Chapter 90: Using an Illusory Drug to Capture the Golden Medicinal Insects

The golden medicinal insects were extremely alert.

Sten and the others had made far too much noise. A force of more than four hundred men moving at high speed through the jungle could hardly hope to be discreet.

From Lin Yun’s vantage point, those golden insects could be seen vanishing with astonishing speed.

Yet none of them burrowed underground.

He Tian narrowed his eyes.

Though Sten’s group was large, He Tian, who knew all too well the terrifying power of the golden medicinal insects, understood that the annihilation of these men—or their complete collapse into flight—was only a matter of time.

What He Tian now had to consider was how to truly bring all of these golden medicinal insects under his control.

These were top-tier spiritual medicines, treasures of immeasurable importance to inner force cultivators. He Tian did not intend to let even one escape.

This was a heaven-sent opportunity.

To miss it would be a grievous loss.

“It looks like I’ll have to rely on this,” He Tian muttered, taking a bottle from his backpack.

A closer look showed it was almost identical to Chou’s bottle.

Only the contents were different.

This was not a sedative.

It was an illusion drug.

A substance Dragon Soul used during interrogations.

He Tian felt a little regret at having returned the sedative to Chou. Otherwise, judging from its earlier effect on the golden insects, the sedative might have worked quite well.

He Tian did not act rashly.

Before the golden insects had fully gorged themselves, it was best not to draw their attention.

For now, all he needed to do was watch.

And enjoy a fine, dazzling performance.

Sten, Kabo, and the others were moving in quickly.

But the sight that met them—the corpses strewn everywhere—made every one of them change color.

The air stank of gunpowder and blood.

Sparks still flickered amid the wreckage left by the explosions, all of it plain at a glance.

Most striking of all, however, were the bodies.

And the bodies themselves were not even the real source of their shock.

Every corpse was shriveled and dry, as if dead for an age, drained of every last drop of blood.

“This is... this is the golden medicinal insect! Boss, retreat! Retreat now! This is the devil’s ground! It’s the devil’s ground!” Kabo, broad-minded and experienced as he was, reacted with astonishing speed and deduced the presence of the golden insects from the scene before him.

But as Kabo spoke, a chorus of screams erupted.

So many men standing here had become the perfect prey.

The insects struck with terrifying speed, and no fewer than thirty-three men were instantly entangled.

Thumb-sized golden insects drilled straight into their bodies.

At once, one could clearly see a man’s body beginning to collapse and wither in an instant.

The speed at which the golden insects drew blood was horrifying.

“Golden medicinal insects...”

“Demons!”

No command from Sten was needed.

These elite special forces soldiers might not have feared death in battle, but before the golden medicinal insects, a bone-deep terror seized them.

Seeing their comrades scream as their bodies rapidly shriveled, imagining insects inside their own flesh sucking their blood dry, they were overwhelmed by dread.

So, before Sten could even give an order, these elite troops had already broken and scattered in all directions.

Even when Sten finally came to his senses and shouted at them, it was useless.

The rout had already become unstoppable.

The golden insects would not choose the far path when the near one lay open.

The fugitives were left alone.

Their target was the ones who had not run.

And the special forces men who hesitated, those whose reactions were a beat too slow, became the insects’ prey as well.

The golden insects were terrifyingly swift, like streaks of golden lightning, impossible to guard against.

Every single one of them successfully seized its target.

By then, Sten no longer dared to shout blindly.

Under Kabo’s escort, along with the ten inner-force experts by his side, he withdrew at once from this land of demons.

And the direction they had come from happened to be exactly where He Tian was concealed.

Through his sniper scope, He Tian could see every one of them with perfect clarity.

He Tian was certain that at such close range, if he fired now, he could instantly take out at least half of them.

But then he saw those golden insects.

And abandoned the idea of killing Sten and the others.

Compared with Sten’s group, He Tian cared far more about these golden medicinal insects.

Their value was far greater than his enemies’ lives.

So He Tian remained hidden, allowing Sten, Kabo, and the others to pass by in haste.

Watching each of them flee in panic, terror unmistakable on every face, He Tian’s mouth curved almost involuntarily into a faint smile.

To him, this spectacle was magnificent.

When Sten and the others were far enough away, and the golden insects had crawled one by one out of the dried corpses and gathered together, they let out a strange, indecipherable cry...

It sounded like a celebration of victory, a celebration of having fed so richly.

He Tian suppressed the excitement in his heart and forced himself calm.

He did not move immediately.

Instead, he watched as the golden insects clustered even more tightly together.

They were even...

When a creature has eaten enough, it hungers for comfort and ease.

So it is with men.

And clearly, so it was with the golden insects as well.

He Tian was overjoyed.

No matter how strange or hard to accept the insects’ behavior might be, and no matter how unbelievable it seemed, this was at least, in his eyes, the best chance he could have hoped for.

He held the bottle in his hand. Inside was the potent illusion drug.

He hurled it with force.

His inner force was infused into the bottle, so when it flew out, it made no sound, yet it was still swift.

It drew no attention from the golden insects.

No matter how clever or vigilant they were, after so much feeding their alertness had inevitably declined.

He Tian pulled the trigger.

The sniper report cracked through the air.

The shot struck the bottle precisely as it hovered above the golden insects.

The bottle exploded.

The illusion drug scattered in all directions.

The golden insects cried out in alarm at the sudden shock.

But it was already too late.

The drug rained down and completely enveloped the swarm.

At once, one golden insect after another toppled to the ground.

Every single one of them fell motionless.

These illusion drugs were specially prepared by Dragon Soul for interrogation.

They were meant for the most stubborn, iron-willed of prisoners.

And now, how could the willpower of these golden insects compare to such unyielding human hard cases?

Their collapse into unconsciousness was only natural.

He Tian rushed forward at once.

Using a net bag, he gathered the golden insects one by one.

Then he opened an iron canister and stuffed the net bag inside.

Still uneasy, he wrapped the canister tightly again and again with bandages.

Only after finishing all this did He Tian place the canister into his backpack.

Then, lifting his sniper rifle once more, he glanced toward the direction Sten’s group had fled, a flash of killing intent crossing his face, and he gave chase at speed.

Never forgiving, never forgetting—He Tian’s nature was exactly that.

For the sake of the golden insects, he had restrained his fiery temper. But now that the insects had been secured, his true nature burst forth once more.

By He Tian’s creed, anyone who dared harm his brothers deserved death.

If there was even the slightest chance, they should not be allowed to live.

Besides, they were all scattered and running for their lives now.

In this jungle, once dispersed, they no longer posed much of a threat to He Tian.

On the contrary, they had become perfect targets for his private hunt.

Sten and the others were indeed fleeing with all their might.

After running a full four or five miles, they finally allowed themselves a breath of relief.

“Kabo... those were... those were golden medicinal insects? Golden medicinal insects that suck blood?” Sten still looked shaken, his face pale with lingering fear.

“Yes. Exactly the golden medicinal insects... Boss, do you remember the origin of the Devil Jungle? They say many people died here and turned into dried corpses, their blood gone. We always thought they had simply been dead too long. But now it’s clear that wasn’t the case. It was the golden medicinal insects.” Kabo’s face, too, was filled with terror.

Thinking back to the scene of the insects feeding, his heart still pounded violently.

Kabo understood perfectly well that, despite being an inner-force expert who had already reached the third layer, if he were truly seized by those insects, he would be utterly unable to stop what happened next. He would have no choice but to wait for death.

Just imagining it made him tremble from head to toe.

And yet, beneath that fear, there was also a deep craving.

A craving to obtain those golden medicinal insects.

For inner-force cultivators, these insects were the finest elixir in the world.

But now Kabo had no choice but to suppress the terror in his heart.

He did not dare look back.

“So the reason it’s called the devil’s place is because of these golden insects?” Sten was not an inner-force cultivator, but that did not prevent him from knowing how dreadful these insects were.

“At the very least, that should be one of the reasons,” Kabo said with utter certainty.

“It doesn’t matter now. We’re scattered, the mission is basically a failure, and we’ve lost so many men. Think about how we’re going to explain this to the general when we get back,” Sten said, suddenly facing a new problem.

He knew very well how much General Balang loved that jade.

They had assembled such a massive force for one purpose: to recover the stolen jade.

And now?

Not only had they failed to recover it, they had suffered devastating losses.

How could they explain this?

Sten knew exactly how ruthless General Balang could be.

“Golden medicinal insects,” Kabo said softly.

Sten’s eyes lit up, and he gave a slight nod toward Kabo.

It seemed they would have to place all the blame on the golden insects.

The surviving special forces men who managed to return would become Sten’s best witnesses.

Sten’s worry vanished, and he felt himself relax.

But then...

suddenly, Sten froze completely.

A bloody hole had appeared in his forehead.