Chapter 121 – Sentinel & Guide: Becoming Your Exclusive Guide – Bai Tang Gets His Little Butt Smacked (11)
Bai Tang used the “Shadow Shift” technique to deceive everyone, including Simona, who didn’t suspect a thing. She had full confidence in the venomous stinger on her tail—she believed that if Bai Tang wasn’t dead, he would at least be seriously injured.
What she didn’t know was that the very Bai Tang she held a grudge against was now hiding in the insect queen’s nest.
Bai Tang, a.k.a. Little Squirrel Bai, was quite comfortable. The insect nest wasn’t like typical bug lairs filled with green slime; its structure resembled a honeycomb, made up of small hexagonal cells. Bai Tang had burrowed into one of them and hollowed it out, with no concern about falling out or being discovered.
“Does Tang Tang have a plan?” Seeing Bai Tang venturing deep into enemy territory, the system had to be in sync with its host’s intentions right away.
“Let’s go take a look first.”
The plot didn’t specify how the male lead was injured and went missing, but one thing was certain—he had been taken back to the insect tribe’s main base. If Bai Tang could destroy the base in advance, the events that followed would never unfold.
“Qiu’er, what are bugs most afraid of?” Bai Tang communicated with the system using divine sense, worried that Simona might overhear.
He had used spiritual power to communicate before, but this felt different. He couldn’t quite describe how.
“Fire, of course. There’s no creature that isn’t afraid of fire,” the system replied.
Bai Tang thought for a moment about what was easiest to ignite. “Qiu’er, do you have any gasoline?”
The system searched through its storage. Surprisingly, it did—it had collected some in the apocalypse world. “Yes, yes, there’s some. We’ve got twenty large barrels. Tang Tang, are you planning to…”
“Mm-hmm. Let’s burn it all down.”
Receiving Bai Tang’s confirmation, the system felt an odd surge of excitement. It had once seen a type of bug in Chronicles of Another World that became delicious when roasted. Who knows, maybe the insect tribe had similar species?
The most dangerous place is often the safest. No one in the border city would have guessed that the insect tribe’s base wasn’t beyond the border, but right beneath the western city.
The western city and its neighboring city were both adjacent to the border city—one to the east, the other to the south. The western city was located on the eastern side of the border region.
Simona had led the insect queen back to their old lair, a cavern hundreds of meters underground. Bai Tang had originally planned to wait until Simona left before dousing the place with gasoline and setting it ablaze. But once he entered the insect tribe’s lair, he heard countless cries—human voices filled with agony.
Many humans were imprisoned here.
The current insect queen was already very old. The number of insects she could produce was decreasing day by day. The new queen had not yet matured and was still unable to reproduce. The old queen could only produce eggs by consuming humans to absorb nutrients.
This was also why the war between humans and the insect race was endless—the insects literally treated humans as food.
“If we set the fire now, those people won’t survive,” the system said after roughly estimating the number. “There are about 200 people here.”
Bai Tang froze. He shrank further into the hive, doing his best to avoid being discovered by the insects.
Simona had placed the insect hive in a spacious cavern. The immature queen needed a quiet environment to develop and grow. This actually worked to Bai Tang’s advantage—once Simona left, he immediately crawled out of the hive.
Although the inside of the hive was dry and clean, staying next to that round, bloated queen was still uncomfortable.
“What should we do now, Qiu’er? How can we get them out?”
There were too many hostages in the insect base, and Bai Tang was all alone—he couldn’t save them by himself.
“Let’s call for reinforcements. I’ll send the male lead a location pin,” the system suggested.
Bai Tang felt deeply conflicted. He had come here to avoid getting Herslet involved, but in the end, he still couldn’t avoid him?
“Tang Tang, you have to understand—since the male lead is the child of fate in this world, the main storyline can’t progress without him.”
So, no matter how much Bai Tang did for him, it could only play a supporting role. He couldn’t take the male lead’s place.
“…Alright.” Bai Tang was a little disheartened. “I’ll contact Herslet.”
With over 200 lives at stake, Bai Tang couldn’t justify sacrificing others just to keep Herslet from danger.
The male lead wouldn’t die—at most, he’d be injured. Bai Tang had already made up his mind: if it really came to the explosive climax of the original plot, he would activate a shield and stand in front of Herslet.
The spiritual-form squirrel followed the system’s instructions and dashed aboveground, heading straight toward the border city.
On the road, military vehicles carrying sentinels sped by like the wind. In the back seat of the lead vehicle, Herslet sat with his eyes closed, concentrating on sensing Bai Tang’s mental energy fluctuations.
“Squeak squeak squeak—”
A faint squirrel cry flashed by. With a howl, the white wolf leapt out through the window of the speeding vehicle.
“Squeak squeak squeak, squeak squeak squeak—”
The little squirrel relayed the details of the insect tribe’s base to the white wolf.
Herslet gently scooped up the squirrel and listened closely. The white wolf anxiously paced in circles on the ground, clearly wanting to hold the squirrel too—Gimme, gimme~
“Squeak squeak squeak, squeak squeak squeak—”
“Three hundred meters underground, there’s an insect tunnel. Two hundred hostages inside. The insect queen is on the right side of the riverbank…”
Herslet’s tender expression disappeared. He turned to the other sentinels and ordered, “To West City. Move out.”
Back in the vehicle, the white wolf squeezed its head against Herslet’s elbow, sniffing eagerly at the squirrel with its wet nose.
But just a few sniffs in, its master mercilessly pushed it away.
“!!!” What the heck?! You said the squirrel was mine! Liar! You’re hogging everything, big and small!
Herslet gently stroked the fur on the squirrel’s back, one stroke at a time.
He was sure the one entangled by the giant snake last night was Tang Tang. So how did he suddenly turn into a spiritual body? What method had Tang Tang used to fool everyone?
There were too many unanswered questions—only Tang Tang himself could explain. Herslet lowered his gaze to the little squirrel playing with a pine nut in his arms. His eyes softened unconsciously.
The spiritual form looked exactly like the squirrel version of Tang Tang… He wondered if the touch was just as soft?
With the little squirrel leading the way, they quickly arrived in West City, right at the entrance to the insect tribe’s underground lair.
The entrance was near the West City river, camouflaged by dense greenery. If you weren’t paying close attention, you’d never suspect it was even there.
Pushing aside the vines, they revealed a pitch-black cave entrance that seemed to descend endlessly. Tracks in the dirt outside showed where insects had recently passed through.
“Herslet, are you sure this is the insect tribe’s main base?”
A burly man stared at the hole and swallowed hard. Just as he summoned his spiritual body to investigate, Herslet stopped him.
“Don’t alert the enemy. There are hostages inside.”
Herslet quickly formed a plan in his mind. He ordered everyone to stay in position and, after setting up the perimeter outside, jumped into the cave himself.
The cave was deep. As he descended, he felt the soil beneath him change from dry to damp, carrying the distinct stench of insects.
There were many tunnels inside the cave, and one could easily get lost. But with the system guiding him, Bai Tang moved through the insect tribe’s lair with ease.
“The male lead is inside—alone,” the system reported.
Bai Tang was startled. “Where is he?”
“In the third tunnel on the left, past this path,” the system replied, checking the red dot on the map. “There are dozens of blue dots nearby. Don’t go over yet, Tang Tang—too many bugs.”
While Bai Tang was wandering through the tunnels, Herslet was navigating his way in the same direction, guided by the little squirrel.
Unfortunately, luck was not on his side—he was discovered by the insects before he could find Bai Tang.
“Well, well, look who it is. Not bad—you actually managed to find this place,” one of the bugs sneered.
After capturing Herslet, the insects reported to Simona.
“Always the same—you never show warmth to anyone. I really love that cold expression of yours,” Simona said as she caressed Herslet’s face, which he turned away to avoid.
“Am I not beautiful? How am I inferior to Bai Tang? You never even liked him before…” Simona was enraged by Herslet’s rejection and ordered the insects to guard him tightly and bite him relentlessly.
“Enjoy the gift I’ve prepared for you,” she said before leaving to set up the invasion device for the border city.
The injured and unconscious Director hadn’t had the chance to inform Simona that the defense blueprint was fake, so she was rushing off to make the final arrangements without knowing.
Though the small insects gnawed at his flesh continuously, the man made no sound. Only his tightly furrowed brows betrayed his pain.
“Ah He.”
A clear, youthful voice called from above. Herslet looked up, but saw nothing.
“Over here.” The voice came from behind him this time.
As soon as the words fell, several vines climbed onto Herslet, swatting the flesh-eating insects off his body and burning them to ash with a burst of flame.
“Ah He, does it hurt?”
The young man shifted back from his squirrel form to human, cradling Herslet’s arm in distress. The flesh had been gnawed raw by insects.
He carefully placed his palm over the large wound. A gentle green light spread out, a warm current flowing through the body, making it impossible not to let out a soft sigh of relief.
“All better,” Bai Tang said cheerfully, patting the now fully healed arm. But the next second, he was pulled into a tight embrace, a coat quickly draped over his bare back.
“Ah He~”
Smack!
A crisp sound rang out as Bai Tang was lightly spanked by Herslet.
“How could you run off by yourself? Do you have any idea how dangerous this place is?” Herslet knew that Bai Tang was safe now, but until he’d seen him with his own eyes, his heart had been gripped with worry.
“It’s okay, I wasn’t scared~”
“But I was!”
Bai Tang swallowed the explanation he’d been about to give. Instead, he patted Herslet gently on the back. “I knew you’d come for me. Ah He will always find me.”
His words held absolute trust. Herslet looked into Bai Tang’s clear eyes—within those brown irises, he saw nothing but his own reflection.
Herslet smiled and pinched Bai Tang’s delicate nose. “You little troublemaker. Next time, you have to tell me first.”
“Mhm, I won’t do it again.” At least not in this world.
Bai Tang leaned into Herslet’s embrace. The cave was damp and cold, but nestled against Herslet’s warmth, he didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.
Herslet took off his shirt, tore off a piece to wrap around Bai Tang’s waist, covering his lower body. He draped his jacket over Bai Tang’s upper body, but unfortunately, there were no shoes. The boy’s pale, tender feet squirmed restlessly—soft, round, and irresistibly cute.