Those who reincarnate must die.

The crowd waited on the city wall all morning, and finally, when the sun reached its highest point, the insect swarm reappeared on the northern horizon.

"They're here!" The reincarnators were on high alert. Ye Peng and Le Xinyi each operated a crossbow, Liu Mofei helped the weaker Le Xinyi, and Fang Tianhua took out a black crossbow, drew the string and nocked an arrow. However, his crossbow bolts had been modified, with bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder attached to them.

Just like yesterday, as the swarm of insects drew closer, the catapults first unleashed a barrage of bombs, followed by ballistae to deal with the insects that rushed through the bombardment, and finally the archers used explosive arrows to fire at the insects!

Moreover, today's gunpowder weapons incorporate many ingenious new designs.

For example, one method was inspired by firecrackers by those undergoing reincarnation. They twisted the fuse and thread together, tying countless firecrackers together to form a giant, extra-large string of red fireworks!

This string of red earth firecrackers, launched into the swarm of insects using crossbows that fire blades, was like a series of small firecrackers. They couldn't kill a strong insect immediately, but instead disturbed its senses, startling it into running around in all directions. The series of explosions disrupted the insects' charge, buying time for the archers on the city walls to fire at them one by one!

Another method was inspired by the "little bee" firecracker. Craftsmen made gunpowder into "mini rockets" that could continuously propel themselves, and attached these rockets to symmetrical large blades, one on each side. When lit and thrown into a swarm of insects, the large blades would spin automatically like tops under the thrust of the mini rockets, rampaging through the insects. Before the gunpowder burned out, it could kill at least a considerable number of insects!

There were many other such ingenious ideas, some effective, others just silly, but they all managed to rout the insect swarm, leaving the insects sprawled and battered...

Similar to the previous day, the insects were almost wiped out before they could even reach the city walls. After about an hour, the swarm could not withstand the power of the gunpowder weapons and retreated.

After a brief respite, around three or four in the afternoon, the swarm attacked again. After more than an hour of fighting, they managed to retreat before sunset.

After these two battles, each veteran had killed a considerable number of insects, but without Zhang Lang's portable counter system, they didn't know if they had killed enough or earned enough points. Zhang Lang, on the other hand, stood atop the city wall carrying his greatsword, but had little opportunity to use his skills…

The fourth day passed peacefully. Back in the castle that evening, the veterans enthusiastically described the power of gunpowder weapons to the newcomers, recounting how many bugs they had eliminated and how many points they had earned. The newcomers were itching to try it out.

"How about we go up to the city wall tomorrow and try to get some points?" Wang Chufeng suggested. The other newcomers nodded in agreement, indicating they were willing to give it a try.

"If I were you, I'd stay obediently in the castle tomorrow!" Fang Tianhua suddenly said.

"I've never heard of a mission that goes smoothly. Especially this one with 36 people on full difficulty. If we could just clear it with a gunpowder weapon, that would be too easy. There are still more than two days left, and I reckon something will happen tomorrow..."

After hearing Fang Tianhua's words, the newcomers became worried again, and their voices on the city wall grew weaker. Only Wang Chufeng looked at the senior members, seemingly having some kind of idea.

Besides this, Professor Yuan Lili brought back information about the insects through dissection!

Upon learning this news, Le Xinyi informed Zhang Lang and summoned him to the Reincarnators' room... As the strongest among the Reincarnators, knowing the insects' weaknesses would help him kill enemies more effectively and greatly benefit the completion of the main quest!

After everyone arrived, Teacher Yuan took out her notes:

"I've dissected a lot of insect corpses left on the city walls these past two days, including the most common mantis monsters, the powerful purple-gold war insects, and those dragonfly-like flying insects... Although they are all different in appearance, they have many things in common in structure. It's clear that they are likely differentiations and metamorphosis from the same type of insect egg!"

"Pervert...pervert?" Liu Mofei asked curiously.

"This kind of perversion is not the same as that kind of perversion!" said Shang Xue, the short-haired girl with glasses. "Perversion is a change in the growth process of an insect, such as from a maggot to a fly, a complete change in form, that's called perversion!"

Yuan Lili nodded and continued:

"These monsters, though resembling insects, are not simply enlarged versions of small insects. Their body structures are complex and sophisticated, yet unlike any large animals we commonly know. This allows them to grow larger than humans. However, they are not as difficult to kill as simple insects; a typical attack that damages their head and main torso is sufficient to kill them."

"So, these insects are actually higher organisms on a different evolutionary path?"

"That's not fair!" Yuan Lili retorted. "There's at least one thing in which they're no different from insects: their brains! Their brains are as simple as insects'. I even think it's a complete waste for them to have such big heads, because their brains only need to be about the size of a walnut."

"What's inside their heads?" Liu Xingwei asked curiously. "Are they empty?"

"It's not empty; most of the space is filled with a kind of oily substance. Similar to dolphins and whales, I speculate that these are used to receive ultrasonic waves..." Yuan Lili analyzed. "This structure is generally used for long-distance communication. However, the brains of these insects are not large enough to support their use of language..."

"In other words, these insects are under command!" Shang Xue pushed up her glasses. "Like the insectoid races in many science fiction works, these insects should also have a commander, such as a cerebrate or an insect king. If we can take it down, maybe we can turn the tide!"

"What's the point of saying all this?" Liu Mofei shrugged. "Are we supposed to go out of the city to assassinate the Insect King? Besides, who knows where the Insect King is hiding?"

"We don't know where the Insect King is! But we're certain it's not too far!"

Wang Chufeng laughed, "Sound travels at a very limited speed and attenuates significantly in the air. If these insects really do transmit information using ultrasound, then the commander definitely wouldn't be too far away!"

"Then it's still useless!" Liu Mofei sighed. "Even if it's right below the city, we wouldn't dare to rush out and attack!"

Indeed, seeing the swarms of insects covering the wilderness in the thousands, their numbers and individual strength far surpassed those of humans. Without the protection of this city wall, humans would have no chance of winning in open battle...

Among the crowd, only Zhang Lang frowned slightly, seemingly lost in thought...

Should we storm... the Zerg hive?

………………

()

Remember the official website in 1 second: . Mobile version reading URL: