"This material is precious. C2-A144, the push-pull three-core totem, the telepathic Activity wave, and a whole heap of other material besides—it's greatly enriched my store of research."

"Perhaps I ought to trade away the Activity light-wave material, to help Han Shoucheng and the rest add to their defenses while wiping out the Bug Warriors. The Eastern Theater Command will crack the secret of the Mushroom weapons sooner or later... No. They're only dealing with one-core and two-core Bug Warriors, while I go up against the three-core and four-core ones."

"On a battlefield with no pressure on them, they might very well turn on me from behind, scheme after my iron core!"

"Can't be too careful!"

"The secret of the Activity light-wave is one of my trump cards for the near term!"

"My deposit at the Eastern Theater Command is more than enough to cover the cost of the material."

His thinking settled, Shen Cong buried himself in research.

In a blink, three days passed.

Under Han Shoucheng's command, the temporarily assembled pest-killing force sallied all over the Ji-Mou-Dai region, getting a clear picture of the Bug Warriors' basic situation.

After Xu Yun had been ambushed by Shen Cong, his fate unknown, a good number of Bug Warriors had fled back home; the four-core Bug Warriors garrisoning the Bug Warrior Republic, Zhang Xiao and Wang Shuang, had not come to Xu Yun's rescue.

On the contrary, even as they shored up the Bug Kingdom, they'd begun to fight amongst themselves.

Zhang Xiao and Wang Shuang each proclaimed himself Grand President, each leading a batch of Bug Warriors, squaring off at the Mushroom City in Culai Town. But they also knew to preserve their fighting strength, and rather than come to serious blows, they adopted the method of a martial contest. Zhang Xiao and Wang Shuang planned to send their subordinates to compete first, and finally the two of them would compete last.

Whoever won would be the Bug Kingdom's new Grand President.

Grandly styled—an "election."

On learning the news of Xu Yun's mishap, Feicheng City's Mayor Liang Weilong and the Dawenkou…