When Evelyn Ford heard the word "insects," her heart sank.

The insect plague had arrived.

She quickly composed herself, covered her head, and put on her goggles and gloves. Not a single patch of skin on her entire body was exposed.

"Ronan Kendrick, hurry and put on your goggles." Evelyn Ford pulled various items from her bag, making sure Ronan was also covered up securely.

She glanced at the people around her. Everyone was reacting fairly quickly. Evelyn pulled out a piece of cloth, walked over to Wendy, and wrapped her up directly.

The insects had already blotted out the sky to the right, a dense, impenetrable black mass.

"Cover your heads with your clothes! Don’t open your mouths, or you’ll swallow them! These things are bloodsuckers, and their bodies contain an addictive substance!"

Evelyn Ford shouted, and the people around her grabbed clothes and bedsheets to wrap around their heads.

Evelyn took out a roll of gauze and started cutting it into pieces to distribute.

"Wrap the gauze over your eyes." They needed to see where they were going, so their only options were gauze or silk scarves.

Just then, someone ran over and snatched the gauze from Evelyn’s hands. Others swarmed forward as well.

"Ronan, let’s go! Quincy, Wendy, Serena Lynch... hurry, keep up!" Evelyn shouted, seeing the chaos erupting in the group.

The insects were upon them now, buzzing all around. The sky overhead had turned completely black. Some people screamed in terror, while others came to blows fighting over pieces of cloth.

Ronan Kendrick tossed the bamboo basket onto the pushcart, stuffing Mina and Lola into a corner.

"Run to the left."

Ronan’s speed was incredible. Evelyn struggled to keep up behind him, and when the others saw them, they all gave chase.

The dense swarm of insects was like a tornado, and they were closing in fast. It was impossible to shake them.

Ronan grabbed Evelyn’s arm and swung her onto his back. The familiar scene gave Evelyn the strange sensation of being back at Broken Cloud Mountain when the fireballs fell.

The people behind them struggled to keep up because Ronan Kendrick was simply too fast.

Ronan ran into a large building and kicked open a door. After setting Evelyn down, he went back downstairs and carried the pushcart up.

"What about the others?"

"I’ll go find them. You stay here and make sure all the doors and windows are sealed." Ronan took two steps toward the exit, then suddenly turned back and patted Evelyn’s head.

"Don’t be afraid. I’ll be back soon."

Evelyn nodded. She trusted Ronan unconditionally.

After Ronan left, Evelyn checked the doors and windows. One window was broken. She quickly grabbed a piece of cloth and nailed it securely over the opening, making sure it was sealed tight so the insects absolutely couldn’t get in.

Evelyn pushed the cart into a corner. Lola and Mina were terrified, but thankfully, the two little ones had always been well-behaved and never ran off.

"It’s okay. We’re safe now."

Evelyn looked around the room. It seemed to have been a hotel before.

The sound of footsteps approached. Evelyn opened the door to find Officer Graham, Wendy, Roy Henderson, and Owen Chapman had arrived.

"Where are the others?"

"Ronan went to find them." As the group entered, Evelyn noticed they hadn’t brought any of their luggage.

A little while later, Quincy arrived, along with the family of three: Wyatt Vaughn, Miles Vaughn, and Serena Lynch.

Evelyn was worried about Ronan, and also about everyone’s luggage. Without food, all they could do here was wait to die.

Evelyn wrapped herself up securely, planning to go out and look for their things.

"Where’s your luggage?"

"We dropped it all on the way here," Quincy said, his face etched with worry. His legs were still trembling; he had run so fast that he hadn’t recovered yet.

"Cover your heads and hands and come with me. We have to go back for our things quickly. Even if the insects don’t get to them, what will you eat and drink if someone else takes them?"

Evelyn pulled a burlap sack out of the bamboo basket. It contained some old clothes, which she tossed to the others for them to put on.

Just then, Ronan returned with Taylor Vance and the rest.

"Ronan, their luggage is all gone."

"I’ll go find it."

"I’ll go with you."

"We’ll go too." Officer Graham, Quincy, Serena Lynch, Miles Vaughn, and Chase Underwood, all geared up, stepped forward. Now that they had a safe place to hide, they had to get their supplies back.

"I remember where their things are. Let’s go."

The outside was completely surrounded by insects. Evelyn took a bottle of insecticide from the pushcart, which contained a poison she had concocted herself. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

She sprayed it at the doorway. A dense cloud of insects dropped to the ground, while the others, smelling the scent, instantly retreated several meters.

"Stay behind me, I have insecticide. Roy Henderson, Owen Chapman, you two stand guard here."

Evelyn used the insecticide to clear a path as the others followed behind her, heading out of the hotel and into the swarm.

They had just reached the entrance when they saw a bundle.

"That’s ours! It even has our name on it." Serena Lynch ran over and dragged the bundle back.

"Put the bundle inside and stand guard here. We’ll go look for the rest of the luggage."

On the way, they ran into other people, all wrapped up so tightly that no one could recognize anyone else.

Fortunately, they found everything quickly. When they returned to the hotel entrance, Serena was still standing guard, but quite a few other people had also taken refuge there.

Evelyn’s insecticide was almost used up. Before going inside, everyone patted the insects off their clothes.

Looking at the thick layer of insect corpses on the ground, Evelyn’s skin crawled.

Back inside the room, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Officer Graham stomped on an insect that had fallen from his clothes and sighed with lingering fear. "A lot of people have taken shelter in this building. I wonder when these insects will disperse. The sky is completely dark."

"I thought the constant daylight was finally over. Turns out the insects just blotted out the sun."

"Just like every other disaster we’ve faced, these insects will probably be around for a long time." After speaking, Evelyn shook the bottle in her hand. Sure enough, it was empty.

Secretary Hawthorne suddenly looked at Evelyn. "Evelyn Ford, how did you know they suck blood and have something addictive in their bodies?"

Evelyn blinked. "I studied medicine, so of course I know about these things. Is that so strange?"

"Alright, that’s enough of that. The important thing is dealing with these insects. It looks like we won’t be able to travel for a while." Taylor Vance shot Secretary Hawthorne a glare, then changed the subject.

People were still moving about outside. Some left to find their luggage, while others dragged their belongings upstairs.

Evelyn took two folding stools from the pushcart and sat in a corner with Ronan.

’The insect plague... for her, it was the greatest source of trauma. After all, in her past life, she had starved to death during one.’

Evelyn leaned her head against Ronan’s arm, her eyes downcast as she seemed lost in thought.

Everyone fell silent, and the atmosphere became incredibly oppressive.

"Everyone, take stock of your supplies."

Right now, the most important things weren’t just food and water, but also clothes and fabric.

Thankfully, everyone’s water was stored in plastic bottles and buckets.

"If they were locusts, we could at least catch and eat them. But these things are just giant mosquitoes. You can’t eat them, they suck your blood, there are so many of them all at once, and they’re so loud... that constant BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ... It’s terrifying."