The last serialized book remaining, I’ll give you an update whenever I can.
Leaving Shale Mountain and heading straight ahead, the wind was strong today, stirring up dust across the plains, making it look like a layer of gray mist from afar.
A full hundred kilometers, nothing of value, only broken stones everywhere.
The soil became increasingly gray, a pale gray, like black sesame paste. Jiang Ye felt as if he were galloping across the surface of the moon.
Finally, a black shadow rose from the horizon.
“Another mountain,” the second captain said.
Jiang Ye squinted to observe. Indeed, it was another mountain range. The previous mountain was entirely crimson, while this one was entirely black, at least a hundred meters high.
As they drew closer, sighs echoed through the communication channel.
This mountain, too, had no gentle slopes; as far as the eye could see, it was all sheer cliffs like walls. And they were clearly made of rock. Who knew how such vertical rock mountains were formed, but a tunnel was definitely needed to pass.
“Left flank, move left, there seems to be a fissure over there,” Jiang Ye’s eyes were sharp.
The leftmost few spiders immediately accelerated, breaking away from the group to scout the mountainside.
Soon, excited shouts rang out from the channel:
“Report! There’s a canyon, about ten meters wide!”
Jiang Ye immediately changed direction, moving towards the canyon.
Soon, all the spiders were at the canyon’s entrance. In reality, it wasn’t much of a canyon, more like a crack in the mountain, with towering rock faces forty to fifty meters high on either side, rugged and jagged, looking as if they might collapse at any moment. The entire canyon was about ten meters wide, winding and twisting, and after a few dozen meters, the path ahead was obscured, giving it a deep, terrifying feel.
Discussions erupted in the communication channel:
“Is this a canyon? It looks very dangerous!”
“The rocks above are jutting out, they could fall at any moment! It would be terrible if they hit us!”
“How deep is this canyon? Can it reach the other side of the mountain?”
“Should we go back and get a reconnaissance drone?”
Without a word, Jiang Ye directly piloted a spider into the canyon.
Moving past the protruding rocks, they advanced rapidly!
The commander’s boldness silenced everyone in the formation, leaving them with nothing to say as they followed suit.
Jiang Ye advanced over a hundred meters. The surrounding rocks did not narrow but became more spacious. However, looking up, the rock formations above still closed in, with only a narrow gap allowing a faint sunlight to filter through.
[Detected Corpse Pufferfish, engage fire?]
The prompt suddenly popped up.
Jiang Ye braked the spider sharply, and the spiders behind them also stopped abruptly.
On every spider’s control screen, prompts were continuously popping up, all detecting Corpse Pufferfish, the sheer number of prompts almost flooding the screen!
On the rock walls ahead, countless flat, circular green creatures were clinging, each as large as a pot lid, overlapping like leaves. Jiang Ye zoomed in to observe, and indeed, they were Corpse Pufferfish that hadn't yet inflated.
If they charged through, the Corpse Pufferfish on both sides would spew acid, and the entire squad of spiders would be wiped out.
“Listen to my orders, all of you, stick close to the left mountain wall and line up,” Jiang Ye commanded decisively.
The soldiers didn’t understand the reason, but it was a military order. All spiders moved, lining up against the left mountain wall within seconds.
“We’ll do a rotation. I’ll fire first to clear the Corpse Pufferfish on the rock wall. After I finish, I’ll flash to the right and retreat. The spiders behind me will immediately move forward and fire. It will be the same for everyone, understand? If anyone doesn’t understand, speak up now.”
“Understood!” everyone shouted in unison. It was simply a matter of taking turns firing, easy to grasp.
Jiang Ye aimed at the distant rock wall, moved the mouse to the fire button, and clicked, clicked, clicked, clicked…
The shells were fired like a machine gun, at maximum rate, the barrage of projectiles quickly sweeping across the rock face, explosions and smoke filling the canyon!
The Corpse Pufferfish on the rock wall were no longer visible. Occasionally, one could see one being blown away, already inflated into a ball, but it was quickly punctured by the gunfire, bursting like a balloon and spraying yellowish-green fluid.
Halfway through the shelling, Jiang Ye suddenly stopped firing and moved to the right.
The spiders behind immediately stepped forward and fired their cannons.
In that brief moment, several spherical Corpse Pufferfish rolled out from the dust and charged rapidly towards the spiders. Fortunately, the next spider seamlessly took over, using its shells to eliminate the few charging Corpse Pufferfish, then continued firing into the depths of the canyon.
The entire canyon vibrated, and small rocks occasionally shook loose from the top.
After five spiders took turns firing hundreds of shells, no more Corpse Pufferfish emerged.
“Wait a moment, let the smoke clear before we move,” Jiang Ye said calmly.
Everyone waited in silence, gazing at the smoke-filled canyon ahead.
Suddenly, a few more dark shapes appeared, hopping in the smoke.
The foremost spider fired decisively, launching three shells in quick succession, clearing the area again.
This time, after waiting for more than ten minutes, no new Corpse Pufferfish appeared.
The smoke had also largely dissipated, and Jiang Ye led the way forward.
The bombed areas were devastated, vast swathes of rock reduced to powder, shiny shell casings scattered everywhere, along with sticky Corpse Pufferfish corpses, their organs and tissues charred into minced meat, disgustingly clinging to the rocks.
Jiang Ye cautiously used his mechanical legs to search, pushing aside some rocks to examine what was beneath. At the same time, he carefully monitored nearby movements and scanned the results.
Fortunately, after searching the entire area, no living creatures were found.
Passing through the smoke, they continued forward.
The canyon had reached its end, and Jiang Ye heard the sound of water!
The sound of water was quite loud. The spiders rushed out of the canyon to find a vast river blocking their path, at least twenty meters wide, with a surging current and occasional splashes of water.
Jiang Ye rotated his view. Coincidentally, the river flowed from the right towards the plains on the left, completely blocking the path ahead.
He maneuvered a spider to the riverbank and extended a spider leg downwards.
The water was about five meters deep. The mechanical leg was ten meters long, so crossing should be fine.
Jiang Ye clicked the screen, signaling the spider to advance.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the spider entered the water, it stopped moving and then automatically retreated.
[Detected strong current, crossing is dangerous, please find another route]
[To proceed forcefully, please click the advance button four consecutive times]
Jiang Ye did not force his way across. Since the scan indicated it was impassable, there was no point in pushing it.
“Rest here, eat something, and in twenty minutes, we’ll split up to find a place to cross,” Jiang Ye ordered.
The accompanying spiders lowered their altitude, soldiers opened their hatches to breathe the fresh air. Many took out their own food to eat.
Jiang Ye remained inside the cabin, checking the messages from the other group of spiders.
Che Zhen’s team was advancing quite quickly, having traveled fifty kilometers more than them and still moving rapidly.
The scan information along the way had been uploaded. Most of the data was of little value, but Jiang Ye’s sharp eyes spotted a word:
“Suspected hot spring.”