For many reasons, the Alien Insects have always been the archenemies of every Queen Insect. Whenever an Alien Insect appears, the Queen Insect would drop everything to deal with it, without exception.

  Kelvier took a deep breath, a very human trait, as the Zerg don't actually breathe in such a manner.

  Each Alien Insect evolves in a different direction. From Kelvier’s understanding, a Guardian Bug might become incredibly powerful, a Syringe Bug might develop some unique toxins... and what about the Nurse Bug?

  A thought struck Kelvier, almost bringing tears of frustration: was it evolving into the biggest glutton in the universe?

  Right now, at this very moment, the most crucial thing was to figure out whether any of the Queen Insects knew that Kelvier was an Alien Insect. Not to mention more—just one Guardian Bug would be too much for him. He had personally devoured a Guardian Bug, an intact one at that; even if it stood still and let him chew, he might not be able to handle it.

  And each Zerg swarm had thousands of Guardian Bugs...

  Damn it...

  For all these reasons, Kelvier made up his mind: he had to leave!

  The Queen Insects possessed a bizarre ability of telepathy and remote communication, capabilities unknown to Kelvier. He wasn't sure if the Guardian Bug inside him had recognized his Alien Insect identity, or if it had sent a message before dying.

  Kelvier couldn't take the risk. Once the news of an Alien Insect broke out, it would likely trigger a swarm mobilization. Even if they didn't know, just sending a few soldier bugs to investigate would be...

  He had to leave! It was urgent!

  Kelvier rushed back into the cave to pack up his essentials. Looking at the empty cave, he sighed deeply. Decades of human life weren’t easily left behind—internet, cars, skyscrapers, things he had always complained about now seemed so precious. With a bitter laugh, he dove into the cave.

  He chose the direction most devastated by nuclear fallout, as it would have the fewest Zerg.

  Kelvier was panicking!

  Number Two clearly didn’t understand why their "King" would choose the most dangerous route, nor did it understand why they were crawling laboriously instead of flying...

  But since it was the King’s command, it had no choice but to tough it out and follow.

  Indeed, Zerg were rare, visible only as barely recognizable insect corpses on the darkened earth.

  The Guardian Bugs Kelvier had seen not being completely extinct on his last visit were now truly dead. Dead beyond dead.

  His energy was rapidly depleting.

  "About two hours until the health bar hits zero," Kelvier thought resentfully.

  A rough estimate of Number Two's energy suggested he could last about another hour.

  "We're going to die!"

  Less than an hour later, Number Two's thoughts transmitted over.

  Kelvier couldn't help but smirk, then quickly led Number Two to start digging into the ground to take refuge underground.

  That's when Kelvier realized he had made a serious mistake. A mistake that might end up killing both him and Number Two right here!

  Kelvier had been underground too long, so all his plans were based on those standards. Taking refuge by digging...

  In the soil environment of a mole’s tunnel, it would take him and Number Two about ten minutes to dig a hole deep enough to be out of radiation’s reach!

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  But this land...

  Crystallized soil!

  Even if it wasn’t crystallized, it had been compacted by explosions!

  Kelvier felt even more panicked, having suffered once before from crystallized soil, how could he make such an unforgivable mistake again!

  Search! Find a softer patch of ground quickly!

  "We're going to die! We're going to die!"

  Number Two’s thoughts came through again, clearly reaching the limit.

  They couldn't search any longer! If they kept looking, not just Number Two, but he himself might die too!

  Finding a spot of ground that hadn’t yet crystallized, they started to dig.

  The soil was as compacted as rammed earth! So dense that Kelvier wanted to curse.

  Number Two went mad!

  His limbs were just blurs, dirt whizzing backwards as he dug.

  Kelvier’s mouth hung open: that speed... was it nearing that of a world champion?

  They couldn’t dig straight down, which undoubtedly added a lot more work.

  "We're going to die, going to die, going to die!"

  Number Two's movements slowed down. But the pace at which his thoughts came was increasing.

  Amidst his panic, Kelvier also lamented: this defied all reason! Weren’t people supposed to be weak and intermittent in their final moments? Isn’t that how TV dramas portrayed it?

  Number Two had collapsed, his six legs weakly stirring the soil. But the pace of his thoughts only increased: "Going to die, going to die, going to die, going to die, going to die, going to die, going to die…"

  Kelvier finally understood the torment of the nagging Monk Tang in Monkey King’s ear, this was far worse than a few thousand flies…

  "We're going to die..."

  Number Two’s thoughts suddenly stopped.

  Kelvier went frantic.

  He dug downward as fast as he could for two meters, greatly reducing the radiation, and then he began to ponder a question:

  Even if he managed to dig to a completely radiation-isolated place, how was he supposed to survive? It couldn’t always be so coincidental to find a mole tunnel, could it?

  Suddenly recalling the crevice he had dug into during the last nuclear explosion, Kelvier shivered as he remembered a few keywords from his bald middle school geography teacher: Karst topography, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, limestone caves.

  This place... wasn’t it one of the world’s largest Karst landscapes?

  Kelvier stopped digging.

  Taking a deep breath, Kelvier began to test his ultimate move: ultrasonic waves—let's just call it that for now. When they were in the mole tunnels, anytime an insect fell inside, Number Two could always race over and catch it at lightning speed.

  Kelvier had been paying attention and experimenting with this method for days, and it had somewhat matured.

  With a sound like metal scraping, Kelvier quickly focused his mind to listen for the echo.

  He couldn't emit ultrasonic waves constantly like Number Two, nor could he clearly hear the subtle sound of a tiny insect landing. But a cave, especially one as vast as this!

  Kelvier heard it clearly!

  It was only five meters away!

  Thank God! Thank the bald-headed teacher! Thank the karst topography!

  After holding his breath and digging furiously, he finally reached the side of the cave; he should be only half a meter away from it. But the cave was like an egg, and its shell was made of stone half a meter away!

  Radiation continued. If Kelvier chose to keep digging, he really wasn’t sure he could breach the cave before his energy ran out.

  So, he dug along the “eggshell” for a while, finding a recessed crack.

  Almost no radiation!

  Kelvier's tense nerves finally relaxed.

  He shook Number Two’s leg twice, but there was no response.

  Drip-drop.

  Kelvier suddenly looked up, hearing the sound of water droplets from above. Dragging Number Two in that direction, he immediately smiled.

  It felt like finding what you need without even looking for it—a thin hole, crookedly leading into the cave, about ten centimeters across.

  It was much easier to dig from this small hole.

  Buzz—

  Kelvier, dragging Number Two, floated into the cave.

  The cave, much like the holes in a steamed bun, was not a straight path like those seen on TV. Almost all these caves were interconnected, one leading into another; without entering, you’d never know which direction the next cave might be in.

  For instance, Kelvier, dragging Number Two, explored several chambers—sometimes moving left, sometimes upwards. If not for the Zerg’s unique positioning abilities, Kelvier would have gotten lost long ago.

  Kelvier deliberately headed downward and soon came upon a small pond.

  Perhaps startled by Kelvier’s sudden appearance, ripples spread across the water surface, prompting a smile from Kelvier: there was food.

  Number Two suddenly twitched, and Kelvier frowned—how sensitive could his nose be?

  Zerg could enter water, but underwater, they weren’t as agile. After much effort, they managed to catch a nearly eyeless, transparent fish as clear as glass, beautiful like a piece of art, which became Kelvier’s meal and Number Two’s lifesaver.

  Kelvier hadn’t mastered many skills yet, unlike Number Two, who swam delightfully in water.

  The glass fish vanished without a trace. Kelvier and Number Two dived to explore further, discovering that the water, like the caves, consisted of one small pond leading to another, sometimes requiring them to navigate through narrow underwater channels to reach the next pond.

  It was like having a top-end intelligent terrain scanner; the distribution of the ponds gradually formed a map in his mind.

  Water dripped from the cave ceiling, gradually gathering into streams, and these streams into ponds. The ponds appeared calm, but also had undercurrents leading somewhere.

  To a large pond—the size of a soccer field.

  Number Two cheered, but Kelvier tensed up.

  On a protruding rock at the edge of the small pond, a half-meter-long white lizard watched them warily.