"Qingqing, wake up quickly, get on my back! Everyone wake up, flying monsters are rushing towards us!"

In these conditions, everyone was already on high alert, so there was no way they wouldn't hear my shouts. The group scrambled out of their sleeping bags, grabbing whatever they could. "Where are the monsters? Where are they?"

I pointed to the sky: "They're up there! They'll be here any second. Everyone be careful, they're huge individually!"

At this point, the buzzing sound of helicopters grew louder. Zhu Da and Cai Bao'er activated the energy wave detector on their helmets. "Oh my god! What is that, and it can fly? It’s enormous!"

"Giant mosquitoes. As they got closer, I recognized them, and I wasn't as shocked as before."

Cai Bao'er cursed, "Damn it, these are basically small fighter jets!"

The other team members also shouted in English. Soon, everyone gathered into a tight circle, preparing to fend off the giant mosquitoes swooping down. Their flight speed was too fast; even if we wanted to run now, it was too late.

The first wave of vanguards charged into the crowd, brandishing massive, arm-thick proboscises. Anyone they managed to pierce and drain a couple of times would be reduced to a dried husk. Even without drawing blood, such a thick needle plunged into the human body would be fatal.

The few knives we had were already blunted from hacking at the dwarf natives, and now they rang out with loud clangs against these mosquitoes bigger than humans. Those with less strength needed several strikes to sever one proboscis. Gui Ye, having lost the use of one wrist, couldn't grip his knife with sufficient force and was quickly knocked to the ground by a giant mosquito. Its massive proboscis lunged toward his abdomen.

The guide, Winston, thrust his machete deep into the giant mosquito's belly. He yanked the blade out, and the huge insect died, writhing on the ground, allowing Gui Ye to narrowly escape with his life. However, the buzzing overhead intensified, and the slain mosquitoes weren't falling as fast as new ones arrived. Soon, others couldn't hold on any longer.

Zhu Da swung his machete, killing five or six in quick succession. He said to me, "Commander Zhao! There are too many giant mosquitoes. Hacking away like this won't end by morning. We need to figure out a way to slip away quickly."

Taozi shielded Hua Qingqing on my back. I also swung my machete wildly. The river here was relatively deep; let’s dive in! I doubt those mosquitoes would dare enter the water."

But Jack and Winston disagreed. They didn't know what might be lurking underwater. If they went into the water, wouldn't they face an even more gruesome death from giant shrimp or crabs?

"Mosquitoes are afraid of fire!" Professor Smolder suddenly realized a crucial point.

Cai Bao'er exclaimed, "Right! Quick, throw the solid fuel into the fire pit!"

So, several boxes of solid fuel were tossed into the flames, and the fire instantly surged up. A few giant mosquitoes, unable to evade in time, had their wings burned off and fell to the ground, where they were quickly dispatched by several sharp tree stakes. Their abdomens were quite soft; a single stab ruptured them.

The remaining giant mosquitoes circled the fire pit, flapping their wings wildly, not daring to approach for the moment. Zhu Da rushed out and hacked a pile of branches, making the fire blaze even higher and forcing the giant mosquitoes to retreat a bit further.

Gui Ye, already injured in the wrist, was now stabbed in the thigh by another giant mosquito. Although it didn't drain him completely, it was enough to incapacitate him. He was furious, constantly cursing the giant mosquitoes. This schemer probably never expected his entire plan to be ruined by these creatures. Now, with half his life gone, how could he plot against others?

Everyone guarded the fire pit, wary of their surroundings. The giant mosquitoes didn't dare attack but also didn't disperse, hovering in a dense, dark swarm all around, giving everyone the chills.

As time dragged on, boredom set in. Jack pointed at his helmet and said to Zhu Da in broken English and Chinese, "Zhu, can I LOOK LOOK YOUR THLS?"

Zhu Da retorted, "You absolutely cannot LOOK. This is the highest technological achievement of our nation. If you LOOK at it, you won't be able to scrape it out of your eyes."

Jack was persistent, trying various ways to pry information about the helmets. Cai Bao'er scared him off, saying, "With this helmet, we can fly to the heavens and burrow into the earth. Back in the day, Sun Wukong used this very helmet to drag the Jade Emperor off his throne! Now, every citizen in our country has one, and our national economy is skyrocketing like a drilling monkey. How could we let foreigners know such a top secret?"

The three bickered incessantly until dawn. In the end, Jack didn't get a coherent answer; instead, he ended up feeling dizzy from being spun around by the two. With the appearance of the first light of dawn, the giant mosquitoes gradually withdrew. Eventually, the sky returned to normal, but who knew if they would reappear when darkness fell again.

The group dared not linger. After packing up, they immediately set off. This march was quite smooth. By evening, they reached the end of the valley. Looking forward, two mountains curved around in a semi-circle, meeting together to form a large, circular basin. The only exit was the valley through which they had come.

Having experienced last night, they dared not rashly enter the basin. They quickly chopped branches and started fires around the perimeter before arranging the camping site. Many creatures fear fire, so having flames made their camp safer.

I volunteered for the night watch. Although Zhu Da and Cai Bao'er were physically fit, they couldn't manage several nights without rest. As for the team members from countries M and R, I didn't trust them. After all, they were now entering the basin area, where strange creatures were surely numerous. The other team members' premonition abilities were too low; by the time they sensed danger, it would be too late.

All night long, I constantly fed the campfire. The large flames made the surrounding air misty. Sitting beside Hua Qingqing, watching her sweet sleeping posture filled me with an indescribable sense of emotion. Hua Qingqing was a girl with deep substance. When I first met her, she seemed very stern, proper, and meticulous. But as I got to know her better, I realized she was actually just a young woman, no different from any other.

She had accepted me in her heart now, but her noble status constantly created a barrier against me. I believed that as time went on, she would fully enter my life. Like any other girl, she could no longer live in a world without me.

The ground suddenly shuddered with a slight tremor. I paused slightly—was there volcanic activity here? The shaking stopped briefly, but soon another faint tremor followed. This continued several times, with the intervals between each shake growing shorter.

"Get up! Get up! Everyone wake up now, something's happening!" The ground was too deep for me to ascertain what was happening below, so I had to wake everyone up.

The group scrambled awake, instinctively huddling together. By now, the trembling was much more intense. The water in a small puddle nearby was rippling. What was causing this now?

Bang! Bang! Suddenly, chunks of rock shot up around them as if from a volcanic eruption. Long, snake-like creatures burst through the rock strata and surged onto the surface. Everyone’s footing gave way, and then their bodies were caught in the fissures that opened up.

I grabbed Hua Qingqing and leaped to the side, but others were not so fortunate. Professor Jieteng was crushed between two massive rocks with a scream. Gui Ye was completely buried under the rubble, his fate unknown.

At this point, there seemed to be nowhere safe to flee. These serpentine giants were constantly burrowing out of the earth all around them. They attacked whatever they encountered upon surfacing. I held Hua Qingqing and leaped onto a treetop, then sprinted toward the basin.

"What are those things? Will everyone be okay?" Hua Qingqing asked me.

"I don't know, and we can't worry about that right now. Zhu Da and Cai Bao'er can protect themselves. Besides, Taozi is with Zhu Da, so we can safely focus on finding the Blood Flower and getting out of here."

"How do we look?"

"Let's circle the basin once and see. I believe that with something this advanced, there must be some anomaly nearby."

Hua Qingqing pointed back toward the camp, where the rumbling sounds continued: "If you're looking for the biggest anomaly, how could such solid bedrock be ruptured from below?"

"The Blood Flower certainly won't be there; if it were at the entrance, the advance team would have found it long ago. Look, is that a structure up ahead?" I reminded Hua Qingqing.

"It's too dark, I can't see anything," she said, nestled in my arms.

Of course, Hua Qingqing didn't have my eyesight. It was pitch black. Bringing her over to look would solve that. Soon, the two of us arrived at a Jinyu tower-like structure. This building wasn't large, only covering an area equivalent to three or four rooms, and it wasn't very tall—only slightly poking above the treetops. In the darkness, only someone with vision like mine could spot it.

Hua Qingqing looked around and asked me, "Are we at the center of the basin?"

I nodded: "I checked before we came down. This structure should be in the center of the basin. It seems quite strange."