Chapter 104: Tendril Archway
Just like the Captain, Lin Ye couldn't sense anything.
The other party seemed to have suddenly gone insane, performing a series of crazy actions.
But a madman's brain doesn't explode on its own, so there must be some unknown force causing this situation.
"...Continue forward."
Having the two nervous overseers take the middle position, the Captain alone brought up the rear of the team.
The team continued forward, and Lin Ye quickened his pace. This time, no gunshots came from behind, but Lin Ye sensed that the Captain kept glancing toward the rear side from time to time.
There was nothing there.
The Captain lasted for 15 minutes.
Intense waves of spiritual energy erupted from behind, and after making one final resistance, the Captain's headless corpse collapsed to the ground.
The remaining five people stopped walking. The two overseers looked at the Captain's body, unsure whether they should continue with the mission. "Going further forward is just walking to our deaths. If we leave this place now, we might still have a chance to survive."
Zorn said to the two overseers.
He and Danny only wanted to get out of here. The two of them stood together now, seeming to have reached some kind of agreement.
Zorn was right - the two overseers didn't want to go deeper either. Nobody wanted to die meaninglessly in a place like this.
Just as they were about to reach consensus, one of the overseers suddenly turned his head, looking toward the rear right side.
"Ah! It's that monster!"
Bang!
The one who fired wasn't the overseer, but Lin Ye.
Lin Ye shot and blew that overseer's head off.
The other overseer immediately drew his weapon and aimed it at Lin Ye.
"You bastard!"
But he didn't fire immediately, because there were still three D-Class personnel left, and he was the only overseer remaining.
"He was already targeted by that anomaly. Even the Captain couldn't survive it. How long do you think he could last? I wanted to test whether killing someone targeted by the anomaly could resolve the anomaly."
Lin Ye explained briefly. He still needed the overseer's help with something.
"Right, he was doomed anyway. Better to give him a quick release - at least he can contribute something to the team."
Danny chimed in.
Since Lin Ye was also D-Class personnel, Danny wanted to team up with him, use the last overseer to attract the monster's attention, and then immediately make a run for it.
He didn't believe this monster could chase them to the outside world.
Lin Ye walked to the Captain's corpse, picked up the box instrument, and said to the last overseer:
"Do you know how to use this thing?"
"...Yes. The instrument has two functions: early warning and positioning.
When abnormal phenomena appear nearby, the box will sound an alarm. The warning function isn't necessarily reliable - the box didn't react earlier.
The numbers on it are for positioning. The coordinates are already set. You just need to move to the same coordinate point to find the outpost."
The overseer explained the instrument's functions in a few sentences. Lin Ye turned and walked toward the depths of the hollow with the box.
"You're not still thinking about completing the mission, are you? If you want to leave, fine, but leave the box behind. I need that thing for warnings."
Zorn pointed the pistol he'd picked up at Lin Ye's back.
"After I killed that person, the monster moved to my rear side. I plan to lead the monster deeper into the hollow. Are you sure you want to fight me?"
Lin Ye didn't turn around or pay attention to Zorn aiming the gun at him. He quickly left the path and headed straight for the depths of the hollow. He was running out of time.
Zorn hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn't fire. He thought Lin Ye was likely lying, trying to escape alone with the box, but he didn't dare take that gamble.
Lin Ye wasn't lying to him - he rarely told lies.
The monster was right at his rear side, visible in his peripheral vision as it gradually approached his back.
After leaving the path, Lin Ye continuously accelerated his descent on the nearly 45-degree slope. The monster seemed to exist only in his peripheral vision - it would disappear whenever he turned to look.
As the monster gradually approached, fear grew within Lin Ye, urging him to turn around and check the monster's position.
Lin Ye gritted his teeth and resisted the impulse to look back, because every time he turned around, the monster would advance a significant distance.
Before Lin Ye could think of a way to deal with the peripheral vision monster, numerous giant tendril-like archways became faintly visible in the fog ahead.
These tendrils remained completely still, as if some kind of alien structures were planted there.
But black threads hung down from the tendrils, each thread's end connected to a human figure.
The figures wandered near the tendrils, emitting incomprehensible whispers.
Lin Ye didn't have time to detour, so he could only pass near the tendril archways. The figures detected Lin Ye and rushed toward him, trying to keep him there.
"Die!"
Lin Ye drew the experimental longsword and roared loudly.
Scorching energy erupted from the blade, tearing apart the nearby figures.
These figures were exceptionally fragile, easily scattered by the energy.
Just as Lin Ye prepared to charge through the tendril archway area in one go, numerous black threads entangled his body, took root within him, and pulled him toward one of the tendril archways.
Lin Ye tried to break free from the restraints but found that the more he struggled, the tighter the black threads wrapped around him. Moreover, as more threads took root within his body, he was losing control of his limbs.
It wasn't just Lin Ye - the peripheral vision monster was also entangled with black threads. It struggled constantly, pulling threads out from within its body, but the threads kept multiplying. Finally, the monster, like Lin Ye, had its body controlled by the threads.
'Heh heh, so you can feel fear too.'
Lin Ye thought before completely losing consciousness.
........................
【Remaining simulation attempts: 9】
Lin Ye opened his eyes. He was sitting on the hard chair in the interrogation room, with an overseer sitting across from him.
"Have you been to the Great Hollow?"
"...Yes, I have."
Lin Ye hesitated for a moment but still answered.
He could have acted with Vincent's expected reactions, but it would be meaningless, only making him waste a day here. He needed to complete the simulation mission as quickly as possible.
The overseer left, and after a while, Lin Ye was once again loaded onto the prison transport vehicle.
As the vehicle started moving, Lin Ye continued to mutate his body. This time he focused on mutating his legs - in this kind of place, speed was far more important than strength.
The subsequent process was the same as last time. Lin Ye didn't do anything unnecessary until the Captain's death. This time he wanted to find a relatively safe path and reach the outpost.
When the Captain's corpse fell to the ground, Lin Ye waited until that overseer looked toward the rear side before stepping forward to pick up the box instrument. Then, before Zorn could speak, Lin Ye shot and killed Zorn.
Holding the box instrument, under the terrified gazes of the three remaining people, Lin Ye left the path and charged toward the depths of the hollow, leaving them behind to buy time.
It would be best if he could shake off that peripheral vision monster, but if not, it didn't matter - he was just scouting the path this time and never intended to survive long anyway.
Including the monster's movement time, the three only delayed it for 1 minute and 56 seconds before the peripheral vision monster appeared again at Lin Ye's rear side.
"Such useless trash."