Of course...
’It’d be even better if I could catch another one of those modified people covered in Spirit Runes.’
Just then, a pleasant aroma wafted in from outside.
As expected, the camp’s cook, Ms. Cheng, had made beef chow fun for breakfast this morning.
Unfortunately, with supplies being tight, she didn’t have any toon sprouts and had to use soy powder as a substitute. The freeze-dried beef was far from tender, but everything is relative. Compared to other post-apocalyptic quick meals, this was practically high-class.
After getting up, Liao Dahai had been busy reinforcing the perimeter wall. According to him, the work was already eighty percent complete.
Given the situation, he and his wife would be staying behind to guard the camp today.
"It’s fine. To be honest, I know my own limits. I can’t handle those modified bodies at all. If you made me go with you, I’d just be terrified," Liao Dahai said with a cheerful laugh, patting his chest. "I’m much more comfortable doing a bit of construction work anyway."
It was worth noting that the shadow veils cast over all the doors and windows last night had lasted until eight o’clock this morning before gradually disintegrating under the sunlight.
The back door, having been in the shade, had actually lasted even longer.
"Watch out for anyone getting close and touching them."
Before leaving, Su Chen cast a shadow veil directly inside the locked roll-up door. This way, even if outsiders managed to force the gate open, they would still be blocked by the veil inside.
After making these simple arrangements, he took Yan Ruoruo and leaped into the air from the third-floor rooftop.
Having just eaten their fill, they didn’t rush to fly at full speed.
A big reason was that they weren’t in a hurry.
Given the Bloodthirsty Fungus’s cowardly behavior yesterday, it was a huge question whether they would even find its hatchery in the Forest Rift area.
It was all up to luck.
But since the thing had dared to threaten to deal with him today, he hoped it wasn’t just an empty boast born from impotent rage. Otherwise, Su Chen himself would be disappointed.
’If we really can’t find it, we’ll just find a hole and explore downwards.’
’Either way, with two plans in place, there’s no way I’ll waste a day and delay my own leveling.’
’Clearing out tree hollows is a comfortable alternative.’
As Su Chen left the campsite, he also noticed traces of people who had stayed behind. They were heading out to clear tree hollows. Under the blazing sun, the water in the forest was continuously evaporating, and combined with natural subsidence, it would probably return to normal in less than two days.
Besides, that low-lying area of the forest didn’t have many fungi, and for some strange reason, it hadn’t been attacked by Parasite Bodies yet. It was no wonder some people dared to show themselves.
"Yesterday, in the large lake area to the north, I also saw a few people fishing by the shore," Yan Ruoruo remarked.
It was hard to say if they were people who had stayed behind at the base. The Light Element ecosystem there, refracted by the water’s surface, happened to form an invisible light barrier, inadvertently inhibiting the activity and spread of the Bloodthirsty Fungus’s spores.
In a way, the majority of people who had hastily fled into the city had actually jumped into a fiery pit.
They seemed to have inexplicably missed out on a peaceful, safe haven and a superior, comfortable leveling zone in the wild.
But this was all just a temporary illusion.
The dessert might just be laced with arsenic.
The Bloodthirsty Fungus had only retracted its tentacles from this area because it was wary of Su Chen. Once it gathered enough Power, the people who didn’t leave might face annihilation.
Interestingly...
The area around City Gate East-2 didn’t look damaged either. In fact, a large new section of the city wall had gone up since last night.
As Su Chen and Yan Ruoruo traveled through the forest along the foot of the mountain range and arrived once again at the border of Qixia District, they could see that this area, too, was unharmed.
It seemed the Bloodthirsty Fungus hadn’t pinpointed his exact location. It hadn’t wasted any Power probing the places he used to frequent.
Of course.
Besides the factor of a strong opponent, it might also be related to the proximity of its hatchery. After all, some border areas of the city had not been invaded either.
’Time to go.’
Su Chen didn’t get too close. Soaring high above the forest canopy, he used his superior long-range vision to spot many figures gathered at the Forward Base behind the city wall. It seemed quite a few people had answered the call to arms.
Many people had woken up safe and sound, only to discover that other city districts were in complete chaos.
Some saw the death and injuries, and, still shaken, silently sighed in relief that they had escaped disaster.
But a group of people who considered themselves powerful only saw the rich rewards from killing the modified people. At the same time, when they realized that some powerful groups had already rushed to the battlefield late last night, they became even more aware that their own strength was probably falling behind.
Now, they were all rubbing their hands in anticipation, waiting for the main force to assemble and charge into the forest.
They’d been resting and building up their strength all night; there was no way they were going to do nothing.
Some early risers weren’t even willing to wait until ten o’clock and had already set off ahead of time.
"Let’s go."
After a glance at the situation in the city, Su Chen immediately led Yan Ruoruo deeper into the forest. Their primary destination was, naturally, the familiar rift area.
「Not long after.」
As they were about to get closer, Su Chen pulled Yan Ruoruo to a sudden halt in mid-air.
Wreathed in fluctuations of wind power, they hovered above the forest canopy.
Ahead of them, the massive rift cutting through the forest looked as if it had been cleaved open by a giant axe. It was bottomless, its cliffs exposing grayish-white rock formations. On the edge of one cliff stood an altar-like structure.
"The altar is completely intact today," Su Chen said with a smile, but a cold glint appeared in his eyes.
The surroundings were unnaturally quiet.
No birds flew, no insects chirped, and even the sound of the wind seemed to have stopped.
"There are no spores floating around, and I can’t find any of the Bloodthirsty Fungus’s mycelium in the network below ground."
A faint, rippling light shone in Yan Ruoruo’s eyes. After activating her Insight Skill, every object and energy fluctuation within a sixty-meter radius was revealed in minute detail, with nowhere to hide.

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