181. Saint's Remains

Lu Ban had never been to the desert before.

In his mind, the desert was not a beautiful and magnificent natural landscape, but a dangerous, arid, and forbidden place where disasters could happen at any time.

As a child, he watched documentaries that mentioned scientific expedition members disappearing deep into Lop Nur, and some movies also mentioned quicksand traps, so Lu Ban has always had a psychological shadow on the desert.

Now, the silver desert stretches as far as the eye can see. There is nothing but desert, no buildings, no vegetation, and no other people in sight.

There were no birds in the sky; the world was utterly silent.

In this very world, Lu Ban heard a buzzing sound.

It's like the sound of a metal vibrating under atmospheric pressure; in layman's terms, it's like the vibration felt when a fighter jet's wing cuts through the sky.

The buzzing sound came from ahead, and at the same time, Lu Ban saw a beam of light shooting straight into the sky.

"What's this?"

He asked the Giant Arm next to him.

"It seems that these ruins do indeed contain treasures."

The Giant Arm didn't answer directly, but instead said something quite excitedly.

"That's the light from the Saint's Remains. We need to speed things up. When this light appears, other Wasteland Hunter will definitely see it. In the wilderness, sometimes humans are more terrifying than monsters."

"Saint's Remains!?"

Lu Ban pretended to be surprised, but he was actually a little excited inside.

I never expected that this mission would lead me directly to the Saint's Remains; it's such a great opportunity.

"Named Ones often do not decay after death, but continue to walk on the earth for some reason. We people in the wilderness know very well that the ruins and relics with the Saint's Remains usually contain very precious treasures."

"This is what Flame Heart explained from the side."

"Named Ones?"

Lu Ban heard a word he had never heard before and became interested.

"Hehe, those are beings we can't reach, and you don't need to pay attention to them. Just know that those Named Ones are all saints. There's a saying in the wasteland: 'Below the saints, all are ants.' Those guys crushing you is no easier than crushing an ant."

Excitement gleamed in the Giant Arm's eyes.

"Then why are you all so agitated? Shouldn't we be avoiding them?"

Lu Ban was curious again.

"Dead saints are different from living saints. Most dead saints act according to a certain special pattern. If we know their names, we can avoid danger to a certain extent."

Flame Heart explained again.

"Moreover, we have obtained the name of the saint who is stationed here on our treasure map, which means that the people have done a lot of research beforehand."

The Giant Arm patted the map on his chest.

What is his name?

Lu Ban vaguely sensed that this world had some special considerations regarding names. Wasteland Hunter used nicknames instead of names, and saints were all Named Ones. Although it wasn't like some novels where people could be controlled once their real names were known, perhaps in the wilderness, names were even more important than life itself.

After all, even if a saint with a name dies, he can still move in the form of a corpse and possess great power. Many people, even if they are alive, are as insignificant as ants.

Achilles.

Lu Ban was taken aback.

He never expected to hear this name from someone from another world. Although the pronunciation was slightly different, Lu Ban knew very well that the name the Giant Arm was referring to was the one that circulated in Lu Ban's world.

A hero of the Trojan War, a legendary warrior.

Do such legends exist in other lands as well?

"What's that name?"

Xiya asked from the side, she seemed a little curious, after all, it involved such a high-level concept as saints, and for mages, understanding the gods and extraordinary powers of other lands was also part of their learning.

"I don't know. The names of those Named Ones are all very strange. This drawing only shows that this saint was a very powerful and warlike person."

The Giant Arm shook its head.

"Where do the names of these saints come from?"

Lu Ban developed a strong sense of curiosity.

Is Achilles truly a man of extraordinary fighting prowess and exceptional bravery?

If he were named Einstein, would he be incredibly smart and have exceptional intelligence?

Lu Ban thought he could change his name to something invincible, maybe then he could stop time.

"I don't know. When Named Ones are alive, no one knows what their names are. They are only discovered after they die. No one knows where their names come from. Maybe it's from the ruins. There used to be a rumor that an ordinary Wasteland Hunter entered the ruins, found treasures, and became a saint. That's what everyone says."

Giant Arm was also interested in these things, but for him, saints and the like were too distant; they were just adventure stories to tell around the campfire.

"That's why the ruins in the wilderness are so alluring."

Flame Heart smiled.

"Moreover, and more importantly, becoming a saint can alleviate the symptoms of Crystal Core Disease. For people like us, it is already difficult to live to the age of twenty-five, but saints can live for decades or even hundreds of years."

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

The group quickened their pace, seemingly trying to reach the ruins before anyone else noticed.

However, the light was still some distance away from them, and it wasn't until dusk that Lu Ban saw something different amidst the vast sand.

It was an abandoned city, the buildings long since collapsed, the walls and ruins weathered away, only the traces of its former glory could be vaguely discerned.

The city was enormous; the horizon that Lu Ban could see was completely occupied by it. He roughly estimated that it was at least the size of a district of Jiangcheng. For a world hundreds of years after the apocalypse, it was rare to have such a large urban area preserved.

The buzzing and the light had long since disappeared, but Lu Ban knew very well that the light had radiated over an area of at least several hundred kilometers around. To expect that they were the only team in such a large area was a bit naive.

Therefore, entering the ruins as soon as possible and racing against time is imperative.

Riding camels into the ruins, the group had no time to appreciate the Old Era charm. Giant Arm took out blueprints from his pocket and guided the group forward.

As darkness fell, stars rose, illuminating the world.

Without lighting torches, the group settled their camels against a sturdy-looking wall, packed their belongings, and prepared to explore the ruins further.

Lu Ban discovered that the technological level of the wasteland seemed to have regressed to a rather backward level. Of course, it was also possible that people did not pay attention to the development of technology because of the emergence of the Crystal Core Disease's superpower.

The five-person team had no firearms and almost no bows and arrows. They explored the city with torches and measured the time by observing the positions of the sun and stars. There was almost no trace of modern civilization in these people.

In the darkness, just as they left the camels, they saw what appeared to be a fire in a corner of the city.

Those must be other Wasteland Hunter.

Thanks to "Tiantian Sweet Tooth" for the 500-coin reward, and thanks to "ehbeh", "xiaotang246", "Galaxy Brilliance", "Tamarisk Shade", "Kasim_arx08", "Soy Erosion", "Sitting By Sit-Off_Occasionally Actor" and "Illusionist Rocky" for the 100-coin reward!