Lin Ya pulled the clothing aside and noticed something familiar attached to it.
A communicator…
Gu Ming also had one of these, which could pinpoint locations on a map, functioning similarly to his watch.
“This one is different from mine; this is a military special.” Gu Ming picked up the communicator, his expression serious, and then carefully searched the area but came up empty-handed.
“…This can’t be possible.”
“Don’t tell me your… guess is coming true.” Gu Ming swallowed hard, glancing around.
Lin Ya sighed, “You mean ‘crow’s mouth’, right? I can see the shape of your lips.”
“Shall we try contacting the base again? See if any intel has come back.”
“No, since yesterday, it seems the base has lost radio communication. I tried connecting this morning, but still nothing.”
The two stood facing each other when suddenly a mysterious tremor shook the ground beneath them.
“Run!” Lin Ya shouted, quickly grabbing his left hand and leaping back to their previous position.
Gu Ming was nearly choked as he was pulled forward but managed to glance back.
In that moment, his pupils dilated in shock.
Both of them were too breathless to articulate their thoughts as they sprinted for their lives.
Gu Ming’s face turned pale, his legs pushing off the sandy ground quickly before they could sink in, and luckily, his previously injured areas had already scabbed over; otherwise, they might have split open.
Lin Ya was significantly faster, nearly dragging him along. In terms of stamina, however, neither of them could match the creatures pursuing them from behind.
Honestly, Lin Ya had started to despise his ‘crow’s mouth’ as well.
The creature chasing them had a black exoskeleton, with two shiny pincers raised, and a long, barbed tail held high, a clear indication of what he had just referred to as one of the most common species in the desert: the desert scorpion.
It was about half a person’s height and appeared in swarms, suddenly emerging from the sand to attack. If Lin Ya hadn’t reacted quickly, they would have been caught in its jaws by now.
Just like the others who had disappeared.
Having put some distance between them and the scorpions, they were still closely followed. Lin Ya furrowed his brow and changed direction.
If these scorpions followed them to the base, it would be a grave mistake.
“…Huff… huff…”
“Over there…” Gu Ming pointed weakly towards a complex terrain nearby, drenched in sweat and pain. If the scorpions lacked a sense of smell, they should be able to lose them.
The two had been running for nearly an hour when Lin Ya felt Gu Ming collapse behind him, trembling legs struggling to keep moving. Eventually, Gu Ming was too exhausted to continue and gave up, being dragged along like a kite as Lin Ya pulled him up into the air to keep him moving.
Then Gu Ming’s left wrist dislocated…
His right hand was already fractured and hadn’t yet healed, and this made things even worse.
Fortunately, Lin Ya knew how to reset it; hiding at the top of some ruins, they managed to shake off the group of mutant scorpions. Lin Ya skillfully set it back, but despite his efforts, Gu Ming’s wrist had swollen up like a big turnip.
“…Next time, could you avoid saying any bad things?” Gu Ming lifted his arms, gaze filled with reproach, “If there’s a next time, you’ll be dragging my legs instead.”
Lin Ya coughed and agreed.
Their stomachs began to grumble again after all the exertion, and Lin Ya dug out the last two nutrition fluids from his backpack, feeding one to Gu Ming and keeping one for himself.
The nutrition fluids had a strong satiety effect, preventing hunger, so he decided not to hold back this time.
Filling up was crucial for survival.
Lin Ya looked down from their elevated position and noticed that the scorpions nearby were burrowing back into the sand with their tails.
“Just as we are getting closer to the base, we run into something like this.”
Holding the communicator, Lin Ya performed a series of operations before calmly setting it down. Gu Ming’s face fell in exasperation, “Tsk! We can’t contact the base! If word of the mutant scorpions here doesn’t get out, it’ll put others at risk too! If they learn the base’s location, it’s over.”
“Keep your voice down; if I’m guessing right, they might be sensitive to sound,” Lin Ya whispered, “Their shells and pincers look tough and sharp; they can likely survive in the extreme heat outside, and common thermal weapons probably won’t kill them.”
“It seems we must bring this information back to the base ourselves. There could be mutated insects and animals near other bases that we need to watch out for.”
“But we’re trapped here; once we go outside, those scorpions will appear. We can’t run toward the base—if we keep going, won’t we be moving farther away from it?” Gu Ming sounded anxious, unaware of when the base might close its entrance on the ground and feeling that the sooner they returned, the better.
This point was indeed valid.
There were about 1 day and 12 hours left.
They were still over 80 kilometers from the base, meaning they would need to push themselves hard to make it in time.
But looking at the seemingly calm sandy surface outside, they both knew the danger had not yet receded.
How could they avoid those almost sentient scorpions?
—Lin Ya pondered this question too.
[Would the host like to visit the system mall?] 123 was very enthusiastic since selling goods in the mall earned it points back, always hoping the host would spend all their points.
[Here you can buy powerful poisons or sedatives to knock those creatures out easily~]
Lin Ya was inspired by its suggestion and remembered that the mutated plants’ fruits had a chance of being poisonous, so it might be worth checking if those would work.
“I’m going to make a quick trip.” Knowing that Gu Ming might play dumb, Lin Ya didn’t hold back any longer.