233: Another golden beetle

As the insects continued to swarm, a sense of despair spread through the crowd.

Some people had even secretly jumped off the defense line and fled into the distance.

If it weren't for An Qian, a fiery figure, still moving around various parts of the defense line, most people would have probably turned and fled.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, a clear eagle cry came from afar.

Then, a huge eagle flew towards them like lightning.

"Qin Dage is here, you are saved," Zhang Xiaoli said with a relieved smile, her tense expression relaxing.

"In this situation, even if City Lord Qin comes, I'm afraid it won't help," Han Hongyu said pessimistically.

In his heart, An Qian, the top-ranked master of the Golden Realm, couldn't stop these insects, so what could Qin Shilei, who was only in the Silver Realm, do to resolve this desperate situation?

Zhang Xiaoli didn't speak, but just looked at the descending figure with dreamy eyes.

Qin Shilei, who had just jumped off the back of Little Strong, waved his hand, and a Gold Beetle glowing with golden light appeared beside him.

"Hiss!"

As the Gold Beetle raised its head and hissed, all the insects on the scene immediately stopped.

Even those insects standing in front of the survivors, about to be cut down by swords, dared not move, allowing the swords to hack at them.

"King of Beetles?" Han Hongyu asked in shock, "Brother Qin actually has a Beetle King that can control insects?"

"Exactly," Zhang Xiaoli said proudly, "It's precisely because Qin Ge has a Gold Beetle that I said you were saved."

She paused and then said, "Don't just stand there foolishly; quickly tell your people to kill all the insects in front of them and then retreat. We don't know if another Gold Beetle will appear here."

"Good," Han Hongyu shuddered all over and immediately shouted, "Quickly kill the insects and prepare to retreat."

Qin Shilei, while having the Gold Beetle order the insects to retreat, also relentlessly slaughtered the surrounding insects.

Now that these insects were controlled by his pet, they became living targets. When else would be a better time to kill them?

Half an hour later, all the survivors from Longhua City had evacuated the urban area and formed a long convoy, retreating towards Hope City.

Only Qin Shilei, An Qian, and Zhang Xiaoli remained on the scene, still slaughtering insects.

An Qian looked at the motionless insects in front of her and sighed, "I've never killed monsters so easily. I really regret not bringing the Gold Beetle out sooner."

Zhang Xiaoli suggested, "Qin Ge, why don't we just let the Gold Beetle stay on Blue Star and help us level up from now on?"

Qin Shilei smiled and said, "Okay, from now on, we'll bring the Gold Beetle out every other day. This way, we won't have to worry about any trouble in the Insect Valley."

Just then, the surrounding insects suddenly became restless.

"Qin Ge, look, another Gold Beetle has appeared there!" Zhang Xiaoli pointed into the distance and said in surprise.

"Hiss!"

Qin Shilei's Gold Beetle hissed again, controlling the insects within dozens of meters nearby.

As for those further away, it was powerless.

After all, these insects were not part of its own species.

Qin Shilei frowned and said, "I knew it wouldn't be that simple."

He paused and then said, "Let's retreat temporarily. Once everyone has recovered their energy, we'll come back to deal with this Gold Beetle and see if we can help you catch a pet too."

As they spoke, that Gold Beetle had already charged towards them with dozens of Silver Beetles in a mighty display.

"Go."

Qin Shilei first put away his Gold Beetle, then summoned Little Strong and flew into the air.

"Let's harass this Gold Beetle nearby for a bit, to prevent it from catching up to Han Hongyu and the others."

The three of them then each rode their pets, flying in mid-air, and began launching long-range attacks on the Gold Beetle below.

Because they had to guard against the Gold Beetle's counterattack, all three flew to a height of two to three hundred meters.

Therefore, Blazing Star or Giant Wood Crash were easily dodged by the Gold Beetle.

The Silver Dragon launched by Qin Shilei using his short bow was also easily broken by the Gold Beetle's special ability.

Although they failed to harm the Gold Beetle, they did manage to tie it down here.

Three or four hours later, the Gold Beetle, exasperated by Qin Shilei and the others, retreated into a cave.

"Let's go too," Qin Shilei called out, and was the first to fly back towards Hope City.

When they returned to Hope City, all the survivors from Longhua City had just entered the outer city of Hope City.

Zhang Cheng and Commander Kong were responsible for settling these survivors.

Because of the assistance from the four major legions and the Panshi Battle Group, there was no chaos among the survivors.

Commander Kong walked up to Qin Shilei and smiled, "My dear nephew, you truly have excellent methods. Without a sound, you've added hundreds of thousands of people to Hope City."

Qin Shilei's forehead was covered in black lines as he explained, "These people will leave with Han Hongyu once he finds a suitable place."

"Hehe," Commander Kong chuckled, "Leave? Within two hundred kilometers of Hope City, where else is suitable for building a city? And what would he use to build it? If Han Hongyu proposes leaving Hope City, I'm afraid less than a tenth of the people would be willing to follow him."

"My dear nephew, we should discuss how to arrange this new influx of vital forces for Hope City as soon as possible."

"We'll talk about that later," Qin Shilei said indifferently.

Although Qin Shilei truly had no intention of keeping the people from Longhua City, Han Hongyu's face was so gloomy at this moment that it looked like it could drip water because of this matter.

Zeng Deyuan frowned and said, "City Lord, when we first entered Hope City, many people expressed the desire to settle down in Hope City."

Han Hongyu asked in a deep voice, "Do many people in our City Guard Army also have this idea?"

"This..." Zeng Deyuan cursed, "These are a bunch of ungrateful wretches! The City Lord usually treats them quite well, yet as soon as they arrived here, they're saying they want to stay here forever."

"Bang!"

Han Hongyu kicked the table in front of him, sending it flying to hit the wall opposite.

Although he was furious, he was helpless in this situation.

In this apocalypse, who wouldn't want to stay in a place protected by tall city walls?

The residents of Longhua City, having just experienced a life-and-death crisis, felt this particularly deeply.

Leaving aside Han Hongyu's various plans.

After Qin Shilei and the others recovered their energy, they once again flew to the outskirts of Longhua City.

As they flew, they discussed tactics, "Zhang Xiaoli, use control skills from the air."

"An Qian, I'll temporarily swap weapons with you. It'll be like last time; I'll control, and you'll be the main attacker."

"It's just that there's no combat barrier this time, so we can only rely on my Gold Beetle to tie down those insects."

"After we cripple the Gold Beetle, Zhang Xiaoli, you can try to successfully contract it."

Soon, the three found the wandering Gold Beetle in the wilderness.

Qin Shilei waved his hand, releasing his pet, Little Gold.

Then, with a teleport, he appeared behind the Gold Beetle and stabbed hard.

The spell-breaking effect worked, and the Heavenly Phoenix Sword pierced the Gold Beetle's body.

The Gold Beetle, afflicted by Divine Power Stiffening, temporarily became a living target as desired.