Chapter 443: Exploring the intersection
"Damn it!"
Lin Ye hurriedly took the base power source and ran toward the intersection far away from the ink-green area. But then, Lin Ye suddenly noticed that some tiny ink-green dots had appeared on the base power source.
'What's going on? The power source clearly hasn't come into contact with the ink-green mist...'
Lin Ye had no choice but to abandon the power source and enter the next intersection alone. He carefully sensed every part of his body, confirming there were no issues before relaxing slightly.
After entering the intersection, Lin Ye directly occupied it. He stood still for a moment, but no green dots appeared on his body, and that ink-green mist didn't seep into this area from the neighboring one.
'Could it be because the power source and the base belong to the same entity, so the power source developed the green dots?'
Lin Ye couldn't yet determine the principle behind how the ink-green mist corroded other objects.
'I have to get away from here as soon as possible, otherwise someone might bring the mist over here.'
Lin Ye opened the small pouch and used the biological sample inside to create a little dog. The little dog happily ran into the intersection leading away from the ink-green mist area.
Through the little dog's perspective, Lin Ye could observe the situation in the intersection. He made two more little dogs and sent them to explore the other two directions. The three directional intersections respectively contained: citizens covered in tumor-like structures, a space filled with mirrors everywhere, and a lake area with a fishing rod installed.
Lin Ye entered the intersection with the citizens, and incidentally controlled the little dog to sit before the fishing rod and start fishing.
The little dog that entered the mirror space got completely lost, surrounded everywhere by its own reflections.
"Hello? Would you like something to eat?"
Harvey struggled to crawl over to the little dog, placing the last bit of food from his pocket in front of it.
"It doesn't like that kind of normal food. The tumor-like structures on your body are more to its taste."
Just as Lin Ye was about to control the little dog in the other intersection to release the fishing rod, something in the lake yanked the little dog into the water.
At this point, it was hard to say which side was the food.
"You're its owner?"
Harvey strained to lift his head. The tumor-like structures had already eroded his eyes; he could now only see blurry silhouettes.
"Mhm, this is a pathfinding little dog I made. Also, Sample Number One was made by me too, which is the source of those alien structures on your body."
Lin Ye merely glanced at Harvey, and the excess tumor-like structures within Harvey's body obediently crawled out of him, gradually alienating into a new little dog.
"...What did you do?"
Harvey climbed up from the ground, feeling as if he had been reborn.
"Just extracted the excess tumor-like structures from your body, and incidentally alienated your body a bit."
Lin Ye created another little dog and began exploring the three directional intersections around them.
"...That parasitic injection was made by you? What exactly happened in the city?"
Harvey was a mid-level adventurer from the Adventurer's Association. Although he had noticed some abnormalities before, he never imagined the situation would deteriorate to this extent overnight.
"Simply put, certain things from the Bottomless Pit want to destroy the world. Some people tried to save themselves, but most factions had their own ideas, and it ended up like this. You're just one of the components; this actually doesn't have much to do with you."
Lin Ye walked toward the intersection on the right, continuing to control the little dogs to scout ahead.
"The world is about to be destroyed, how could it have nothing to do with me?!"
Harvey picked up the food from the ground and followed behind Lin Ye. Before, he could only lie here waiting to die. Now that his body was back to normal, he didn't want to lie down and wait for death again.
"I didn't say it's unrelated. I just said there isn't much you can do."
Lin Ye tried to pick intersections that were easier to traverse. Soon, a group of survivors gathered behind him, along with some dogs alienated from duplicates.
As a senior, Harvey was responsible for communicating with the survivors and leading them to follow Lin Ye.
"Mr. Lin, do you need us to help you with anything?"
Harvey moved closer to Lin Ye and asked.
The survivors who could last until now all had some skills. They clearly understood the current situation and didn't want to sit around waiting for death.
"...You can take the little dogs to help me explore the surrounding intersections. Leave the pathfinding to the dogs; I need you to deal with the enemies inside the intersections."
Lin Ye issued each squad one little dog, one piece of biological sample, and several spiritual energy cards. He left a mental mark on the little dogs and then stayed at an intersection near the center.
"Text will appear on the biological sample. 'Enter' means go in, 'Return' means come back."
Considering the potentially spreading ink-green area, Lin Ye needed to explore the various intersections of this region as quickly as possible.
The survivors took the dogs out to scout the path. Lin Ye took the opportunity to continue studying that transparent crystal.
Half an hour later, Lin Ye suddenly looked up. One of the little dogs had encountered an acquaintance of his.
"I've called them all back. You all stay here for now. I'm going to meet an acquaintance."
Lin Ye quickly passed through one intersection after another, finally entering the intersection filled with Salvation Cult followers.
"I thought you would communicate with me from outside."
Sera leaped down from the top of the altar, landing in front of Lin Ye.
"Excuse me. Weren't you conducting a ritual? Can rituals be paused?"
Lin Ye looked at the Assistant before him. He could sense a dense concentration of Salvation rules gathered on her.
"The ritual has deviated somewhat. We need to break this chessboard."
Sera said sincerely.
"How do we break the chessboard?"
Lin Ye also wanted to clean up this troublesome chessboard.
"As long as you can deal with that duplicate next door, we can directly channel divine power to break the chessboard."
Sera had already figured out the solution, but she couldn't think of a way to deal with dozens of Salvation Cult followers and herself, so she could only turn to Lin Ye for help.
"Are you joking? I'd rather go back to scouting."
Lin Ye turned and left. He'd have to have his brain eaten by zombies to go fight a group of Salvation Cult followers.
"As long as you can help me deal with that duplicate, I can abandon the final ritual and help you rebuild the Free City. I swear to the deity."
Sera declared solemnly.
"The problem is I simply can't do it. One or two high-level followers is manageable, but that's dozens of high-level followers, plus your duplicate. If I go in, I won't come out."
Lin Ye said seriously.
"If that were truly the case, you wouldn't have come in."
Sera also looked at Lin Ye seriously.
"...I do have a few trump cards, but they're not meant for dealing with duplicates. Your offer is too low, and I don't believe in oaths either."
Lin Ye left the altar intersection. Sera didn't stop him.
She had no reason to fight Lin Ye to the death.
After leaving the altar intersection, Lin Ye continued exploring nearby intersections. The number of survivors they rescued kept increasing, and the exploration speed of the intersections gradually accelerated.
Finally, a little dog found the intersection where the two giant flesh-and-blood creatures were fighting.