CR: Chapter 554

Chapter 554 – Mirage

The group was a bit frustrated after finding out the distant scene was a mirage. After all, their chances of survival would be much higher if they encountered an oasis in the desert. Now they were told that the oasis in front of them was just an illusion… just now they had been really happy.

The group quickly regained their spirits. Long Sen scratched his head and smiled. “It turns out to be a mirage. It is the first time I’m seeing such a realistic mirage. It is eye-opening.”

Qu Wanyue opened her mouth. “Unfortunately, this oasis is indeed very beautiful.”

Lu Jiuchuan stared at the illusion of the oasis in the distance and raised an eyebrow. “In this world, the more beautiful a place, the more dangerous it will be. This oasis might be full of hunters.” He glanced over at Tang Ci and asked in a low voice, “I remember that the formation principle of a mirage is the refraction of light. In other words, the fact that we can see this town means there is really such a town in the desert?”

Tang Ci nodded seriously. “Brother Jiu is right. A mirage is an optical phenomenon. The hot air on the surface of the desert rises, causing the light to be refracted. The light reflected by an object is refracted by the atmosphere and creates an illusion in front of us. It is a refracted illusion showing that there is an identical town somewhere in the distance.”

Lu Jiuchuan thoughtfully touched his chin. “In other words, the light in the desert refracts the town from point A to point B. It forms an illusion and is like looking in the mirror. So can you deduce the real location of the town through this principle of optical refraction?”

Tang Ci looked solemn. “I’m not that capable.”

Lu Jiuchuan wrapped his arm around Tang Ci’s shoulder and smiled. “I thought Xiao Tang was a science top student who is omnipotent.”

Tang Ci slapped his hand in an expressionless manner before thinking about it seriously. “Normally, the hot air close to the surface will produce the optical refraction. We are moving on the surface and within the refraction range of the hot air, so our vision is affected by the mirage. We just need to get out of this range and we can see the real scene in the distance.”

No matter how they walked, the view in front of them was the realistic oasis town.

Yet in fact, everyone couldn’t see clearly what was ahead.

Tang Ci looked at Shao Qingge. “Chief Shao can jump high into the sky, get out of the range of the hot air and see what is really in front of us.”

Shao Qingge waved his hand happily. “Okay, leave it to me.”

Then he stomped on the ground with both legs and jumped up violently.

He obviously saw a beautiful and lively oasis town in front of him when standing on the ground but once he flew into the air and escaped the influence of the hot air refracting light, Shao Qingge was shocked by the scene in front of him and couldn’t speak.

His face suddenly turned pale and he shouted at his teammates. “Back away! Back away!”

Yu Hanjiang realized that something was wrong. He hurriedly wrapped his arms around Xiao Lou’s waist and moved back. The other teammates also retreated. They couldn’t see the surrounding environment clearly. It was a mirage from beginning to end but Shao Qingge’s expression was becoming more and more ugly.

50 meters ahead, there wasn’t a beautiful, peaceful oasis town at all.

It was full of countless large desert scorpions!

They had stumbled into the nest of the large desert scorpions. These scorpions were several times larger than what Shao Qingge had seen in various animal science shows. Some scorpions were even about the height of human children. He didn’t know what they ate to grow like this.

Their bodies were close to the color of the sand and the thousands of giant scorpions were crawling fast in the desert.

The mirage landscape obscured everyone’s view so they couldn’t see the crisis that was gradually approaching them. If Tang Ci hadn’t suddenly come up with the idea to let Shao Qingge fly into the sky to see the real scene, they would’ve been surrounded by thousands of scorpions in less than half a minute!

Ye Qi had never seen Shao Qingge’s expression look so ugly. He asked loudly while moving back, “Chief Shao, what did you see?”

Shao Qingge shouted, “Scorpions. Countless scorpions are crawling this way!”

The team members, “……”

Everyone wanted to curse. Lu Jiuchuan had already taken the lead in letting out a foul word. “F*k!”

The mirage confused everyone’s vision and made them involuntarily walk in the direction of the ‘oasis’. In fact, the oasis was just a phantom and they were walking toward the nest of giant scorpions.

The even more annoying thing was that they were on the ground and the illusion hadn’t disappeared. They couldn’t see where the scorpions were.

Just as Ye Qi wanted to ask again, Shao Qingge suddenly flew down from the sky. He threw Ye Qi down on the sand and rolled several times in a row. Ye Qi was dizzy as he turned and once he returned to his senses, he saw a sharp pincer had just pierced the position where he was just now. A huge scorpion actually crawled out from under the sand and exposed a sharp pincer to them.

Xiao Lou obviously saw this scene as well and said with a calm face, “The scorpions will drill out from the sand. Everyone, be careful of your feet!”

The moment he finished speaking, several more giant scorpions emerged from the sand. Long Sen, who had moved slowly, suddenly screamed bitterly. His right foot was accidentally caught by a scorpion’s pincer. He reached out to try and break the pincer but the harder he tried, the tighter it clamped him. It almost broke his foot.

Long Sen grimaced with pain. Yu Hanjiang had quick eyes and was fast. He took out his saber and split apart the giant scorpion in one strike!

At the same time, a giant scorpion also popped up under Chu Huaying’s feet. The scorpion’s tail flicked rapidly and the sharp tail needle stabbed straight at her chest! Chu Huaying stepped back like lightning and narrowly avoided the scorpion’s tail. She shouted loudly, “This scorpion is poisonous. Everyone, be careful!”

Long Sen endured the pain and broke open the thick pincer around his ankle. Once it was broken, a large amount of blood flowed out and instantly stained the surrounding yellow sand.

Qu Wanyue asked nervously, “Are you okay?”

Long Sen had a bitter expression. “Sister Ying is right. This scorpion is poisonous. My foot is numb.”

Qu Wanyue paled and she hurried forward to support him. Long Sen stood on one foot and the two of them looked around warily.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang looked at each other and their expressions became even more serious.

Yu Hanjiang walked to Xiao Lou, holding the saber tightly in his right hand in case a poisonous scorpion suddenly came out of the sand to attack. He protected Xiao Lou while retreating and asked, “Chief Shao, how many scorpions are there?”

Shao Qingge answered, “They are densely packed and I can’t count them. There are at least tens of thousands.”

Yu Hanjiang ordered, “Retreat quickly, don’t fight.”

They could still think of a way if it was hundreds but tens of thousands… even if they exerted all their strength, they would eventually be exhausted and become scorpion fodder.

In addition, this group of scorpions wasn’t just poisonous. They also burrowed into the sand.

Who knew if their giant claws would suddenly grab their legs and pinch them? Or maybe the scorpions would stab them in the chest with their tails.

The team members knew that these scorpions were difficult to deal with and used all their skills to retreat back. Chu Huaying moved the fastest but everyone found that their timing to escape was one step too late. By now, the scorpions had already surrounded them. Chu Huaying took a step back and found there was also a sea of scorpions behind them.

Her expression changed. “Moving on the ground won’t work. We have to get into the air!”

Shao Qingge said, “I’ll do it.”

Yu Hanjiang had the Light as a Swallow card but the flaw of this card was that it needed a landing spot. How could there be tall objects like trees or buildings in the desert for people to land on? Therefore, Chief Shao was the most flexible in his actions while he was still the bug king.

Shao Qingge extended his arms and hugged Ye Qi. “The mark can be modified another three times. Hold on for a while. I will find a safe place and teleport you over.”

The moment he finished speaking, Shao Qingge  jumped tens of meters away with Ye Qi in his arms.

Ye Qi wondered, “Why did you take me with you?”

Shao Qingge tightened his arms. “This way, I won’t worry about you.”

Ye Qi’s ears became hot and he whispered, “Hurry and find a reliable place. Professor Xiao and the others are still in danger.”

The two of them flew through the air while looking around for a safe place. Ye Qi, who had never seen such huge poisonous scorpions before, got goosebumps and he didn’t dare look down.

The encirclement of the scorpions was too large. Shao Qingge and Ye Qi flew a full kilometer only to see that the scorpions in his field of view were slowly decreasing. He looked around and saw a sand dune in the distance. It was around 30 meters high and was similar to a small hill.

Shao Qingge asked Ye Qi in a low voice, “Our vision will be clearer in a high place, right?”

Ye Qi nodded. ”Yes, at least we don’t have to worry about being caught off guard and ambushed by animals in a high place.”

Shao Qingge made a decision. “Go there.”

He jumped all the way to the sand dune with Ye Qi and opened the teleportation.

At this time, Xiao Lou and the others were fighting the large number of scorpions.

There was a special rule in this secret room that any cards that were used would be discarded directly. No one dared to use too many cards. Yu Hanjiang held the saber to deal with the scorpions. His physical exertion was serious and he could only barely ensure that the teammates around him weren’t caught by the scorpions.

Old Gui took out the brush to cooperate with Yu Hanjiang, throwing any scorpions that approached them tens of meters away!

Chu Huaying had the fastest speed and highest flexibility. She moved through the scorpions and avoided their attacks every time. Long Sen and Qu Wanyue were the ones suffering. Long Sen’s one foot was numb and movement was inconvenient. Qu Wanyue had to stay close to protect him while dealing with the scorpions. It gradually became difficult.

Fortunately, Lu Jiuchuan and Yu Hanjiang helped take care of her side. The moment a scorpion came out to attack her, either Lu Jiuchuan or Yu Hanjiang would come over and split the scorpion in half. The Long Qu couple were safe for the time being.

However, the number of scorpions kept increasing and everyone gradually became exhausted.

Just as hundreds of scorpions appeared within one meter at the same time, a teleportation prompt appeared in front of everyone’s eyes. They agreed without hesitation.

Shao Qingge pulled everyone to the sand dune.

Xiao Lou sighed with relief and smiled. “Chief Shao’s teleportation is very timely. We wouldn’t have been able to handle it if there was another wave of scorpions.”

Shao Qingge told him, “This place was picked by Ye Qi and the view is very good…”

However, before he could finish speaking, Xiao Lou’s feet suddenly sank like he had stepped into a swamp.

Shao Qingge, “……”

Yu Hanjiang hurriedly reached out to grab Xiao Lou. As a result, he had just grabbed Xiao Lou’s hand when he quickly sank into the sand like he was attracted by a whirlpool. He disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Lu Jiuchuan’s expression was serious. “It is quicksand. Be careful of your feet!”

The team members, “……”

Chief Shao, are you a hunter in disguise? Teleporting your teammates into a pit every time?!

Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten & Fictional Reality