Chapter 11 (2/2)

Lucia smiled in embarrassment.

Nicole fiddled with the body cam on her shoulder and looked at Qin Hao with more resentment.

“What the hell is an army cook doing here?” Nicole frowned. She was a lieutenant, and apparently, she had the authority to question Qin Hao’s identity as well as his performance on the battlefield.

“The entire company went out to provide coordinates for the bombers, and it turned out…” Qin Hao did not pause. By then, Nicole had learned of what happened from his body cam. With the exception of Qin Hao, the entire 2nd Company had been wiped out.

Nicole sighed. She still saw Qin Hao as a burden, but discovering the death of their comrades in the entire company saddened her. So, she could not bring herself to leave Qin Hao behind.

“We can’t stay here. Those bugs are going to find us. We need to leave now!” Nicole said after some thought.

Qin Hao nodded in agreement. He had some combat experience, but this young woman was a special forces soldier. He thought it better to respect her.

Meanwhile, Lucia was only a medic, and she had no opinions on the matter.

The three of them left the cave where they had been hiding and entered the dense tropical forest.

Insectoids were the rulers of this planet, but they did not possess so-called modern technology. Therefore, the planet’s environment was perfectly preserved. The forest near the shore was as dense as it could get, and this provided a perfect cover for the three of them.

Nicole led the way while Qin Hao and Lucia followed her closely behind. Maneuvering through the thick forest was not easy. Lucky for Lucia, she was wearing a powered exoskeleton, so keeping up with Nicole’s pace was not much of a problem.

However, the same could not be said about Qin Hao. His exoskeleton had broken during the aerial bomb explosion. He could only rely on his physical strength to trudge through the dense vegetation of the forest now.

While they were moving, Qin Hao had a little chat with Lucia in a low voice. He learned how the two young women got there and how they found him.

Apparently, Lucia’s medical squadron was responsible for treating the wounded from the battle on Isis beach. Nicole was the pilot and escort of Lucia’s medical squadron. Unfortunately, they were shot down by a plasma worm, and they crashed near the corpse of the behemoth.

When their aircraft crashed, the behemoth along with other giant beetles in the vicinity had long been killed by the aerial bombing. As a result, when the two young women clambered out of the wreckage, there were no bugs around.

The two of them had planned on heading to the human bastion at High Ground Z3. However, the bugs had cut off the route, and they were forced to move around the bugs. It was during this detour that they found Qin Hao.

Lucia gave Qin Hao some first aid before they moved him into the cave. Then, the two of them went out to scout for a safe passage. They never thought that he would survive. Saving him was only for the sake of giving him a more proper burial.

Yet, Qin Hao got really lucky; he survived the aerial bombing.