The edge of the corridor fell into a suffocating silence. A cold wind blew past, and the few women ambushed at the corner couldn't help but shiver. Except for Li Jiayu, whose face was stern, everyone else's heart pounded wildly, silent as cicadas in winter.
After a moment, the "rustling" friction sound grew closer. Soon, a bloated Red-Crested Beetle, its entire body shimmering red, darted out from the corner. Its body was clearly a size larger than ordinary Red-Crested Beetles, its back covered in sharp barbs, and its six limbs were extremely thick, thicker than pig legs!
This was a Red-Crested Beetle that had lived for a long time, close to evolving!
Its combat power was thirty percent stronger than its ordinary kin, but the various materials from its body were also more precious than its kin's, especially its Insect Crystal, definitely a top-quality high-Tier 1 crystal!
What surprised Li Jiayu the most was an egg-sized golden ladybug fluttering above its head, particularly conspicuous in the dim light, almost like a golden will-o'-the-wisp!
"Golden Ladybug! It's actually a symbiotic Golden Ladybug! Good stuff! This Red-Crested Beetle must die! Everyone, attack!"
A barely audible low "Yi?" sound, followed immediately by Li Jiayu issuing the attack command to everyone. Subsequently, Li Jiayu suddenly shot out from the corner like lightning, the Hyorinmaru in his hand blooming with snow-white cold mist, striking directly at the Golden Ladybug on the Red-Crested Beetle's head!
"Screech—"
The Golden Ladybug, realizing it was under attack, anxiously let out a warning cry, but it was too late. Li Jiayu's Hyorinmaru had already reached it. Like hitting a baseball, the sword body smacked hard against the Golden Ladybug, sending it flying. It hit the wall with a thwack, then froze over and fainted!
The Red-Crested Beetle roared repeatedly. Its symbiotic Golden Ladybug was actually treated so cruelly by a human; it would be strange if it didn't become enraged.
Its two small round eyes glared, its body suddenly crouched, and its sharp, spear-like bloodthirsty horn shot forward like lightning, charging ferociously towards Li Jiayu!
"As expected of a top-tier Red Beetle... speed is thirty percent faster than ordinary ones!"
Li Jiayu rolled wretchedly, narrowly dodging the attack. The Red-Crested Beetle naturally wouldn't let up, launching several critical attacks at Li Jiayu within three seconds, either goring with its horn, ramming with its body, or cutting with its front limbs. The damage was extremely terrifying; the marble on the walls and floor was pulverized by it!
"...Red Beetle... eat shit..."
Just as Li Jiayu was about to be cornered by the stairs with no retreat, the Dark Octopus's simple-minded and silly voice finally sounded. This fellow threw all the heavy weapons coiled in its tentacles – like large iron blocks, machine tool components, microwave ovens – onto the Red-Crested Beetle.
If an ordinary person were hit by those iron objects weighing dozens of jin, they would suffer broken bones and tendons for at least thirty days. Unfortunately, the Red-Crested Beetle before them had a body hard as stone, much harder than its ordinary kin. So those iron objects hitting its body only left small white dents, merely causing slight bruises!
However, this successfully attracted the Red-Crested Beetle's attention, slightly slowing its attack rhythm. Li Jiayu seized the opportunity and slipped out from the corner!
"Well done! Octopus, according to the old plan, I'll engage it first, you find a chance to control it! You few, don't rush to attack yet! Just watch obediently from the side!"
Li Jiayu regulated his breathing, fully drawing the Red-Crested Beetle's aggro, maneuvering around it in the slightly cramped corridor corner. Although the narrow space was disadvantageous for Li Jiayu's dodging, it was even more disadvantageous for the Red-Crested Beetle. It could barely utilize its charging speed advantage, only capable of short-distance movements.
The team members watched nervously from the middle of the stairs, hearts pounding wildly, completely shocked by the Red-Crested Beetle's terrifying momentum and destructive power. Large beasts like polar bears, Siberian tigers, and jaguars seemed utterly weak in comparison! Not even worthy of carrying the Red-Crested Beetle's shoes!
And what astonished them even more was Li Jiayu's superb dodging skills, almost like precognition, perfectly predicting the Red-Crested Beetle's next attack, narrowly avoiding incredibly dangerous attacks every time.
Several times everyone thought Li Jiayu was doomed, yet he incredibly flashed through the gaps in the Red-Crested Beetle's attacks like lightning, miraculously surviving, even having the spare energy to deliver a backhanded sword strike, leaving wounds on the giant insect's carapace.
Of course, Li Jiayu still slipped up slightly. His body couldn't keep up with his consciousness; his movements were a tiny bit slow, and the Red-Crested Beetle's horn immediately opened a gash on the edge of his thigh. Although not deep, it still bled considerably.
"Ah, be careful!"
Ran Hongxia and Xiao Wanqing watched with hearts tangled like hemp, feeling both scared and relieved, genuinely worried for Li Jiayu, afraid he would have another accident. At the same time, their evaluation of Li Jiayu rose once again.
The other male team members also watched with hearts in their throats. If it were them, they probably would have been instantly killed by the Red-Crested Beetle in the first encounter!
After battling for a moment, the Dark Octopus finally seized an opportunity, leaped up, and pressed down onto the Red-Crested Beetle's body. Its nine tentacles desperately wrapped around the Red-Crested Beetle, significantly restricting its body, forcing its speed and strength to be unusable, only able to struggle violently.
"Its, its strength... so great, Octopus can only control... three, five seconds..."
The Dark Octopus used all its strength, straining until its pink skin turned purplish-red. Li Jiayu naturally didn't dare delay. Having been suppressed by the Red-Crested Beetle for so long, his heart had long been filled with anger. He shouted loudly:
"Chu Xiang! Attack!"
Then he fiercely thrust Hyorinmaru into the Red-Crested Beetle's mouth! Meanwhile, Chu Xiang, receiving the command, immediately rushed over. His tall, sturdy body resembled a terrifying monster, carrying unparalleled momentum. He raised his heavy weapon high and smashed it down onto the Red-Crested Beetle's head with great force!
"Thud!"
A dull sound of metal colliding. A 150 kg heavy weapon was truly no joke. The immense weight smashed the Red-Crested Beetle's head until it caved in by a small half!
One of its eyes was forcefully squeezed out of its socket by this terrifying impact, showing how heavy the blow it received was!
Li Jiayu's Hyorinmaru also broke through the Red-Crested Beetle's thick mouth muscles, striking straight at the vital point, completely eroding its brain matter. The cold aura instantly froze its brain tissue solid!
The Red-Crested Beetle's body vibrated violently once, then could no longer move, completely stiff and dead.
"Phew... this beetle really was troublesome."
Li Jiayu pulled out Hyorinmaru, panting slightly. He felt this near-evolved Red-Crested Beetle's combat power was astonishing, probably equivalent to two ordinary ones. If the Dark Octopus hadn't helped control it, he really wouldn't have had much chance to inflict heavy damage.
"No matter how troublesome it was, it's no match for you."
Chu Xiang raised his head, a hearty laugh blooming on his ugly lizard face. Clearly, he felt extremely exhilarated for being able to heavily injure the insect, smashing its eye out with one blow.
"No, we killed it through cooperation. Chu Xiang, your performance wasn't bad..."
"Hehe... I barely helped at all. On the contrary, your injury..."
"It's nothing serious, doesn't affect movement..."
Li Jiayu looked at his slashed thigh and responded faintly. He was already used to wounds of this degree. He casually touched the wound with Hyorinmaru's blade body, using the cold aura to make the wound tissue contract, achieving the effect of stopping the bleeding, and considered it dealt with. Anyway, it didn't hurt much.
Next, the Dark Octopus extracted the Red-Crested Beetle's Insect Crystal. It was almost the size of a quail egg, looking like bloodstone, emitting a blood-like red glow. Li Jiayu held it in his palm and could clearly feel a strange heat.
"As expected of an Insect Crystal nearing Tier 2, containing such rich life force... Unfortunately, if it weren't really unsuitable for me, I couldn't resist absorbing it right now..."
Li Jiayu looked at the envious Chu Xiang and said expressionlessly:
"You use it. This purely strength-type item suits you best."
"Uh... how can I? It looks very precious, you should use it..." Chu Xiang's eyes widened, resolutely shaking his head in refusal. He was a teaching assistant with good character, not greedy, nor selfish. He naturally understood Li Jiayu should prioritize strengthening himself.
"No need. Strength-type Insect Crystals aren't very suitable for me... For future development, the first one I absorb must be a mental-type Insect Crystal. So don't be polite. Leaving it unused is just a waste; better to let you use it first." Li Jiayu still had the King-level Insect Crystal from the Scythe Beetle King. If he wanted to absorb it, he would have done so when he obtained it, why drag it out until now without strengthening himself?
"Uh... Insect Crystals are divided into strength-type and mental-type? So complicated..." Ran Hongxia asked.
"Mm, Insect Crystals have tiers and many different types. Strength-type is the most common. There are also vitality-type, mental-type, regeneration-type, element-type, endurance-type, immunity-type. In short, very complex. If you count mutated Insect Crystals, then it's even harder to calculate..."
Li Jiayu looked at Feng Liaoyuan and Lan Xiaoyue and said:
"Red-Crested Beetle crystals aren't suitable for you two. Fire-type crystals and regeneration-type crystals are most helpful to you... Of course, if you really can't find the most suitable crystal, using others as substitutes is also possible. It will still speed up your awakening, just waste some of your potential, maybe weakening you by about twenty percent..."
"Don't just look at it as weakening by twenty percent. At low levels, it might not have much impact... But when your level gets high, even the slightest difference is like heaven and earth."
"Forget it, let's not talk about this first... Chu Xiang, hurry up."
Chu Xiang hesitated for a moment, then stopped being coy. He quickly absorbed the Insect Crystal. His muscles instantly swelled slightly, looking even stronger. The suit that was already almost bursting on him became completely taut, constricting him uncomfortably. He could only tear off the entire upper garment, revealing grayish-brown striped muscles, like blocks of cast iron!
"So refreshing! This is the feeling of power! Feels like endless strength drilling out from my bones!"
Chu Xiang snorted two streams of white smoke from his nose, looking excited. He tightly clenched his fist and suddenly smashed it onto the marble floor. With a boom, the marble shattered into pieces!
"Very good... Your Dragonoid bloodline is originally purely strength-based. Plus such a good Insect Crystal, you probably gained 2.5 times the strength of an ordinary person all at once just now. Conservatively estimating, one punch from you has seven thousand Newtons of force."
Li Jiayu said faintly, simultaneously issuing orders to six axe wielders:
"This Red-Crested Beetle... weighs about 300-350 kg. If you work together, you should be able to move it up to the thirteenth floor."
"What? Move it to the thirteenth floor?"
The axe wielders looked at Li Jiayu in astonishment, unable to understand why he gave this order. You know... the thirteenth floor was already the students' main base. Moving this ferocious insect's corpse there, wouldn't it scare some nerve-wracked girls to death?
Besides, what use was this insect corpse? Could it be for dissection?
"Red-Crested Beetle meat is very delicious, dispels cold and illness, nourishes the body better than ordinary supplements. Eating more can subtly improve physique. Its brain matter also has wonderful uses, can greatly relax nerves, relieve stress. If someone gets desperate and wants to commit suicide, give them a little brain matter to drink, and they'll naturally calm down... Mm, most importantly, food is scarce in the apocalypse; we can't let this precious Red-Crested Beetle go to waste. Organize some manpower, use sharp saws, slowly grind off its outer shell, then take out its meat to air dry..."
"This..."
The six axe wielders hesitated, feeling nauseated looking at the ugly, ferocious giant insect corpse. Damn it, this was a man-eating insect! And we're supposed to eat the insect's meat in return? How strange no matter how you think about it.
"Go, don't dawdle. Just do as I say. When is it your turn to hesitate! After you taste the insect meat, you won't find it disgusting anymore!"
The six axe wielders braced themselves, carefully grabbing one insect leg each, grimacing as they carried it up to the higher floor. Li Jiayu also went to harvest his prize from this battle – the Golden Ladybug.
This top-quality insect, symbiotic with the Red-Crested Beetle, had very rare and wonderful uses. Li Jiayu didn't know the specifics, only knew he should quickly collect it. Later, when some "Alchemist" grew to mid-Tier 2, he could ask them to help refine some "Sin Heart Medicine" that interrogated the soul. If one could endure the illusion, their mental power could be slightly increased – you know, in the later generations, the value of this Sin Heart Medicine was terrifyingly high, couldn't even be exchanged for ten low-Tier 3 Insect Crystals.
Compared to the near-evolved Red Beetle crystal, this Golden Ladybug was clearly ten times more precious!
"Very good, a great victory on the first outing... Encountering the first Red-Crested Beetle after teaming up yielded so many good things. Indeed, the first stage of the insect disaster is the best stage for accumulating wealth..."
Li Jiayu satisfyingly continued leading the team, using the method of picking them off one by one, killing the remaining three Red-Crested Beetles on the sixth floor. The obtained Insect Crystals were also quickly used: one for Sonic Warrior Chen Kun, one for a particularly outstanding axe wielder, and one more for Chu Xiang, still increasing his strength by a terrifying 1.8 times that of an ordinary person.
The fifth floor didn't have too many Red-Crested Beetles either, only four. This time, the team began trying to challenge two simultaneously. Li Jiayu, Chu Xiang, Dark Octopus, and Ran Hongxia fought together. They managed to resolve them with thrills but no spills, the harvest quite gratifying.
When clearing the fourth floor, Li Jiayu saw a pair of Red-Crested Beetles mating inside a classroom!
These two idiot insects!
After eating their fill of human flesh, going crazy enough, they started playing the "making insects" game. Unfortunately, they chose the wrong location, happening to be encountered by someone like Li Jiayu who specialized in "breaking up couples."
Normally, Red-Crested Beetles' alertness wasn't weak. Unfortunately, the smell of blood on the fourth floor was too strong, and there were several corpses in the classroom, blood staining the ground, so they didn't notice the scent of Li Jiayu and the others. Plus, they were at a critical moment, unable to disengage. So, only when Li Jiayu's Hyorinmaru was right upon them did they sense the approaching danger!
This battle was extremely easy; the ambush was very successful. This shameless pair of insects mating in broad daylight died tragically under the fierce attacks of Li Jiayu and Chu Xiang before they could even resist. Even when they died, their bodies were still entangled!
"Oh, this is top-quality offering material! Two insects connected together... Mm, double the quality, yet only consumes one portion of my mental power... No, I must gamble this time!"
Li Jiayu had previously summoned the Dark Octopus and Hyorinmaru, leaving him with little mental power. Although he had rested for some time afterward and recovered quite a bit, he still didn't dare use it recklessly. After all, these Red-Crested Beetle corpses weren't necessarily precious. Using them as offerings would generally only summon high-Tier 1 insects, not much help for the clearing task, and would instead deplete Li Jiayu's mental power, reducing his combat effectiveness, which wasn't worth it.
However, the offering before him was special, possessing great value for summoning consumption! If nothing unexpected happened, he should be able to summon some special consumables, such as Berserk Pills, Thunder Orbs, Repeating Crossbows, or the like...