The moment he finished speaking.

A low, droning BUZZ suddenly filled the air.

Black beetles, each one to two meters long with a sprinkling of white spots on their backs, flew out from the darkness. Some rushed toward the spot where the Insect-man had fallen, while the rest swarmed the window from which the shots had been fired.

Seeing this, Han Ning spoke into his walkie-talkie. "The Insect-man’s been hit and is falling. Everyone, help me track his location. I suspect he belongs to a humanoid race with some intelligence. Capturing him alive would be ideal; he’d be invaluable for our research into this world." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"One... two... three... four... In total, thirty black beetles are heading toward his fall location and your window. Stay safe."

"Copy that. Prioritizing the search for the Insect-man!" The voices of Liu Yueming and Lü Xiuning came through the walkie-talkie.

With that, Han Ning raised Silver Scale, aimed at a beetle flying straight toward him, and fired a single shot.

BANG!

The immense recoil sent a slight jolt through his chest.

The carapace of the beetle in front of him cracked, and it tumbled erratically into the floodwaters below.

’They aren’t too strong... Could that bizarre flute be the tool used to control them?’

Without the sonic waves from the flute, the people around him gradually recovered.

Han Ning watched Yin Yi, who was locked in a fierce battle with the giant white beetle, and turned to the others. "I need two people and two Silver Lotus Woods that can fire Silver Thorns to come help me with Yin Yi. The rest of you can hold off these other beetles. Sound good?"

Silver Thorn was the term displayed on the interface, and thanks to Han Ning popularizing it, everyone had adopted it as the name for the Soul Technique.

As they spoke, three more beetles flew straight for their rooftop.

"Leave holding off the beetles to us." Teacher Fang and Zhao Jingjing, having made sure the others were settled, brought their Silver Lotus Woods and slipped up behind the group, just in time to hear Han Ning’s command.

Right now, aside from the mysterious Insect-man, the greatest threat to everyone was the giant white beetle.

Everything in the path of its frost turned to solid ice.

With the arrival of Teacher Fang and Zhao Jingjing, the team of five grew by two.

Han Ning and three other students moved to the other side of the parapet. He watched Yin Yi and the giant white beetle trading Soul Techniques in midair and said, "The giant beetle’s eyes are the source of its frost attack. We’ll aim exclusively for its eyes and head to disrupt its actions."

"No problem."

At his words, the three students beside him began commanding their Silver Lotus Woods to fire Silver Thorns, attempting to disrupt the giant beetle’s movements.

At the same time, Han Ning and the others raised their shotguns and rifles in unison, aimed at the giant beetle’s position, and pulled their triggers.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The giant beetle was over seven meters long, making it a difficult target to miss.

Using his Spiritual Power to lock on, Han Ning’s shotgun blast successfully struck the giant beetle’s head.

The rifle bullets from the other three students also peppered its carapace and flank.

The series of bullets striking the giant beetle produced a volley of dull thuds.

Its Armor dented slightly before quickly popping back into place.

The bullets from the firearms could hardly damage it, but they did slightly affect its movement.

The Silver Thorns from the three Silver Lotus Woods followed right after. Three streaks of green light exploded in the air the instant they struck the giant beetle.

The Silver Thorns were more powerful than the guns, and the explosions made the creature’s body lurch, nearly causing it to lose its flight.

Seizing the moment while the giant beetle was off balance, Yin Yi’s Emerald Flower Thorns began to spin at high speed. Like a dense cluster of missiles, they all shot out at once, carving brilliant green trajectories against the pitch-black night sky as they hammered the giant beetle’s relatively fragile head again and again.

"SKREEE!"

The giant beetle let out a pained shriek. Green fluid splattered from its wavering, blue-glowing eyes as it went berserk, madly blasting deep blue frost in all directions.

As it fired its frost, it began to back away from Yin Yi.

Han Ning saw that the giant beetle’s vision seemed to be impaired. It was like a caged beast.

Knowing that Yin Yi wasn’t a fast flier, he worried the giant beetle might suddenly escape and quickly gave a new order. "It’s trying to run! Change targets! Aim for its wings!"

Then, he shouted to Yin Yi, who was thirty or forty meters away, "Stop it! Don’t let it get away!"

"Ling!"

Yin Yi did its best to dodge the beetle’s frost attacks while unleashing a continuous barrage of Emerald Flower Thorns.

The air blossomed with a brilliant green radiance.

A dozen or so of Yin Yi’s Flower Thorns successfully struck the giant beetle’s body.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

More than a dozen loud pops rang out in quick succession.

The carapace shattered, and insect blood splattered through the air.

The Flower Thorns blasted several holes of varying sizes through the giant beetle’s pair of translucent wings.

It could no longer maintain flight and began to plummet.

"Yin Yi, finish it and bring it over!" Han Ning shouted.

"Ling!"

Pressing the advantage, Yin Yi went for the kill. The green flames in its pupils flared, and it unleashed the full firepower of its Emerald Flower Thorns. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! They rained down relentlessly on the giant beetle’s falling body.

The sound of explosions echoed through the dark night, only to be quickly drowned out by the roaring rain.

After the frenzied bombardment, Yin Yi descended, flicked out a Vine Whip, and wrapped it around the barely-living giant beetle. Like a helicopter airlifting cargo, it slowly flew up to the rooftop.

On its way, it also took the opportunity to blast a few of the black beetles rushing the rooftop out of the sky.

In an instant, the rooftop where Han Ning stood was clear of flying beetles.

The giant white beetle’s body was still twitching slightly; it wasn’t completely dead. Han Ning signaled for the others to back away ten meters.

Then, as everyone watched, Yin Yi condensed a Rhombic Crystal from its Flower Thorns, aimed for the giant beetle’s brain, and fired it deep inside.

With a soft PFFT, the struggling giant beetle went completely still. The faint blue light flickering in its shattered eyes slowly died out.

The pouring rain washed over its body, rinsing away the green insect blood.

A pungent stench filled the air.

Yin Yi plunged its vine into the giant beetle’s brain and churned it for a moment before pulling out a polygonal, blue-and-white gradient crystal slightly larger than a ping-pong ball.

WHOOSH!

The blue-and-white crystal traced a graceful arc through the air, landing in Han Ning’s palm.

"Hey, how about I take this Crystal Stone?" Han Ning asked the others. "I’ll trade you a Crystal Stone from an Iron-toothed Giant Snake for it. I don’t want the giant beetle’s corpse, and if the other dead beetles have crystals, I won’t take a share of those either."

Considering the three students had also played a part, Han Ning felt it wouldn’t be right to just take the crystal for himself.

’For firing a few Silver Thorns and some bullets, getting a share of those materials should be fair,’ Han Ning figured. ’After all, Yin Yi was the one who did most of the fighting.’

The three students glanced at each other, then nodded, showing they had no objections.