19 Besieged by Insectoids

"You too," Nicole said.

"Oh, yeah. This should be returned to its rightful owner." Qin Hao took the alloy sword from his back and handed it back to Nicole, who was the owner of this standard-issue weapon. It was part of her infantry body armor.

"Keep it. Treat it as my gift to you." Nicole smiled at him, seeing that the sword was more useful in Qin Hao's hand than hers.

"Thanks!" Qin Hao was happy to keep the sword. Since he got his body enhanced by the insectoid gene, he found that the sword was a better weapon in combat than the electromagnetic rifle.

After saying goodbye, Nicole boarded the landing craft. Although the aircraft carrier's squadron had cleared out an area for the landing craft, staying on the ground for too long was still a hazard. Nicole did not want to take up too much time on the ground.

The landing craft took off with a loud rumble as it carried Nicole and Lucia back to the mother ship in orbit. Meanwhile, Qin Hao would still have to continue to serve on the frontline on land.

After the carpet bombing killed all of the insectoids surrounding High Ground Z3, it gave the 106th Mechanized Infantry Division a much-needed respite. Soldiers finally lay back in the trenches in exhaustion. The constant alertness and combat were stressing them physically as well as mentally. If they did not have time to rest, they would break down soon.

Taking this short respite, Qin Hao started to replenish his energy. His appetite for food had grown tremendously after obtaining the insectoid gene. He was not only eating a lot more but also getting hungry a lot quicker.

After eating yet another huge bug's leg, he finally satiated his hunger—for now.

"What did you just eat, Commander?" A soldier came up and asked.

People had been noticing the bundle on his back when he returned. Not wanting to attract attention, Qin Hao had wrapped it with a tarpaulin before he returned to High Ground Z3. People saw him carrying a bundle of something on his back, but no one knew that it was a bunch of giant beetle's legs.

"Mind sharing it with us, Commander?" a few veteran soldiers asked unsolicitedly. All they had were combat rations; it was not easy to get anything else on the battlefield.

"These things look rather familiar to me!" A soldier with a keen eye saw the leftover shell on the ground.

"Are these insectoid shells?" Others had started to notice.

"Did you just eat the insectoid meat, Boss? Is it edible at all?" Those soldiers were struck dumb.

Knowing that he could no longer hide it, he opened up the bundle and revealed the bug legs.

"Are these things edible at all?" Those soldiers looked at each other in astonishment. It might have been harmless to Qin Hao, but not everyone could accept it as food. Even if it was non-poisonous, its hideous appearance and the greenish mucus alone were enough to make their stomachs churn.

"Message from the frontline!" Right then, all of the soldiers' battlefield recorders lit up at once.

"What's happening?" Everyone quickly checked their devices.

According to the test lab's latest findings, despite giant beetle blood being highly poisonous, there are only traces of poison in their leg. High heat will destroy this trace amount of poison, and the leg is safe for consumption.

The message on the battlefield recorder saved the day. This came only after Nicole and Lucia returned to the battleship.

Lucia had mentioned Qin Hao eating the insectoid legs when she got back on the battleship. It aroused the attention of the frontline laboratory, which then immediately collected specimens and started the analysis.

They soon discovered that the giant beetles had two primary poisons. One was the extremely corrosive substance that was concentrated in their blood, and the other was the neurotoxin that existed throughout the giant beetle's bodies.

The corrosive blood was nasty because it immediately ate into everything that it came into contact with. On the contrary, the neurotoxin was a special enzyme that could kill humans in a short time. It could also be destroyed with heat to become harmless to humans.

After the lab carried out tests on animals, it confirmed that insectoid legs that were uncontaminated by the greenish blood were safe to eat once they were cooked under high heat.

This finding was vital news to all frontline forces because it would practically solve the frontline supply problem. Food was a major part of the airdrop operation. Since the bug leg was edible, that meant they could airdrop more weapons in each airdrop operation from now on. Meanwhile, frontline forces could achieve food self-sufficiency, as bug legs contained higher protein content than typical ration packs. Not to mention, it tasted so much better.

"Damn, special forces like you have learned this a long time ago, Boss?" a few soldiers asked.

"Yeah, I guess so…" Qin Hao quickly rolled with the punches. He could not have thanked the message from the lab enough. Otherwise, he would not have been able to explain himself.

...

It had been a quiet night in High Ground Z3. The soldiers of the 106th Division were enjoying their very first sound sleep since the start of the mission. But the good times did not last long. Early the next morning, the ear-shattering shriek of the insectoids jolted them out of their sleep.

"What's going on?"

"My gosh! Where are all these bugs coming from?"

"I thought they've all been killed?"

The 106th Division soldiers babbled behind the defensive walls as the ground below turned into a sea of creatures with yellowish-brown exoskeletons. There were thousands of insectoids everywhere.

"Everyone, buckle up! It's going to be an intense battle!" Unit commanders were trying to increase the morale of their respective soldiers. Every soldier got double the rations as they needed more energy to fight in this battle.

Qin Hao was also lying back behind the wall and eating a bug leg while observing the situation below. He had discovered the insectoids' activities much earlier. Since the insectoids had not attacked yet, he had only reported his findings to James and kept it from the other soldiers, who needed rest badly.

"Air support will arrive in half an hour. We should wait and see for now." James had contacted the battleship, and as his bodyguard, Qin Hao naturally knew about it.

"It's going to be another brutal battle!" James sighed as he looked down at the sea of insectoids from the high ground.