Although the danger of the Dark Swamp was gone, new dangers had arrived.
When they were running for their lives, although they had activated their energy shields, they were too fast. Even the energy shields could not completely block out the sound of the engines, which inevitably attracted the attention of the surrounding Insectoids.
"All vehicles, reduce your speed and drive at a safe speed. Combat Team 1, get ready to intercept the Insectoids."
The voice of the convoy commander came from the command deck.
Through the Soul Fortress, Qi Yuan had already discovered dozens of Insectoids that were quickly approaching the convoy.
The only fortunate thing was that there weren't any Rank 7 Bug Beasts among this group of Bug Beasts. Most of these Bug Beasts were Rank 4 Bug Beasts, and the strongest one was only Rank 5.
Seeing that the Insectoids were closing in and could attack the convoy at any time, a truck suddenly reduced its speed and fell behind the convoy.
A fully armed combat team jumped down from the truck and held up their weapons, blocking the Insectoids that were chasing after them.
Seeing this, Qi Yuan was a little surprised.
There were only seven of them, and all of them were at the Type 4 realm. Would they be able to withstand the attacks of so many Insectoids?
However, it was within the range of Spiritual Detection.
There were a total of 21 Rank 4 Elite Insectoids, and one of them was even Rank 5.
In addition to the areas that Spiritual Detection could not detect, the Insectoids' strength on paper was enough to crush the combat team at the back.
But very quickly, Qi Yuan found out why this small combat team dared to block the surprise attack of the Zerg Beasts that were several times larger than them.
A heavy truck that had stopped started transforming on the spot and turned into a huge robot.
Transformers?
Qi Yuan looked at the robot in surprise as it condensed a huge lightsaber in its hand and charged into the Insectoids that were chasing after them.
This huge robot that was close to ten meters tall used its huge body to overturn a few Insectoids that were charging at the front.
"This Transformers seems to be the technology obtained from the Mech King Court. Together with a Rank 4 Mechanic, it can unleash the power of a Peak Rank 5," Fu Qingqing said.
Why haven't I seen it before?
Qi Yuan rubbed his chin. Although this Giant Mech had yet to step into the Type 5 realm, with its huge size, its attack power was comparable to a Type 5 Peak-Tier powerhouse. Together with seven fully-equipped combat teams, it was possible to stop the pursuit of the Insectoids.
However, even if they managed to block the Zerg Beasts' pursuit, they would not be able to survive.
Without the protection of the energy shield, the shockwaves of such a high-intensity battle would definitely spread far and wide in the wilderness. More insectoids would be attracted, and the combat team at the rear would be killed by an endless stream of insectoids.
The convoy continued forward, showing no signs of stopping to support the small teams. In the wilderness, covering the rear was the same as sacrificing oneself.
After traveling slowly for ten minutes, the convoy had completely shaken off the pursuit of the insectoids.
A violent explosion came from far behind. Qi Yuan looked back and saw a huge mushroom cloud rising into the sky. Violent flames swept out as if they were going to ignite the sky.
The robot transformed from the heavy truck had self-destructed!
Looking at the distant sky and the flickering flames, Qi Yuan's expression was somewhat heavy.
The self-destruction of the Giant Mech meant that the combat team at the rear had been wiped out.
In the face of true danger, human lives were always so fragile. Even a Type 4 powerhouse was the same.
The convoy continued forward, but the atmosphere had become more solemn. After going through the black swamp and the pursuit of the insectoids, the convoy had already lost three heavy trucks.
There were also more than ten lives lost. Although most of them were genetic warriors, these losses were still somewhat heavy for the convoy.
More importantly, the convoy had yet to leave the red zone. There were still unknown dangers ahead.
Opening the window, Qi Yuan tried to breathe in some fresh air to relieve the pressure in his heart.
Suddenly, Qi Yuan's nose twitched a few times.
"Do you smell a weird smell?" Qi Yuan asked.
Fu Qingqing's nose twitched.
"It smells like blood, but it's different from the blood smell we smelled before."
"Is there a problem?" Fu Qingqing asked.
Qi Yuan's expression was somewhat solemn.
"Although the smell of blood is very common in the wilderness, the smell of every insectoid's blood is different. I remember the smell of over a hundred different insectoid's blood, but none of them can match this smell of blood."
"Moreover, don't you feel that this smell of blood has been following the convoy?"
Fu Qingqing also realized that something was wrong. Although she didn't have a powerful support ability like the data center, her powerful memory as a Type 5 ability user allowed her to remember a lot of insectoid's blood smells. She indeed hadn't smelled this smell of blood before.
This meant that this type of insectoid wasn't common in the wilderness.
Then, why would this uncommon smell of blood appear in the convoy and follow them all the way?
In the wilderness, the smell of blood represented injury and weakness. It was very easy to attract an insectoid's attack. If this blood was an enemy's trap, the result would be even more terrifying.
Using some special insectoid's blood as bait to lure an insectoid's attack wasn't something that had never happened before.
"Is there an enemy spy in the convoy?" Fu Qingqing asked.
"It's possible," Qi Yuan said.
Seeing that Fu Qingqing was about to inform the convoy's commander, Qi Yuan shook his head and stopped her.
"The convoy has just experienced two accidents. Right now, the people's hearts are unstable. Rashly pointing out that there's a spy in the convoy without being able to lock onto the target might very well cause the convoy to fall into chaos."
"Then what should we do?" Fu Qingqing asked.
"I'll look for the source of the smell of blood," Qi Yuan said, slowly closing his eyes.
Fu Qingqing's eyes flashed with a trace of surprise. Even now, she still didn't know what Qi Yuan's Type 4 core ability was.
Just now, when Qi Yuan warned her, she vaguely guessed that it might be Mystery Domain or Perception Domain.
Qi Yuan displayed a powerful Combat Domain ability at Type 3. She originally thought that Qi Yuan's Type 4 core ability would be Combat Domain, but now it seemed like it was Perception Domain.
Although she was a bit surprised, Fu Qingqing wasn't too surprised. Although Perception Domain's frontal combat ability wasn't strong, it was very compatible with Qi Yuan's identity as a researcher.
The only thing that was a bit awkward was Qi Yuan's mutated energy weapon.
After stepping into Type 4, the formation of a core ability would allow an ability user to basically confirm the direction of enhancement. If a fancy ability couldn't form a synergy, it would inevitably affect the enhancement of combat power.
Therefore, Qi Yuan's future enhancement direction should be Perception Domain. Although Perception Domain wasn't weaker than Combat Domain, it didn't quite match the usage of mutated energy weapons.
If Combat Domain ability users could display a mutated energy weapon's full power, then Elemental ability users could only display 80%, Perception Domain ability users could only display 60%, and Mystery Domain ability users could display less than 50%.
What was most compatible with Perception Domain ability users were, of course, those mechanical weapons with long-range attack power.
Fu Qingqing completely didn't think that Qi Yuan would have two core abilities at Type 4.
Through the Soul Fortress, Qi Yuan carefully searched for the source of the smell of blood.
The energy shield could isolate the dissipation of aura, but since he could smell this smell of blood, it meant that there was something wrong with his car.
The Soul Fortress clearly reflected every hidden corner of the car into Qi Yuan's consciousness, but he didn't discover any corpses or blood stains.
Since there were no corpses or blood stains, then where did the smell of blood come from?
After thinking for a moment, Qi Yuan suddenly locked onto the ground the car drove past.
Before crossing the swamp, the wilderness' road had always been relatively dry, without many puddles.
However, ever since leaving the swamp, the number of puddles on the road had clearly increased.
These puddles weren't deep, only a shallow layer of sewage.
When the tires drove over the puddles, there would always be a layer of muddy water on the tires, so the motorcade's tires never dried, sticking to a layer of wet black soil.
Every time the car drove over these puddles, that faintly discernible smell of blood would become a bit stronger.
Someone had purposely done something to the road, soaking these puddles with blood. This was why the motorcade was tainted with this special smell of blood!
Qi Yuan found the source of the smell of blood.
As for the other party's motive for doing this, even if he used his toes to think, it would be to attract the Zerg in the wilderness, and it would be a very dangerous Zerg.
After realizing that something was wrong, Qi Yuan immediately opened the motorcade's channel and reported his discovery.
The motorcade's channel was silent for a few seconds, then the commander's somewhat serious voice finally responded.
"I understand, immediately send someone to deal with it."
Soon, Qi Yuan saw that the front passenger window of the truck in front was rolled down, and a bald man jumped out of the car, standing directly on the roof of the car.
The bald man stepped on the roof of the car and jumped onto the truck in front, then jumped all the way until he stood on the first truck.
The man waved his right hand, and a huge water dragon condensed out of thin air.
The water dragon circled around the first truck, and quickly spun one round, directly cleaning every corner of the truck, even the dirt stuck on the tires were swept away.
The water dragon went all the way back, cleaning every single truck, and only then did it turn into a puddle of dirty water that fell into the wilderness.
After cleaning all the vehicles, the man didn't return to his own car, but instead stood on the roof of the first truck like a flag.
Wherever the man's gaze fell, all the puddles on the road were drying up at a speed visible to the naked eye. The muddy water that was stained with blood seeped into the depths of the soil, leaving behind only dried-up pits.
After the man made his move, the strange smell of blood that followed like a shadow finally disappeared.
If this ability was placed in the old era, it would really be a godly skill to wash cars!
Qi Yuan praised in his heart.
However, Qi Yuan also knew that the ability of this Elemental Domain ability user was naturally not as simple as washing cars. Since he could control the blood puddles on the ground, he could similarly control the blood in the enemy's body.
After dealing with the trap of the smell of blood, Qi Yuan didn't relax. Using blood puddles on the road to taint the truck with the smell of blood, this was clearly a human's method.
Although the enemy's method was broken, this didn't mean that they were safe. The enemy hadn't shown up until now, and the convoy had been in a passive state of defense.
The enemy only did this because they wanted to use the bug beasts to deal with the convoy. Once the enemy realized that this method didn't work, they would most likely attack personally.
When the enemy attacked personally, the convoy would be in danger.
Fighting in the red zone was, in a sense, a method of mutual destruction.
After experiencing the dark swamp, the bug beasts' attack, and now discovering the blood trap, the convoy's atmosphere became even more tense.
At the edge of the safe route, a palm-sized rat crawled out from the ground, its two eyes emitting a faint glow, watching the convoy's advance.
In a dark cave, a man slowly opened his eyes.
"I didn't expect to be discovered!" The man muttered to himself.
If there were people from the Black Steel Shelter here, they would realize that this man was the missing Le Zhangkun from the order department.
Before Le Huaizhou decided to personally deal with Qi Yuan, Le Zhangkun had quietly left the Black Steel Shelter.
No one expected Le Zhangkun to hide in the red zone.
A man wrapped in animal skin, with a black scorpion tattooed on half of his face, walked out from the depths of the cave.
The black scorpion tattoo revealed the man's identity — Black Scorpion, the bandit.
"What do we do now?"
"Without the lure of the blood, the Onyx Soul won't attack the convoy. Do you need me to control a few bug beasts to lure the Onyx Soul closer to the convoy?"
Le Zhangkun shook his head.
"The Onyx Soul is a panic level bug beast. It's different from the bug beasts you usually deal with. Panic level bug beasts have high intelligence. A few elite bug beasts won't be enough for it to attack the convoy."
"Don't take the initiative to provoke it. Otherwise, it's likely to lock onto us as its target."
Black Scorpion went silent. As an exile from the Black Steel Shelter, he hated everything about the Black Steel Shelter. That was why he was secretly bribed by Le Zhangkun to recruit the exiles from the Black Steel Shelter to form a bandit group.
The bandit group led by Black Scorpion had attacked the convoy and hunting team of the Black Steel Shelter many times. They had also been encircled several times.
In order to avoid the encirclement of the Black Steel Shelter, they had to hide in the red zone often.
If it weren't for the fact that the convoy was too big and that the strength of his bandits was no match for the convoy, he wouldn't want to provoke a terrifying existence like the Onyx Soul.
However, if he were to watch such a fleet of carriages pass by in front of him without being able to do anything, he would not be willing to accept it.
The convoy heading to the frontline must have a lot of supplies. As long as he could intercept a vehicle full of supplies, it would be enough to arm all his bandit groups.
"Since the first plan has failed, we'll carry out the second plan," Le Zhangkun said.
"I've received news that Qi Yuan is in the convoy. We must kill him at all costs."
Black Scorpion nodded. His bandit group was able to survive under the encirclement of the Black Steel Shelter mainly because of Le Zhangkun's secret support.
Although Le Zhangkun was forced to escape from the Black Steel Shelter, he had a stronger backer — the Mechanical Kingdom.
As long as he could complete this mission, he could bring his bandits and turn to the Mechanical Kingdom!