Chapter 339: City Ruins Stronghold
Lin Ye pulled the flatbed cart alone straight toward the nearest red-circled base he hadn't visited yet. The cart was loaded with spiritual energy materials, and although the road was extremely bumpy, not a single piece of spiritual energy material fell off.
This was a variant application of the collision driving method.
Before long, Lin Ye pulled the flatbed cart close to the target red-circled base.
It was a city ruin. Various monsters roamed within the ruins, and a large number of balloon-like human heads floated in the city sky, causing moving, mottled shadows to be everywhere throughout the ruins.
Lin Ye pulled the cart to the edge of the ruins. A layer of spiritual energy shield with an unusually complex structure enveloped the entire ruin. He tried to perceive the surface structure of the shield, only to find its complexity far exceeded his understanding of spiritual energy shields.
Because the structure of this spiritual energy shield was in a constant state of dynamic change, even spending one or two months, he wasn't confident he could decipher its structure.
'It won't be a case of getting in but not being able to get out, right?'
Compared to the previous insect nest, this place gave Lin Ye more of a feeling of being some kind of creature's lair.
Entering it wasn't wise, but he wouldn't back down here.
Lin Ye entered the city ruins. A group of humans with their epidermis stripped off emerged from various buildings, wailing as they charged at Lin Ye. The heads above stared at Lin Ye, emitting whispers. 'How friendly.'
Lin Ye wanted to control a compressed spiritual energy blade to deal with these skinned people, but due to the whispers from the heads above, he completely couldn't concentrate to compress spiritual energy.
The mental influence effect of these heads seemed to increase dramatically with their numbers. Before dealing with the heads above, he simply couldn't focus his mind.
Lin Ye wanted to prioritize dealing with the heads above, but they floated too high;
he couldn't possibly attack something that far away.
The skinned people closed in. Lin Ye took out the Dragon Fishing Rod and Dark Dawn, taking a step back. The sturdy spiritual energy shield behind him blocked his retreat.
'I knew it!'
This spiritual energy shield seemed connected to the entire city ruin. Dark Dawn's bullets hitting the shield only caused faint ripples that quickly returned to normal.
Lin Ye wanted to use mental energy to perceive the physical structure of the skinned people, but the moment his mental energy touched a skinned person, he felt the agony of having his entire skin stripped off. Combined with the mental influence from those heads, he nearly fainted on the spot.
Fortunately, the Seed of Spirit was quite stable. Lin Ye instantly regained clarity, and the phantom pain on his body slowly faded.
Lin Ye controlled a spiritual energy blade to attack the approaching skinned people. However, ordinary spiritual energy blades couldn't pierce through the skinned people's bodies at all. He could only use the Dragon Fishing Rod and Dark Dawn to handle the approaching skinned people.
'Guess I can only test this monster's vital points through attacks.'
Lin Ye swung the Dragon Fishing Rod, hooking out a skinned person's heart, while simultaneously firing a shot at another skinned person's head.
Thump!
The fishhook struggled to pierce the skinned person's body, and a heart was hooked out.
The other skinned person's head was blown apart. Both skinned people fell to the ground, motionless.
'Vital points are the heart and brain? Pretty normal.'
Lin Ye deployed a spiritual energy shield and retreated toward a nearby abandoned building, leaving the flatbed cart where it was. This city definitely had many more skinned people and other monsters;
he didn't want to get surrounded by these freaks in the middle of the road.
A skinned person suddenly burst out from the abandoned building, attacking Lin Ye with its skinless claws.
Lin Ye shot and blew off the skinned person's head, but his spiritual energy shield was torn apart by that single claw.
"Damn! What the hell is this thing!"
A chill ran down Lin Ye's spine. He could feel the power of that claw. The other had 'peeled open' his spiritual energy shield. Perhaps the next claw could peel open his skin and take out his heart.
And these skinned people were everywhere around him.
Suppressing the urge to return to the Shelter, Lin Ye retreated into the abandoned building while firing frantically, blowing up every skinned person that got close.
The fishhook danced through the air, sweeping through every dark corner that might hide a skinned person.
Lin Ye deployed his spiritual energy shield again, but this time it was only the simplest version—a layer of insurance. He wasn't sure if the military uniform could withstand being skinned once.
The abandoned building hid many skinned people inside, but they would have their heads blown off before they could even get close. The problem was, Lin Ye was running low on bullets.
"Over here!"
A sharp-eyed, short-statured woman in another abandoned building shouted loudly at Lin Ye, simultaneously gesturing for him to follow her.
Lin Ye didn't hesitate. He directly jumped through a window into the adjacent abandoned building. The skinned people near him were torn to shreds.
"I can understand you. Just speak normally."
Lin Ye quickly rushed to the woman's side, firing shots to blow up nearby skinned people.
"Huh? You're a survivor too? Survived alone until now?!"
Xiya said in surprise.
"No, I'm an outsider. I just have technology that allows me to use translated language."
Lin Ye didn't pretend to be a so-called survivor. He didn't know much about this place, and a failed disguise might cause very troublesome consequences.
"That's really convenient. I'm Xiya. And you?"
Xiya said straightforwardly.
"Lin Ye. Are you a survivor of this city? Isn't this city some kind of war city?"
Lin Ye found it strange. This was his first time seeing survivors trying to survive in a military camp.
"War city? What are you talking about?"
Xiya asked, confused.
The two briefly exchanged known information while running. Lin Ye swung the Dragon Fishing Rod to deal with approaching skinned people. To conserve bullets, he reduced his shooting frequency.
"Those damn bastards! They actually threw us into this kind of place! No wonder none of the people who went out to seek help ever came back!"
Xiya said angrily.
After communicating with Xiya, Lin Ye obtained some information about this city.
The city was called Windflower City, where Xiya had grown up. One day, Windflower City was invaded by anomalies. Powerful beings from outside sealed off Windflower City, throwing the entire city and everything inside it over here.
Now, Windflower City was overrun with anomalies, with only a small number of survivors still struggling to survive within the ruins.
That spiritual energy shield outside that only allowed entry but not exit seemed related to those powerful beings who threw the city here. At regular intervals, the spiritual energy shield would temporarily fail. The heads outside floated out during those times.
The survivors in the city also took the opportunity to send people out to seek help, but until now, no survivor had returned.
"Why don't you all go outside? Though, you'd probably die even faster on the battlefield."
If Lin Ye encountered this situation, he definitely wouldn't stay in the city.
"None of the survivors who went out ever returned. Also, many survivors hold onto the hope that the city will return to its original place, so they don't dare leave the city."
Xiya was one of them. So when she learned they had been abandoned by those powerful beings, her heart filled with scorching anger and icy disappointment.