Chapter 383 - The Seven Insectoid Champions!
Chapter 383: The Seven Insectoid Champions!
Ten or so seconds before Xia Fei entered the weapon depot, a short middle-aged man, no taller than one meter, was led by a worker of the academy into the passage.
As a mite, Mengen had a black skin that no other member of his species had. Even among the mites, this was a very rare skin color. It was said that only one in every million mites would be born with a skin color that was not white. This was due to a mutation, and the darker the skin, the greater the degree of the mutation.
Mengen’s skin was steely pitch-black; he was the first in the history of mites to have black skin. This meant that his level of mutation was extremely high.
Humans had no idea that, as soon as the first war between humans and insectoids ended, the insectoids started their mutation process. Not only did more and more intelligent insectoids begin emerging, they even had appearances closer and closer to humans.
The reason the insectoids had dared to assault the Alliance capital was that its people were experiencing explosive growth. More and more insectoids were joining the ranks of the intelligent. Industry, agriculture, and science were all rapidly developing.
Several thousand years ago, this would have been simply unthinkable! It had to be understood that the construction of warships and training of soldiers all required intelligent insectoids. Those members of their species still in the primitive stage could only be used as labor force. Even if they were trained for one thousand years, they still would be unable to use weapons or write words. This was because their intelligence level was simply too low!
For this invasion of the humans, the insectoids had mobilized nearly three thousand fleets, and the intelligent insectoids in those fleets exceeded three hundred billion!
Several thousand years ago, the insectoids only had fifteen hundred fleets and only around one hundred and twenty billion soldiers. With these mutations in their species, the insectoids had been completely transformed, so it was only natural that they could send out such powerful fleets.
Meanwhile, the Pan-human Alliance still believed that the insectoid army was the same as before. The absence of war had also resulted in a cut in the military budget, so mankind’s army had fallen from the two thousand fleets at its peak to barely a thousand.
The result was obvious: The insectoid army had doubled, while the Alliance’s was not even half of what it had been during the first war. There was a three-fold disparity between the two forces! This was already enough to make humanity pay a bitter price!
The only advantage the humans had was their supercapital ships. These giants of the universe were truly formidable fighting forces, but several dozen supercapital ships were not enough to contend against three times their number. Thus, in the early stages of the war, the Alliance had been pushed back again and again, and it was currently being choked to death on the northern and southern battlefronts.
By how much had the insectoids managed to increase the number of intelligent insectoids in the last few thousand years? The simulations carried out by civil officials indicated that it had to be at least twelve times what they originally had. It had to be understood that the insectoids had implemented full mobilization of their species! These new members of the population could become soldiers, workers, insectoid war machines, et cetera all for free!
One side grew stronger while the other weakened considerably. Be it in terms of industry or size of army, the humans had fallen far behind the insectoids!
Humans did not have as many warships and fighters as the insectoids, and the latter could even produce warships faster than the former!
In this situation, how could the humans defeat the insectoids? This was a war without any hope of victory!
Even more frightening was that numerous insectoids had also begun to demonstrate special abilities! Just like humans, they had many high-level ability users! In terms of quality and number, they could completely match the Pan-human Alliance!
Uti had seven great Sacred Champions under his command. They were Mengen, Tohme, Yadan, Kikiger, Laresh, Goxan, and Fini. This black and thin insectoid here, who was no taller than a meter, was one of Uti’s seven Sacred Champions!
The seven of them were the finest warriors in all of the insectoid species. The lowest had a grade 6 cultivation, equivalent to an Eternal rank human warrior!
Xia Fei would have never imagined that he would run into one of Uti’s illustrious champions in this school. Of course, Mengen also would not have imagined that he would run into Xia Fei here.
Mengen calmly examined the alloy metal door in front of him, his white eyes flashing. His eyes were constructed differently from humans, only white with no pupils, like what the rolled-over eyes of a human after they died.
The ant worker next to him was trembling in fear. The ants were hardworking and did not like to complain, so Tanini Sacred Warrior Academy, just like many other organizations, preferred employing intelligent ants as workers in the academy.
A puny academy worker would normally never get the chance to meet someone as famous as Mengen, so his legs could not help shaking, and he wanted nothing more than to leave early.
“Very good. You can go back,” Mengen said.
The worker felt that he had been pardoned, hastily nodding his head. “Should I inform Dean Tude of sir’s arrival?”
“No need. There’s nothing concerning him here,” Mengen replied. “Once you leave, don’t go around talking. Act as if nothing happened here.”
Mengen watched as that ant worker took a small hoverdisk and left. He muttered to himself, “Big Brother Uti is truly very interesting. Storing such an important object in a school, and it’s not even hidden that well. What was he thinking?”
In truth, there was a hidden story to the Blood Demon Claw. Back then, Uti had accidentally come across this miraculous plant, and after asking around, he learned that it had the miraculous effect of repairing any wound on the body.
The more intelligent a human was, the more they valued their life, and the same was true for insectoids. While Uti claimed to be smarter than anyone else, he was also the most afraid of death. He rarely left the Golden Tent and was often surrounded by guards, for he was ever worried that someone would attempt to assassinate him.
Once ripe, the Blood Demon Claw could be used to restore lost vitality, so Uti regarded it as his most beloved treasure. He nurtured it daily in the Golden Tent, preparing for the day that it matured so that he could remove the Blood Drop and keep it at his side in case of any unexpected mishaps.
Alas, it was not long before the father of Consort Qingyan came down with some bizarre necrotic heart disease. As time passed, the heart would slowly turn stiff and lose its ability to provide the body with blood. Even if a new heart was transplanted, it too would fall to the necrosis.
Even humans could not treat this illness, let alone the insectoids and their backward medical science. Thus, it was an incurable illness!
When the smart Uti heard of this matter, he immediately guessed that Qingyan would come to ask him for the Blood Demon Claw. Once it was ripe, she would use the Blood Drop to treat her father.
All insectoids knew that Uti pampered and doted on Qingyan. No matter what it was, Uti would always do as she wanted. However, on this matter alone, Uti was troubled.
If it were Qingyan herself who had been struck by the illness, Uti would have given her the Blood Demon Claw without hesitation, but the problem was that it was not Qingyan but rather her father who had this illness.
Uti was very grateful to Qingyan’s father for raising this daughter who was as delicate and beautiful as a flower, but giving him the Blood Demon Claw that could save Uti’s life one day? He found that he could not do it.
At the time, the deans of the twelve Sacred Warrior academies were all within the Golden Tent to report on their duties. Uti had always paid special attention to matters concerning his species, and the twelve academies were the backbone of the insectoids. The vast majority of high-grade warriors had been trained by them, so Uti paid them a great deal of attention. It had always been a rule that they would report to the Golden Tent every three years.
His brain turning, Uti quickly decided to reward the twelve Sacred Warrior academies for their role in revitalizing the species. As for the reward, one of them was naturally the Blood Demon Claw.
The dean of Tanini Academy, Tude of the longhorn beetle race, was a very well-behaved person. Uti himself graduated from this academy, though he was known by a different name at the time.
Thus, Uti gave the Blood Demon Claw to Tude as a reward. Of course, though Tude had obtained this miraculous plant, he had no right to handle it, let alone use it. Uti would not even let him look at it.
This underground weapons depot had been built on Uti’s orders. In truth, the school had another one of their own, and this depot had been built purely to store the Blood Demon Claw.
Qingyan was naturally very unhappy to hear that her husband had gifted the Blood Demon Claw to a Sacred Warrior academy, so with a cold face, she had gone to find Uti, hoping that he could take this miraculous plant back.
No one else in the insectoid species could match Uti’s intelligence, and he had already developed a plan. He told Qingyan that it was not right to take back a gift given to a subject, and he would probably be made a laughingstock if he did. Moreover, the Blood Demon Claw had yet to ripen, and once it did ripen and its fruit harvested, the plant would still be there.
Qingyan took this to be true and was very happy, even giving Uti several rapturous nights. Alas, she had no idea that Uti had no intentions of letting any outsider use the Blood Demon Claw. Once the storm passed, he would look for an opportunity to get it back. For example, he could have someone steal or have it plundered by pirates while it was being transported. There were numerous methods available to him, and getting it done was as easy as blowing away dust.
However, he could not rest easy keeping the Blood Demon Claw here. At set intervals, he would send someone to inspect it. It was Mengen’s turn this time. As he was Uti’s cousin, the two shared a very trusting relationship. This was also why he had been sent on this mission the most. As long as he was free, Mengen would come here every few months to check on the plant.
This time, he just so happened to run into Xia Fei.
Mengen was grade 6, the equivalent of an Eternal rank human expert! Even more frightening was that his special ability was stealth! A top-class ability that the enemy could not defend against!
Once the worker was gone, Mengen lightly knocked on the wall to his side. The true defenses were actually in the door, and Mengen was sending out a secret signal.
Suddenly—
Mengen sensed that someone had entered this space, moving with incredible speed!
*Whoosh~*
He hastily took two steps back and vanished.
At this time, Xia Fei was already in the weapons depot, his body pressed against a wall as he quietly observed his surroundings.
Mengen’s stealth ability was in no way inferior to Xia Fei’s Breath Control. Not only did it render his aura invisible, it made the body disappear! Xia Fei had no idea that, after the worker had left, someone remained in the depot! And it was an Eternal rank ability user! Two grades higher than his cultivation!
Mengen had already sent the secret signal, and in a few minutes, the door’s layers of defenses would be disabled by the guard inside to let him in. Therefore, Xia Fei’s sudden appearance had completely upset his plans!
Seeing that no one was around, Xia Fei approached the food storehouse, preparing to open it and look inside, but at this moment—
A chilling wind buffeted the back of Xia Fei’s head!