Chapter 521: Arrogant Aliens

Assistant Yao brought the alien into the aircraft.

Silk kept him restrained while Little Vine remained on his shoulder.

The alien placed one hand against the control surface.

Silver light moved over his body.

A voice filled the aircraft.

[Operator recognized.]

[Navigation access granted.]

[Awaiting instruction.]

"Disable external tracking," Assistant Yao ordered through the translator.

The alien hesitated.

Little Vine brushed against his neck.

He quickly touched several symbols.

[External tracking disabled.]

[Navigation network disconnected.]

"Did he really disable it?" Lu Tao asked.

"How would I know?" Assistant Yao replied.

"We might need to check."

"With what knowledge?"

"That is a small problem."

"It is a large problem."

Lu Zhen looked at the alien.

"If you sent a warning, you will be the first person Little Vine eats."

Little Vine tightened around his shoulder.

The alien’s body stiffened.

[No warning was sent.]

"Good."

The navigation display expanded.

A three-dimensional map appeared inside the aircraft.

Unlike the crystal map, this one contained labels.

Tayi City was surrounded by several restricted zones.

Two red lines extended out of the city.

One headed towards Qinghe Base.

The second remained inside the city.

"The first army is targeting Qinghe," Ouyang Jin said.

The display provided more information.

[Undead Unit One.]

[Estimated number: 126,400.]

[Human command subjects: twelve.]

[Arrival: seventeen hours, thirty-two minutes.]

The estimate had already decreased.

"What about Unit Two?" Leng Pan asked.

Assistant Yao selected the second red line.

[Undead Unit Two.]

[Estimated number: 874,000.]

[Human command subjects: sixty-eight.]

[Deployment awaiting completion of the Passage.]

The second army was much larger.

It would remain beneath Tayi City until the aliens stabilized the gate.

"We could warn Qinghe Base using the aircraft’s communication system," Ouyang Jin said.

Assistant Yao searched the controls.

"There is no direct connection to human communication channels."

"Could we fly there?"

"Yes. The automatic navigation system estimates one hour and forty minutes."

That was much faster than driving.

"We also need to send the rescued captives somewhere safe," Leng Pan said.

The aircraft display showed its carrying capacity.

Each craft could transport sixty people comfortably.

Even if they ignored comfort and filled every available space, two aircraft could not carry hundreds of captives at once.

However, the others believed the captives were stored inside Lu Zhen’s space.

As long as Leng Pan secretly kept them in her living space, they only needed to fly back to their base and release them in several groups.

"We should use one aircraft to take the injured people back to our base," Lu Zhen said. "The other can go to Qinghe."

"Who will go where?" Ouyang Jin asked.

"Assistant Yao and Lu Hao will take the injured back. They have already studied the controls."

Lu Tao raised his hand.

"I should go with them."

"No," Lu Zhen replied.

"You have not even heard my reason."

"You want to learn how to fly."

"That is a good reason."

"You are coming to Qinghe."

Lu Tao thought about it.

A battle against more than a hundred thousand zombies could also be interesting.

"Alright."

Janna stared at him.

"Why do you look happy about that?"

"I don’t."

"You are smiling."

"I am thinking positively."

Leng Pan ignored them and studied the display.

They could reach Qinghe Base long before the zombie army.

The problem was convincing the base leaders that the warning was real.

Arriving in an alien aircraft might not help.

"They could attack us before we land," Blaze said.

Ouyang Jin nodded.

"Qinghe Base has anti-aircraft weapons."

"We should approach from a distance and contact them using ordinary equipment," Leng Pan said.

"Would they believe us?"

"They don’t have to believe everything. They only need to send scouts and prepare their defences."

Lu Zhen looked at the moving line on the map.

"We will give them the information. What they do with it will be their choice."

The plan was decided quickly.

Assistant Yao and Lu Hao would fly one aircraft back towards their base.

The rescued captives, alien prisoners, samples, and devices would go with them.

Of course, only Leng Pan and Lu Zhen knew that most captives were not physically inside the aircraft.

Leng Pan would release them after the craft reached the base.

She only needed a reason to enter the space privately when that time came.

The remaining team would take the second aircraft to Qinghe Base.

The villagers would stay behind.

"We cannot leave them without protection," Leng Pan said.

"The queen is dead, but the locusts will return tomorrow."

Everyone looked towards the blue crystal.

It had protected and purified the village before Lu Zhen removed it.

If they took it away, the village might lose its only defence.

However, leaving the complete crystal behind would attract the aliens again.

Leng Pan took out the smaller purification shard.

When she brought it closer to the large crystal, both began glowing.

"Maybe we don’t need to leave the whole thing," she said.

"What do you mean?" Lu Zhen asked.

"The large crystal could already be made of several joined fragments."

She examined the lines of light moving through it.

One section had a natural division.

"If we separate a small piece, it might continue purifying the well and strengthening the village."

"Would that damage the crystal?"

"I don’t think so."

Little Vine touched the division with one tendril.

It pressed gently.

A small piece separated from the crystal without resistance.

The light inside the larger crystal remained stable.

The smaller piece floated towards Leng Pan’s purification shard and stopped beside it.

"It wanted to separate," she said.

Lu Zhen looked at the piece.

"How large an area can it protect?"

"We will have to test it."

They returned to the surface and buried the fragment beside the well.

Energy spread through the ground.

The cracks in the village walls stopped growing.

The muddy water inside the well cleared.

Old Chen lowered a bucket and brought up clean water.

"Is it safe?" he asked.

"Not yet," Leng Pan replied. "The parasite queen contaminated the tunnels. You should not drink from the well until we test it several times."

She purified several large containers of water for the villagers and left them enough food and medicine to last a few days.

Mei Lin looked towards the aircraft.

"Will you come back?"

"Yes," Leng Pan said. "But we don’t know how long it will take."

"What should we do with Chief Gao?"

"Keep him restrained. Do not let anyone visit him alone."

Old Chen nodded.

"We will hold the judgment after everyone recovers."

The aircraft were prepared.

The rescued captives remained safely inside Leng Pan’s space, while the alien soldiers were loaded into the craft returning to the base.

Zhao Kun would travel with Leng Pan’s group because he knew Tayi City.

He was still weak, but the spiritual energy inside the space had improved his condition enough for him to sit and speak.

When everything was ready, Leng Pan entered the aircraft with Lu Zhen and the others.

The interior was larger than it appeared from outside.

Lu Tao sat near the control panel with excitement on his face.

"Don’t touch anything," Lu Zhen warned.

"I wasn’t going to."

"Move your hand."

Lu Tao slowly pulled it away from a glowing symbol.

The aircraft rose.

The village became smaller beneath them.

The navigation system adjusted their route towards Qinghe Base.

[Estimated travel time: one hour, thirty-eight minutes.]

For the first few minutes, the flight remained smooth.

Then a warning appeared across the display.

[Undead Unit One has changed speed.]

[Estimated arrival at target: twelve hours.]

"It gained five hours?" Ouyang Jin asked.

The map enlarged automatically.

The red line representing the zombie army split into three.

Three separate groups began approaching Qinghe Base from different directions.

Zhao Kun’s face changed.

"They know we are coming."

"How?" Vanish asked.

The alien prisoner seated near the control area began laughing.

Little Vine tightened around his neck.

He stopped, but his eyes remained amused.

Lu Zhen looked at him.

"What did we miss?"

The translator turned the alien’s reply into human language.

[You disabled the aircraft’s tracker.]

[You did not disable the purification core.]

Everyone looked towards Lu Zhen.

The blue crystal was broadcasting their position.