Chapter 106: Bugs!

Directly below!!!

Suddenly, an overwhelming sense of danger surged through him! There was no time to think; Chen Bo bolted forward. After dashing only a few meters, he heard the sound of wood splintering behind him!

Could it be that the earlier noise was just the wooden planks buckling under pressure? No! Absolutely not! Chen Bo immediately dismissed that thought—he knew this situation was far more complicated than it seemed.

He continued sprinting, stealing a quick glance over his shoulder, and his face instantly contorted with horror.

Not far behind him, a massive swarm of black, unknown creatures was flying straight at him! Chen Bo recognized the sound now—it was the high-frequency buzzing of insect wings in flight!

Without hesitation, Chen Bo pulled the corpse of a horse from his system space and hurled it forcefully at the swarm of these mysterious black insects.

“Crunch, crunch”—the sound was the insects gnawing at the horse’s flesh. Chen Bo intended to use the easily fractured horse’s corpse to buy himself some time against the relentless bugs.

He was deeply wary of these insects because nothing in this dungeon space was normal! God only knew what these creatures were or what abilities they possessed.

If they fed on human flesh, given their overwhelming numbers that blotted out the sky, Chen Bo estimated it would take just minutes before he was reduced to mere bones. For now, he hoped that the horse’s carcass could hold them off for a few precious moments.

But the reality was merciless. The horse’s body was immediately engulfed by a mass of insects, and within five seconds, a complete skeleton tumbled off the suspension bridge.

“Damn it! What the hell are these things?!” Chen Bo cursed under his breath. The number and ferocity of the insects far exceeded his expectations—they were like a meat grinder, devouring the massive horse carcass in an instant.

“Day after day after day!!! What the hell kind of bugs are these?! As someone with trypophobia, I’m about to vomit. Can any experts explain this?”

“Holy crap?! I just zoomed in on the screen to take a closer look. These insects are terrifying! Entirely black, six compound eyes, bodies like maggots, and their mouths—oh my God, they’re disgusting beyond belief, even worse than the xenomorphs.”

“I’ve studied insects for decades and have never seen anything like these strange creatures. They look like maggots, but how can maggots be black? And they have wings!”

“I just want to ask the streamer how they plan to survive this ordeal. That huge horse was taken down in two or three seconds. If it were the streamer’s slender arms and legs, wouldn’t he be reduced to a skeleton instantly?!”

“A skeleton?! Yes, skeletons! Now I understand why there were so many skeletons where the streamer was before—these bugs must be responsible!”

“You make a good point, but the question is, where the hell did these bugs come from?!”

“I want to know too, but it looks like no one can answer that until the streamer escapes.”

“Escaping seems pretty tough! The streamer’s on a suspension bridge with only two directions to run—if bugs are coming from both ends, he’s doomed.”

“Maybe the streamer could jump off. That might be his only faint chance. Staying on the bridge is a death trap.”

“No way! Absolutely no jumping! Remember that river the streamer saw earlier? I always wondered why there was such a large river in what looks like an underground structure. Now I get it—it wasn’t a river at all; it was bugs! All of them!”

“What?! If that’s true, then the turbulent river the streamer saw was caused by the movement of these bugs. But why are only a few flying up when there are so many below?”

“I think not all bugs have wings, which is why only a few ascend. Or maybe there’s a queen bug controlling the others.”

“How do you know so much about this?”

“Kid, if you read a couple of years’ worth of amateur stories, you’ll reach our level of speculation. If you have talent, just a month or two is enough to get the hang of it.”

Chen Bo had been glancing at the live chat throughout, seeing all these unhelpful comments and feeling utterly helpless. Couldn’t someone offer some real advice?

He ran swiftly, but the insects behind him weren’t slow at all! The gap between them shrank rapidly, yet the far end of the suspension bridge remained nowhere in sight.

Damn it, how long is this bridge?! He had nearly run a kilometer! Chen Bo wished he had wings to just fly across, but alas, that was nothing but wishful thinking.

Suddenly, he felt an itch on his neck. He reached up and touched something slippery. Bringing it closer, his face changed drastically—it was one of those bugs!

Just as the insect was about to bite, Chen Bo crushed it without hesitation. A dark green liquid coated half of his palm, and it burned slightly—it was corrosive!

Luckily, it was only one bug, and the corrosion wasn’t severe. If a dozen came at once, he feared his flesh would rot away instantly.

“System! I want to draw from the lottery! Use all my gold coins for the draws! Use them all!” In desperation, Chen Bo remembered the system and shouted inwardly.

At this point, he was at a complete loss and had no choice but to rely on a last-minute stroke of luck, hoping for something useful.

“Ding dong! Host, you currently have 2,350,000 gold coins remaining. Would you like to use two advanced draws? Three intermediate draws? Or five basic draws?” The system’s cold voice sounded to Chen Bo like a lifeline, albeit a somewhat verbose one.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Confirm! Confirm! Confirm! Use them all! Don’t leave me a single coin!” Chen Bo said immediately. If the system kept stalling, he’d soon be nothing but a pile of white bones.

“Ding dong! Lottery activated!”

That phrase sounded to Chen Bo like celestial music echoing endlessly. Time seemed to freeze as two advanced, three intermediate, and five basic lottery wheels appeared before his eyes.

All ten wheels spun simultaneously.