By the time the two women finished packing their supplies, the bandaging of Lin Feng's wound was nearly complete.
Liu Ruojiao's skill was superb, perhaps due to her years of teaching. After she finished, he could grip his gun with his bandaged hand and move it without any issue.
"Thanks, Teacher Liu."
Lin Feng thanked her sincerely. Liu Ruojiao's skill allowed him to maintain his peak condition, which was crucial.
Liu Ruojiao grunted in acknowledgment and warned him again not to engage in strenuous activity that could cause a secondary injury. Then, she picked up her medical kit and returned to the group of teachers.
Lin Feng gave a noncommittal response and looked down at his hands, where the Armor was shattered. It showed that his Shield Armor was damaged; the remaining fifteen minutes of use time had been reduced by ten.
Fortunately, he still had two Upgrade Reserves. He used one, and with a flash of white light, the Shield Armor, which had been stained with blood and Zerg gore, was restored to pristine condition, good as new.
'Later, I'll go down to the pile of Red-Armored Beetle corpses and look for an intact Crimson Back Armor. I can collect them to continue upgrading the Red Armor Shield.'
'This gear is a life-saving trump card. I can't let my guard down.'
Liu Yueqi witnessed this happen and started wondering to herself. She couldn't quite figure out Lin Feng's true Superpower.
'Maybe it's a very rare type.'
Seeing that Lin Feng was done, Zhang Yurou and Liu Yueqi walked over, shouldering their packs. Yurou handed one of the backpacks to Lin Feng.
"There are supplies and food inside. You take it; I don't need one."
"Now we just wait for them to contact the military and have a rescue helicopter sent from the rear. Helicopters are fast; one can get here in twenty minutes."
As soon as Zhang Yurou finished speaking, cries of surprise erupted from the three or four people fiddling with communication equipment on top of the rooftop's electrical room.
"We made contact! Coordinates: 126.46 East, 28.03 North. Dormitory building next to the Hai City University Research Institute. All personnel are accounted for."
"Roger that. Rescue will arrive within half an hour!"
Hearing the strong, clear voice—like a sound from heaven—over the microphone, the worried expressions of the gathered crowd turned to joy.
After enduring a day and a night of fear, they could finally leave this Hell on earth.
Lin Feng brought the two women closer. He knew perfectly well that not everyone would be able to leave. The military would have its own criteria.
There were fifteen survivors on the rooftop, plus Lin Feng's group of three, making eighteen in total. A standard Federation transport helicopter had a capacity of only twenty people.
After accounting for the flight crew, medical equipment, and weapons, they would be lucky to rescue even ten people.
That was why Lin Feng's group of three didn't share the joy and excitement of the teachers and professors, but simply watched them in silence.
As the crowd dispersed in small groups, Lin Feng noticed a familiar figure sitting beside the communication equipment.
The man sat cross-legged beside two Red-Armored Beetle corpses, his head hanging low. He was disheveled, filthy, and bearded, poking at the Zerg's innards with a wooden stick.
Lin Feng slowly walked over and sat down across from him.
The man slowly raised his head. His expression shifted from disbelief to utter shock, and finally to excitement as he surged forward and grabbed Lin Feng's arm.
"My man! What are you doing here?!"
"That newcomer who just rushed up from downstairs... that was you?!"
Lin Feng nodded and asked in return,
"Ding Fatty, weren't you transferred to the Research Institute in the Northwest? Why did you come back without a word?"
"Did He Jie get to you?"
At the mention of He Jie's name, Ding Chenghai's joyful expression dimmed, and he replied bitterly,
"Sigh, don't even mention it. She's just like your mom, a little... obsessed... Sorry, that's not what I meant."
Lin Feng had unexpectedly gotten to know Ding Chenghai through He Jie, who was his mother He Yiwen's top disciple and now a senior researcher.
Ding Chenghai had fallen for her at first sight, but unfortunately, He Jie had perfectly inherited her mentor's legacy, throwing herself completely into her research with no interest in romance.
After his father's disappearance, He Jie was tasked by her mentor to frequently visit Lin Feng, who had just started university. Ding Chenghai then used this as an indirect way to get close to He Jie, becoming friendly with Lin Feng in the process.
Later, when He Jie went to the Northwest, he gave up a high-paying position at his alma mater and followed her without hesitation.
But in the end, after all that, he ended up right back here.
Lin Feng shrugged, showing he didn't mind. He didn't have much affection for the mother who had given birth to him but never raised him anyway.
More than matters of the heart, he was concerned about the situation outside.
"Do you know what the current situation is? The state of other regions, the countermeasures being taken?"
Ding Chenghai nodded. He picked up the wooden stick, dipped it in some fluid from the Zerg corpse, and began to sketch on the ground.
"Right now, nearly every coastal city has been invaded by the Alien Zerg Race. They're smart, and they have a good grasp of human social structure."
"So far, humanity hasn't retaken a single city. In fact, most have already fallen completely, becoming beachheads for the Zerg Race."
"The red beetles we've been fighting are just the most common Worker Zergs. What the military is facing are Soldier Zergs, which are several times more powerful."
"They're giant black bugs, five meters long and three meters tall, with four sharp limbs and a pair of two-meter-long, pincer-like Giant Mandibles. They're like light tanks on land, moving incredibly fast. Standard rifle rounds can't penetrate their thick Armor, only large-caliber sniper rifles and Heavy Machine Guns can break through."
"To kill them for good, you need a Cannon!"
"But our ground forces have been weak for a long time. Plus, the Zerg can retreat into underground tunnels dug by the Worker Zergs, making our Cannon support and air strikes largely ineffective."
"The only good news is their parent entity—a giant, biological fortress we call the Mother Empress—moves incredibly slowly. The Worker Zergs and Soldier Zergs can't stray too far from her..."
"So, if you can just get out of the city, you'll be home free."
At this point, Ding Chenghai seemed to realize something. His expression changed as he looked around. After confirming no one was nearby, he slowly leaned in and lowered his voice.
"Only a few important individuals will be allowed to leave. You guys probably won't get a spot on the chopper."
Lin Feng's brow furrowed. He was surprised that Ding Chenghai would tell him this.
"How do you know? Are you one of the chosen few? You didn't tell anyone else?"
Ding Chenghai spread his hands, completely unapologetic.
"If I'd told them earlier, who would have rescued me? Who would have helped us hold the hallway downstairs?"
"To make it look convincing, I've been trying to keep a low profile. I didn't even peek when you were making all that racket."
"That's right. I'm an equipment researcher, so the military is taking me to develop new weapons against the Alien Zerg Race. But they won't take those people."
As he spoke, Ding Chenghai discreetly pointed to the scattered teachers and professors. Most were in administration or academic research and weren't much help in the current crisis.
Professor Zhang Xuan, who had stepped forward earlier, and his fiancée, Liu Ruojiao, were clearly among those being left behind.
The ones who would be leaving, however, were the few engineering professors who had been working on the communications equipment.
Ding Chenghai glanced at the two women behind Lin Feng, who had arrived with him, and said with a touch of regret,
"You'll have to rely on yourselves. I can't persuade those drones who only follow orders."
"But you successfully held off the Worker Zerg Swarm's attack downstairs. You must have had an Awakening and gained a Superpower, right?"
Ding Chenghai gestured with the stick toward Lin Feng's red and silver Shield Armor and said with great interest,
"This is made from the Back Armor of a Worker Zerg. Is your Superpower changing the form of objects?"
Lin Feng shook his head. Ding Fatty was sharp, and Lin Feng didn't want to reveal too much and expose his system.
"I'm not sure myself. In any case, staying alive won't be a problem."
"I heard Liu Yueqi mention getting stronger by killing Zerg. Do you know how that works?"
At this, Ding Chenghai's expression grew grave.
"That's right. The Federation is researching that right now. Many soldiers on the front lines have gained enhancements after killing the giant Zerg. The current theory is that the Alien Zerg Race traveled to Blue Star from a very distant place through some kind of spatial tunnel."
"They carry a kind of Dark Energy within them that can unlock a living being's potential. When we kill them, that Energy transfers to us."
"After the seventh enhancement, the accumulated Dark Energy might activate a special ability beyond our current understanding."
"Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. While it brought disaster upon humanity, it also ushered in a new age of evolution."
With that, Ding Chenghai put down the stick, rubbed the grime from his hands, and asked expectantly,
"I've been starving all night. You bring any food?"
Lin Feng shot him a look and pulled a tin of fish from his backpack. It was from the fridge at his sister-in-law's place.
Taking the Cans of fish, Ding Chenghai gulped. But instead of opening it right away, he used the stick to rummage inside the Red-Armored Beetle's corpse, finally pulling out a milky-white sac.
Then he borrowed a lighter from an old professor nearby.
Ding Chenghai gripped the Hose at the sac's opening with one hand and flicked the lighter with the other. He held the dancing flame to the tip of the Hose, and a pale blue flame suddenly shot out from the end.
WHOOSH!
It hissed like a blowtorch!
He aimed the makeshift flamethrower at the tin can, heating it.
Lin Feng's eyes widened as he watched Ding Fatty's ridiculously slick move. He never would have imagined that the white sac inside the Zerg had such a function!
Ding Chenghai chuckled and explained smugly,
"I spent all day wracking my brain about how these alien bugs manage their Energy consumption. A body that big, moving that fast... their food and oxygen requirements have to be massive..."
"After I dissected one, I found this."
"The Zerg has an internal bladder for storing hydrogen gas. The bladder secretes a substance that effectively lowers the liquefaction point of hydrogen, while also allowing for the slow release of the Chemical Energy contained within the liquid hydrogen..."
"That's why the Alien Zerg Race needs liquid water, and why they came from the ocean in the first place."
"The heat generated by burning one kilogram of hydrogen is about three times that of gasoline and four times that of alcohol. Of all fossil and biofuels, it has the highest calorific value, second only to nuclear fuel."
Ding Chenghai explained in detail, remarking with a sigh,
"Tsk, tsk. What a perfectly designed creature."
"See? It's hot already. Want some?"
He pinched the Hose shut to extinguish the flame, tied it in a tight knot, then pulled open the can. The savory aroma of fish filled the air.
Ding Chenghai was so ravenous he just picked up the fish with his fingers and started eating. He was clearly starving.
Lin Feng shook his head. The more he learned about the power of the Zerg Race, the more he worried about humanity's future.
His sense of anxiety and urgency deepened.
Just then, thankfully, the Upgrade to Lv. 7 was finally complete: