Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 611 - 604: Assessing Threat

Chapter 611: Chapter 604: Assessing Threat

Holding a pause, Li Si continued, "Currently, we are dispatching a backup high-speed reconnaissance aircraft and a transport plane for aerial reconnaissance. We should soon have the intelligence we need. So, you may have to set off on your mission in a few days."

"Understood!" Luo’er nodded.

"Additionally, the epidemic research department wants to speak with you. It’s probably about the Exotic Insects and Corpse Demons. Also, Carter wishes to meet you," Li Si said.

"What does he want from me?" Luo’er expressed doubt about the second matter.

"He probably wants your help to retrain their army," Li Si speculated after some thought.

"Training is pointless for them, you can’t make bricks without straw..." Luo’er sighed, utterly disappointed with the purification legion.

"Let us go," Murong suddenly volunteered, "We trained the elf army for a few months in Ilanadale. Our experience might be more than yours."

"But you guys..." Luo’er hesitated.

"You need to be prepared to depart at any time, we are mainly responsible for remaining behind, so we have more time than you," Murong explained.

"Is that alright?" Luo’er looked at Li Si ponderingly.

"I think it should be fine," Li Si considered for a moment before asking, "Carter is from the Uzistas family, correct?"

"Yes, the Otherworld girl, Feliz who is studying at our academy is his half-sister." Luo’er nodded in response.

"Ah," hearing Luo’er reply, Li Si nodding satisfactorily then turned to Murong and said, "Then, let’s send you to assist the purification army, and try to befriend Carter."

"Understood!" Murong nodded in agreement.

After the meeting, Murong and Luo’er each boarded a transport plane with their respective teams. They then descended to the ground. For this deployment, headquarters had arranged another commercial airboat to supply Li Si’s command airboat with a massive amount of magic crystal energy, enough for the ship to stay aloft for up to two months.

The transport plane they boarded was a sterile transportation model, and the simple airfield was also marked as a sterile zone. The two teams separated here. Murong and his team went through a disinfection room and then left the airfield to head to the camp. Luo’er’s team, on the other hand, went through another disinfection room before entering the pre-fabricated building dedicated to epidemic research.

In terms of caution, the earthlings could be said to be meticulous. Despite their methods being somewhat tedious, only through such means could they avoid the spread of the virus. Right now, neither a vaccine nor a serum for the virus had been developed yet, so being infected was more or less a death sentence.

"Dr. An Liang, long time no see." Upon entering the research area, Luo’er immediately saw An Liang and his team.

"Ah, the advance team, long time no see." Spotting the group’s arrival, a joyful smile spread across An Liang’s face. "Seeing you all safe and sound is truly great."

"Thank you for your concern." Luo’er nodded slightly in response.

"Doctor, can you take a look at this? Is it fatal?" Hu Daoke stepped forward, rolled up his sleeve to expose a large red patch on his arm, and asked with a grimace.

"Eczema... Minor issue," An Liang briefly examined him then reassuringly said, "Little Chen, please take him away for treatment."

"Thank you very much." Luo’er gratefully said. He had in fact, planned to ask An Liang to check on Hu Daoke’s condition, but the man had beaten him to it, leaving him no chance to ask.

"No need for such formality. Come, sit down, I have a few things to ask you all." An Liang beckoned.

The group walked over to a discussion area and gathered around a round table. Luo’er glanced at An Liang, hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Is this related to the Exotic Insects?"

"I won’t comment on how you come up with names..." An Liang smiled and shook his head, then pulled out a folder and handed over a blueprint.

"This is drawn based on the sketches and descriptions you provided, see if it looks the same as the Exotic Insects you’ve encountered?" asked An Liang.

Luo’er took the blueprint and everyone inspected it together. The blueprint was much more refined than the sketch drawn by Baiyue, and the drawer used the human figure for scale to estimate various parameters of the Exotic Insect.

On this drawing, the Exotic Insect appeared similar to a mantis, featuring a long abdomen—not the less than twenty centimeters long abdomen they had encountered previously—covered with a thick shell on the back.

Luo’er and the rest admitted they hadn’t observed these creatures closely because they would attack as soon as they appeared. However, they felt something about the image on the drawing conflicted with what they had seen.

"Is there something wrong?" An Liang asked as he handed Luo’er a pencil.

"Uh, the abdomen doesn’t seem to be that long..." Luo’er said, looking towards Tangmo who promptly nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Based on your descriptions, such Exotic Insects would be top-heavy, so the abdomen was drawn longer for balance. If their abdomen is not that long, then something probably got mixed up," An Liang said after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well..." Luo’er looked at Cheng Ziang in confusion. Cheng Ziang pondered for a moment, then said, "When we encountered the Exotic Insects, they were mostly facing us, so we couldn’t exactly determine how long their abdomens were."

"Makes sense!" Luo’er nodded in agreement.

Although the overall figure of the Exotic Insect resembled a mantis, the front half of its body wasn’t as thin, it looked more like a grasshopper. The muscular hind legs built for jumping and the sharp, curved, mandible-like mouthparts were fairly well-drawn, making them shudder at the sight.

"Based on your descriptions, the ideal hunting ground for these Exotic Insects should be open grassland, where they can capitalize on the power of their hind legs, using their sickle-shaped folding forelimbs to catch prey, and their sharp mouthparts to kill directly," An Liang continued.

"That’s indeed the case," Luo’er and Cheng Ziang exchanged glances, then nodded, "We were camping in the grassland when a nun was hunted and eaten. But for some reason, we only encountered them in large numbers deep in the forest."

"Perhaps they’re spreading!" An Liang commented casually.

"Spreading?" The two opened their eyes wide.

"You proposed a hypothesis that in areas inhabited by Exotic Insects and Exotic Beasts, there might be fewer Corpse Demons as these creatures need to hunt to survive. So many humans or animals might be eaten by them before they could get infected,"

"Over the past thirty years, Earth’s food exports to Otherworld have led to a population explosion. There are also large numbers of people in the infected areas. Rough estimates suggest that at least a million people in the infected areas have been infected and became Corpse Demons. If the epidemic continues to spread, eventually, tens of millions of people might be infected. If your hypothesis is correct, and neither Exotic Beasts nor Exotic Insects eat Corpse Demons, it means they must constantly migrate outward to find enough prey to survive. As they carry the deadly virus, the epidemic areas would continue to expand. So, even as we search for a cure, we also need to contain the spread of Exotic Beasts and Exotic Insects, keeping them strictly within epidemic areas," An Liang grew more serious as he spoke. Luo’er had thought of him as a scientist engrossed in his research, but didn’t expect such an astonishing perspective.

"In other words..." Luo’er and others looked at each other, all swallowing hard.

"In other words, regardless of us or the Church Court, we need to go all out, and possibly even need other forces to step in. Otherwise, once the epidemic spreads, the entire Continent, or even Earth, might suffer," An Liang downed the rest of his coffee and glanced at everyone solemnly.

"Then, have you talked to Li..." Luo’er hesitated to ask.

"I’ve only told you all about this. Can you please let him know when you go up and ask him to communicate well with the Church Court? I don’t want to go up there, it takes too long to go through the decontamination room twice, which is quite annoying!" An Liang said frowningly.

His previous words were so shocking that Luo’er was at a loss for words to respond. Seeing the stunned Luo’er, An Liang paused, then said seriously again, "Luo’er, remember, everyone must go all out in this operation. Li Si can take care of communicating with the Church Court. Your job is to cooperate with the research department to find a vaccine and serum as soon as possible. Accomplishing something is one thing."

"Understood!" Luo’er nodded hard, a resolute look in his eyes.

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