This week the book is running naked, sincerely asking for recommendation votes!!! I hope everyone can push this book to the weekly recommendation list. Thank you everyone!!

"It's obvious that the scarcity of life force is the weakness of these guys," Fang Senyan immediately made such a judgment. Just then, a seemingly soul-shaking gunshot rang out in the distance! And amidst the Vespids, a large alpha monster suddenly had its head explode! Greenish ichor sprayed everywhere!

However, this creature's vitality also seemed incredibly tenacious. Even after its head was shattered, its four limbs continued to exert force, frantically kicking and sprinting across the ground, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. It even fatally collided with and injured a few smaller Vespids beside it, only collapsing and dying after charging over a hundred meters.

This shot, looking as if it came from beyond the heavens, appeared to be Joel's doing. This fellow, capable of contending with Mogensha for the position of team leader, indeed possessed his own formidable strengths. Such powerful supporting fire, especially in conflicts with other contractors, was undoubtedly a formidable deterrent. A hidden operative capable of delivering a lethal strike at any moment would be deeply unnerving, making it impossible to concentrate on the fight even without firing a shot.

It possessed a bit of the precision of Li Feidao: a draw, and never a miss.

Mogensha was also half-kneeling on the ground, pulling the trigger with a perfectly executed tactical maneuver. His signature style manifested again: one bullet bored precisely into the eye socket of one Vespids, and another struck the incredibly sharp claw of a second Vespids, allowing Tulip, who was moments away from a fatal frontal blow, to make a ragged escape. The effect of the third bullet was something Fang Senyan had never witnessed before.

When that round was fired, it carved a faint blue spiral trajectory through the air, the tip flaring with a pale blue radiance as it shot directly into the one-handed sword clenched in Shi's hand. The sword instantly sparked with swirling electrical energy, and Shi roared, violently stabbing the weapon forward. The directly hit Vespids let out a mournful cry; its frail carapace, after suffering this swift impact, was lifted bodily into the air. Then, as the pale blue electricity flared, the pitiful Vespids' body cleanly detonated, spraying gore everywhere. The surrounding Vespids were even repelled a few steps by the electrical discharge, crawling and moaning, paralyzed for several seconds.

Clearly, Fang Senyan wasn't the only one progressing. Mogensha had likely gleaned considerable benefits from the key obtained from Fante in the previous world. Shi glanced back in surprise and gave Mogensha a thumbs-up. Mogensha returned the gesture, then followed up with a quick three-round burst, felling two more Vespids.

Fang Senyan wasn't idle either; he quickly synthesized several bottles of Gene Fluid and tossed one to each contractor present. These contractors had exchanged varying amounts of common points, mostly between 200 and 300, which could be considered payment for Fang Senyan’s materials.

Seeing Shi covered head to toe in gore and looking quite battered, Fang Senyan stepped forward, raising his white rifle. With three booming shots, he momentarily stunned the Vespids in front of Shi, then moved to block Shi entirely, taking his place. At that moment, the two machine gunners in combat armor moved up to support them. The machine guns in their hands spat out two long tongues of fire, the distinct tat-tat-tat sound clearly shredding flesh and blood, quickly wiping out the remaining insectoid creatures.

Fang Senyan let out a breath, only to see that neither Tulip nor Shi had relaxed. They looked back towards the base, then glanced at the two mechanical war vehicles advancing at a snail's pace, trailing black smoke and flames, their expressions growing grim. Shi sighed and said in a low voice:

“I’m afraid there’s another wave coming.”

Mogensha interjected: “What’s going on?”

Tulip’s brow was deeply furrowed: “I discovered a hidden mission. We haven't received a signal from the Bearing Base 400 kilometers away for five days. They requested us to investigate. Following the direction indicated by the mission, we headed west and found a human army being besieged by the insect swarm. We intervened and managed to repel the swarm, but only these two heavy siege tanks survived. While hastily retreating toward the base, we were repeatedly ambushed by pursuing insectoid snipers—each wave stronger than the last. So now, we worry another wave of pursuit insects is on its way.”

Simultaneously, both Fang Senyan and Mogensha received prompts:

“Temporary teammate Contractor #33091 has shared a mission: Rescue.”

“Received Shared Mission: Rescue. Mission Objective: Escort the survivors of the Bearing Base back to the Iron Outpost Base.”

“Because the Iron Outpost Base may be attacked by Mutated Exploding Mosquitoes at any time, you will receive no assistance from them until you enter the base.”

This shared mission offered great flexibility to the contractors; they could easily abandon these slow-moving mechanical siege tanks and retreat smoothly to the Iron Outpost Base, avoiding any potential risks. The very absence of penalty highlighted the immense difficulty of this mission and the strength of the final enemy assault. At this moment, Fang Senyan's eyes flickered, as if he wanted to speak but hesitated.

After the group had moved about another five hundred meters, a massive cloud of yellow dust arose in the distance, and soon, they could see a rolling black line stretching across the horizon, surging forward relentlessly.

Upon seeing this situation, Shi decided firmly:

“Retreat! This mission is not one we can complete right now!”

Tulip cried out: “No!”

Shi snapped: “Then summon your animal companions to hold the front line first! If someone thinks that merely having high Charisma is enough to secure a place in the team, then they are gravely mistaken! A contractor with high Charisma can only gild the lily; only those who can directly aid in combat are the ones who truly provide succor in times of need!”

A look of unwilling grievance flashed in Tulip's eyes, but Shi’s dominance was absolute. She bit her lip and summoned her animal companion: the Alaskan Grizzly. This colossal bear stood over two meters tall and stretched more than five meters long, its fur slick and black, its tusks ferocious, occasionally emitting a low growl from its throat—an undeniably terrifying sight.

At this moment, the Spirit-class contractor Hanlanck and the frenzied Hannyke rushed out from the interior of the Iron Outpost Base to meet them. They were followed by two armored machine gunners—it was unclear by what means they had managed to secure these men. The arrival of reinforcements brought a measure of relief to the group, but Mogensha noticed Fang Senyan and sent a message via the Nightmare Imprint:

“It seems there’s a better way to handle this?”

Fang Senyan replied calmly: “Of course. Analyzing the uniform of the soldier I just rescued, he should be the personnel operating the UVs. And he seems to have good relations with others, evidenced by the two machine gunners accompanying us. So, I have a high probability of sneaking back and acquiring two more UVs (Space Construction Vehicles) from the base. While the Iron Outpost doesn't possess a factory capable of producing heavy siege tanks, those two tanks can undoubtedly be repaired by the UVs. Repairing them while moving forward will not only increase the operational speed of the heavy siege tanks but also restore some of their combat effectiveness, significantly reducing the difficulty of this mission.”

Mogensha’s eyes lit up, but then he frowned: “Then why—”

Fang Senyan said flatly: “Because doing so might fulfill the team's overall interest, but it doesn't benefit me directly. Furthermore, a team that has never been tested by blood, fire, life, and death holds no value for investment.”

While the two were communicating, the swarm in the distance had already arrived in full force. Soon, the vanguard charged within twenty meters of the retreating column. It was clear that the main body of this assault was still composed primarily of Vespids, but their sheer numbers were enough to make one’s scalp crawl!

Just then, the newly arrived Spirit-class contractor Hanlanck made the first move. A seemingly ordinary booklet had somehow appeared in his right hand. As he opened the cover, numerous arcane and mysterious symbols materialized a dozen centimeters above it, tumbling and leaping joyfully. He then began chanting obscure and incomprehensible sentences loudly. When the final syllable was uttered, the ground behind them began to glow with a black light.

“Grease Spell!”

Hanlanck pointed his finger, and a large mass of thick, black grease erupted at the spot he indicated, forming an area ten meters long and five to six meters wide. The pursuing Vespids immediately stumbled and fell into it, their limbs flailing uselessly as they churned up great clumps of the black slick. The remaining Vespids, though able to use their fallen comrades' bodies to lunge forward a few meters, soon met the same fate, thrashing helplessly in the grease.

This patch of grease entrapped at least twenty Vespids, but the others could quickly advance by stepping over the bodies of these unlucky creatures. More obviously, this spell appeared to have a limited duration. However, just as the trapped Vespids in the grease spell reached saturation, Hanlanck drew an arc in the air with his finger. Where his finger passed, a trail of burning flames appeared. He then thrust his palm forward forcefully into the void, and a fireball approximately half a meter in diameter formed in his hand, shooting straight into the blackened sludge.