“The death toll from this battle has exceeded ten thousand, but at least we’ve driven the insects back.”
This was a post-war summary meeting, attended by the main leaders of the five major safe zones. A month had passed since the interstellar insects’ surprise assault during the rainstorm. Throughout that month, the insects had poured in as relentlessly as the rain itself.
Humanity had no choice but to send wave after wave of fighters to the front lines. The casualties were devastating.
Thanks to the development of energy weapons and the support of the spirit beast insects from the Loess Secret Realm, the battle was ultimately won.
But this victory had come at the cost of human lives.
What made it even worse was the outbreak of brain worm infections at the very start of the battle, casting a heavy shadow over an already hard-fought victory. If not for that, perhaps humanity wouldn’t have lost so many.
Thinking about all the havoc caused by the infected, the meeting attendees wore grim expressions.
Fortunately, in the end, Qin Sang had provided a solution. However, because the number of people who had contracted mutant dandelions was still small compared to the infected, many of the victims still perished.
Bureau Chief Qian, who attended the meeting, felt heavy-hearted. But he didn’t forget Qin Sang’s contribution. As he listened to the post-war reports from the various safe zones, he was already thinking about what kind of rewards to apply for on her behalf.
From the very beginning of the native insect evolution up to now, Qin Sang’s outstanding contributions could no longer be covered by simple point-based rewards.
“…The Academy of Sciences has released the latest probe report on the spatial passage…”
“The spatial passage is unstable, containing uncontrollable folded spaces…”
“…The interstellar insects are lurking within these folded spaces…”
Bureau Chief Qian listened to all the technical jargon he didn’t fully understand, only retaining one key point: the spatial passage was an extremely dangerous place. But if these passages could be closed, humanity could drive the interstellar insects away.
However, the number of spatial fissures across the globe was staggering.
“So, not all the fissures can be closed. But humanity can’t keep being passive forever either…”
“The global alliance against external enemies is about to launch a combat plan for counterattacking the insect race…”
——
Qin Sang hadn’t expected that when she saw Bureau Chief Qian again, he would bring her news like this.
“Counterattack the insect race? That was actually real?”
The rain was still pouring, and Qin Sang hadn’t anticipated that Bureau Chief Qian would personally deliver the rewards. Moreover, he directly confirmed the plan for a counteroffensive.
So the rumors online weren’t baseless after all.
Yes, not long after the battle ended, whispers had already started circulating online—that major official organizations around the world would join forces to strike back at the insect race. At the time, Qin Sang had dismissed it as internet chatter. After all, the interstellar insects’ combat power was terrifying, their numbers unknown, and the situation inside the spatial fissures was fraught with danger.
All of this posed enormous obstacles to any human counterattack.
At this stage, without additional combat forces joining in, a reckless counteroffensive would be far too risky.
Bureau Chief Qian seemed a bit surprised by Qin Sang’s reaction.
Seeing this, Qin Sang smiled. “What? Did you think I’d be all for it?”
Bureau Chief Qian shook his head. “No, not at all. Everyone knows this plan is extremely risky. But humanity can’t just keep taking hits forever.”
Qin Sang understood. If they stayed on the defensive too long, the people’s morale might eventually crumble. And the longer the standoff dragged on, who knew what other tricks the interstellar insects might pull?
Take the brain worm incident, for example. Even now, a month later, not all the infected had been fully treated.
As a contractor of a mutant dandelion, Qin Sang hadn’t had a moment’s rest these past days.
As she saw Bureau Chief Qian off, she smiled and didn’t let him voice the question he seemed to be holding back.
——
“Sang Sang, I feel like that Bureau Chief was here for more than just that.”
Qin Sang said directly: “Mom, didn’t he just mention the counterattack plan? He probably came today to see if I’d be willing to join. Though the officials haven’t released a concrete plan yet, Bureau Chief Qian’s attitude today gave me a pretty good idea.”
“Oh dear, and here I thought he was such a good chief—coming all the way to deliver rewards in person. And the rewards were nice too, those high-end energy weapons. I didn’t expect he’d also want you to go throw your life away.”
Yes, to Mother Qin, launching any counteroffensive against the insect race at this stage had too little chance of success.
Father Qin nodded in agreement. This last battle had been brutal. The interstellar insects were more numerous than cockroaches—impossible to kill them all. By the end, even the mutant aloe he had contracted was stuffed to bursting.
“Sang Sang, if they ask you to go now, you must refuse.”
Qin Sang nodded. She knew that humanity didn’t have much of a winning edge right now.
She looked out at the thick curtain of rain and thought that the most pressing issue right now was actually this unrelenting downpour.
——
“More mushrooms?”
Early that morning, Qin Sang got up to find the sky still dark and the rain still pouring. As soon as she stepped out of her room, she saw her father crouched by the cabinet in the living room, pulling out mushrooms.
Yes, pulling mushrooms.
The rain had been going on for nearly two months now. No matter how dry she tried to keep the house, the hot, humid, sticky air outside had still made moss, mold, and mushrooms grow indoors.
Without even looking up, Father Qin said, “Sang Sang, you’re up. Perfect, come take a look—I can’t seem to pull this mushroom out.”
Qin Sang didn’t think much of it at first. But when she got closer, she froze.
The reason was simple—several white mushrooms had grown at the base of the table leg. One of them was particularly large, while the others looked like babies in comparison.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason for her surprise. She could also sense a faint energy field emanating from the large mushroom.
She was very familiar with this level of energy intensity. It was the critical moment just before evolving into a mutant plant.
Without a second thought, Qin Sang crouched down, channeled energy to her right index finger, and lightly tapped the mushroom’s cap.
A tiny green energy ball immediately vanished into the mushroom’s head.
Then, the large white mushroom began to tremble, twisting and writhing as if it were dancing.
Qin Sang couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. She figured that once this little one evolved into a mutant plant, it would probably be quite lively.
Father Qin was already stunned by the sight. He stammered, “Sang-Sang, Sang-Sang. This…”
Biting back a laugh, Qin Sang pulled out her phone and filmed the mushroom’s dance. “It’s evolving!” she said.
Sure enough, the next moment, the large mushroom stopped writhing. But its body began to stretch upward until it reached a height of about twenty centimeters.
The energy field it now emitted was identical to that of a first-stage mutant plant. Though it couldn’t communicate yet, it had already awakened consciousness.
“Oh my, such a big mushroom.”
Just then, Mother Qin came out of her room and spotted the tall mushroom, letting out a surprised cry.
Around here, mushrooms that grew indoors were all poisonous. Sure enough, after the initial exclamation, her mother grabbed a pair of disposable gloves and was about to pull the mushroom out.
“Hey, hey, hey—don’t pull it! This is a mutant plant!”
“How is that possible?” Mother Qin found it hard to believe that a mutant plant could grow from their table leg.
But Qin Sang just grinned and nodded.
Mother Qin’s eyes went wide.
On the other end of the phone, Xu Lin was equally stunned.
He watched the short video Qin Sang had sent him—the mushroom twisting and growing was crystal clear. There was no doubt about it. This was a mutant plant.
It was the first time Xu Lin had seen a mutant plant evolve, and he found it deeply impressive.
Qin Sang then asked, “Have you seen any similar videos online recently? Or has there been any large-scale plant growth anywhere?”
Xu Lin immediately understood what she meant: “Let me check…”
Ten minutes later, Qin Sang received a call from him.
“Sang Sang, there actually are…”
It turned out that since the rain began, signs of plant revival had appeared all over the world. But the drought caused by the earlier high temperatures had been so severe that the revival was barely noticeable at first. Now that the rain had been falling continuously for so long, the resurgence of plant life was obvious—especially in rainforest regions.
However, because of the rain and the insect attacks, these changes had largely gone unnoticed.
“I’ve already reported this. Based on the situation with the mushroom at your table leg, mutant plants are likely to start appearing in large numbers all over the world.”
And a surge in mutant plants meant that humans would have more options for contracting spirit beasts—beyond just the insect beasts from the Loess Secret Realm.
Qin Sang realized this, and so did Xu Lin.
They both knew that humanity’s strength was about to receive another major boost.
The interstellar insects’ scheme to weaken humanity through brain worms was about to fail completely.
——
Soon, several familiar faces showed up at Qin Sang’s house.
“Professor Su? Why are you here?”
Qin Sang looked at the stern-faced professor crouching by her table leg, and couldn’t help but find it a little funny.
This great professor was no ordinary person—he had invented the energy converter for energy weapons. When Qin Sang had asked Xu Lin to report the mushroom incident, she knew the authorities would send someone over.
She just hadn’t expected it to be Professor Su.
“Comrade Xiao Qin, I simply had to come for such a miraculous organism.”
Indeed, the entire process—from an ordinary plant to a mutant plant, and then to a mobile mutant plant—was astonishing.
When Qin Sang had first encountered Little Grass Seed, it had already undergone one evolution.
But this large mushroom was the first time she had witnessed a regular plant evolving into a mutant plant.
“Professor Su, you’re not going to take it away, are you?”
Professor Su shook his head. “No, mushrooms are quite sensitive to their environment. It’s better to leave it here. Now, tell me more about how this mushroom grew.”
There wasn’t much to say about its growth, really. Still, Qin Sang shared everything she knew.
When she mentioned that she had directly channeled energy into the mushroom, Professor Su exclaimed: “How did you do it? And how did you know how much energy it needed?”
Qin Sang: “I used my perception. If you can’t sense it, you could use instruments to measure it. I recall there was a compass designed specifically for detecting spatial energy—if you modify that, it should work.”
Professor Su had never thought of directly feeding energy to plants. Hearing Qin Sang’s words, he slapped his forehead, thanked her profusely, and rushed out with his team.
Watching him leave, Qin Sang marveled at how hard it was to understand scientists. But judging by the look of sudden realization on Professor Su’s face, he’d probably had some major breakthrough.
Whatever it was, as long as it helped humanity, that was what mattered.
And a week later, Qin Sang found out just how capable Professor Su really was.
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