Chang Huan rested his finger on the silver eyepiece, and despite the several kilometers of distance, he locked on to the coordinates of High Sand Mountain.
The coordinates were shared with a four-legged, upright contraption, which, much like a cauldron, opened a large, dark caliber cannon atop it!
At Chang Huan's command, a Red Lead Cannonball blasted forth suddenly!
The cannonball, truly like a red meteor rubbing flames with the air, traced a precise arc across the sky!
Bursts of dust and flames surged, and even from kilometers away, one could see the shockwave from the cannonball stirring up a gust of earth and stone, visibly sweeping towards them from where the cannonball fell.
Hao Clan soldiers swiftly donned their protective eyewear.
Wang Rui also covered his eyes with his hands.
Only Wu Hen, looking to be a bit showy, waved a hand in front of him, forming a wall of air that blocked the incoming dust!
After the dust settled, looking back at the bombed location, one could only see a meteor crater with a diameter of over two hundred meters, the soil still smoldering with unextinguished flames...
Beyond that, numerous likes of Ore Crystal, like Armor, shattered limbs lay scattered around the crater, and the sticky blood of the insects was smeared all over the ground, forming a sour decay and emitting a pungently unbearable odor.
The Female Officer stared in amazement at the large puddle of blood, estimating that there must have been hundreds of Red Zhe for such a pool to form.
Her gaze inevitably fell on Wu Hen.
His Perception was so strong!
She had heard of the ability to sense enemies hidden in the landscape, but never of sensing even their numbers.
"Little brother, impressive!" Chang Huan gave Wu Hen a thumbs-up.
"We're not just freeloaders." Wu Hen said with a smile.
The troops continued to advance. Seemingly aware that this fully armed group of humans was not to be trifled with, Wu Hen heard the Red Zhe within the lotus burrows retreating deeper into the ground.
Typical colony-living insects always have scouts.
Wu Hen felt that these Red Zhe were somewhat like scouts; they were not the brainless creatures from movies that swarm forward. As long as their Insect Queen lived, they seemed impossible to completely eradicate.
These Red Zhe would observe, ambush, communicate, and even knew when to bide their time, immediately distancing themselves upon discovering the invaders' formidable strength.
Wu Hen was unclear whether they were calling for reinforcements or had decided not to provoke their strong army anymore.
"Ahead is our mining area..." Chang Huan pointed to the Crystal Stone mountain range ahead, but suddenly his expression changed as his gaze swept over the area, which should have been Crystal Stone, "What's going on, why is the ore contaminated??"
The Crystal Stones, which should have been hard and lustrous, had somehow turned pale, growing something that resembled white mold.
This white mold covered the surfaces of the Ore Crystals and had even penetrated the interiors of the crystals.
Wu Hen picked up a "moldy" Crystal Stone. Without much force, he found that the Crystal Stone directly turned into mold dust and scattered on the ground.
Although Ore Crystals stored not much energy, they could be used to recharge some special devices if mined extensively and refined.
But such mold-infected Crystal Stones, not even as good as the poorest soil, which could at least grow some vegetation, needed special handling or the mold would infect other materials.
"Commander Chang!" At that moment, the Female Officer pointed to the barren land and shouted, "This mold is spreading!"
Chang Huan looked and saw that the mold affecting the Crystal Stones was spreading; it seemed able to detect living things, actually stretching along the ground, like a white demon closing in!
"What on earth is it??"
"Open fire all around!"
The troops didn't hesitate; they all set up their firearms, maintaining a neat formation for covering fire!
Bullets wrapped in special red energy swept towards the ground in front, shredding it to pieces.
Nearly everyone thought that this white mold was some kind of micro-worm, swarming towards them in a pack causing this bizarre phenomenon, akin to a terribly strong chill, with white frost spreading across the ground.
However, after a vigorous covering fire, the Hao Clan's soldiers found that the white mold continued to spread towards them, completely unresponsive to their weapons.
"Something's off, back off first." Wu Hen immediately said.
Wu Hen heard no sound of crawling creatures!
That meant this white mold was an eerie energetic entity, not a biological one!
"We can't outrun it as it spreads too fast, running is pointless." The Female Officer said.
"Can it be dispersed with a Spirit Crown?" Wang Rui asked.
"No, this thing isn't biological, it's more like a bio-wave; neither firepower nor the Spirit Crown are effective." Wu Hen stated very confidently.
Wu Hen, also a Taste Spiritual Awakener, breathed in the air into his lungs, carrying a stinging dust, as if he were in miasma, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
The problem was that the white mold, even without reaching them, was already sending extremely dangerous biological signals to Wu Hen!
"Retreat, fast retreat, run as far as we can first!" Chang Huan no longer dwelled on it and immediately chose to trust Wu Hen's judgment.