Chapter Seventeen: Only Now Becoming Acquainted

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In Qi An’s consciousness, when the purification was halfway complete, the scene suddenly shifted to a pristine white room. She lay on an operating table in the center, countless instruments attached to her, and long needles piercing into her body! Qi An felt immense terror, then realized this was not her—she was still purifying. These were the memories of Jiu; it was he who was being pierced!

The scene changed again, now a pitch-black corridor. Jiu, whom Qi An was inhabiting, stood outside a room, peering through a small window in the door at a man’s slumped, pained back. Qi An also felt the boy’s anguish, his profound confusion.

Suddenly, the memories surged back like a receding tide. Qi An felt a tightening all over, as if being forcibly pulled out from the spiritual realm by this overwhelming pressure.

She returned to the tall tower of the thermal power plant, surrounded by the howling wind and shouting voices. Someone was holding her tightly, almost as if trying to merge with her body!

The grip was suffocating, leaving Qi An gasping for breath. She had encountered this many times before and knew without thinking that the patient was relapsing. She struggled desperately.

Two captains grasped the boy’s recovering arms from both sides, pulling him back with all their might.

But they couldn’t budge him!

Jiu suddenly came to his senses, seeing the situation, and abruptly released his hold.

Yu Shuang and Zhao Bohan nearly fell flat on their backsides.

The scene became awkward. After his mutation, Jiu’s clothes had been shredded, leaving only his lower body barely covered.

He had just embraced Qi An naked, and now stood before her bare-chested.

Qi An watched helplessly as the boy’s beautiful eyes lowered, his skin flushed red, veins bulging on his clenched hands!

Tang Long quickly threw a camouflage jacket at him, which Jiu snapped up and wrapped around himself, barely salvaging the situation.

There was no doubt—Jiu had recovered. The signs of mutation faded, his gaze clear and bright.

Qi An had succeeded in purifying a Level 4 mutant! Her teammates looked at her as if she were a goddess. Zhao Bohan furrowed his brows.

Level 5 mutation was complete transformation; Level 4 was usually a death sentence. Qi An had truly saved this boy’s life.

“Welcome back, comrade,” Yu Shuang said, but didn’t shake the boy’s hand. Instead, he and Su Qingran checked on Qi An’s condition.

Qi An was fine, but her contamination level had risen to 50%, equivalent to mid-Level 2 mutation.

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She swallowed two more small blue pills and, dragging her exhausted body, retreated to a corner to meditate.

The boy Jiu’s gaze followed her closely, unwavering.

But he was soon interrupted. Zhuang Xiao ran to the car and fetched a full set of combat gear, which Zhao Bohan handed to him.

Jiu withdrew his eyes and quickly changed in a corner.

Zhuang Xiao’s clothes were slightly small on him, the pant legs awkwardly stretched upward.

No one minded. Zhao Bohan asked, “Have you already transmitted the intel about the Mother Nest back to base?”

Jiu replied, “Before contacting you, I reached the base radio and sent the information, but the signal was poor. They might not have received it all.

“The Mother Nest isn’t in Hualin County but about 100 kilometers northwest in Erlun City, inside an abandoned underground mine.

“Hualin County is a decoy base designed to attract human attention, hiding the true location of the Mother Nest.

“If the Mother Nest is attacked, a brigade stationed in Hualin County can quickly reinforce or block the human forces moving north.

“There are many fallen insect nests around Erlun City, not just Hualin County. The Mother Nest is enormous and still expanding.”

He poured out all the intel about the Mother Nest in one breath.

This was to spread the risk—no matter what dangers they faced later, if even one person survived, the information would return.

Though Zhuang Xiao had already confirmed the existence of the Mother Nest, hearing it directly from Jiu’s lips made the team breathe a collective sigh of relief and joy!

The Great Mother Nest! Such precious intel! This reconnaissance mission was a tremendous success!

Team Two was the best!

Zhao Bohan, calm as ever, asked the question on everyone’s mind: “Did you kill all those fallen insects outside by yourself?”

“Yes. I ran out of ammunition,” the boy answered lightly, seemingly ashamed that killing just those few insects had caused his mutation.

The team exchanged glances, then fell silent.

In this world, gods always existed—like this one before them, a war god!

Considering he had raced hundreds of miles to and from the fallen insects’ Mother Nest, his record was almost miraculous!

But even a war god could be defeated. Nearing Hualin County on his return, his contamination level became too high, weakening his reconnaissance, and he was unfortunately exposed, triggering a two-front pursuit by fallen insects.

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If not for Qi An, his life as a human would have ended there.

“Thank you all,” the boy said sincerely.

“You should thank Sister Qi. She insisted on saving you!” Zhuang Xiao said, hands on his hips.

“What’s her full name?” Jiu looked toward the small girl sitting cross-legged, softly asking.

“Qi An—‘An’ for peace and safety,” Zhuang Xiao replied. “Isn’t my sister’s name easy to remember and beautiful?”

“Qi An...” the boy murmured the name repeatedly, watching her furrow her brow as she suppressed the contamination. He frowned slightly, hesitating.

Zhuang Xiao looked puzzled, while Zhao Bohan felt an inexplicable sense of responsibility and dissatisfaction. He blocked the boy’s gaze and addressed everyone in the tower:

“Replace the filter cores in your masks, split into teams to collect insect oil and repair vehicles. Move fast—we depart in 20 minutes!”

Such intense bloodlust would surely attract more fallen insects; 20 minutes was their maximum stop.

Zhao Bohan dragged Jiu to repair his vehicle.

Twenty minutes of deep meditation only reduced Qi An’s contamination by a reasonable 15%, since she had purified continuously, and the last purification was extremely difficult.

She was exhausted but forced herself to stay alert as she followed Yu Shuang out of the cooling tower to the vehicles.

Outside, the wind and sand were beginning to subside. The boy stood by his car, glancing at Qi An the moment she stepped out.

Perhaps noticing the fading signs of her mutation, his tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. He hesitated, as if wanting to speak.

Qi An caught his gaze, looked up, and smiled kindly before entering their vehicle.

The door closed behind her. The boy stood still, somewhat dazed.

This time, the wind had truly lessened, with visibility reaching about 300 meters.

But as they expected, the pursuing fallen insects soon arrived, attacking their convoy!