Chapter 2860: Cutting

“Trash!”

Joachim cursed and lowered his head in thought.

The trouble was that Captain Zoran had already begun to suspect him and was monitoring him extremely closely.

As soon as he entered the Star River ship, Federation soldiers would immediately follow behind him under strict vigilance.

So…

There was still another place where he could obtain a high concentration of pheromones to attract mutant worms.

The rear section of the warehouse.

According to the plan, the entire dismantled Star River ship warehouse had already been separated, rapidly frozen, and then loaded into the Lanxing ship.

The Lanxing ship was controlled by Captain Taylor, who had no defenses against him at all.

He only needed to find a way to enter the warehouse, obtain some high-concentration pheromones left behind by the crystal worms, and then find a way to place them inside the cargo that Fang Heng was transporting…

By then, the mutant worm swarm outside would crazily chase after Fang Heng’s team!

Not only Fang Heng!

But also Zoran!

Did they really think that establishing a new safe zone meant everything would be fine?

Joachim sneered and looked up to ask, “What’s the situation at the rear section of the ship warehouse? Has the cutting and transportation been completed?”

“Mm.” His subordinate nodded and said, “We just confirmed that the entire rear warehouse section of the Star River ship has been rapidly frozen and loaded onto the Lanxing ship. The Lanxing ship has already arranged soldiers for guard duty, and the inspection team also has personnel monitoring it.”

…

As the Licker swarm completed the secondary expansion of the underground passage, large chunks of the ship’s metal wreckage, cut by Engineer Pang Li’s team, were continuously placed into the pit using cranes.

Wayne and a group of players stayed at the bottom of the pit to receive the wreckage, securely fastening the ship’s metal onto the transport plates. The Lickers then transported it through the passage to the other exit area, handing it over to the Arkley team for secondary distribution.

Fang Heng stood on the ship’s deck, checking the game log and remotely monitoring the Licker swarm’s movements, ready to respond to any sudden events.

Huh?

Suddenly, Fang Heng raised an eyebrow.

The vampire imprint left on Joachim showed an anomaly.

That guy couldn’t resist making a move?

Fang Heng lifted his head and looked toward the Lanxing ship.

Judging from the direction of his perception, Joachim had gone toward the rear section of the Lanxing ship.

He had just been under surveillance on the Lanxing ship, so why go to the rear cabin now?

Had he given up?

Fang Heng remained wary of Joachim and continued assigning transport materials.

After some time, Joachim lingered in the rear cabin of the Lanxing ship for a while before returning to the area where Pang Li’s team was cutting up the ship, wandering back and forth. He even seemed to have had some minor conflicts with the engineers and was eventually kicked out.

Fang Heng grew even more suspicious of him and simply leaped down from the deck, heading to the ship’s decomposition area where Joachim had just been.

“Mr. Fang, do you need any help? The captain ordered us to fully cooperate with your actions.”

Pang Li and his engineering team were busy cutting up the ship. Two squad captains from the Star River ship’s soldiers noticed Fang Heng and approached to nod in greeting.

“I need to ask something. Joachim was here just now?”

“Yes, he said they lost some important items and wanted to search for them, but Captain Zoran ordered that no one except internal personnel could approach, so we stopped them.”

“But Joachim still wandered around the area for a while and then tried to go deeper. After we stopped him again, he finally gave up and left.”

Fang Heng let out a soft hum and extended his perception.

Huh?!

Fang Heng’s gaze quickly focused on the cargo boxes that were being moved.

A faint sense of the Seed of Ouroboros.

Was it pheromones from the infected worms?

Normally, pheromones had a very low concentration, making them difficult to detect.

But the pheromone concentration on those cargo boxes was extremely high. At such a close range, he could still sense it.

In an instant, Fang Heng understood.

“So that’s it… Joachim…”

Was he trying to mix the pheromones into the transported cargo and then lure a portion of the mutant worm swarm toward Captain Zoran’s newly established base?

Such deep hatred.

If the base were suddenly attacked by a worm swarm, his transport team wouldn’t have much trouble, but the Federation’s branch base had just been completed. Its defensive facilities weren’t fully established yet, and its defensive capabilities were limited. It might not be able to hold out.

Wait!

So he had just gone to the rear cabin to find a way to get the pheromones?

Fang Heng immediately thought of something and almost laughed out loud.

This time, Joachim had outsmarted himself and ended up shooting himself in the foot.

As for the swarm of mutant worms attracted by the pheromones, Fang Heng didn’t take them seriously at all.

With this in mind, Fang Heng quickly controlled and gathered a group of Lickers, directing them to move stealthily through the underground passage toward the other exit of the Federation’s branch base.

“Mr. Fang Heng, did you discover something wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Fang Heng smiled and looked up, “Did you report this to the captain?”

The soldier shook his head.

Since there hadn’t been any direct conflict, they hadn’t originally planned to report it.

“Go report this to Zoran. Be smart about it–make sure the Inspection Department’s Shilok, who’s always following Zoran, hears about this too.”

The two soldiers exchanged glances and then nodded.

“Understood!”

…

The Federation’s temporary branch base.

Under Fang Heng’s arrangement, Arkley, Zaka, and more than ten other players had gathered here through the underground passage. Their main responsibility was to transport the materials brought up from underground to the surface and hand them over to the Federation personnel for allocation.

While they were carrying supplies, a commotion suddenly arose among the Federation soldiers behind them, with many pointing and gesturing toward something.

Hm?

What’s going on?

Zaka instinctively raised his head and looked behind him.

Holy–?!

His heart skipped a beat.

In the distance, massive clouds of yellow dust were rising!

Mutant worms!

A massive swarm of mutant worms was gathering and charging across the wasteland, kicking up so much dust that it blotted out the sky, looking like the arrival of the apocalypse.

The captain of the Federation team’s expression changed slightly.

“Quick! Report to the captain! Request reinforcements!”

This was strange.

Before selecting the location for the new base, they had conducted on-site investigations and confirmed that there were very few mutant creatures in the area. Besides, weren’t most of the mutant worms already lured away toward the ship?

But this swarm was clearly heading straight for their base!

“All units, stay alert!”

The Federation soldiers quickly got into combat positions, raising their energy weapons and taking cover behind the base’s defensive structures, ready to fire at any moment.

“Buzz…”

Nearby, several transition teleportations flashed.

When Engineer Pang Li built the temporary base, he made sure to set up a teleportation passage as soon as possible. However, due to energy limitations, the number of teleportation uses and the amount of transported personnel were severely restricted, making it an unreliable method for mass transport.

As soon as Zoran received the report, he and a group of guards immediately teleported to the base.

Seeing the massive swarm of mutant worms rushing toward them, Zoran furrowed his brows tightly.