exclaimed, “That’s cool!”
The Black Spider, trapped in its own spider web, couldn’t move and quickly lost its ability to resist under the consecutive attacks from KID. It struggled on the spider web, while Ji Qingfeng on the other hand, had already discussed how to disassemble it.
However, Ying Chenlin remarked, “But its other parts seem pretty ordinary. They should just be common S-class materials.”
Lu Xi, “Then, why not dig some of them up to feed the little bug?”
Ji Qingfeng, “Feed it? Feeding it with S-class materials is too extravagant!”
Lu Xi pointed to the motionless Female Mantis nearby, “But it was just choked by the mist, and it seems to be dying. Maybe it’s almost dead?”
As soon as they heard that it might be dying, everyone hurriedly looked at the Female Mantis.
Mechas weren’t afraid of poisonous gas, but the King Worm had been in the mist for a long time.
KID, “…?”
Was the mount going to be choked to death?
Ji Qingfeng hastily pulled on the Female Mantis, “Be good, hold on!”
“No need to worry about this. The King Worm is very tenacious.”
Ying Chenlin looked at it and said, “It’s probably just pretending to be dead in these conditions.”
KID, “?”
Ji Qingfeng wiped away his fake tears, “It seems like there’s no need to feed it. It has the strength to play dead, so it definitely has the strength to run away.”
Just as KID’s team was criticizing the Female Mantis for pretending to be dead, the communication channel inside the mechas suddenly rang with an emergency communication. When everyone reacted, they found that it was a communication from Shen Xingtang and the others.
Ji Qingfeng had just answered and said, “Tang Jie, we just found another treasure—”
Before he could finish speaking, they heard Shen Xingtang’s serious voice, “Something happened.”
The team paused, and You Su frowned, asking, “What happened?”
“Five minutes ago, there was a sudden outbreak of pollutants for an unknown reason in the mountains.”
The background noise in the communication was strong, and Shen Xingtang said, “Gale is under a massive attack by pollutants, and those from the Second Star Domain are also there.”
