125: Chapter 125 Inhibitor Development, Responding to the Crisis

The cheers in the tunnel were still echoing, and gravel fell rustlingly from the ceiling, like confetti in celebration.

Chen Wuwang stood before the holographic projection in the main control room, not turning back.

He rested his right hand on the console, his fingertips tapping gently—one, two—with a rhythm as steady as a heartbeat.

The signal for the earth dragon to resume excavation had already been sent down, and in the distance, the muffled sound of mecha treads crushing broken rocks could be heard, the humming of the power compartment growing stronger—that was his clansmen pushing forward with the work.

But his brows remained furrowed.

On the projection, three groups of red dots were slowly approaching the perimeter of the mining area.

It was not a large-scale insect tide, but scattered units—three dots, five dots, seven dots...

Distributed in a fan-shaped area from the southeast to the northwest, their dwell time was getting longer and longer, and their trajectories were chaotic yet followed a discernible pattern.

"This is the seventh time," he said in a low voice. The voice was not loud, yet it made the entire main control room go quiet.

Several clansmen from the research team who were debugging data terminals stopped what they were doing and looked up at him.

"Over the past seven days, the frequency of insectoid scout unit appearances has increased fourfold."

He swiped his finger, and the screen switched to a heat map, with the southeast direction a mass of scarlet. "Especially around midnight, the infrared frequency band has captured abnormally active compound eye sensory waves."

He paused, his tone remaining calm: "They are looking for us."

No one answered. The memory of the last insectoid massacre of the village still weighed on everyone's hearts. Even though they now had mechas and a Formation shield, the chill of being watched by countless compound eyes still made their spines stiffen.

"The traditional concealment Formation has failed." He pulled up yesterday's monitoring records, where a waveform curve fluctuated violently. "It's not that the strength is insufficient, it's that they have changed the way they lock onto targets—by relying on biological field resonance."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone present: "Therefore, we cannot hide; we must sever it."

"Sever what?"

"Their sensory chain." He walked to the central console and pressed the start button. A translucent light screen rose, displaying three group instructions:

[Materials Collection Team]: Immediately head to the waste area on the west side of the Medicinal Field, extract the root powder of the "Soul-Severing Grass" left over from last night's weathering, and mix it with trace amounts of Gold-Eating Insect gland crystals from the slag in a three-to-one ratio.

[Molecular Modeling Team]: Connect to the spiritual energy computing array and run the "Neural Interference Simulation Program." The goal is to simulate the resonance frequency range of the insectoid sensory glands and generate an inverse interference waveform.

[Spray Carrier Team]: Modify the injection module of the ventilation System, turn the interference agent into an aerosol form, and ensure the diffusion radius covers a three-li range of the mining area.

"All three teams advance simultaneously; samples must be produced within six hours." After finishing, he took off his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye from his left eye and placed it on the table. "I will supervise the work myself."

No one questioned him. The clansmen moved immediately, their footsteps quick but orderly.

The three members of the Materials team grabbed their toolkits and headed for the exit; the two members of the modeling team quickly connected data cables, their fingertips dancing on the virtual keyboards; the carrier team began disassembling the ventilation duct interfaces, laying out wrenches, welding torches, and sealing strips one by one.

Chen Wuwang put his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye back on, his vision switching to spectrum analysis mode.

He stared at the red dots on the projection, whispering to himself: "You rely on sensory fields to locate us, so I will turn this place into a Hell of noise."

Two hours later.

The laboratory alarm suddenly sounded.

"Bang!"

A muffled sound came from the modeling area. A puff of white smoke erupted from inside the protective shield, and two clansmen were knocked to the ground, coughing so hard they couldn't straighten their backs.

"The fourth formula blew up!" someone shouted. "Not only did it not interfere, it actually attracted two Worker Ants! They are circling just ten zhang outside the ventilation opening!"

Chen Wuwang stepped inside in one stride and waved his hand to disperse the smoke. He crouched down, picked up a piece of residual gel fragment, and brought it close to his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye to scan it.

"The molecular structure is wrong." He stood up, his voice steady. "We have been trying to 'mask' the signal, but the insectoid sensory System is a collective linkage; single-point shielding is useless—it will treat the shielding itself as an anomaly source."

He looked around at everyone: "Change the approach. It's not about making it unable to see us, it's about making it unable to see itself clearly."

"What do you mean?"

"Create chaos." He walked to the main console and pulled up a scan of an insectoid scout corpse captured years ago, enlarging the head structure. "They rely on sensory gland resonance to communicate, so we will emit a reverse resonance wave—not to block, but to superimpose—making their neural Systems fight themselves."

Someone frowned: "Equivalent to... playing noise in their brains?"

"Correct." The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "And it's a hit song for square dancing on a 24-hour loop."

After a brief silence, someone couldn't help but laugh out loud. A crack appeared in the tense atmosphere.

"Adjust the model immediately," he ordered. "Switch to using nano-scale slow-release microcapsules to encapsulate the interferon, and dope the outer shell with spiritual energy catalytic particles to ensure it can continue to release for over thirty cycles after entering the air."

This time, no one asked again.

The three teams threw themselves back into their work.

The modeling team rewrote the algorithm, the Materials team changed the mixing ratio, and the carrier team redesigned the nozzle aperture.

Chen Wuwang did not remain idle. He personally participated in the encapsulation testing, mixing seven different concentrations of samples on the console in succession and injecting them into the simulation chamber one by one.

The first, ineffective.

The second, caused slight spasms, but the insectoid unit was still able to move.

The third, finally effective—in the monitoring screen, a low-level Worker Ant crawled into the test area. As soon as it approached the edge of the spray, its antennae suddenly trembled, and then it started spinning in place, walking three steps and then retreating back to the original spot, as if it had lost its way.

"It's done," he said softly.

"Try it again," someone added.

For the eighth test, they increased the dosage and simultaneously added trace amounts of oscillation particles to enhance the penetration of the interference wave.

The results were even more obvious. After the two Worker Ants entered the area, their antennae twitched violently, their compound eyes flickered, and after struggling for half a quarter of an hour, they actually started colliding with each other, finally fleeing in panic.

"Interference successful." The leader of the modeling team wiped off some sweat. "The duration exceeded the estimate, reaching thirty-seven minutes."

"Mass produce it," Chen Wuwang ordered immediately. "Deploy it preferentially at the ventilation openings around the mining area, the tunnel entrances, and the Earth vein detection stations."

The clansmen acted quickly. A dozen small spray devices were assembled, mounted on pulley brackets, and pushed along the predetermined routes to various nodes.

He stood in the main control room, watching the green light dots on the holographic map light up one by one, like a circle of silent sentries.

"Activate the suppression System," he said, pressing the master control button.

In an instant, the invisible aerosol dispersed with the wind, blending into the air, silently weaving a net.

On the projection, those few groups of red dots began to waver.

The originally regular movement trajectories became chaotic; some stagnated, some wandered in place, and some units even began to retreat in the opposite direction.

"It's effective," someone said in a low voice, their tone filled with incredulous excitement.

Chen Wuwang did not smile. He stared at the screen until the last group of red dots exited the three-li perimeter, and only then did he slowly exhale.

"It is not the end," he said. "This only makes them temporarily blind. Once they adapt, they will return."

"Then what do we do?"

"We will not wait." He turned around and picked up a new report. "Once the earth dragon penetrates eighty zhang deep, I will make them completely forget that there was ever a target here."

He walked to the window and looked toward the distant tunnel entrance. The wind blew up from underground, carrying the scent of rock and metal.

The clansmen were still busy, moving equipment, calibrating parameters, and discussing the next step in a low voice.

He raised his hand and looked at the countdown on his wristwatch.

There were two hours left until the next wave of deep excavation.

The inhibitor had been deployed, and the defensive line had been established.

And now, it was their turn to take the initiative.