Old Wei squinted his eyes as he watched the distant battle, his heart filled with deep anxiety. They had been stuck here for nearly half a month. According to their deductions, crossing this desert would lead them to the sea. Of course, there might be pockets of forests or grasslands between the desert and the sea, but based on everyone's assumptions and Su Pei's accounts, it should be fairly similar.
The expeditionary rescue force led by Old Wei was composed mostly of women, except for Xu Dekai and his friends responsible for scouting and opening the way. This group exhibited an almost iron-willed determination and stubbornness, making their way to the edge of the desert, with the intention of crossing it and searching for survivors on the other side of the sea.
Throughout their journey, they braved all challenges, confronting various perilous environments. Once, during their exploration, the vanguard Su Pei encountered an army of marching ants. When she swiftly turned back to report, Xu Dekai's ground search team encountered leaping spiders that had come out to forage.
These unusually large jumping spiders were almost natural adversaries of Xu Dekai and his group. They nearly forced the usually resilient Xu Dekai to sacrifice himself to feed the spiders. Fortunately, Han Tiao arrived just in time, and a harrowing battle ensued. In the end, they managed to capture the spider by using a looped rope like a lasso, but the spider turned the tables and chased them instead. Su Pei managed to lasso the jumping spider from the air with another rope, and with combined effort, they dismembered it. The half-dead spider's corpse continued to twitch on the ground. The battle lasted for half an hour until the main forces arrived and pinned down the struggling, half-dead spider with crossbow bolts.
It was said that even the heavily fortified base had difficulties dealing with these spiders. Their speed and agility were a nightmare for crossbows, and most importantly, their endurance was quite impressive. They persisted until they achieved their goal. Fortunately, the base was situated on a cliff, surrounded by insect repellent powder, which kept encounters with these spiders rare. As for other gathering places, perhaps due to variations in the ecological environment, they hadn't encountered them.
Battles like this happened almost daily, but luckily, the intense skirmishes were more shocking than perilous. So far, there had been no casualties. Perhaps the misfortune of these brave yet tragic women had invoked a twinge of guilt in the hands of the god of destiny, who no longer seemed to target those valiant souls.
Today's battle was the most challenging, primarily due to the overwhelming number of enemies.
About ten days ago, the expeditionary rescue team arrived at the edge of the desert. The team included women who were well-versed in technology and had some knowledge of deserts. After detailed analysis and discussion, a decision was made to traverse the desert. The chosen direction to cross through happened to be where the battle was taking place today.
The initial part of the journey went relatively smoothly. The team prepared for two days, stocking up on ample water supplies before embarking on their desert march. However, what followed made some of them start to feel like they were on a bizarre journey. First, the team didn't encounter the expected sandstorms. One could attribute this to humans seeming insignificant in comparison to the relatively small size of this desert. Instead of a massive ecosystem like the Sahara, it was more like a backyard beach, hence lacking the legendary sandstorms. Next, they didn't face the desert's biggest and most challenging obstacle: scarcity of water sources. Astonishingly, on the tenth day of their desert expedition, it rained – and not just a light drizzle, but a heavy downpour. Rain, with no warning whatsoever, grew from a light shower to a torrential rainfall that kept everyone huddled in the desert for a full day, their spirits trembling from the unexpected rain.
When the skies cleared after the rain, the group found that the elevated mound they had chosen for shelter had turned into a vast expanse of water. The sand beneath their feet was compact and solid. Standing on the slope, they gazed around to find sand dunes rising from the water like islands. Fish leaped within the water. What kind of terrain was this? A sea of sand dunes? Everyone exchanged puzzled glances.
Even the best scientists were left somewhat perplexed at this point, gathering to discuss the environmental anomaly. After much debate, they finally realized why they hadn't encountered any fearsome desert predators like scorpions and lizards throughout their journey: rain had been the key. In this kind of environment, even if such predators existed, their numbers would be extremely scarce.
Old Wei and Xu Dekai, along with others, braved the post-rain sun on the sand slope, staring blankly at the floodwaters before them and the distant sand islands. If this water didn't recede, there wouldn't even be any wood left to build a ship on the sand slope.
Before Old Wei's group could even worry about shipbuilding, they encountered even more headaches.
Su Pei circled on her mount, Dou Dou, above the sand dunes. Given Su Pei's nature, she had long wanted to fly farther out for reconnaissance. However, since their departure, Old Wei had consistently prevented Su Pei from venturing too far, citing the inability of the ground team to provide support in case of trouble. Now, trapped on the sand slope due to the floodwaters, he was even more reluctant to let Su Pei fly too far. In case of an emergency, the people here wouldn't be able to swim across.
Su Pei obediently refrained from pushing the boundaries. She soared higher to survey the surroundings, then descended to seriously report the issues she had encountered to Old Wei.
"We've got a major issue," Su Pei said solemnly, "I've noticed that on some of the distant sand slopes, there seem to be a lot of ants emerging from underground."
"Oh, that?"
"It's a problem."
"We must be prepared."
"Could you see clearly?"
With Old Wei's approval, Su Pei headed towards a distant sand slope for reconnaissance and returned with a confirmation.
"Densely packed, the sand slopes are covered," Su Pei frowned. "They seem to be foraging, but it's also possible that their nests got flooded."
"Then we better prepare," Old Wei said. "These insects might not be smart, but they're persistent."
As the group readied themselves, the one with the keenest eyes, Zhenzi, spotted the first ant in the distance.
"I see them," Zhenzi shouted, her voice loud. "Trouble ahead!"
Those who had just finished their preparations immediately formed a stern defensive formation.
Old Wei observed the girls elegantly raising their bows and arrows, his brow furrowing even deeper. "Ants are different from humans. While human armies can be driven away, ants might fight to the very last. They possess a formidable vitality and are incredibly stubborn."
Several hours later, despite the rain of arrows and bolts that filled the sky, the ants were undeterred. On the contrary, the number of ant corpses scattered on the ground only grew. They emerged in a constant stream from multiple openings, marching toward the humans as if they were their prey, aiming to turn the battle into a feast.
Su Pei tried tossing various powders into the ant holes several times, but each attempt was in vain. These ants seemed impervious to any harm. Perhaps they disliked the scent of certain powders, but that didn't affect their determination to devour the humans.
Xu Dekai, in an extremely sour mood, was frantically yelling and cursing the unfairness of the god of destiny. He questioned why he couldn't have a moment of glory, lamenting his own helplessness. He didn't even possess a self-destruct skill to obliterate the enemy.
"Oh my God," Xu Dekai muttered as he caught sight of a large ant emerging from the sand in the distance. This ant was crimson and ten times larger than the others. Shaking off the sand, it charged towards the human defensive line.
"Swoosh, swoosh!" The archers responsible for crossbows immediately aimed at the giant ant. Several crossbow bolts hit it accurately, the immense force sending it toppling backward. Despite being severely wounded, the ant struggled to its feet, impaled by several large bolts. It was determined to continue attacking the humans. This was the terrifying aspect of insects. Mammals would never behave this way. Unless facing life-or-death situations, mammals wouldn't choose to fight to the death.
However, a solitary giant ant wouldn't pose a significant threat to the human defense. More giant ants burst forth from the ground, the entrances of their tunnels massive. Following closely behind were even more ordinary ants, swarming behind them in a dense horde, aiming to breach the human defense line.
The endurance and strength of the women were, after all, inferior to that of men. Soon, the rate of fire from the bows and crossbows began to lag behind. Some ants had already fallen only upon reaching the human defensive line.
The chances of escaping uphill were almost zero, and even less likely on the water's surface. The fish that had come with the rainwater would flip over leaves on the water, indicating that jumping into the water was essentially a death sentence, rendering the situation dire.