His fingertips pressed firmly against the ground paved with brown stone tiles.
Sam gritted his teeth tightly, tears sliding down his cheeks along with sweat, and his fluffy hair covered the upper part of his face, making his expression unclear.
"Sam, are you okay..."
Dane squatted beside him, a little at a loss, not knowing how to comfort his brother.
He didn't expect that Sam would fail so quickly. Almost ten seconds had passed before he was kicked out of the illusion.
"Failed...I failed..."
Sam's voice was very soft, but it could still be heard by Dane who was nearest.
"Don't be discouraged, Sam! Didn't we already have mental preparations at the beginning? If we fail, then train hard and try to pass the next assessment and regain the qualifications for awakening!"
Dane said comforting words, but the other party seemed to have no reaction and kept mumbling those words.
At this time, Sam only felt a buzzing in his mind. When he exited the illusion, he instantly understood what had just happened.
When he entered the illusion, he seemed to be in a dream and lost his ability to think clearly.
All recent memories seemed to be blocked, and he completely forgot that he was awakening.
He only saw the scene when his father faced the demon alone. He rushed forward regardless of his own safety, and his hands left the stone platform.
So, he failed.
Sam seemed to be able to feel the sympathetic eyes of the people around him when they looked at him.
In my ears, I seemed to be able to hear whispers full of various emotions.
Ahead, Star Master's eyes were filled with disappointment.
It was as if the world was leaving him at this moment, and everything he had expected before turned into nothingness as those light spots dissipated.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Xiaoman shook his head slightly, turned and left.
To say that there is disappointment, there is definitely some.
Not only was it the disappointment and failure of Sam's awakening, but more importantly, it was the other party's behavior after the failure.
He will not comfort the other party, nor will he give the other party another chance.
They are all adults, not children.
You have to bear your own failures.
This opportunity for awakening was something he had promised to the other party because of the incident in the Soul Touching Flower Field.
Now, Sam failed.
If you want to become an awakened person again, then go for it yourself.
Zhang Xiaoman actually had some guesses about the outcome of this spiritual enlightenment from the very beginning.
After all, compared to Dane, Sam was always just an ordinary person.
At any rate, Dane wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and maintain physical exercise, so he often visited places with scary rumors.
In terms of mental strength, he must be stronger than this younger brother.
As for Sam, who had not experienced a day of training, there was a huge gap compared to everyone in the Light Blue Department back then.
The group of people in the light blue department used to often follow Mr. Bei to the wilderness to survive. This was a great test of willpower, and their mental strength was much higher than that of most ordinary people.
Although Zhang Xiaoman had a way to avoid Sam's failure, just like he helped the dog Jinbao awaken last time, he tied the person's hands to the stone platform with ropes or the like.
Or you can simply use dark energy to vibrate and apply a force to hold his palm down and prevent him from moving away.
But Zhang Xiaoman did not do this.
If he does this, everyone will know in the future that with the help of the Star Lord when awakening, he will definitely succeed.
In this case, who would take the initiative to temper their will?
They will lose one of their biggest pressures.
This point is not worth the gain.
Therefore, Zhang Xiaoman would rather lose some awakening materials than help them awaken.
Sam was unlucky to be the first person to fail in awakening, but he would not be the last.
Zhang Xiaoman wants everyone to understand that the journey of cultivation is like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat.
Nothing is 100% successful, everything must be fought for with all their strength, otherwise, only failure awaits them.
Ignoring what happened next in the inheritance hall, Zhang Xiaoman walked into the underground base. There were still some things in his office waiting for him to deal with.
However, the moment he entered the room, an alarm suddenly sounded around him.
"what happened?"
His eyes narrowed and he immediately opened his watch.
This alarm is different from the previous sound when the Dawn was attacked. It can be heard throughout the Covenant base.
When this kind of alarm occurs, it means that the shield is under a large-scale attack, and the damage exceeds 5%!
You know, those people in the United States used anti-equipment sniper rifles to attack, and they couldn't even break through the defense.
After a rocket hit it, it only gained 1 point of durability, and it was instantly repaired by the self-repair of the shield.
This shield has a full strength of 50,000, and can recharge 500 every second, and can increase the damage to more than 5%, which shows that the offending guy is definitely not an easy person.
In Zhang Xiaoman's mind, he instantly thought of the alien species just now.
In this area, many high-tech things are affected by the magnetic field and should not be used.
Now the only ones that can pose a threat to the shield are probably those monsters.
His thoughts just flashed through him, and he immediately took out his watch and said to Xingzhi:
"Xingzhi, tell me quickly, what happened?"
"Star Lord, a large-scale attack has been detected in the northeast direction. Do you need to check the projection?"
"Play the projection."
The next second, a three-dimensional influence appeared in front of Zhang Xiaoman.
I saw an overwhelming black figure attacking the shield at the position of the shield over there.
They are either in the sky or on the ground; they are biting or striking, and each one is frantically attacking the translucent shield.
The shields were also damaged one after another under their attacks, and then the gaps were filled by self-repair.
"Desolate insect! I didn't expect that I haven't gone to find you yet. You came to me first."
Looking at the densely packed insects, which numbered at least nearly ten thousand, Zhang Xiaoman had a cold expression on his face.
"Star Rank, broadcast the remaining strength of the shield."
"The current remaining strength of the shield is 93%, and it is expected to last for 28 minutes and 36 seconds."
Hearing the other party's answer, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems that although these bugs are numerous in number, they are not advanced alien species and are not a threat.
"Zi..."
At this time, the office door was opened, and Su Changqing hurried in.
"Star Lord, we heard the alarm. Star Rank told us that the shield was attacked. How is the situation?"
Zhang Xiaoman looked back at him, then pointed at the projection in front of him and said:
"Don't worry, these guys are just here to kill someone, that's all."
Following his movements, Su Changqing looked at the projection.
In the swarm of insects, tens of thousands of vines suddenly burst out of the ground and strangled the monsters.
The tense situation on the field was immediately relieved.
The group of bugs could no longer be distracted from attacking the shield, and instead fought with the vines.
"This...is this the defense force of our base...?"
Su Changqing was shocked by the scene in front of him. He didn't expect that the so-called crisis could be resolved so easily.
Among the terrifying monsters that came overwhelmingly, the smallest one was larger than an adult buffalo.
If we were to encounter this kind of attack somewhere else, it would definitely be a devastating disaster.
But now, those ferocious bugs are like chickens, being killed and overwhelmed by the larger number of vines.
This made Su Changqing deeply feel the terror of the organization's strength.
"Okay, go and appease the others and show them this video. I'll go to the scene to see the specific situation."
Zhang Xiaoman said something to Su Changqing, and then activated the teleportation to the Shuguang.
He placed a Covenant beacon inside, so he could use infinite teleportation directly.
A moment later, the huge Dawn appeared at the edge of the shield, where a fierce battle was taking place below.
The number of vines is about two to three times that of bugs, and they attack them indiscriminately from all directions.
Although it was a must-win situation, the battle still lasted for a while. The bugs were not made of paper and were still resisting to some extent.
Zhang Xiaoman let the Shuguang descend a certain distance, intending to observe these bugs up close.
He could see through the psychic perception that when these guys attacked, they seemed to be using actions such as biting.
But it also contains some additional damage from dark energy. It's no wonder why the shield's durability drops so quickly.
"Desolate insects... are a troublesome species... I didn't expect them to reproduce so fast. I don't know how many such monsters are now filling the islands outside."
Zhang Xiaoman's mood did not become better because of the upcoming victory.
On the contrary, when he thought about the size and reproduction speed of these bugs, his heart began to feel heavy.
The scene he saw before him couldn't help but remind him of a certain race in a game he once played.
If these bugs were the same as them, the threat they would pose would be far more than that.
"It seems that I have been busy with things recently. I have to find the source of these guys as soon as possible. Otherwise, if this continues, the entire Rebirth Island will be destroyed by them."
Zhang Xiaoman's eyes were fixed on the battle scene below, and he already had a plan in mind.
…
On the other side, located northwest of Rebirth Island, is the landing base of the US Seventh Fleet.
This place is already a dilapidated scene, with buildings, aircraft, radars, etc. all damaged.
The severed limbs of insects and green blood can be seen everywhere on the ground, but human corpses are missing.
"boom!"
There was an explosion, it was a burning helicopter that had burned its fuel tank.
Flames rose in the ruins of the base, and dozens of black figures heard the noise and ran out from hidden corners.
"Hiss, hiss..."
They circled around the helicopter a few times, wanting to get closer, but they were a little afraid of the flames there. After hesitating for a while, they turned and left.
At this time, in a collapsed house not far from the helicopter, a middle-aged white man wearing a Seventh Fleet uniform was leaning against the wall with sweat on his face.
When he heard the sound of the insects leaving, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, and then his body, which had been afraid to move, relaxed slightly.
This man is Cando Garcia, the captain of the sea lion reconnaissance team.
Previously, during their exploration mission, they unexpectedly encountered a mysterious shield.
Just when they finished reporting their work and planned to launch an in-depth investigation of the shield, they suddenly discovered that a chaotic magnetic field was growing within the area where they were.
This magnetic field is the same as the one outside the mysterious island and can paralyze all electronic equipment and precision instruments.
For safety reasons, the commander of the Sea Lion Scout Team, John, gave the order to retreat.
The group of people took advantage of the late night and returned to the Seventh Fleet base along the original road non-stop.
On the way, they also encountered a paralyzed helicopter that crashed, and were attacked by a swarm of bugs there.
They won that battle, but this was also the beginning of a nightmare.
Kandor clearly remembered that his commander John was once bitten through the thigh by the bug that sprayed venom.
Later, John returned to the base and has been ill ever since.
The doctors looked at him several times but never found the cause. Due to limited medical conditions, they could only decide to let him return with the ship ten days later.
However, what happened next was far beyond everyone's expectations.
John died, just three days after falling ill.
The most important thing is that he did not die of illness!
When the doctor opened the door to his ward in the morning, what he saw was his disemboweled body.
Kandor was there, and he will never forget the scene.
There was a big hole in John's stomach, the internal organs inside were missing, and the ward was full of blood.
This incident immediately attracted great attention from the base.
Because such a wound is obviously abnormal.
However, after everyone checked for a while, they were unable to find any effective clues. The base was newly built, and surveillance cameras had not yet been installed in the ward.
The cause of John's death has become a mystery. The wound that caused such a wound seemed like someone planted explosives in his stomach.
However, this assumption is a bit absurd. No one has time to sit down for such a thing, unless John had planted the explosive before coming here.
In the end, after many investigations, the base denied this possibility.
Because even if the explosive exploded, there would still be residue, but John's stomach was empty.
Originally, Kandor thought that the matter was over, but later, when the base's analysts asked several times about the details of their recent encounters, they gave a surprising answer.
John, it's very possible that he's been parasitized by bugs!
