Chapter 54: Dante's Past

The driver's remark did not make Lu Xiao angry.

In a flat tone, he said, "I have accumulated up to two thousand hours in flight simulation games!"

"I have extensive takeoff and landing experience under various extreme and harsh conditions!"

"Strictly speaking, I am a captain with rich flight experience!"

Dante took a deep drag on his cigarette. "What is a flight simulator?"

The driver's brow twitched. "It's a game that simulates flying a plane!"

Lu Xiao looked at the driver with a friendly smile on his face. "You tell me, is that flying a plane or not?"

For a moment, the driver could not find words to refute, but another issue crossed his mind.

"Doctor told me that for our vehicle to transform, the person operating it must possess powerful spiritual power!"

He pointed at Dante. "Your spiritual power is higher than ordinary people because you deal with anomalies all year round!"

"And as for me, since I am an anomalous lifeform myself, my spiritual power is also much higher than that of humans!"

Finally, he looked at Xiaoyu. "I wonder if your spiritual power can support the vehicle through its transformation!"

Spiritual power was a rather mystical concept.

Some people were born with it, possessing a spiritual power different from ordinary people.

Others, like Dante, frequently dealt with anomalies and had encountered numerous bizarre and grotesque events, making their spiritual worlds exceptionally stable.

To put it bluntly, it meant they had been scared so many times that they had grown bold!

Lu Xiao suddenly remembered something. "The prison doctor once gave me something and said it could enhance spiritual power!"

"It seemed to be called some kind of moth larva."

At the mention of this, Liuguang's expression changed drastically.

"Ghost-faced moth larvae!" he said in a low voice.

That incident had already become a psychological trauma for him.

"Ah! Yes, yes, yes! Ghost-faced moth larvae!"

"But where should we go to find ghost-faced moth larvae?"

Just as Lu Xiao fell into contemplation, Dante slapped his forehead.

"What a coincidence! I actually know where we might find those things!"

In an instant, everyone's gaze turned toward him.

Dante relighted his cigarette. "That goes back a long time ago! I had just joined the Containment Ward..."

Lu Xiao's mouth twitched, and he hastily interrupted, "Mr. Dante, please get to the point!"

Dante sighed.

***

"It seems you aren't very interested in my past!"

"Fine, I'll get straight to the point!"

With that, he took a fierce drag on his cigarette.

"I remember the first mission my instructor took me on involved ghost-faced moths!"

"It was in a small village on the outskirts of Modu!"

"A ghost-faced moth hive had appeared inside a small town with a population of a thousand people!"

"Our mission was to destroy that hive!"

At this point, he shivered slightly, looking either terrified or overwhelmed by some other emotion.

"And my instructor sacrificed his life during that mission!"

Dante's eyes were somewhat reddened. He took several deep puffs of his cigarette to calm his emotions before continuing.

"Later on, we paid a tremendous price to destroy that hive!"

"However, the higher-ups worried that the cleanup wasn't thorough enough, so they used an excuse to seal off the area!"

"If we go there to look, we might actually find some!"

Liuguang spoke with a hint of worry, "If it really wasn't thoroughly cleaned up, wouldn't the risk of going there right now be too high?"

"What if they've formed another large-scale hive?"

It was no wonder Liuguang was scared; his trauma regarding the ghost-faced moths ran quite deep.

Dante blew a puff of smoke directly into Liuguang's face.

"What is there to fear? Ghost-faced moths are just terrifying to look at, have strong reproductive capabilities, and move fast..."

As he spoke, Dante's own confidence began to waver.

After all, the last time they destroyed that hive, it had required the combined forces of three containment facilities across the Huaxia State.

Even so, numerous sacrificial agents and soldiers had perished in that mission.

For a moment, everyone in the car stared at one another in silence.

Lu Xiao patted his chest. "Don't be afraid! I'm here!"

Slicker glanced at him sideways. "What use is having you here? If a hive has truly formed again, our fate will be to become food for the ghost-faced moths!"

"And my friend, you'll be different!"

"They'll lay eggs inside your body, and you'll become the breeding ground for their larvae to hatch!"

The bone thorn in Lu Xiao's hand viciously stabbed Slicker's buttocks.

Slicker clutched his rear, angry yet daring not to speak.

Liuguang looked at the bone thorn in Lu Xiao's hand and suddenly said in a deep voice, "Perhaps it's not impossible!"

***

On the outskirts of Modu, at an unnamed small town.

The van driven by the driver was blocked by an iron gate.

The driver was just about to activate his teleportation ability when Dante stopped him.

At that moment, a young soldier in camouflage military uniform approached carrying a rifle.

He first knocked on the car window.

Dante rolled down the window and looked at him.

***

The soldier gave a military salute and said, "This is a restricted military zone, unauthorized personnel are not allowed to enter!"

Dante nodded, then produced a document from somewhere and handed it to the soldier.

The soldier took it, glanced at it, and immediately snapped to attention.

"Chief!"

Dante slowly exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "Hard work. Take me to see your commanding officer."

The soldier saluted once more, then trotted over to open the checkpoint gate.

Inside the vehicle, Slicker said with some astonishment, "You're actually a chief in the official forces! What's your military rank?"

Dante glanced at him. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Demon!"

His face was filled with smugness.

"Once you officially join the Sacrificial Agents, the corresponding official military ranks will also be issued!"

"Some missions will require you to command troops to complete them!"

Hearing this, Slicker and the other two felt a sense of yearning.

The car drove through the checkpoint, revealing the layout of a military camp inside.

Lu Xiao asked out of curiosity, "So all these places where anomalies appear are sealed off under the pretext of being military bases?"

Dante thought for a moment and replied, "Not all of them!"

"But the majority are indeed sealed off under this pretext!"

"After all, most civilians are still unaware of the existence of anomalies!"

"If these matters were exposed, it would cause panic among the public!"

At this, he took a fierce drag on his cigarette.

"Sometimes, ignorance is the only way to live in peace!"

Lu Xiao glared at Dante with deadpan eyes. "Can't you smoke a little less?"

Dante shrugged. "I'm already a diagnosed lung cancer patient, do I still care about these things?"

Lu Xiao muttered thoughtfully, "Have you really never considered letting the prison doctor perform a small surgery for you?"

"Trust me, his medical skills are definitely trustworthy!"

Dante choked on the smoke and coughed. "No thanks! I still want to live a few more years!"

As they spoke, the car drove into a camp area.

A middle-aged man in a camouflage military uniform walked up to greet them.