The agent felt a sharp pain in his neck and instinctively slapped at it.
This slap, however, led to disaster.
Upon death, this type of insect released a colorless and odorless gas. Once inhaled, the gas caused severe hallucinations.
After inhaling the hallucinogenic gas, the agent quickly began to hallucinate.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Chen Long, while searching for an exit, saw the agent standing not far away, frozen as if under a spell. He didn't react no matter how Chen Long called out, causing Chen Long to frown.
Just as he was about to step forward to check, before he could get close, he saw the agent's body convulse violently. The agent then suddenly turned, drew the pistol from his waist, and fired three shots at Chen Long.
Fortunately, Chen Long was quick and dodged the incoming bullets.
However, this was a confined tomb. The bullets, upon hitting the walls, ricocheted, punching a hole in a jar in the corner.
"Not good!"
The jar was broken, and more insects scurried out.
But this was not the main issue. The real problem was the hallucinating agent still firing wildly, which was the most troublesome part.
Their suits were sealed. Even if these insects crawled out, as long as they didn't inhale the hallucinogenic gas, they would be fine. But if they let the hallucinating agent continue his rampage, no one could guarantee they wouldn't shoot themselves.
Even if the injury wasn't fatal, the insects or the hallucinogenic gas could enter through the breach and be absorbed by the body.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and the hallucinating agent fell to the ground, a bullet hole clearly visible on his forehead. The one who fired the shot was none other than Hill.
For a seasoned agent, maintaining composure under any circumstance was paramount.
In the current situation, if the mad agent wasn't shot dead, he might survive once the hallucinatory effects wore off. But during that time, everyone else would be at immense risk.
Even if their suits were scratched slightly, these insects would find their way in. In that case, the mummified corpses in the tomb would be their fate.
Sacrificing one to save many was a profitable deal, no matter how you looked at it.
After the agent fell, Hill didn't forget to step forward and fire several more shots into his head, ensuring he was completely dead before sighing with relief.
However, the crisis had barely subsided before a new one emerged.
Chen Long stepped forward and grabbed Hill, saying, "I've deciphered the text on the walls and discovered something incredible."
"Incredible?" Hill frowned and asked, "What is it? Tell me quickly."
Chen Long pointed to the murals on the wall and said, "These depict a type of carnivorous insect with extremely aggressive tendencies."
"Insects? Are you kidding me? Where are the insects here?"
As soon as Hill finished speaking, a crisp cracking sound was heard.
Instantly, everyone present fell silent, their gazes snapping in the direction of the sound.
The sound came from the strangely shaped mummified corpses. Their chests and abdomens rippled as if something was about to break free.
If not for the recent incident, with Hill's usual caution, she would have surely used a knife to cut open the corpses' bellies to investigate. She would have then discovered that the corpses were hollow inside, filled instead with fist-sized insect eggs.
These eggs were normally very stable without external stimuli. However, they were highly sensitive to the hallucinogenic gas emitted by the insects in the jars. Once they detected it, they would hatch in swarms and attack any living thing within sight.
After killing their prey, they would consume its flesh and blood, parasitize new eggs within the empty shells, and await the next cycle.
The jar insects and the carnivorous insects were the greatest threats to tomb raiders in this chamber.
Although the hallucinogenic gas from the jar insects couldn't kill them 100%, it stimulated the carnivorous insects within the corpses. Once everyone inhaled the hallucinogenic gas and fell into a hallucination, these carnivorous insects would devour all the tomb raiders until they were hollow shells.
The combination of the two was an almost certain death trap.
Hill was about to open fire on the palm-sized, beetle-like carnivorous insects on the ground when Chen Long stopped her.
"We can't fire guns in this confined space. Otherwise, ricochets might tear our suits, and that would be disastrous."
With that, he took out a small bottle, opened it, and flicked its contents forward.
A miraculous sight occurred.
Although the bottle appeared empty, with a mere flick, the beetles that had been aggressively advancing moments before suddenly stopped in their tracks, with some even scattering to the sides.
Witnessing this strange phenomenon and looking at the bottle in Chen Long's hand, Hill couldn't help but ask curiously, "What is that?"
"This bottle contains insect repellent. It can temporarily deter insects, but only temporarily. If we can't find an exit soon, we'll still be devoured."
Under the effect of the insect repellent, these beetles indeed did not attack the humans. However, stimulated by the hallucinogenic gas, they ferociously attacked the jar insects that released the gas.
As more and more jar insects were killed by the beetles, more hallucinogenic gas permeated the tomb.
Originally, there were only a few corpses in the tomb. Even if they were all filled with insect eggs and hatched, the number of beetles that emerged wouldn't be overwhelming. If the hallucinogenic gas wasn't a factor, with Chen Long's current combat strength, clearing all the beetles would only be a matter of time.
But as the gas increased, a greater crisis loomed.
The surface of the tomb walls began to peel away, revealing countless tightly packed, dense black insect eggs.
The sheer number of eggs filled three walls completely. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the entire tomb was composed of insect eggs.
Stimulated by the gas, these eggs began to shake. With crunching sounds, palm-sized beetles broke free from them.
In less than five minutes, the ground of the entire tomb was covered with these insects, densely packed, one next to another, leaving only a small clearing for Chen Long and his companions.
"Mr. Chen, I hope you can quickly come up with a solution, or we'll all become insect food."
As she spoke, Hill and the other agents used their knives to clear the surrounding insects.
However, in the face of such an enormous number, their actions were like a drop in the bucket, only slightly slowing the swarm's advance, achieving nothing more.
Of course, fire could also be an effective way to drive away insects, but it was not an option now.
In this relatively confined space, already filled with hallucinogenic gas, no one could guarantee the stability of the gas. A spark could ignite it, leading to an explosion.
They might not be bitten to death, but they could blow themselves up.
These insects were not magical creatures, and their elder had no solution. Everything now depended solely on Chen Long, who was experienced in descending into tombs.