Chen Yanyan had a sudden realization.

’So you can do it like that.’

’When it comes to being devious and cunning, you really have to hand it to Lin Feng.’

But now the Red-Armored Beetle Swarm had been scared off and scattered. In all that time, she had only killed seven of them, leaving her a full ten short of reaching Lv. 9.

"What should we do? Follow them?"

Chen Yanyan looked at the ground littered with Red-Armored Beetle carcasses and, raising her Long Saber, expertly stripped their Back Armor.

Seven pieces of Back Armor—enough for her Red Armor Shield to gain another level.

Watching the Zerg Hunting Teams leave one after another, Lin Feng shook his head.

"Those Zergs are smart. You’ll only run into a large Swarm if you go deep, near the Nest or closer to the city districts."

"Don’t dream about a crazy harvest. The kind of opportunity we had at University City is a rare find, and it’s easy to mess up on something simple."

"Let’s just pray these scattered Zerg Hunting Teams get lucky and manage to bait out a small group of Black Spine Zergs."

With that, Lin Feng left the RV, took the Red-Armored Beetles’ Back Armor, and fused it into Chen Yanyan’s Shield Armor.

It upgraded to Lv. 5, and he even set a few pieces aside for future upgrades.

Chen Yanyan stared thoughtfully at the foul-smelling Zerg corpses on the ground.

"We have to find a way to lure the Zergs out of the Wormhole. What about these carcasses? Didn’t you use them to feed the Red-Armored Beetles before?"

Lin Feng shrugged.

"It’s an idea. But they’re not nearly as attracted to the corpses of their own kind as they are to human flesh and blood. It probably has to do with the moisture and nutritional content."

"Unless you’re willing to bleed a little to lure them out."

"Besides, waiting by the Wormhole is too unpredictable. It’s like reaching into a crawfish hole—you might find a lobster, but you could also pull out a venomous snake."

"The risk is too high."

"If three or four Black Spine Zergs suddenly appeared, I wouldn’t even have time to save you."

As the two of them stood over the Zerg corpses discussing their options, three ordinary sedans suddenly pulled up to the entrance of the toll station.

Several young people got out. The oldest was in their early twenties, while the youngest was only sixteen or seventeen. They all looked like students.

Lin Feng recognized a few of them. They were students from the school bus that had escaped Hai City with them.

’Logically, they should have reached Jin City with the main group of refugees.’

’Why did they come back?’

The dozen or so young people got out of their cars and talked for a while, after which a young man and woman walked toward Lin Feng.

When Chen Yanyan saw them, her eyes lit up.

They stopped a few meters in front of Lin Feng. Despite their weary expressions, they did their best to look alert, their tone humble.

"Hello, Mr. Lin."

"We’re schoolmates of Liu Yueqi. My name is Shen Jie, and this is Zhang Liying."

Lin Feng’s brow furrowed at their filthy appearance. Shen Jie was Lv. 2 and Zhang Liying was Lv. 1. Among Zerg Hunters, their strength was negligible.

"You don’t even have any decent equipment. What are you doing here? Looking to get killed?"

Shen Jie looked completely helpless.

"We were at school when the giant Zergs invaded. We barely escaped with our lives thanks to the bus driver, but our families and relatives were all lost to the Swarm... The Federation agencies don’t take in anyone under sixteen, and the Administration Bureau said our Levels were too low..."

"We had nowhere to go. We ran into Liu Yueqi on the road, and she gave us half a tank of gas and told us we could try our luck here."

Lin Feng sighed softly and shook his head.

"Forget it. This isn’t the complex terrain of a city. Out here in the open, there are no opportunities to pick up scraps."

"Your whole group together probably couldn’t even handle a small cluster of Red-Armored Beetles."

"The Red-Armored Beetles are hiding in their holes right now, and even we can’t do anything about them, unless you want to crawl into a narrow Wormhole and fight them head-on."

Hearing what Lin Feng said, the two looked around at the desolate landscape, then turned to leave, extremely dejected.

"Wait!"

Just then, a woman’s voice called out from behind them.

Chen Yanyan looked at the students and said with a smile,

"If you have nowhere else to go, how about working for us? Cleaning up the battlefield, gathering materials, that sort of thing."

"Of course, if you’re willing to act as bait, we’d also consider sharing the opportunities to get stronger by killing Zergs."

After speaking, Chen Yanyan glanced at Lin Feng. Receiving a nod of approval, she pointed to the Wormhole in the greenbelt by the road.

Shen Jie and Zhang Liying exchanged a look, then replied,

"We need to discuss this with the others first. Please wait a moment."

With that, they returned to the three sedans and conferred with their companions. In the end, a total of five of them—including Shen Jie and Zhang Liying—came forward, carrying two shields made from Back Armor. Each held a weapon, be it a short knife, a fire ax, or a crowbar.

"We’re willing to help you lure out the Red-Armored Beetles. The rest of us will clean up the battlefield."

Lin Feng nodded.

"Find a few who are brave and aren’t afraid of the Zergs. We need to transport some live ones back."

If they really couldn’t find any Black Spine Zergs, Lin Feng planned to catch a few Red-Armored Beetles to complete his task and temporarily appease Hu Fei.

The students took a deep breath, nodded, and followed Chen Yanyan to the Wormhole by the road.

Crawling tracks in the grass led to the entrance of the meter-wide hole. The Wormhole was quite spacious inside, and they could faintly see many antennae and feelers twitching within.

The Red-Armored Beetles had been frightened, and with no Black Spine Zergs nearby to command them, they didn’t dare crawl out to search for food for the time being.

Shen Jie led the four other youths, carefully creeping to the edge of the hole. He raised his fire ax and banged it against his shield while letting out guttural shouts, attempting to draw the Red-Armored Beetles out.

Unfortunately, the Red-Armored Beetles clung to the walls of the hole, refusing to react.

In fact, because Shen Jie and the others were making too much noise, the Zergs shrank even deeper into the Wormhole.

Now, they either had to crawl into the hole and enter the Red-Armored Beetles’ territory, or try other means to lure the snake from its den.

Following Chen Yanyan’s instructions, a few of the companions brought over several Red-Armored Beetle carcasses from the Armored RV, dropped them near the entrance, and then quietly backed away.

However, after a good while, there was still no movement.

Seeing this, Chen Yanyan retrieved a medical first-aid kit from the RV. She took out a needle and Hose, and said coolly,

"Sound alone isn’t enough. The bait’s scent is too weak to attract the Red-Armored Beetles."

"The last resort is to use blood as a lure."

"This is sterilized blood transfusion equipment. Who’s first?"

Shen Jie took the sterile package, opened it, and looked at the four people before him. He took a deep breath and made a suggestion.

"There are only three sets of transfusion needles. I’ll go first. A little over three hundred milliliters from each of us should be enough."

After looking at the instruction diagram, he decisively tied the rubber tourniquet and, with Zhang Liying’s help, inserted the needle into a vein in the crook of his elbow.

Having been strengthened twice, drawing some blood didn’t have a major effect on his State. But because he hadn’t eaten much for a long time, he still felt a powerful wave of dizziness afterward.

The next two young men took their turns, and in the end, they collected a thousand milliliters of blood, which they gave to Zhang Liying.

The young woman carefully walked to the entrance of the hole and poured the warm, fresh blood deep inside.

A RUSTLING sound followed. Smelling and tasting the rich scent of blood, the already-starving Red-Armored Beetles began to stir restlessly.

Zhang Liying took the opportunity to sprinkle the remaining blood at the entrance of the hole before backing all the way to the road.

Everyone held their breath, like anglers waiting for a fish to bite. When two long feelers finally poked out of the hole, joyful expressions appeared on their faces.

The Red-Armored Beetles lapped up the blood in the soil. Driven by their instinct to feed, they forgot their fear and crawled out of the Wormhole one after another, following the trail of blood.

Shen Jie and the others swallowed hard and, reminded by a gesture from Chen Yanyan, slowly retreated.

As more and more Red-Armored Beetles emerged from the hole, their growing numbers made them bolder.

They began to explore farther out.

Chen Yanyan counted. There were seventeen or eighteen Red-Armored Beetles in front of her—enough for her to complete her ninth strengthening.

She decisively raised the muzzle of her gun and aimed at the Red-Armored Beetles.

Using single shots, she took them out one by one, breaking their abdominal legs and immobilizing them.

This method wouldn’t startle the Swarm and cause another panic. It would also continuously draw the Red-Armored Beetles’ aggro, pinning them down securely.

The death of a Red-Armored Beetle would alert its kin, but the shrieks of an injured one would instead enrage other Red-Armored Beetles nearby.

In their limited minds, they could only process simple signals: death meant danger, but an injury simply meant an enemy that could be killed.

Chen Yanyan retreated as she moved, using the agile and swift advantage granted by her long legs to quickly deal with these low-level Red-Armored Beetles.

A few minutes later...

Seeing that no more Red-Armored Beetles were emerging from the hole, Chen Yanyan lowered her gun and looked at the ground, which was covered with the maimed bodies of twenty-seven or twenty-eight Zergs.

After finishing off ten of them with her Long Saber, Chen Yanyan successfully completed her ninth strengthening.

Now, she just had to kill one Lv. 10 or higher Black Spine Zerg to Upgrade to Lv. 10 and unlock her Superpower Awakening.

Chen Yanyan gave three of the remaining eighteen Red-Armored Beetles to Shen Jie and his group. As for the other fifteen, she had them chop off all the abdominal legs and chelipeds, carry them to the trunk of the RV, and also cut off and collect ten pieces of Back Armor.

Once everything was done, Chen Yanyan took out some compressed biscuits and instant noodles from the RV as payment for Shen Jie and the others.

"Alright, the Zergs are all dead. If there’s nothing else, you should head back. What’s about to happen here isn’t something you can get involved in."

It was a kind reminder from Chen Yanyan. After giving blood, their combat effectiveness was practically zero. If a large force of Black Spine Zergs were to attack, they would have almost no chance of survival.

Zhang Liying supported Shen Jie, offered a word of thanks, and then left with her companions without hesitation.

After they were a good distance away, Chen Yanyan checked her phone. It was almost noon. Recalling the warning from the Administration Bureau staff before they set out, she couldn’t help but ask,

"Are we still waiting? We might not have enough time."

Lin Feng, lounging in the passenger seat, took off his sunglasses.

"Don’t be hasty. Fishing requires more than just chumming the water; it also takes patience."

"If we could think of a way to lure out the Zergs, don’t you think those assholes could too?"

"And they’ll probably use some heavy bait. When they hook a shark, they’re bound to get burned..."

Lin Feng had barely finished speaking when a loud explosion, BOOM, echoed from the distance. A kilometer away, an SUV was being overturned by several Black Spine Zergs.

People in the other fleeing vehicles had been wildly firing their rifles, and a stray shot had pierced the fuel tank. A spark ignited the gasoline, causing a small-scale explosion.

But this did nothing to stop the pursuit of the small Black Spine Zerg Swarm, which numbered around twenty.

They latched onto their target and raced toward the toll station behind the Armored RV.

The corners of Lin Feng’s mouth tilted up slightly as he drew his newly upgraded Lv. 14 Blast Gun...

No, at this point, it was a 30mm Machine Cannon!

He got up from the passenger seat and said slowly,

"Alright, it’s our turn to work."