Chapter 7
In short, mental scanning means that as long as the mental power is deployed, it can identify objects through echolocation like a bat emitting sound waves, and ignore obstacles, with a wide range of detection. The smaller the range of mental power deployment, the more accurate the detection of the surrounding environment. This power was developed by Rong Yuan when he was still on Earth, inspired by a race called Micron People. After traveling in the universe for so long, he has never found the same power in a second intelligent species. And this ability undoubtedly provides him with a lot of convenience in his adventures.
Therefore, from the beginning, Rong Yuan "saw" everything that was happening. He watched how the boy named Ye Zi followed the black beetle closely, how he pursued it without sleep, and how he fought fiercely and resolutely after catching up with the black beetle several times. He could have brought Hei Feng and others to find Ye Zi and others long ago. After all, even with the girl named Da Yu leading them, they still took a lot of detours, but he didn't do it. It was just because Rong Yuan saw that in this process, the boy quickly transformed and grew up, and his abilities and temperament were preciously honed. As long as he let go and let him face it himself, this experience would definitely leave a strong mark in his life, engraved in his soul, and make him different from others from now on. Rong Yuan didn't want to interrupt this process, so he just followed the crowd and chased behind slowly, without doing anything extra. And when the boy was in danger, he took a shortcut and rushed to his side as soon as possible.
After rescuing Ye Zi, Rong Yuan looked back in the direction of Heifeng and others, and walked towards the depths of the mine.
Ye Zi kept chasing the black beetle, and every time he caught up with it, he couldn't wait to attack it. Therefore, he didn't see some abnormal phenomena, but Rong Yuan saw them all.
The one killed by Leaf was the thinner one of the two black beetles. The stronger one with a more shiny black shell kept holding the small stone in its mouth and carefully hooked the boy's clothes with the hook in its mouthparts, without hurting him at all. The most bizarre thing was that every once in a while, it would stop and use its front legs to hook out a small package of food and water from its abdomen for the boy to eat. Otherwise, Leaf, with its short body and legs, would not have been able to catch up with these two black beetles that crawled much faster than it several times.
This is clearly not a behavior that evolved autonomously by this creature.
Therefore, after rescuing Ye Zi, Rong Yuan hesitated for a moment and did not take the small stone from the black beetle's mouth. Instead, he continued to follow behind slowly, but the distance between them was much closer.
On the other side, Heifeng and the others suddenly seemed to be assisted by God, and they did not make any mistakes in the past half day. But at the same time, the atmosphere in the team also changed. Before, they were nervous, anxious and worried, but now they were suddenly much quieter. In the dark mine tunnel, besides the heavy breathing of the crowd, there was also an unsettling undercurrent surging.
Heifeng's face was tense. Although most of his thoughts were occupied by worrying about the two children, he still couldn't help feeling that the brothers who he used to trust with his back had become strangers. He couldn't even guess what they were thinking - he wondered if they were also secretly looking at him with the same eyes, guessing his thoughts?
A storage bag.
A storage bag that is extremely valuable even in the imperial capital.
Not to mention that there were a lot of supplies from the outside world. In comparison, the dried meat and torches that Heifeng and others had originally entrusted to Rong Yuan for safekeeping were really cheap and not worth mentioning.
Anyone who takes something like this to the central city can exchange it for everything they want from any powerful organization: status, power, wealth, women or men, and reliable security.
——Of course, it is not impossible to kill people and rob treasures. But this kind of thing only happens in secret, and most of them are short-sighted small and medium-sized forces. The more powerful the force, the more it pays attention to the establishment of credibility, and rarely does a one-time deal like exhausting the pond to catch all the fish.
Heifeng knew that the so-called trust and loyalty, for some people, was just because the price of betrayal was not high enough. Now, a big enough temptation suddenly appeared before them, so how many people in his team could still stick to their original principles?
Living in the mine tunnels for many years, the footsteps of the people had become extremely light, but in Heifeng's ears, the footsteps were deafening.
He suddenly realized that in the eyes of others, the person most likely to betray was actually himself, because among all people, he was the only one who needed a more stable and affluent life with a family to support.
Thinking of this, the tension in Hei Feng's mind suddenly relaxed. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, he suddenly smelled a faint smell of blood.
"Be careful!" Heifeng warned in a low voice.
Everyone dispersed and stood guard skillfully. After holding their breath and concentrating for a moment, they found nothing unusual, and then they trotted forward cautiously. Heifeng squinted his eyes and vaguely saw something in the darkness ahead. He gestured for others to get ready, and then approached.
Then he saw the leaf lying on the ground. He was shocked at first - the boy was covered in blood, in a miserable state, and next to him was the body of a black beetle, which looked like they had both perished together. Then he was happy - the boy was sleeping soundly while holding a kettle, breathing steadily, as if he was not seriously injured. After a careful examination, he was left with silence.
The corpse, the rips on the clothes, the black bloodstains on the ground, these are all impossible to fake, and they completely prove what kind of battle had taken place here before. It is also possible to speculate how serious the injuries of Ye Zi should have been. The reason why it is just speculation is that the boy has no scars on his body at this time, and even some old scars are not visible on his body. He looks better than before.
As for the reason...that familiar-looking kettle seems to explain everything.
"Boss, who is that person...?" After a while, Gail asked the same question to everyone.
"...I don't know." After hesitating for a moment, Hei Feng decided to conceal his guess about the ice coffin, and said with a wry smile: "I really don't know much more about him than you do. But," he looked at the man in the team who always had a somewhat wretched and optimistic smile, "Old Miles, you know something, right?"
Old Miles was looking down at the blood on Ye Zi with an unpredictable look. When he heard Hei Feng's question, he did not answer immediately. After hesitating for a long time, he sighed, raised his head and said, "I don't know if he is the person I guessed... If it is really him, then... We have really met an incredible person this time."
"Have you... heard of the Feiyan Team?"
Centipedes, with their slender bodies and double-digit legs, are something that most people, even those without trypophobia, find disgusting and fearful of. Moreover, the centipedes underground on Prison Star have undergone a long period of mutation, and their bodies are hundreds of times larger than ordinary centipedes. Their mouthparts are like steel knives made of fine iron, and their appearance is even more terrifying. In addition, these guys unceremoniously include humans in their diet and hunt them as their main food. When people see them, there are only two reactions: either run away screaming, or rush up to kill them or be killed.
At this time, a black and red centipede lowered its huge head and stayed docilely beside Rong Yuan, even carefully retracting its feet to avoid causing displeasure to the person next to it.
Rong Yuan tilted his head and listened to the movements of several people a hundred meters away.
In the mine cave, which was over a thousand square meters, there were dozens of insects of all sizes. They were common species in the mine, and they were the kind that had some fighting power but were not very powerful. These insects rubbed their antennae or wings, constantly making rustling sounds, which was very noisy. Among the insects, there were three fat ones with small heads, big bodies, and particularly round bellies.
The black beetle appeared in the mine with the small stone's clothes in its mouth. It rubbed its feet a few times. Fatty No. 1 seemed to hear some noise and blew an intermittent whistle with his lips pursed. The scattered insects were quiet for a moment, then crowded together to make a path in the middle. The black beetle, holding the small stone in its mouth, walked in front of Fatty No. 1.
Fatty No. 1 patted the black beetle's head, took the small stone from its mouth, and checked it over and over again. The boy cried pitifully, but his limbs were intact and his body was healthy. Fatty No. 1 smiled, no doubt very satisfied.
Fatty No. 2 came over to take a look and said, "The goods this time are quite good. But, you also lost one Black General, what a pity." He smacked his lips, looking as if he was gloating.
Number One froze for a moment, then his expression turned cold when he looked at Little Stone. He snorted and said, "Hand this over later. It will be enough for me to raise ten more Black Generals. But you will get the least this time, so be careful of the punishment."
Number Two's expression also turned ugly.
Number Three didn't join in the bickering and asked, "Is this the last batch?"
"Yes." said No. 1.
"One of my flying ants hasn't come back yet." Number Two said sullenly, "The contact has also been cut off."
"He's probably dead." Number One added the blow, and Number Two kicked him hard.
"Then let's not wait any longer and go back now." No. 3 made the decision and whistled. Most of the insects in the mine suddenly became alert, wagging their antennae and flapping their wings, waiting for orders.
"Wait a little longer, just a little longer, okay?" Number Two pleaded, "Maybe we've reached an area where the signal is blocked..."
"No, leave now." Number Three interrupted him rudely, looked around, and said, "Something...something is wrong. Let's leave as soon as possible...the sooner the better!"
As he spoke, he couldn't help but show a bit of panic in his expression. Number One and Number Two were startled at the same time. Although they didn't notice anything unusual, they seemed to trust their companion's intuition very much. After hearing what he said, they couldn't help but feel a little more uneasy. Therefore, although they were very reluctant, Number Two still issued the order to retreat with Number One. In an instant, all the insects in the cave moved. As a result of this movement, it can be seen that most of the insects are carrying at least one and at most several unconscious people, most of whom are young and strong men (because there are the most such people on the Prison Star), and there are also a small number of children and women. The latter are better cared for and protected more strictly, and the degree of attention is far greater than the former.
Number One flicked the little stone's face, and the boy fell asleep immediately. He tied the little stone to the back of the black beetle. He packed up his things and climbed onto another black beetle that was more than two meters tall. Number Two and Number Three also climbed onto their own mounts - an amber ant and a pure black centipede respectively. After another whistle, all the insects crawled into a larger mine tunnel on the side. The rustling sound made people's scalps numb.
At a bend in a mine tunnel that was neither too big nor too small, the black and red centipede that was originally responsible for guarding turned its head and looked at Rong Yuan. After he nodded, it meandered towards the place where its master summoned it.
"Human traffickers..." Rong Yuan frowned. After years of wandering in the interstellar space, he was no longer the age that hated evil, and his views on many things became much more tolerant. But if there was a crime that he absolutely could not forgive, human trafficking was definitely one of them. According to Rong Yuan's idea, it was natural to stay put at this time, track these people to find their lair, and then catch them all in one fell swoop. However, his mental power "looked" behind him, and after Heifeng and others found Ye Zi, they stayed where they were for a while, and then chased after him again.
For parents, every second of separation from their blood relatives is probably a painful torment, right?
——Never mind, it’s just a little troublesome.
Rong Yuan thought to himself. He closed his eyes, locked onto the black beetle carrying the small stone, flicked his fingers, and launched a silent attack.
In the dark mine tunnel, the three fat men hurried on. They relied on the insects' keen sense of smell to identify the direction, and did not light any additional lighting objects such as torches. In addition, the mine tunnel was narrow and there were many insects, so Fatty No. 1 did not notice that the black beetle he valued had escaped from the protection circle and slowly fell behind the team.
A black and red centipede passed by the black beetle, paused for a moment, raised its head, and then continued to crawl forward, twisting its slender body in a particularly coquettish manner.
The black beetle fell to the end of the team, slowly stopped, and shook its filamentous antennae. Its pitch-black compound eyes revealed a sense of confusion.
Rong Yuan came to it and cut the rope tied to the small stone with a stroke of his finger. He lifted the boy off the insect's back, looked at him, put him on the ground, used his mental power to disperse the predators around him, and then jumped onto the back of the black beetle.
The black beetle shuddered, as if it had suddenly woken up from a dream. It shook its head, ignored the small stone lying on the side, and quickly walked on its six thin legs to catch up with the large group of insects, and quickly returned to its original sequence. Rong Yuan sat cross-legged on its back, with one hand supporting his chin, looking particularly comfortable. In this situation, it looked a little weird.
At this time, a low groan came from behind the mole cricket next to the black beetle. In the darkness, a girl with her limbs tied to the mole cricket groaned twice, then immediately closed her mouth, barely raised her head, turned in another direction, and saw Rong Yuan nearby. She opened her mouth in surprise.
Rong Yuan nodded slightly and thought: What a coincidence.
This girl was Mia, whom he had met once before.
