When a crimson fire dragon appeared in the sky, people on the ground looked up, for they saw hope.
After appearing in the sky, the fire dragon continuously attacked the cicadas, and the fire dragon was naturally controlled by Ke Yiming. Originally, he couldn't fly into the sky, but this year he happened to see a video of Xiao Sheng's battle, as Xiao Sheng was reported as a hero.
After seeing this scene, Ke Yiming understood that at this moment, he was also an esper who could control flames. If he could make the other party fly into the sky, then he should be able to do the same. Thinking of this, he immediately began to experiment and finally succeeded in using flame propulsion to fly into the sky.
Ke Yiming discovered that although he could fly freely in the sky, it was an act that consumed a lot of physical strength and could not be used for a long time.
However, now, Jinling City was filled with cicadas. These cicadas not only attacked human brains but also human hearts. Once the human heart was damaged, it would immediately cause death. Therefore, in this situation, he could not save his strength. He could fly into the sky and use his abilities to burn all these damned insects to death.
Ke Yiming's strength had also been revealed. He was now a sixth-tier esper. Although he was not yet a seventh-tier esper, it was mainly because he did not have evolution crystals, so he could not evolve further.
If he could obtain an evolution crystal, he would have evolved into a seventh-tier esper by now.
Ke Yiming flew continuously in the sky and soon burned all the flying insects in the sky into ashes. Flames were naturally a very strong weapon against insects. No insect could resist flames, especially cicadas. As long as they were attacked with scorching flames and smoke, these cicadas would immediately be burned or smoked to death.
After the black dragon in the sky disappeared, people in the city erupted in cheers because they had witnessed the astonishing scene. The insects in the sky had been eliminated, which meant they were safe and could walk on the streets with peace of mind.
However, some cautious people did not remove their helmets, as they could still hear the piercing chirping sounds, which were the鸣啸 (míng xiào - chirping) sounds made by the cicadas.
In many southern regions, cicadas are distributed, and their numbers are even greater than in the north. Even in cities, one can often hear the chirping of cicadas. Usually, once the chirping of cicadas begins, it will continue for the entire day, making it impossible for people to sleep.
For cicadas, even though these insects had mutated, many of their habits had not changed, which was to continuously make chirping sounds. These chirping sounds were very piercing. We only needed to follow the direction from which these sounds came to quickly find these insects.
Once the soldiers found these cicadas, they would immediately capture them and send them to laboratories for experiments to see which pesticides these insects reacted to.
Human methods for dealing with insects were basically through chemical and mechanical means. If people were to capture insects manually, the efficiency would be too slow. Spraying pesticides was faster, whether it was insects flying in the sky or burrowing in the ground. As long as they encountered pesticides, they would quickly die, and the efficiency could be greatly increased.
Seeing that the crisis in the city was temporarily resolved, Gong Changfa said, "I plan to continue south to Meizhou. It would be best to get Wang Aoye's help. I heard that he also has dozens of espers under him, who can surely help."
Yun Laizhe heard this and shook his head helplessly, then said, "I don't think it will be of any use for you to seek his help because I know his current situation. His forces in Southeast Asia have been attacked because many mutated katydids appeared in Southeast Asia, and they were very cruel when attacking humans. Many of his bases have been destroyed, so he is unable to help you now as he is preoccupied with his own affairs."
"We still need to try. Perhaps he suddenly lacks food and can trade with me!" Gong Changfa said seriously.
However, just as Gong Changfa was heading south, a shocking piece of news came from the north: the north had already fallen into chaos. Countless locusts had emerged from the ground and were flying everywhere. These locusts flying in the sky would attack humans or animals whenever they saw them.
Upon discovering this situation, He Qiuan gritted his teeth and made a decision: "Set up defenses in the Yanshan area. We must not let these locusts go to the Northeast."
The North China region had already become the lair of locusts. Countless locusts nested here. These locust nests appeared one after another on the ground, and insects often flew out of them. Once the number of these insects exceeded a critical point, the vegetation on the ground completely disappeared because they had all been eaten by the locusts. Without plants as food, the locusts turned their attention to humans.
He Qiuan's biggest worry was one thing: if the locusts broke through the defenses and went to the Northeast, his basic foundation would be completely ruined. Bingcheng, as the largest force in the north, was recognized by everyone because its strong food production capacity attracted countless people to defect.
Therefore, once the food production capacity was hit, it would be a huge disaster for everyone. Bingcheng would not be able to retain people, and people would flee from the Northeast and North China. This was what He Qiuan least wanted to see.
Upon learning of this, Gong Changfa immediately rushed back to the north. He no longer had time to linger in the south. Now that the north had fallen into chaos and locusts were flying everywhere, he could only return to the north to resist the locust attacks. As for Wang Aoye in Meizhou, he had already made it clear that he was unable to help others.
Many people in the civilian sector smelled something different through this event. Many people discovered abnormalities at this time, realizing that a new round of turmoil seemed to have swept across the globe. Countless forces were facing the threat of mutated insects. This situation occurred in all directions, north, south, east, and west, and even in other continents.
In Europe, there appeared a giant bee. These bees generally lived by collecting nectar, but after mutation, they actually fed on human blood. If they encountered resistance, these bees would also use their stingers to sting humans. These stingers contained a lot of venom. Once injected into the human body, ordinary people could not withstand the bee venom.
In North America, there appeared a large mantis, commonly known as a cockroach. These cockroaches could fly in the sky, and their reproductive capacity and survival ability were very strong. Even if half of their bodies were cut off, they could still live stubbornly for a period of time.
In South America, many ants appeared. These ants were very strong in building nests and also ate people.
In the rainforests of South America, there appeared a type of fire ant. The bite of these ants would quickly cause allergic reactions in humans, leading to death. They ate people without any mercy.
In recent times, almost all over the world, there have been large and small insects. These insects have all treated humans as food, and their evolution speed is not slow at all.
Smart people have already discovered this problem, so they all believe: "Humanity's doomsday has not ended, because now insects have also begun to mutate. These mutated insects possess strong mobility, and they are often gregarious. If they were to fight alone, they would pose no threat to humans. However, these insects are too detestable, acting in swarms, making them difficult to eliminate."
"We should hurry and find a place to escape. Only by running to a place without insects can we be safe."
"Then where do you think is safe? Where can we not see insects?"
"I think deserts are relatively safe, or the permafrost in Siberia is relatively safe, because these places are generally not suitable for insect growth each year. There are only a few months when crops can appear. If we hide in these places, we will always avoid being attacked."
"You are simply talking nonsense and shaking the morale of the army. If it were really possible to hide in these places, then someone would have gone there long ago. Let me ask you, whether it's in the desert or in the permafrost, what will we eat and wear? Can we grow crops in these places?"
People went mad discussing the crisis brought about by insects, pointing out the shortcomings of each other. In all places where humans could survive, insects were almost present. In places without insects, or with very few insects, these places were not suitable for human survival.
The reason was very simple: insects could be found in almost every corner of the world, whether in saline-alkali land or in vast deserts, insects were distributed. However, the places where humans could survive were far less than these insects. Perhaps if one went to a remote place, they would encounter countless insects.
In the northern regions of China, there was very little rainfall, and the north had been suffering from drought for years. As a result, locusts learned to overwinter, leading to the continuous expansion of their population. When the population of locusts reached a critical point, they began to attack humans.
As a whole, locusts do not have particularly high intelligence, so they act collectively. However, there are no insect kings or queens among locusts. These insects act on their own, eating whatever they can find. If there are leaves on the ground, they eat leaves. But when there are no leaves, they eat other insects or even humans.
Finally, human cities were facing attacks from locusts. When these locusts saw humans, they treated humans as food and began to feed on human bodies. Humans had many clothes as protection, but these clothes were also gnawed into shreds.
In the end, people could only hide in air-raid shelters or their homes, trembling and sighing as they watched the locusts outside the window. Finally, people in the cities could not stand it anymore and fled south. As for the cities in the north, they no longer wanted to stay.