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Chapter 3: A Head Worth a Million
Join the battle? Was that even a question? Of course!
"Go to hell!" Conda roared in a frenzy as his gun spat out three streams of fire.
Tang Fang stayed frozen in place. Clearly, human speed couldn’t compare to bullets, and in the next second, there should be a scream from him being hit. Unconsciously, a cruel grin crept onto Conda’s lips.
Thomas’s eyes gleamed with hatred as well. This little bastard deserved to die. If it wasn’t for his quick reflexes earlier, he might have already been dead. Damn it! Even if this guy died right now, he’d still go up and stab him a couple of times just to vent his anger.
The sharp bullets tore through the air, whistling toward Tang Fang, whose face was written with fear and spite. Who isn't afraid of death? The cold smiles on Conda and Thomas's faces deepened.
Just as the two believed that everything was settled, that Tang Fang was as good as dead, something unexpected happened—an afterimage flashed by.
*Thud, thud, thud!*
A pungent smell filled the air as Thomas wrinkled his brow. Tang Fang was still lying there, unmoving and silent. When his gaze shifted forward, the sight reflected in his pupils left him completely stunned.
A creature, half as tall as a person, stood between Tang Fang and the bullets. Its bird-like legs were firmly rooted to the ground, and its mouth, exuding a stench, dripped thick, foul-smelling liquid. Six terrifying, jagged claws, sharp as chisels, gleamed under the light, casting a cold, deadly reflection.
It was savage, evil, and bloodthirsty.
A Zergling—the most basic ground combat unit of the Zerg, about half a person in height, 1.5 meters long, capable of tearing enemies apart with its powerful claws and jaws, even piercing through armor.
The three bullets fired by Conda had all struck the creature’s back, but its scales were so hard that even bullets couldn’t fully penetrate, leaving only deep dents with dark green liquid slowly oozing from the edges of the bullet holes.
“What kind of monster is this?!” Thomas was terrified. He had served for six years and traversed dozens of star systems, encountering many native species, but he had never seen anything as vicious and bloodthirsty as this creature before him.
“Ah!” Conda was horrified, squeezing the trigger again and again as the gunfire roared, sending bullets flying.
*Thud, thud, thud, thud…*
The Zergling screeched in pain, and the agony fueled its rage. With a powerful push from its hind legs, it covered the short distance in an instant.
Conda wanted to run, but his legs wouldn’t respond. Cold sweat poured from his forehead as his right index finger remained glued to the trigger.
*Bang bang bang bang!*
The semi-automatic fire turned into full-auto as fire streamed from the barrel, lighting up the entire tunnel with flashes of gunfire.
But nothing could save him. With a final roar from the Zergling, one of its claws pierced through his combat suit, skewering his chest.
Blood burst forth like a fountain, illuminated by the gunlight, spraying down onto the Zergling's monstrous face. The green Zerg blood mixed with Conda’s red blood, creating a grotesque and terrifying sight.
As another claw impaled him, Conda’s pale face twisted in agony. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his head lolling to the side as he breathed his last.
His automatic rifle slipped from his hands, clattering to the ground. In the flickering light, the Zergling’s sharp claws sliced cleanly through his body, severing it in two.
*Thud!*
His upper body fell onto the rocks, and Conda's eyes remained wide open in death. His blood-soaked head lay directly under the light of his rifle’s flashlight.
Thomas was petrified. His mind went blank, instinctively reaching for the automatic rifle slung over his back, but then the sound of another Zerg screeching echoed in his ears. Stiffly, he turned his head, only to see another creature enter his field of vision.
Even though he was a seasoned soldier who had fought in countless battles, the sight of these monsters left him cold and paralyzed with fear.
“Run.” A single thought flashed in his mind—run as far as possible.
Acting on that thought, he scrambled to his feet and ran. Before he fled, he cast a venomous glare at Tang Fang, who was still hidden in the shadows and struggling to move. Pulling a fragmentation grenade from his belt, he pressed the detonator and threw it behind him. “Tang Yan, go to hell with these monsters.”
Tang Fang felt completely helpless. The grenade he had originally planned to use to take down Conda and Thomas was now coming back to haunt him. The slight trace of satisfaction from the Zergling’s earlier rampage vanished in an instant.
Time didn’t wait for his predicament to resolve. The grenade exploded with a bang, sending shards flying in all directions.
A shadow darted across his vision. The Zergling that had been chasing Thomas abruptly changed direction and shielded Tang Fang with its body.
*Thud, thud, thud...*
“Screech…” The Zergling's cries gradually weakened. A foul stench filled the air as Tang Fang struggled to push the dead Zergling off him, letting out a long sigh of relief. Fortunately, these creatures were under his control; otherwise, he would’ve been dead for sure.
The Zergling’s scales were tough enough to stop bullets, but the fragmentation grenade had killed it. That gave him an idea of just how deadly the explosion had been.
“Ah... no! No!” In the distance, two more screams echoed.
In his mind, he saw a flash of a black-and-white scene. The Zergling that had killed Conda had now pounced on Thomas, pinning him to the ground. Blood was pouring out, and the Zergling's claws, already drenched in Conda’s blood, had pierced through Thomas’s shoulders.
Struggling to stand, Tang Fang grabbed a severed limb from one of the bug corpses and stumbled toward Thomas.
“Tell me, who wants me dead? The ‘Commander Wei’ you mentioned, is it Wei Haitao?”
“So what if it is? Tang Yan, you might escape today, but you won’t escape forever.” Thomas forced a cold smile, his face pale and bloodless.
Tang Fang’s expression darkened. Wei Haitao was the deputy commander for this mission. If he had indeed ordered Thomas and Conda to kill him, then his situation was even more dangerous than he thought.
“Why does he want to kill me?”
“Because your head is worth a lot of money.” Thomas spat out a mouthful of blood, replying coldly.
“My head is worth a lot? How much?” Tang Fang was stunned. He searched through all of Tang Yan’s memories and couldn’t figure out why his life would be worth money. The original owner of this body had been a soldier for six years, an ordinary one at that. His background was unremarkable, and he had never done anything extraordinary. The most daring thing he had ever done was steal a canister of enriched uranium and sell it on the black market, sending the money back to his siblings on Rector to survive.
Even if the higher-ups found out, the worst that could happen would be an extra year of military service. There was no way they'd want him dead for it. Even if they wanted to make an example of him, they wouldn’t need to resort to such extreme measures. If the military wanted to kill him, it would be as easy as squashing an ant.
“One million!”
One million? Even notorious space pirates probably weren’t worth that much. Since when had his life become more valuable than those dangerous individuals?
What was going on? No matter how hard Tang Fang thought, he couldn’t understand why his head was worth so much on the black market.
“Hahaha, I told you, you might survive today, but you won’t survive forever. Even if you make it through this, what about tomorrow? The day after? How do you think you’ll take on Wei Haitao?”
Thomas’s hysterical laughter pulled Tang Fang back to reality. He was about to press for more useful information when, faintly, he heard voices approaching from the distance: “Hurry! The explosion came from over there. Someone might be under attack by the bugs!”
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