An E-rank Forbidden Object

Dawn was just breaking, and morning mist swirled through the air.

Shen Sui woke early and stood in the clearing, breathing in the fresh air as he gave the order to depart in half an hour.

The group had no Transcendents who specialized in scouting.

That was why Shen Sui had always followed one rule.

They had to change locations every six hours.

This minimized the chances of anything uncanny setting its sights on the group.

So far, it had worked well. At least, half a year after the apocalypse began, Shen Sui's group was still around. Plenty of people had fallen behind or died along the way, but that was unavoidable in the apocalypse.

Yesterday alone, the group had lost twenty-one people.

Shen Sui was very satisfied with that number.

Losing only twenty-one people while being pursued by something uncanny was already an excellent outcome.

Many of them had died in [Choices], too.

It was all thanks to the vehicle [Choice] they had encountered yesterday. Twenty vehicles had appeared out of thin air, giving more survivors a chance to stay alive.

Without those twenty vehicles...

Yesterday's death toll would certainly have doubled.

It was even possible that half the survivors would have died!

Shen Sui had been through situations like this countless times.

One batch of survivors would die, and another would join, over and over again. In fact, the group hadn't even had this many Transcendents at the beginning.

Just then...

Su Man suddenly walked past Lin Yu. Her black lace dress showed off every curve of her figure, and a faint, pleasant fragrance drifted from her.

She glanced at Lin Yu as though casually, her lips barely moving as she whispered quickly:

"Be careful. Someone in the group wants to hurt you!"

She acted completely naturally and never stopped beside him.

Nor did she draw anyone's attention.

Lin Yu remained outwardly unmoved, not even glancing at Su Man, but alarm bells immediately rang in his mind...

Someone wanted to hurt him?

Who?

The only person he had openly offended so far was Zhai Guang. If Zhai Guang wanted to kill him, he wouldn't need any underhanded tricks. He could simply roar and charge straight at him.

The reason he hadn't done that yet...

Was out of respect for Shen Sui.

If obtaining Gene Enhancement Fluid from a [Choice] got Lin Yu killed, no one in the group would dare risk their lives in [Choices] again.

That was Shen Sui's rule, and his bottom line.

So he would protect Lin Yu for now.

Of course...

How long that protection would last was another matter.

Once the fuss died down, Lin Yu would still have to face Zhai Guang.

But aside from Zhai Guang...

Lin Yu couldn't remember offending anyone else.

Suddenly...

Another possibility occurred to Lin Yu.

Perhaps someone wanted to use his life to curry favor with Zhai Guang.

That made perfect sense.

His conflict with Zhai Guang was already out in the open. With Shen Sui keeping an eye on him, Zhai Guang couldn't attack him directly, but the other survivors were a different story...

All it would take was a hint from Zhai Guang.

Plenty of desperate people in the group wouldn't mind fighting Lin Yu to the death.

A cold gleam flashed through Lin Yu's eyes.

If that was the case...

He wouldn't mind killing a few more people.

Aside from Transcendents, he feared no one!

That had been true before he injected the Gene Enhancement Fluid, and it was even more true afterward!

Su Man had already walked away. Lin Yu cast a seemingly casual glance at her graceful figure from behind, his gaze calm.

He didn't know why Su Man had helped him.

But he would remember this favor.

After midnight last night, Lin Yu's analysis uses had reset to three.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Yu decided to analyze Shen Xian's Wooden Comb first. A supernatural item given to him by a Sequence 7 Red-Dressed Female Ghost couldn't be anything ordinary!

It might save his life at a critical moment!

He needed to figure out how to use it as soon as possible.

[Analysis in progress...]

[Analysis complete.]

[Current target is an E-rank Forbidden Object: Shen Xian's Wooden Comb.]

[Sealed within the wooden comb are Shen Xian's resentment and a wisp of a wronged soul that cannot dissipate. Channel mental energy into the wooden comb to unleash an attack of extreme resentment. After use, mental energy will be depleted, leaving the user in a weakened state.]

[Note: repeated use of a Forbidden Object carries a risk of awakening. Once awakened, the Forbidden Object will attack indiscriminately.]

An E-rank Forbidden Object.

Lin Yu pondered this, though he didn't know where E-rank Forbidden Objects stood in the rankings.

But judging by the analysis...

This thing definitely packed a punch!

Could it kill Zhai Guang...?

Tsk.

Probably not.

Which raised another question!

He wasn't a Transcendent yet and didn't know how to channel mental energy. How was he supposed to use this thing?

Lin Yu sighed softly and shook his head.

Until he became a Transcendent, it was all pointless.

Half an hour later, the group set off.

Lin Yu stepped onto his Demon Spirit Rabbit Skateboard again. After recharging overnight, its energy was full again, which meant last night's ride had cost him nothing!

That was another major advantage of supernatural vehicles.

Ordinary cars needed gasoline!

Once they ran out, no one would even want them as scrap metal.

Supernatural vehicles didn't have that problem.

Yellow Hair rode his silver-white bicycle slowly alongside Lin Yu and teased him:

"Holy shit, it's the skateboard kid! Hahahaha! Hurry up and get yourself a proper vehicle. If something urgent happens, how's that shitty skateboard any different from running?"

Lin Yu said helplessly:

"I'll use what I've got."

Yellow Hair glanced at the cars passing around them and said:

"Let me show you the way... steal one!"

"There are so many vehicles in the group now. As long as this kind of internal 'resource exchange' doesn't cause too much trouble, Shen Sui won't bother getting involved."

Lin Yu smiled and said:

"Thanks. When I need to... I will."

Yellow Hair gave him a roguish grin.

"Holy shit, what the fuck are you thanking me for? Get lost!"

With that...

Yellow Hair pushed down on the pedals, and his bicycle instantly shot away in a streak of silver light.

The next few days passed peacefully. They encountered neither danger nor [Choices], but the rate at which the group consumed food made Shen Sui's expression darken.

The convoy's food reserves were still at a safe level for now.

But if this continued, problems would arise sooner or later!

Once the survivors had eaten all their food and were on the verge of starving...

He would be forced to provide food and give them something to eat.

It wasn't because he feared a revolt, nor was it out of kindness.

The survivors were all resources. If they starved to death because there was no food...

It would only prove his incompetence as their leader.

Lin Yu looked no happier. He had only one piece of bread left.

He had the analysis ability, but he'd forgotten one thing: before he could analyze a [Choice], he had to find one!

Just then!

Suddenly!

An enormous transparent vortex appeared above everyone's heads. It swirled in the air, radiating terrifying power. Mere moments later, the transparent vortex suddenly turned black!

It became an enormous black vortex, exerting a terrifying pull like a black hole!

At the sight of the vortex, everyone's faces went pale with sheer terror and panic.

Shen Sui's expression changed as well.

"This..."

"It's a forced [Choice] instance!"