Lin Ye pulled a cart loaded with woven sacks toward the exit of the ruins. The others also hauled along the loot they wanted to take back.
Zhao Yong seemed particularly fond of firearms and had specifically gathered a pile of guns with no ammunition to bring back.
Xu Min and Li Ji brought back large quantities of food and miscellaneous supplies from the supermarket. These things were very popular in their region.
They made their way through the ruins. There were no Mutated Creatures around, nor a single corpse.
"Will we ever see each other again?"
Li Ji felt a little sad. Although they had only spent a short time together, she quite liked these three teammates. Without them, she might not have survived this time.
"As long as we stay alive, we'll meet again."
Lin Ye looked at the ruins with some regret. This mission had been so difficult that he had never even gotten to try completing the last two bonus objectives.
"I hope so."
Seeing Li Ji, who was the same age as her daughter, gave Xu Min a little more confidence in finding her own child.
"Let's add each other as friends. Maybe we can stay in touch after we get back. Even if we can't communicate across regions for now, they'll probably merge the regions once there are fewer people, right?"
Zhao Yong added the other three as friends in the chat room. After accepting, the other three added one another too.
The four left the ruins without incident and crossed the road to reach the bus stop on the other side. A tall wall stood behind the stop, blocking their view of whatever lay beyond it.
Although Lin Ye was a little curious, he had no desire to explore such a dangerous area.
The enormous shadow deep in the distant ruins suddenly began to tremble. As it shook, the mist dispersed, revealing a gigantic egg-shaped object over ten stories tall.
The egg-shaped object bloomed like a flower, releasing masses of red flesh into every corner of the ruins as it opened. This flesh formed large numbers of Mutated Creatures, which began a new round of slaughter.
"What a spectacular sight."
"How beautiful."
"That's terrifying."
"Good thing we got out fast."
The bus arrived.
[Site Mission complete. Special metal chest ×1 awarded based on mission difficulty.] [Bonus objective 1 complete. Bonus objective chest ×1 awarded.] [Please draw today's card.]
Lin Ye climbed out of bed. The flatbed cart stood in the middle of the shelter, with every woven sack still on it.
Beside it sat a red metal chest and a yellow chest made of an unknown material.
"My turn! Draw!"
Although he had plenty to deal with, Lin Ye decided to draw his daily card first.
The card he drew this time depicted a duck. The card dissipated, and a blood-red duck appeared in the middle of the shelter.
"Quack, quack."
The duck waddled over to Lin Ye, pulled a steaming bowl of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup out of thin air with its wing, and pushed it toward him.
The familiar scene left Lin Ye a little speechless, but he still asked:
"Can you conjure up anything else?"
Duck: "Quack, quack."
Lin Ye: "Then can you make a few more bowls?"
Duck: "Quack, quack."
Lin Ye: "Oh? You can make two more bowls? Not bad, then. A little better than the goose."
Lin Ye picked up the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup and began eating. He had to admit that it was a delicious bowl of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup. The broth tasted just right, the chili oil was fragrant and spicy, and the tofu puffs were soft and soaked with broth. It had a full assortment of duck parts, none with any off flavors, and the vermicelli was cooked to perfection.
His only regret was that he couldn't get extra vermicelli. Lin Ye polished off the entire bowl in one go, leaving not a drop of broth.
After he finished the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup, the Cross Necklace's side effects disappeared completely. Lin Ye had no idea whether that had anything to do with the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup.
Next came the delightful moment of opening chests. Lin Ye first opened the red metal chest he had received for clearing the mission.
It contained many things.
First were ten bottles of red nutrient solution and five bottles of sparkling aqua-blue liquid.
[Mental energy potion] [A potion that replenishes Mental Strength. Extremely precious.] [Note: Liquefied Mental Strength.]
So the power formed by condensing perception is Mental Strength? That makes sense.
There was a bottle of multicolored liquid that looked precious at a glance.
[Integration potion] [An essential potion for advancement.] [Note: Please use only after all attributes meet the requirements.]
What are the requirements for advancement?
There was a pitch-black card inscribed with intricate patterns.
[Basic Rune-Mutation] [A card that allows you to learn the Basic Mutation Rune.] [Note: Use with caution if your Mental Strength is insufficient.]
What are runes, then?
After glancing at the note, Lin Ye refrained from using the card right away.
After sorting the items and putting them away, Lin Ye opened the chest he had received for completing bonus objective 1.
There was only one card inside.
[No. 1 Mutation Cards] [Apply to the surface of a living creature's body to mutate it.] [Note: Collect cards No. 1-10 for a special surprise.] [Mutation cards No. 1-10 collected. Would you like to derive your own unique evolution pathway?]
"Derive it."
[Derivation complete. Survivor detected holding a No. 0 card. Would you like to incorporate the No. 0 card to derive a new evolution pathway?]
"Yes."
[Derivation complete. Importing evolution pathway...]
Lin Ye stood rooted to the spot, unable to control himself. The Psionic Energy inside him suddenly began flowing along an extremely complex pathway. It was as if this pathway had been engraved deep in his DNA, able to operate on its own without any need for control.
After the pathway completed one cycle, Lin Ye regained control of his body.
Holy shit! Awesome!
The Psionic Energy inside Lin Ye was soon exhausted, but as long as he absorbed more Psionic Energy, he could strengthen his body by following the pathway.
Too bad there's no Psionic Energy in the shelter. Still, even if there were, I couldn't keep the pathway running forever, or my body would mutate.
Using his own pathway as a reference, Lin Ye drew an extremely simplified diagram on paper that passed through only the major organs. He planned to post it in the group shortly.
He opened the group chat. The nighttime activities had just ended, and it was quite lively inside.
(786392/1000000)
"Thanks to the great Lin Ye for giving me the courage to go outside. Otherwise, I'd definitely die in seven days because I couldn't upgrade my shelter."
"Yeah, you get a chest just for participating in a Site Mission, and it's guaranteed to contain a Shelter Upgrade Blueprint."
"Good thing I went out. The mission wasn't too hard. The mission rewards were nothing special, but I brought back a whole case of canned braised pork!"
"Heh, the living all thank the big shot, while the dead can't say anything. Fucking amazing."
"The person above definitely didn't participate in a Site Mission, right? The people on my team were so jealous. Nobody in their region shared information for free. They were already down to 700,000 people when the mission started."
"So bitter."
"Same with my team. Thanks, boss!"
"Yeah, I shared the information the boss gave us with them, and they each gave me five Red Coins to thank me..."
"Forget him. He's definitely one of those people too scared to leave their shelters. They'll be dead in a few days. Why bother with them?"
"Yeah, we might as well talk about that batch of canned food I brought back."
"Yeah, we might as well talk about that case of instant noodles I brought back."
"Yeah, we might as well talk about that sack of rice I brought back."
"Fuck! Showing off as a group, are we? Would I tell you I got a batch of handguns?"
"Hey, don't break the pattern! I haven't posted mine yet!"
Before you continue