Kelvier was taken aback. The mole rat, was formidable in digging and typically fed on earthworms and other subterranean creatures, even venturing out at night to pilfer crops or hunt insects. Its claws were the bane of insects.

  There were different types of mole rats—star-nosed, white-tailed, long-nosed, and so on—though Kelvier couldn't identify which category the one before him fell into. All he knew was that this mole rat was dangerous!

  Now about five centimeters in length, Kelvier faced a mole rat that was fifteen centimeters long—not just three times his size but more like the difference between a toddler and a burly man.

  Number Two also snapped to alertness.

  Mole rats, mostly blind due to their subterranean lifestyle, rely on keen senses of smell and hearing. This one, having detected the scent of blood from afar, was enraged upon seeing two "beetles" that had killed so many of its young and charged at them immediately.

  Kelvier quickly dodged. The mole rat missed its first strike, but agilely slapped Kelvier, sending him bouncing off the cave walls.

  As he scrambled to escape, he saw Number Two biting fiercely onto the mole rat's snout, while the mole rat clamped its jaws around one of Number Two's legs, snapping it with a crunch. Blood flowed from the mole rat’s long snout.

  Only then did Kelvier remember that Zerg's combat effectiveness could be disproportionate to their size. With a battle cry in his heart, he lunged at the mole rat.

  The mole rat, sturdy and without obvious weaknesses, was difficult to combat. Kelvier clung to its back, his ten legs embedded in its flesh, his mouth frantically biting. Soon, bone was visible.

  In agony, the mole rat managed to slam Kelvier against a tree root, tearing off chunks of flesh from Kelvier, but eventually, Kelvier was thrown off.

  That's when Kelvier noticed that Number Two had let go some time ago and was watching from a distance, seemingly puzzled by Kelvier's ferocity.

  Kelvier suddenly remembered that Zerg could anesthetize their prey with just one bite, waiting for the "drug" to take effect.

  Embarrassed by this realization, he was relieved Number Two didn't understand. It seemed he had managed to sever the mole rat’s spine with his bites, ensuring it wouldn’t survive, anesthetic or not.

  He glanced at Number Two, whose leg had been bitten off, but it seemed not to notice, perhaps hinting at a Zerg's regenerative abilities akin to a lizard's tail.

  After a while, the mole rat finally lay dead. Kelvier and Number Two devoured their prey, several times their size, cleaning it thoroughly. Kelvier felt that even if he were buried alive, he could now survive for months.

  Thinking it over, Kelvier led Number Two along the mole rat's tunnel, moving forward slowly.

  However, it wasn't as straightforward as Kelvier had hoped. The mole rat had created a complex network of tunnels, making their accidental plunge into its nest all the more remarkable.

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  After wandering for some time, Kelvier suddenly felt an accelerated drain on his internal energy. After a while, the energy consumption soared as if he were flying.

  Kelvier was startled and thought of a possibility.

  Nuclear radiation is highly effective against Zerg, and it seemed they were now nearing the surface.

  I can't rush out now. At the current pace, I'll likely die from energy depletion within half an hour.

  Kelvier had no choice but to retreat.

  Sure enough, his energy stabilized.

  Kelvier, feeling resigned, thought to himself that this was somewhat like the health bars in video games...

  When your health hits bottom, the game is over.

  After spending several days underground, Kelvier still hadn't come up with a good solution.

  The radiation levels on the surface could probably reach tens of thousands... tens of thousands... Kelvier pondered but couldn't recall the unit for radiation.

  During these days, Number Two played a significant role.

  Kelvier had heard on TV before that moles could pinpoint the location of any worms or small insects that fell into their tunnels within seconds.

  It seemed that Number Two had acquired this skill...

  Lazily lying in the tunnel resting, it would suddenly jump up and dash towards a spot. Kelvier knew then that it had found prey...

  Within seconds, Number Two would drag back prey like earthworms and lay them in front of the "Insect King."

  Thanks to Number Two, Kelvier's energy had slightly increased over these days.

  But Kelvier was far from optimistic.

  The radiation would take tens of thousands of years to dissipate. Could he really wait that long?

  Kelvier used to work in the pest control squad and had a radiation gun, so his combat suit was designed to be radiation-proof.

  With this thought, Kelvier suddenly had an idea. Could there be one or two suits in the Zerg’s inventory?

  But leaving aside whether he could find the Zerg swarm's headquarters, even if he did, it was likely already bombed into debris.

  With no better plan, Kelvier reluctantly set aside these thoughts and began to learn Number Two's "wind-listening" skills, to little effect.

  To Kelvier’s surprise, at one point, Number Two suddenly stopped in a tunnel, listened for a moment, and excitedly began to burrow into the tunnel wall.

  Soon, it broke into another mole’s tunnel.

  About a minute later, the mole noticed. Kelvier’s initial plan was to force this mole to keep digging, but seeing that even Number Two couldn't drive it, he gave up on the idea. Timing it right, he bit down and quickly retreated. Before long, the mole’s movements became sluggish and it eventually fell down.

  After a hearty meal, Kelvier was thrilled to see that Number Two’s leg, bitten off by the mole, had begun to regrow.

  Indeed, the Zerg still possessed the function of regenerating limbs!

  After further inspection, he discovered that the two tunnel systems combined covered an area approximately 700 meters long and 400 meters wide.

  In the following days, Kelvier occasionally approached the surface, finally finding a spot where the radiation was relatively low—though low still meant he could only survive outside for two hours.

  Number Two still had a crucial role to play, and sending it out now would likely mean its demise in moments, so Kelvier had no choice but to take matters into his own hands.

  He located the tunnel exit, took a deep breath, and charged out.

  What greeted him was a scene of utter devastation.

  Everywhere he looked was black and gray-brown. Charred stumps, pitted and uneven ground, some areas still emanating black smoke.

  Kelvier hadn’t anticipated such a scene. He paused, remembered his purpose, and quickly climbed a nearby leaning tree trunk, one of the few that remained.

  The view was the same in every direction he could see, except to the south where it seemed slightly better, a faint hint of green visible in the distance.

  Having scoped out the situation, Kelvier dared not linger.

  Staying here was like being in a sea of fire. In just those few minutes, nearly ten percent of his stored energy had vanished.

  Kelvier also refrained from flying. He had discovered that opening his elytra exposed his relatively soft body, causing his energy to deplete dozens of times faster.

  He sprinted towards the tunnel entrance, but stopped dead in his tracks.

  There, he encountered a giant bug, the size of a basketball, missing half of its body yet still twitching.

  It was a guardian bug.