The Swarm

A few hours after they started their journey, they came across a fairly empty gas station.

After removing the threats in the station, both vehicles were then filled up with fuel.

While they were at it, they also took the supplies that were inside the store.

Long Yu of course did not really care for these things. He merely took some items, while most of them were enthusiastically seized by manager Zhang and Wei Ying.

"Let's go, we need to keep moving," he said before walking back to the Black Shark.

Suddenly, he heard a frightened gasp from Li Xue Lan. Long Yu instantly turned around and aimed his rifle at her direction. However, he did not spot any enemies.

"What happened?" he asked with a frown on his face.

Staring off into the distance, Li Xue Lan shivered as she spoke,

"Mister- mister Long, I can feel something coming towards us… It's giving me a really strong sense danger!"

"Danger?" he looked towards the direction that she was staring at but saw nothing, that was, until half a minute later.

In the distance, tiny dots started appearing in the sky. Without delay, silver nano-machines crept up from the back of his neck towards the corner of his eyes. Not even a second later, they formed into a pair of visor which covered Long Yu's eyes.

With a thought, his vision was enhanced several times, allowing him to see extremely far into the distance.

Under the visor, his eyes widened. Those things in the sky weren't dots, they were a swarm of insects!

Even without counting, he could tell that the insects numbered in the hundreds.

"Get inside," Long Yu retracted the visor and said in a serious manner.

Fortunately, Li Xue Lan had warned him about the flying insects. The road ahead was surrounded by plains and void of any shelters or buildings. If they had left the gas station a little earlier, they would not have any place to hide.

Furthermore, considering the swarm's current travel path, even if they could outrun them, they would still be trailing from behind. Long Yu did not want such a dangerous variable following them.

Having decided, he threw a spherical object onto the roof of the gas station, before leading Xixi and Li Xue Lan back into the store.

Manager Zhang and Wei Ying who were still stuffing their car full of supplies, were also dragged back into the store.

"What are you doing?!" the two shouted angrily due to Long Yu's sudden actions.

"Keep quiet or I'll throw you out. There are mutated insects coming our way," he glared at them and said.

Hearing this, the two trembled and quickly shut up. Their excitement of finding the supplies also immediately died.

"Mister Long, do you mean the insects that attacked the military base?" Li Xue Lan who was standing behind asked with a hint of fear in her voice. Although she could sense the danger from afar, she had yet to see its true appearance.

"I'm afraid so, and there seems to be a lot of them," he nodded with a solemn expression.

'According to the report from the attack on the military base, there should only be a little more than a hundred mutated insects. Yet now, the swarm that I just saw is at least twice that size, perhaps even more…'

Long Yu did not mention this part as he didn't want to cause unnecessary panic within the group.

"Stay here and move the racks to cover the windows," he instructed them before exiting the store.

…..

A few minutes later, Long Yu once again arrived at the storefront.

He squinted his eyes as he watched the swarm of insects that was flying towards them.

"Let's hope this works," he muttered to himself before entering the store.

All of the racks had been moved to cover most of the visible openings in the store. As long as they hid behind the racks, they would not be seen from the outside.

"Big brother, are we going to hunt those monsters?" Xixi pulled his sleeve and asked.

"Not this time…" Long Yu gave a wry smile. He wanted to avoid the swarm since it was too much of a risk.

*Zzzzz*

Not long after, they heard a loud buzzing sound from the wings of the mutated insects. The noise was similar to a mosquito buzzing near one's ear, except many times louder.

*Thud* *Thud*

Something heavy landed on the roof of the store. Without a doubt, it was one of the mutated insects from the swarm.

Wei Ying who nearly screamed, was fortunately stopped by manager Zhang in time. Otherwise, it would have attracted the attention of the newly arrived insect.

As the thing above them moved, it sounded as if the roof was being scratched by a piece of metal.

The group hid behind the racks while staying as silent as possible. Their situation would turn dire if they were to attract the attention of even a single mutated insect.

Out of the group, Long Yu noticed that Xixi looked the least afraid. She was sitting comfortably on the floor while chewing on something. If it was another child, they would probably be bawling their eyes out by now.

Perhaps it was because she had yet to see how big the swarm was, or maybe it was because she trusted him. Either way, it was fortunate that he did not have to worry about the group making too much noise.

Giving the group a last glance, Long Yu carefully took out a telepresence headset and put it on.