Arrival at Black Mountain

Bai Ye had heard of bullets that could curve in his past life, but that only existed in film and television. He had never expected it to exist in reality as well.

He glanced at the mutated gray wolf's corpse on the ground and immediately accepted it. Whatever. Mutated beasts were unscientific to begin with—or perhaps they were too scientific, far beyond his understanding of technology.

After all, this place even had mechanical cyborgs, genetically modified humans, and superhumans.

"A sniper like Ying is protected by trash like you?"

The officer was furious but dared not speak. What did he mean by trash? If you hadn't torn off my mechanical arm, I'd definitely show you what I can do!

The officer was not actually weak. Unfortunately, the time-stop ability was too insidious. Before he could use the strength of his mechanical limbs, they had already been removed.

"Sir, Ying doesn't actually need protection. We were merely coordinating with his actions.

The only way to kill him is to get close. No one can beat him at long range, but before those eagle eyes of his, other than you, who could possibly get near him?"

Bai Ye nodded. Indeed, before time stop, there was no difference between the strong and ordinary people. They were all targets that could not move.

The night passed quickly. Thankfully, after the gray wolves fled, no other mutated beasts appeared.

Time returned to one minute and fifty-seven seconds. Bai Ye felt capable again.

As they continued onward, the outline of Black Mountain gradually appeared before them.

On the distant horizon, the rolling Black Mountain range lay across the earth like a giant dragon. Its peaks soared into the clouds, and the mountains were an eerie bluish-black, as though they had been steeped in poison.

"We've finally reached Black Mountain!" Li You exclaimed happily.

Bai Ye curled his lip. "Not yet. As the old saying goes, a mountain may look close, but it can run a horse to death."

"Brother Ye, we're both wastelanders, so why do you know so many philosophical old sayings? It really makes me feel terrible." Li You looked dejected. He could accept being weaker than Bai Ye, but even in terms of reasoning, he knew less than him.

Judging by their ages, he was even a few years older than Bai Ye. He had also spent time in the casinos of several settlements, yet now he felt as though he had wasted his life.

"Sometimes, I even wonder whether I, a superhuman, am really this useless..." He sighed. He had indeed suffered one blow after another these past few days. His right hand had yet to recover, and he could not even look cool for three seconds in a fight. He basically relied entirely on Bai Ye's help.

Li You's mentality was like that of a nouveau riche who had won five million in the lottery and swaggered into a big city, only to tragically discover that the money was enough to buy just one toilet in a wealthy district.

Bai Ye patted his shoulder and comforted him. "Young man, you need to have faith in yourself. Be more confident. Is that even something you need to wonder about?"

A touched look had just appeared on Li You's face, but after hearing the second half, his expression darkened at once. Listen to that! Was that something a human being could say?

The group continued onward. Black Mountain in their field of vision grew increasingly clear, yet after walking for an entire day, they still had not entered its territory. It was easy to imagine just how vast Black Mountain was.

Fortunately, no mutated beasts appeared. Perhaps all the mutated beasts that were supposed to flee Black Mountain had already run away.

They passed the day safely like that. When Bai Ye's accumulated time reached two minutes and fifty-seven seconds, they finally entered Black Mountain.

As the saying went, one could not know the true face of Mount Lu while standing within it.

The same held true for the majestic Black Mountain. From afar, they could still see its full outline, but upon entering it, all they saw was a sea of forest formed by towering trees. It was like being inside a primeval forest, where they could see only one corner of Black Mountain.

In the era of the Great Cataclysm, it was not only animals that had mutated. Plants had as well.

At least, in his past life, Bai Ye had never seen trees this magnificent. Every single one stood nearly a hundred meters tall, and even the thinnest trees required five people to wrap their arms around them.

Black Mountain Dense Forest

"Get out of the vehicles. You can't drive on mountain paths." Bai Ye called out before getting out.

Considering that danger could strike at any time within Black Mountain, he distributed guns to the remaining fifty-odd people and had them lead the way.

The soldiers moved nervously through the forest, gripping their guns tightly. Their gazes kept drifting toward the depths of the woods, as though they feared that a vicious mutated beast would leap out at any moment.

What made them even more nervous was Bai Ye behind them. This ragged wasteland youth kept the [Breath of Bones] in his hand pointed at them.

More than fifty soldiers walked at the front, while Bai Ye, Li You, and the officer followed behind them.

The officer's legs had been forcibly reattached by Bai Ye. Although they could not connect to the neural interface, they could barely function as prosthetic limbs.

He limped after the group, his shoulders bare and without arms.

"Sir, we've already reached Black Mountain. Do you think you could let me go now?" the officer asked cautiously.

Bai Ye's arrogant gaze swept over him, making the officer's heart tremble. He hurriedly said, "Sir, I have over a million in savings at the bank. If you let me go, it's all yours. You don't need to worry that I'll inform Apocalypse Corporation. Ying is dead, and the company will never let me off.

So I plan to flee far away and live in another city."

Bai Ye ignored him. What a nice thought. Wasn't this the man who had treated wastelanders like them as cannon fodder?

He shot the officer a cold glance, then shifted his gaze to the soldiers ahead. Instantly, his brows furrowed tightly.

"Stop!"

With a single command, he brought everyone to a halt.

The soldiers turned back in confusion, waiting for Bai Ye's next order.

"Brother Ye, what's wrong?" Li You moved closer.

"One person is missing." Bai Ye carefully counted the soldiers.

He clearly remembered that there had been fifty-two soldiers, but in the blink of an eye, there were only fifty-one!

One person had vanished without a sound. That unknown method put him on alert.

He was not afraid of enemies who confronted him openly. In his eyes, whether they were some Ten Kings or Eight Kings, or even some powerful mutated beast, as long as they were carbon-based lifeforms, they would die before time stop.

What he feared most were mysterious, unknown methods. They were impossible to guard against, and even if he activated time stop, he would not be able to find where the enemy was.

"One person is missing?" Li You's expression changed slightly. "Could he have run off?"

Bai Ye shook his head. "The soldiers may be trained, but they are still ordinary people. How could one of them instantly run out of my sight?"

The soldiers also realized that someone had suddenly disappeared from their ranks, and their expressions grew increasingly tense.

"Quiet! A person can't vanish into thin air. Look carefully for traces around us!"

The soldiers hurriedly searched. After a while, one of them cried out, "There's a shoe in the grass!"

Bai Ye stepped forward and indeed found a bloodstained shoe amid waist-high grass. It was a standard-issue Dawn Army combat boot.

"You! Go search the grass." He raised his gun and aimed it at the soldier.