"No! Don't jump! Ah Huang is down there!" With Tom's shout, Wu Zun, who was about to jump, immediately pulled back. "Chen Geng... I saw it, Chen Geng was carried away by a big orange cat, on the balcony of the opposite second floor, oh my god!"
Perhaps because Ah Huang had eaten the mutated rat whose eyes emitted red light, or perhaps Ah Huang had mutated again, its eyes were also glowing red. When Tom saw the two red lines just now, it was actually Ah Huang leaping past at an extremely fast speed, so fast that its two red eyes formed lines in the night.
Li Qiang was in a panic now. "It's over, it's over. Last time it was a rat, and now it's a cat. Tom, when can we successfully parachute?"
Tom chuckled. Li Qiang had been with Liu Lian for too long; even his habit of sarcasm had been picked up in this moment of crisis.
Amused by Li Qiang's remark, Tom also found himself missing Liu Lian, the sarcastic guy, although his sarcasm had waned since he got together with Zhao Yingying.
Tom looked at the approaching soldier ants and then at the sky. Perhaps they could only hold on until this point. Because of the toxin from the soldier ants, Tom's limbs were weak and he had little strength left. Unlike last time, these ants would devour people on the spot without leaving any chance for them to contact the queen ant and turn the tables.
Just give up like this? Tom shook his head vigorously. He suddenly remembered the blue gem in his backpack and realized that the soldier ants were more interested in him. He immediately took out the blue gem, held it in his palm, and struck it against the other gem, causing a yellow light to emanate from his entire body.
He bit his tongue hard, and the intense pain and bloody taste instantly awakened him. Then he deactivated the yellow light defense and threw down his backpack, saying, "Li Qiang, pour the remaining alcohol on me, quickly!"
"What? Tom, what did you say?"
"I said pour the alcohol on me. I'm going to ignite those ants!"
Li Qiang couldn't believe what he heard. "Tom... you... are you crazy?"
"Hurry, or we'll all die! I have protection; the fire won't kill me! Hurry!"
While Li Qiang hesitated, Number 3 decisively grabbed the bottle and poured it directly on Tom, while Number 4 struck a match, looking at Tom somewhat reluctantly.
Tom snatched the lit match and charged towards the swarm of soldier ants.
The ravenous soldier ants completely ignored the match; they all pounced on Tom. Tom simply lay down on the ground, and the soldier ants piled up on him one after another.
The motivation for these ants to attack them continuously was to fill their hunger and become stronger. With Tom now offering a double temptation of human flesh and crystal, he naturally became a delicious treat in their eyes. The tide of soldier ants quickly engulfed him, and the worker ants behind them also rushed towards him.
The ants that had passed Tom and were about to attack others turned around and headed back. Compared to the previous few people, the one at the back was more appetizing.
"Tom! Tom!" Li Qiang shouted desperately, his eyes red, tears streaming down his face. He hated himself for being so useless, only able to shout and cheer on the sidelines during the battle, and now Tom had to sacrifice himself to buy them time.
Suddenly, flames erupted, then roared, and the air was filled with a pungent smell.
Even the well-trained bodyguards, Number 3 and Number 4, had painful expressions on their faces. Tom's act of self-sacrifice successfully attracted all the ants to him, leaving them both in awe and resentment. They gripped their guns tightly, their hands trembling slightly.
The alcohol ignited Tom's clothes. Normally, these unmutated soldier ants wouldn't catch fire, but Tom's armor was made of plastic, which melted when heated, sticking the surrounding ants together. The fire dried up the moisture on the ants' bodies, and the remaining husks naturally became fuel.
Moreover, Tom had intentionally released pheromones from nearby soldier ants, containing the message "delicious food, come and eat," which naturally attracted even more ants.
The more ants there were, the more corpses there would be, naturally making the fire burn stronger and bigger.
After the larger soldier ants were attracted, it was the worker ants behind them. They fluttered their antennae hesitantly, not knowing what to do.
The fire burned for more than five minutes. Li Qiang saw that the ants on the balcony of the opposite second floor were still there, and Ah Huang was still glaring at them. With both monsters on either side, it was even more difficult to advance or retreat, so they could only helplessly watch Tom's fire.
The fire came quickly and went even faster. No matter how many soldier ants there were, they were small in size. Without being burned, the flames were extinguished in an instant. At this moment, Li Qiang saw that the stairs were still densely packed with ants, and he felt that Tom's sacrifice had been in vain. He even spotted a larger ant in the swarm.
"It's the queen ant! Their queen ants have come! Quickly, kill it!"
This queen ant was different from the one in the rented house. It could move on its own and wasn't as big, its size was at most similar to that of a cockroach, but its abdomen was particularly large.
Number 4 shook his head. "I'm out of bullets."
Number 3 smiled bitterly. "Me too, looks like we forgot to leave one for ourselves."
Li Qiang, burning with anger, gripped the military dagger Number 3 had given him and roared as he charged towards the queen ant. But as he passed the bonfire, a yellow-glowing arm grabbed his foot. "Don't go!"
"Tom!" Li Qiang was overjoyed.
Tom was completely naked, his hair and eyebrows burned off, but his body still emitted a faint yellow light, with no trace of burns on his skin.
"Look up!" Tom pointed to the sky. Li Qiang saw three faint red lights flickering in the sky, a pattern he seemed to recognize. "It's the Jingwei!"
Number 3 immediately shouted, "Number 4, flare!"
The flare went up, illuminating the entire rooftop, while Number 3 tossed a red smoke grenade.
The appearance of the queen ant gave the hesitant ant swarm direction, and they immediately charged towards Tom and the others.
Tom dragged Li Qiang and desperately ran backward, with the ant swarm getting closer and closer.
The three red dots in the sky approached rapidly, and soon a low buzzing sound could be heard. The Jingwei emerged in the night sky, and then a barrage of heavy machine gun fire erupted from the aircraft, raining down on the ants charging towards Tom and Li Qiang. Many of the smaller worker ants were mowed down by the barrage.
With a steady hum from its six rotor motors, the Jingwei landed smoothly on the rooftop. Number 3 recognized the person using the heavy machine gun in the cockpit. "Number 2?"
"Hard work. Miss sent me to pick you up!" Number 2 didn't say much, tossing out two ammo clips, one for Number 3 and one for Number 4, who quickly loaded their weapons. Then the three of them provided cover fire for Tom and Li Qiang as they ran back.
Tom first threw Li Qiang to the front of the cockpit and then ran back to the edge to pick up his backpack, grabbing one large red crystal in each hand and running. These two big guys couldn't be left behind for the ants.
As soon as they entered the cockpit, Number 2 shouted, "Take off!"
The Jingwei slowly rose into the air. Tom pointed at the large queen ant. "Can you take it down?"
Number 3 turned around, hoisted a rocket launcher, and smiled. "As you wish!"
The rocket whistled towards the queen ant on the rooftop and exploded, splattering countless ants.
"Wow! Haha!" Number 4 laughed. "Well done! Number 3, haha, feels good."
Number 2 found a coat and draped it over Tom. "Brother, you're brave, even more so than our leader. The fire you set just now, I saw it from the air. It was spectacular."
Tom smiled but leaned against the cabin door, looking around.
Li Qiang was puzzled. "Tom, what's wrong? What are you looking for?"
"Ah Huang, Ah Huang is missing."
"Hey, look at how worried you are. It can't fly down there. Of course, it can only dream of eating swan meat... wishful thinking, haha!"
Tom couldn't find Ah Huang here, so he ran to the other side of the cabin, opened the door, and continued searching. He felt that Ah Huang wouldn't give up so easily.
Seeing Tom's nervousness, Number 2 shook his head with a smile. "You guys are too nervous. Go back to the shelter and rest well. Don't worry, based on your performance today, when you go back..."
"There, there, it's Ah Huang! Quick, shoot!" Tom urgently pointed to the right, then snatched the automatic rifle from Number 4 and aimed without hesitation.
Unfortunately, Tom had never fired a gun before, and it was impossible to hit a target in mid-air.
As others looked over, they indeed saw a yellow figure flying outside the 7th-floor wall. "Damn, is it Spider-Man?"
The three security guards immediately fired their weapons, but Ah Huang, agile on the wall, kept changing positions, evading the barrage of bullets, even dodging the heavy machine gun fire turned by Number 2.
At a critical moment, Li Qiang grabbed a launcher and handed it to Number 3. "Brother 3, blow that damn thing up!"
Number 3 took the rocket launcher, aimed, and fired. At that moment, Ah Huang completed its sprint and was very close to the Jingwei. The rocket collided with Ah Huang in mid-air, exploding into a violent fireball, shaking everyone off their feet.
Just as Li Qiang was about to rejoice in his quick thinking, he saw a yellow face emerge from the flames.
"Meow!" Ah Huang flew towards them, its claws, three centimeters long, slashing across the Jingwei, and then it fell down.
The Jingwei shook violently, and the driver at the front shouted, "The third set of rotors are destroyed. I can't control the flight attitude!"
Inside the cabin, everything spun, and the urgent alarm sounded, with red lights flashing incessantly. Everyone was thrown against the cabin wall, and at this moment, Li Qiang still couldn't help asking, "What does he mean?"
"Hold on tight!" Tom shouted, then saw Li Qiang being thrown out of the cabin. He hurriedly reached out to grab him, but their hands missed by a hair's breadth, and Li Qiang disappeared into the night sky.
"Li Qiang!" Tom's heart was torn apart. One by one, his friends had left, and now he had to watch Li Qiang die?
But the next moment, he didn't have time to think about these. The Jingwei spun in the air for several laps before crashing into the outer wall of a tall building, its remaining three rotors scattered, and the entire drone plummeted downward.