LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Snake Shed
The night was deep.
Han Zhen and the other three rushed along under the cover of darkness, without any lighting, completely advancing in pitch blackness.
Night vision devices were banned.
The Izanagi Serpent Tribe had a sharp sense for electromagnetic pulse disturbances. Once Han Zhen and the others' movements were discovered prematurely, the entire mission would fail.
Not only that, they also had to wear special nightwear developed by CanShang Technology to avoid being spotted by the enemy's night vision.
With all these constraints, the mission's difficulty level increased sharply.
Fortunately, they were all Spirit Binders and Spirit Beasts, and this level of difficulty was still within an acceptable range.
Han Zhen and the others traversed mountains and ridges along the way.
The mission coordinates had already been sent to the communicators of each person.
This was a precaution.
If any one of them encountered an accident, the others would have to continue moving forward to complete the mission.
Han Zhen glanced at the dense forest around him and the thick soil beneath his feet. It was hard to imagine that all of this was the "masterpiece" of a certain powerful Spirit Binder.
'Moving mountains and filling seas—just how powerful would a Spirit Binder have to be to accomplish such a feat?'
Sure enough, there were always people stronger than oneself, and beyond the heavens was another sky.
Deep Blue City was still too small.
As Han Zhen was thinking, something soft and dangling suddenly brushed against his face.
The air began to fill with a strange, strong odor.
The smell was like marine products fished out from the sea and left to rot under the sun for several days.
Not only Han Zhen, but the other three also smelled the odor.
Walking at the front, Xiao Ya stopped.
"Strengthen your vigilance. We are already very close to the mission target."
"Is there a chance... that we've already arrived?" Han Zhen suddenly spoke, pointing above their heads.
Everyone looked up.
They saw a thin, grayish-white membrane hanging there.
What had just brushed against Han Zhen's face was precisely this thing.
Not only above their heads—looking into the deep, far-reaching night, the membrane seemed to stretch endlessly.
"What is that?" Cai Shifang instinctively asked.
Xiao Ya shook his head; he didn't know either.
At this moment, Han Zhen spoke.
"It's snake shed."
"Every time the Izanagi Serpent Tribe completes a tier advancement, it sheds its skin once."
"The shed snake skin not only continues to emit an aura that deters other insect tribes but also has concealment and insulation properties."
"These cunning Izanagi serpents have hidden their snake eggs inside these sheds."
Before they could marvel at how knowledgeable Han Zhen was, they indeed saw, in the direction Han Zhen pointed, countless densely packed transparent snake eggs.
They were wrapped in white mucus, tightly adhered to the snake shed above their heads.
Seeing this, Xiao Ya activated the mapping device he carried.
The device was activated, and an invisible light membrane instantly spread out.
On the small screen of the mapping device, the images of the snake shed and snake eggs began to form rapidly.
"The results are out."
"The snake shed is 6730 meters long, with billions of snake eggs attached to it. This is undoubtedly the target snake nest."
After reaching a conclusion, Xiao Ya prepared to burn and purify the place.
The snake shed stretched across a thousand meters, coiling and sprawling. Clearing it all at once would not be easy.
Especially when Han Zhen and the others fully entered the snake nest, the snake eggs that had been attached to the shed began emitting faint, vibrating sounds, as if sensing something.
The vibration of a single egg was faint, that was true.
But don't forget, there were billions of eggs here.
When all the snake eggs vibrated simultaneously, the sound became unimaginably loud, like an overwhelming roar exploding beside their ears, almost rupturing their eardrums.
Cai Shifang was so stunned by the vibration that he felt dizzy.
Instinctively, he took a step forward to steady himself.
Unexpectedly, the ground under his feet suddenly gave way, and his whole body fell forward.
The mountain had been plowed into a deep canyon, hidden by overgrown weeds and unnoticed until now.
Fortunately, Xi Xiaoqian was quick to react and grabbed him.
Close call.
Before the two of them could catch their breath, a massive mech suddenly fell toward them.
It was Xiao Ya.
He had already activated his mech suit to begin clearing the snake nest as scheduled, but the strange vibrating sound seemed to have a massive impact on the mech, causing it to lose control.
The out-of-control mech was rolling toward Cai Shifang and Xi Xiaoqian, about to crush them and send them plummeting into the abyss.
At that moment, the speed of the out-of-control mech suddenly slowed.
Han Zhen reached out and grabbed the mechanical arm of the mech suit Xiao Ya was wearing.
Xiao Ya was stunned by this sudden development. His mech suit, a third-generation combat mech from CanShang Technology, weighed over 500 kilograms.
Even for a mech operator, it required at least six months of training to control it freely.
But Han Zhen had simply reached out with one hand and grabbed the runaway mech?
'Just how strong was he?'
Xiao Ya, as expected of Captain Xiao, remained rational even in such a situation.
"Han Zhen, let me go." The electronic voice of Xiao Ya's mech sounded. "Mission first, continue the task."
"I will dismantle the two flame-burning guns on the combat mech. You go and complete the rest of the mission."
Hearing Xiao Ya's words, Han Zhen instinctively looked at the abyss below them.
It was bottomless.
Even with the mech suit, falling down like this would likely result in serious injuries.
Not to mention, there were two teammates down there. If the mech was allowed to fall, it would take them into the abyss as well.
"Saving people comes first." Han Zhen made his judgment after a brief assessment.
"You're talking nonsense. Han Zhen, obey orders. Give up saving them and complete the mission." Xiao Ya cursed in frustration. The bizarre vibrations had disrupted the mech's control panel, making the tail jet propulsion device impossible to activate. He could only blame himself for negligence.
On the battlefield, a single mistake could lead to death.
"Han Zhen, listen to me. The mission time set by the Second War Zone is the hatching time of these snake eggs. If we fail to clear them in time, the consequences will be unimaginable."
"Even if we fall down here, there's still a chance of survival."
"But if you don't clear these snake eggs as much as possible right now, once they hatch..."
Before Xiao Ya could finish speaking—
He suddenly felt his mech being lifted upwards.
Through his screen, Xiao Ya could see himself slowly, bit by bit, being pulled away from the edge of the abyss.
Then, Cai Shifang and Xi Xiaoqian were also pulled up.
When they were all back on solid ground, they lay there, breathing heavily.
The feeling of narrowly escaping death left them in lingering fear. They didn't even have time to thank Han Zhen—
CRACK!
The crisp sound of eggshells breaking echoed clearly through the entire snake-shed nest.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/ZenonTL
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.