Star Abyss Walker

Chapter 287 Lu Xiaobei's Half Hometown
It was around nine o'clock at night.

Helicopters patrolled back and forth over Donghu District, their pods constantly flashing insect swarm detectors, leaving no insect undetected and wiping out the swarms emerging from the lake bottom.

Ruolin and I sat in a helicopter, holding the Conqueror in our arms, looking out at the Cheng Group building not far away, where many people were standing by the windows looking outside.

"drop!"

A message came from Cheng Shuang: "Ding Han, I think I saw you on a helicopter. Was that you?"

"Well, it's me."

I replied, "It's basically confirmed that the swarm has been wiped out, so don't worry too much. You can go home and rest in a bit."

"That's good. You've worked hard too."

She sent a sighing emoji: "Most of what happened today will be unforgettable. I feel like everything is unreal. Only when I saw the many bullet casings you left in the car did I realize that it was all real."

I sent an awkward emoji.

The 25mm bullets from the bomb gun have unusually large cartridge cases. I used more than a dozen magazines in Cheng Shuang's car, so you can imagine how many cartridge cases were left behind.

"I'm so sorry, the leather seats in your car are probably burned by the heat..."

"It's okay, I can get a new one, it won't cost much."

"That's good. Get some rest. I should head back too."

"Well, you should also go to bed early."

So I patted the pilot on the shoulder, signaling him to let me and Zhang Ruolin off the road. Then I took out the off-road motorcycle, went straight onto the elevated road, and took Cai Cai, Ruolin, and the others back to the South District.

……

The residential area was completely silent.

Such a big thing happened today; all the aunties dancing in the square have disappeared, and the doors of every building are tightly locked, as if afraid that insects might get in.

"Holy crap, it's so quiet..."

The fat man touched his nose, put away the motorcycle, and asked, "Ding Han, when did you go back?"

"Go back."

I nodded, parted ways with the fat man, took out my keys, opened the door, went upstairs, and then opened the living room door.

In the living room, Lin Qingying sat quietly, and when she stood up, her eyes were clearly red.

"Xiao Ying, I'm back."

"Ah."

She nodded slightly: "Have you eaten?"

"I had a hamburger for dinner, but I was too busy to go out and eat."

"That……"

"Stop with the 'that' and 'that', come downstairs with me and let's have some hot pot!"

Immediately, she smiled and said, "Okay, I'll change my clothes!"

A few minutes later, Lin Qingying changed into a black trench coat over a white shirt. With her long hair flowing, she looked cool and said, "Let's go?"

"go!"

Once outside the residential area, there weren't many people on the street. Fortunately, the hot pot restaurant across the street was still open, so I went straight in and ordered a lot of delicious food.

Lin Qingying clearly didn't eat much that evening, but she ate quite a lot, just like me.

"Today, the news on Huaining TV was almost entirely about the insect nests appearing in Donghu District."

She looked at me gently: "Ding Han, is the situation very serious?"

"maybe."

I shook my head: "The reason why an insect nest appeared underground in Huaining City this time is mostly because of the Great Devourer in the Northern Region. The insect swarm is a hierarchical group. As a tenth-order insect king, the Great Devourer can emit a kind of highest command biological signal, which is why the insect swarm dared to infiltrate the Wall of Life."

Looking into Lin Qingying's gentle gaze, I continued, "I heard from a senior officer of the Crimson Dragon Legion that the military will soon send a large number of psionicists to various places to investigate the swarm information. In addition, a large number of detection equipment and troops will be deployed to completely stop the swarm outside the territory of the Crimson Dragon Kingdom."

That high-ranking officer was none other than Su Wei, and she did not hide some of the more confidential information from the players.

"That's good."

Lin Qingying didn't say anything more, but just put some food on my plate and urged me to eat more.

Around 11 o'clock, I returned to the community, feeling extremely tired. After washing up, I fell into a deep sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

……

I woke up early the next morning.

Lying in bed, I glanced at my accumulated experience points, which were just enough to reach level 54. Without hesitation, I confirmed the upgrade and then found Applied Mathematics in the pre-selected skills. After learning it, I upgraded it to level 10 Applied Mathematics Master in one go, which immediately increased my Spirit by 30 points.

At this point, as a sword-wielding super weapon user, my mental strength has reached a staggering 777 points, which is quite extraordinary. This mental strength is almost as high as my second attribute, agility!
Of course, all of this is thanks to practice and skills such as applied mathematics, algorithm basics, and programming basics. Such a high level of mental strength is a kind of foundation. When facing psionicists and star speakers, the psionic resistance will be exceptionally high!
Furthermore, with the knowledge of fifth-order max-level applied mathematics, I felt as if I had instantly transformed into a mathematician. Many unsolved mysteries in my mind suddenly became clear. Mathematics is the foundation of science. Physics, chemistry, biology, and so on are all inextricably linked to mathematics in the end. So at this moment, I feel that I may already be one of the smartest people in Xingyuan, at least in theory.

A slight joy welled up in my heart; with applied mathematics, the progress of Yuening Mall's core algorithm would be greatly accelerated!
After getting up and washing up briefly, I went downstairs to eat with Lin Qingying.

Early in the morning, the sun was shining brightly. The television news was repeatedly broadcasting that the insect swarm in the city had been completely eradicated and life had returned to normal. In addition, the community's loudspeakers were also broadcasting these messages over and over again.

"Good morning, Brother Ding Han and Sister Xiao Ying!"

Not far away, Li Xiang, carrying a schoolbag, suddenly jumped off Grandpa Li's tricycle, grabbed a small stool, and sat down beside him.

"Li Xiang, want a fried dough stick?"

"Thank you, Brother Ding Han!"

The chubby boy grabbed a fried dough stick in his mouth, but ate it very slowly, his face full of worry: "Brother Ding Han, my classmates say that the bugs have already invaded the city, and they might wipe out our elementary school today. We won't have to go to school anymore. Is that true?"

"What a mess..."

I was speechless. After greeting Grandpa Li, I said, "Didn't you hear the news? The swarm has been wiped out. Moreover, our country's top leadership has sent many super-powerful psionicists who can sense the presence of the swarm's biological information. They can tell whether there are any bugs within tens of kilometers just by opening their eyes. So don't worry, the bugs won't massacre your school. You still need to go to school as usual."

"Oh……"

He nodded, whether with relief or disappointment, it was hard to tell; youth is indeed unaware of sorrow.

"Alright, I'm leaving now. Goodbye, Brother Ding Han and Sister Xiao Ying!"

The gloom in the little fat boy's heart was swept away, and he followed Grandpa Li away with half a fried dough stick in his mouth.

Lin Qingying smiled faintly and asked if I wanted a few more fried dough sticks. I said no, eating about 60-70% full in the morning was enough.

……

This morning, I frantically wrote code in the office, solving many previously unresolved problems and making some minor modifications to the architecture, which will make the overall algorithm smoother.

At this moment, with the fifth-level mastery of programming, mathematics, architecture and algorithm knowledge, I feel more than capable of writing algorithms, and I no longer feel powerless as before.

Sometimes I feel a bit sentimental. If I could really return to the real world in the future, most of these skills probably wouldn't come with me. I'm afraid I would still become that useless corporate slave. Could I really bear that kind of drop in status?
I even suspect that when that time comes, many players won't want to go home.

That's right, we're so happy here that we don't even want to go home!

As noon approached, my stomach started growling; the consequences of eating only 60-70% full in the morning were becoming apparent.

"Zhao Yihang!"

I called downstairs immediately: "Have you ordered my takeout yet?"

"You won't be able to get takeout. Come down and see for yourself," Zhao Yihang said.

"What the hell?"

My heart skipped a beat. Could it be that someone else was causing trouble, or that someone else had died suddenly, or that Chen Xiaoman's ex-husband had come and started beating people up—some kind of ridiculous nonsense?
So he grabbed his coat from the chair, put it on, and went downstairs to see what was going on.

When I got downstairs, I didn't see anything lively. Instead, I saw Lu Xiaomei standing beautifully by the bar. She took off her sunglasses, looked at me, and whistled, "Handsome, wanna add me on WeChat?"

'Damn it...'

I was utterly speechless: "Lu Xiaobei, why are you acting like a scoundrel?"

Not far away, several students playing games couldn't help but laugh, their bodies trembling, when they heard this. They were all regulars and even quite familiar with Lu Xiaobei. Who wouldn't give face to a big star like Lu Xiaobei? Only in front of me did she act like a pushover.

"I want you to take care of it?"

She said confidently, "I'll treat everyone to lunch, and we'll set off once Sister Xiaoman arrives."

No doubt, it's chicken and frog again; she has a special fondness for that dry pot restaurant.

A few minutes later, Chen Xiaoman came downstairs, and the group went out onto the street to have dinner.

"Weren't you recording in BH City?"

I asked, "How come you have time to go back to Huaining City? Based on my guess, you haven't finished recording the fourth and fifth versions yet, have you?"

"That's about it, come back and take a look."

Lu Xiaobei took off his sunglasses, spread his arms to feel the spring temperature in Huaining City, and laughed: "Huaining City is my second hometown, you know. Yesterday, a huge insect nest appeared in Donghu District. How could I not come back to see it?"

Her current outfit is very casual, a white tank top and a gray plaid shirt. It's a very simple combination, but it looks very youthful on her. Even though she has a small chest, she still looks very cute.

Of course, I also know that Lu Xiaobei couldn't say much when I was fighting the swarm of insects yesterday, for fear of disturbing me too much, but he was also very worried, so he still flew to Huaining City in person to check if I was missing any limbs or anything.

"Ding Han, say less. Xiao Bei rarely comes back, don't upset her," Chen Xiaoman said.

"Okay, Sister Xiaoman."

Chen Xiaoman is the most composed person at Feiyang Internet Cafe, and I respect her words very much.

Not long after, the Chicken and Frog Dry Pot Restaurant opened.

Lu Xiaobei ordered a large pot of fried rice, plus two servings of egg fried rice. She had a special fondness for the egg fried rice at this restaurant, and it was indeed quite good. The fried rice grains were plump and the consistency was just right, making it a truly excellent dish.

……

So he ate his fill.

Just as he put down his chopsticks, the sound of gunfire echoed in his mind. It was a voice message from him: "Ding Han, I just received news that a large insect hive has appeared near the Wall of Life in Xicheng. Get ready, the guide may be issuing a mission soon. Huaining City and Xicheng are sister cities, we need to go and reinforce them!"

"learn!"

Two minutes later, a bell rang in my ear—

[Attention all players! The regional quest "Reinforce Xicheng" (S-rank) has been officially released! Issued by: Guide; Quest details: A large insect hive has appeared near Xicheng, and the insectoid biosignals are extremely strong. Please immediately proceed to Xicheng to reinforce it. The more insects you eliminate in battle, the richer the final reward!]

The mission arrived just as our group of people were walking out of the dry pot restaurant.

"Xiao Bei, come here, I have something to tell you."

I turned and went into the alley next to me, and Lu Xiaobei came over wearing sunglasses.

She must have been recognized too many times in BH City, so she has become more obedient and wears sunglasses wherever she goes.

"What is it?"

"I need to leave for a bit."

"what?"

Lu Xiaobei looked annoyed: "I just got back and you're already leaving? There's no need to avoid me like this. I didn't ask anything of you, and I certainly didn't ask you to break up with Lin Qingying and be with me." "What are you thinking?"

I glared at her: "It's still about the Zerg swarm. I just triggered an S-rank main quest. Apparently, a large Zerg hive has appeared near Creek City and could breach the Wall of Life and invade the city at any time. Creek City's defenses are far weaker than those in China, so I have to go there immediately!"

"We definitely need to go."

She frowned slightly: "After all, Xicheng is also my second hometown."

"Goodness, Huaining City is half your hometown, and Xicheng is also half your hometown. So only BH City isn't your hometown, is that right?"

“That’s right. There’s nothing worth staying for in BH City. After all, all my memories are from my childhood, and I’m all grown up now. People shouldn’t live in the past. In your players’ words, living in the past is like wasting time on side quests that have no future. I need to get back to my main quest.”

I gave her a deep look: "Xiao Bei, sometimes I feel that you are quite cultured."

"Go to hell, Ding Han!"

She punched me angrily: "I'm a graduate of a top national university, you know?"

I nimbly dodged, and then, taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, I reached out and summoned the off-road motorcycle from the alley, saying, "Alright, I'm leaving now, I'm not going to argue with you anymore!"

"Wow~~~"

Lu Xiaobei looked at my cool motorcycle and immediately drooled: "Can you take me for a ride next time I come back? This is so cool!"

"We'll see, I'm leaving now."

As he spoke, he mounted his motorcycle and sped onto the main road. Behind him came Lu Xiaobei's voice: "Ding Han, aren't you wearing a helmet? That's so unsafe!!!"

I was speechless.

Helmet... what's a helmet?! A bunch of us players don't wear helmets when we ride bikes. After all, the stats are what they are. Even if a tank runs over your head, you might not get a headshot. Why would we wear a helmet?!

……

Player black market.

Ruolin, Caicai, Fatty, and the others took their places one by one, and the team of eight quickly assembled. Members of guilds such as Chixiao Alliance and Jinyu also arrived. As a result, the players from Huaining City entered the teleportation array in groups and were successfully teleported to the teleportation array outside Xicheng City.

He took out his motorcycle and headed straight to the scene of the incident.

Five minutes later, the outline of the Wall of Life in Xicheng came into view. Smoke rose from outside the south city wall, and the sound of gunfire was deafening. A great battle was taking place there.

"Get off the bus and move forward!"

With a command that sounded like a dragon drawing its gun, everyone put away their vehicles, took out their weapons, and advanced forward.

"Zhizhi~~~"

In the forest, a group of Tier 2 Hydralisks and Exploding Insects rushed out, their brown and green colors blending together.

"Damn, it's a blasting bug!"

A demon shouted, "Concentrate your firepower and kill the exploding bugs first!"

I immediately switched to the pink bomb gun and, together with Cai Cai, Ruo Lin, and others, unleashed a barrage of fire at the front. The bombs exploded incessantly, and the players' firepower was extremely fierce. Moreover, those who were on the front line were basically the elite players from Huaining City, and the average damage increase was estimated to be around 30%, with the firepower at its maximum!
Of course, I'm probably the only player with a damage increase of 101%. Combined with the AOE damage of the pink bomb gun, every shot resulted in dense AOE damage. It's a good thing this is the real world, otherwise the main system might have crashed due to such a terrifying amount of calculation.

"Flamethrower, roasting the bugs!"

Not far away, at the command of "Spear Like a Dragon", seven or eight players carrying flamethrowers emerged from the Crimson Sky Alliance and sprayed fire at the swarm of insects. The flames surged and the first and second-tier insects sizzled as they burned. Soon, the scene was filled with the exclamation "Wow, it smells so good!"

Ruolin and I glanced over there together, both feeling a bit envious.

It has to be the Crimson Sky Alliance. No wonder they say "Shot Like a Dragon" is such a talented person. Not only does he have great personal charisma and leadership skills, but he also has an excellent relationship with his superiors. While other players didn't even know what a flamethrower was, the Crimson Sky Alliance had already started equipping it as standard issue.

Looking across the entire Huaining City, the Chixiao Alliance is probably the guild that most resembles an army. Its achievements are largely due to the "Spear Like a Dragon" strategy!

So, more than 200 elite players from Huaining City pushed forward from outside the city, constantly eliminating the insects scattered outside the city.

Just then, a loud bang suddenly came from ahead.

"Boom~~~"

Through the woods, one could see the endless, colossal structure in front of them suddenly collapse.

"Holy crap, the south wall of Xicheng has collapsed!" A squad leader from the Crimson Cloud Alliance stared in disbelief.

"Damn it, it collapsed again!"

Cai Cai's eyes widened as well. Players who had experienced the Battle of Xicheng would remember that when Dark Tide attacked Xicheng, the south city wall was the first to be breached. Could it be that the south city wall was an easy target for Xicheng, and anyone could just take advantage of it?!

"Advance quickly and get closer to the insect hive!"

With a command from the commander, "The guns are drawn like dragons," everyone unleashed even greater firepower.

……

About ten minutes later, the woodland in front collapsed, revealing an insect nest. The nest was about 200 meters away from the south city wall. The cracks from the nest continued to spread forward, extending directly to the base of the south city wall, which was the main cause of the collapse. At this time, many insects were climbing up the city wall and fighting with the Xicheng garrison guarding the wall.

Currently, the unit guarding Xicheng is a division under the Red Dragon Legion, numbering approximately 10,000 men, and is quite elite.

As for Dulin the Windbreaker back then, although he served as the SJ of Xicheng City Committee, he actually had no military power. There was nothing he could do; this was the price of surrendering.

Accompanied by the screech of the insect swarm, wave after wave of insects charged towards us from all directions. The battle was fierce. Through the collapsed city walls, we could see that a cordon had been set up inside the city, and the military and police were urgently evacuating the onlookers who were unaware of the situation.

The fact that insect swarms move underground is indeed difficult to prevent.

The battle continued, and the two sides entered a tug-of-war. Wave after wave of Zerg swarms attacked outwards. Before long, night fell, and the Zerg swarms' offensive noticeably weakened.

The number of insect swarms that can hatch from a single insect hive is ultimately limited. This one in front of us is a large insect hive, but the player has been killing insects for so long that it should be close to the limit.

Just then, the roar of a heavy transport plane came from the sky. The cabin opened, and a huge figure was dropped down, with lights lighting up in mid-air. It was a Crimson Dragon-class mech!

"Pong!"

Amidst the rising dust, the Crimson Dragon-class mech landed. Inside the cockpit sat a short-haired young man with a hint of arrogance in his eyes. He turned the mech around to look at us and said, "I am Major Zhuang Da. I am ordered to destroy the insect hive. You players just need to follow behind me and pick up the scraps. Don't make any rash moves, and definitely don't rush in front of me to your deaths. My heavy weapons don't discriminate."

"grass……"

His simple words provoked strong dissatisfaction from players in Huaining City and Xicheng City.

However, this man was a major and a pilot of the Crimson Dragon-class mech, so there was nothing we could do but listen to him.

"Let's go, let's go!"

Zhuang Da gave a low shout and piloted his mech into the insect hive.

"Damn, this guy is really arrogant..." said the Chaos Demon King.

"Humph……"

Gun Chu Rulong smiled faintly: "It's normal. He's a pilot of a Crimson Dragon-class mecha, and he's young. It's normal for him to be young and impetuous."

"Let's go."

I walked to the edge of the insect hive with my bomb gun, turned around and smiled slightly at Cai Cai and Ruo Lin, and said, "I only know that arrogance will eventually be punished by heaven. The last one who was that arrogant was long ago burrowed to death by the bloodthirsty worms."

"Hahahaha~~~"

Cai Cai smiled knowingly: "Lead the way, boss. We'll follow you into the insect hive to eat meat."

"Proceed! Remain alert!"

I also leaped down from the insect nest, using the rock face to propel myself up and down, and in the blink of an eye I was inside the nest. My nose was immediately filled with the unpleasant smell of insects, as if I had entered a rotten cellar that had been decaying for many years.

Ahead, the Crimson Dragon-class mech had already opened fire, its heavy firepower from both arms sweeping across the area, turning a swarm of orange blade insects into a pile of minced meat!
This thing is really powerful, and Major Zhuang Da certainly has the right to be arrogant.

I wonder when we players will be able to own such a mech. It seems quite far away. Let's equip power armor first. This mech is much stronger than power armor.

"Red Sky Alliance, advance from the right flank!"

The sound of gunfire like dragons came from the right, while Yu Shi Wu Zheng and Shen Jin led their people forward with a group of players from Xi Cheng. All the players followed behind or to the sides of the Crimson Dragon-class mech, advancing slowly.

"Shh~~~"

Ahead, the soil inside the insect nest crumbled away, the rock walls began to rise, and then a series of dark, shiny figures twisted out—a group of crustaceans that looked somewhat like centipedes!
"Watch out, it's a giant pincers, a Tier 4 Zerg unit!" Gunshot Like a Dragon shouted a warning.

In an instant, more than 20 giant pincers appeared, all of them level 60 orange bosses!

"Humph!"

Inside the Crimson Dragon-class mech, Zhuang Da let out a sneer. He suddenly leaped into the 20-meter-tall heavy mech, and with a "crack," his steel feet snapped a giant pincer insect in half, splattering green sap everywhere. Then, the mech's left arm deformed, unleashing a giant monomolecular longsword. The sword light swept across, quickly killing the giant pincer insects one by one!

Wow! That's incredible!
"This guy's arrogance is actually quite reasonable..." the Chaos Demon King couldn't help but remark.

I frowned but didn't say anything, but I firmly believed that those who become complacent will be punished.

A few seconds later, more than 20 giant pincers were annihilated by the Crimson Dragon-class mech, leaving only four or five. They were twisting their bodies, trying to restrain the mech, but they were no match for it. The mech's power was inexhaustible, and its arms swung wildly, smashing the few remaining giant pincers to pieces in the blink of an eye.

"Shua~~~"

Just then, a blue figure appeared ahead, bursting out of the darkness deep within the insect hive like a blue wheel.

"That is……"

I squinted at the name of the insect, and finally saw it clearly when it was less than 10 meters away from the Crimson Dragon-class mech.

Spirit Blast Bug, Tier 5 Zerg, Cyan BOSS!

"not good!"

I quickly stepped back with the torch, shouting, "Caicai, come over here!"

Immediately afterwards, he shouted into the star map: "All players near the mech, activate invincibility now!"

I said I opened an absolute space, heavily protecting everyone in the team inside.

"You little bug!"

Zhuang Da, inside the Crimson Dragon Mech, was completely unaware of what was happening. He suddenly raised one leg, as if to crush the Spirit Explosion Bug. However, the moment the mech's steel foot touched the Spirit Explosion Bug, numerous cracks appeared on its body, a powerful mental force rippled out, and then the Spirit Explosion Bug's body exploded, turning into a large amount of cyan molten liquid that sprayed out in all directions!
"Peng——"

The explosion of the Spirit Bug was far more powerful than that of the Spirit Bug, and the explosion field directly devoured everything within a radius of 30 meters!
The cyan molten liquid, of unknown origin, instantly corroded most of the Crimson Dragon-class mech's body, leaving only "half" of the mech as it crashed heavily backward.

As for Major Zhuang Da, the cockpit was melted down, and his body was long gone, leaving not even ashes.

……

"Holy crap, that's intense..."

He was dumbfounded, seemingly indifferent to worldly affairs.

At this moment, probably because I notified them in time, all the players in the front row activated their invincibility in time, so they all escaped the disaster. This time the survival rate was 100%, because everyone was a top player in both cities and knew the importance of the invincibility burst skill. Therefore, even if they gave up some attributes, they would definitely try to have an invincibility skill.

After all, the game has reached the mid-game stage. Although invincible burst skills are rare and only appear in rings and necklaces, there are still quite a few invincible equipment items on the market after half a year. Even if orange and purple invincible rings are too expensive to buy, blue ones are always affordable, costing only 20,000 to 30,000.

"I rely on..."

Gunshot Like a Dragon stepped forward, glanced at the wreckage of the Crimson Dragon-class mech, and said, "This major is just gone like that?"

"Hmm, that's all."

I smiled faintly: "Didn't you ask for it? Would it kill you to keep a low profile?"

For a moment, both "Gunshot Like a Dragon" and "Unconcerned with the World" let out a sinister laugh.

"Let's go."

Carrying the torch, I stepped over the wreckage of the Crimson Dragon-class mech and led everyone to continue exploring. In this version, a large insect hive must contain more than just one cyan spirit blast insect; there must be at least one pink BOSS. That is the opportunity we have for this trip!
(End of this chapter)