Chapter 385: The Butterfly Effect
After completing the necessary preparations, Lin Ye took care of the plants and animals for a while, prepared a simple dinner for himself, then opened the Music Box and the Group Chat to eat while browsing.
(523881/1000000)
"Are there any big shots choosing the Mining Area Task tonight?"
"Yes, I'm not waiting for Brother Lin's intel. Starting to dig a day earlier is a day earlier. Everyone can wait for me to share intel tomorrow."
"I'm also choosing the Mining Area Task today. I'll provide another piece of intel for everyone's reference."
"Thank you, big shots."
"You're making me want to join in too."
"I want to join as well, but unfortunately, I haven't upgraded my Shelter yet."
"No need to rush. I'll wait another day."
"Wishing all the big shots a smooth completion of the Mining Area Task." ...
Tens of thousands of people simultaneously sent the same message in the group chat. Massive amounts of information rapidly flooded the screen, with not a single person breaking the formation.
[Nighttime Activity begins]
[Do you choose the Mining Area Task?]
"Yes."
[Tonight's Activity: Mining Area Task]
[09:59]
"Great! It's the red maze. I can open the blueprint!"
"Time to scavenge~"
"Good, I just wanted to sleep early today."
"Damn, a personal random task!"
...
Closing the Group Chat, Lin Ye sat fully armed on the edge of his bed. The Butterfly rested on his head, and the Scapegoat obediently lay beside his thigh, licking his fingers.
[00:01]
[00:00]
……………………………………………
[Mining Area Task is about to begin]
[Acquired Special Ability: Butterfly Effect]
[Butterfly Effect]
[If one of your actions can trigger a profound influence, you will receive a corresponding Time Marker]
[Note: Did the butterfly flapping its wings change the world, or was the world always meant to be this way?]
[Event extracting...]
[Event extraction complete. Selected event—Free City]
[Due to influence from external factors, task difficulty has increased. Starting identity has changed]
[Acquired Mining Area Task: Money is Supreme]
[Money is Supreme]
[Please acquire assets worth one hundred million Free Coins within three months. The more assets you acquire, the more precious the unlocked mining area will be]
[Note: In Free City, money is everything. You only have two choices: either obtain money by any means necessary and become a big shot in Free City, or lose everything and become a cold corpse on the roadside]
[Time flow rate has been modified to 1:180]
[Event importing...]
[Event import complete. Mining Area Task officially begins]
Lin Ye opened his eyes. He felt a sense of weakness he hadn't experienced in a long time.
Not acting rashly, Lin Ye used his peripheral vision to observe his surroundings, gathering information.
First, his body was extremely weak. Judging by his build, he was probably only in his teens.
Second, he was in the middle of an armed squad. The people beside him were all young people around his age, in their teens, dressed in tattered clothes. There were some armed personnel nearby.
Finally, they were walking through a rainforest. The spiritual energy concentration in the environment was extremely high.
Lin Ye tried to absorb spiritual energy but found his body was too fragile and couldn't withstand spiritual energy enhancement at all.
'What the hell is this place? Wasn't it supposed to be about making money in Free City? Why do I feel like I'm being sent to some kind of compound?'
'The spiritual energy concentration here is so high. Looking at this body's condition, it definitely hasn't been here much, otherwise it would have already undergone Alienation.'
Lin Ye tried to use mental energy to dilute the spiritual energy, but the moment he used mental energy, his brain felt like it was about to explode.
'Damn it, whoever messed with my starting identity, don't let me find out who you are, or I'll dig up your ancestral grave.'
Lin Ye temporarily gave up on enhancing his body. He began to change his breathing pattern, trying to slowly alter his physical constitution by breathing in spiritual energy.
At that moment, a faint sound came from the jungle on the right side of the squad. Before Lin Ye could change his position, an armed personnel nearby shot and killed the monster hiding in the jungle.
"Report. Type I Mimicry Monster spotted on the right flank of the pathfinding squad. Eliminated."
The armed personnel spoke.
He was wearing some kind of communication device on his head, allowing him to talk to his teammates.
'Judging by the sound, whatever was killed was probably some low-level creature. Pathfinding squad... Are we being used to scout a path? Scout where?'
Lin Ye analyzed the gathered information. For now, he could only follow the squad. If this squad collapsed, it would be very difficult for him to survive in this environment.
The rainforest was full of all sorts of bizarre, grotesque monsters. Fortunately, this squad was relatively competent. Those monsters were blown up before they could get close.
But the more competent this squad was, the more dangerous the place they needed to scout would be.
Twenty minutes later, the squad stopped at the edge of the jungle. To be precise, they stopped outside a clear, open area.
This area had no plants at all, only a patch of pitch-black soil. It was as if something had cleared a space in the middle of the jungle.
Lin Ye heard an armed personnel who walked over speak into his communication device:
"Target contaminated zone reached. Test begins."
After saying that, he grabbed one of the 'pathfinders' and threw them into the black soil zone.
Before that pathfinder even hit the ground, his body exploded. The scattered pieces of flesh triggered a secondary explosion, finally blowing apart into a mist of blood.
After walking through the rainforest for a long time, the young people around were already unsteady on their feet. Seeing this scene, several young people were so terrified they collapsed on the ground.
Lin Ye carefully watched the entire process. He had to figure out the source of danger in this contaminated zone before it was his turn, otherwise he would die here.
The armed personnel grabbed a second pathfinder and threw them into the contaminated zone. This time, the pathfinder exploded into a mist of blood the moment they entered the airspace above the contaminated zone. Some of the corpse fragments were blasted out of the zone.
The armed personnel couldn't dodge in time. Some of the blood mist splashed onto him. The armed personnel instantly exploded, also turning into a mist of blood. The people around who were touched by the blood mist triggered a chain of explosions. Fortunately, their flesh and blood didn't cause a fourth explosion, otherwise no one in the entire squad would have escaped.
Lin Ye took a step towards a less crowded area. Seeing there was no fourth explosion, he moved back to his original position.
But this small movement caught the attention of the armed squad leader. He pointed at Lin Ye and said:
"You go scout."
Lin Ye didn't move immediately because he still hadn't figured out the problem with the contaminated zone.
Seeing Lin Ye wasn't moving, the Captain placed his hand on his weapon.
Lin Ye had no choice but to walk towards the contaminated zone. However, the young person who had been standing beside Lin Ye all along suddenly pulled him behind and spoke to the Captain:
"I'll scout in his place!"
"...Fine."
The Captain didn't refuse.
The young person trembled as they walked towards the contaminated zone. They wanted to walk with a bit more composure, but trembling was a physiological reaction to fear and couldn't be resisted.
But before they entered the contaminated zone, Lin Ye, who was following behind, pulled them back.
[Time Marker acquired]
A line of system text appeared before Lin Ye's eyes.