Dragon Cicada Divine Ruins

In July, Guangqing felt like Flaming Mountain, so hot that you could lose a layer of skin just by staying outdoors for half a day.

The Bodhisattvas at Longchan Temple were very effective and quite famous in the city. Before the college entrance exams every year, parents would bring their children to make a wish. Whether it worked or not, at least it brought peace of mind!

Lin Baici did well this year, performing beyond his usual capabilities. He wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the Bodhisattva of Longchan Temple, but he had made a wish before the exams, and now he had to repay it!

Three sticks of incense, fruits, and pastries were a must.

Of course, his mother paid for it.

Lin Baici had actually planned to secretly keep a hundred yuan for himself, but his mother had sternly warned him.

"You can't be greedy with this kind of incense money."

Sigh!

He was poor!

Without money, he couldn't afford anything he wanted.

Lin Baici walked along the pebble-paved path, glancing back at the Great Hero Hall in the distance.

"Should I..."

"...make another wish to get rich?"

"Would the Bodhisattva think I'm too greedy?"

What Lin Baici wanted most right now was to become a content creator, making money by filming videos. However, he had uploaded five outdoor videos on Bilibili so far, and the total views hadn't even reached a thousand.

The dream of becoming a content creator with millions of followers and earning tens of thousands a month still seemed a long way off.

"A craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he wishes to do his work well. Maybe things will get better once I get new equipment!"

Lin Baici encouraged himself.

Because her son had done well on his exams, Lin's mother had promised to reward him with a new phone.

Lin Baici planned to buy a GoPro action camera with the money.

As for the phone, he'd make do for now. Once he earned a lot of money from filming videos, he'd directly buy the latest Apple model.

Grumble!

A slight pain in his abdomen and a sudden feeling of hunger interrupted Lin Baici's thoughts.

"Huh?"

Lin Baici's slender eyebrows twitched. Like a Lion King who had suddenly spotted plump prey, he immediately looked around.

Did someone lose something?

Ever since he was young, Lin Baici had experienced this sudden hunger several times a year. Sometimes, even if he had finished eating just half an hour ago, he would be starving.

Lin Baici thought he had a stomach problem. However, when his mother took him to the hospital, the examination showed he was unusually healthy. He could donate 300cc of blood and immediately play a basketball game.

One summer during his first year of junior high, Lin Baici was walking on campus after lunch when he suddenly felt hungry again. A few minutes later, he unexpectedly found a wallet on the sports field.

It contained over three hundred yuan, a student ID card belonging to a beautiful Senior Female Student, and a love letter.

Strangely, after Lin Baici confirmed the items in the wallet, the inexplicable hunger disappeared.

Lin Baici then conducted three more experiments, and several similar experiences later allowed him to conclude a pattern.

Whenever he suddenly felt hungry, there was definitely something valuable nearby.

Without exception.

He had found several car keys, five mobile phones, a junior student's tuition fees, and the most expensive item was a gold ring he found in the greenery.

The summer heat was intense, and even the cicadas' chirping sounded listless, as if half-dead.

Lin Baici felt very hungry.

He was currently in the small square in front of the Arhat Hall. The flagstones were swept clean, and there was nothing to see except a few cigarette butts.

"It's probably something like a phone or a wallet!"

Lin Baici looked up.

Walking about a hundred steps north, then turning left, was Guanyin Pavilion. To the right, through a long corridor, was the Release Pond.

The Release Pond was a scenic spot in Longchan Temple. In the summer, it was covered in lotuses, a vibrant green with overlapping lotus leaves.

Many tourists came here to take photos and post them on social media.

There were many people here, so the chance of losing something was naturally higher.

Lin Baici quickened his pace and reached the Release Pond.

The hunger was intensifying.

Based on past experience, this meant he was getting closer to the 'lost item'.

To the east was a large lake covered with lotus leaves, where frog croaks could be heard and koi could be seen swimming. To the north was an octagonal pavilion.

The pond was too large, so Lin Baici decided to check the octagonal pavilion first.

As he climbed the steps and entered the pavilion built on a rockery, his hunger grew even stronger.

Lin Baici held the railing with one hand, looking out of the pavilion. Soon, he spotted a palm-sized pink cartoon wallet in a crack in the stone.

"Got it!"

Lin Baici climbed over the railing and picked up the wallet.

He casually opened it.

Swish!

A thick wad of cash.

Besides the red hundred-yuan RMB bills, there was also a yellow banknote with a denomination of 50,000.

Lin Baici knew it was Korean Won; he had seen such banknotes in some Korean webtoons.

Besides the money, there were three bank cards, a passport, a card that was likely an ID with Korean writing on it, and a close-up photo of a girl.

The photo was quite beautiful.

After checking, Lin Baici stuffed everything back into the wallet.

He returned to the pavilion, opened his phone, and started playing a game, waiting for the owner to arrive.

About twenty minutes later, a Goryeo girl with a smoking hot figure burst into the octagonal pavilion, looking anxious.

She kept looking down, clearly searching for something.

But she found nothing.

"S***!"

The girl, with long, light-blonde hair, cursed and raised her foot to kick the railing. Seeing someone, she lowered her foot.

"Did you lose something?"

Lin Baici spoke.

The girl was about eighteen or nineteen, with an oval face and a great figure. She was particularly fair, and her long legs were eye-catching in her denim shorts, far prettier than any Goryeo girl group.

Jin Yingzhen understood Chinese. Hearing him, she immediately looked at Lin Baici. "Oppa, have you seen a pink wallet?"

Her voice was soft and magnetic, as if she were acting spoiled.

"This one?"

Lin Baici took out the wallet and handed it to Jin Yingzhen.

Her face matched the photo on the ID in the wallet perfectly, confirming she was the owner.

"That's it!"

Seeing the wallet, Jin Yingzhen snatched it. After confirming her passport and ID were still there, she patted her chest, letting out a deep sigh of relief.

Losing money was a small matter, but losing her passport and ID would have been a huge problem.

Having done a good deed, Lin Baici prepared to leave.

He hadn't handed the wallet to the scenic area's management because he was worried that if any money went missing, it would be hard to explain.

After all, in this day and age, it was hard to be a good person.

"Oppa!"

Seeing the handsome guy, who could easily be the center of a top male idol group, about to leave, Jin Yingzhen immediately chased after him. She stood in front of him, bowing repeatedly.

"Kamsahamnida! Thank you!"

Jin Yingzhen not only thanked him but also opened the wallet, pulled out a handful of bills without counting, and offered them to Lin Baici with both hands.

"It was just a small favor, no need for money!"

Lin Baici refused.

She's quite the little rich girl, throwing money around without a second thought, he thought.

"Oppa, please accept it!"

Jin Yingzhen insisted, about to force the money into the guy's hands. She was also planning to ask if he was interested in coming to Goryeo to be a trainee and debut as an idol. Just then, she saw him suddenly look up, his face filled with shock as he gazed at the sky.

Jin Yingzhen looked up too, and instantly, the color drained from her face.

"God's... God's Ruins?"

A meteor, trailing a long, orange-red tail flame, streaked rapidly and crashed into Longchan Temple.

BOOM!

There was no violent impact, but rather a massive wave of black mist, like a tsunami, surged outwards, engulfing the entire Longchan Temple.

Thirty years ago, a meteor fell, and God's Ruins appeared.

Gods emerged from it, feeding on humans.

Since then, a new natural disaster had appeared on Blue Star.

Countries had tried various methods to intercept these meteors, but all had failed.

Fortunately, each year, the meteors that bring God's Ruins are few, ranging from a few to dozens, not enough to destroy the world.

The largest God's Ruins to date swallowed one-third of Kangaroo Country's territory, and none of its eighteen million citizens survived!

Lin Baici woke up hungry!

He opened his eyes and saw that everything was shrouded in a black, dense fog, with visibility less than ten meters.

The Goryeo Woman lay beside him, unconscious.

"Hey, wake up!"

Lin Baici grabbed Jin Yingzhen's shoulder and shook her hard a few times.

Right!

Call 110!

Lin Baici fumbled for his phone, but found it had been turned off at some point and wouldn't turn on.

Just as he was about to call for help, he suddenly shut his mouth.

Would doing so

attract monsters?

The authorities strictly prohibited ordinary citizens from discussing anything related to God's Ruins, so Lin Baici's understanding was limited to rumors.

Some said that besides Gods, there were monsters in God's Ruins.

Those trapped within became their food.

"We have to escape as soon as possible!"

Lin Baici shook Jin Yingzhen vigorously.

Just as he was about to slap the Goryeo Woman to wake her, Jin Yingzhen regained consciousness.

"Ah!"

Jin Yingzhen cried out in pain, feeling as if her brain had been churned by a propeller, the pain agonizing.

[A fresh ingredient, fit from years of exercise, its muscles are delicious and juicy, with extremely high protein content. Recommended for charcoal grilling, add more cumin!]

What the hell?

Lin Baici was startled by the voice that suddenly sounded in his mind. He was certain the girl in front of him hadn't said it.

"Are... are we trapped in God's Ruins?"

Jin Yingzhen trembled all over, instinctively clutching Lin Baici.

[The prey is in fear, which causes it to secrete a large amount of hormones, leading to a decline in meat quality. Recommended to slaughter immediately to preserve the ingredient's best flavor!]

"What are you?"

Lin Baici asked in his mind, but no one answered.

"Oppa, we have to destroy the Divine Remains quickly, or we'll die!"

Jin Yingzhen stood up and looked around.

"Divine Remains?"

Lin Baici frowned. This girl seemed to know some information about God's Ruins.

"When the meteors fall, they create a mist. The area covered by the mist is called God's Ruins."

Jin Yingzhen explained, "In God's Ruins, there are Divine Remains, the corpses of Gods. These Divine Remains radiate a mysterious energy, which pollutes everything around them!"

"Continue!"

Lin Baici listened intently.

"You know about nuclear radiation, right? God Bone Radiation is ten thousand times more terrifying than that! Are you feeling dizzy, nauseous, and want to vomit? These are symptoms of pollution!"

Jin Yingzhen knew that as time passed, the pollution symptoms would become more terrifying, first driving people mad, then gradually losing their human form and turning into a pool of mindless, rotten flesh.

"..."

Lin Baici wanted to say that he didn't.

Aside from an unbearable hunger, he felt no abnormalities!

"Either way, if we don't destroy the Divine Remains quickly, we'll be polluted!"

Jin Yingzhen felt so depressed she wanted to die. Aishiba, she was just on a trip, why did she have to encounter such a crisis?

"Can't we just escape God's Ruins?"

Lin Baici asked, confused.

"See this mist? It's like a maze. If the Divine Remains aren't removed, the mist won't dissipate!"

Jin Yingzhen gave a wry smile.

Her brother was a God Hunter, so she knew a lot of classified information.

Lin Baici wanted to inquire about more inside stories when a crisp wooden fish sound came from the mist.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

"Run!"

Jin Yingzhen's face changed drastically, and she got up to run, but a three-meter-tall Dark Buddha Statue, which had appeared silently behind the two, was now standing there.

"My Buddha asks you, are you sincere?"

The great Buddha lowered his brows, his Vajra glare fierce. The Sanskrit chant was not loud, but it could shatter a person's heart.