Tempest of the Stellar War

Every living thing in the area had been destroyed. The Aslanian soldiers had received a torrent of abuse from their superiors – how could they still not have found them?

Bordia was still in hiding, but they had finally discovered Lear.

Even the troops who dug him out were flabbergasted. He had been like a corpse when they unearthed him, but in a mere few minutes he had been resuscitated, his body condition returning to normal. “How many are left...” had been the first words out of his mouth.

The soldiers did not dare to neglect his status. When he was informed that there were two left, he nodded his head slightly.

When he heard the first name, Lear was stunned. Zhang Shan...

The corner of Lear’s mouth quirked with a curious smile.

Lear returned to cheers, like a hero. He had buried himself five or six meters below a sand bunker near the Zerg’s cave, and had been deprived of oxygen for a considerable period of time. He truly was a monster.

The rest of the team admired him in part but still shook their heads. Although his ability was suited to concealment, it was truly taken to the extreme. In any case, Earth had proved themselves.

About an hour after Lear had been captured, Bordia of Atlantis was also captured. Only, nobody cared too much about this, because there was still one individual still on the loose, which was Zhang Shan from the Solar System Federation team.

The entire field was buzzing with speculation. Was this person dead? Otherwise, how could he still remain undiscovered?

Rodriguez looked over at Akerlof. Akerlof shook his head. Apparently Zhang Shan was not dead, but alive and kicking.

At that very moment, Zhang Shan was still lying in the worm’s stomach. After such a long time, he felt like he was becoming a worm as well. When he got hungry, he would eat a few mouthfuls of the disgusting flesh. He had been disgusted at first, but then got used to it. Low grade worm flesh was all edible, just indescribably disgusting.

But Zhang Shan did not hesitate to do so. It was no big deal. Everybody in the Solar System team could do it, so Zhang Shan just went with it. In his heart, he had come to terms that it was probably normal.

He had to conserve his strength and stay alert. Judging by the movements in that period of time, he should have been dragged into the worms’ lair. When food was scarce, the worms would forage for food. Regardless if it was corpses of the same species or whatever else, they would store everything edible.

Zhang Shan had no intentions whatsoever of moving. To him, this was undoubtedly the safest. Even the might of the Aslanian troops would require a stupendous amount of time to cleanly sweep through all the worm holes.

But if the worms started to eat...

Then he would accept his fate. He would rather die than go out!

Actually, he calculated that the time was almost up. Before they started, he had heard the previous records. On average, 24 hours were sufficient, but Zhang Shan knew that this was far from required. That a mid-way enlistee like him could be here, at Aslan, competing in this congregation of real warriors, was due to all the help that he had received on the way.

When he had first awakened his powers, he had felt that he was born to do great things. But the further he went, the more he saw, and he had come to accept that he was simply too weak. Even with his warp ability, he was still a small fry. However, the world was made out of small fry, and given the chance, he would seize his opportunity!

Others had laid down their lives for him to have this chance, and he was willing to put his own life on the line to repay their trust!

Zhang Shan therefore lay thus, but, meanwhile, the outside world was going crazy.

Six hours after Bordia had been caught, the Aslanian troops had been whipped into a frenzy, but to no avail. This Earthling called Zhang Shan remained invisible.

They heard that he had warping abilities. Rodriguez was beginning to suspect that he had hidden himself in another dimension.

But this was merely wild imagination, because such an ability did not exist. Time ticked on, and the Aslanian troops used every trick in their book. They began a carpet-style search. The entire zone’s ground surface had been torn open. Not even the slightest trace of life was left uninspected.

Yet still they found nothing. They increased the continual agitation of the worm caves to half an hour, but still found no unusual worm caves. The worms were more sensitive than humans, and it was impossible to hide under such circumstances. Furthermore, Zhang Shan’s ability could not control the worm caves. Even if he could, he would have been discovered.

Warped outside of the magnetic field?

Impossible. Such abilities were especially susceptible to failure from magnetic interference. Besides, there were no tracks outside as well. He must still be inside the caves.

But they could not find him!

Everyone was buzzing with conversation. Rodriguez was embarrassed. This was a direct challenge to the Aslanian troops’ ability and limits. If they could not find him, could he have vanished into thin air?

It was not just Rodriguez that was guessing, but everyone else as well. Lear remained expressionless.

The Solar System team was not too thrilled. They knew Zhang Shan’s situation. The better one hid, the riskier it was. Where in the world had that guy hid himself?

“Lear, Zhang Shan has succeeded wonderfully. Even if he appears now, our Solar System team still passes,” Lie Xin said.

Lear was noncommittal. “He has finally proved to be useful.”

“Aslanian people are really useless. How could they not find him when it’s so easy? Worthless bunch.” The utterance was met by a collective exasperated sigh. Even those around him raised their eyebrows.

The Solar System team seemed to have some internal strife.

“Lear, must you brag so much all the time?” Lie Guang snapped.

Lear huffed and said nothing. Achilles’ eyes were bright, as though he had thought of something.

They had to think this through clearly. Zhang Shan was not dead, and not outside. If they had moved heaven and earth and not found him, that truly meant there was only one place left.

Somehow, he had hidden himself in one of the worm caves. But there were countless worm caves – how were they to find him?

Rodriguez soon came to the same conclusion. The young Major General gave the order, and all the troops attacked every single worm cave according to their designated zone.

This was a huge effort, not something that could be accomplished in a day or two. But what could they do when faced with someone willing to go to such lengths?

After 36 hours, they again assembled the heavy artillery. All the worm caves had been swept clean, and still Zhang Shan could not be found. The Aslanian people were at their wits’ end.

The Earthlings had become famous. This was the first time since the dawn of the IG’s history that the Aslanian army had been helpless, even after such a drastic sweep had been carried out. The entire terrain had been razed, both aboveground and underground. It seemed like Zhang Shan must have flown himself into space.

In the end, Akerlof used the positioning device. This signaled the end of the segment. Only then was Zhang Shan found.

When the troopers cracked open the worm shell, Zhang Shan had cleaned out half the worm shell. His immediate reaction upon being discovered was dismay. “Am I the first to be found?” he blurted.

The Aslan troopers almost fainted. Damn it all, no one in their wildest dreams would have thought that somebody could hide in the food stores of a worm cave and not be found. This was unbelievable. The worms were unusually sensitive. Only someone like Zhang Shan could displace his way in a location which could seal his scent.

Once the secret was out, such a method was worthless. It depended on luck to a large degree. But as they stared at the half-eaten worm shell, the Aslanian troopers could not help but give silent respect.

Perhaps Zhang Shan was not as savage and domineering as those like Olivios, but he had done something that no one else could!

All things in their being are good for something!