Obtained a Blue Quality Fruit

After several more minutes of effort, Lin Yi finally squeezed through the dense horde of Corpse Fiends and reached the Brown-Green Ancient Tree.

The Corpse Fiends here were packed tightly together, all of them staring stupidly up at the milky-white fruits on the tree.

As if the fruits would hit them on the head when they ripened and fell.

But the thick stench of rotting corpses here was simply unbearable for Lin Yi. Even with his nose covered, he felt as though he might suffocate and pass out from the smell.

"I can't drag this out any longer. If I don't act now, I'll probably be fumigated to death before my Spirit Power runs out..."

The next moment, Lin Yi expanded the range of the White Mist.

The mist spread out, enveloping everything within a twenty-meter radius. The entire Brown-Green Ancient Tree was swallowed by the White Mist as well.

The Corpse Fiends on the outskirts were somewhat stunned. The good thing in their eyes seemed to have been swallowed by clouds from the sky?

As for the Corpse Fiends at the center, which had been enveloped together with Lin Yi and the tree, they began roaring. One after another grew restless, and with their vision restricted, some had already started pouncing on and fighting one another.

As the range of the White Mist increased, Lin Yi felt a sudden throbbing pain in his head. He did not dare delay and immediately climbed up the Brown-Green Ancient Tree, beginning to pick the milky-white fruits.

The moment he obtained the first milky-white fruit, the System finally issued a notification.

Rotten Wood Fruit · Blue: A special fruit that grows in an environment with extremely dense Yin Qi and takes hundreds of years to bear fruit. When ripe, it emits the smell of rotten wood. Newborns who consume it can gain a large number of attribute points, but there is a high chance of bodily corruption and unknown mutations!

At first glance at the description, Lin Yi knew he had guessed correctly. These milky-white fruits truly were Blue Quality Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

In Apocalypse World, aside from the Holy Water Gu Chenghu had given him, he had not seen a second Blue Quality item.

He had struck it rich!

There were nine milky-white fruits on the tree in total. Lin Yi leaped nimbly between the branches and picked them frantically.

In just over ten seconds, all nine Rotten Wood Fruits were in his hands.

After stuffing the Rotten Wood Fruits into his Spatial Backpack, Lin Yi hurriedly jumped down from the Rotten Wood Tree. He then shrank the White Mist's range and fled toward the edge of the horde.

ROAR!!

But at that moment, a series of Corpse Fiend roars rose one after another.

The Corpse Fiends had discovered that not only was the fragrance of the fruits gone from the air, but when they looked up, the tree was empty as well. How could they not be furious?

Furious as they were, their brains simply could not imagine that a fruit thief was hiding within the White Mist.

Lin Yi ran wildly through the White Mist. He could already feel his Spirit Power nearing exhaustion, and the mist surrounding him gradually became fainter.

"Move, move! Don't block the way..."

After kicking away another Corpse Fiend blocking his path, Lin Yi felt he was about to hit his limit. He decisively leveled up and allocated his points.

This time, Lin Yi raised his level twice in one go, putting all ten attribute points into Agility.

Lin Yi's Agility Attribute had originally been 10 points, the limit for an ordinary human.

After allocating the points, Lin Yi's speed instantly doubled, allowing him to weave through the Corpse Fiend horde with far greater ease.

About half a minute later, Lin Yi finally charged out of the Corpse Fiend horde. By then, the White Mist covering him had practically become transparent.

But Lin Yi could not release even the slightest bit more mist, because his Spirit Power had already been pushed beyond its limits. Waves of piercing pain kept stabbing through his head.

If he forced himself to release more mist, he would probably black out completely.

Once they caught sight of a human, the Corpse Fiends on the outskirts immediately became excited.

Although the fruit that had attracted them was gone, having flesh and blood to eat was not bad either.

Without the White Mist concealing him, Lin Yi was quickly discovered by more and more Corpse Fiends.

Seeing quite a few Corpse Fiends on the outskirts rushing toward him, Lin Yi tried to log off and leave.

"Ding! A large number of dangerous creatures have been detected nearby. Unable to log off!"

Fuck!

What a trash log-off system!

Lin Yi's expression changed drastically. He directly stuffed his somewhat heavy Defensive Armor into his backpack, then took off running wearing only the leather boots and underwear gifted by the System.

There was only one word now: run!

Run somewhere safe and log off!

With 20 points of Agility boosting him, Lin Yi moved like a small gale, covering a hundred meters in just a few seconds.

However, behind Lin Yi was a horde of Corpse Fiends that refused to let up.

Judging by their numbers, there were over three hundred Corpse Fiends in the horde.

There were quite a few Level 8 and Ninth Rank Corpse Fiends among them. Their charging speed was far faster than Lin Yi's, even with his 20 points of Agility.

With no other choice, Lin Yi gritted his teeth and raised another level, adding 5 points to Agility.

With those 5 additional points of Agility, Lin Yi's running speed rose another notch.

Lin Yi glanced back and saw that most of the Level 7 Corpse Fiends had been left behind, but quite a few Level 8 and Ninth Rank Corpse Fiends were still relentlessly pursuing him.

As he ran, Lin Yi kept trying to log off on the spot, but the System continually informed him that he was not in a safe area and could not log off.

Damn it, looks like he could not count on the System's log-off mechanism.

"Qingshan, over here!!"

A figure in the distance shouted at him. Lin Yi focused his eyes and saw that it was Gu Chenghu, who had come looking for him.

When Gu Chenghu saw Lin Yi being pursued by such a massive number of Corpse Fiends, he could not help but be shocked.

Last time, Old Fourth Gu had used a Divine Talisman to blast out a whole family of Corpse Fiends, and there had only been around twenty of them. Yet there were hundreds of Corpse Fiends chasing Lin Yi now, densely packed as far as the eye could see.

Good grief, had Qingshan poked a Corpse Fiend nest?

"Captain!! Run first, I can still hold on!"

"Stop talking nonsense. There are plenty of bushes and trees here that can slow down the Corpse Fiend horde. Come this way!"

Though the Corpse Fiend horde was terrifying, Gu Chenghu would not abandon Lin Yi and flee alone.

With no other choice, Lin Yi fled in Gu Chenghu's direction.

The jungle was thick with bushes, thorns, and dense young trees, but perhaps because Lin Yi still carried a trace of the Rotten Wood Fruit's scent, the Corpse Fiend horde charged straight in after him.

Although many thorns tore off large chunks of rotten flesh from the Corpse Fiends, they did not feel much pain, and their running speed was barely affected.

"Qingshan, what exactly did you do? How did you draw out so many Corpse Fiends?"

Panting heavily, Lin Yi said, "Captain, we can talk about that later. Right now, we need to find a way to shake these things off. I don't think these bushes and thorns can stop them."

Gu Chenghu looked back and found that the Corpse Fiend horde was indeed still relentlessly pursuing them.

Especially the few Ninth Rank Corpse Fiends at the front. They were only twenty or thirty meters away. If the two of them relaxed even slightly, those Corpse Fiends would pounce on them the next moment.

After seven or eight minutes of continuous high-intensity running, Lin Yi was beginning to feel physically exhausted. Just as he hesitated over whether to level up again and add some points to Endurance and Constitution—

Gu Chenghu ahead of him took out the Dragon Roar Saber and stabbed it into a towering tree beside them.

The next moment, Gu Chenghu leaped fiercely, using the Dragon Roar Saber's flexibility to vault himself onto the towering tree.

Then, like an ape, Gu Chenghu wrapped all four limbs around the tree and climbed upward. In two swift seconds, he had reached the top of the canopy.

His tree-climbing proficiency made Lin Yi feel ashamed.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot. Hurry up and copy what I did. Climb up here."

"Alright."

At that moment, the foul stench from the pursuing Corpse Fiends was already right behind him!

At the critical moment between life and death, Lin Yi did not dare waste time. He immediately jumped onto the Dragon Roar Saber. The tough blade bent slightly before launching him seven or eight meters into the air.

Lin Yi then clung tightly to the massive tree trunk and moved his limbs, struggling for quite a while before finally climbing to the top.

Gu Chenghu frowned. "Qingshan, you climb trees too slowly. You need to practice more in the future."

"Captain, stop talking. If I get the chance, I'll definitely practice!"

For the first time, Lin Yi understood how important tree-climbing was in the wilderness. He glanced down and saw that a huge number of Corpse Fiends had already chased them to the base of the tree, with more and more gathering below.

Fortunately, the Corpse Fiends had limited intelligence. They did not know how to use the Dragon Roar Saber to climb up, nor could they form a human ladder. They were even a little worse than the zombies in movies.

However, the Corpse Fiends did not leave. Instead, they began wandering around beneath the tree.

Only then did Gu Chenghu let out a breath of relief.

"Qingshan, your face is pale. Did you overuse your Spirit Power?"

"Yeah, Captain. Otherwise, I would've escaped with the White Mist long ago."

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Lin Yi directly took a Rotten Wood Fruit from his backpack. "Captain, this is a fruit I just snatched from the Corpse Fiend horde. The System says it's a Rotten Wood Fruit... Blue Quality. Do you recognize it?"

"Rotten Wood Fruit? And it's a Blue Quality fruit?"

Gu Chenghu took the milky-white Rotten Wood Fruit and examined it, only to find that he had never seen or heard of it before.

"Based on what you said, this fruit is not suitable for eating directly. But it is a Blue Quality fruit, and even Professional level people can make use of it. If we bring it back to the village, we should be able to exchange it for a great deal of resources with the Village Chief and Village Elder."

At that moment, because Lin Yi had taken out the Rotten Wood Fruit, the Corpse Fiend horde below erupted into a restless frenzy again. A few especially clever Corpse Fiends even began hugging and gnawing on the tree trunk, which was over two meters in diameter, seemingly intending to chew it down and make Lin Yi and Gu Chenghu fall.

"Put it in your backpack. The smell this thing gives off is tempting to many creatures. It would be bad if it attracted other monsters."

Lin Yi put the Rotten Wood Fruit back into his Spatial Backpack. "Alright. But Captain, this one is yours. Consider it repayment for all the help you've given me lately."

Hearing that, Gu Chenghu laughed happily. He patted Lin Yi on the shoulder and flashed his white teeth. "Good kid, you didn't disappoint me. But if you didn't pick many, keep them for yourself. Your captain doesn't need this right now."

"It's fine. I picked quite a few, Captain. Just keep it."

Lin Yi had always remembered how Gu Chenghu had used Divine Water to increase his attributes last time, and he was deeply moved by it.

Giving Gu Chenghu one Rotten Wood Fruit now was not only repaying a favor, but also telling him that investing in Lin Yi would definitely not be a loss.