Geothermal Ferns and Caterpillars

Chen Yu had already gotten off the bus.

The women quickly followed.

But as soon as everyone landed on the ground...

The warmth they had received over a long period of time made them extremely uncomfortable.

The frigid air, like fine ice needles, pierced the exposed skin.

"call."

"call."

It's no exaggeration to say that Chen Yu and his group were practically walking white vapor.

This attracted the attention of everyone outside the glacier crevasse.

"My goodness, it's so cold, and the wind is so strong, howling and howling."

Wang Mengmeng made a comment.

Li Mengyao shivered as well: "Chen Yu, can we find that prototype quickly? If we really stay outside for twelve hours, I'll definitely freeze into an icicle..."

Chen Yu walked at the front: "Okay, look ahead."

As they spoke, everyone looked towards the crack—

The entrance is not naturally formed; it appears to have been torn apart, with jagged edges.

A narrow slope extends downwards, leading into the darkness.

A howling wind swept up from the valley floor, whistling and whipping up snowflakes...

"There's no light source down here, get your flashlights ready."

As Chen Yu spoke, he took out a high-powered flashlight from his backpack and turned it on.

The beam of light pierced the dense darkness, illuminating what lay ahead.

Chen Yu didn't wait for anyone and went straight down.

Zhang Wanyue, Deng Yuxin, and others immediately took out flashlights, and the group began to move downwards.

They were the first team to dare to go down.

The other students looked at each other, somewhat hesitant.

"Holy crap, they...they really went down there?"

"Isn't this too reckless? Who knows what's down there..."

"Just standing at this cave entrance and looking inside makes my legs go weak..."

"Stop arguing! What do we do now? Just stand by and watch?"

"Wait, let's wait and see?"

"Yes, yes, wait, safety first..."

Ultimately, this was only the second night of the apocalypse.

People haven't fully adapted to the rhythm yet.

It's normal to be timid, and it's also normal to be cautious.

But Chen Yu's experience tells him that it's always better to act first; the more you hesitate, the more likely you are to run into problems.

Of course, there's one more team that dares to come down.

Wang Mengmeng recognized the team as being from the directing department...

"Chen Yu, there are only six people behind us..."

In the pitch black, only the light from the flashlight shone through.

Li Mengyao clung tightly to Wang Mengmeng's arm, walking unsteadily.

Chen Yu walked at the front and said calmly, "Wouldn't that be even better? We'll take three prototypes, and then we won't have to worry about this Frost Disaster."

After descending for about ten minutes, the passage widened slightly.

But the temperature seems to be even lower.

Chen Yu suddenly stopped, the beam of light fixed on the ice surface not far away.

There, a few clusters of warm orange light stubbornly shone.

"Holy crap! Geothermal fern???"

Wang Mengmeng exclaimed excitedly, "This is a treasure that can keep you warm, as clearly stated in the mission description!"

The thick leaves shimmered with a warm glow, causing the surrounding ice to melt into a wet patch, as if by magic!

"I just came down and ran into my sweetheart! I really had to come down right away!"

Almost simultaneously!

A hushed gasp came from the side and behind!

It's a team from the directing department!

They also discovered the geothermal fern. The random beams of their flashlights swept across the area, revealing faces that were frozen blue-purple but filled with greed!

The atmosphere instantly tensed up!

Geothermal ferns are not only portable heat packs, but also key to combating "absolute zero waves," and everyone wants to get their hands on them!

The directing team consists of four men and two women!

The men were fairly strong, but the women were definitely not as pretty as those from the performing arts department...

"Rob!"

One of the boys growled in a low voice and lunged at the clumps of geothermal ferns!

"Chen Yu!"

Zhang Wanyue spoke up anxiously because she could see that Chen Yu wasn't in a hurry at all!

But Chen Yu waved his hand: "Let's wait and see."

He's definitely not in a hurry.

On the one hand, the items aren't simply owned by whoever grabs them first.

On the other hand, he always felt that it wasn't that simple.

And indeed, things turned out exactly as he predicted...

Just as the boy's fingers were about to touch the geothermal fern!

"Rustle and rustle..."

A series of subtle, dense sounds suddenly came from deep within the rock crevices where the geothermal ferns were rooted!

Immediately afterwards, under the illumination of several beams of flashlight!

Dozens of "caterpillars" as thick as an arm swarmed out!

They have long, slender bodies with a single, constantly opening and closing sucker at the top!

Extremely fast and with a clear objective!

She rushed straight at the boy who reached out to pick it!

This scene is absolutely chilling!

"What the hell is that?!"

The boy was terrified and tried to pull his hand away, but it was too late...

Several of the nearest insects suddenly sprang up!

The suction cup snapped onto his bare fingers!

"ah--!"

A layer of white frost quickly spread out and continued upwards along the arm!

He shook his arm frantically, but the insect remained firmly attached!

Under the flashlight, even more insects were swarming towards him from all directions, a truly terrifying scene!

"Get out of here! Burn them! Insects are afraid of fire!"

His teammates panicked and pulled out their lighters, but they couldn't get a spark out of them!

"Help! Help!"

Chaos erupted instantly!

The directing team, no longer caring about collecting geothermal ferns, retreated in a sorry state!

They scrambled and crawled away to a safe distance!

It eventually stopped about seven or eight meters away from the geothermal fern, which is considered a safe distance!

It's clear that they are deeply traumatized!

The boy who made the first move has already been dumped...

It was being sucked up by several worms, and it looked like it had been dead for a while.

"Chen Yu, are those caterpillars guarding the geothermal ferns?"

Not far away, Deng Yuxin asked earnestly.

Chen Yu nodded: "That's probably it. Getting the geothermal fern isn't easy..."

"What should we do then?"

"Are we just going to watch helplessly as we can't get our hands on it?"

Wang Mengmeng was somewhat unwilling; she could feel the intense heat emanating from the geothermal ferns.

If I could get my hands on it, I probably wouldn't be afraid of this freezing weather anymore.

"Everyone step back and turn off your flashlights, leaving only mine. I need to verify my hypothesis."

Zhang Wanyue suddenly spoke up, while simultaneously turning her flashlight beam to its lowest setting.

The brightness is only at a level where...one can barely see.

Chen Yu seemed to have thought of something as well, and slowly turned off the flashlight.

Wang Mengmeng and the others also put out their lights.

Just a few seconds later, everyone realized...

Without the stimulation of the light beam, the transparent insects were once again attracted by the warmth of the geothermal ferns.

Most of them began to wriggle back into the rock crevices around the ferns.

The boy's body was still being dragged along.

However, the crevice in the rock was not wide enough for an adult to pass through, but the insects were extremely strong and dragged the boy back, leaving him covered in blood.

In other words, geothermal ferns are their only means of survival, so naturally they wouldn't give them up to others...

"What...what kind of monster is this?"