15 Strange Ritual

"Are you sure it's edible?" Nicole was a bit worried. After all, the giant beetle was extremely poisonous. Was its meat safe to eat?

"May I try, Qin Hao?" Lucia asked. Qin Hao did not know that she was a gourmand; she even wanted to try eating the giant beetle's meat.

"Are you sure you want to try it? I'm used to gutter oil, so ordinary poison isn't going to harm me. But not you. Be careful about getting diarrhea." Qin Hao put his hand up. He was so daring only because he was immune to the bug's poison. He did not think it was a good idea for Lucia, lest she put her own life at risk.

"Okay!" Lucia pouted in disappointment. She did not force it as Nicole was shooting her a warning look, telling her not to do anything stupid.

Qin Hao started to gnaw the bug's leg. As if peeling sugarcane, he used his mouth to crush the shell and ate the white meat inside.

"You are making me hungry." Lucia was still pouting.

"We have to get moving." Nicole was having a bad feeling about staying there for too long. If the bugs came now, they would have no way to escape.

Qin Hao nodded in agreement, then walked ahead of them.

All this while, it had been Nicole who trekked in front of them because she thought that as a special forces soldier, she was the most experienced in combat among them. Even though Qin Hao was a man, she could not bring herself to ask a cook to become their scout.

Now, the situation was different. After Nicole witnessed Qin Hao's ability and how well he could fight, her perception of this mess cook had totally changed; this guy was more impressive than the best special forces soldiers. So, it went without saying that Qin Hao had to be the scout now.

Using the alloy sword, Qin Hao cleared the way in front while he gnawed on a bug's leg. It looked pretty funny because he had not only a bug's leg in his hand but also a few on his back. Apparently, he had made the bug's legs his MRE (Meal, Ready-to-Eat).

As he finished off an entire bug's leg, he burped and patted his stomach in satisfaction. That alarming feeling of hunger was finally gone.

"It looks like you can outeat the pigs." The hungry Lucia could not help but dig at him.

"Hang in there. I'll get you something to eat when we get to High Ground Z3!" Qin Hao said. He could not help it; had he not offloaded all of his food when he leaped out with Ralph earlier, he would not have to eat this freaking bug leg. He had a whole lot of food for himself earlier.

"Okay." Lucia nodded reluctantly.

After Qin Hao had his fill, he felt like he had inexhaustible energy. When he wielded the sword and cleared the way in the jungle, he could do it much quicker than Nicole could.

"Slow down. I can't keep up!" Despite having a powered exoskeleton, Lucia still could not keep up with Qin Hao's speed. After all, she was just a medic.

"Okay." Qin Hao nodded and slowed down. Right then, he sensed that something was amiss.

"Shh!" Qin Hao put his finger to his lips to signal the two young women to not make a sound. Lucia did not get it, but before she could protest, Nicole stopped her and pulled her back to hide behind a tree.

Qin Hao cautiously inched forward, trying his best to not make any noise. The terrain was challenging with fallen leaves and branches on the forest floor. Maintaining total silence while moving was difficult. He could only keep the noise down to a minimum.

A distant sound then drifted into his ear. He carefully drew away a branch of leaves in front and peeked out from behind the leaves.

Qin Hao could not help but suck through his teeth when he saw an army of insectoids out there.

Those bugs seemed well-disciplined. Two giant beetles with bronze-colored horns on their heads were leading over thirty giant beetles at the front. In the middle of the convoy were two plasma worms, which were even larger than the rest of the convoy.

Where are they going? Qin Hao knitted his brows together. He was careful not to make any large movements. He might have superhuman abilities now after he was enhanced by the insectoid gene, but it would be suicide if he thought he could fight that army of insectoids with just an alloy sword. So, he just held his breath and quietly observed them from afar lest the enemies spotted him.

While Qin Hao was still pondering, those insectoids suddenly ground to a halt. It shocked the daylights out of him.

"Have they spotted me?" Qin Hao was ready to act, but it looked like those insectoids had not discovered him.

It did not take long for Qin Hao to realize what made those insectoids stop—the two plasma worms in the convoy were about to mutate.

"What the... These insectoids can even do this?" He almost cried out when he saw the two plasma worms lay on the ground with their butts pointing upward. Blueish plasma arcs were dancing around them. Those escort giant beetles stepped aside and kept an eye on the plasma worms while they prevented themselves from getting struck by the plasma arcs.

As the plasma on their bodies grew more intense, the two plasma worms suddenly fused together, their bodies becoming one.

"What the hell? Is this a coalescence or something?"

After the two plasma worms joined, their bodies started to soften and fuse together like liquid. At that moment, the other giant beetles appeared cautious. It seemed that the ritual had arrived at a crucial point.

Gradually, the coalesced plasma worms melted into a glob of blue liquid. Qin Hao could clearly see something squirming inside the blue glob.

What the heck is that? Qin Hao became even more curious.

At that moment, another small group of insectoids formed by eight giant beetles, arrived. Each of these giant beetles had a bronze horn on their heads, and one of them was carrying a human on its front leg. 

"Just kill me, stinky bug!" The human howled in pain as the giant beetle's front leg pierced through his body, barely missing his vulnerable spots. As a result, he did not die instantly.

Those insectoids were seen communicating with each other. After that, the giant beetle took the human, went up to the blue liquid glob, and threw him into it.

Plasma arcs danced on the surface of the liquid glob, and a strange sound was heard coming from inside the blue glob. 

It sounded as if that person was being tortured with his mouth covered. He wanted to scream, but all he could produce was a deep groan. Besides, there was also the sound of a beast mauling its prey.