Chapter 20 Catching a Firefly

"Capture Firefly alive..."

Mingmei was taken aback. Ruan Ruan's uncle had just advised her not to interfere and to stay put. Her Yan Hui uncle, on the other hand, had great confidence in her.

So much faith in her, to have him and Mu Chen capture Firefly alive, and a bug general at that?

"He's not really sending us to our deaths, is he?"

Mingmei asked jokingly.

"Probably not." Mu Chen shook his head and said, "According to Mr. Yan Hui's conjecture, this Firefly bug general isn't as powerful as we think."

"Not as powerful as we think? What does that mean? Is it injured?"

"Not that either." Mu Chen shook his head again, making Mingmei anxious.

"Then tell me quickly, stop being mysterious."

Seeing Mu Chen like this, Mingmei knew he knew something, but he wouldn't say it directly, trying to get her to guess.

"According to Mr. Yan Hui, the Firefly we know and the actual Firefly are two different kinds of Zerg."

"Two kinds of Zerg? Firefly has subspecies?"

"Not really. According to Mr. Yan Hui, they shouldn't be true Fireflies."

"What?!" Mingmei was stunned. "Not Fireflies? Can something impersonate them?!"

"The mental entity we caught in the game world, which was supposed to be the Star Ember bug general, turned out not to be."

"You're saying this Firefly and that Star Ember bug general are both imposters?"

Seeing Mu Chen nod, Mingmei found it even more unbelievable.

"The Zerg have this kind of thing?" Mingmei couldn't believe it. "I'd believe there are bugs that can mimic other Zerg's forms, but they can't imitate their abilities perfectly, right?"

Mingmei had briefly fought the bug general.

Its strength wasn't as weak as she imagined, even more powerful than the advanced Firefly she and Lu Gui had initially hunted together.

That meant this bug general wasn't just bluffing. A fake couldn't be so convincing, could it?

"Yes, it would be terrifying if they could replicate Zerg abilities. But such Zerg do exist."

Mu Chen chuckled and said, "How do you think your second brother's Queen Bug on Hua Lan Star knew our news?"

"A Zerg must have been informing them."

"It's so far away. Think about it, even your parents would take time to get there. Which Zerg is fast enough to catch up with your parents?"

The problem was obvious.

"Besides, they seem to know the news here without any time difference."

"Do they go online too?"

Mu Chen: ...

"Well, if they went online, wouldn't they be controlled by the mainframe?"

Mu Chen thought it was good to make Mingmei use her brain more.

"We can refer to how the alien Hai Feng Li built their internal network."

"So, after all that, you're saying the Queen Bug has a strong mental power and has woven a Zerg-like network for internal communication?"

Mingmei found the idea hard to believe.

"How strong is the Queen Bug's mental power?"

"The Queen Bug's mental power is strong, but the mental power of the Zerg connected to her network is also significant."

"So, you're saying these bugs are also Queen Bugs, the same species as the Queen Bug?"

Seeing Mu Chen nod, Mingmei patted his shoulder and said angrily, "What are you doing? You have time to make me guess?!"

"No, I'm just trying to lighten your mood. Besides, capturing this 'Firefly bug general' isn't something we can do right away."

Mentioning what Yan Hui asked them to do, Mingmei frowned, "My uncle told you all this, but why didn't he tell me?"

"He did try to." Mu Chen smiled. "Mr. Yan Hui told me he tried to video call you, but you were on another call."

Mingmei felt a little embarrassed.

Ruan Ruan's uncle had beat Yan Hui's uncle to it and told her first.

And, clearly, Ruan Xun didn't want his niece to take risks.

"Who knows about Yan Hui uncle asking us to do this besides Ruan Ruan uncle?"

Mu Chen pursed his lips, looking serious, but his eyes were as amused as Mingmei's. "Probably what Mr. Yan Hui said, get chased and beaten by your mom and dad afterward, and then he'll secretly hide."

They had been preoccupied with the seriousness of the war, but just thinking about it made them laugh.

"Um... cough." Clearing his throat, Mu Chen became serious. "The most important thing now is to contact General Hu. We can't decide on our own. We can't afford to rush in, only to have the commander-in-chief yell at us to come back."

But as they were contacting Hu Mingli, he contacted them too.

When he immediately ordered them to take his command, Mingmei and Mu Chen knew Yan Hui must have already informed Hu Mingli.

Her uncle was really a busybody!

"I'll tell your commander to arrange for you to work with me. How can we trust you two to capture the Firefly bug general alone? I'll send people to assist you."

"Who are you sending?"

Mingmei asked curiously.

"Doren and Ruian."

Hearing that, Mingmei suddenly remembered the gossip she had heard from the seniors—"Are you sure Secretary Ruian and Vice General Doren can capture it alive instead of just killing the bug general?"

Mingmei's repeated confirmation made Hu Mingli confused. "What do you mean? Don't you trust their strength?"

"No, it's just that swords have no eyes on the battlefield. We know Vice General Doren's strength. He's fast, accurate, and ruthless. Is it a good idea to have him hold back against the Firefly bug general?"

"Yeah, it's much easier to kill it with all our strength than to capture it alive... Then tell me, why do you want to capture it alive?"

Clearly, her uncle had only told Hu Mingli to do it without explaining.

One person dared to order, and the other dared to take the job, with a secret agenda to kill it.

"I'm not just working for you," Hu Mingli continued when Mingmei didn't speak. "I have so many people to be responsible for. What if capturing the Firefly bug general causes unnecessary deaths and sacrifices?

"You have to know, capturing a Zerg is much harder than killing one. So, what does your uncle want to do with this Zerg?"

"Experiment." Mingmei suddenly had an idea. "Where did my uncle come from? You should know, right? He has his reasons for capturing the Firefly bug general. If he researches something, it will bring many benefits in the future!"

"That's true." Hu Mingli nodded in agreement, acknowledging the statement. But he asked another question.

"What kind of experiment is it?"

Who knew Hu Mingli would get to the bottom of it?

Mingmei was stumped again.

Mu Chen was brainstorming next to her, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse, but Mingmei was more direct: "I didn't study much. I don't know."

Hu Mingli: ?????