Chapter Six: The Mysterious Orb of Light

Holding back their grief, the group hurriedly made their way out of the mountain. After a few hundred steps, the dense forest had already closed in around them, blocking their path with a thick wall of trees. Gunshots still crackled sporadically behind them. Mere seconds later, after one final shot, all fell silent. The three men led by Captain Li, who had stayed behind to cover their retreat, were most likely dead.

The ants were still close at hand, so no one dared to linger. Swallowing their sorrow, they pressed on faster.

...

“What’s wrong with you? Can’t you even find the way back?” A voice, fraught with anxiety and anger, broke the silence.

A paramilitary soldier was venting his frustration. They had been wandering for over an hour, seemingly in circles, and one of his poisoned comrades was now barely clinging to life. The guide seemed hopelessly lost, and his irritation was mounting.

Long Yu and the others had indeed been lost in the mountains for over an hour, unable to find their way out. After escaping the ants’ attack, Long Yu realized he had lost his bearings. At first, he’d hoped that if he just kept walking, something familiar would appear and he’d soon find his way. But the longer he walked, the more lost he became, until confusion overwhelmed him completely.

“I’m lost…” Under the soldier’s questioning gaze, Long Yu had to admit the truth. “Ever since we escaped the ants’ attack, I haven’t been able to remember which way is which…”

“You—” The man, overcome with anger, seized Long Yu by the collar, but was quickly restrained by another soldier.

Truthfully, it wasn’t entirely Long Yu’s fault. They themselves had lost their sense of direction early on. But watching their comrade die before their eyes, with nothing they could do, filled each of them with a helpless, suffocating rage.

The poisoned soldier’s face had turned an ashen white, his wound already blackened, and he had slipped into a coma.

Watching a wounded comrade slip away, unable to do a thing, left everyone in low spirits. That feeling—powerless to prevent a death you must witness—was truly unbearable. And today, this feeling had already struck twice, plunging the group into utter despair…

...

A few minutes later, the poisoned and unconscious soldier died quietly on a comrade’s back.

There was no time to grieve. The ants caught up, and the remaining soldiers quickly spent their last bullets, only managing to kill two or three ants.

Over twenty more ants surged forward. Whether someone gave the signal or everyone simply lost their nerve at once, the entire group scattered in panic.

The soldiers abandoned their mission to protect Professor Wang and split up, their nerves shattered by the unending ordeal. With their captain dead, all that remained was the desperate instinct to survive.

The dead soldier’s body was left behind. Even their rifles were discarded in the frantic retreat.

Long Yu had no idea which direction he was running. All he knew was that the ants were behind him, that he had to run, faster and faster—only outrunning the ants could mean survival.

As he ran, those who had been fleeing in the same direction gradually scattered, until it seemed the whole forest was empty save for Long Yu’s solitary dash.

There was no time to think about the ants behind him, or about anyone else. The terror had shattered Long Yu’s last reserves of rationality; now he moved solely on raw survival instinct.

He ran with every ounce of strength, intent on keeping ahead of the ants until he could run no more, or until the ants overtook him and brought about his end.

The adrenaline coursing through his veins made his entire body feel electrified, as if he possessed boundless energy.

Long Yu could not say how long he ran—it might have been a minute or an hour—before he tripped on a root and went sprawling. This time, he could not get back up.

The fall jolted a shred of reason back into him, and then the exhaustion hit like a flood: tightness in his chest, parched mouth, weak limbs—every symptom of extreme exertion descended at once. In that moment, Long Yu almost felt that death might be preferable.

Enough, he thought. If the ants catch up, so be it. He lay on the ground, gasping for air, resigned to whatever fate awaited him.

A long time passed, but no ants came. Struggling to sit up, Long Yu looked around. The forest was unchanged—trees everywhere, all alike. He had no idea where he was, but the fact that he had survived filled him with a quiet relief.

Having escaped the ants, hope for survival flickered anew in Long Yu’s heart. Yet the dangers of the mountain filled him with dread. He was so exhausted that even standing up was a struggle.

All he could do was pray for safety and wait for his strength to return.

Perhaps his bad luck had finally run its course today, for no new threats emerged—only the occasional strange birdsong echoing from afar.

...

When he had recovered some strength, Long Yu forced himself to his feet, determined to find a way out. He still had parents to care for, and a beloved younger sister—he had no wish to die here, leaving them in grief.

After only a few steps, he spotted something glimmering in the nearby stream. What could it be? Curiosity drew him closer.

He picked up a small, round object emitting a faint green glow and examined it for a long while, but discovered nothing unusual about it.

Fiddling with the glowing orb, Long Yu squeezed it. The sphere cracked open, and instantly a strange, fragrant scent wafted into his nose.

In that moment, a powerful urge surged through him: “Eat it…”

The compulsion was so overwhelming that Long Yu nearly lost control of himself. His hand, moving of its own accord, brought the orb toward his mouth. After a brief struggle, he gave in.

“So be it. If it kills me, it kills me. Who knows, it might even be beneficial.”

As soon as he swallowed the orb, a wave of indescribable comfort washed over him—a tingling, numbing sensation, as if he were drifting in a dream. It was more pleasurable than a full-body massage; every cell in his body seemed to be sending signals of delight to his brain.

When the sensation faded, all his fatigue had vanished. Long Yu felt utterly rejuvenated.

At the same time, he noticed a wealth of new knowledge flooding his mind—he seemed to have gained supernatural abilities, two kinds in fact: psychic powers and spatial manipulation.

The moment his abilities awakened, knowledge appeared in his mind. He learned that consuming crystal nuclei could enhance one’s physical attributes. An ordinary person’s body had a base level of ten, but the orb he had just swallowed had raised his to twenty—twice that of a normal human!

Physical enhancement increased strength, recovery rate, endurance, hearing, vision, perception—an all-around improvement.

But what excited Long Yu even more were his supernatural abilities. Very few people ever awakened such powers, and he had gained two at once. For the first time, Long Yu saw a bright future shimmering ahead.