Chapter 116: Left with No Choice but to Perish Together

On a pile of stones in the distance, a shadow loomed over the golden flute.

It was vibrating violently. Li Tianque looked closer and realized it was four or five Velvet-Winged Tiger Beetles flapping their wings, creating a powerful current of air. The air was forced into the mouthpiece, causing the flute to emit a piercing, shrill sound.

"Hee hee hee... Do you want to keep listening? According to the rules of the flute, the delayed command cannot be too complex, so I just told them to crawl onto the flute once the music stopped and vibrate their wings at the opening. It’s not hard at all for these little guys. It’s just that the sound they make is truly awful… Even worse, if this flute is played without the specific melody, it triggers a berserk rage in the nearby Shi’erwu. The more hideous the sound, the more violent their rage becomes. Hahahaha! With such a jarring noise, I imagine they’ll charge at everything around them without the slightest fear of death!"

Lin Ya laughed excitedly, her eyes filled with mockery as she looked at Li Tianque.

Li Tianque ignored her and rushed toward the Shi’erwu on the flute. But he didn't need to intervene; the creatures had already stopped. Although they had followed the delayed command, the piercing sound of the flute had triggered their instincts, causing them to abandon their orders and launch a frenzied attack on every living thing in sight.

On the other side, the swarms of Shi’erwu behind the flames had also gone berserk. They had swarmed over the rocks, fusing with them to become the same massive stone monsters Li Tianque had encountered by the Siweiwei River. Back then, they had only merged with mud, but now they had embedded themselves into solid rock. Their powerful mandibles locked firmly into the crevices, binding them together into a terrifying stone giant. This stone giant, no longer fearing the fire, charged madly through the wall of flames. As it passed through, the outer layer of Shi’erwu crackled and popped as they burned, their charred shells falling off in flakes.

Lin Ya continued to cackle. As the sound of the flute echoed, the Shi’erwu on Liang Zhichao’s side had also coalesced into stone monsters, breaking through the fire barrier the three of them had created. The stone monster trampled the two girls underfoot and grabbed Liang Zhichao and Lü Zuzhi in its hands—they were in imminent danger.

Faced with this situation, Li Tianque felt helpless. Last time, near the river, Jia Yanggongbu and his son had easily dealt with the mud-stone monster using fire arrows. But the rock monsters he faced now were completely suicidal; the collective power of the swarm had overridden their individual fear. These crazed Shi’erwu were fearless, even charging straight through fire. Li Tianque checked his own strength and realized his cancer cells had not recovered, making it impossible to borrow the power of his terminal illness. Lin Ya was still laughing, though it was unclear if it was Li Tianque’s helplessness or her own pain that brought her such ecstasy.

Of course, Li Tianque leaned toward the latter.

He frowned and looked toward the other side of the flames. He knew the sound of the flute would carry far in the silent valley, and Liang Zhichao must also be under a frantic attack. Despite the desperate situation, Li Tianque held onto one last shred of hope. He had pinned this final hope on Ma Baoguo. Before they left, Ma Baoguo had understood the plan; though reluctant, he had promised to provide assistance.

But why hadn't he arrived yet? Could he be unsure of the research team's route?

The stone monster let out a roar and lunged at Li Tianque. He felt a shadow envelop him. He threw two large stones at the monster, but they were swatted away effortlessly. Though he didn't want to give up, he had no cards left to play. However, even if he couldn't stop the swarm, he wasn't about to let Lin Ya go. Even if it meant mutual destruction, he had to eliminate this menace! If she lived, more people would be cruelly murdered.

Li Tianque picked up another large stone, preparing to crush Lin Ya nearby before the stone monster could kill him.

At the critical moment, Li Tianque suddenly heard a commotion on the other side of the fire wall, and the ground began to tremble. At first, he thought the tremor came from the gathered stone monsters, but it clearly stemmed from a far more powerful force. Had something strange happened on Liang Zhichao’s side? Or had Ma Baoguo arrived with reinforcements?

The next second, before Li Tianque could throw the stone, the giant stone monster suddenly stopped. Li Tianque froze, stunned to find an even larger shadow looming over his head—one far greater than that of the stone monster. The massive shadow blocked out the moonlight; it was so immense that it could barely move through the canyon. It stood directly above the stone monster and Li Tianque, looking down. Amidst the flickering firelight, Li Tianque saw a giant over five meters tall. Its face was bloated and grotesque in the light, yet it was a face Li Tianque found incredibly familiar.

He had not waited for Ma Baoguo, but someone else had arrived!

The figure was Zhu Chunguang, who was chewing on a braised chicken leg. The whole leg looked like a tiny piece of rubber candy in his massive mouth, a comical sight. As he chewed, his face began to change. Cracks appeared, growing denser and deeper, until he looked like an egg about to burst in boiling water.

"Snap..."

Zhu Chunguang’s face broke, revealing another face beneath.

Li Tianque was momentarily stunned, finally understanding why Zhu Chunguang had seemed so familiar. It turned out this Zhu Chunguang was Bi Youqian in disguise!

"Why is it you? How did you get here?"

"What else could it be? The boss was worried you couldn't handle it yourself..."

"So the boss already knows the situation here?"

"Of course. But he only knew there was a 'worm-related' incident; he didn't expect it to be this big, with three people already dead. After all, this incident is very special—the nuclear worms here cannot even be fully classified as such yet," Bi Youqian explained vaguely.

"What happened to your body? How did you suddenly become so huge?" Li Tianque asked in astonishment.

"It’s the effect of the insect-exterminator. Mine is Number 5—I call it 'Self-Boast'."

As Bi Youqian spoke, he grabbed the stone monster with both hands and slammed it hard into the fire. The once-arrogant monster was now like a toy in the hands of a giant. Shrieks and howls filled the canyon as the Shi’erwu within the stone monster scrambled to escape, only to crackle and explode in the flames.

On the other side, Liang Zhichao and the others had already been rescued by Bi Youqian and had escaped to safety. Lin Ya was still laughing, savoring the exquisite pleasure brought by her wounds.

Li Tianque dropped the stone in his hand, knowing it was useless now.

Everything was finally over.