"AAAAAH! I'm a beast! No! I'm sorry!!!"
"Who—"
Bang!!!
Before he could even react, a steel pipe knocked him flat.
"Phew... phew..."
The Doctor dropped the weapon in his hand, then laboriously began stuffing the two unconscious men into the vehicle.
A moment later.
Outside Chernobog's city gates.
"Hey, that garbage truck is back... Get ready to inspect it again..."
"Wait, why did it stop?"
The guard looked on in confusion as the truck stopped roughly a hundred meters away from the city gate.
Then he narrowed his eyes and saw the door open.
Right after that, two workers were kicked straight out through the door.
Then, before the guard could react, the garbage truck's doors shut, and it spun around and sped off at full throttle!
"Something's wrong! The garbage truck's been hijacked!!! Reinforcements! Call for reinforcements!!"
Zuo Jian and Laurentina: A New Journey!
"What is this?"
Laurentina stood amid the boundless wilderness. Not far from her, enormous black crystal clusters the size of buildings sprawled densely across the land.
They resembled a thick forest made entirely of black crystals.
Rustle.
The thick book at her waist was opened by ribbon-like tentacles extending from her side.
[Originium Crystal Clusters are highly contaminated substances that naturally form in areas ravaged by Catastrophes.]
[Without protective equipment, merely approaching them can result in Oripathy infection.]
"Oh—so these are the byproducts left behind after those Catastrophes?"
Laurentina stepped closer and looked at the towering Originium Crystal Clusters.
"This stuff covers a pretty huge area... What do you think, Zuo Jian?"
She lowered her head and asked.
[What do I think?]
Zuo Jian pondered for a moment, then extended a tentacle, snapped off a piece of Originium Crystal, and stuffed it into an open mouth.
[Mm, the impurity content is too high.