The Food Chain of Insects

Song Weishi communicated with the System in her mind. Throughout the journey, she hadn't felt any changes in her body besides her enhanced healing ability.

Logically speaking, after going through something like this, a protagonist or supporting character should painlessly acquire some kind of superpower, right?

Why didn't she get one?

Was she just not noticing it, or was she overthinking things entirely—maybe this novel didn't encourage such cheating methods?

Song Weishi was baffled. She asked the System, but its answer was simply "I don't know." To say the least, it was extremely unreliable.

There was even an option for "I don't know"? Song Weishi was speechless, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Could it be that the female lead's halo was at work again? Song Weishi secretly glanced at Xie Yi, then quickly looked away when their eyes met.

It wasn't unreasonable for her to speculate—after all, her personal panel stats hadn't refreshed. The fever was for nothing. However, her physique had indeed improved, and her wounds healed quickly, which was pretty nice. As for what other changes she might have, she'd take it one step at a time.

Song Weishi brushed aside the insects before her and looked out the window.

The others unconsciously regarded her as their pillar of strength. Xie Huiying asked, "What do we do now?"

Song Weishi said, "Let's go pick up Sister Xie first. Is she still in our district?"

She felt like she was back in the old days of teaming up. Xie Huiying was most concerned about her sister right now, so Song Weishi naturally had to ensure the safety of her team member's family first.

"Alright!"

"I support that. Xiao Qing probably hasn't gone far. Let's go find her."

There were only a few roads back, and Xie Huiqing had offices in every district of Huihai City. She'd probably returned to the nearest one.

Whether the signal towers had been destroyed by these sudden insects or not, the group's phone signals were unstable, and they couldn't make calls.

As they walked on foot, Song Weishi soon felt drenched in sweat. At least it was nighttime; she dreaded to think how exhausting it would be during the day.

She wished she could pull out a bicycle and ride off, but clearly none of them had anticipated such an ordeal within Huihai City. They'd let their guard down and hadn't brought their vehicles.

When they walked back to the Research Institute, the dedicated driver who'd shuttled them around was long gone.

The people who'd been loitering at the main gate had scattered as well. The area was now empty and pitch black, swallowed whole by insects.

Song Weishi noticed that the bugs would dive at any place with people. Just standing there for a moment had them covered in insects.

Xie Huiying quickly pulled the others along. Inside the station, insects swarmed in groups, the power was out, and they couldn't take any vehicles.

Everyone had taken cover immediately. The streets were now deserted, the once-glittering neon signs dimmed, and the whole avenue looked unprecedentedly bleak—as ordinary as a city before its redevelopment.

Song Weishi spotted a row of shared bicycles nearby. They were free to use, but normally required a card to unlock. With no power, they could easily pry them out.

The group wedged open the locks and yanked the bikes free. Song Weishi sat on the seat, got her bearings, and pulled out her phone.

The thrips were everywhere. She wrapped her phone in a bag and followed the navigation—she'd downloaded the maps long ago.

"Please ride for one kilometer, then turn left at the next intersection..."

The group set off wearing their not-exactly-heavy protective suits. The stifling heat was worse than when they'd been traveling before, but there was no other choice.

The aunties, having lived through hard times, had been prudent enough to carry flashlights, which they now strapped to their bikes.

The team moved out quickly. Everyone but Xie Yi fell in line behind Song Weishi.

Song Weishi watched her wobble unsteadily on the bike. A minute later, Xie Yi appeared right behind her.

Xie Yi sat quietly on the back rack, gripping Song Weishi's seat tightly.

Song Weishi snorted and kicked off hard, pedaling far ahead. She still found time to complain to the System: "And she's the female lead? A supposedly all-rounder can't even ride a bike."

The System said, "She can probably fly a plane."

Song Weishi: ?...

The System added, "Or maybe drive a tank?"

Song Weishi said, "You're hilarious."

The System said, "You flatter me."

Song Weishi was thoroughly speechless. She pedaled with all her might. Along the way, the thrips gradually thinned out, and a swirling green mass appeared in her vision—transparent-winged green insects darting straight at them.

They were madly feasting on the thrips clinging to their protective suits.

These bugs looked like miniature dragonflies, but without the big eyes, and their bodies were much shorter. Their large wings were four or five times the size of their bodies, making them flutter like elegant butterflies.

They swarmed in droves toward any spot with thrips. Song Weishi couldn't identify them, so she shouted over her shoulder to the aunties behind.

"What are these?"

The convoy cut through the green insect cloud. Without the navigation, they'd surely have lost their way in such a massive swarm.

"Green lacewings! Don't worry, they don't bite much!"

Aunt Huang's voice floated up from behind. The moment she finished speaking, she let out an "Ouch!"

When you're down on your luck, better not jinx yourself—otherwise, the worst-case scenario strikes in the next second.

Aunt Huang felt a sharp pain on her rear. She reached back and felt her protective suit being tugged. A huge lacewing had latched onto her butt, biting through the suit.

Aunt Huang instantly sped up. All along the way, the tires crunched over insects—squelch, squelch—and these bugs even burst on impact. If you glanced behind, you'd see a long trail of green goo and half-crushed bug corpses, enough to make you puke last night's dinner.

Song Weishi also picked up speed, but with someone on the back, she quickly fell to the rear of the group.

She really wanted to swerve and fling Xie Yi off, but out of respect for Xie Huiying, she held back.

The group finally pedaled into the city proper. Here, the waves of insects kept coming—from thrips and green lacewings to hoverflies. Song Weishi noticed a pattern: the insects on the outskirts were the lower-tier ones.

From the aunties, she learned that lacewings were natural predators of thrips, and hoverflies ate lacewings. These bugs formed an insect food chain, with each layer deeper being harder to deal with.

On the wide roads, many vehicles had stopped. You could occasionally see people inside fighting off bugs. The traffic was completely jammed, but this area was much brighter than elsewhere. Song Weishi and the others rode along the sidewalk, observing the cars on the road.

Unfortunately, none of them were Xie Huiqing's.

Song Weishi stopped and looked back at Xie Huiying. "Should we keep searching, or head to her office?"

Xie Huiying's face was hidden behind her protective suit, but after a moment's deliberation, she made a decisive call: "Go to her workplace!"

Song Weishi immediately turned around. Just then, the flashlight beam revealed a fist-sized, colorful mantis that had hopped onto Aunt Huang's suit.

Its translucent white wings bore spots shaped like cat eyes, and at first glance, it seemed to be staring right at you.

With its yellow wings and striped, rainbow-hued body, it was even more beautiful than a common butterfly. If mantises had a peerless beauty, this one would be the undisputed queen.

Its forelegs swayed as it cautiously probed the protective suit. Aunt Huang slowed down, as if she wanted to scratch her back.

Too late. Song Weishi pedaled with everything she had and shouted, "Don't move!"

Her voice rang out sharp and clear in the darkness. The riders ahead stopped in unison. Aunt Huang slammed on the brakes, turned back in a panic, and asked, "What? What's wrong?"

Song Weishi kicked the mantis off her—it hadn't even settled yet—and everyone watched as a white arc flew through the air. It took them a moment to realize such a huge bug had been on her back.

Aunt Huang let out a shrieking scream, startling a huge cloud of insects into the air before they swiftly swarmed back around them.

Song Weishi didn't linger. She shouted loudly, "Watch out for mantises!"

This was the fourth type of bug they'd seen so far, and it was far more terrifying than the previous three. Even just the area where the mantis had gripped Aunt Huang's suit had pulled up several threads. She didn't dare imagine what would happen if those razor-sharp forearms sliced down—whether her suit would tear.

The farther they went, the more mantises appeared. All kinds of beautiful mantises—some resembling orchids, others fully translucent and ethereal—turned the street into a massive insect museum.

All sorts of mantises fluttered about, mixed in with other insects being preyed upon.

Mantises were the most aggressive of all. If one landed on you, you had to shoo it off immediately, or it would easily cut through your suit and let a swarm of insects directly touch your skin.

Fortunately, apart from the strain of pedaling, Song Weishi didn't have to worry about that problem, because she had Xie Yi sitting behind her.

Riding toward Xie Huiqing's work district, the farther they went, the fewer cars there were, but the more bugs there were.

The greenery here was nice, and under the broad shade of the trees lurked countless insects. Song Weishi had never in her life seen so many disgusting bugs. She didn't even need to swat them—one roll forward and she'd squash a whole pile of them.

The road was a darkness without end. It felt like she'd stumbled into a tropical rainforest straight out of a documentary, with every bug hurling itself at her face.

Thankfully, the protective suit kept her from facing these horrors directly.

With no air circulation, her body inside the suit felt like she'd crawled into a sauna, drenched in sweat and heat. But Song Weishi had to keep going. Finally, she spotted a car with its headlights on, parked across the middle of the road.

The person inside was frantically swatting at bugs that had flown into the vehicle.

Song Weishi's eyes lit up, and Xie Huiying behind her also sped up. "It's Xiao Qing's car! Xiao Qing!"

The group pedaled forward with all their might. The person in the car didn't seem to intend to get out, just kept flailing at her clothes. But there didn't seem to be many bugs inside.

Song Weishi was a bit puzzled. She pedaled harder to catch up, and only then did she see what the person inside was actually doing.

The person was indeed Xie Huiqing. She was waving her hands and shouting something, her voice frantic.

The group sped up even more. But Song Weishi scanned the surroundings—nothing seemed out of place. She warily slowed down and signaled the aunties to do the same.

Only when they got closer did they see it: the driver's seat was empty. On one side of the car lay a corpse, decapitated, lying still on the ground.

Blood gushed from the neck wound, and atop it perched green lacewings, now darkened to a deep red from drinking the blood.

It was then that they finally heard what Xie Huiqing was shouting: "Don't come closer! Run!"

But it was already too late. At that moment, the car shuddered twice. From behind it crawled out a spiked-flower mantis as tall as a person. It fluttered its beautiful wings, slowly brandishing its twin scythes, and its triangular head swiveled—a pair of white eyes locked onto them with deadly intent.