Chapter 242: Collecting Offerings
"You want me to leave this body? How kind of you."
Caroline stared at Lin Ye, uncertain if he would actually report it.
"Think whatever you want."
Lin Ye had just been speaking casually. Until he became strong enough, he couldn't possibly initiate contact with the organization.
"What are you trying to summon with your ritual? I need to prepare in advance."
Caroline changed the subject.
"How should I know."
Lin Ye also wanted to know what the special ability was targeting.
"...Sigh, couldn't the organization send someone more reliable?"
Caroline hugged her knees and curled up in the corner of the space. It actually didn't want to stay inside Caroline's body either, since the organization itself represented danger. "The organization didn't send anyone. If Jessica hadn't come voluntarily, you could already be waiting to die."
Lin Ye silently calculated the time. Based on Jessica's reliability level, if nothing unexpected happened, she should have returned by now.
After all, the enemies were just some parasitic villagers. Jessica only needed to use her machine gun to shoot through their thighs - such a simple operation wouldn't waste much time.
"I'm going out for a while. I'll be back in twenty minutes."
Lin Ye prepared to go to the village's surface layer to slaughter villagers. If something went wrong in the inner layer, it could only mean the Limb Giant Monster had attacked Jessica. Whether the Limb Giant Monster attacked or not had nothing to do with the entry method.
He didn't know what Jessica had done on the village surface during the second simulation, but he could try some of the more likely options.
"You'd better not go out. If that monster controls you, we're doomed. Jessica will prepare the ritual offerings for you."
Caroline didn't want Lin Ye taking risks.
"Jessica is too slow. I'll go kill a few villagers outside and come back."
Lin Ye took his rifle and squeezed through the crack leading to the surface layer. He had to determine what factors affected the Limb Giant Monster's state.
"Hey! Why are you going to the outer space?"
Caroline asked, puzzled.
Lin Ye didn't answer. He quickly crawled back to the surface through the cave, then broke into nearby residences, shooting and killing every villager he encountered.
These villagers were different from those in the inner space - they didn't swarm to attack Lin Ye.
Lin Ye calculated the time to return to the underground space and went back just before twenty minutes had passed.
By this time, Jessica had already returned to the underground space, but her condition was very poor.
"Report your situation."
Lin Ye spoke first.
"The other side of the crack is a passage filled with dark limbs. Those limbs attacked me from all directions. I wasted a lot of ammunition before escaping to the surface. There were some tall monsters and many villagers on the surface. I wanted to prepare offerings for you, but there were too many monsters there, plus the large number of limbs emerging from underground. I could only kill some of the monsters first, otherwise I might have died over there. However, after I killed some monsters, those tall monsters and dark limbs suddenly stopped moving. Did you do something?"
If those monsters hadn't suddenly stopped attacking, Jessica didn't think she could have returned. After all, given more time, she would have been controlled by that dangerous entity.
"When did those monsters stop moving? Twenty minutes ago, or over ten minutes ago?"
Lin Ye hadn't expected to find the factor affecting the Limb Giant Monster's state on the first try.
"Probably twenty minutes ago."
Jessica thought carefully for a moment before speaking.
"Are you sure?"
Lin Ye confirmed.
"I'm sure."
Jessica wouldn't misremember such a critical time point.
"...That was when you went to the outer space... So that's it. As long as there are people on both sides, those monsters maintaining the abnormal restricted zone can't move. They have to maintain that state... You actually figured this out in advance?"
Caroline looked at Lin Ye in surprise.
"No time for nonsense. Jessica, go to the surface layer. Don't go far, just stay outside the crack. I'll go to the inner layer to perform the ritual. With those immobile offerings added, it should be enough to complete the ritual."
Lin Ye wasn't actually certain either. Up to now, he hadn't been able to trigger the special ability, and he didn't know how many offerings were needed to successfully activate it.
"Okay."
Jessica didn't waste words and immediately squeezed through the crack to the surface layer.
Lin Ye took the bag and squeezed into the inner layer. He had to hurry.
The two cooperated quite seamlessly, leaving only Caroline stunned in the underground space.
Lin Ye entered the inner layer. Like in the previous simulation, those dark limbs didn't attack him.
'First go up and deal with the villagers, then handle the oversized villagers, and finally deal with the Limb Giant Monster. I hope there are enough offerings.'
Lin Ye climbed back to the surface. Many crippled villagers were lying near the exit.
Taking out his rifle, Lin Ye swept every villager's abdomen, killing them all in just one minute.
Then Lin Ye began clearing the village's oversized villagers. He had already memorized their locations earlier. Now he just needed to choose the shortest route to quickly eliminate them all.
However, after dealing with the oversized villagers, the special ability still hadn't triggered.
The ground shook, the earth cracked open, revealing the main body of the Limb Giant Monster buried underground. Lin Ye could only use his short knife to cut open the location of the Limb Giant Monster's core, then stuff a string of grenades inside the incision.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Limb Giant Monster was blown up by the grenades, but the special ability still failed to trigger.
'Dammit! How many offerings does this stupid ability need?'
Bang!
Lin Ye very decisively used his pistol to blow his own brains out. With the Limb Giant Monster dead, the monster in the sky was no longer restricted. He chose to kill himself before being controlled.
…………………………
【Remaining Simulation Attempts: 7】
Buzz buzz buzz...
Lin Ye opened his eyes. He had failed again. The reason for failure was insufficient offering quantity. If Jessica hadn't killed some villagers, there should have been enough offerings to trigger the special ability.
"You're awake? If you're awake, go to the back and change your clothes."
Jessica delivered the same lines as before.
Lin Ye also spoke the exact same lines as during the previous simulation. Before entering the underground space, he couldn't reveal any flaws.
Next, Lin Ye repeated the exact same operations as during the previous simulation, until entering the underground space.
After listening to the two's pleasant argument, Lin Ye suddenly spoke:
"I can deal with that dangerous entity, but I need your help."
"You're not Dylan. You're that anomaly that helps the organization handle abnormal incidents?"
Jessica asked the same question again.
"Yes. I need to personally kill some offerings to perform the ritual. You go to the inner layer and help me collect offerings. They need to be alive, preferably crippled and piled together. Come back as soon as you're done."
Lin Ye had already planned all the steps for collecting offerings.
"The inner space should have many villagers that can serve as offerings."
Caroline said very cooperatively.