Chapter 167: Burning Rice Fields

Fortunately, Qin Feng was well-informed about this fact and with the help of his strong consciousness, he sealed away his internal strength, allowing his body to return to its original tranquil state. Soon, he too, drifted into the land of dreams.

This night however, was not as tranquil to a handful of other people. On the contrary, it was a night filled with excitement and adrenaline!

When dawn broke, Qin Feng observed that a large portion of students from Chengbei Colony wore dark circles under their blood-shot eyes.

"Did you guys struggle to sleep well last night?" Qin Feng asked as he eyed a couple of other students.

While Zhou Hao also had dark-circles under his eyes, like that of a panda, he also had an excited look on his face.

"Nope, not at all! I slept well!"

The corner of Zhang Tianche's mouth twitched. Just who was it that kept his ear glued to the wall the entire night before?

Zhou Hao, rubbing his eyes tiredly, wanted to share something that he caught wind of last night—a teenie weenie secret shared only between men.

However, upon catching sight of Bai Li, the feeling of pain crept up in Zhou Hao's heart.

"You goddamn normie, you won't ever feel the pain of us single men. Just one look is enough to tell me that you slept like a king last night!"

He was not wrong but Qin Feng did nothing in bed the night before.

"Don't badmouth others to make up for your own shortcomings. I used my internal strength to block out all the noise last night. I bet you spent the entire night listening to the symphony, I mean look at those circles!" Qin Feng retorted.

Lu Meng and Zhao Yu looked at Qin Feng with contempt.

"Ahem, that's where you're wrong! You've misunderstood what I did, Qin Feng!" Zhou Hao exclaimed. Then, with the voice of a mouse, he whispered into Qin Feng's ears, "You gotta save me some face, man. I wanna spend the rest of my life filled with joy and having pretty women to squeeze!"

Qin Feng held back his laughter. "Alright fine. Hurry up and get some chow, prepare for battle afterward!"

Most of them could not help but discuss the events last night so they ate only pieces of bread or hardtack crackers that were in their rations.

It appeared that they had already lost their appetite for a heavy breakfast.

[Beep Beep Beep!]

Everyone's communicators rang out in unison. Qin Feng lowered his head to the noise, only to discover that it was calling for a voluntary joint-forces operation.

Such missions were announced every morning, ordering for a specific street to be cleaned up. There, they would have to pour beast-repelling powder all over to prevent the insectoids from breeding and thus, quell the population surge of their enemy.

These sort of operations provided a much needed sense of uniformity in their quest to recapture Han Town.

Though, the setbacks were equally as jarring. In the event that the chosen street was the nest of a crazy-strong beast, then the loss of a few men was inevitable.

Of course, in order to minimise unnecessary casualties, each street would be assigned to at least a handful of teams in order to secure the place without major hiccups.

Qin Feng raised his finger and pressed down without hesitation on the reject button.

Considering his capabilities, there was no need for him to engage in such operations.

On the other hand, after a round of serious discussion, Zhou Hao and co finally decided to participate in this operation.

And so, the daily report on the insectoids' distribution around Han Town was updated. The most accurate information on this typically came right after dawn, which was right now.

[For today, our sweeping operation will be conducted in the East and South Districts of Han Town. Clearing teams, streets 55-58 are your targets. Members who have yet to participate in this operation, please proceed to other districts!]

"I've had my fill. Time to go!"

Qin Feng finished up the final piece of hardtack and brushing the crumbs off his hands, he stood up.

"Right! Stay safe!" Zhou Hao said as he waved at his friend. He would have to remain there until further orders were given to his team.

"You guys too! If you bump into any trouble, I want you to immediately send me your coordinates, understand?"

"No problem!" Zhou Hao nodded.

After releasing the umbra stallion, Qin Feng and Bai Li climbed up onto its back.

With just a few leaps, they had arrived at an area just outside the provisional colony. It was then that they noticed a few large vehicles transporting bags of pungent substance that almost made one's eyes water.

"Stinky!" Bai Li immediately pinched her nose shut.

"Then you should hold your breath for a little longer! Qin Feng climbed down the horse and walked to the front of the convoy.

"I want twenty bags of this beast repelling powder!" Qin Feng then pointed in Bai Li's direction. "Don't worry, we're together in a team!"

"Wouldn't that be a tad bit overkill?" The man asked.

"We cleared ten streets yesterday!" Qin Feng displayed the result of yesterday's operation.

The inhuman results stunned the man for a while before he returned to his senses. "Alright, if you've used up all of em' then come back for more!"

Qin Feng tucked away twenty large bags of beast repelling powder into his spatial runic equipment.

This powder was specifically formulated to fight the insectoids and consequently, it yielded great results in reducing their numbers. However, in instances where the insectoids were rampaging or if they were under strategic control, the enemy could easily overrun cleared streets. The powder posed virtually no harm to the insectoids whatsoever; it merely irritated the insectoids and thus, stop them from settling down and turning the street into a breeding spot.

It was not only the insectoids that were irritated. Some humans, like Bai Li right now, hated its foul-smell.

Fortunately, the spatial runic equipment was smell-proof. It was not too long before they had arrived at the Northern gate of Han Town.

The direction in which they were moving was completely different from before. Also, the Northern gate suffered more severe damage due to it being the supposed bread basket for Han Town.

The grains planted in this agricultural field were however, nowhere near enough to feed even one-tenth of Han Town's population. Every year, the people here had to import goods from Fu City and its shortfalls in maintaining adequate food supply was the primary reason why this town remained undeveloped.

A town which was not self-sufficient and hence lacking enough cash flow from trading would only see itself grow poorer and poorer.

The sudden appearance of Qin Feng and Bai Li got the attention of a few cold-blooded killers that were hiding in the agricultural land.

In a split second, a green-yellowish streak dashed toward the duo's position.

"Fire Beam!"

Booom!

A jet of fire spewed forth, downing the insectoid that tried to ambush them.

It was a blade mantis!

It appeared that as of now, this place had become their first choice to set up their nests as well as their hunting ground.

That explained why not many dared to even set foot near this place. After all, blade mantises were F-tier beasts.

With the source of their grains lost to the insectoids, the situation was exacerbated as the end of autumn had arrived. A few downpours, common during this season, had passed, killing off what remained of the dying crops in the agricultural fields.

"If that's the case, we should burn it all down!"

Qin Feng kept his words brief. Without an ounce of hesitation, he unleashed his Hellfire attack on the field.

The crops by then was already dried up, like skeletons of what it used to be. That made it all the more easier for Hellfire to incinerate everything in its path.

Soon, a large flame towered into the sky, accompanied by a massive pillar of black smoke rising never-endingly into the atmosphere. Due to it being too conspicuous, a few drones hovered over to record footage of the scene.

In the combat operations room, the highest member in the chain of command was an E3-tier gunner.

He was also the commander of the self-defense corps operating outside Fu City, widely known as Chi Long!

For the moment, he was acting as the leader of operations to retake Han Town, hence he spent most of the days supervising what was going down on the battlefield.

While the current spatial rift was large, it had yet to produce too big of an impact. Just like the emergence of the Emperor Knight from before, there was a risk that it might bring about a new strain of plague-causing virus.

In that case, if worse truly did come to worst, Han Town could be abandoned for good.

Chi Long, being an E-tier aptitude user, did not bother with fighting the war directly.

There was also another man that was a significant member in the combat operations room, the mayor of Han town—Shi Tianhai.

"What's the situation?" Chi Long switched over to the drone's footage, which overlooked the entire Northern district of Han Town.

Amidst the blazing flames, countless blade mantises could be seen desperately trying to escape but it was all futile; they were quickly struck down, one after the other, by individual jets of flames.

It was impossible to deny that Qin Feng's actions were not overly dramatic.

With Bai Li in front of him, he rode the umbra stallion, which galloped across a number of burning rice field plots. The flames were far from dying and God knows how many blade mantises he had slain in that area alone.

Regardless, it never crossed Qin Feng's mind that this place would be teeming with so many blade mantises.

Soon, a beast general of the blade mantises, an F8-tier beast, made itself present in front of Qin Feng.