Chapter 146: Danger Sense and the Shipyard's Insect Nest

Seeing the identification skill's habitual results, Lin Feng's hand paused on the girl's head. He hadn't expected this little one to be level 7 already. Advancing from an ordinary person to lv7 required killing at least twenty-eight Red Beetles.

Even if she had an affinity for the insects' upgrade energy, like his sister-in-law Zhang Yurou, she couldn't have rocketed to level 7 so quickly.

Noticing Jiang Chengcheng's puzzled expression as she looked up, Lin Feng retracted his hand and ordered the group to move out.

The identification results fully displayed:

"Jiang Chengcheng, lv7/9"

"HP: 35, Physique: 38, Spirit: 45"

"Superpower: Danger Sense"

"Danger Sense: Can sense hostility and unknown dangers within fifty meters, allowing for preemptive judgment."

"Note: This skill is in its initial awakening phase and will fully awaken upon advancing to a Tier 1 awakener."

Lin Feng's lips curled into a smile.

It seemed this eight-year-old girl, surviving alone after being separated from her parents in the chaotic apocalypse, had something exceptional about her.

Her preliminary danger sense ability was her greatest asset.

However, this skill only helped her avoid danger and flee early. It didn't explain how Jiang Chengcheng advanced to level 7 by killing insects.

A little girl with less than a fifth of an adult's strength would struggle to pierce an insect's shell with a fruit knife unless someone helped her.

Leaving the survivor camp, the group moved through the containers.

Lin Feng, smiling, asked the dirty-faced girl beside him, "Chengcheng, do you remember where you used to live? How did you get separated from your parents?"

The girl shook her head, thinking for a moment before saying, "We lived in Tong City and escaped by car."

"When we stopped at a supermarket for supplies, my dad argued with some bad men and fought them. My mom hid me before going to help..."

"I waited in a cupboard for a long time, but they didn't come back. Eventually, I snuck out at night to find food."

"Then the big bugs came..."

Lin Feng frowned. Children's memories and descriptions were often imprecise, and it seemed likely that Chengcheng's parents met a grim fate.

In refugee groups, fights over food were common, even leading to murder.

Seeing Jiang Chengcheng fall silent, Lin Feng comforted, "It's okay. Maybe the supermarket was crowded, and your parents drove off when they couldn't find you."

"But Chengcheng, do you remember killing any of those nasty bugs?"

The girl shivered slightly, nodding, "Dad would cut off the red bugs' limbs and let me kill them. He said it was the only way to survive if they weren't around."

Lin Feng sighed, "Chengcheng is right."

Tong City, just above Haicheng, was also a coastal city and the stationed location of the Thirteenth Division. They were nearly surrounded by the Haicheng Queen after initially being tied up by it.

Survivors from Tong City were among the first to encounter insects. Most had killed a few low-level Red Beetles, becoming enhanced humans.

Some bold and careful individuals used the city's terrain and tools to kill low-level Black Spinal Bugs, becoming the first civilian awakeners outside the military.

Chengcheng's parents might not have reached that level but were likely above level 7, capable of self-defense in the refugee group.

This allowed them to help their daughter evolve as well.

Once the initial panic was overcome, humans with terrain advantages and weapons found killing a few Red Beetles not too difficult.

Lin Feng had similarly helped Zhang Yurou and Chen Yanyan upgrade in a residential hallway.

A month and a half later, most survivors near the insect nests at the port were enhanced, though not highly leveled.

The women were mostly lv1-3, only slightly stronger than regular adult men.

For Jiang Chengcheng, without parental care, reaching level 7 was remarkable.

Satisfied with her explanation, Lin Feng pondered her fully awakened ability's potential changes and effects.

Helping celebrity Jiang Yun'er evolve by killing a Black Spinal Bug had turned her charm skill into direct mental control.

Like a queen, she could control beings with lower mental attributes.

It had unexpectedly granted Lin Feng a psychic sense ability.

That ability had helped Lin Feng avoid many dangers.

Jiang Chengcheng's danger sense was a mini version of psychic sense, with subtle differences.

Psychic sense was like a biological radar.

Danger sense detected potential threats.

If there was no danger, Jiang Chengcheng's ability did not react, which was why she willingly led the way.

Conversely, if low-life-value, high-mental-value disguised insects lurked in the camp...

Lin Feng might need to appraise them all.

But Jiang Chengcheng could preemptively sense danger.

Or in the case of Cheng Zhan's special stealth ability, if transplanted into a Hunter Warrior...

General scanning abilities like psychic sense might struggle to detect it.

If Jiang Chengcheng's ability worked on Hunter Warriors, she could become a crucial force against the insects.

Pondering this, the group of over a dozen, guided by the girl, passed under the bridge, reaching the high wall on the west side.

The wall was four to five meters high.

Security was stricter here.

An electric fence prevented intruders.

Small boxes piled against the wall suggested how Jiang Chengcheng had crossed.

Light and nimble, she managed it, but armored and armed Lin Feng and his team, weighing over a hundred kilograms, couldn't climb up.

Seeing the ten soldiers, only enhanced humans, Lin Feng sighed, approaching the wall and carving a two-meter oval door with his hand.

He gently laid the cut wall on the ground.

Amidst the group's amazement, he entered.

The state-owned port dwarfed the neighboring commercial one, visible even from the bridge.

The private port had only two gantry cranes, while this one had four or five by the dock, with more inside the storage area.

The grandeur from the bridge was nothing compared to standing at the edge, facing containers stacked ten stories high, thirty to forty meters tall, like a skyscraper.

It stretched endlessly.

Hundreds of meters wide, like an iron wall, only accessible through crane paths.

Inside, it felt like a real-world block game, surrounded by identical iron boxes, easy to lose direction.

Roughly estimating, there were thousands of containers just in this corner of the port.

Unfamiliarity made searching for specific goods a days-long task.

Lin Feng tapped on containers, hearing hollow echoes, indicating they were empty.

Most containers were empty, awaiting cargo for river or rail transport to inland destinations.

In the container area, Jiang Chengcheng became lively.

Although small, her level 7 enhancements were not for nothing.

In strength, she might lag behind adult peers, but her agility allowed her to explore.

Living alone in the camp, she might face exclusion and bullying, certainly last in food distribution.

She had to find food herself.

Explaining her many footprints.

Soon, Jiang Chengcheng led them through the container area to a small warehouse.

Under the midday sun, heat waves rose from the ground, more uncomfortable than inside the containers.

This was the port's storage department, holding the manifest for these supplies.

Inside, Lin Feng found old, faded invoices, mostly for coal deliveries. Steel products had already shipped out.

Some were destined for the shipyard.

Finished steel components.

Classified equipment had left before the apocalypse.

The shipyard used high-quality construction steel, possibly usable.

These modules, weighing tens of tons, could solve immediate needs.

By the time Han Yuxin and Hu Fei sent supplies, the Wu City mission might be over.

Lin Feng planned to harvest Lake Tai's fish resources for the future.

He needed more amphibious vehicle replicas to encircle the lake and haul in thousands of tons of fish.

As Lin Feng pondered, Jiang Chengcheng emerged from an office with snacks, likely her hidden stash.

Showing them, she pointed:

"Uncle, those things you want, I saw them nearby."

Following her outside, they saw rows of large warehouses.

Jiang Chengcheng paused, adding:

"There were big bugs behind..."

Lin Feng nodded:

"It's okay, with us here, no bug can scare us!"

The group braved the sun, sweating between warehouses.

Jiang Chengcheng suddenly stopped behind a wall, fearfully watching ahead.

Lin Feng patted her head; his psychic sense confirmed lv7 Red Beetles ahead.

Hiding in the warehouse from the sun.

Frowning, Lin Feng glanced left, then reassured:

"Don't worry, they're just small Red Beetles."

He looked back at the group.

He only brought two Tier 2 awakeners, Liu Yi and his teammate, and ten regular soldiers.

The rest needed rest for the afternoon.

Minimizing exposure risk.

Signaled by Lin Feng, the team readied melee weapons.

Gunfire would draw swarms, risking encirclement.

Red Armor handled Red Beetles easily.

Deeper into the port, near the town's outskirts, Lin Feng found piles of stainless steel pipes and I-beams in a warehouse.

Estimated at tens of tons.

Meanwhile, Red Beetles sensed intruders, emerging from the warehouse shadows.

Over a dozen.

Jiang Chengcheng hid behind Lin Feng.

Lin Feng waved, and the two Tier 2 awakeners, in Red Armor, approached barehanded.

They smashed the Red Beetles' shells with fists.

Red Armor, infused with Black Spinal Bug mandibles, was harder than Red Beetle shells.

Tier 2 awakeners' ten-ton strength overwhelmed the low-tier insects.

The Tiger Tooth Chainsaw Sword on Lin Feng's back was unnecessary for Red or Black Spinal Bugs.

"Don't hit their heads; leave them half-dead."

Following orders, the awakeners hammered the Red Beetles' backs.

In minutes, the insects lay dying.

Lin Feng took a dagger from a soldier, handing it to Jiang Chengcheng:

"These are your reward for guiding us, like before..."

Jiang Chengcheng swallowed, gripping the handle, steeling her gaze as she approached the Red Beetles.

Watching her skillfully dispatch the insects, Lin Feng turned to appraise the steel.

Unlike rusty containers and railings, the stacked pipes and I-beams met replication material requirements.

Touching the pipes, Lin Feng quickly replicated an lv19 shotgun.

The new soldiers were stunned, while the Tier 2 awakeners were accustomed to it.

Confirming the goods, Lin Feng had an awakener escort Jiang Chengcheng back to camp, then bring the main force to clear the area and equip shotguns.

Lin Feng planned to take Liu Yi deeper into the shipyard.

Watching the team's retreat, Lin Feng turned to the distant shipyard, frowning.

Liu Yi gripped his shotgun, tense:

"Sergeant, is there something ahead?"

Lin Feng nodded, having sensed through his psychic ability that beyond the warehouse, in the shipyard four to five kilometers west, a large cluster of bright signals appeared.

A Black Spinal Bug swarm.

Why were they in the shipyard, so close to Chang City, yet not invading it?

There must be another reason.

Good thing Lin Feng hadn't led the company straight into town, avoiding a potential trap.

Guided by Lin Feng, the pair stealthily approached, noticing more insects, even groups of Red Beetles at the port's edge.

They huddled in corners, shielding from the sun, weak and dying.

Some fed on dead companions' juices...

In the summer noon, the port's concrete reached forty to fifty degrees.

Were these bugs dying from heat?

Perplexed, Lin Feng left Liu Yi as lookout, climbing a crane to view the shipyard.

Using the electromagnetic cannon's scope, he saw the shipyard's activity.

In the center, a vast insect pit filled with backflowing river water.

Red Beetles carried heavy steel pieces into the flooded nest.

Some succumbed to exhaustion, their bodies piled by comrades.

The path led to a dilapidated dock.

Inside, hundreds of Black Spinal Bugs gnawed on finished ship parts, cutting them into irregular chunks.

Dropped on the ground, Red Beetles transported them back to the flooded nest.

Seeing this, Lin Feng's expression darkened.

The insects were collecting metal.

Likely for Tier 2 Tiger Bug mandibles.

But Lin Feng needed the special steel for amphibious vehicle replicas.

He had to stop the insects!

Returning to the ground, Lin Feng led Liu Yi back to the port warehouse, meeting Shen Jie and the others.

"Rally everyone here!"

"I planned to wait out the heat, but crucial resources are being looted. We must act now."

"Prepare for battle!"

"Shen Jie, clear the Red Beetles here quickly and discreetly."

After orders, once the area was cleared, and everyone assembled...

Lin Feng replicated dozens of shotguns from the remaining pipes.

Distributing them, he assigned fifty soldiers, led by two awakeners, to guard the east and the bridge.

The rest of the corps and soldiers would follow him...

Into the shipyard!

Lin Feng was intrigued by the flooded nest.

It might hold finished Tiger Bug mandibles and connect to Tier 2 egg incubation nests!

-Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there 

patreon.com/LegendaryTL

Thanks!