Chapter 557: Carmic
Sandscorpion colonies were a deadly threat in the Desert, just like the sandstorm. A colony of sandscorpions could stretch out for miles, and they moved at an astonishing speed. An encounter with a scorpion colony would be pretty much like signing your own death warrant. A sandscorpion was about the size of a human fist. Just a drop of venom from the tip of its tail would be fatal. Besides, the sandscorpion could release a highly corrosive poison from its tail.
Sandscorpions always appear in the thousands. They could move much faster than a normal human. Shooters who encountered a sandscorpion colony never make it out alive. There was no way to deal with so many sandscorpions.
Xuan Ning looked troubled. "We're really down in luck. First it was all peaceful but now look what we've got in our hands."
Sha Ya had already made her decision. She turned to Ye Chong and said, "We should run fromthem."
Every field of expertise has its advantages and disadvantages. A close range fighter like Ye Chong would be able to outrun the sandscorpions. Any capable combat expert would be able to run for at least a few days non-stop. Shooters, however, could not do this. Their weak bodies could not carry them fast enough away from the sandscorpions. Besides, sandscorpions were known to be tenacious in pursuing their prey, making it difficult for anyone they had set their sights on.
Even a Level 9 shooter like Xuan Ning would not be able to handle the sandscorpions.
The Spider was not fast, but it was still faster than the scorpions. Nevertheless, if they ran for it, their schedule would be interrupted. The disgusting insects were famous for their tenacity.
Ye Chong did not bring the Spider to a run. Instead, he went to the storage room and disappeared inside.
The sandscorpions had discovered the huge spider by then. The Spider presented itself as a feast for the sandscorpions. It was terrifying to see the huge colony of insects marching towards the Spider. Xuan Ning and Sha Ya both look stricken.
"Are you trying to test the Spider's anti-corrosive properties?" Xuan Ning looked deeply unsettled.
Sha Ya had already reached for her laser gun. The feel of the weapon gave her a sense of security. She watched the approaching sandscorpions on the screen nervously.
Both shooters did not know how to pilot the Scorpion, or they would have had the Spider running by now.
They did not know what Ye Chong was up to. It was not Ye Chong's nature to give up so easily, but they could not fathom what he could do given their current situation.
No sound came from the storage room after Ye Chong disappeared inside it.
10 minutes passed.
Finally, Ye Chong came out from the storage room with two test tubes. The first test tube was filled with a green coloured solution, while the other was filled with a light yellow solution. The solutions were clear as crystal and sparkled under the light.
Xuan Ning forgot about the sandscorpions for a moment and stared wide-eyed at the solutions. "What are these?" Sha Ya was also looking at the two beautiful test tubes with great interest. Women seemed to be innately drawn to pretty glowing things.
"Shavill root extract and Wanda extract." Ye Chong offered two technical terms that were foreign to both Sha Ya and Xuan Ning, but he did not elaborate further.
Ye Chong directed his attention to the screen. While he was inside the storage room just then, the sandscorpions had already gotten very close to them.
The insects were at most 500 meters away. This was a difficult situation for anyone to be in. When Xuan Ning looked at the screen again, he was shocked by what he saw. "Run! Run -"
Even Ye Chong was surprised by Xuan Ning's loud shriek. Who knew that a Level 9 shooter could be shocked to this extent. Sha Ya could not help rolling her eyes. She felt her cheeks turn red out of embarrassment. How could Eastern Cloud's number one shooter turn out like this? His name was enough to tame even the most arrogant and powerful shooters of their time! As a professional in the same field, Sha Ya thought he was an embarassment.
Crack! Ye Chong planted a chop from behind Xuan Ning's neck. The man's eyes rolled upwards as he slumped quietly to the ground.
Sha Ya gaped in bewilderment at Ye Chong. How could anyone treat a Level 9 shooter like that? She could hardly believe what she saw.
"He's too noisy," Ye Chong explained calmly.
Sha Ya threw a sympathetic look at Xuan Ning, but blurted out, "How long will he be out? Should we give him a tranquilizer? It's safer that way."
Ye Chong held the two test tubes in his left hand while his right hand flew across the control panel, keying in commands.
The Spider began to retreat backwards. The soft footing beneath it did not affect its movements. They began to distant from the sandscorpions. However, the colony was too big to escape so easily.
Sha Ya could not understand him. If he wanted to escape, why wait until now? Was it not a little too late now? And what were the liquids in the two test tubes for?
Suddenly, Ye Chong opened the firing chamber, where a cone shaped grenade with four tail fins slid out.
Sha Ya had never seen a grenade before. Aircrafts usually use photon grenades, powerful pure energy weapons that ran on energy crystals. She had never seen a solid weapon like this.
Nevertheless, it felt natural to see something unfamiliar whenever Ye Chong was involved, especially weapons. After all, he was the Chief Weaponsmith.
Ye Chong put down the two test tubes in his left hand and took the grenade instead. He had made preparations for their expedition. He knew that pure energy weapons were only suitable for a narrow range of situations. Besides, these creatures had outer shells that were very resistant to energy base attacks. Other weapons like corrosion grenades and high compression explosive grenades were more up to task. Ye Chong had a thing for auxiliary grenades. He was a wide variety of experience in putting them to good use.
For this reason, Ye Chong prepared all kinds of grenades for this expedition. He had space to store them. Right now, he was using a high explosive grenade, fitted with a miniature engine at its tip. Without using any tools and with the other hand controlling the Spider, Ye Chong opened the bottom part of the high explosive grenade.
Sha Ya simply stared. She had never seen a human hand move so deftly!
Besides, she was curious as to what Ye Chong was about to do.
Ye Chong removed the explosives inside the grenade and replaced them with the solutions in the two test tubes. He then secured the casing at the bottom of the grenade very carefully, leaving the Spider's control panel while he focused on this task.
Sha Ya had never seen Ye Chong move with such deliberate care. She held her breath while Ye Chong worked.
Ye Chong lifted the grenade carefully in his hands and sent it sliding back down the firing chamber.
When the hatch of the firing chamber was closed, Ye Chong felt relaxed. Sha Ya could hear his breathing pace change. It took only a short while to modify the grenade, but Ye Chong was already sweating on his forehead.
Sha Ya knew the kind of person Ye Chong was. He did not panic even when fighting against a Level 8 shooter by himself. However, he was clearly nervous when handling those two test tubes. What could be so terrifying about the beautiful solutions in those test tubes?
Ye Chong ignored the sweat on his forehead and resumed typing on the control console.
"Target identification." A red cross appeared on the screen. Ye Chong moved the red cross to the center of the sandscorpion colony.
"Target locked."
Next, Sha Ya heard a low rumble from the firing chamber that Ye Chong opened earlier. She saw Ye Chong focusing on the screen, and followed suit.
There was an almost imperceptible flash at the center of the red cross. Sha Ya noticed the tiny flash of light on the screen.
"This must be the strange 'weapon' that Ye Chong slid down the firing chamber," Sha Ya thought to herself. She watched the screen with anticipation.
Abruptly, a cloud of yellowish green smoke exploded in the center of the sandscorpion colony.
The thick smoke spread out quickly from the center. Sha Ya was surprised by how fast the smoke was spreading.
When Ye Chong saw the smoke, he immediately had the Spider retreat at full speed. The Spider jolted backwards.
In the next instant, the yellowish green smoke had engulfed all the sandscorpions. The Spider could not outrun the mist. Ye Chong immediately keyed in new commands for the Spider.
"Close all ventilation openings. Activate cabin oxygenation system. Pressurize the cabin."
The Spider stood still as the mist finally reached it. The Hummingbirds were still in the sky, however, and the video feed from them informed them of what was happening outside.
The thick yellowish green mist unfurled on the ground like a monster, spreading at an alarming speed.
Both the Spider and the sandscorpion colony found themselves shrouded by the thick mist. It was impossible to see them from the sky, outside the mist.
Sha Ya was confused, but began to have an inkling of what was to come.
She stole a glance at Ye Chong. The man looked serious as he looked at the screen without a word.
Gradually, the mist began to subside. Xuan Ning awoke then. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Oh my, what's with the soreness? Huh, there's a mist?" Xuan Ning was startled by the image on the screen. He straightened up immediately. "Impossible. There is no mist in the Desert. Why is there a mist? And it's in a yellowish green color!"
He turned to the other two people in the pilot cabin in surprise. "Did someone fart?" Ye Chong and Sha Ya simply ignored him while he wallowed in embarrassment.
The mist was thinning out. Ye Chong was happy to find that the mist was behaving as he expected.
The mist subsided as quickly as it first appeared. Soon, it was gone without a trace.
"Wah!" Sha Ya looked terrible. Her eyes betrayed the shock she was feeling. She doubled over and vomited.
Xuan Ning looked pale. He watched the screen in horror and muttered, "This, this is impossible …"
All round them was a five-kilometer radius of blood and dissolved flesh. Nothing in sight was left alive. The sand was covered with mushy insect bodies. The blood was quickly absorbed into the sand beneath it, forming a layer of dark red crust on the ground. Above the layer of crust lay hundreds and thousands of sandscorpion exoskeletons. Only the toughest parts of the exoskeletons remained, which was the sting on their tails!
Sha Ya threw up violently. Despite her long experience in combat, she had never seen or heard anything quite so bloody and devastating. The pilot cabin was filled with the stench of vomit.
Ye Chong was unaffected by it. He tapped a few times on the controls and the air inside the cabin was freshened up. The vomit was cleaned up by an automatic cleaning machine.
Sha Ya straightened up, her face white as a sheet. She stared at Ye Chong in horror.
Sha Ya felt a deep terror inside her. The man in front of her was like the Devil in all the legends she had heard of! No, he was even scarier than that! If this "weapon" was used on humans … Sha Ya felt goosebumps all over her. She seemed to understand now why Ye Chong had nothing to be afraid of, not even a Level 9 shooter. After all, what was a shooter compared to this?
It was a terrifying thought!
Xuan Ning was uncharacteristically quiet, but his sharp eyes revealed how shaken he felt!
If this weapon was ever used on Su City …
A flash of killing intent came and went from Xuan Ning.
Ye Chong ignored the horror of his two companions. Personally, he thought that this fell short compared to the time when he used the Green Tempest. This time around, he did not have the materials to formulate the Green Tempest. Besides, the wind conditions and humidity in the Desert were not suitable. Hence, he opted for the Shavill root extract and Wanda extract. When mixed together, these two solutions produced a very poisonous and corrosive gas called Carmic, which meant "to dissolve". [1]
Even so, Ye Chong had used this combination with great care, since both solutions were highly unstable and very dangerous to handle.
Fortunately, the weapon worked perfectly. For a person like Ye Chong, who cared only about results, it did not matter if he ended up with a disgusting and bloody scene.
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