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Chapter 9: Returning the Favor
Faint voices echoed across the broken bridge, while occasional flashes of light swept across the surface of the water. After a few moments, the noise faded into the distance.
Tang Fang clung to the rocky edge, glanced upward, and with a burst of strength, vaulted onto the rock platform.
Splash... Splash...
The residual waves crashed against the rocky walls. A layer of blue-purple moss spread across the ground, atop which were piles of Rock Bug eggs.
As the light swept across the area, something white appeared in the corner.
Startled, Tang Fang raised his gun and took a closer look. It was a small larva, no bigger than the palm of his hand. Delicate and pale, its limbs were snow-white, almost as if sculpted from jade—a stark contrast to the grotesque adult form of the Rock Bug.
Under the beam of his flashlight, three or five larvae gathered around, greedily devouring a sticky secretion on the surface of the eggshells.
At first, Tang Fang found these larvae somewhat adorable. However, upon witnessing their feeding frenzy, he felt a wave of nausea. Steeling himself, he squeezed the trigger.
Rat-tat-tat.
Flashes of light burst forth as the larvae were pierced by bullets, their translucent bodily fluids splashing several feet into the air.
[Life energy collected. Total: 2 units.]
Wait, that counts? Tang Fang was taken aback. He quickly tallied the number of dead larvae—there were 10 in total, meaning each was worth 0.2 units of life energy.
Damn, the system is so miserly! It’s even precise to one decimal place.
He couldn't help but curse under his breath. Turning his gaze toward the ostrich egg-sized Rock Bug eggs, he fired another shot.
Bang.
One egg shattered into pieces, but the system gave no response.
Bang. Another one. Bang, bang, bang...
It wasn’t until the tenth egg burst that the system’s cold, monotone voice returned: [Life energy collected. Total: 1 unit.]
Staring at the number 149, Tang Fang resisted the urge to complain. He unleashed a hail of bullets, his flashlight sweeping across the area, leaving a trail of dead larvae in his wake.
150, 151, 152...
Only when the magazine clicked empty did he snap back to reality. The crystal count had climbed to 178. In just a short while, over a hundred larvae had perished at his hands.
He selected the Spawning Pool and issued a command. A larva transformed into an egg, and soon after, a fresh Drone emerged. Without hesitation, he gave another order, and the Drone burrowed into the creep. After a moment, a Spine Crawler hatched.
Its six short, muscular legs supported a tapering spine, which extended and contracted freely. At the tip was a jagged, anchor-like spike that glinted ominously.
Tang Fang nodded in satisfaction. With a mere thought, the Spine Crawler's terrifying form materialized on the platform.
He was startled by its sheer size. Compared to the game, this Spine Crawler was far larger in reality, nearly taking up half the platform. Its base, as large as a living room, clung firmly to the ground, and its menacing spine gleamed in the faint light, sending chills down his spine.
As a Zerg defense structure, its attack range was terrifying—reaching several kilometers. Its attack power was equally impressive. A nearby quartz stone several meters in width was shattered into pieces with a single strike. That was quartz—tough enough to rival a spaceship's hull. What amazed Tang Fang even more was that it didn’t require creep to function. As long as it was securely rooted, it could unleash its deadly spine.
Satisfied with his test of the Spine Crawler's capabilities, Tang Fang turned his attention to the remaining larvae, sweeping through them and using the collected life energy to hatch two Zerglings. Feeling his combat strength had doubled, he readied his weapons and slipped into a cave on the opposite rock wall.
"Grosso, thanks to your little gift, I’ve actually benefited from misfortune," Tang Fang muttered coldly to himself. "Since you’re so fond of my culture, the next time we meet, I’ll teach you a new phrase: 'Returning the favor is only polite.'"
Crouching low, he ventured deeper into the cave, which widened as he progressed. It wasn’t long before he reached a large cavern with multiple tunnels branching off in all directions. A salty, fishy breeze blew in, carrying away the pungent stench of Rock Bug excrement.
Tang Fang sniffed the air carefully. The breeze was coming from the right-hand tunnel, mixed with the faint stench of decaying Rock Bug fluids—a sign of adult Rock Bugs nearby.
After a brief moment of thought, he turned off the assault rifle’s flashlight, donned his night-vision goggles, and proceeded cautiously.
Ten minutes later, he encountered the corpses of several Rock Bugs, along with splashes of colorful fluids. Faint gunfire echoed in the distance.
Tang Fang quickened his pace. After rounding a corner, the cave suddenly opened up into a vast underground chasm.
Gunfire and flashes of light filled the air. He crouched low, slowly poking his head out to get a better look.
Countless dense cave entrances extended deep into the unseen depths of the planet’s crust, while a gunfight was unfolding in the open area beside the sinkholes.
To his left, a group of eight was laying down a hail of bullets, their assault rifles forming a crisscrossing web of fire, pinning down two opponents who could barely fight back.
Bullets whizzed by without pause, their glow illuminating the attackers' faces. The group of eight was unmistakably led by Grosso, and the two they were shooting at could only be Arroz and that woman.
It turned out that after Tang Fang fell into the water, the two called out for him for a long time with no response. Assuming he had died, they returned to an earlier fork in the cave and chose a different path, only to bump into Grosso and his men.
Had Tang Fang still been around, and had Lawrence and the others not died, Grosso wouldn’t have dared act rashly. But now that only Arroz and the woman remained, he wasn’t about to let them go.
Grosso was ruthless. His thoughts were simple: anyone not aligned with him didn’t need to live. It was better to eliminate potential threats before they had a chance to stab him in the back.
Eight against two—the odds were overwhelmingly in Grosso’s favor. No matter how skilled Arroz was, he stood no chance of turning the tide.
"Simpson, Pritt, Dika, you three flank them from the side. Let’s give that couple a nice surprise."
The three nodded, crouching low as they used the rocks for cover, sneaking behind Arroz and the woman. Grosso watched with a grin, confident that the pair had no idea what was coming.
Pinned down by the relentless fire, Arroz and the woman were unaware of Grosso’s tactics. Even if they knew, what could they do? Since they had chosen to follow Tang Fang, their only path now was death.
At that moment, Grosso could almost picture Arroz running like a scared dog under the double barrage of fire. And the woman? She would scream before her demise—unless she chose to surrender. If she did, Grosso wouldn’t mind taking her as his slave, like a pet with a collar. After all, he’d had his fill of men in prison; it was time for something new.
But fate, as it often does, had other plans. It’s a mad storyteller, and sometimes, it plays Santa, delivering surprises you’d never expect—sometimes a sweet strawberry cake, sometimes a severed, blood-soaked head.
"Ahhhh!"
"No… no… urgh!"
Just as Grosso was reveling in his malicious thoughts, two dark shadows darted across the rock wall, followed by two blood-curdling screams—and the shrill wail of the effeminate Dika.
"What happened?"
"Simpson, Pritt?"
"Dika, what’s going on?"
As the flashlight beam swung toward the scene, Grosso’s grin froze. Emerging from behind the rocks was the man who should have been dead—Tang Fang. His right hand gripped Dika’s throat tightly.
Dika kicked and struggled, his feet flailing against the ground. His hands clawed at Tang Fang’s wrist, trying desperately to speak, but all that came out were labored, rasping breaths.
Thud.
A knife plunged effortlessly into Dika’s chest, then swiftly withdrew, spraying blood in a radiant, firework-like display.
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