The snow finally stopped, and the snow was still hip-deep.
With this thickness, when moving, your knees will push forward under the snow and a lot of snow will accumulate above your waist. Of course, a person's weight would not allow him to step that deep, but the urban environment is complex and there are many cavities in the new snow, so you will often have to climb into pits. Just moving requires at least half more physical energy than two days ago, and the movement speed is also slower.
But Wang Qi had no choice. At least he could still move in the snow now. If he piled up a layer of snow one or two meters high in the future, he would have to wait until the snow hardened enough before he could travel.
He also considered making snowshoes, but wearing those in dangerous places would make him unable to cope with many emergencies.
He disassembled yesterday's dead bugs and dragged them to the target area on a sled to be used as bait.
This time we transferred to the northeast side of the stadium, covering the location where we first encountered the mantis monster.
The modeling of the roads in the area has been completed, and two hours of supplementary survey were conducted to select suitable buildings to place baits.
The bait release point was a street-facing facade in an alley. The building was severely damaged, with parts of the walls and roof missing. Use the fallen wall to make a nest, collect broken furniture fragments, dry branches and vines around to start the fire.
After lighting the fire, Wang Qi moved to the second floor of the small building at the entrance of the alley to observe.
After hunting reptiles many times and dissecting many, it can be confirmed that reptiles have a normal sense of smell because they do not have complex enough olfactory sampling organs. Things like tentacles probably only send signals when they receive specific molecules.
Correspondingly, I have long been aware of my high sensitivity to sound, but I only realized that my night vision is weaker than [Night Walker] in the past few days.
In addition to providing a light source, the fire at the accident building site will also produce a certain sound of fuel exploding. Roasting the dead insects can maximize the density of relevant odor particles, hoping to attract a certain range of insects.
In short, at least one of fire, smell, and sound must play a role, otherwise the survivors would light a torch and come over without responding, and the reptile would have died long ago.
After waiting for twenty minutes, the draft did not disappoint. The barbecue ignited other things in the accident building. The fire gradually grew stronger. Several large holes in the broken house glowed with red light, like beams of light under the white snow. If there is no problem with Wang Qi's arrangement, the dead insects will be protected by the wall panels at this time and will not be directly burned by the fire, so they can emit the smell for a longer period of time.
I thought I would have to wait for a while before the sentry arrived, but I didn't expect the mantis monster rushed to the scene and didn't hear the bug alarm. Is it also responsible for patrolling the outer perimeter in winter?
The mantis monster was so huge that it couldn't fly down into the alley. It was even more difficult to get into the fire and get food from the corner, and it was spinning anxiously on the roof.
Then it flew up and disappeared from Wang Qi's sight, probably to the other side of the fire scene. Soon there was a strange movement.
It had nothing to do with the alarm sounds I had heard before.
A normal call for reinforcements has a series of clicking sounds that are similar to electromagnetic whistling. At a close enough distance, you can still feel obvious vibrations. The difference between the Sentinel and the Praying Mantis is that the former has lower power. Anyway, Wang Qi cannot feel the low-frequency sound produced by the Sentinel.
The string we hear now has a higher frequency, more like the sound produced by the grasshopper's foot bristles rubbing against its flank, but the sound is louder.
I don’t know what the situation is.
Soon another mantis monster came to the scene. Wang Qi thought it was called by that kind of movement, but it turned out not to be the case.
The mantis monster that arrived first didn't know what it did, and the one that came later flew away immediately.
It seems to want to eat alone.
But then the one that arrived first made a sound of flapping wings and flew away.
I can't figure out what's going on, so I can only continue to wait.
About five minutes later, another mantis monster arrived. The little feet on its chest also held two ordinary reptiles, and threw them directly from the roof of the second floor to the side of the fire. It must be the one that was eating alone.
Ordinary reptiles were still frozen, but the heat radiation from the fire quickly warmed them up and their movements became smoother. They drilled in and out a few times, probably for reconnaissance, and within a short time they successfully pulled out the dead insects from the fire.
Among the reptiles that came to work, Wang Qi could see part of it burnt black by the firelight from a distance.
Based on previous knowledge of the mantis monster, this one that was set off by fire probably had to be "recycled".
However, the script did not go as he thought. While the mantis monster was on the ground eating dead insects, two small reptiles quickly slipped into the building next to it.
The mantis monster didn't have enough to eat, so it lost its temper and caused damage, and part of the wall next to it that was already crooked collapsed.
The mantis that had eaten the reptile did not fly. Maybe it would be more difficult to fly after eating. It didn't even try to climb to a higher place and went straight to the entrance of the alley.
In Wang Qi's heart, heaven and man are at war. This is a good opportunity to sneak attack on it, but he feels that there are a lot of mantis monsters recently, and he is a little hesitant.
The distance of tens of meters didn't give him much time to think, but seeing the belly of the mantis dragging on the snow made him make up his mind.
Done!
Only half of the window he was in had glass, and the other half was missing. Previously, he had used the curtains to hide his figure. After deciding to take action, he took a step sideways and hid behind the wall.
When there were only a few meters away, the mantis monster seemed to sense something and stopped for a moment.
However, the air is too cold, and the odor particles are not active. Its abdomen is still dragging on the snow, so it can only rely on tentacles that are not sensitive enough, which is not conducive to collecting effective information.
Found nothing, kept moving.
When his head passed under the window where Wang Qi was, he moved.
Half of the body popped out of the window and hit the head with an axe!
The insect-like eyes made the mantis detect the sneak attack, but half of its body was in the snow, and the scythe couldn't suddenly attack the back of the head. It moved, but it didn't dodge at all.
The previous experience of taking out the mantis' head with a crowbar and the recent practice with an ax worked. The huge explosive force directly sent the entire ax surface into the crack of the back of the neck.
He pressed his knees against the wall under the window to help him pull out the ax violently, causing the mantis monster's head to tilt slightly.
If the mantis monster wasn't too big, it could cut off its entire head at once.
However, Wang Qi was still convinced that at least most of its nerves had been severed - after all, it had a head in its collection and had a special note in mind on how its head was connected to its body.
Instead of waiting for the result at the window, I took the stairs to the first floor.
Instead of going through the door, attack through the window.
Sometimes the snow is too thick, and there are advantages to it. The snow falling from the sloping roof pours into the room through the window with missing glass, forming a slope.
I originally wanted to poke the mantis monster with a steel bar here, but I didn't see it.
I calmed down and listened, but there was no movement.
what's the situation?
Directly die? Or where did you go?
He didn't dare to poke his head out to test the power of the sickle, so he continued to wait.
Calmness is a good trait. Not long after, I heard the sound of the mantis monster hitting the wall. It must have been displaced during the struggle.
The collision was very light, with one collision occurring in a few seconds or more than ten seconds, or a loud squeezing sound on the snow surface. It should be unable to coordinate its limbs, just like the small reptile that Wang Qi sometimes stabbed into its head.
According to normal procedures, he should wait until the mantis was completely motionless before taking action, but he did not forget that there were two ordinary reptiles nearby.
Although I have never seen ordinary reptiles blow whistles, what if they can also call for help within a certain distance.
Be quick.
Go out and crawl forward... crawling will not sink in, it is faster than wading in the snow, but it is more laborious.
Detour through the back door blocked by the collapse, so you don't have to pass by the mantis monster. When you return to the alley, keep an eye on the mantis monster carefully.
It has rolled over, and the breathing hole on one side is probably blocked by snow. It instinctively wants to move, but the various parts are not coordinated enough to move in their own way, and the abdomen is sinking deeper and deeper into the snow.
Wang Qi approached from behind, helped it, and poured snow on it.
He was now very strong and fast. Even if the opponent struggled slightly, he quickly buried its belly.
No matter what, I went to look for those two bugs...but I didn't find them!
Did he run through the building and go somewhere else?
Wang Qi also suspiciously searched the dangerous building adjacent to the hiding place of the two bugs in his memory, but still found nothing.
After such a delay, when I looked back at the mantis monster, it had stopped moving. Only its feet shaking from time to time proved that it was not dead yet.
Give it a hand.
Take a detour to get the crowbar from the sled, and carefully avoid the attack range of the scythe to pry the head out.
