[Three-City World] An Unexpected Energy Source

The centipede-like mutant beast had locked onto Ren Yi. Heat, the scent of flesh and blood, the sound of living breath... These signals drove it into a frenzy. The fleshy columns that served as its limbs kicked hard against the ground, sending it lunging straight at him on a foul gust of wind.

But just as it reached a few meters in front of Ren Yi, its mouthparts spread wide, ready to swallow the "frail human" before it whole...

The mutant beast's movements suddenly froze, as though invisible shackles had pinned it in midair.

Before it, the frail human slowly tore open.

His outer "skin" peeled away like a shattered membrane, and the form beneath began to twist and blur without pattern, radiating a suffocating pressure from the very depths of its existence.

Unease and dizziness swept over its dim consciousness like a tide.

"Rip—!"

A sharp edge tore through flesh as Ren Yi put force into his wrist, driving a machete precisely into the mutant beast's mouthparts.

The blade pierced its head, pinning its enormous body firmly to the ground.

Ren Yi stood before the dead mutant beast and slowly released his grip on the machete.

His breathing was steady, and there was not the slightest ripple in his eyes.

Dealing with the mutant beast in human form was a bit of a stretch, and he didn't want to waste "ammunition" on it, so he had released a small part of his true form.

The moment he pierced the mutant beast, he had indeed felt the blade meet resistance from a layer of unusual flesh, but it had lasted only an instant before the blade cut through it with ease.

Ordinary firearms were useless, but melee weapons worked instead?

As it turned out, although the mutant beast looked bizarre enough to make one lose SAN, its strength was nothing special.

Aside from what seemed to be a special resistance to firearms and shock waves, it had displayed neither rule-based abilities nor any special means of defense.

It was nothing more than a beast that relied on its powerful body to hunt.

Ren Yi intended to pull out his machete and leave, but just then, a familiar warm current appeared at his side without warning.

Where did these Positive Emotions come from?

Ren Yi's heart tightened. His first thought was that someone had seen the fight.

But he had clearly scanned the area with his perception before making his move, confirming that this mutant beast was the only creature on the wasteland and that there were no signs of any others.

Almost as soon as the thought arose, his perception, far beyond that of an ordinary person, spread wildly in every direction like invisible radar waves.

Yet there were no other mutant beasts nearby, nor any life signals belonging to humans or other intelligent creatures. The wasteland was a little too "clean."

Then where did this trace of Positive Emotions come from?

At last, Ren Yi's gaze fell on the mutant centipede's corpse at his feet.

The Positive Emotions... came from this centipede?

Was this some kind of joke? Had my golden finger finally arrived?

So now, not just participants but even animals could provide Positive Emotions?

No, even more absurdly, what kind of creature would provide "Positive Emotions" to the person killing it as it died?

What kind of Positive Emotions were those? Was this centipede a masochist?

Ren Yi shook his head, as if trying to shake the absurd thoughts out of his mind.

He picked up his machete, turned the centipede's corpse over, and finally sliced it open lengthwise.

A pungent stench spread in an instant, and its multicolored organs spilled across the ground along with its bodily fluids.

There was nothing unusual. It was just an animal that really made one lose SAN.

Something was wrong.

Ren Yi stood up and took two steps back to avoid the spreading stench, sinking into thought with a deep frown.

Nothing like this had happened when he killed participants from the Three-City World before, which meant there was nothing special about the Three-City World itself.

So was it something about mutant beasts, or was this centipede an isolated case?

There were too few samples to make any judgment.

Ren Yi stopped dwelling on it for the time being and raised his hand, absorbing the Positive Emotions into his palm and forming a tiny point of light on the back of his hand.

It was a method from the Knowledge Crystal Aunt Lu Qing had given him, used to temporarily store energy that could not be absorbed.

Once enough points of light had accumulated, they could be condensed into an Energy Crystal using the recorded method.

Ren Yi cast one last glance at the mangled centipede corpse on the ground, then turned without lingering and continued in the direction he believed the Holy City lay.

Whatever these sudden Positive Emotions meant, his immediate priority was to enter a human settlement.

Even if he needed to hunt more mutant beasts later to test his theory and obtain resources, he first had to gather enough information in the Holy City.

The Holy City was clearly still a considerable distance away.

Ren Yi used his perception to check his surroundings once more. After confirming that no one was watching, he paused briefly.

The next moment, his "human form" rippled like water. Several flexible, resilient, illusory tentacles extended from his back and sides, lifting his body.

The tentacles moved in alternating rhythms, carrying him at tremendous speed across the wasteland. From a distance, he looked like a bizarre spider racing just above the ground.

Mm, eight "legs" really were much faster than two.

After about an hour of high-speed travel, the scenery on the distant horizon began to change.

The jagged, oddly shaped rocks gradually grew sparse, and patches of low, hardy shrubs appeared.

At the edge of Ren Yi's perception, he finally detected signs of human life.

He immediately slowed down, his illusory tentacles retracting silently into his body as he resumed the appearance of "Mo Ming."

Ren Yi climbed a barren hillside overlooking the area and gazed into the distance. A magnificent city came into view.

The city occupied an exceptionally defensible position, surrounded by mountains on two sides and backed by a broad river on another.

A great many buildings began in the depression between the mountains and extended up their slopes, tier upon tier.

Most striking of all was a massive circular platform built between two mountain peaks.

Thick stone pillars stood around the platform's edge, and stout chains fastened it securely to the mountains on both sides. A towering statue stood at its center.

The statue was carved entirely from some kind of grayish-white stone and depicted a deity.

Clad in armor and wearing a crown woven from thorny branches, the figure had an androgynous face and held a greatsword in both hands, its tip pointing down, steady before it.

Ren Yi noticed that the sword bore some resemblance to the small silver sword pendant he carried.

The statue stood high atop the mountains, its lowered gaze overlooking the beings below.

By Ren Yi's rough estimate, the statue was at least two hundred meters tall.

The famous Statue of Liberty from his previous life was only a little over ninety meters tall including its pedestal, while the statue itself stood just forty-six meters.

Having seen that they could build such a structure, Ren Yi silently raised his estimate of the Three-City World's technological capabilities before the "Great Cataclysm" by a notch.

Now that he had decided to enter the city as "a participant who returned from a strange Instance and performed exceptionally well on the livestream," there was no need to be secretive.

Ren Yi adjusted his posture to better fit the image of a lone traveler who was slightly weary after a long journey, yet still alert.

As he drew closer, the details and sounds of the city became clearer.

Ren Yi soon noticed that something was amiss.

People were coming and going at the Holy City's main gate, and it seemed to be in a state of unusually busy mobilization.