“Can’t you go tomorrow? It’s so dangerous at night.” Qin Ma watched her daughter change into her going-out clothes and couldn’t help but fuss.
Qin Ba didn’t want his daughter going out at night either. But this was an active mission from the survival app’s mission board. While it wasn’t exactly mandatory, refusing still wasn’t a good look. So he didn’t try to talk her out of it. He just said, “How about I come with you, Sangsang?”
“Right, right, right. It’s late. You should let your father go with you.”
Qin Sang said, “Don’t worry. I’m not going alone. The only reason they asked me to join this exploration mission is because I discovered the giant mutated spider before and have experience fighting mutated insects. If we really run into danger and need to fight, the military personnel will be the ones to act.”
Yes, this mission was issued by the survival app. Its main purpose was to explore the Huashan City cockroach farm. The authorities suspected that a mutated insect had appeared there. They had called her along simply because she had encountered a mutated spider before.
And the mission reward was 1,000 points. She just needed to show up. The official personnel would handle everything else. What a great mission! She was planning to look for mutated insects anyway.
Just as she finished putting on her shoes, her phone rang.
Qin Sang looked at it. It was the liaison from the management bureau who had contacted her before.
“Okay, I’m ready. I’ll be right down.” With that, Qin Sang waved to her parents, told them not to worry, and ran downstairs.
Downstairs, a familiar car was parked at the curb.
The window rolled down, and Xu Lin appeared in the driver’s seat.
“Da Linzi, what are you doing here?”
Xu Lin got out and opened the passenger door. “Why can’t I be here? I need to head to the exploration team’s location too. So I figured I’d give you a ride.”
Hearing this, Qin Sang smiled. She was about to walk over when she suddenly felt something and looked down at her feet. The withered yellow aloe plant was still drooping by the courtyard gate. Her mother had said to dig it up, but her father couldn’t bear to part with it. He watered it every day, hoping it might revive on its own.
Her mother had laughed at him for being overly optimistic. But now…
Qin Sang thought for a moment, then took a small glass bottle from her space. Inside was energy water—not much, only 10 milliliters. She poured the energy water directly onto the aloe plant’s roots. Then she got into Xu Lin’s car.
“What was that…?” Xu Lin glanced at the aloe plant, curious. He knew Qin Sang wouldn’t do something without reason.
Qin Sang shrugged. “It seemed like it still had a little life in it. Let’s see if a miracle happens.”
—
It had been over half a month since the apocalypse began, and this was the first time Qin Sang had experienced “traffic.”
But calling it traffic wasn’t quite accurate either, because theirs was the only car on the road. Everyone else was on bicycles, scooters, mopeds, electric bikes, or simply on foot.
Watching the car crawl forward, Qin Sang’s expression wasn’t very pleasant.
“Don’t tell me all these people are heading to the cockroach farm…”
This road led directly there. Qin Sang was essentially talking to herself. She already knew the answer.
“How exaggeratedly has the situation at this farm been spread?”
Xu Lin focused on the crowded road ahead and sighed. “Starting yesterday, our team started finding related videos online. Our program automatically deleted them. But you know how it is. No one has jobs right now. Even though everyone knew about the apocalypse in advance and stocked up on supplies, everyone is afraid of using up what they have. Catching and killing cockroaches earns points, so of course, everyone is eager to go.”
If cockroaches weren’t edible, Xu Lin suspected the streets would be filled with cockroach killers.
It was strange like that.
When the giant cockroaches first appeared, everyone screamed and was terrified. But once they learned the things could be exchanged for points, that fear seemed to vanish as if it had never existed. Everyone became a brave warrior. Everyone was no longer afraid of cockroaches.
It was just that there were still a lot of cockroaches. Otherwise, people might actually start fighting over them.
Qin Sang understood this too. But in the case of the cockroach farm in the suburbs, logically, it should have been completely cleared out during the first wave of cockroach elimination.
Xu Lin nodded at this. “Right. When the first wave of cockroaches appeared, that place, as a key area, was completely drenched in several tons of insecticide. I heard all the cockroaches there were killed. But then, just two days later, small groups of cockroaches started showing up again. After that, the situation in the city became more severe, so all the personnel were concentrated there.”
Hearing this, Qin Sang understood.
“That video circulating online—the one with the dense swarm of cockroaches—that situation must have started recently, right?”
Xu Lin nodded. “It definitely only got this bad in the last few days. So the authorities suspect that a mutated cockroach has appeared there. It probably has a very strong vitality and can produce countless cockroaches.”
Qin Sang didn’t want to continue this line of thought. Cockroaches… they could reproduce asexually and lay multiple eggs at once. And each egg sac could hatch countless nymphs.
She decided to stop thinking about it. Suddenly, she felt that 1,000 points weren’t so easy to earn after all.
She could face a mutated spider without flinching. But the thought of a giant cockroach over two or three meters long instantly turned her stomach. It even reminded her of a Japanese anime she had watched as a child called Terra Formars. In it, cockroaches sent to Mars evolved into cockroach humanoids with fighting capabilities that left humanity in despair.
Xu Lin had grown up with Qin Sang and knew her very well. One look at her expression told him exactly what she was thinking.
“Don’t worry. If you find it too disgusting, you don’t have to go inside when the time comes. Just wait on the periphery. Several members of this exploration team have their spatial spaces filled with high-concentration insecticide.”
Oh, that was good!
Qin Sang’s eyes lit up. Simply dousing the cockroach swarm with insecticide would be great too. Spatial spaces were just that useful.
“But…” Qin Sang looked out the window at the crowded masses, “all these people are here to strike it rich. Looks like the insecticide plan won’t be easy to pull off.”
High-concentration insecticide was toxic to humans too. With so many people on-site refusing to leave, they simply couldn’t use that method.
Xu Lin sighed. “The related information circulating online and on social media has all been deleted. But with so many people, the spread has too many layers. There are those looking to profit from the chaos, those watching from a safe distance, and those who just aren’t thinking clearly.”
This wasn’t Qin Sang’s first time hearing about Xu Lin’s work. But every time he described it, she could imagine how his team must encounter countless negative messages every day.
“It’s fine. The management bureau’s methods are quite firm. If these people refuse to leave when the time comes, they’ll definitely lose points.”
They hadn’t even arrived yet, but Qin Sang already felt this was a decision the management bureau would make. After all, in chaotic times, severe punishments were necessary. Without strong deterrent measures, future exploration missions would likely become a joke.
—
Sure enough, when the car arrived at the scene, there was a sea of people.
Five hundred meters ahead was the cockroach farm. The mottled, dilapidated factory buildings were already lit up brightly by more than a dozen giant spotlights.
Many people were going in and out of the buildings, completely ignoring the official personnel trying to persuade them to leave.
“What’s the situation right now?”
“Group Leader Xu…”
Xu Lin brought Qin Sang to the temporary command post and immediately asked about the on-site situation.
Qin Sang listened for a bit and learned that these people had all come to kill cockroaches and exchange them for points.
Most of them had seen the short videos circulating online. Others had been brought by relatives, friends, or acquaintances.
After reporting her arrival to the commander, Qin Sang first observed the surroundings from the periphery.
The exploration mission couldn’t begin until all the people had been cleared out.
—
“Dammit, the authorities got here fast!”
“This has blown up too big. It’s a bit tricky…”
“Man, with this many people, I wonder if there will even be enough cockroaches to go around, one per person…”
“Relax. Cockroaches have a high reproductive rate. There are so many they’d scare you to death…”
All kinds of voices filtered into Qin Sang’s ears, making her frown slightly. There were too many people here, but she felt like she had heard a familiar voice. However, it quickly faded.
A loudspeaker nearby was playing recorded warnings on a loop. Some people shouted that they were leaving, others shouted that they were staying. In short, it was pure chaos.
Just as Qin Sang thought the night was going to be a complete waste, a commotion suddenly broke out at the farm’s main gate.
“Sangsang, come here!”
Qin Sang wanted to go see what was happening, but she immediately realized that with so many people, getting there wouldn’t be easy. Just then, Xu Lin called her over, and she quickly went to him.
Well, well. Inside the temporary command post tent, Qin Sang was greeted by row after row of screens. The screens showed live footage from inside the farm.
Judging by the image quality, it was likely from drones and small ground robots.
“With all this equipment, you still haven’t been able to determine if there’s really a mutated insect inside?”
Qin Sang looked at the staff sitting in front of the screens and asked directly.
“Based on the video analysis, there are no mutated cockroaches present,” Xu Lin explained directly. He had been brought to the video team as soon as he arrived, to help analyze the situation.
“But if there’s no mutated cockroach, then we can’t explain why this farm is now infested with cockroaches everywhere,” a staff member immediately added.
Xu Lin then gave Qin Sang a look, signaling for her to sense it.
That’s right. Qin Sang had mentioned to Xu Lin what it felt like when she discovered the mutated spider—that tight, heavy feeling in her chest.
Qin Sang shook her head slightly. It was too far away. She would need to get closer to be sure.
Xu Lin nodded and said directly to the video team, “This is all the camera coverage, right?”
The other person nodded.
Xu Lin said, “Then if we can’t confirm it this way, we’ll just have to send the exploration team in. But the people outside need to be evacuated as soon as possible.”
Just as they were talking, a vaguely familiar person suddenly appeared on one of the computer screens.
This was a real-time transmission feed. Qin Sang’s eyebrows shot up in surprise when she saw the person.
She hadn’t forgotten this middle-aged woman. That day at the square, the woman had wanted Qin Sang to hire her as a guide. She had also tried to trick Qin Sang into coming to this cockroach farm. Qin Sang had made it clear she wasn’t interested. Yet, just a day later, here she was—and the woman was currently stumbling and fleeing for her life inside the farm.
“This woman seems to be running from something terrible,” Qin Sang said aloud, alerting everyone to pay attention to the middle-aged woman. She also briefly mentioned her brief encounter with the woman.
As soon as the others heard this, they keenly sensed that something was wrong.
But before they could think further, the middle-aged woman on the monitor suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground. She was wearing a head-mounted floodlight, and had similar flashlights strapped to her arms, thighs, and waist.
This was actually a pretty good setup. Qin Sang couldn’t help but admire the ingenuity of ordinary people.
But this particular genius had just crashed.
The cockroaches crawling on the ground were afraid of her flashlights and receded like a tide away from her.
Because of this, the walls were also cleared.
In the boundary area where the intense light met the surrounding darkness, the shadow of a pair of long ponytails appeared on the now-empty wall.
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