The sky curtain makes you a useless class monitor, yet you act arbitrarily for eternity?

Zhou Lang roared angrily.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and dripped into the scalding yellow sand.

The pressure on him suddenly intensified in the next moment.

Mid-stage Grandmaster.

Late stage of Grandmaster.

Peak Grandmaster!

The yellow sand on the dunes was lifted up by the air blast and rolled around along the ground.

Zhou Lang gripped his twin swords tightly, his internal foundation crumbling inch by inch.

This is the power gained by burning away the foundation.

He himself didn't know how long he could hold on.

Ting Ge stood there stunned, his eyes quickly reddening.

"Platoon leader!"

The power gained from burning one's foundation cannot be hidden from those who are also soldiers.

Zhou Lang did not turn around.

"run!"

"We'll take them as far as we can!"

"That's an order!"

Ting opened his mouth.

Zhou Lang had already raised his twin swords and charged towards the swarm of insects.

"Whoosh!"

His figure disappeared from the top of the dune.

Two seconds later, the sand a kilometer ahead exploded with a roar. When Zhou Lang landed, his feet sank into the yellow sand, and his two swords were crossed in front of his chest.

He did not conceal his breathing.

The blood energy of a Grandmaster at the peak of his power suddenly spread out, rushing in all directions.

The swarm of new recruits approaching the third rank suddenly stopped.

Countless sandworms hung in mid-air, their compound eyes turning towards Zhou Lang simultaneously.

The next moment, the swarm changed direction.

The countless insect wings pressed low, and a yellow cloud of insects swept towards Zhou Lang.

Zhou Lang stopped at the other end of the sand dune.

The first sandworm collided with his protective aura.

Then came the second one.

The third one.

The swarm of insects rushed in from all directions, quickly surrounding Zhou Lang in the center.

The swarm of insects kept piling up, growing taller and taller.

In the blink of an eye, a giant, constantly wriggling worm-like ball appeared among the sand dunes.

Ting-ge stared intently in that direction.

He knew Zhou Lang was buying them time.

They also knew that once Zhou Lang was completely swallowed up by the insect swarm, he would never be able to get out again.

Ting gritted his teeth, grabbed the limp recruit beside him, and hoisted him onto his shoulder.

He gazed at the direction swallowed by the swarm of insects and raised his hand in salute.

The military salute was crisp and clean.

His fingers were already trembling as he landed.

"yes!"

Tingge turned around, grabbed Xiao Wu, and dragged him toward the rest stop five kilometers away.

Xiao Wu then came to her senses and struggled violently.

"Brother Ting!"

"We can't abandon our platoon leader!"

"I want to go back!"

"Go back my ass!"

Ting grabbed his shoulder, his voice already choked.

"That's an order!"

"The platoon leader told us to run!"

"Send the message back, send it back alive!"

Just as the two were arguing, the insect ball in the distance suddenly contracted.

The dense, armored wings were pressed together, almost completely engulfing Zhou Lang.

boom!

The insect ball exploded from the inside.

Limbs flew everywhere, and green blood splattered across the sand dunes.

A withered human figure staggered out from the swarm of insects.

Zhou Lang's once robust body had become so thin that it was unrecognizable, with his skin clinging to his bones and his arms, chest, and face covered with holes left by the Zerg.

Fresh blood kept flowing out of the wound.

He was still holding two swords.

Zhou Lang turned around and shouted hoarsely in the direction where Ting Ge and Xiao Wu had fled.

"Don't look back!"

"Send the message back!"

Ting Ge and Xiao Wu's bodies trembled simultaneously.

Neither of them turned around.

They gritted their teeth and rushed desperately toward the rest point.

Five kilometers away, the teleportation array was still there.

They can survive if they go back there.

As long as they survive, they can send news of the sandworm nest back to the western border defenses.

Zhou Lang did not give chase.

He looked down at his hands.

The twin swords are still there.

Then we can kill more.

The swarm of insects closed in again, surrounding him atop the dune.

At this point, Zhou Lang could no longer stand upright; his back was bent forward, and his arms hung down at his sides.

He looked up and stared at the swarms of insects crawling all around him.

"Dead bug."

As soon as he finished speaking, the last bit of life essence in Zhou Lang's body was forcibly squeezed out.

boom!

Crimson true energy surged into the sky from his body.

The withered body stood upright again amidst the blood.

The aura of a Grandmaster at the peak spread out once again, even more violently than before.

Zhou Lang spread his feet apart and firmly planted them on the sand.

He hung his arms at his sides, gripping the two knives tightly in his hands, his chest heaving slightly.

Then, he looked up and roared.

"Come!"

"Come at your Grandpa Zhou Lang!"

The sound traveled across the desert and crashed into the distance.

The camera rises from behind Zhou Lang.

At the top of the sand dune, a withered old soldier, his body riddled with bloody holes, stood alone.

Before him was a swarm of insects that blotted out the sky.

Behind him were young soldiers fleeing for their lives.

The blazing sun shone on his shoulders, and crimson true energy rose from the edges of his twin swords.

The figure was very small.

The swarm of insects, however, covered the entire western wilderness.

The next moment, the swarm of insects swept in.

However, just as they reached Zhou Lang, the massive swarm of insects suddenly parted from both sides.

Countless sandworms brushed past his body without attacking him.

Zhou Lang was taken aback.

A piercing chirping of insects came from above.

"Squeak..."

He looked up.

An insect, three or four times larger than a regular sandworm, hovered in mid-air.

Its carapace is yellow with white patterns, and its two forelimbs are bent into a sickle shape.

Those compound eyes stared at Zhou Lang, their gaze filled with a clear mockery.

A scream suddenly came from behind me.

"Aaaaaah!"

"My face! It hurts so much!"

"Get away, you bug! Get out of here!"

"Ah—Platoon Leader! Uncle Wolf, save me!"

Zhou Lang suddenly turned around.

Xiao Wu has already been caught up by the insect swarm.

A dozen sandworms crashed into him, forcefully lifting him off the ground.

One of his legs was bent at an odd angle, the broken bone piercing through the flesh, and blood flowing into the yellow sand.

He was still using his hands to support himself on the ground, trying to crawl towards the teleportation array.

Ting Ge knelt not far away as several black insect sacs fell from the sky.

The insect sac burst open, and corrosive liquid poured onto half of his face.

The skin and flesh quickly ulcerated, revealing the stark white cheekbones.

Tingge covered his face, blood streaming from his fingers, but he continued crawling toward the teleportation array.

Higher up,

Ah Hu was pulled into the air by several giant sandworms.

His warbow fell to the ground.

The large insects grabbed his limbs and tore at them in different directions.

Ah Hu's body swayed among the insects, and large amounts of blood splattered down.

More recruits were split up by the insect swarm.

They did not die immediately.

The swarm deliberately avoids fatal spots, repeatedly ramming, biting, and corroding the insects.

Screams came from all directions.

"Platoon leader!"

"Wolverine!"

"Help!"

Zhou Lang's body began to tremble.

The new recruits he personally trained are falling one by one in the swarm of insects.

Just now, he even wanted to use his own life to shield them from the sky.

But the insects avoided him.

They slaughtered his brothers behind his back.

"insect……"

Zhou Lang lowered his head.

Blood flowed from the corner of his eye, mingling with his tears.

"insect!"

He suddenly looked up and let out a roar.

"Aaaaaah!"

Blood ripped through the swarm of insects.

Zhou Lang transformed into a streak of blood and charged out, instantly crashing into the swarm of insects.

He hoisted Xiao Wu, who had a broken leg, onto his shoulder, and grabbed Ting Ge, who was covering his face, with his other hand, and fought his way through the swarm of insects.

Sandworms swarmed in from all directions.

The blade flashed, one after another.

Zhou Lang's speed slowed down, and the blood-red aura on his body gradually weakened.

The teleportation array finally appeared ahead.

Xiao Wu, clutching his broken leg, stared intently at the battlefield behind him.

Many more recruits are still there.

They were knocked over, torn apart, and dragged by the swarm of insects.

Ting-ge covered his rotting face, blood seeping continuously from between his fingers.

"Platoon leader..."

"We can't leave."

Zhou Lang looked at the two of them and suddenly smiled.

"You better live on."

"I'll save them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he kicked both of them.

Xiao Wu and Ting Ge both fell into the teleportation array at the same time.

A beam of light shot into the sky.

The two figures disappeared quickly.

Zhou Lang turned around and charged towards the swarm of insects once again.

He kept skimming across the sand.

One was rescued.

Send one back.

Rinse it back down.

The figure flickered back and forth in front of the teleportation array. Every time Zhou Lang appeared, a piece of flesh would be missing from his body, but the bloodstains under his feet would increase.

"Platoon leader..."

A new recruit was dragged to the front of the line; his arm had been bitten off by sandworms.

"It hurts so much..."

Hang in there!

Zhou Lang pushed him into the pillar of light.

"Hang in there a little longer!"

Another soldier lay among the swarm of insects, his chest pierced by armored wings.

"Platoon leader, don't save me..."

"Go and save the other brothers."

"Shut up!"

Zhou Lang bent down and grabbed his collar.

"You better hold on!"

Hang in there!

This time, however, the soldier did not respond.

When Zhou Lang dragged him to the teleportation array, the other person's body had already lost its temperature.

He looked up at the teleportation beam.

The soldier's finger stopped at the edge of the array pattern, and he was less than half a step away from survival.

boom!

A giant sandworm crashed into us from behind.

The teleportation array shattered on the spot.

The beam of light went out.

The fragments of the array pattern flew into the air and landed beside the corpse whose eyes were still open.

Further away, the swarm was still slaughtering the remaining recruits.

Zhou Lang's aura quickly dissipated.

The crimson true energy dissipated from his meridians.

His knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground, excruciating pain surging through his limbs and bones.

Zhou Lang braced himself against his twin swords, his arms trembling violently.

"Grass!"

"Damn it!"

He looked up and roared at the swarm of insects.

"insect!"

"Ahhhhh—"

The insect with a yellow shell and white patterns fell from the sky.

It stopped in front of Zhou Lang, extended its bent forelimbs, and lifted his chin.

For the first time, it spoke the language of humans.

"Hahaha……"

"That's the feeling."

"It's so satisfying to see the despair on your faces, you hairless monkeys."

Its forelimbs gently tapped Zhou Lang's face twice.

"Keep standing up."

"Look, your little monkeys are crying in pain."

"Go save them quickly!"

Deep within the swarm of insects, a few surviving recruits struggled to raise their heads.

"Leave me alone!"

"Leave us alone!"

"Platoon leader, run!"

The insect let out a high-pitched laugh.

Zhou Lang lowered his head.

A moment later, he laughed too.

"You're all my little brats."

"I'm your platoon leader."

"How could I abandon you all..."

His voice grew softer and softer.

The light in his eyes was gradually fading.

Zhou Lang lowered his head, channeling the last of his strength into his soul.

The insectoid leader suddenly stopped laughing.

"It's not just that the foundation was burned down..."

"Now this hairless monkey is even burning its soul?"

It stared at Zhou Lang, its tone tinged with surprise.

Then, the Zerg leader chuckled.

"You think I'd give you time to successfully sacrifice yourself?"

It raised its forelimbs.

The curved scythe claws swept across the air, slicing towards Zhou Lang's head.

"clang!"

The sound of metal clashing echoed across the desert.

The forelimb stopped in front of Zhou Lang, and a blood-red broadsword deflected its claws.

The Zerg leader suddenly looked up.

"Who is it?"

Bloodstains spread across the edge of the battlefield.

A figure clad in armor stepped over the swarm of insects, walked up to Zhou Lang, and pulled out the blood-red greatsword stuck in the ground.

The sandworms all around stopped at the same time.

"The king...the king..."

Zhou Lang knelt in the yellow sand.

His spirit is still burning.

The figure raised a hand and placed it on his shoulder, forcefully suppressing the dying flames of his divine soul.

The scene before Zhou Lang's eyes began to blur.

The swarm of insects, the sand dunes, the armor, and even the king standing before him were all gradually swallowed up by darkness.

With his last ounce of strength, he grabbed the king's robe.

"Your Majesty..."

The sound was so soft it was almost inaudible.

"Those children..."

Zhou Lang's fingers slowly loosened, and the twin swords fell weakly.

"Excuse me..."

"We brought them home..."

Ye Zhenxuan looked down at him.

"I will."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

My darlings, I'm sorry for the late release of the promised chapter.

The second season of the comic book is out. I hope my godparents, brothers and sisters will support it.