Chapter 148: Proof of inheritance
"...What is that?"
Lily pulled her head back into the car and asked in terror.
"I don't know either, but I think it's best not to get touched by those silk strands."
Lin Ye floored the accelerator, heading straight for the westernmost part of the City of Sin.
Screams rose and fell outside the car windows as those silk threads descending from the sky equally pursued all living creatures within the city.
People ran wildly through the streets to avoid the threads, but once entangled by even a single strand, they would quickly be overwhelmed by massive amounts of following silk.
Strands of silk fell onto the sports car's roof, piercing through the windows like worms and crawling into the vehicle's interior.
Lin Ye maneuvered the vehicle to constantly avoid obstacles on the road while simultaneously tracing runes nearby to deal with the varying thicknesses of silk strands crawling into the car.
These silk strands were extremely difficult to handle. The spiritual energy blade imbued with cutting concept could only slice through the thinner strands, while thicker ones required two to three cuts to completely sever.
Even when cut, the severed portions would persistently crawl toward nearby living creatures. Lin Ye could only deploy mutated spiritual energy shields around them while continuously tracing weakening runes to suppress the activity of these silk strands.
But the car quickly filled with silk strands of varying thicknesses, and the mutated spiritual energy shields began to crack and disappear.
'Hmm? Why are all these silk strands crawling to the right? Is Lily carrying something that attracts them... or do I have some item on me that prevents them from attacking me?'
Lin Ye controlled the steering wheel with one hand, retrieved the jade cube from his loot space, and took a smaller cube from within the larger one.
"Hold this."
Lin Ye handed the small cube to Lily.
As Lily took the small cube, the silk strands immediately stopped moving and ceased attacking the nearly collapsed spiritual energy shield.
Having lost their target, the silk strands piled in the back seat quickly withdrew through the windows, turning to attack other prey.
"What is this?"
Lily looked in astonishment at the cube in her hand. She had already begun thinking about her last words moments ago.
"The Spider God Cult created such a massive scene probably for these cubes. Don't lose it."
Lin Ye put the large cube back into his loot space. Even separated by a spatial barrier, the silk strands didn't attack him.
Lily looked thoughtfully at the cube in her hand.
With the silk interference gone, Lin Ye turned on the car stereo, cranked the volume to maximum, and continued accelerating toward the western city.
Lin Ye actually hated noise, but with the entire city filled with chaotic screams, gunshots, and explosions, playing some music wouldn't bother anyone else.
"I never thought I'd have the day when I'd be joyriding in a sports car through the City of Sin."
Watching passerby after passerby being wrapped into cocoon-like shapes by silk strands along the roadside, Lily sighed with emotion.
By now, the sounds of resistance in the city had begun to diminish. The roads were piled high with snow-white silk mounds that resembled insect cocoons, the mounds trembling slightly as if the people inside were still breathing.
"Too bad the weather isn't great, and there's too much debris on the road."
His mental energy scanned the interiors of those silk mounds as Lin Ye continued accelerating, ruthlessly running over one snow-white cocoon after another.
The silk strands naturally wouldn't be damaged by tires, but the embryos that hadn't completed mutation inside weren't so resilient.
Lin Ye watched with satisfaction through the rearview mirror as cocoon after cocoon was crushed, leaking blood and flesh, gradually finding that feeling he used to have when playing racing games to the beat of dynamic music.
Lin Ye didn't tell Lily that he actually didn't have a driver's license and this was his first time driving.
However, Lin Ye had watched others drive several times and had played Road Rash, so he wasn't completely new to this.
"...Aren't you driving a bit too fast?"
Sitting in the passenger seat, Lily felt the sports car was practically floating, especially when running over the silk mounds, giving a sensation of low-altitude flight.
"It's fine, I'm very good at driving."
In games.
Lin Ye silently added in his mind.
"That's good then..."
Lily quietly fastened her seatbelt.
Lin Ye secretly manipulated spiritual energy to impact various parts of the sports car to maintain vehicle stability. If not for his decent grasp of physics, they would have long since rolled off the track.
Arriving at the church after a nerve-wracking journey, Lin Ye executed a drift and parked the car at the church entrance, ending this dangerous trip.
Lily secretly glanced at the car roof with its inexplicable multiple dents and said nothing.
The church was exactly as the Fat Man had described - an abandoned, poorly maintained church that had fallen into disrepair over years. But the church's materials were decent enough, making it sufficient as a temporary base.
After telling Lily to stay on a pew and not wander around, Lin Ye began setting up rune traps throughout the church.
Those cocoons wouldn't take long to hatch into Mutation Creatures, and when that happened, this City of Sin would become a paradise for monsters.
Lin Ye wasn't sure if the Spider God Cult had means to control these mutated monsters, so he had to prepare in advance for attacks by large numbers of mutated creatures.
Just as Lin Ye was engraving runes on the wall using fourth-stage flesh, he sensed someone approaching the church.
Lin Ye didn't stop what he was doing, but he prepared to take action.
If the other party showed even a hint of hostility, he would strike with full force. After all, time was running short, and the church wasn't fully prepared yet.
A burly man carrying a heavy machine gun with ammunition belts wrapped around his body pushed open the church doors. He had intended to walk directly into the church, but upon sensing the arrangements inside, his right foot halted mid-step.
Charles just wanted to find a place to rest. When passing the church, he saw the dented sports car parked outside and thought he'd come in to see if he could find someone to cooperate with.
Through the church doors, his perception was affected, making it impossible to determine who was inside. But when he opened the church doors, he became even more uncertain.
First were those complex bloody runic structures engraved on the floor and walls - Charles didn't dare use his mental energy to carefully perceive them.
Mental contact was the most dangerous form of contact, and he had no desire to be affected by those runes and turned into a babbling madman.
Second were the two low-stage spiritual energy users in the church - one at first stage, one at second stage. A spiritual energy user's stage was difficult to conceal, as advancement left clear marks on the body. How many times someone had advanced could be determined at a glance.
But could two low-stage spiritual energy users really create such complex runic structures?
Charles nervously withdrew his right foot. He had absolutely no desire to approach this haunted place.
"You should have that kind of cube on you, right? Can you give it to me?"
Lin Ye glanced at Charles and continued setting up rune traps.
"Cube? You mean the Inheritance Proof? Are you also a participant in the ritual?"
Charles looked nervously at Lin Ye, his right hand slowly reaching behind his back.
"That thing is the Inheritance Proof? I won't steal your things. Anyway, you'll all eventually fight each other, and the winner will naturally come find me here."
Lin Ye said casually.